A Must Read for All Ladies and Men

Just came across this post which y'all must read......

 

 

“Hi, I am Tonia (not real name), a girl who has fears, beliefs, reservations and just your regular typical Nigerian girl. This past few weeks has been one hell of a game for me. I have really been unsettled and I thought I share this story with you.
“When Cynthia (the lady killed in the hotel room in Festac, Lagos) surfaced on the internet and various news media, I was scared and it brought back a whole lot of memories to me and also served as and eye opener. Many people castigated and criticised Cynthia (may her
gentle soul rest in peace), but my point is, it could have been anybody, anybody at all.
“We have met people through various social media. Some have ended up well, some have not but with painful memories. To cut the long story short, let me kindly share with you my encounter with social media especially the very popular Blackberry Messenger (BBM).
“I am a graduate and currently serving in Kaduna. I could have runced it, but I needed somewhere to clear my head and forget about my ugly encounter. Here is my story.
“I happened to have a married man as a contact on my BBM. He had been asking me out for over six months and I refused to date him. As time went on, he invited me clubbing with him when his wife was outside the country, and I went with him all night. We spent most of the night at Swe bar, Lagos.
“I also met his clique of friends, married as well with their various mistresses. We had ‘mad’ fun. After all the clubbing and drinking, he lodged me in a hotel somewhere in Obalende. I felt sort of safe with him. We did not have sex, but he made sweet love to me and touched me in places I had never ever imagined.
“He kissed me passionately but guess what? He did not have sex with me. We did all sorts but there was no penetration. So, to an extent, I trusted he was a good person to be around with. I did not know that it was all part of the plan.
“He gave me N10,000 and put me in a cab to go home the next morning. We kept talking and chatting and sending naked pictures to each other and he told me naughty things of how he wanted to whisper things in my ear, I blushed. We didn’t see for two weeks and that was because his wife just came back from Turkey.
“One faithful evening, he pinged me that he was organising a beach party/boat cruise and that he would love for me to be his date and that he wanted to open a BBM chat, as a medium for his friends and my friends to interact. I was excited about it, I just wanted to have fun. I was able to get five of my very hot friends.
“The BBM group opened and we got chatting. I also realise that majority of them were married and working in reputable firms. It was fun and we didn’t mind if they were married, we just wanted to have fun, as well as some other girls apart from my friends in the group.
“We chatted exclusively, sent pictures to the BBM group to introduce ourselves, and we had opened group conversations pending the beach party. And as excited as we were, we went shoping for nice sexy beach wears.
“The D-day finally came, we all assembled at the Lagos Island Boat Club. I was wowed because it was a high class party. We were cruising in a boat loaded with goodies drinks and hot babes, and as well ‘MARRIED MEN’. I did not care, I just said in my mind that I would not roll with married men anymore after this, that for now, all I wanted to do was to catch some fun. After all, I wasn’t paying bills.
“We got there, it was a private beach resort. Most of the beach facilities I got to see there were owned by multinational companies. We got out of the boat, and went to where we were partying. It was a duplex made with wood. It was a very nice setting.
“I felt comfortable because it even had a fence around it separating it from other beach houses around. So, there was privacy and of course bouncers (heavy looking guys) guarding the place. I said to myself, this must be heaven, I must be dreaming.
“Anyways, we felt free with each other because we had been chatting. It was 5:30pm and the party just started. We had drinks flowing from the private bar tender which happens to be owned by one of the men in the group. Reality struck when I realised that I was feeling dizzy and feeling really funny and light headed. Not only me, but other girls around me too noticed there was something strange about it.
“I was also feeling HORNY as hell! I had been drugged. They monitored us and when they knew the drug had really gone deep into our system, they moved us up into the main beach house. I could still see faces, but was too weak and horny to react.
“Mr B, the man who took me clubbing, carried me in his hands like a sacrifice and put me down on the floor just as other men also did with their girls. We were eight in numbers; 8 girls, 8 guys, and they all stripped us down and had sex with us.
“I enjoyed it a bit because I was horny. It was a mixed feeling because I cried, I moaned, but I did not know how many times he came into me. He pounded me hard. I was dizzy, but he grabbed me with force. All I could notice was the wedding ring on his finger. I thought of how wicked and miserable some married can be. How inhuman and heartless they could be.
“All of them took turns in switching partners and slept with all of us. I passed out. That was the last thing I could remember. I felt water poured on me. I noticed all the other girls around me too were half naked and some stark naked.
“We spent the night at the beach, but the men were no where to be found. I looked round me and all I could see was packs of used condoms. I ran to pick my cloths and possibly raise an alarm. I got dressed, found my phone with an envelope. It contained N16,000 and a note asking us to take N2000 each for transport. Tears of anger and rage filled my eyes and the girls around me as well.
“We were drugged and used like tissue paper. I grabbed my phone and noticed a ping came in. I checked my phone and I noticed the BBM group had been deleted, and a message via BBM from MR B came in. He threatened me that if I say a word to anyone, I would regret it.
“I told him he was a bastard, and he said try it. A picture came in, several pictures. In fact, they were pictures of us being naked on the floor. Pictures of the humiliating us but they blurred the faces of the men. In total, I got 20 pictures. I was not myself for a month.
“I went back to school, I had no one to talk to. The rest of the semester was hell for me. My CGPA dropped drastically. It was the worst out of the worst result I ever had.
“Till today, my friends and I have not discussed this with anyone, but all I could do when I heard of Cynthia’s story was to narrate my own ordeal anonymously and spread the news, the word, and pray they see it and changed their ways.
“I am now born again. I have given my life to Christ. I fear men so much that I cannot even move close to them. I still have nightmares, but with time, God will strengthen me and I will move on. My advice to single ladies out there is, do not be desperate for fun. Pray to God to open your eyes of understanding, and pray hard. He who kneels before God will stand before kings and queens.
“To all married women, pray hard to God to intervene in your marriages and turn your husbands from bad habits to and bad friends. As for me, I do not think I ever want to get married or date a man again. That chapter has been closed for good in my life.
Please, do not ignore my mail. Please post it. There are a lot of things we ladies need to learn including you. Please post it on your blog and save a soul. It could be your friend, sister, cousin, neighbour.
“God bless you as you pass it on. To all readers, I do not care if you insult me or rain abuses at me. My job is to share this encounter with you and save you from any mishap. God bless you all. Amen.”

