Happy New Year!

Last years’ theme for my blog was Awake and Alive. That’s actually a Skillet song that I thought would be catchy and cute, it turned out to be exactly what the year turned into. 

January: Enjoyed all the benefits of being single and not searching for the first time in a long time. Transferred to City Campus.

February: Discovered the Jesus Culture Band and a new love for worship.

March: Experienced God’s love in a tangible way for the 1^sttime

April: Heard about Worship auditions

May: Turned 22 and realized my life needs to take a different direction.

June: Auditioned and joined worship team

July: Passed my CPA exams

August: Finished probation and became an official member of WT. Made a couple of mistakes that were quickly rectified.

September: Decided to dream big and reawaken myself to the possibilities I believed in in High School

October: Discovered Mark Driscoll and learnt a lot

November: On stage for the 1^st time

December: No matter how much I run and hide, He tracks me down.  Also, started sending in my applications. Also finally closed a door that I’ve left open far too long.

These are the general themes that ran through each month, but what I can’t put into words is the small moments that marked every single day this year. I can honestly say, this has been the best year of my life. The friends I’ve made, the places I’ve gone, the experiences I’ve had, the mistakes I’ve made, the conversations I’ve had, the love I’ve felt and the ability to enjoy and appreciate every moment. 

My favorite song of the year has to be Bethel Worship’s “This is What You Do”. The chorus goes like. “This is what you do, you make me come alive” and this is definitely how I’ve felt this year.

A new year brings new things and a new theme that I hope at the end of the year will accurately describe how the year has gone.

I’ll explain the meaning tomorrow.

For now, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

xx

Jo

Self-Awareness

I was talking to a friend of mine about how important it is to get to a point where you’re settled and find fullness in yourself. Not in a job or in a relationship or in all these other external stuff. I’ve definitely been feeling that this year, as you all well know.

I have to admit I have lost my footing for a while, I won’t lie, serving in Church last month was HARD! I was at Church practically every night and if not at Church then doing a Church related activity, reports or reading for Mizizi, vocal class, rehearsals, Mizizi classes and on top of that studying for campus exams, it was just a lot! I wasn’t really doing it from a place of overflow because well, I wasn’t getting filled up.

I miss Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton and Jeremy Riddle and Jenn Johnson…i.e. my Bethel Church podcasts, I haven’t had time to watch my favorite people.

December hasn’t been any better because family has been intense, my sister’s due date is fast approaching so I’m trying to pitch in where I can and help her and keep my nephew occupied so she can relax and have some fun before life completely changes again. My nephew though is a stubborn one and when he screams "I want mommy", no amount of distraction from me will work :-)

I read my Bible maybe twice a week at best…so my identity has definitely been shaken. The past two weeks I’ve just been thinking, “Who am I?” and then it hit me, wait, haven’t I already answered these questions before? I know exactly who I am, I know exactly what I want to do, I know where I’m meant to be and that is simply with God. Obviously there’s specifics: career, where to live, who to be friends with, but point is all that comes from me knowing who I am in God. 

I keep saying I don’t have this whole God thing figured out. I don’t know how that will happen, the day when I’m always “on” or connected. But honestly, this week, I felt pursued. After ignoring God for weeks, I get a text from a new blog reader ;-)and it reminded me of this whole thing, who I am and why I do what I do. A couple minutes later, I stumble upon Bethan's blog about life at BSSM. Then a song comes on and wah, never-failing thick presence, I felt a rush of love, and I know I TOTALLY don’t deserve to be loved or pursued by someone I’ve treated so badly, but that’s just what He does.

So, me and God, I am so in this, there’s no getting out. I’ll have to figure out how I’ll make time and how I’ll maintain that because life hasn’t stopped being busy, in fact it’s about to get busier in 2013, but I need to figure it out.

The wedding I went to also had a sort of reverse impact on me. I’ve said before how when I was in High School I knew without any doubt that I would be married at 22! I turned 21 and said, ok, maybe by 24, but now, I’m like, that’s probably not what’s going to happen with my life. 

