Immanuel! Immanuel! Immanuel!

I’m hoping for a different and unique Christmas season this year. I hope to spend time with my family and over good food, of course! : - ) I might visit a few friends as well.

I’ve been listening to Christmas carols. Sometimes I meditate on the words, especially those that speak of the coming Messiah’s birth and the salvation His has brought to all people. You should try it! I mean take out a hymn book or search the internet for Gospel centered Christmas carols and feast your heart and mind on them. Of all the songs, "O come, O come Emmanuel," has resonated with me this season.

The Israelites had been waiting, for a the King who would sit on David's throne. The King who would restore the Kingdom that had been destroyed through the sins of their forefathers. They were looking forward to the Prophet who would be greater than Moses. The Messiah who would be the Great Restorer and Deliverer. Isaiah, Jeremiah and others had prophesied about this King. And for a long time, there was no Word from the LORD. It seemed the prophets had padlocked lips for a season. And all of suddenly a young, unassuming lady was pregnant with that long anticipated King!

We don’t know what pleasant surprises or challenges may come our way in 2011 but these are bound to happen. Life is a roller coaster sometimes! However, God is ALWAYS with us in the midst of our joys, accomplishments, pain, sadness and all. We should feast on this Truth and more importantly at those trying times when it appears as if God has closed shop and gone to bed for good, lol! Remember.... His Name is Immanuel, God with us.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” which means
“God with us”.
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife
Matthew 1:22-24

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5-6

To my bloggie friends and random visitors, I wish you God’s blessings & may You feel God’s loving embrace throughout the coming year!

God is with me & God is with you. Amen!

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

Caught in the Act but Free in the End!

I’m really, really fascinated by the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). Sweet Grace! This is more or less my rendition of the story:

So this woman was caught in adultery.  I can imagine the commotion as  the person(s) who saw the act, the Pharisees and the teachers of the laws dragged Madam from the ‘crime scene’ through town to the temple courts. I can imagine the taunts and threats of death being yelled out as she was paraded through town. “Boo! Shame on you, woman!” People shouting at her in disgust.

BUT, it takes two to tango. Where was the man - her male accomplice? Why wasn’t he dragged through town to face the same punishment?

So the leaders brought her to the temple courts. What blessedness that Jesus Christ was there teaching at that same time!

“They made her stand before the group.” 3b- NIV

“They made her stand in the middle of the court…” AMPLIFIED

I can imagine Madam standing all alone before everyone – fearful, ashamed, remorseful, unkempt… after all she had just been dragged from bed! Eyes looking her in judgment. Busy tongues wagging. “Have you heard……. Eeeeiiiiieeee, this woman paa! How could she do such a thing!” Fingers snapping and fingers pointing at the culprit.

“So let’s ask Teacher Jesus. He should be able to justify that Madam should be stoned to death, just as the Law of Moses commands. As for this one, we caught her feeli, feeli. No... libilibi, no lavalava!”

BUT, they didn’t say, “We caught them!” They said, “We caught her!" Were there not two people involved in the ‘crime?’

“So what you say, Jesus?”

I can imagine the whispers and the noise gradually dying down as the gathering wait for the final judgment.

But Jesus has already stopped teaching. He too grows silent. He bents down to write on the ground. Was He making Madam’s anguish lengthier by making her stand there or what?

The people persisted with their question, after all Jesus claims to be the Chief Teacher of the Law. “Aaaaah, Jesus paaa! You mean to tell me that you don’t know what the punishment should be, eh? You say, you be Messiah. Talk now!”

Still… complete silence all around the temple. If pins had dropped, I’m sure you could have heard them.

“If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her,” John 8:7b; NIV.  And He continues to write on the ground.

One by one, they leave. Gray-haired Koo Hia drops his stone and leaves first. Another wrinkled old man limps away with his walking stick.  One of the priests adjusts his  tunic  and walks away. An old lady remembers her unexposed sin too; she steps aside in shame. Similarly, the younger ones begin to leave the temple courts until it is almost empty.

The ‘accused’ is still standing before Jesus, who is continues to write on the ground. He looks up and surveys the temple courts.

