Its within you

So many of you are looking for fulfillment where it can never be found. You are looking for fulfillment in things, possessions, money, recognition. You’re looking for fulfillment in another person, praise from a parent, love from another person, a ‘well done’ from the world, but here’s the problem: you can never find it outside of you. It can only be found within you. All the happiness and joy you could ever hope for and more is all within you. 

The truth is we don’t need all those other things to complete our life, we don’t need anything outside ourselves to be happy people. Think back to a time in your life when you didn’t have those things you seek but were still happy, perhaps when you were a child, perhaps even not too long ago. The reason why you were happy without those things is simply because you weren’t focused on what you didn’t have, your focus was on what was available. And happiness is always there, if you choose to focus on finding it. 

We tend to always look for happiness outside ourselves, but we ought to know that it doesn’t come from there. Whatever we perceive as reality becomes our reality. If you listen to the world and the opinions of others you may as well come to believe that happiness is only gained once you make money, or get that nice car, or that great house.

Why do we want those things anyway? Why do we want the car, the house, the money, that perfect person? All of it without exception we want because we believe getting it will make us better. We believe it will make us feel better, make us feel happier. Don’t get dragged into the expectations of society. You don’t need all of these things to be happy and complete. What you need is always within you, it never goes away. You are complete right now. Look within you, make the decision to always be happy. Find something to be grateful for, choose to lift others up. Give attention rather than seek it, find your life’s purpose and set goals that light the spark within you.   Believe in yourself, believe your life has meaning. Don’t let the things you lack or desire determine how much happiness you express. There is nothing you can not accomplish when you are free from the burden of looking for things outside of yourself to fulfill you. Just know you have the answers, trust your intuition. It’s called self-belief.

 

culled from: fearless motivation

Happy new year!

Hi guys!! its a new year!!... I'm so grateful to God for making it possible for me, my family and friends to see this year 2018. its been exactly one year since i last posted and i must say that it feels like I'm starting all over again ( feels really new ). First of all i really want to offer my sincere apologies to my dedicated readers, i really feel like I've let you all down, I hope to do much better this time around. Secondly i will like to say thank you to those that have asked about the blog consistently , thank you for your encouragement and motivation.

what are your resolutions?

The year has finally come to an end, 2017 is just around the corner and some of you are already having thoughts of the new year’s resolutions. Some of you have gone as far as writing them down already. But before we start to talk about the new year’s resolutions, let us take a moment to reflect on the previous one.

This time last year, you had goals and resolutions for the year 2016. Now the year 2016 is over, look back at the year and see how much of those goals were achieved, how much of your resolutions did you uphold? Did you successfully drop all the baggage from the previous year? Did you drop the habits? Those friends? Did you do better in your academics just as you visualized? Did you become a better person? Did you serve God the way you said you would? if you answered no to most of the questions, then something definitely went wrong.

Most times what really happens is we get too excited about the new year, we see an opportunity for a fresh start so we can’t wait to get into the new year and get things going. But soon after, the new year hype dies down and we find ourselves back to being our former selves and then we just give up and wait for the next year to come so we can make new resolutions. But you real can’t make any progress if you continue that way, to see results you’ll have to be committed, dedicated and positive about your resolutions.

I want us to do an assignment together, go over your 2016 and write down those resolutions you weren’t able to achieve because you gave up on, make them your 2017 resolutions and then change your attitude! Be positive minded about them, believe you can achieve them, and be committed to achieving them. Most importantly, go through them every day so you’ll always be reminded. Set alarms and reminders on your phone concerning the activities to be carried out, draw out a timetable if the need arises. Just put in a lot of conscious effort into it and please, don’t give up on your resolutions. You really can do anything If you set your mind to it.

I also want to encourage you all to make your 2017 count. Strengthen your relationship with God this coming year, experience spiritual growth; don’t rush it, take it step by step. And if by the end of the year that’s all you’re able to achieve, then you can say that it was a great year. Because at the end of it all, that’s sincerely all that matters. 

