Believing in miracles, by Emily M.

Sometimes we walk around professing and confessing that God loves us. The sad truth is that even we sometimes doubt it can be true. It can perhaps be attributed to the things that life throws at us. The hurts, the pains and even the things we get so easily and effortlessly - and yes, we forget and lean in to our own understanding.

Yesterday we went out on a door to door campaign. The aim of it really was to engage people in meaningful conversations about education. And we walked into a miracle. At first I could not tell from looking at her smiling face and withered hands the story of her life.

She is a mother of about 5 children. The last born in grade 8 a girl. She has lived through life in ways we would never wish to live it. 8 years ago she was stricken by a very bad case of arthritis. Here it can get bad since it's a bit cold and she could do nothing g for herself. She could not feed or move or wash and being a mother with a young child it's was very hard to see her youngest grow without a mother's touch.

However, in that story we also heard how God sent help through good women of the church. How her husband never left her side. How finally relief came to her body and through a divine miracle she was finally able to move. It was great to hear that prayers work and how God has worked with patience. How she has lived to see the first of her grandchildren. It was great to hear how sadness may come but joy comes in the morning. How God works everything for good for those who believe.

I felt God's presence. I remembered to be grateful for everyday little things that we take from granted like singing aloud in the shower, sitting and talking and laughing with friends,... The sounds, sights and smells that make life. And I was in awe at how great it is when the Master is at work.
God bless you.

The Story of Wise Lips

The Story of Wise Lips

By Emily M.

Once upon time in a little village by the banks of Chania river lived a little boy. This little boy was called Mwangi and he lived in a little tin house with his mother. You see, Mwangi loved to talk about everything to his friends and neighbors  until nothing could be done in their house and the neighbors were not told about it. One day the mother decided that enough was enough. Taking a stick to beat the boy would not work as it had failed on one too many occasions.

I know it is cruel to play a trick on a child but mama had to be wise otherwise the sayings of the wise “one who is not taught by the mother will be taught by the world”. Mama Mwangi had seen enough times this happening to her neighbors to want her son to be part of an old saying.

So one morning very early in the morning mother woke up and prepared herself to go the market. it was such a rare occasion to see mother go to the market that everyone in the house knew this must be a very special occasion. The last time this had happened there was a feast in the house and relatives from distant ridges had come to visit. So as was usual for Mwangi, he left the house in a hurry and started informing all the neighbor hood children and soon there was a little crowd of eager children waiting for whatever feast Mwangi’s mother would bring home. Morning turned into noon, noon turned into evening and just as the sun was setting Mwangi’s mother appeared in the horizon with a few friends of hers and no feast.

Mwangi was so disappointed and so embarrassed that he never talked about things so freely ever again.

THE LESSON

The bible cautions us against too much speaking. Proverbs 10:19  says, “He who holds his tongue is wise.” To “hold tongue” means to be quiet. Why would God say to hold you tongue?” Because every time you speak, it is possible you will say something untrue, unkind or unimportant. Also, when you talk so much, people may stop listening. Ecclesiastes 5:2 says ,” let your words be few”

In conclusion, Psalm 141:3 says “ Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord”. It should a daily prayer upon our lives.

Willing to Pay

Willing to Pay 

By Emily M., additions by Hillary Beth Koenig 

I was reading a book by Max Lucado and one of the headings was ....wait for it......WHAT IS YOUR PRICE?  It momentarily caught me off guard. What is my price? For what exactly? And I began to think. We are in this life temporarily, just like being on a stage. Our ultimate goal is to be in Heaven with our Father. But on a daily basis, we have choices to make.  

Are we willing to pay the price? What is more important, that backstreet abortion because you could not obey your parents, the bad mix with drugs because you were willing to sacrifice every good sense for a momentary high? Perhaps you think those are harsh examples. But who says that except for grace, one choice might lead to another, and you could be at just such a pivotal place of decision in your own life. What price are we willing to pay? 

Now, it is easier to make my decision. I would rather be on God's side. His gifts of obedience cannot be compared with anything on this earth. Sometimes it's painful to give up temporary pleasures, but in the end, He will look at you and describe you as a good and faithful servant.

The Good Soil

The Good Soil 

By Emily M.

I have been using a hoe and machete, or panga in our language, to dig my little garden, when it suddenly hit me. The parable of the sower... it mentions that the seed fell into good soil. I then asked myself, what makes up good soil? 

Matthew 13:3-9 

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” 

To be good soil is a process. The first thing was to get rid of all the weeds. Some were easy to remove, others were so hard they gave me blisters, some were so smelly and others plain old scary. Now you have to do this well and sometimes it takes a second or even third digging. 

