No matter how bad the battle rages in your life, don't give up! Step out and regain the territory that's been stolen from you. Even if it's only an inch at a time, make sure you're leaning on God's grace and not on your own ability. In Galatians 6:9 the apostle Paul simply encourages us to keep on keeping on! Don't be a quitter! Don't have that old "give up" spirit. 

God's looking for people who will find the courage to rise above all the negative and pursue the positive. Be in that group of people. Whatever you may be facing or experiencing in your life right now, stay positive and refuse to give up! It's easy to quit, but it takes faith to press on to victory. Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. Don't give up!

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DOING good to others can be a challenge. Those to whom we show love may not reciprocate. Although we seek the spiritual welfare of people by endeavouring to share with them “the glorious good news of the happy God” and his Son, they may be apathetic or ungrateful. 

Galatians 6:10 - Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people...

The thought here is that we will be favoured with the opportunity and the power to do good. It doesn't mean that we do good when it is convenient or when it will advance our interests or when it will contribute to fame. The rule is we are to do good whenever we have an opportunity whether it benefits us or not. We are to do good no matter how many times situations arise; no matter how much self-denial it may cost us and no matter how little fame we may get by doing it. If the opportunity arises to do good we must do it and be thankful for the privilege. We must do good to all men not just our family or people we like. We are to do good especially to other believers.

St Paul points us past our labours to the prize at the end: those who persevere in doing good are promised to reap rewards. When we become disheartened, the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit brings relief and gratitude to our hearts and glory to God. Just like the sower of seed must wait for the harvest, the Christian must wait patiently for the rewards that will inevitably come from the Giver of all good things (James 1:17). We will not give up, because our Lord is faithful. “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). 

“Keep doing good no matter what they say or do, God won't let you down.” - DJ Tira (South African House DJ)

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centred.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

-        - St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)

Remember, the words of Gandhi, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

“Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” -St. Francis of Assisi.

Pax et bonum (Peace and all good).

Ashley Mwanza

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IN life we are inspired by varying circumstances and various people. I love writing but have been procrastinating for some time now. After a chat with Primrose Goredema, a work colleague, I was stirred into writing this blog. This is the kind of conversations that fire me up and keep me going. Special mention to Tariro Chingwawala for her great feedback, it helps a lot, I am enthused by it, all the feedback I get from people about my writings and posts and the impact this has on their lives. I appreciate people who inspire me through their comments and feedback. Every person needs feedback, whether it is good or bad. I will focus on problems in life that lead us to giving up on our dreams and goals guided by my chat with Primrose.

It is not always easy to endure life's problems. We live in an imperfect world, and life is not going to be easy all the time. However, we need to start turning stumbling blocks into stepping-stones, use them as stepping-stones and climb to the place God has destined for you! Irrespective of who you are, what you do, or where you live, obstacles will always be present in life. We often look at these trials and think, “Why is this happening to me?” Instead take each test and think, “What can I learn through this situation?” Every circumstance we walk through in life can teach us and mould us if we allow it.

More so we should not beat ourselves down, frankly if we had friends that treated us the way that many of us treat ourselves, they wouldn’t be our friends for very long. Why do we do this? Why do we treat ourselves in such horrible ways? For some, the negative self-talk is so bad that it would literally be considered verbal abuse if coming from another person. Do any of these statements sound familiar? “I am not good enough.” “I know I would fail or be disappointed, so I will not try.” “I am not going to try this anymore I just cannot do it.” 

Negative self-talk can easily turn into a damaging self-fulfilling prophecy where you live down–instead of up–to expectations. It is a bad habit that could strangle any growth and needs to be dealt with NOW. This thinking is exactly the kind of destructive feedback we give ourselves.

This negative self-talk stems from past setbacks, defeats, hurts, heartbreaks, failures and disappointments. But these circumstances have a way of keeping us stuck in our tracks, unable to move forward or experience joy. It can take a radical reboot to get past yesterday. Sometimes the circumstances are just too heavy to allow us to get up again. These circumstances cloud our future. It is very easy to get stuck in the gloom of bad memories. They are emotional quicksand and exert a strong downward pull on the inner self. No matter what you face you do not have to raise your hand and surrender.

Obstacles are spread all over each person’s path, and they are there for a very good reason: to help us overcome them. They are there to help us grow, evolve, reach higher states of realization and find our way through them. To most people, however, this is not the case. They view obstacles as part of their desolation and suffering, believing that obstacles are there only to block their way and hinder them from achieving what they desire or have always dreamt of. Hence, they tend to pull themselves down.

Every successful person, the ones we tend to look to for inspiration in our own lives, has faced their fair share of setbacks before, during, and after achieving something great. The point is that you, too, can overcome whatever obstacles are in your way. And you can even find yourself in a better place. It is an adage that our life is made up of a combination of all our yesterdays, common sense tells us that to move forward, we should look back. Be careful common sense is not always common and is not always the way to go. This is so because there comes a point where indebtedness and examination of the past become gum on your psychological shoe. It sticks you in place, impedes forward motion, and, like gum, it does not just disappear on its own. You need to do some scraping. You can look to the past but do not live there.

It is hard to let go of the past in the absence of a positive view of tomorrow. You need a vision of the future. Your old story should be the stepping stone to creating a better one. Take the lesson from the past circumstance and learn from it, but do not stay in the past. Move forward, anchor yourself in the future.