"I WISH I Looked Like That"

"I WISH I Looked Like That" 

(Heather Lindsey)

Day in and day out you are just plain unsatisfied with how YOU look. You go on all these crash diets, buy all this makeup, get your hair all done, spend your whole paycheck on outfits and handbags to portray a some self image. You walk into rooms and no matter what you have on or how you look—you have this sinking feeling like you aren’t good enough, pretty enough, tall enough, small enough and you sure don’t make as much money as those around you. You feel stupid even going into certain stores because one shirt is the cost of your rent. You constantly beat yourself down from head to toe and rip your self-image apart as you compare it to everyone else around you.

Did you know that ALL of those thoughts are being used to distract you from the WILL of God for your life by destroying your confidence? If you don’t believe that you are “good” enough, you most likely won’t believe that God can really USE you. You’ll get stuck in this circle of inferiority for the rest of your life and remain AVERAGE. Then, you’ll get married to some guy that will make you feel even worse about yourself because you attracted what you were all along then you’ll have children and they’ll come out thinking and looking just like you. Then you’ll raise up another generation of kids that are all messed UP.

Did you know that God NEVER uses one’s outward physical appearance to determine beauty?!. When the prophet Samuel examined Jesse’s sons in search of the next king of Israel, he was impressed with Eliab’s appearance. God told Samuel: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things you lookin’ at. YOU are lookin’ at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). NOTHING in a person’s outward appearance impresses God. God is constantly checkin’ out what’s goin’ on in your HEART.

And to make all this relevant, did you know that the holy women of old made themselves beautiful by trusting God and accepting the authority of their husbands (1 Peter 3:5). And that’s FREE. You’ll pay a cost to learn to trust God & submit to your husband but that now means that you can get out of credit card debt and focus on what’s really important.