Matthew 13:18-23 

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” 

I relate this to our Christian life. There are sins in our life if let to grow turn our good hearts into something else. They even look harmless sometimes. To be a good soil where 

“out of your heart flows good issues of life” (Proverbs 4:24), then there is some digging to do.  

No one says it's an easy task, but you have help in the form of the Holy Spirit.

CAT Mom

CAT Mom

By Emily M.
I know how the title sounds but I am in no way referring to the mother of a cat. You see I am taking care of this kitty that we have fondly nicknamed fluffy and she is the cutest thing I ever saw. I am accused of thinking about that of every cat. Now fluffy has no one to teach her how to be a cat so I was and I am giving it a try. However it has ended up in some hilarious moments. Now the other day I woke up and found a lizard lazily floating in my kitchen sink in the middle of my unwashed dishes.
After looking unsuccessfully for a weapon of lizard mass destruction and failing I suddenly had a light bulb moment.  Mainly it's because fluffy does not mew so she sits there looking at me with cat eyes so I can give her food. And i told myself that fluffy was a cat right and cats eat lizards....right...well this mommy was going to teach a kitty to catch food.
So after a screaming moment of lizard tail coming off I caught the Lizard and put it on the floor for fluffy to catch. In fact, I went to the point of pointing her in the right direction....
Now like all those mothers out there I was waiting for that moment of achievement where she caught her food. Instead fluffy looked at the Lizard and liked it a d let it go. Not once but twice......how does it Lick food and let it go....
I thank God for mothers out there. As much as we have our great moments we also have those moments when we don't always get it right. Sometimes we will say something, do something even think something that does not work for our kids. But I would like all kids to know in spite of all this, we still love them. The Bible says they are our quiver full of arrows and that someday they will rise up and call us blessed. This Mother's day kindly rise up and not only call your mama blessed but be a blessing. I am still trying to get past licking food stage and I know just like with my two kids, me n fluffy are going to get somewhere.  Happy mother's day!

Children are Important to God By Emily M.

Children are Important to God
By Emily M.

This week we met a young lady by the name Muthoni. She was in a place I would never wish for a young girl to be. Almost being beaten up by the crowd because they thought she was being kept by an old old man who usually keeps very young girls. I sought to find out the why in why she would do that and i discovered she is just an innocent victim of circumstances. This brings me to today's devotional with my 7 year old daughter. 

Be careful! Don't make the mistake of thinking that little children are unimportant! I tell you that they have angels who are always with my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10 NCV)

We are discussing why God gave us angels and I ask her why she thinks God would give her an angel and the one that really stood out is that he does so because He loves us.... Love. God's love caused that day to rain when we would have gone hiking....God's love caused me to visit someone I was not going to visit on that day...and only God's love caused me to be in the right place at the right time to carry out God's objective. The young lady may have been lynched by a crowd ....left with no one and no where to go but God's love stepped in and made a way where there seemed to be no way...now Muthoni has a temporary job and the hope of going back to school in 2015. And that is God's love

Mother's Day - By Emily M.

Mother's Day

By Emily M.

I read something very interesting this morning it was a song... a kids’ song. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong.” Yesterday I went out to take pictures of a family that needs help. The kids, a girl and two boys, are 4.5 years, 6 years, and 7 years. They live with their grandmother, haven’t been to school, and get a meal once in a day. Yet in spite of it all, the grandmother cares enough to give her whole self to see that they live. 

​Then it got me thinking about my own mother. What is it about my mother that makes her so special? She showed us in action that a wise woman builds her house. My dad left when I was 4. I am the 5th born and my mother has 7 of us. It could not have been easy raising us all on her own but God gave her the strength and the ability to see all of us through school, and taught us never to despise our father. So this Mother’s day I will be dedicating this beautiful proverb to her and all other women out there who have fought the battle and will someday fight the battle.

A beautiful woman (Proverbs 31)

 
13.She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
    out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
    her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
    and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
    and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
    for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
    she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
    and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
    she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
    and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
²⁹ "Many women do noble things,
    but you surpass them all."

If you would like to donate to help the three children mentioned above, we are currently doing a fundraiser for them: http://www.freewebs.com/godlygirls/apps/donations/

Easter Testimony - Emily M.

Emily M.

Before I really Knew Christ and experienced Him I had no idea what it meant to say it as David did. I had been going down the wrong path and yet the God who loves people more than anything reached down and gave me his hand and his heart and now I can say it with much humbleness

Psalm 103
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

³ Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;⁴ Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.⁹ He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.¹¹ For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.¹³ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.¹⁴ For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Easter: Freedom, By Emily M.

Easter: Freedom

By Emily M.

