Friday, December 16, 2011

God is Still God

Hello lovelies...
I know it's been a while since I posted on my blog, but please forgive me for that. :-)

I'm sure most of you see all around you that Christmas is here, and that means that the year is coming to an end. During this time of the year, most people reflect on all that they have accomplished throughout the year; and when they do this, they either feel good, or feel bad about themselves or accomplishments. As the year is coming to an end, it appears that most people begin to wonder why they are still in the same position that they were at the beginning of the year or they count their blessings and are happy about all they've accomplished.

A couple of days ago, I sat down and began to count my blessings but I got tired as I was counting because I deemed it irrelevant since I was still breathing and I was able to count. I mean, what other proof did I need that God was still God and has been good to me? When I stopped counting, I began to praise God, not just for what he has done, but for what I know he'll do in my life. I am determined that this year will end in a bang for me.

You might not be where you thought you would be, but remember that God's time is the best. Psalms 115:3 says that "Our God is still God and he does what he pleases". The confidence we have as children of God is that, what God pleases to do will eventually be for our good and not for evil because Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". 


You see, because of these promises, we ought to remain calm and let God be God over our lives. We can only do what we're capable of doing and if you feel you've done all you could do this year, but are still not where you felt you would be, don't worry too much. God is still God.
As it is with most things, "letting God be God" is easier said than done. But I believe that as humans, we have the power and ability not to be driven by what we feel.
Praise your way through the rest of the year. If there's anything else you would like to accomplish before the year is over, get to work, and start doing it.

God is still God, and he will never forsake his people. Are you serving him with all your might and heart? Are you really trusting in him? If yes, then worry not, because when God is ready, he will not only show up, He will show up AND SHOW OUT!!!
My God doesn't do things in a mediocre manner, he is after-all the same God who turned water into wine (John 2: 1-11).

I leave you all with this words today: Keep Calm and Carry On because God is Still God. 
Till later, God Bless. :-)

Monday, October 24, 2011

Praise is What I do.

Me singing in my church choir.
During our 5th Year anniversary on Oct. 16/2011 
I love praising and worshiping God. I am not ashamed to say there are times when I don't feel like praying, or when I don't even know what to pray about. But in those times, I can always bank on praising, worshiping and just singing at the top of my lungs to declare how glorious God is.
Oftentimes, when I don't feel like singing, I go on Youtube and listen to worship songs (I have a playlist), and before I know what's going on, I'm singing, worshiping, and praising the King of Kings.

I have way too many favorites when it comes to songs, but there are two songs that kind of sums up my post today - and they are Don Moen's song titled "I will Sing" and William Murphy's "Praise is what I do". 

Learn to worship and praise God in spirit and it truth. It's a different realm and it's beautiful. God inhabits the Praise of his people (Psalm 22:3), so use your voice to declare his majesty. He doesn't care how you sound, he just wants your praise.
Here are both songs with lyrics. 
ENJOY...:-)

I WILL SING

PRAISE IS WHAT I DO


P.S: Feel free to share some of your favorite worship songs with me in the comment. I am always happy to learn new songs. Share with me y'all.. :-)

Friday, October 21, 2011

Watch and Pray

Hello again everyone.
I promised I would update my blog from time to time, and this is one of those times.
As I stated in my first post, I will be writing whatever just comes to my mind, so please don’t think everything I write is my “Life story”. Lol. They could be things I got while reading a book, watching a movie, having a conversation with a friend e.t.c. When it relates to me however, I’ll be sure to point it out, so as to take any form of guesses out. (Fair enough right?)

Today’s post is one I’d like to Title “Watch and Pray”.

I am grateful for wonderful people around me, and I’m sure everyone appreciates real, caring and loving people. Take a moment right now and reflect on those people around you; those whom, without, you wouldn’t be who you are right now. I bet you probably have a couple of people floating in your mind… right? Well, do they know you appreciate them?

Be grateful for every friend you have who never fails to tell you the truth no matter how much s/he knows it'll hurt you to hear it. Those kinds of friends are hard to come by. BUT, be careful with friends who ONLY point out the negative things in your life; those friends who always seem to disappear when you've achieved something great, but are the first to appear when something goes wrong.