Marriage and relationships aren’t the be all, end all of life. I have tons of dreams and stuff I would love to experience in my own life and I can’t keep molding innocent people I date into what I want same way I can’t keep changing myself to fit into the personality of whoever I’m dating. 

So right now, I’m like whatever happens will happen, I’m not actively pursuing anything specific. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely want love, but I’m not going through any stress or sadness or drama to get it. I think when 2 people want to be together, 1 party doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting, it just happens. In this phase of my life I’m Zen.

Yes, also the fact that the bride and groom hadn’t slept together despite dating 6 years rocked me...a whole blog post needs to be done about this statement alone, hehehe.

My family and friends have been absolutely essential to me this year, from Joe telling me how I’m an awesome friend or Michelle telling me I’m a full package all on my own and also showing me some crazy tough love, or my sister and Abby telling me to enjoy every moment of life now but keep things in perspective, or Ted who's constantly teaching me the value of patience and understanding, honestly I have the best BFF’s. I know self-awareness is all about me knowing me, but they deserve recognition too.

Anyway, more to come on this.

xx

Jo

Weigh-In Monday

I haven't done a weigh in for the longest time, probably because nothing has changed. My weight is always around 57 to 63. When I started this blog I was at 63 kg, now I'm at....


ten tereren

58 KG!!

Cue the fireworks and marching band. The funny thing is and I'm letting you into a secret here, I'm writing this post about an hour after devouring a plate of fries and onion rings...hold up...before you start judging, if ya'll knew the week I had, plus saw this number on your scale you'd wanna celebrate too :-)

I have lost my tape measure, so I can't do the inches thing although I doubt there's much change, not too sure, but I'll do that next time and take a few pics, although again I doubt there'll be much change. 

I'll do a proper post soon, right now, I have too many issues with my internet.

xo

Jo  

Just Call Me Master

Last time I was on here, I talked about bringing God into your health journey, and I was so true on that. Weeks later that post is still rocking me and I've been looking for practical ways of doing that and one thing I've been doing is using this Bible Study/Course I found on Setting Captives Free called The Lords Table.

I cannot tell you what this course has done for me! I'm on day 8 and these first few days are a bit tough, breaking old routines but it has been incredible just finding out new things about God and growing closer to Him.

Basically what happens is, there's some notes, scriptures and testimonies to read and it's interactive so you also have to answer some questions, and there's also a food plan, not meals or recipes, you still control that, but the point is to show you that your body wasn't designed and doesn't need to be fueled by constant snacking, God created us with an internal pager to tell us when we're hungry, when we're full etc. It teaches you the spiritual significance of hunger and that we don't have to constantly jump from diet to diet, food is not the enemy, our attitude is.

Why do we know in our hearts that, if I ate half this packet of fries, I'd be full, yet we still eat the whole packet, plus a sausage, plus a half liter soda? Is it because we really are hungry or are we trying to use food to cover up our stress, emotional issues, boredom, loneliness etc? Are we looking to food to be our comfort and satisfaction instead of God, are we putting food before God?

Anyway, there's a lot more I can add, but check it out for yourself and see if it's for you.

They also encourage you to add exercise at least 30 minutes a day into your schedule and you may also be assigned an accountability partner/mentor who you can talk to, ask questions, vent to etc. I hit the jackpot of mentors and mine usually throws in some prayers and encouragement on email. God is good!

Anyway the hugest lesson I've learned is this:

This was my after dinner dessert a while ago, pink lady apples and peanut butter. I'll post the recipe soon.


All The Love and Encouragement in the World,
Jo

Come As You Are

I've always heard the phrase "come as you are" in church and the basic idea is that we can't change ourselves or get our act together - and we don't need to do that so that we can get to be with God. Wherever you are, come as you are.

 

I remember this year when it finally hit me, it's not my job to fix myself, and let me tell you, I have come to God with a tennis racket and a mattress in my anger screaming at Him, I have come to God in my sadness and tears asking Him why, I have come to God in my joy and laughter asking Him, why me, why love me? I've come in a lot of ways and ache time, it was as I was and each time, He meets me, not immediately and I have gone to bed angry and woken up with dried tears on my face on many occasions, but one way or another, He has always met me.