“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” John 8:10

“No one, sir,” she said. John 8:11

“THEN NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU.” JESUS DECLARED. “GO NOW AND LEAVE YOUR LIFE OF SIN.”

What liberating words!
A ‘dead gonna’ is now a free woman.
The accused, now justified by Jesus!
The death sentence turned around to a new and better life.

AND CATCH THIS: Because her male accomplice wasn’t brought before the temple courts along with her, he may have missed the true forgiveness and justification from Jesus.

God bless ya, 

Akofa.

Trusting God: Some lessons will never end

A few things I’m learning about Trusting God:

• Nobody is born knowing to put our trust in another person. We learn it based on the reliability of the person as shown over time and through various experiences. A newborn knows to turn his/her head a particular way with an open searching mouth because the baby knows the direction of breast milk through an established pattern. And the baby also grows to know that s/he will get a response to his/her cries; often the louder, the more likely attention will be given to him/her.

• I’m never going to reach a stage in my life where I’m not required to choose to trust God. Indeed, I’m going to have to decide NOW to rely on God, whatever comes my way in the future.

• I’m required to trust God even though I don’t know what the next step will be. In fact, I’m to trust God for the next step! Proverbs 3:5-6.
  

• Choosing to trust God, in the face of the unknown increases my faith because I rely on the Unseen yet Dependable One.

• Periods of Trust- There will be different times at which each situation will require a deeper reliance on God.

• There will always be times of waiting before I see physically what I am hoping for. What or who I decide to believe and to decide to do during those seasons of waiting is up to me.

• Degree of Trust - There will different things for which I’ll have to trust God. Some will require greater faith, more inner wrestling with God than others. Others will require ‘blind faith,’ in the sense that you don’t see the future or the expected results but you know God and what He has said concerning you and the situation. But the point is, whatever degree to which I need to trust, I need to put my hopes in God, the LORD.

• Just as there will be different things for which I’ll have to trust God; so will everyone but the specifics will differ. Some will have to trust God for a child in the midst of fertility challenges, while others will have to trust God for a spouse after many years of waiting. There are others will have to trust God for the salvation of a lost daughter, another for spiritual deliverance and yet another for physical healing. Some for day to day meals or housing as they battle poverty, adoptive parents for a child, for a job in a shaky economy, for a marriage or a relationship to be restored, a teenager gone missing and needs to be found… the list is endless.

You get the picture? We all walk different life paths but it is the same One God who powerfully and lovingly works in, for and through us to display His Glory.

So… what are your needs, your desires or concerns? You can turn to God, who wants to be gracious to you.

And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:10- ESV

In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
Isaiah 25: 9- NIV

Digging deeper,
Lady Akofa.

Only in Ghana! MJ Wafer

So, so, so.... One of our lovely moms gave this to me in church last Sunday. She is always giving small gifts to people at Sunday services. I was so amused to see the label: Michael Jackson's initials and an image of him moonwalking. Hehehe! And yes, that's a made-in-Ghana product.

I have yet to eat it though.

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

Service is the call for all leaders; not squabbles!

Ah! Who am I that I should even stand before these big, big people, eh? I recently had a bit of epiphany and I just had to share to our African leaders, specifically these 3 groups of people: politicians, traditional chiefs and religious leaders, especially Christian leaders who should know better!

There is a deep sense of pride and power that potentially comes with “rising to the top.” There is a lot at stake, lots of people looking up to you as a leader and lots to be done. May God grant our leaders grace.

When leaders are blinded by long-drawn out disagreements, they seem to lose sight of the very character traits that got them to the “top,” --- humility, teachablity and accountability. They forget the inherent call of a leader is SERVICE.

Such blinded leaders hold on to their pride, unrealistic expectations and hurts in their squabbles. It’s a shame that some of our leaders have been so blinded by “self-rights” that they cannot serve the people they had promised/pledged to serve when they took up “post.” No wonder development, growth and success so often eludes us in Africa.

It’s time to pray for these leaders to uproot bitterness from their hearts and lives, to completely forgive and reconcile so that they can really focus on what really matters.

Jesus Christ refused to be entangled by the traps of the Pharisees and Sadducees because He wanted to accomplish His ONE GOAL: the salvation of people like me! Amen!

Praying for African leaders,
Lady Akofa.

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.