Tapestry

Benodini

I am Benodini, the woman of the morning

Born to bear the load of the day

A lone woman, a soul of great suffering

Chained to my God to whom I ever pray.

I am Benodini, did you not see me

Through the eyes of the world that stare at me so

My beauty is charmed, my soul in harmony

I whisper to the world, a mystery, it grows.

The vacuum that lies so deeply buried

Sings the song of anguish and hope

For my man he died in sorrow, he perished

One morning I will rise up in hope.

I am Benodini, the mother of suffering

For affliction is the name in which I was called

To the womb of the earth and its depth of utterings

For only my spirit is known, the rest is not worth.

Did you not see me as I gazed in surrender

Towards those that beat the last drops of my being

And then as I remained in silence

The dew of the morning did wash over me.

I am Benodini, the woman of the morning

For one day the morning of hope will rise

For they say after the cold of the awning

Spring will come, sent by the heart of the Son.

I am Benodini, the woman that fought

And won the war, though battles tore and scarred my soul

The dawning will come for my Lord won the victory

And in Him I will ever be the victor and whole.

Reclaim Your Destiny

I raise a toast to you! A toast to a life well lived. A toast to availing every opportunity that came your way. Making choices that fully realized who you were and that brought you to the grand finale of your life!

Here is a bow to a life that profited not just you but all the hundreds of people that climbed their success ladders because you touched their lives. And the millions that benefited from your story to encourage themselves, when the tears were falling down their eyes and their desperate hearts took a leap of faith and determined that if you could, they would too!

Wow! Wouldn’t we all like to have such an epitaph written for each of us.

Our success in life depends upon our choices. Every man is faced with dozens of choices every day. Their responses to the situations presented to them, tell their eventual stories. Of course there is a broad path that God has chalked out for each of us. We cannot each determine to become the Queen of England! However, within the onward path that comes into our lives, we could aspire to make the choices that wisdom brings, to take us to the pinnacle of our destinies on earth.

The spiritual dimensions that exist in parallel with our physical worldly lives are the battlefields wherein our spirits decide which way to go. It has been said over, that a higher way and a lower way opens out to man. The higher way is less trodden. The lower way is the beaten path. The sound of the distant drummer whose beats never cease in our beings, urges us to take the higher path. It is the difficult one. The unknown path. The way that seems fraught with risks. The way that beckons us in our inner spirits to try out and do what we can do to fufill our deepest desires. Just kneel in prayer to Jesus Christ and take the path that reverberates His glory, the path that opens up for you after you have prayed for guidance.

For the universe will conspire to do the rest. Jesus Himself will step down and take His child by her hand. He will hold her tight, put her on His shoulders at times and walk her path with her, as she bravely takes one step and then another. Until her confidence in His guidance takes over her worldly senses, and she begins to flow. To fly like a bird with wings that soar higher and higher. Her face towards His light. No darkness can shadow His light. Her being trembles with excitement and perspiration as she looks into the light of forever. For she has won. The race on earth is over. She will live on for eternal times. In the hearts, minds and spirits of all those who watched her climb. Climb the narrow mountain path. Steep. Cruel. With mean people who jeered at her helplessness. Who mocked her lone climb. Who wished that she would fall.

Yet she climbed on. And she won!

How the world loves a winner. They don’t care how you won. As long as you did. Success attracts success. People flock to you. They beg to hear your story. They want to take your wisdom. For their sons and daughters. For they know that the world is a tough place. And if anyone can make it there, there is a winner to emulate. Books are written. Movies are made. And another life is told.

Jesus smiles at this story. For He knows that this one gives Him all the glory. Her success in this life she knows, is His success. He tells her to share her life, in His concern for all the others He loves, His creations, so they can share, learn and grow together.

How did she get there?

It is a story of reclaiming your destiny. There is only one sure way of doing that. Hold Jesus’ hand. Stay close to Him. Listen to His whispers deep in your spirit which flows from your belly. Sometimes you will hear His audible voice close to your ear, a still small voice, which you soon begin to recognize as the voice of the Lord. Your entire being will thrill to His voice, showing you what to do. Just obey Him. It pays. 100 fold on earth.

We have to develop our spiritual quotient. The world has written many, many books on the Intelligence Quotient of man. Many books on the Emotional Quotient of man. Both quotients are important. However, the Quotient which is the most critical for our lives, in these times of uncertainties, doubts and deceptions is developing our Spiritual Quotient.

