GROW WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED

Its quiet natural to want something better for our lives, to be uncomfortable with where we find ourselves and want to do everything within our power to see that change. Sometimes though, in search for better, in wanting to improve our lives, we miss that there is a reason for being placed where we are. That sometimes, God doesn’t want to remove us from the place where we find ourselves, He instead wants us to grow and bloom in that exact position or place that we want to leave.

Whether it is a job that you dislike, or staying in a place that you seem to hate, God doesn’t just do things for the fun of it, because He has nothing better to do with His time. At times you are placed in a situation that is uncomfortable for you, to teach you a particular lesson and at times, the lesson is not for you but those that you find around you. At any given moment, where we find ourselves could be a place of discovery for us or we could be serving as a teacher in the life of someone else, who needs a particular lesson that God may have chosen us to give to them.

It can therefore mess with His bigger plan, when we becomes so frustrated with where we find ourselves that we completely miss to take in and embrace the lessons of the moment. When we become so consumed with growing to the next level that we miss that which God is trying to do in our lives or the way in which He may be trying to use us for the benefit of others.

 

 

Last year I found myself attending a college that just seemed to rub me off the wrong way. I had won a bursary competition on a local radio station and felt obligated to ride this wave out. But everything about the place, the lecturers, the way things were run, even just the Headmistress breathing seemed to work on my nerves. I felt trapped and given, I was unhappy to be there. Waking up every morning to attend classes was sheer torture; it was just something I didn’t want to do. As miserable as I was, I also felt slightly guilty for those feelings. I had been given an opportunity that many would kill for and here I was, taking it for granted, not in the least appreciative for it. It felt wrong to complain and so I kept attending classes despite my lack of interest in anything that was taught.

About a month into things, I sparked a friendship with 2 young ladies who were both younger than me but already married. It was our conversations about men and marriage that brought us together but ultimately I would learn that, as young as these ladies were. They were somewhat despondent about their lives and the situations that they found themselves in. I think back to all the chats we had, on life, school, the dreams we had, our families and where we wanted to see ourselves.

I eventually quit the college at the beginning of the year, without notice or anything. I just woke up one day and decided that I wasn’t going there anymore. It was a random message from one of these ladies that reminded me that a situation may be insignificant at the time, frustrating and stressful but it may just be a part of God’s bigger plan. When you having innocent chats with people, you don’t know how something that you say may be the lifeline that they need to make a change in their lives. You don’t know how sharing the story of your struggles may be the motivation and hope they need to say, it gets better, things do eventually work out.

The frustration I felt at the time, being stuck in a place and situation I despised clouded the fact that God was using me at that time. To touch someone else, to give them hope and to encourage them to change the things about their lives that they were not happy with. I think most of us miss that, miss that nothing ever happens without a reason and that God always has a purpose.

Whether it’s His plan that we become mature, that we grow in our faith or that we relay a message to someone who needs it at the time. We should live in the truth that, not all situations are meant to be left, sometimes, the very place you don’t want to be in, is where God is going to use you for His glory. Sometimes that place that seems hopeless is exactly where He plants you and wants you to grow.

Wherever we find ourselves, we should always listen to the voice of God because He will whisper to us that which we need to do. It is only by listening to His voice that we will know if we are meant to bloom where He has placed us or whether where we find ourselves now, is just a pit stop, a stepping stone to something bigger and greater that He has planned for us. Whatever the situation, open up your heart and be willing to embrace the lessons and teachings that come with being where He has placed you now.



YOUR BIGGEST TEST IS JUST BEFORE YOUR GREATEST BLESSING

About a week ago, I called a friend to rush me to hospital because I had chest pains that made it difficult to breathe; as if that was not enough I had the most severe stomach cramps. It felt like my insides were being torn apart. I was scared and in pain. When people always say, they saw their life flash before their eyes; I think it was at that moment that it finally made sense to me. For a split second there, I thought I would just stop breathing completely. As the car sped off to the emergency room, I thought of my child and niece and it was not justified that I wouldn’t be there for them in the future. They still needed me, here, on earth, alive and kicking as they say.

I was admitted and put on a drip, which didn’t seem to be working for the first few hours I was there (for all I know it could have been a few minutes that felt like hours considering the situation that I was in) and the assistant nurse injected me with something that would supposedly make me sleepy and a bit drowsy. I was completely vulnerable, not even able to hold on to the act that I play so well of being tough. I was frail and needy, needing my mother the same way; I felt my daughter needed me. I think that was the thought that kept me going; knowing that giving up was not an option, no matter how uncomfortable I was from the pain.

I spent 3 not so lovely days in hospital and I just wanted to be home with my children. (Don’t get lost, I do still only have one biological child but my niece is practically like my own and another girl, aged 17 that’s been living with me for a few months now – they’re all my babies). I had thought I don’t want my little one to see me in that situation but I missed her too much, I needed to see for myself that she was okay. So Sunday morning I asked them to bring her to see me, she was obviously oblivious to what was happening as she was playing and pulling the drip, which seemed to fascinate her. I enjoyed the little time that we spent together before they all had to leave as visiting hours were over.

On Monday the Dr said I could go home but I had to come back in a week for a sonar to monitor the progress I was making and to check on that growth I spoke about not so long ago. I was booked off for a week but being the person I am, one day at home, in bed was more than enough for me. I therefore decided to go back to work on Wednesday.

I received a please call me message from Dineo while on lunch that Wednesday afternoon. She’s the girl I mentioned who lives with me; she had just come back from school only to find that the house had been broken into. The burglars had somehow unlocked the burglar door, smashed the side window of the door and unlocked it. All my clothes were unpacked from the wardrobes and thrown on the floor, the house looked like a Tsunami had just hit it. My handbags were searched and also scattered on the floor. They had taken my Samsung tablet, a cellphone, CD collection, perfumes and other small items. I was shaken and felt so violated, the thought of a stranger in my home, searching and going through my stuff was unnerving.

We went to the police station that evening to report the crime and were told that the forensic guys who take fingerprints did not work at night, so we were adviced not to touch anything till they came there to take fingerprints. Really? Were we supposed to just sleep with clothes all over the floor, with a door and burglar that was not locked. That didn’t make sense to me and knowing how the police in our area operate, I really didn’t have any hope of them catching the people who did that, let alone actually coming through to take those fingerprints. And with those thoughts, I resolved it was pointless waiting and had both the door and burglar fixed that night which meant no fingerprints to take when they would eventually come.

The point of this blog is this; it felt like every bad thing that could possibly happen was happening. Then my mentor called me to ask how I was doing after she heard that my house had been broken into and it was while we were talking that it came to me. Just before your greatest blessing, comes your greatest test. It may feel like you are being torn apart, that you are mend to break but I realise that the things I had to go through were just God’s way of moulding me, making me stronger. Taking me down to nothing so that I may learn that He was up to something.

Sometimes our tests overwhelm us, we feel like we are given too much when the truth is, we really should trust our ability to face what life throws our way. The fact that God has chosen you for a particular problem means that He believes in you, He knows that you have what it takes to make it, to overcome. Bad things do not happen to us to destroy us but to teach us to surrender control and to refine us, so that we are exactly as God intended us to be. He makes us fight and struggle, to test our spirit, to see how badly we may want something in our lives. And just before He gives us His answer, He tightens the belt a little bit, He makes the road a little bit steeper and it’s at the point that we receive the crown of glory for persevering if we do not give up.

I found great comfort in this, in knowing that whatever may be happening in my life right now, the best is still yet to come. All I have to do is hold on a little bit longer and trust in God’s perfect timing.