Surrender All

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

So many Hymns in my Spirit lately, I seem to keep finding myself singing one after  another. Just the other day I woke up with this tune in my heart and on my lips and I thought to share it to encourage you and me with all the truth it is filled with. Isn't it just so beautiful how relatable hymns are, crazy how I used to think of them as 'old folk music'. How amazing the words that meant everything to followers of Christ then mean just as much if not more to followers of Christ now. I plan on having a collection of these and I look forward to teaching them to my babies :).

So it's an interesting and very exciting time for me. My Re-Birth aka my salvation and total surrender to Jesus is turning one year old next month !! During the course of the Month of August 2014, I finally said yes to Jesus from the deepest corners of my heart, from places I had never even known existed within me. Everything I was holding onto, everything that I placed as more important than Him I was finally ready to release into His care and Trust that He was better. My gut always said He was but Christianity simply didn't seem like 'fun'/ 'the way to live'. But I was broken, I was at my end, enough was enough, I was self destructing all in the name of what I regarded as the better way to live. Honestly, yes it did 'feel good' most of the time, but it wasn't necessarily good to and for me ( plus no one ever got anywhere worth going in life by letting their feelings control their life) and deep down I just knew it wasn't enough.There was more to me, there just had to be more to my life.

Without a shadow of a doubt, I now truly know and believe that life doesn't get better than this... In Jesus is what true living really is! There is no better way..... His way is the way, His way is the truth, His way is the life.

I look back at how in just a few months I have grown in Love and Faith for Jesus Christ. No the journey has not been easy but it has and still is and will always be worth it all . My Lord Jesus turned out to be everything I ever wanted, just what I was looking for and more!! There is no living without Him. There is no life without Him!! And if it's not Him I am consciously serving and worshipping, I will end up serving and worshipping something else whether I am aware of it or not, and it will never satisfy my soul.

It all started with surrendering my all. Allowing His opinion about me and my life to be higher than anyone else's. I gave Him all of me. I placed down my armoury and said "that's it God, I am done fighting and shaking you off. You win. You can have me." I gave into His pursuit for my soul. I began the process of saying Yes to Him everyday for the rest of my life and now, a year later, I am like.. Yooooo!!! why didn't I do this sooner! What took me so long??!! This is where it's at!! It really is! Jesus is the answer! To anything and everything on and beyond this life. What I held onto and finally gave up doesn't even compare to what I am getting in return. He is the exceeding and abundant giver in things way bigger than material perishable earthly worth.

If you don't know what I am talking about, I wish and pray that you can get to understanding who He really is. God is much more than just this ambiguous supernatural thing / feeling. He is my Father, my Best Friend, my Lover. Yes He is Lord over my life and I live to worship and serve Him all the days of my life, but we are in a relationship. We communicate. I grow deeper in love with Him with each passing day because what He is about is inexhaustible. We get intimate and so real.

I have grown a hunger and thirst for His true and living word, the bible. I am always left amazed by all the rich knowledge of Himself that He is just waiting for us to open up, dig in, explore, learn, understand. His word is alive, and to think I only just scratched the surface.

If you don't know Him as your saviour, I urge you to go on and begin a relationship with Him. He loves you just as you are, He wants to fill you up and make you whole. Feel you up from within. Bring your soul to life in ways more money, cars, career or business success, a spouse, children and all that good stuff we are always chasing could never ever do. Come to Him just as you are by believing in His unconditional love, His forgivingness of all your sin and accepting His salvation. Ask Him to come into your life. Don't seek religion, seek Him. Don't go after what He can give and do for you, instead go after Him for who He is - He is Love. Go after a relationship with Him. He loves you and He is waiting for you. He longs to be in a relationship with you, for you to know Him intimately and for you to see yourself the way He see's you. For you to find your true identity and that is only found in Him for He created you, He is your maker. He knows you more than you know yourself.

Listen to that voice deep inside of you calling and nudging you to say yes to Him.

And still in the spirit of Hyms...

You alone are the real joy giver

and the apple of my eye.

You're my friend and you are my brother

Even though you are a king

I love you more than any other

So much more than anything

You alone are my strength, my shield 

To You alone may my spirit yield 

You alone are my heart's desire 

And I long to worship Thee

As the deer panteth for the water

So my soul longeth after Thee

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship Thee

Every Blessing,

Love, Ree.