There is comfort in familiarity and justification of the past. But, holding on to the past has no real benefit, it only holds you back from achieving your true potential. Sometimes, we use the past to justify our current decision-making, and that is the primary reason we do not want to let go, but we are only stifling our own growth by doing so. If we cannot get out of the story we have constructed for ourselves or we have allowed to build itself around us, the story that holds us hostage, then we cannot move on toward bigger and brighter things. Rather that story should be what spurs you toward a better tomorrow, that tomorrow starts today.

Your past may anger you, it may make you cry, it may make you feel vulnerable, it may make you feel useless, worthless, incompetent but letting go is not as hard as it may seem. Bad things happen, sure, but you cannot change the past, so why continue to perpetuate it? To let go, you have face what has happened, accept that you cannot change it and then move on. The moment you can move on and close old doors, inevitably new doors will open up, better opportunities will arise, and, most of all, you will have a better story that moves you forward, instead of holding you back.

For those of us with difficult pasts, it can be difficult to navigate through the boulders and potholes when we look back. We wonder how we could possibly move forward with so many obstacles in our way. We see the past obstacles in front of us too and we shudder. Every difficulty or disappointment you are facing WILL build your pathway. There is no better teacher of creativity than obstacles. Instead of allowing challenges to stop you, allow them to inspire a creativity in you that brings solutions to them. If you are out walking and come to a wall you must decide on how to overcome the wall. You could climb over it, walk around it, dig under it, blow it up, jump over it, etc.  The possibilities are endless. The importance is that you do not stop at the wall, become defeated and go home. The decisions that you make are what take you to where you want to go.

You have places to go and things to achieve. You are the only one who can live your life. Allow the obstacles you face to be the stepping stones for your future and watch how high you climb. When life knocks you down, get back up. And when it knocks you down again, get back up again. You can keep a negative, pessimistic attitude towards obstacles and put all blame on them for the situation you are in, or you can see obstacles in a positive way and use them as stepping stones for your own good. The choice is yours.

 “Let your obstacles be the stepping stones to a better future and not the rocks you stumble upon.” - Dominique Allmon.

Ashley D. Mwanza

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In life you ought to never take a stop to mean you are finished. Remember that none of us has fully achieved all that we can. That isn't to say we don’t have it in us to do so. Keep moving, and you will one day arrive at the crossroads between who you are and who you hope to be. But, don't feel discouraged if every now and then, you have to stop to reassess your current character and learn to accept that person. When you stop though, don't get stuck and refuse to move. Stopping should always be followed by starting again. This Lent stop and start afresh.

We should not give up trying to find our way. But that we should remember that sometimes it takes bending to avoid breaking. You can never learn or achieve anything by running away. We all face failure in our lives at times; whether they are recurring fears, lost opportunities, possibly even moral failures. Giving up can lead to regrets. The moment we give up, we have zero chance of a positive result. It is no longer possible to succeed because we have stopped trying. If it is a dream or a goal that is important to us, there is bound to be regrets. But as long as we hold out, there will always be a chance, no matter how slim, of attaining it. As long as we never stop trying, we could succeed against great odds. The times change constantly and unfavourable conditions could become favourable ones in time. The important thing is to hold out until an opportunity arises. NEVER GIVE UP.

Today we know Lent as a season of conversion, we acknowledge the ways we have turned away from God in our lives, and we focus on turning our hearts and minds back toward God. Hence the three pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These observances help us turn away from whatever has distracted or derailed us and to turn back to God. Giving up something for Lent is ultimately a form of fasting. This lent, let's try giving up self-pity and self-doubt and our burgeoning egos. Let's focus on achieving our goals and not forgetting to uplift our neighbours. Let's use these 40 days as a renewal phase. Let's convert from negativity to positivity.

Ashley D. Mwanza

#Lent2017

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Profound words from William Shakespeare, "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." 

Each day you have the ability to make the choice to take control of your life, or to let it control you. You can either be proactive, or you can let circumstances call the shots. Take 100% responsibility of your life. Yes, of course other people have an effect on us. But in every case, you have a responsibility for what you’re doing about it now. 

We blame our friends, boss or colleagues, relationships, family for making us stressed. You've got two choices: either you learn to accept the current status quo, or you take full responsibility for making it change. Yes, responsibility sometimes means admitting our part in screwing things up. But it’s also empowering: when you’re responsible for something, you can change it. This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time. Take control!

I think there is nothing more important as a first step, than taking full responsibility for what happens in our life. A lot of what we describe as success in life flows directly from it. Many people think about their lives as something that just happens to them instead of something that they can control themselves. They drift through life reacting to the actions of others instead of taking steps on their own behalf. Such people are like rudderless boats on the ocean, completely at the mercy of the tides to take them wherever they will. People, who don’t know where they are going, usually end up where they don’t want to be. So to sum it up in one sentence: You are responsible!

In the case of a boat on the sea, sooner or later the shifting currents will run it aground or break it upon the rocks. Most people would agree that it would be much better if someone steered the boat past the danger and out into clear waters instead. People are just the same. If we don’t take control of the direction our lives will take we leave ourselves to the mercy of others, often with disastrous consequences.

Always remember the wise words of Irene C. Kassorla, "The pen that writes your life story must be held in your own hand."

Ashley D. Mwanza

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