That I am His Child, For all Time

People may take pride in their profession such as a doctor, domestic engineer, journalist, chief executive officer, wife/husband, movie agent, celebrity model, pastor, etc. All these are temporary because they are limited to earthly circumstances and to this earth but of this, I’m sure:

That I am His Child, Forever.
♥

Amen and AMEN!

Delighting in Him,
Lady Akofa.

Only in Ghana! Speaking in Tongues

Sometimes, I’m tickled by conversations I have with people, especially when

1. we speak different languages (literally) or
2. when people use inappropriate words or unintentionally use certain words to mean something else. This makes for potential misunderstanding and conflicts but can be a source of humour!

Sometime ago, I had a brief conversation with a retired cleaner and messenger. He wears many hats, by the way. I was so amused by it that I typed it for my personal pleasure. This conversation is an example of situation 1 above, where he was speaking in broken Ghanaian English and I, formal educated English. I normally switch to broken Ghanaian English when I meet such people but for some reason, I stayed with formal English in this encounter. I’m sharing here.

Former co-worker, a pensioner: I wan box cover.
Me: There are things inside so I won’t be able to give you the box. By the way, what do you want the box for?
Pensioner: I wan put puss cat for box make I take home.
Me: Eeeiiiee! Pussy cat! You’ve got a pussy cat!
Pensioner: Somebody stole my Big puss cat, eh! So I get small (baby-my insert) puss cat make I take home.
Me: Oooh... as for this one. Somebody has probably taken your Big cat to make Fufu and light soup. Oooh sorry o!
Pensioner: Ooooh.... every time visitor come for house, they make say, this puss cat dey BIG, fine! Now i-no more. Oooooooh!

*Note: Yes, there are people who eat cat meat. I’ve not yet tried it. I doubt I will.

Amused,
Lady Akofa.

Only in Ghana! Potholes

Rain does some pretty wonderful things... Brings life and ... death. Remember the flood in Noah's day? It rained 40 days and needless to say, you know what happened in the end.

Fire does some pretty wonderful things too.

But I'd take water if let let me choose between fire and water. I think you can recover some things after a flood but I'm not sure what one can recover from ashes.

About a week or two week ago, we were driving home from I don’t remember where, and I commented on the association between rain and potholes in Ghana. And my mom responded, “There is a saying that you choose which pothole you’d want to fall into.” Hehehe! And there are very deep ones too.

You see, overtime our road gradually erodes as rain softens the ground with the added pressure from vehicles. So you see all these drivers dodging potholes, running into the other lane in the process. Welcome to not so smooth driving in Ghana = Bumpy rides.

It was such a pleasant surprise to see the potholes being filled over the weekend by the road works people.

God bless ya,
Akofa.

Not Enough Containers 2

It was windy.

There was thunder.

There was lightening.

It was pouring.

And the containers were still not enough to contain the blessings that gives us food to eat and water to drink, wash, etc... When you brush your teeth every morning with water, my sister, my brother... thank the Giver of Life.

Yes, that was the 'best picture' I could get.

God bless ya,
Akofa.

Not Enough Containers

Ever since our gardener got laid off early this year, I’ve taken a special interest in watching out for the plants in the flower pots. It gives me great pleasure to uproot weeds, prune the plants, dig up fallow soil and to water the plants. I’m even more excited to see tender shoots, leafs fresh and tender and flowers blossom.

When plants start to droop and wither, I know that their nourishment has been long overdue and I must quickly nurse them back to life; yet one day at a time. I think I’m now familiar with each one and with their patterns.

I’ve also taken special interest in rain. It’s not that I don’t like rain. I’ve always loved rain, except for my childhood days when I sang with my playmates,

“Rain, rain go away!
Go and come another day.
Little children want to play.
Rain, rain go away!”

Rain has been sporadic this year as compared to last year. And since we have water shortage from time to time, I’ve taken delight in making sure barrels and buckets are put outside to collect water from the roof when it rains. Because… it seems when it rains, it rains heavily.

One day, as I was excitedly replacing full buckets with empty buckets and getting wet, a thought came to mind,

“God sends abundant rain and you don’t have enough buckets/vessels to contain it all.”

And today it rained cats and dogs.

How gracious God is with His showers of blessings. Free. Abundant. My God of UnLimited blessings. And we just can’t contain it because it’s meant to overflow!

I thank God for the lesson- He is BIG!

Revelling in My UnLimted God,
Lady Akofa.

May 17, 2010.

Only in Ghana! - Abro ne nkate

Okay, I'd like to think there are some things you'd only find in Ghana like my latest delicacy: Abro ne nkate (corn and groundnut/peanut). Like you see at the side. It's roasted corn (you can see the popped corn) and roasted peanuts. When I bought this I asked for lots of peanuts and little corn. The corn is usually hard.