I will start by quoting a poem from

The Greatest Gift

The greatest gift that I've received,
is one I thought I didn't need.
In ignorance, I couldn't see,
Jesus on the cross for me.
For some, I thought He might have died.
But, I'm okay, so says my pride.
I figured God would let me in,
since my good out-weighed my sin.
But, when the light of truth broke through;
I learned that goodness wouldn't do.
God showed me at His Mercy Seat,
my need that only he could meet.
Since on the cross, He bled and died;
at the cross, I lay my pride.
I asked the Lord, for Jesus sake;
my sin remove, my heart remake.
That I may be made like his Son,
and in the Spirit, with Him be one.
So Christ came that we may be,
in Jesus name, made truly free.


There is no feeling like that of truly being free. I had been counting down the days on the mud wall that made up the women's prison section. It had never been my intention that i should be behind bars for any number of days but I earned mine and the uniform that would identify me as government property.

On that last day the Madam in charge asked us if anyone had anything to say. Immidiately my hand shot up and i reminded her that i was to go home. Home there is no place like home. I literally run through the gates all the way to the main road. Freedom such sweet freedom. Free from those nasty little lice that had bit me to the extent of madness, free from being numbered among the criminals, free to think, eat , sleep on a good bed and take a shower It is the same feeling we get. You will never know until you abide in him. It is written that whoever the Son sets free he is free indeed. Sometimes we forget that really amazing experience. The one of knowing someone died in your place. Alone you would never have managed. He took the pain, he took the humiliation, the abuse, the rejection . We should all know that we are well loved. We have a God who truly cares. The psalmist put it this way

Psalm 103
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

God bless you all this Easter

God's Love, By Emily M.

God's Love

By Emily M.

I am an avid reader and recently I came across this statement: "God's love is a gift that gives to the poor and the rich and the needy and the full, to the ugly and the beautiful, to the maimed and the whole. In other words, it gives itself to everyone, not just those who seek and embrace it."

Sometime back, when my kids were younger, there was this time that we found it real difficult to pay school fees. I know sometimes you hear a word and it doesn't make sense but that day it did. I was crying out to God, asking Him to do something about this issue, seriously in my heart trusting that Psalms 139 would come true; He knows my every need, sees me, knows my book to the end. I felt a nudging of the Spirit somewhere within my heart to pass by the post office, which I had ignored for the last three weeks. Imagine what I found there - a bank statement that was indicating that I had money in an account that I rarely used, for the exact amount I needed to cover my debt. Now I knew for a fact God doesn't just love me, He knows my name. He cares, He knows...

How much more powerful can God's love get?! Sometimes I just wake up in the morning to thank Him because I am alive, I thank him because I have two beautiful children, I thank Him because through our little every day acts He has enabled us to to touch the lives of other people. I thank Him because in spite of what I am, what I have been, what I will become - He is the only constant that will never change. He loves me that much.

God bless,

Emily

Hope By Emily M.

Hope

By Emily M.

I want to talk about hope and God's blessing. Recently we gave a young girl hope. Her name is Ann. She passed her courses quite well and received her letter to get into secondary school. You see, Ann comes from a family that is facing hard circumstances. They are not rich and the mother cares nothing of education. She would rather see her married off at the age of 15. However, we came together as friends and raised some money. That morning we had only managed to raise about 3/4 of the fees and then, God happened. A guy I had just known on Facebook sent in some money which managed to clear her first term fees.

You have no idea what that means until you are hopeless beyond words - and then God comes. In the same line, a miracle happened in my life. I know I am a bit old to be saying this, but I love school. Unfortunately, I had never had a chance to finish college or my degree because of lack of finances - but then a miracle happened. The same man who paid for Ann offered to pay for my university fees. Imagine i had shelved the idea of ever going to school especially since my kids are already growing up. In Africa, education for a woman is a gift, especially if it is higher education. We still need fees for the other terms but there is one thing I want to say - Jesus died so that I may live. At His own time He has made things beautiful. Not how I had expected or envisioned it. A person who is a non-Christian does not come out of the blue and offer to help. It must be God-sent. It has not only built up my faith, but the faith of those around me.

Jesus is real. I know that from first hand experience. I work with disadvantaged kids and when something good happens in their lives it's akin to a miracle. My prayer is that we may all open our eyes so that we see just how blessed we are. He came and He set me free, and He can do the same for you. Amen.

Christmas Grace, By Emily M.

Christmas Grace

By Emily M.

I have been thinking about this specific Christmas. At first, when I looked at the whole year, I could not see anything I wanted to be happy about. I wanted to stay in the house and curl up in some corner and ban any happy thoughts from mind, but then I remembered Paul said "rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice." (Philippians 4:4) Now, that is hard when you have lost your favorite grandparent, and your brother is staring in the face of death in a hospital, but then, Paul was not in a happy place when He wrote those words. Christmas is not just about a baby born in manger, it's about Grace. It's a reminder that despite the lemons the world throws at us, we still have the equipment to make lemonade. And then, another thought came to mind.