But if from there, wherever you are, anger, tears, confusion, doubt or laughter, you seek the Lord, you will find Him. He's merciful and He keeps His word, He will never abandon you.

xx

Jo

Re-Vamp

So you might have noticed the blogs got a little make-over? The word that's been ringing in my mind the past few days is re-vamp. Change is firmly in the air, for the blog, for me, for my life.

There's a hunger stirring deep in my soul for something more. I don't know what it is, I suppose right now, maybe I don't need to, maybe I just have an entire overhaul and in that process, I'll figure out what it is.

Two things that have already changed;

1. My devotional/quiet time, I think after waking up earlier consistently for a week, I can say it's become a habit. I read somewhere that you should read the Word of God until you pant for it, so far I'm loving it, I really need to do it. I'm so desperate for more of God. I feel like there's so much more and I'm barely scratching the surface. Especially since I'm serving this in church this month, (Worship Team + Mizizi). Man, I NEED MORE. I'm so tired of the ordinary, going to church, sitting around for an hour saying hi to a couple of people and coming back home! I want it to be different, I have such hopes and expectations and I'm s desperate for them to be met, do you feel me? I need more!
2. Ha, FINALLY quit Facebook. Wah, I feel like for the most part I'm so done with keeping up with strangers lives when you've never had a conversation. I mostly used it for photos anyway and now I have this blog, I can just braindump over here. Even Twitter is definitely going next. All I want/need is this blog. I definitely still want a place to write and release thoughts or whatever, but I always feel this pressure of "this is going to be on someone's timeline, people might not like it" but here, if you've sought me out, you must like my thoughts, so I can write it.

Anyway, as always whatever else I do, you'll be the first to know.

xo

Jo

Joanne the Songwriter

Ya’ll already know I write.

Brief history, back in school (Primary/High School) I used to write amazing pretty great compositions. I like to think I’m a little bit creative. (Speaking of creative, I had this dream last night about a scene I’d created for Modern Family between Mitchell and Cam, and it was so funny, I woke up in the middle if the night LAUGHING! I drifted back off to sleep thinking, God I hope I remember this in the morning that was too good not to share. Sadly, I don’t remember it. Still, I woke up laughing in the middle of the night. That was awesome!)

Anyway, so I wrote stories and compositions in school. In College, I wrote poems and Spoken Word type of things… I had a bunch on Facebook and my old computer but lost them when it had problems. I still wrote though. Then I was in this “kind-of” dating thing with a guy from my youth group and he knew I wrote, so one time he wrote this little poem for me. Irrelevant, but that’s one of the sweetest things any guy ever did for me, so I thought I’d mention it.

Then I totally fell off the God wagon and fell deep into this other relationship and. Needless to say, this guy wasn’t exactly from my church youth-group. I lost myself. Seriously, the whole time I was in that relationship, I lost my inspiration. Good thing is, I realized I wasn’t really/it wasn’t truly love, (a little too late though,) because love inspires and stirs up the music inside of you. I made a lot of mistakes back then, and ruined a great friendship, anyway...

So, my soul was quiet for a long time, as I went through what I call “The Dark Years” but finally this year, (I’m smiling as I write this) the music came back.  God totally healed me from the mess, I’D created and he put inspiration back in my life.

So, I write, Christian songs here and there as the Spirit leads. Which is a fancy way of saying, it doesn’t happen every day! At different points and different days, the way I connect with God changes. One day it’s singing, tomorrow might be reading the Bible, after that might be writing. It never looks the same for me and I’ve learnt to go with that.

Anyway, I haven’t written a song in a while, but I’ve written over 50 blog posts over the past 2 days scheduled across all my blogs for the next month! This week, I’ve been connecting through blogging J

For some reason songs come to me when I’m sitting on the corridor floor next to the stairs (pictured)

xo
Jo

My School

This is my last official semester. I guess I’m getting nostalgic, and lazy too because dragging my butt to class is a huge challenge for me right now! (Mom if you’re reading this, I always go to class, I’ve never skipped!)

