A Fresh Start

You can imagine this is my first post since New Year. Like I just entered my own January 2nd...lol...come to think of it, I'm super-excited about this year because alot, and I say again ALOT, and I mean A WHOLE LOT of things are coming through this year by God's Grace. Stay Tuned.
I did hope to travel and enjoy the usual early January banter and catch-up gossip of family & friends but I later deceided to stay put. I figured I could use a whole lot of quiet and calm this New Year. And I'm grateful I did because while everyone, except my little sister, was gone, I had time to really sleep-wake-up-sleep, cook all kinds of my favourite stuff, eat it, finish up some books I was reading last year & start a few more, catch-up with some of my long-lost friends, read alot more of my Bible & study, pray for alot of things (especially current situations in Nigeria), and praise God for all the things that's coming through this 2010. I even made a wonderful huge bowl of vegetable salad with my little sister (imagine just two of us with a huge bowl of salad! what was I thinking?) and I learnt a whole lot of lessons from it. (I'm contemplating posting that experience another time).

(Now, never mind the 'alot' & 'a whole lot' repetition, that's my clique for the year. My abundant fufillment is alot & a whole lot! Thank you Jesus!)

Its been mind-cleansing and refreshing. Most of all, I learnt the importance of being still. Just staying put and doing nothing or worrying about nothing in particular. Let the days go and actually enjoy the tick-tock of passing time, no deadlines and no rush.

Again, the house is full. Everyone is back. One or two visitors around. My Mom comments on needing sleep. But I'm alert and energised as can be. I've received health & strength from the Lord for challenges ahead, promises for needs, praises for difficult times, hope for sinking moments, a compass for my direction, and a whole lot more. Bring it on 2010! The sky is the starting point.

Happy New 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!! !!!!!

Song of the Year - I Never Lost My Praise

I've heard this song over and over for the past few months. Moreso because my church's youth choir team sang it for this Christmas retreat singspiration. But as my little sister played it again this afternoon, a new light and meaning flooded my soul and I knew that certainly, this was my song for the year. It wraps up this year for me like no other song, poetry or words can.

Solo 1

I've lost some good friends along life's way

Some loved ones departed in Heaven to stay

But thank God I didn't lose everything

I've lost faith in people who said they care

In the time of my crisis they were never there

But in my disappointment in my season of pain

One thing never wavered one thing never changed

CHORUS

I never lost my hope

I never lost my joy

I never lost my faith

But most of all

I never lost my praise

CHOIR

My praise, still here, my praise still----here

Solo 2

I've let some blessings slip away

And I lost my focus and went astray

But thank God I didn't lose everything

I've lost possessions that were so dear

And I've lost some battles by walking in fear

But in the midst of my struggle, in the season of pain

One thing never wavered, one thing never changed

CHORUS(CHOIR)

repeat

Praise, praise, praise, praise

Most of all

I never lost my praise

CHORUS

My praise, still here, my praise, still here (2X)

Truly, it has been a dramatic year for me, and even more dramatic after I re-gave my life to Christ in April. If you describe this year as a shape with twelve sides, then I have been on every corner and every side, both inside and out. If you describe it as a thousand hills, then I've been on every hill and in every valley as well. But as I look at the year at length and I analyse what left and what remained, what changed and what did not, what I expected to happen that did and that did not, my disappointments, my miracles, my seasons of depression and even the things I failed at that made me cry and the things that made me leap for joy, only one phrase finds its way out of my heart and lips: 'I PRAISE YOU LORD'.