The three wise men expected a grand Jesus. There is no way a King could be born anywhere else than in a palace somewhere, and therefore they headed there first. It was quite humbling when they learned the real truth :).

God is a God of big things as well as small things. His miracles begin small. Jesus was born in a manger and ended up on the right hand side of God. There are those small miracles that sometimes we miss when we expect the very big things. It may be you got a handmade sweater, it may be today your asthma was no longer there, it could be that that very sick person finally got off the feeding tubes, it could be in a simple apology, a hello from someone you never talk to... So this Christmas despite the Goliath staring me in the face, I am opting to accept the grace that God so lovingly brought to me, and rejoice in Him always because He is the only one who truly knows my ultimate destination.

When the Lord is Your Guide, By Emily M.

When the Lord is Your Guide

By Emily M.

I will quote from Psalms 23:4 - "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

I got a job... I will never forget the smile on my face as I was informing my mother I had a job at a local butchery. Little did I know how short lived my happiness would actually be. I was 20 and I knew I was going to earn something to buy my little boy stuff. It wasn't much really, but it was going to be something nevertheless. This job required that I report to work before 7am in the morning and close just after 8 p.m. at night, and this is where things took a turn for the scary. For the first few days I was able to secure transport as my employer was pretending to be a nice person and let me go early. Then she stopped and this is when I truly learned that for real God's Angels are completely in charge and other nice verses like He will never leave you nor forsake you. I will attempt to describe my road home so as to give a clear picture of my problem. You see there were no cars so I had to walk through 10km or 6.2 miles of coffee plantation. It is an area known for robbers and all manners of bad people with the wrong agenda in their heads for a girl walking by herself at 9 p.m. at night. For two months I did this. I was not trying to pull a bad stunt but it was necessary to get home and you know what not once did anything out of the ordinary ever happen to me at all. I must confess I saw the hand of God knowing all the stories. Psalm 139 says "1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

When It Rained By Emily M.

When It Rained

By Emily M.

I want to start with this song; I will quote just a few lines from it.

BeBe Winans - In The Midst Of The Rain Lyrics

"Right in the midst of the rain
My heart was so full of pain
You came and rescued my soul
And then your love took control


Right in the midst of the rain
You caused me to smile again
My life was awesomely changed
Right in the midst of the rain"

For a whole month there had been no water in the house and we had been relying on odd hours and the outside tap to supply us with the precious liquid. And then it happened. The neighbours could not take the damp areas outside their house any longer so they had the tap removed by the landlord. I panicked - how could God let things like this happen? I had only water to cook. During this whole month the weather had been so hot until everything was dry and brown and dusty and that is never a good idea. It was December 23rd. Okay so mom was not going to panic, she was going to wait it out and see what the good Lord was all about. Even so, in my heart, to be honest, I could feel myself crumbling under the pressure of an unclean house, unclean toilets, unclean children and clothes and PLAN B- going to borrow water from the neighbours house - okay that would be totally embarrassing. Remember the story of the widow who was asked to collect all her jars so they could fill them with oil? (See 2 Kings 4.) Well, I did like wise. I asked the kids to collect all the jars, bowls, basins and whatever else that could store water. What I was going to fill them with only God knows. At first, we tried the tap - it was dry. I toyed with the idea of going to the neighbor but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was on the verge of tears at around 4 pm in the evening when the sky grew suddenly dark out of the blue, just like that. And then it RAINED. Oh this rain was a God sent, a blessing, a prayer answered. Very quickly we started filling every jar in the house with water... OH BLESSED WATER. And just as we finished filling the last jar, the rain stopped just like that. No one has ever been able to explain that particular phenomena to this date.

Psalm 121 (NIV) I lift up my eyes to the mountains -
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip -
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you -
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm -
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Courage, By Emily M.

Courage

By Emily M.

"Courage is not limited to the battlefield. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like enduring pain when the room is empty or standing alone when you're misunderstood."
-- Charles Swindoll

2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

I got pregnant at the tender age of 18. At that time most of my friends were having fun either in school, going to college or just home. It was devastating. Sometimes you have crucial decisions to make and they are usually a matter of life and death. I knew with wrong influence I would probably make a wrong decision and almost did, but a last minute decision to face my giants changed the course of history. It takes courage to face your fears and mistakes. It takes even more courage to ask God to forgive you and to continue and to forgive yourself. I absolutely love the way Timothy put it…For God has not given us a spirit of fear – do you have fear? Yes…the future did not look that bright at all…but of power…this was a life that is now 12 years old. The right kind of power to hold on to a dear life that God had given me…and love it with all my heart. Self control? Yes …it is the hardest thing sometimes to maintain good girl status..there are so many temptations out there so many people showing you the right way to go..but with the gift of self control I think you would be more ahead than most people.