I wish you all a prosperous new year, may Gods blessings rest upon you and your family this year in Jesus name.

Don't stop

First of all, I want to say a big thank you to everyone that takes their time to go through the posts from time to time, I really appreciate the support.

 During one of our bible studies in church I came across a bible scripture that really stirred up my spirit in Romans 10:14-17 "But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God! But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to."    

The part that struck me was where it said "and how can they hear if nobody tells them?" , I got to understand that it's important for our world to hear this word of God, and it's our responsibility to share this word of God, to emulate it and live it, to spread it to our friends and even to strangers in whatever way that we can. We can't stop!

It's never going to be easy and I guess that's why the bible called it a spiritual race and not a walk. races are difficult, they require strength, endurance , focus , determination and so is our spiritual race. It can't be a walk in the park, there would be hurdles, challenges, the devil would even try his best to make us slip and fall, and yes! We will fall, BUT we will rise and we will finish our race strong. 

I was encouraged by Romans 10:14-17 and I want to encourage everyone that's reading this, please don't stop! The world needs to hear this message and they can only hear it through us. Our world is in a bad place right now, but the good news is God is always there to renew our hope and our strength, all we need to do is seek his face. Don't let your fire burnout ! Don't stop!

See who's back!

Hey guys!

It’s been a really long time, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be posting again. Truth Is I had some personal issues but then again, I got lazy (maybe because the number of people that viewed my posts kept decreasing), and at some point, I kind of wondered what was the point.

But then again, I’ve had quite a number of people calling to ask why I’ve stopped posting and a lot of encouragements to continue have been rolling in, and somehow, I remembered why I started in the first place (I would totally share that story with you guys one of these days) and that was all the encouragement that I needed to start again.

So, my dear HS readers, I’m happy to announce to you that the blog is fully functional, and back to life. I’ll try as much as possible to post twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), please do check the blog during those days for new posts.

For those of you that have things you would like me to see or share on the blog, feel free to email me on henriettatoma@gmail.com or send me WhatsApp messages on +2348170001385

I pray that somehow this blog would affect someone positively (that’s the vision), thank you for your time.

                                                                                                                                                      Love,
                                                                                                                                                   Henrietta

God is not done with you yet!

Sometime last week I was home alone with my son Jason, he was sleeping while I was busy tidying the house. I clearly got a message from God; it simply said, “I’m not done with you yet”. All of a sudden I felt a renewed hope and joy in my spirit because before then I had gotten to the point where I was starting to wonder what’s next after now.

Today I really just want to encourage someone that might have gotten to a point of your life where you just feel that you have nothing to offer; where you’ve given your best and there’s nothing left to give; or where your life is just at a halt and you don’t know what direction you should follow. I want you to be assured that God is not done with you yet.

Getting close to God made me realize that God has got big plans for me and every challenge I face on this path is only to make me better and stronger. I now know that whatever the situation that I find myself, I can face it and overcome because God is on my side and He’s not done with me yet! I want to charge anyone reading this message that there’s hope in God. Don’t give up because God is not done with you yet. He has great plans for you - just persevere and have faith in Him. At all times let there be a continuous fellowship with God. Study His word and follow His lead. Allow Him to do great things in your life for: He’s not done with you yet!

True friendship

One key to having your dreams come true is having true friendships. Make sure you have three or four genuine friends around you. These should be people you can trust completely, friends who believe in you but are also honest and are not afraid to speak the truth to you. These are friends who want you to be successful; and while ensuring that everything goes well with you, are also able to see your blind spots and are willing to help bring out the best in you. They must be people who love you unconditionally.

You can know who your real  friends are from the way they behave towards you. They are people you can completely trust, and with whom you can be yourself with. They often are not interested in your success, but instead are interested in who you are and how you are doing. These are people who do not look at who you are from the outside but rather at who you are on the inside. It is with this foundation of friendship that you can dare to dream dreams and to live, because you know that they will be there when you fall, when you are tired, or when you need help. You know that they do not talk behind your back, gossip, or undermine you, but that they sincerely want to help you become successful. Everyone needs this kind of friendship. It is vitally important.