Trust and Obey. (Photo: Google Images)

** PS: A First of it's kind Special Announcement ** Look out for my first YouTube Video going up in September as a toast to 1 year of blogging !! I will be branching out into Vlogging a little later in the year, but this particular one will be a very very special share .

Come over to My Facebook Page to stay in touch with me when I am not on here :)


Ps: If you are ever in Nairobi and are looking for a church family to visit with, during your short or long stay. My church Eagle's Faith Christian Centre ( EFCC) would be privileged to host you! OR if you live in Nairobi and are looking for a church family or if you simply want to visit and send our love back to your home church family, get in touch with me for directions, or Get Directions Here  !

The published information in no way reflects the views and opinion of my employer and represents only my personal viewpoint.

Comments are not moderated but author reserves the right to remove any comment deemed defamatory, inappropriate, or spam. 

Epilogue....that Rock Bottom feeling

Today is the last day of the month of June, that means we are done with the first half of the year 2015! Can you believe that!! Progressing and moving forward in the right direction with my life has me feeling great at what it has been thus far and excited about the endless possibilities lying ahead of me. You know for each one of us, it all begins with the choice to take the better journey of our lives! My hope is that you are also making the right ones.

In last month's post titled That Rock Bottom feeling, I talked about areas of struggle that we all face in one way or another in this life and I even opened up about two particular scenarios of my own. This month I will keep it very simple and just flood my page by picking some encouraging quotes and phrases from my endless collection and with scripture, that we can have to come back to during those discouraging moments as they will always arise in one form or the other, to keep us encouraged.

Some are new, some are old. Enjoy and may you be blessed and enouraged !!! 

You can’t change your past - but you sure can change your future!

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

If it doesn't challenge you, it wont change you.

One day in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.

Keep pushing, the only way to get past it is through it.

Realise that failure is not an identity but an event...don't allow your past mistakes to define you.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling. Our greatest glory is in rising each and every time we fall . 

It's our attitude not our aptitude that determines our altitude.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn. Success is going from failure to failure without the loss of enthusiasm.

Never ever give up. Winners don't quit! Keep going.

If you do not take control of your inner thoughts, you will become a slave to your outer circumstances. You won't be driving your life; the storms and changing weather will.

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

If at first you don't succeed, call it version 1.0

Don't GO through life ... GROW through life...

Don't stop trying because you've hit a wall, progress is progress no matter how small.

Never let a mistake take you down. If you fall, get back up.

Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.

Just because what you are working toward hasn't come to pass doesn't mean that it's not going to happen! Keep PUSHING!

Never assume that you're stuck with the way things are. Life changes, and so can you.

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.

Turn your low moment into your highest and strongest moment.

It is never too late to change the negative works into something positive.

I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.

Your future is not ahead of you , it is within you .

If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.

"w̶̶a̶̶i̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶f̶̶o̶̶r̶̶ ̶̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶ ̶̶p̶̶e̶̶r̶̶f̶̶e̶̶c̶̶t̶̶ ̶̶m̶̶o̶̶m̶̶e̶̶n̶̶t̶̶, Take the moment and make it perfect."

No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, you can still turn around

Don’t curse your crisis- it can be a blessing in disguise!

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes

Train your mind to see the good in everything.

Life is not waiting for the storm to pass, its learning to dance in the rain.

You are the average of the 5 people you spend your time with. - Get around winners.

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. Even when it hits the fan.

You are wired for greatness and success! Failure is not an option and fear does not exist in your DNA!

Let your faith be bigger than your fear.

When you are in Christ, you are victorious! :)

It is not by might nor by strength, but by unmerited favour of He who began the good work in us. (Zechariah 4:6)

I can do all things thorough Chirst who strengthens me. ( Phillipians 4:13)

“In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.” Psalm 138:3

“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” Matthew 19:26

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. - John 16:33

Love, Ree. 

Snapchat : iamarete

Come over to My Facebook Page to stay in touch with me when I am not on here :)


Ps: If you are ever in Nairobi and are looking for a church family to visit with, during your short or long stay. My church Eagle's Faith Christian Centre ( EFCC) would be privileged to host you! OR if you live in Nairobi and are looking for a church family or if you simply want to visit and send our love back to your home church family, get in touch with me for directions, or Get Directions Here  !

The published information in no way reflects the views and opinion of my employer and represents only my personal viewpoint.

Comments are not moderated but author reserves the right to remove any comment deemed defamatory, inappropriate, or spam. 