Anyway, I often say transferring to City Campus was the best choice I’ve ever made. I’ve talked before about how going to my particular school wasn’t exactly my choice, as in I’d already gone for orientation at the school I wanted to go to and all f a sudden, my family’s like, “don’t go here go there”. I’m responsible for choosing to be influenced - this isn’t a blame post!

Anyway, I hated, HATED, my old campus. It was HUGE and the walk from the gate to class was like 20 minutes. My class had like 200, maybe more people so the scrum-down that happened when people practically stampeded over each other to find a good seat was ridiculous. It was a 2 hour trip from my house. The buses/mats to that place were mostly old, rusty, smelly and badly driven at least at the stage where I used to go to. Well, you get the idea, I didn’t have a lot of love for the place.

I got used to it a little by 2^nd year, plus I got to move out to a great little apartment which I loved and it made life a LOT easier.

Beginning this year though, I got the chance to transfer to a new Campus. This is in the city center, a great building, and fewer students, like 1 15-50 max class size, better or at least closer administration, 30 minutes from home, great class schedule…

The quality of my life changed drastically, I’m a hundred times happier here. I’m so grateful to God for that, and grateful I can finally say, “I love my school!”

xo

Jo

Our Kids

Judging from my nieces and nephews, my family has some pretty great genetics! J

My nephew (sis), my nieces (bro), my extended niece and nephew (my cousin Monica)

Can’t wait to have my own!!! I think being a mom will just be the hugest blessing to me!

xo

Jo

Sky-Watch

Get it, because we're going to go see Skyfall next week...no? Yeah guess it's not that funny :-)

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of cloud gazing recently. I don't know, if anything can show you how beautiful, majestic, awesome, creative, spectacular, awe-striking, amazing God is, it's the colors of the sky.

Took these with my phone.

Took this at the Greenspan Mall Parking Lot...my sis and I were half expecting a face to appear like on the TV show "V"

Sunset Over Greenspan

Honestly those colors, pinks, blues, yellows, greys...PERFECT!

God is beautiful.

Took these next 3 sitting in the bus on the Jogoo Rd. Bridge, I looked to the right and literally saw the rain coming (see the rain pouring down at the back of the picture?)...I love that

Love this!

Took this one on my morning "jog" I run up and down this street like 15 times and I think that's good enough for me ;)

This is an old one, loved the light in the middle.

Anyway, yesterday I was praying and just said, "God help me never take it for granted. I want to catch as many glimpses of you as I can"


xx
Jo

Orange for Church

I wore this long sleeved orange top that was a gift from my mom a couple of weeks ago. I paired it with the dark denim boot-cut jeans and my beige jacket that I love – also gift from my mom. So I got dressed at around 7:30 since it was so cold and cloudy. When I got outside, 20 minutes later, the sun was out full force! So I had to go back upstairs and change into this orange vest.

#UnpredictableKenyanWeather!

xo

Jo

Summer Vests

We’re in a season here I like to call Kenyan summer. Right after cold July and before November short rains. 

So, I bought these vests at Bus Station and they’ve come in quite handy! I’m even planning on going to get some more!

xo

Jo

Let's Just Take A Minute...

Contemporary Family Room design by Detroit Interior Designer Jeffrey King Interiors

AMEN GOD, AMEN!

Natural Hair

I am 100% African. No British colonialist blood somewhere in my family line. As such, I have 100% African hair.

In High School, I had this Straight kit thing going on, you know where you straighten your hair then you have to use gel to style it. After High School, I still hadn’t figured out the whole hair thing, (blame 4 years of boarding school where you went to the salon once in 3 months) So, I had this experience one time back at Strath Uni, my friends and I were walking on campus heading to class and we saw another guy who used to be my friend back then. This guy was bi-racial and had great hair, so when we passed him, this so-called friend of mine that I was walking with said, “Joanne, even [can’t remember his name] has better hair than you”

Can you believe that?!