WHO are you to criticize the way you look or talk about anybody else? On the last day of creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). If you are made in the image of God Almighty, He didn’t make any mistakes. God is not surprised by your hips, lips, eyes, face or any part of your body. So for you to sit up and talk about anybody else, his or her personality & style is NONE of your business. God made you to look the way you do for your very purpose. You are beautifully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14). Your talents, gifts and everything on the inside of you is NOT a mistake. God placed those desires in you and attached your personality to complete your very purpose. So stop tryin’ be like everyone else. BE YOU. Aint no person on this earth like YOU.

Part of being a free moral agent is that you have a CHOICE. You can eat terrible food all day, never work out and never spend time with God and feel horrible about yourself & pretty much be average. Or you can spend time with God, learn what clothes works for you, eat healthy, work out & live an abundant life. This aint rocket science. NO to the donut, YES to the fruit. Don’t tell me what you CANNOT do because you are doing what you want to do. Just say you don’t want to do it.

Stay blessed!

Finding Your Identity in Christ by Lindsay

When do you feel good about yourself? In this very moment in your day, where are you seeking to find your satisfaction? Is it getting all your to-do list’s item done? When the children have behaved for you during your visit to the store? When people ask for and value your opinion and input? When you are promoted? When you feel loved and cherished by your spouse?
I personally desire the approval of others. I want others to think well of me. And when they don’t, I get depressed, discouraged, and emotional. I crave peace in our home – no conflict, no fighting among the little ones, no disturbance to my schedule. How do I know this? By evaluating my response when things don’t go the way I plan. Does joy reign or does tears and discouragement? You can judge your idols by the responses of your heart.
What is the focus of all these “feel good” questions? It’s self-centered me.
When our eyes are on ourselves and our inner cravings for approval are found in our own doings, accomplishments, and successes, we have lost sight of the gospel. As wives and mothers, it is easy to get depressed and discouraged because we are setting out hope on our own accomplishments, and not on the truth of the gospel. Did my child yell at me? Then I have failed as a mother. Did I only get one thing done on my to-do list? Then I have failed as a homemaker.
Where should your eyes be? Upon that beautiful Savior who suffered and died for you. We must cling to the truth that his love is ours right now – in this very moment – fully, completely, and unalterably ours. His approval of you is not based upon your performance, your goodness, your success…it is all based upon His undying love for us.
We must remember that “God loves us so much that he willingly crushed His only Son so that we might be his and that this love isn’t based on our worthiness or performance. His loves does not fluctuate from day to day. It was settled the moment he set it upon you before the foundation of the world…If you neglect to focus on God’s love for you in Christ, your Christianity will soon be reduced to a program of self-improvement – just one of many methods to help you “get your act together”. Although that may be worthy, it is not true Christianity.”
Jesus has granted us the ultimate Valentine, extending a “Be Mine” to each one of us, no matter our productivity for the day, or whether others approve of us or not.
Who are you? You’re his, he is yours, and you’ve been cleansed from sin. And that’s all the identity any of us need.
True transformation and freedom of our self-focused perspective can only come as we meditate and claim God’s love for us. When we cling to Him, lift our eyes off ourselves and simply have faith in that love, our thoughts, mindset, and feelings will be transformed. Let’s not loose sight of the gospel!
When you feel like a failure, remember that He paid the ultimate price so that you could be His daughter, His prize, His joy, and His forever. Rather than focusing on the “why this? why me?” questions, let’s ask the real question: why would God send His Son to die for me, his wretched enemy? (Rom. 5:8, 10); Why would he make him who knew no sin to be sin so that I might reap all the benefits of his righteousness? (2 Cor. 5:21); Why am I not hanging on a cross? The only answer to these questions is that God, who is rich in mercy, has loved us with his great love and showered us with his grace! (Eph. 2:2-6). This is our identity! (Elyse Fitzpatrick)
Take it home:
1. Meditate upon these gospel truths this week. Pray that God might transform your thinking to see your true value in Him. (John 3:16; Romans 4:7-8; 1 Cor. 15:1-3; Hebrews 10:19-22; 2 Cor. 4:6; 2 Cor. 5:21; Ephesians 1:3-8; Titus 3:4-5; 1 John 4:10)
2. Pick up a copy of Elyse Fitzpatrick’s Because He Loves Me and study together with your spouse or a friend who can help keep you accountable. I wholeheartedly recommend and challenge you to read it.