That Rock Bottom feeling

You know that all hope is gone empty feeling, when inside of you it all just seems like there is a dark empty space ahead, you can't see or believe that things get better and there is a brighter future ahead, when life is screaming at you 'it doesn't get better than this for you' or  'you failure you!'.

Before salvation, I'd go there a lot, I'd get low and very depressed, but there have been certain times that stood out more than others. I remember this time in high school, when my mum's business went under and life as we knew it literally changed. One thing after another kept crashing around us. She basically lost everything to auctioneers, she was struggling to keep us in school, we couldn't pay our bills and those kept piling, there was even a season we lived in darkness because the lights were cut off, things kept moving from bad to worse and it all just seemed such a hopeless situation. My mother is a very very strong independent woman, she has made such tremendous sacrifices for us, gone all out to try and make things work, I am in such awe of the woman she is. I have never seen her cry, save for when her mother passed away which was way before this, but I vividly remember this one time she was trying to tell me something but she got overcome with emotions and tears started flowing down her eyes. At this particular time, I was about fifteen years old, I had been out of school for a couple of weeks because my tuition was overdue and she was beyond overwhelmed and out of options as everything she tried kept hitting dead ends. I don't know how this happened but I remember hearing these words leave my lips. " Mummy, don't worry. God is in control". She later on shared with me how hearing that brought her so much comfort, peace and motivation and up until this day, that has been our phrase in all situations. " God is in control ". Oh how little I knew then about how much He really was in control and as a matter of fact, He still is! (story for another time) and I know and believe He always will be! From where I am standing, when look back at how God has orchestrated my life, through every low and high moment, I stand amazed.

Today, I want to focus more on about two years ago, May to August of 2013 time frame. My last semester at the University (how that got to happen is yet another story). I was catching up with a friend from Uni the other day and a lot came up about how he couldn't fail to notice how I am different person now, and he happened to throw in a description of my campus lifestyle that went, in his words " you were acing classes and on the side being a G ". I smiled and thought what a fairly enough accurate summary that was. I was serving two masters so to speak. My social life / partying life was hyper active but I cared deeply about doing well in school.

I was never an exam cheat and I credit this to my upbringing. It just really went against me to help or be helped out during an exam. Much earlier in high school in form 1 and 2 (grade 9/10 equivalent) peer pressure had me slip up on that but my conscience didn't let me linger there for too long so the habit was nipped in the bud before it had a chance to develop and take hold of me.

Fast forward to Uni, my partying lifestyle did cost me a number of good grades along the way and I did not fully utilise all the opportunities my school offered but for the most part I was keeping my general performance above average but it was taking everything I got, a couple of times I barely almost made it because like I mentioned, I was 'serving two masters'. This eventually caught up with me during my very last semester, when I only had just two more classes to do, and a lot of 'free' time on my hands. I aced my Final Year Experience class which was a self expression type of class and I really enjoyed it and went all in with the participation. My other class however was a project class, which was not my first choice, I only ended up having to do it because during the previous semester, I did not give looking for an Internship the serious effort it deserved. This class was serious business, very demanding and needed one to be all in and all over it. I was in a very messed up state of mind around that time. I believe a lot involved being scared about the uncertain future, and where my life was going, my lack of self confidence and instead of doing something about it, I went into self destructive mode sub consciously. I was high or intoxicated almost 7 days a week, just basically a lot of tv, sex, drugs, alcohol and idleness. Some friends and I coined the phrase "Senior Year YOLO Experience" in celebration of our last all out partying season before real life happened, however they were taking care of their business, I was not!! I was so out of character, this just was not me, never had I ever let my studies suffer completely just so I could party. I messed up, I messed up big time and by the time it hit me that I had spiralled out of control, it was too late to fix my mess, and for me cheating was just not an option to consider no matter how pressed my back was against the wall.

Staring at that F-grade, my very first ever, that I had basically handed myself on a silver platter and not sure what I was going to do about it and do about my life, I kept it to myself. I did not tell anyone about it, I made up lies when the transcript conversation came up, I was too guilty and embarrassed to face the reality, here my family thought I was done with Uni and had a degree but I had flanked my very last class. I remember thinking of the sacrifices my mother had made to keep me in a good school and how dumb and selfish I had become to throw it all away at the end. About the same time I was going to church sometimes, I was that luke warm Christian but in all of that, I started leaning on God's comfort and wisdom. It took me maybe about 4 or 5 months to allow God to forgive me and in turn forgive myself and finally mustering the courage to come clean with my mother first and then a few select older family members.