Hearing the voice of the Lord is really important. If you cannot hear it audibly at first, follow your gut-sense. The spirit dwells in your belly. As you meditate and put forth your prayer requests to Jesus, you will soon get a deep conviction as to which is the way you should take. His Voice will always be in line with His written Word in the Bible. We need to study the Bible.

Pray for a discerning spirit. The ability to discern spiritual vibrations of man. Every person has a spiritual vibration. People sometimes define it as a person’s aura. It is like a spiritual circle surrounding a person. As you step into a person’s aura, you will get a sense of the spiritual world that is dominant on the person. Good or evil. You have to be still in your own spirit as you start to pick up another's aura, their spiritual vibration.

It is possible to change the dynamics of the spiritual environment that you are in. If you feel that it is not the one that you need to be in, either step out or purposefully bring in the person to your own positive vibration. Remember that however strong a negative vibration maybe, the positive one will always be stronger. The spirit you carry in Jesus Name, will far outweigh the potency of any negative evil spirit. The Bible says, Every knee must bow to His Name. All the devils of hell tremble at His Name.

Do not fear or worry that your situation is a sorry one. Take your situation to the Lord and do whatever you believe is His Voice guiding you to do. He will always make a way out for you.

Always remember that every negative situation that comes into a life is allowed by the Lord. If you can, SEE the face of Jesus on the ‘lion’ that has come to attack and devour you. Cling to the FACT that He loves you and He has allowed this lion to come into your life for a very good purpose. As soon as the purpose is over, your situation will change. The lion cannot destroy you, for it is chained. For although you may not see the chains, the Lord has the lion under His absolute control. And the Lord will never let you fall all the way.

Fears and apprehensions limit our lives and cap our destinies. Flow in His courage. In His will . In His destiny for you. Every person ever born has a special role to play on the planet. The role designed by the Creator for you, is your destiny. No-one can steal your destiny, your crown, unless you voluntarily give it away. The angels will cheer you on. Call on them and you will see how humans are transformed into angels as they plug on with you, willing you to achieve your goal on earth.

We are travellers on earth, journeying into our destinies, and into eternity. Our earthly lives are the pivots for our eternal lives. For when we are done here, we will step into what we have invested and sent up to Heaven.

Go the mile. Keep your promise. For the toast will be raised to you. Believe it! You will achieve it!

Catching Up, With Ourselves

It is important to catch up with ourselves in life. We need to power ourselves within to the fullest, get all our engines revved up and then look outward, to take on the world with love in our hearts!

As a young woman in my twenties and bearing the responsibility of taking care of my children alone, I began a new trek of walking along a tough road of life. Double-time. I was required to perform all the duties that life demanded of me, without even being sure of what I had to do. I did not have a plan. I did not have much resources. I did not even fully understand the potential that was in me and how I would go forward to accomplish the task that life had placed on my path.

To realize our destinies, we need to be powered from within. We need the power of love to make us blossom. The energy that love creates is the most powerful energy on earth. The knowledge that we are loved, brings into our lives a force that can turn our lives around. Slowly, we unfurl!

The Bible says, that God loves us unconditionally. Like we love our children, unconditionally. Though we like to feel love, get the approval and the pats on our backs, we need not depend upon them to feel whole and loved. We CAN feel whole, knowing without a shadow of doubt, that Jesus loves us.

At the time of the start of my journey, I learnt that life has a way of rejecting people who don’t meet their standards of acceptability. I learnt to ignore the hurts that came with the jibes and barbs of people, who had seemed to be my well-wishers. I learnt that life is an illusion that can change in the blink of an eye. Even my natural talents became issues of jealousies and taunts that cut me up inside.

I would put on a brave smile on my face until I was safe in the privacy of my room and then as I wept, I would tell myself over and over again, that Jesus loved me. It didn’t matter what ‘they’ said. ‘They’ didn’t even care for me so why should I let them tear me. My Lord loved me and took care of me. He provided the ‘manna’ (angels’ care) in my life every day, while the world walked on by.

The strength that I got from the absolute believing that Jesus loved me and was taking care of me every day, gave me huge amounts of energy to do everything I could then walk the path that was destined for me. I went from strength to strength as my ‘inner man’ got nourished and cherished in Jesus’ love. I was the beloved of God. No one could take away from me this truth in my life. And I grew into a woman of substance.

It is important to tap into God’s unconditional love for us, for it to get released on us. By tap into it, I mean, believing that He loves us and even running to Him and demanding that He would show His love. He never fails!

Today, I flow in His love. His Spirit is like a mantle that envelopes me. I grow because He loves me. I like the love of people, but am not devastated when it does not come. I run to my Lord who holds me close and makes me