I titled this post “watch and pray” because if you’re not vigilant – that is, if you don’t watch – you won’t notice the people in your life who fall into the category of “negative people around you”.
If you don't pay attention, if you don't watch, you won't realize you have negative people in your life, because they will shower you with love when things are going bad, so much so that you begin to think they care about you. You have to be careful and probably refrain from friends who seem to always downplay your success with words like "My cousin made a 4.0 in college, but I'm happy you made a 3.95", “it’s nice you bought a Toyota, but my brother just bought a Mercedes Benz”.

Flee from friends who only show up to pity you, with words like "that sucks, eyah, pele, God dey" but are never around to say "You did it, that's my girl/boy, congratulations or I knew you could do it".

When you find yourself only able to say "s/he was there when I lost my cat, s/he was there when I lost my mom, s/he was there when I broke my head, s/he was there when my boy/girlfriend dumped me", but you don't remember s/he being there when you graduated, when you had a baby, got married, or got an award, then you need to start praying that s/he gets out of your life.

This brings me to the second part of my title, Pray. Aside from making an effort to stop talking to or cut out the negative people in your life, you need to Pray. Prayer should be included in all you do and I say pray because some people have the same spirit the boy in Matthew 9:14-29 had in him. That spirit in them – like in that boy – can only be driven out by prayer (Matthew 9:29). The negative people in your life will always be there to point out what a failure you are, and they will never help you move forward. You can’t make any progress when there’s negativity around you. Their words are "don't worry, you only a failed a college class, remember that time you broke your tooth?” It appears their job is to point out only the negativity in your life!

The pity and words of negative people can leave you dry – feeling or acting LESS than the person you really are. Also, since they always show up when something negative happens, it will appear as though nothing good ever happens to you. Flee from these people.

Earlier, I stated that you need to pray because, not answering their calls won't do it. Let's face it; they'll probably appear at your mutual friends' birthday party and sit near you, forcing you to tell them "what's been going on with you" - so that they can add that to their already long list of things going on in your life. When you start saying the good things going on with you, they somehow manage to switch the topic to something bad that has happened to them – and this in turn gets you in what I call “the pity mode”. When you’re in this mode, you end up saying something bad that has happened to you just to make them feel better about their situation. You will most likely end up saying, "Aww… sorry friend, it's been long we saw each other, I didn't know you broke your hand... I also got a big bruise in my leg when I ran into the garage with my bicycle yesterday ".

You see what just happened there? You were trying to run away, but they got you again. You didn’t want to tell them anything about yourself, but once they got you in the “pity mode”, you had to be nice. You wanted to relate… but now, they have YET another thing to add to the list of negative things that happens to you! At the risk of sounding like a nagging mother or persistent pastor, I will say to you right now: trying to run away from the negative people around you alone won't do it. You have to add prayer in the midst.
We all will experience some unpleasant things/events in life. Misfortunes are bound to happen, failure is sometimes inevitable, but you don’t need people around you who always point these things out to you. Search your life, see if you have some negative people in your life, and take action. Do something about it now because you’re only cheating yourself if you let negative people dictate how you feel about yourself. A lot of people think they are not progressing because of something they’re doing wrong, but most people who have potential to succeed are being pulled back by the negativity around them. You can be happy, and you should have people who celebrate your success around you.


Remember, Any friend who doesn’t help in your spiritual walk with Christ is questionable, but a friend who draws you nearer to God is a friend indeed.

My prayer point for everyone is:
Yoruba: Oluwa gba wa lowo awon Ota Ti wa'n se bi ore oo!
Translated in English: Father Lord in heaven, deliver us from enemies that act like friends.

Monday, October 10, 2011

First Blog!!!

Hello all,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I am new in the blog-world, or should I say Blogosphere? Ok, I don't really know Blog-Slangs, so forgive me. I'll get the hang of this soon. 

Most of you on this blog right now probably know me personally, heard about me, or came on here as a result of reading my story on BellaNaija. 
In case you've not read my story, well here's your chance to go on BellaNaija, read it to learn a little bit about me. :-) 

Anyway, in case it's not clear yet, my name is Elizabeth Oke and I finally decided to start blogging! 

In this blog, I will be sharing a whole bunch of things ranging from stories of my life after the tragic car accident, my message on disability awareness in Nigeria, words of encouragement/motivational posts, random musings... in fact, let me just say, posts on this blog shall be about WHATEVER COMES TO MY MIND. 

Bookmark this page, follow me, write the address down, do whatever it takes not to forget this blog's address (lol) and stay tuned for more posts from me. 
God bless you all, and have a wonderful day. :-)

Some Pictures of myself: