Grace

How to get your Joy Back

How to get your Joy Back

Chile, this week has been a lot!

Like seriously…

Recently, I talked about the fact that faith increases our capacity to succeed

Click here if you missed that, sis!

But did you know that you have other capacities too?

For example:

A) Mental capacity

The ability to make your own decisions

B) Emotional capacity

The ability to overcome limiting beliefs, your ease in adapting to challenging situations, and the quality of your relationships

C) Physical capacity

The ability to perform a variety of physical tasks

In the wake of such trying times, we run the risk of running low in one or more of these capacities

Which will then have knock-on effects on our ability to walk in purpose because…

As the saying goes, “you can’t pour from an empty cup” and this is really clearly illustrated in 2nd Kings 4:1-7

in which the woman literally took empty vessels, poured oil into them until they were full and then distributed the oil for profit.

2nd Timothy 2:21 says that we are “vessels of honour” so, like the widow did with hers, we need to make sure to fill ourselves up before we pour out to others. Here are 20 ways that I have been doing that this week:

Apart from the typical advice of praying and reading the Bible, in between, work, I have been doing one or more of the following each day:

How to not Grow Weary of Doing Good

How to not Grow Weary of Doing Good

Last week, we talked about how to increase our capacity to succeed and the vital role that faith plays in allowing us to do this

Because:

  1. Faith increases our capacity to receive from God,

  2. The bigger your life, business or visibility goals- the bigger your faith will need to be

If that’s true, it follows that lack of faith decreases our capacity to succeed.

The most obvious way that lack of faith shows up is through unbelief or lack of faith in God.

According to The Parable of the sower, this usually happens because of “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22).

For the widow in 2nd Kings 4:1-7, it would have been easy- even expected- for her to lose faith in God

I mean, not only had her husband died- he left her with huge debt and creditors ready to make her sons slaves if she was unable to pay it off!

But she didn’t…

Lessons from esther on how to increase your visibility by transforming your mindset

Lessons from esther on how to increase your visibility by transforming your mindset

In my previous post, I talked about Hegai (the King’s eunch’s) role in helping Esther secure the crown

Click here if you missed that, sis

But that wasn’t the main thing that made the King choose her

“So, what was?!” I hear you ask

According to Esther 2:15 and 17, it was favour
So let’s break that down

When I hear the word “favour” it immediately puts me in mind of the concept of grace

Why?

Because grace is by definition “the unmerited favour of God”

In other words…

Without the belief that:

  1. You have God’s favour

  2. He will cause people to favour you also

  3. He made you “for such a time as this”

You won’t go towards your goals or the desires that He gave you

Because we go in the direction of of our beliefs

We see that play out in Esther 4:10-11 when Esther expressed fear of going to see the king about calling off the proposed genocide of her people

And…

We see it in modern day stats that show that women feel less at ease going for their goals by promoting themselves than men- which in turn means that they're less likely to do it.

Can you relate, sis?

What needs to be understood is that walking in God’s favour is a lifestyle that is born out of your mindset. Here are 4 tools that I use to develop it.

Lessons from Ruth on how to keep showing up (even when you don't feel like it)

Lessons from Ruth on how to keep showing up (even when you don't feel like it)

A few weeks ago, I made mention of the fact that Ruth could have followed Naomi (her mother-in-law) to Bethlehem and chosen to do nothing but wallow in the house

Because, let’s face it, she had every excuse to- having lost her father and brother-in-law and become a widow herself. But she didn’t.

Instead of checking out of life, like Naomi did initially, Ruth decided that she would keep going and keep pushing forward for them both

Which, unless you missed my last 2 blog posts (here and here), you’ll know that Ruth’s decision to go work in the fields led to her marrying Boaz. birthing children and becoming one of Jesus' fore-mothers (Ruth 4:13-22; Matthew 1:1-16).

Which then begs the question: how do we as modern women keep showing up even when we don’t want to?

Especially when life happens, PMS happens or (from a business point of view) tech/staff issues happen- meaning that you don't always feel physically, mentally and/or emotionally able to put yourself out there and remain visible.

Lessons from Zipporah on How to Harness the Law of Reciprocity while Networking

Lessons from Zipporah on How to Harness the Law of Reciprocity while Networking

I hate to burst your bubble, sis, but…

<sigh>

As much as it’s really important to set a firm foundation for your networking and PR efforts by knowing your “why,” no-one else cares about it

#justsaying

“So how do I get other people to care about my mission and vision, Nina?” I hear you say

Well…

It all comes down to knowing how to harness the power of reciprocity

Which is something that is really well demonstrated through Moses and Zipporah’s relationship- as detailed in the video below.

Lessons from Elisheba on why knowing God is your oath will help you achieve success

Lessons from Elisheba on why knowing God is your oath will help you achieve success

Exodus 6:23 reveals that Moses’ sister-in-law’s name was Elisheba (or Elisheva) which translates as "God is my oath". As women of purpose, this is important to know for 2 main reasons- all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.

Lessons from Jesus' Donkey on how to be used by God

Lessons from Jesus' Donkey on how to be used by God

I almost called this post. “How to be used by God (passed Easter)” because I feel like we can find it really easy to share the gospel during festive periods such as:

  • Easter

  • Christmas and so on

But then struggle to do so when all the hype is over; in our every day lives. Can you relate, lovely?

Well, the female donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem gives us 5 simple steps to overcoming this and making it happen- all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.

Lessons from Jesus' Donkey on how to handle the weight of glory on your life

Lessons from Jesus' Donkey on how to handle the weight of glory on your life

Matthew 21:1-9 tells the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey just before His death. In verse 8-9, we are told that when the people Jerusalem saw Him they:

“spread their clothes on the road… cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. [They also] cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’”

The branches that the people used were from palm trees- hence the reason why we celebrate this day as “Palm Sunday”.

Often, when I’ve heard this story told from the point of view of the donkey, one of the things that’s brought up is how lucky she was to have carried Jesus (yes, according to Matthew 21:2, the donkey was female).

But, if I’m honest, when I read it I started thinking about the fact that:

  • As much as carrying Jesus could have been considered the epitome of her donkey career- He was still a weight

  • Her greatest success was also a great burden and so-

  • It costs to have a calling on your life

I was also able to extract 5 lessons that she teaches us, as modern women, about how to handle this effectively. I shared all of this and more on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.