YoU Own Nothing!

Tonight Im reading Job 1. I have read this book many times and it is one of my favorite stories in the bible! I remember the first time I read it, thinking " wow! I want to be JUST like Job! So faithful and trusting in God that even when he allows the hardest challenges to face me, and I lose everything.. I will be so in love with him that I am able to still praise him!" I knew at the time, I was no where near that. And even now to this day, I am still not like job. I mean come on guys! He lost EVERYTHING all of his flock, all of his Harvest, all of his children! Everything that mattered to him in life... It was gone! But instead of sobbing and saying why me why me, he fell on his face and praised God! 

We truly become blessed when we realize we own NOTHING we have NOTHING, it is really all Gods! Everything you have, car, house, food, job, Family, bed, phone, computer, eyes, hands, seriously EVERYTHING belongs to God! He had given this two you! There is not one thing that is or has been made, that is not from God! 

And as it says at the end of Verse 21 "The Lord gave and The Lord has taken away" The Lord gives and The Lord takes away! He is in control! And when he takes it away, you have to remember that it is him who gave it to you in the first place, so praise him for the time and the blessing it was on your life! :D 

Be like Job! 

I know it's hard, just recently I have had to deal with this all myself. I went from Talking to Max everyday, to only getting to talk to him on Saturdays(so I thought) Really I don't know when we will get to talk, he is so busy working and studying for school that he really never has time to talk.. At first I was heart broken! Honestly mad, because this is not what I expected our relationship to be like! BUT then, I realized, how lucky and blessed I am to even have him in the first place. I mean think about it, the number of Africans that go to college is very small! But he is now in that number! And his dreams are so big! But not too big for our God, and he trust and believes that he will help him reach his dreams! With realizing that, on the days I don't get to talk to him, I am able to joyfully stop and praise God for even bringing Max into my life as my best friend!! 

So the next time you feel like you are losing or have lost something, think of Job and how he reacted! Then do the same! 

 Bwana Asifiwe

Praise The Lord! 

He never gives up on us!

Do you ever picture your life as an actual race? Watching yourself run up hills, rush through valleys, fall down, want to give up? 

The race of life is not easy, at all! But we as Christian are promised a partner to help us run. Our Partner is strong, he has ran this same race before and he has conquered it, he has defeated it! This partner is God! But we also have an enemy who is constantly throwing rocks at our feet, making us trip and stumble! 

Today if I could sit and watch how I ran today, I would be pretty embraced. Starting out good, a steady pace. But when I began to speed up the enemy began to throw rocks at my feet. He threw sorrow, and fear. And I quickly fell to the ground crying in pain, feeling unable to breath my partner ran up beside me, took my hand and helped me back on my feet. He spoke words of encouragement and strength. I stood up, taller then before and began to run again, with a look of praise across my face. But of course my enemy could not allow that. So he through the rock of insecurity, and this time I nose dived into the ground. I did not want to get up, I just laid there in despair. But my partner again, he ran up beside and pulled me to my feet, discouraged I fell back to the ground, and I knew my enemy thought he had me! But my partner would not give up. He told me I could do it and all I had to do was trust him. Unwillingly I stood to my feet and began to run again. Time passed and my enemy continued to throw stone and each time I would fall and just like before my partner rushed to my side for comfort and strength! But then my enemy knew he could make me fall and not stand again. So he began to throw more stones of impatience and insecurity. I began to fall but this time my partner caught me early, he grabbed me and said "no Reba your fine! Do you not see that I have a plan for you, and while these rocks and falls are painful, these struggles seem not worth the pain, I have a reason for the struggles! I allow them to hit you to make you stronger!" I stood back up right and smiled in victory as I began to run to the finish line of today! 

You see, no matter how many times I fell, how many times I just wanted to give up. My partner never let me! He never gave up on Me and continued to love and give me the strength I needed! 

Remember this Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Hebrews 12:1 NLT)

Yes I've changed... No I'm not sorry!

Today, while talking to a friend about an issue in my life I have been struggling with, she said the words..."he said you've just changed" those words are words that in my past have made me really think about how I was living my life, and the actions that caused the words to become true. But this time they hit me straight to the heart! The one who made the comment, at one time was the only one I really wanted to please, my partner in crime, the one who I would listen to for hours and them tell him my deepest thoughts. I learned his life stories, and considered him one of the greatest things to ever happen to me... I knew, he was the one I would miss the most while miles away! 

Before I left for Africa I had a ton of friends, I was a people person and I loved people! BUT I was also a people pleaser, even if I knew it was wrong and it wasn't what I wanted to do, I would partake in it because the fear of losing people in my life was horrifying! I was not living my life, with God as the focus, with God as the center of every moment and every thought! And let's face it, life in general but defiantly 10000 miles away from the only thing you have ever know, with people of different culture and a different language... God becomes the ONLY familiar part of life! 

You guys to be completely honest, there is no way I could have done what I did with out the strength of God. Period!! 

Anyways those first days I spent every free moment I had, on my face or with my face in the bible searching for peace, guidance and strength! Not only was there nothing else to do, but it was the only way I was going to make it though! It was in those moments of brokenness that I was truly restored! God stole my heart and I literally fell in love with him! 