To cut the long story short, I overcame my shame, swallowed my pride, faced my fear of failure and registered for the class again (not forgetting how God provided for all the funds I needed to redo the class). At first it was very hard, I honestly wasn't sure I could do it. I had faced challenges before head on refusing to give up, but I guess with the cloud of failure hovering over me and me listening to the thoughts of doubt in my head, I almost gave up along the way. Can you imagine I had even started to give in to my self destructive habits... again! I would never have overcome this hurdle without God, without Jesus. I credit my breakthrough to when I chose to commit my life to God and walk away from my self destructive nature.

The moral of the story?.... During our journey through life, we are all going to be hit by hard tough moments along the way. Some of them will be beyond our control, it maybe sickness, the loss of our loved ones, great financial setbacks, your business may not be picking up and those debts are piling up fast, your kids are turning out the opposite of what you brought them up to be, you're drowning at your job when everybody else you know seems to be progressing at whatever it is they are doing or your life just isn't going anywhere, the landlord is kicking you out, heart breaking relationships, your marriage doesn't seem to be working and you feel the distance between the two of you increasing daily. Maybe society says you were born in the wrong social circle or caste, you can't afford this or that for you or your children, you are not good enough,have a disability, you are too big or too small or don't have the right look........... or maybe you are facing self inflicted life lows, maybe you did not try hard enough and lost the job or position you had, you let opportunity slip away, you made the wrong decisions over and over and feel like you have wasted your life away, you cheated on your spouse or took to alcohol or obsessed with work and success and lost your family. Whatever the case the feeling of emptiness, inadequacy, of being a failure, of hitting rock bottom being the common attribute.

You know why I chose to feature the word 'feeling' in the title... because that is all it really is, a feeling. The truth of the matter is that no matter your disadvantage or your disposition, you not a failure if you fall, no matter how many times you keep falling, the real failure is in giving up and not getting up.

It is true, the low seasons in life are not easy ones to go through. I personally do not see how I could be able to go my stormy seasons without God by my side. Life is not and will never be good all the time, but God, He is God, and He is good all the time. Post salvation, I have ceased to have that empty hopeless feeling I used to get when going through low moments.

It helps to remember that His word asks us to be bold and courageous, not to live in fear, because He is with us all the time and He will never leave us or abandon us Deuteronomy 31:6
He also tells us in Philippians 4:13 that through Him, we can do all things! Nothing is impossible! He gives us the power. Therefore we should not be living defeated helpless lives no matter our situation, because through Him we are more than conquerors Romans 8:37 !

I also take comfort in knowing no matter what is going on in my life, even if I can't see it, I know that all things are working together for my good, there is a bigger picture I can't see, but He does and I trust Him Romans 8:28 , and that the storms will not always easy or make any human sense but no matter what happens, Jesus the Prince of peace will prevail in my heart and my life and give me His peace, that goes beyond normal understanding. Philippians 4:7

Finally, my life outside Jesus always led me to the snares of the devil 2 Timothy 2:26, resulting in me self destructing, because the devils business is to kill, steal and destroy our lives John 10:10 but Jesus came to save us that we may have life and have it abundantly! Outside Him there is no true living. So in Him is all my faith, hope, trust and love! I expound on this in a post I wrote in March called For when it is hard remember this, check it out.

You have only failed if you chose not to do anything about the situation and give up, only If you chose to believe that the negative labels and the hopeless looking situation are who you are. Do not believe that.

What ever has happened or is happening, is not the end of you, not even close! Run to God, He will heal you, He will fix you.

Oh aaaaaaand............................ I did pass my project class after all!  I got a B+ glory be to God!! So I did officially finish my undergraduate degree and I am so looking forward to going back to school and what that new chapter and journey of my life is going to entail and what it will bring forth !!

Love, Ree

Come over to My Facebook Page to stay in touch with me when I am not on here :)


Ps: If you are ever in Nairobi and are looking for a church family to visit with, during your short or long stay. My church Eagle's Faith Christian Centre ( EFCC) would be privileged to host you! OR if you live in Nairobi and are looking for a church family or if you simply want to visit and send our love back to your home church family, get in touch with me for directions, or Get Directions Here  !

The published information in no way reflects the views and opinion of my employer and represents only my personal viewpoint.

Comments are not moderated but author reserves the right to remove any comment deemed defamatory, inappropriate, or spam.