Of course I laughed it off, but I got home and cried like a baby! Then I angrily wiped the tears away and went to my mom’s room and searched her stash for a weave! Got my hair done THE NEXT DAY! Let’s just say, that girl hasn’t commented on my hair since!

Since then I alternate between weaves, braids, straighteners (not straight kit, never ever!) but, I don’t know, maybe it’s the whole growing into my own thing, but I’m liking keeping my hair natural. I wore the curly afro a while ago and felt great.

Who knows, maybe next year this will be a permanent thing?

xo

Jo

Blessings and Declarations

It's never too soon to start praying for the people you love and if I'm gonna tie myself down to anyone for the majority of my life, he better be crazy blessed, I wanna live the good life :-) :-) :-) hehehe.

So my darlingest darling, wherever you are, this is what I'm believing in for you:

• Strength 
• Godliness
• Anointing
• Flourishing
• Productivity
• Vitality
• Unshakeable faith that the Lord is Your Rock

Love You Always,

Jo

My Thoughts on Jeremiah 44 #OneYearBible

Jeremiah 44 is pretty interesting. 

We actually had to do Jeremiah in High School CRE (Religious Ed. but right now, I don't get it at all, it's taken me skipping through 44 chapters to finally see what's going on...apparently that A I got on my exam was a miracle, haha!)

God tells the Israelites, “Do not do this detestable thing that I hate” but they did not listen or pay attention and turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods. So the anger of the Lord is poured out and the nation is left desolate. (Jeremiah 44:4-6)

God says again, “Why provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. You will destroy yourselves and make yourselves an object of cursing and reproach among the nations of the world. Haven't you learnt from the past? Didn't you see this happen before with your forefathers and kings and queens who came before you?” and he adds, that because they've absolutely refused to recognize Him, punishment is coming their way. (Jeremiah 44:8-10)

The nation of Judah, or rather the remnant of the nation of Judah says: “We will certainly do what we said we will do” no, not obey God, they said, “we will burn incense to the queen of heaven, we will pour out incense and drunk offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. At that time, we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm, but ever since we stopped burning incense and pouring drunk sacrifices we've had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine” (Jeremiah 44:15-19)

Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com via Alyse on Pinterest

Hello, God said He would punish you with sword and famine, so the only reason you stopped burning incense is because you were dealing with the repercussions of burning incense in the first place! It wasn't your choice!

Moreover, if the queen of heaven was a viable/real god, wouldn't she have saved you from the famine and sword so you could keep devoting yourselves to her? Why do you want to worship a god who wasn't there for you, who apparently only seeks to be appeased without giving anything – not love and not protection in return?

Whereas, you have an offer from:

• A God, who is obviously strong enough and true enough to His word to destroy you just as He said He would,
• A God who has kept pursuing you even as you constantly reject Him,
• A God who tried to correct you and who like a loving parent, felt grieved at you forcing His hand into that correction (Jeremiah 42:10).
• As in a God who has more good in store for you than you could imagine!
• A God who when your fathers obeyed in the past, He prospered them and gave them more than they could imagine,
• A God who’s promised to restore them, despite everything, if they'd only listen to Him and stop burning incense to this other thing.

Jeremiah’s trying to make them see sense and He’s like, “Guys! Don't you get it?! Don’t you see it?! The only reason you're living in this disaster is because you're ignoring the one true God!”

It’s absolutely easy to read this and think, man, why were they so blind?! The truth is though, how many times have I said those exact words? Do any of these sound familiar in your own life? Yup, I'm guilty.