Perhaps you find it difficult to develop real friendships, but you should be reminded that you reap what you sow. Start out by asking God to give you real friends. Who is a person right now in whom you can completely trust and with whom you can build a strong friendship? Perhaps you can name only one person, and that’s OK. Invest in this friendship by expressing your appreciation, opening your heart, and learning to trust again. 

The important keystone values for a long-term friendship are loyalty, honour, and respect. Make the decision today to be a true friend to people in your community. 

source: dare to dream by mattheus van den Steen 

How to let go and forgive

We’ve all been hurt by another person at some time or another — we were treated badly, trust was broken, hearts were hurt.

And while this pain is normal, sometimes that pain lingers for too long. We relive the pain over and over, and have a hard time letting go.

This causes problems. It not only causes us to be unhappy, but can strain or ruin relationships, distract us from work and family and other important things, make us reluctant to open up to new things and people. We get trapped in a cycle of anger and hurt, and miss out on the beauty of life as it happens.

We need to learn to let go. We need to be able to forgive, so we can move on and be happy.

Forgiveness can change your life.

Forgiveness does not mean you erase the past, or forget what has happened. It doesn’t even mean the other person will change his behavior — you cannot control that. All it means is that you are letting go of the anger and pain, and moving on to a better place.

It’s not easy. But you can learn to do it.

If you’re holding onto pain, reliving it, and can’t let go and forgive, read on for some things I’ve learned.

1. Commit to letting go. You aren’t going to do it in a second or maybe not even in a day. It can take time to get over something. So commit to changing, because you recognize that the pain is hurting you.

2. Think about the pros and cons. What problems does this pain cause you? Does it affect your relationship with this person? With others? Does it affect work or family? Does it stop you from pursuing your dreams, or becoming a better person? Does it cause you unhappiness? Think of all these problems, and realize you need to change. Then think of the benefits of forgiveness — how it will make you happier, free you from the past and the pain, improve things with your relationships and life in general.

3. Realize you have a choice. You cannot control the actions of others, and shouldn’t try. But you can control not only your actions, but your thoughts. You can stop reliving the hurt, and can choose to move on. You have this power. You just need to learn how to exercise it.

4. Empathize. Try this: put yourself in that person’s shoes. Try to understand why the person did what he did. Start from the assumption that the person isn’t a bad person, but just did something wrong. What could he have been thinking, what could have happened to him in the past to make him do what he did? What could he have felt as he did it, and what did he feel afterward? How does he feel now? You aren’t saying what he did is right, but are instead trying to understand and empathize.

5. Understand your responsibility. Try to figure out how you could have been partially responsible for what happened. What could you have done to prevent it, and how can you prevent it from happening next time? This isn’t to say you’re taking all the blame, or taking responsibility away from the other person, but to realize that we are not victims but participants in life.

6. Focus on the present. Now that you’ve reflected on the past, realize that the past is over. It isn’t happening anymore, except in your mind. And that causes problems — unhappiness and stress. Instead, bring your focus back to the present moment. What are you doing now? What joy can you find in what is happening right now? Find the joy in life now, as it happens, and stop reliving the past. Btw, you will inevitably start thinking about the past, but just acknowledge that, and gently bring yourself back to the present moment.

7. Allow peace to enter your life. As you focus on the present, try focusing on your breathing. Imagine each breath going out is the pain and the past, being released from your body and mind. And imagine each breath coming in is peace, entering you and filling you up. Release the pain and the past. Let peace enter your life. And go forward, thinking no longer of the past, but of peace and the present.

8. Feel compassion. Finally, forgive the person and realize that in forgiveness, you are allowing yourself to be happy and move on. Feel empathy for the person and wish happiness on them. Let love for them, and life in general, grow in your heart. It may take time, but if you’re stuck on this point, repeat some of the ones above until you can get here.

source: zenhabits.net