He changed my heart, and with that of course it changed the person inside! 

Yes where I used to never talk about The Lord, it is now my FAVORITE thing to do! 

Yes where I used to be driven off of the friends and people around me my FAVORITE  moments of my day are the ones spent alone on my face before The Lord! 

I understand I am not the girl I used to be.. BUT for the first time in my life REBA is the happiest girl alive!! 

Today God showed me that although I do miss the people in my past, more then anyone would ever understand. And I go every single day of my life, wishing for the moments I would spend with the ones who used to drive my life. I have been given this new life, and am being driven by something more greater then anything I could ever dream up!! I am not the same girl who used to enjoy those moments! It does not mean that I am done with those people and I will never enjoy those moments again.... I just have to choice, rather I become the person that they miss.. Or I stay the person I now love, and miss them and my past... And The choice is mine! 

I post this blog to say... For once in my life I am going to make REBA happy! I am going to be the REAL REBA, that has always been inside... I just compromised to make other people love her!! 

THIS is the Reba, God created! Say goodbye to the old Reba, who was created for a human, sinful purpose! And say hello to REBA the girl that God created for HIS purpose! :D 

When God shows up and shows off!!

SO I went to bed this last Sunday night, heart broken and worried about the coming week. I was afraid it was going to be difficult and honestly depressing because I knew that Monday would be the last day for a week that I would be able to talk to my best friend. Max is now attending classes at a school 7 hours away from home, and was unable to take his smart phone, and due to his schedule we were only going to be able to talk on Saturday and Sundays. I knew it was going to be hard going from talking to him everyday for 3 months to not talking to him for 5 days... I was sad, and feared the feelings that would come with the new changes. BUT Monday morning, instead of rolling over to call him, I simply stopped and prayed that God would give me the peace I needed to adjust to the plan God had placed before us. I got up and went along with my day, having an okay day at work and going to bed exhausted wishing it was Saturday already! Tuesday morning I woke up with my last text from Max, saying he was leaving for the school and would talk to me on Saturday. All though I did feel sadness, I still felt this peace, knowing that it would be okay. Tuesday came and went and although I missed him, that peace was still there. I went to work Wednesday morning counting down the days, but also feeling this joy that lite up my face. All of a sudden, God decided to give me a reason(or 5) to smile!  I opened my email and read an email from one of my board members John. He began to tell me how he had 10-12 people, interested in taking a mission trip to Kingamboni Tanzania and minister to Kingstar school. Reading that was a dream come true for me, and something I had been prying about ever since I had returned home from Africa. That night we meet and discussed some plans  that we wanted to do while on the trip. I left that meeting grinning ear to ear thanking God for answering this prayer and showing me a door leading to my dream! But God was not done yet! Thursday I received a very sweet email from Christine and that made me miss her and started off my morning on a great note! But later that day I hit a bump in the road. The band I had scheduled for the next nights event at work, I spent all night trying to find a replacement, but went to bed praying asking God to provide! Its Friday morning and of course my God provided and I was given a replacement, following that I had a great time at the Cedar Creek Chamber New Teacher Lunchin and was able to have lunch with a Christian Couple who are now teaching in Mabank. While talking with them I learned that they were once youth pastors, and after I began to share with them about my mission and work in Africa, that is when God did something cool! They then expressed to me, that just the week before they had talked about how cool it would be to take a mission trip over seas to teach in a school. I just love how God randomly does stuff to show his power and control! :) After lunch I then headed back to lunch to prepare for the Back To School Bash, I put together at work for some local youth groups in the area! God Showed up, big time and a total of 2 students were saved! Amen! Praise the Lord!! :) Saturday morning finally came and I was able to talk to my best friend and tell him all about my amazing week!! What I thought was going to be a horrible, very difficult week turned out to be an amazing week, BECAUSE OF MY GOD!!
My God showed up, and really showed off in my life!! I just said goodbye to my best friend for this week, and am now so excited to see what God is going to do this week!!!

When Sophia's Journey Becomes YOUR Journey

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. Proverbs 3:13-18

        Sophia is the Latin word for wisdom, and that is the journey I am on. As an education major, working towards being a teacher, as a Christian and Missionary walking in God’s wisdom and leading those to his wisdom, and as the founder of Sophia’s Journey as my team and I work together to provide educational wisdom and God’s wisdom to children all over the globe. 

         This is the journey and the path God has brought me to. As a 19 year old sometimes this path can be very difficult. I am 3 years away from getting my bachelors, I have two part time jobs that makes me just enough money to save for Africa and get me down the road. I am in a daily struggle just to be patient with where God has me and what he is doing. But never the less God has me on this journey, and all though it is a struggle it is the most rewarding journey I have ever been on. I will continue to work as hard as I can and do close to anything, until I am here 

back here in this moment with my boys again. 

and Here, holding my Babies 

 Here with my Dada, my sister. 

here with my Baba my African Father 

and here with my Best friend my Max! 

But everyday God teaches me that sometimes the journey is long, and it takes a while to get to our destinations. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 

And that right there, makes the waiting on the Lord, the struggles and the patients, WORTH IT! 

I am Reba and I am on Sophia's Journey