• “There’s no way I can get saved right now, I'm too young and I still have tons of partying to do! I’ll get saved when I'm married/I'm a parent.”
• “There’s no way I can become a Christian, I'm in love of this person, if we don't sleep together we'll break up, I can't break up with them, they're ‘the one’!”
• “There’s no way I can serve in Church, then I’ll be on the spotlight and my behavior outside of Church has to match my behavior inside Church!”
• “There’s no way I can quit watching porn/reading those novels/watching those steamy scenes, they make me feel better and they give me ideas, shouldn't I be well educated in all areas of life.”
• “Life was so much easier when I wasn't saved; I had about 100 people I could date following me, now I have to wait for ‘God’s plan’”
• “My parents just don't get it, fine; they made their mistakes, why should I learn from them? Shouldn't I make my own mistakes to learn from?!”

I could go on and on.

I love how the issues we face aren't anything new, putting other things before God started thousands of years ago and we have the Bible to learn from. I’m absolutely sure that a lot of the time we're blinded by our situations. I look back on some things I did, I'm like, “WHAT WAS I THINKING?” Yet at the time, they seemed like the best idea to me. Now I'm just thankful and constantly think, “Wow God please forgive me and thanks for getting me out of that – alive!” Ha!

I’m so fearful of becoming ‘blind’ again, life then and life now – incomparable! In a good way…a great way.

Really, I think my prayer/our prayer should be, “Lord open my eyes so I can see things like you do. I have ‘queens of heaven’ in my life that I may not see as such, but in your eyes, they are. You are my God, my only God and you're the only one who loves me as God. Help my heart remain sensitive to your word alone God.”

With that knowledge comes this privilege and responsibility, that

1. The Lord knows those who are His - {awesome! That a) He knows me and b) He calls me “HIS”, ahhh, the 'romantic' girl in me is swooning! Ha! }
2. Those who confess the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness (2 Timothy 2:19)

xx

Jo

Checking Out My Favorite Song Be My Love by Justin Jarvis

I want to introduce you to the song that inspired this:

I cant find anyone like you, that satisfies quite like you do, n my heart is burning for you... #JesusCulture #BeMyLove #FavoriteSong
— Joanne Furaha (@Joannefuraha) October 7, 2012

said it before n i'll say it again #BeMyLove by @nwardii has to be 1 of my fave songs to worship to on #JesusCulture's #EmergingVoices
— Joanne Furaha (@Joannefuraha) October 12, 2012

@joannefuraha actually Be My Love is @justinjarvis but I agree with you %100!
— Nate Ward II (@NWardii) October 12, 2012

How gracious is this guy! I LOVE his songs on here as well by the way. We'll definitely have 'em on the blog soon.

Nate Ward and Justin Jarvis tweeted me, and Justin Jarvis totally favorited my tweet...I know I'm a dork, but let me be a screaming fan for a second!

Ok, I'm done.

So I'm gonna introduce you to this amazing song and ask you to join in a collective prayer, "More Lord Jesus, more music that raises the standard, more gifts, more talent, more drawing closer to you in worship. More of your presence more, more more!" 


First of all, get to know Justin Jarvis:



Then listen to this and tell me if the Holy Spirit doesn't whack you in the heart...I will give you $100 and by $ I mean, Kenya Shillings (again, just kidding).

Seriously though, this song does a number on me.

"I can't find anyone like you, who satisfies, quite like you do and my heart is burning for you!" 

"We just love you God!" 

That is it, that sums up worship, God loves us amazingly and there could be millions of words and millions of songs to describe that but, the point is, "We JUST love YOU God!" I'm glad they extended the worship with the reprise on another track on the album (Track 6 is the reprise)

I wish they had a video, but this is the best I could find. Please check out the album or you can get it here. SOOOO worth it!






xx
Jo

Mizizi Week 3

I wore the maxi skirt again a couple of weeks ago, and teamed it with this top I’ve had since I was like 14. My mom buys really great stuff, she has an eye for quality and I’m really appreciating that because a lot of the stuff she and I wore in the past are making their rounds back into acceptable fashion. The silver ring, I got for my 21^st birthday.

Mizizi this week was insane! I’ve talked before about how I wanted to maybe go into Pastoral Leadership as a career, so a couple of months ago I decided to get a head start and start serving in Church. So I joined Worship Tea, (yayy!) and I signed up to teach/understudy a beginners course at my Church called Mizizi.