It's considered a snack for the average Ghanaian, and it's not what you'd see the rich or well-to-do Ghanaian eating but this to me is a delicacy. Why? I just don't get it everyday, lol!

So when you decide to visit Ghana one day, try this. And let me warn you, be ready to crack your teeth.... just a little. :-)

BTW, watch out for my new series: Only in Ghana!

Glod bless ya,
Akofa.

“I was arrested…!”

I’m always amused whenever I hear Christians in Ghana share their conversion experiences and often describe the significant turning point with such words, “The Holy Spirit ‘arrested’ me and I gave my life to Christ that day.” Hehehe!

Can you picture Mr. Holy Spirit as a police man holding a BIG stop sign at the end of a dead end street? Hehehe!

And then I remember it used in a context where an aggrieved party was asking for prayer for the person who had stolen from her so that the person would come and confess his/her sins to her. “I want God to arrest the person so that the thief will come and confess to me.” Uh….Oh-uh… I had a bit of a problem with such a request. I’d prefer that we pray that the LORD leads the ‘thief’ to repentance that leads to salvation first, then the person would be led to deal with specific sins at the Cross and the way God requires.

Oh…. I digress… we were talking about a Police Man and how He does a wonderful job of ‘arresting’ people, eh? The beauty of it all is that He doesn’t take his ‘suspects’ to prison, lol! Instead, He does a beautiful, life-changing work in them that liberates them to live to please God all their lives! Huh…there is a famous account of a man named Saul (Acts 9:1-31) who got arrested on his way to Damascus and had to make a U-Turn! His name later became Paul (Acts 13:9).

I prefer to use these phrases, “I got convicted by the Holy Spirit,” “was touched by the Holy Spirit,” “the Holy Spirit brought me to repentance” and lately “the Holy Spirit wooed me to Christ.”

So I did get ‘arrested’ sometime ago, lol! Have you been arrested before?

God bless ya,
Akofa.

No title but deep stuff

Occasional loneliness is actually not such a bad thing if we know where and who to turn to when we find ourselves friendless and abandoned. Should we look into ourselves into depths that confound us, we lose sight of what’s true. But if loneliness drives us to seek the True God then that’s a good thing because we have found a Friend. And what blessedness it is to find Him! Or better still, when God powerfully and lovingly reveals Himself to us- YOU!

Oftentimes, we try all possible means to avoid being lonely but it is only at such times that you recognize your need for something more, for Someone Divine.

And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. - Hebrews 11:6

I lift up my eyes to the hills-
where does my help come from?
My help comes form the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

God Dey!

My personal translation of Psalm 139:7-12 is this:

Heeey... where you gonna go that God no dey, that God no see, that God no know?

Don't you think my next publishing project should be a new bible called, "God dey Bible" or something like that?

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

*** "God dey" means God is there or God exists.

The Ultimate Woo-er

At a group bible study yesterday, I was reminded of God’s commitment to love us and humanity’s incapability to love the way He does. A lady was confounded by her own inability to love God with complete abundance and felt her love for God was inadequate. Her concern portrayed a desire to go deeper in her walk with the LORD.

♥♥♥

God reminded me of 1 John 4:10-11, which I shared with the lady. The gist is this: we are incapable of love because of sin in our hearts. God loved us first by extending His mercy through His Son, Jesus Christ. As we feed on the love He lavishes on us, we in turn love Him and this love overflows to others without inhibition.

♥♥♥

Yes, we love, but only as human beings do which basically is to love those who love us. However, the love of God extends even to our ‘enemies,’ and strangers and that’s only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit.

♥♥♥

Another precious sister explained it further this way: God is the suitor just like any young man seeking to court a lady. Until a young man comes a lady’s way, the lady is not capable of loving him because she doesn’t know him. But as he pursues and the lady chooses to be receptive to the attention and the expressed desire, a love relationship begins and they get to know each other.

♥♥♥

Oftentimes, if all things goes well, there is a desire to commit for life in a marital agreement. In marriage, the journey of knowing each other and loving each other continues. I’ve heard older married couples say that they loved each other when they were young but now that they are old, they love each much more than they did in the past.

♥♥♥

So when you’re stuck and unsatisfied with your ‘level’ of love for God don’t be alarmed. God is not seeking perfect love from you. He is aware that you’re not fully capable of that just yet but you’ll grow in love as you CHOOSE to spend time getting to know Him. All He asks for is your desire. Are you desirous for authenticity and depth? Can the desire translate into a daily choice of pursuit and receptiveness?

♥♥♥

God is in the business of wooing us into a deeper love relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus Christ is the Groom and You are His Bride. Allow Him to woo you. Allow Him to pour out precious jewels of love into your heart. Delight in His love like the beautiful, blushing bride you are! :-)

♥♥♥

Basking in His love,
Lady Akofa.