Yesterday it hit me that it isn’t about going and working. Serving is a major Spiritual burst! What I mean is, it pulls so much out of you, you’re constantly expected to grow and change and move out of your comfort zone. Last night I just felt the weight of it. I was just drained. Putting myself out there, sharing my heart with a group of practical strangers, having them share their heart, just the weight of all that.

Then there’s the feeling of, “God, they are so close! Please let them encounter you, please let them encounter you, please don’t let them leave here discouraged and not knowing all that you have to offer”

Then with Worship Team, again a bunch of practical strangers, trying to fit in, having to go all the way across town for fellowship and again, investing relationally and pushing myself out of my shell. Then these thoughts come in, “Why are you doing this? This isn’t a requirement! You’re getting tired for nothing! How safe is it to walk around town at night when you could be at home?”

The fact that I feel like this is an encouragement to me. Christian life isn’t about having this cushy, comfortable, status-quo existence, its active and action packed. Otherwise, stagnate and die. About the stress, I was watching Francis Chan and he said something along the lines of, “Mizizi/Worship Team, this isn’t my party that I’m inviting God to, this is His party that He lets me be a part of. I’m not the one on whose shoulders lie the responsibility of encounter, God is.”

I have to let God come and do what He does, that is, love in His people.

My only job description is to seek God, and put myself in a place where He can fill me up, so that I can pour into others. I have to rely on Him more than ever now because in my passive-church-once-a-week life, I’ve never been in this space where I’m technically “leaking”.

It’s also great because when I start dating and when I get a family, I’m gonna be “leaking” all over that too, so getting into the practice of getting filled up by God so I can pour onto others is a POSITIVE thing.

xo

Jo

Friday's Letters

It's been awhile since I've done one of these! If you're here for the 1st time from the link-up, bienvenue, welcome, welcome, welcome, feel at home or as we say here in Nairobi, "Karibuni" look around, grab a button if you'd like, follow and join my adventures and lets have fun.

Moving on:

Dear Week,
I am glad to see the end of you! Laundry's done, house is cleaned, I'm ready for some rest!
Dear Church,
I'll be on stage leading (background-ing as it were) worship for the 1st time from next week, please go easy on me, I'm still new! :-)
Dear Music,
I'm loving you more each day, writing you, hearing you, singing you, and looking forward to Saturday's vocal training classes.
Dear School,
You've stressed me out this week, ridiculously! But, also learning a lot of life lessons from you.
Dear Mom,
Thanks for being there for me to love on!
Dear Sister,
I miss you, that's why I called you, not for my letter!
Dear God,
Can't fail to see your provision this week, from mom offering to buy me a 2000/= dress, to her not freaking out on me about the school thing, to finding good deals on clothes. Yes!
Dear Nerd,
Thanks for treating me to lunch, I totally needed that after the week I had...pasta and ice cream makes me so happy!!!!
Dear Future,
Applications have been made, my part is done, now all we can do is wait on God to show up and provide!

Finally, to you my elusive man who I'm yet to meet...

xx
Jo

Date Night Ideas: Love Letters

Source: vi.sualize.us via Mary on Pinterest

This is a good one,

Source: etiquetteforagentleman.tumblr.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Imagine with me for a minute, if occasionally during the week, when either you or your special someone feel inspired, or touched, you wrote each other a little note and put it in one of these, set up somewhere in your house:


A mason jar:

Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Or a good looking mailbox that fits your decor:

Source: braidmetojune.tumblr.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Then once a week/fortnight/month whatever your date night rules are, you carried these out with you on your date and went through them?

Source: via Addie on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Mandie on Pinterest

Source: insomniaticthoughts.tumblr.com via Wandile on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Wandile on Pinterest

Source: woolcotton.tumblr.com via Wandile on Pinterest

Source: highestcommondenominator.tumblr.com via Wandile on Pinterest

Source: highestcommondenominator.tumblr.com via Wandile on Pinterest

Ever the Hopeful Romantic,
Jo