Pearls of Delight

My friend bought a vineyard on a fertile field on the outskirts of the city where he lived. He dug and cleared the field and planted the best grapevines there. He built his office right in the middle so he could have a good view of the yard and deployed a stakeout to watch for little foxes that could ruin the vines. He built a winery and cut the press into the stone to produce traditional vintage. He was eager for the harvest, he could hardly wait to taste the good juicy grapes that would grow, he staked, nurtured and pruned, but when it cropped there were only rotten ones. It broke his heart, he had made quite substantial investment, with hard work, employing the right combination of skills and knowledge, loving, nurturing, ensuring the field was properly irrigated and fertile, yet all he got were rotten and sour grapes. ..."what more could I do for my vineyard? I did everything I could. I hoped for good grapes to grow, but there were only rotten ones. Why did this happ...

I am not your backup plan, I am your source and destination. As you commit to work with your hands and looking on to me, I will establish the work of your hands. I am God, unlimited in abundance. Do not allow yourself to be swayed or dismayed by what you see and hear around you. Keep your hand on the plough and your eyes on me, I will  accomplish my work. Remember the things I spoke to you, I do not forget, I am doing a new thing, I am shifting and reordering things on the earth, I am creating vacancies and I am looking for my sons and daughters whom I have prepared for this time, to occupy. Stay, remain, abide, be strong. I am over all. Grace whispers by Rita Oladiran Scripture: Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already—you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there. Isaiah 43:19 GNT By Rita Oladiran

The bible is a very vivid and captivating story book - permit me to call it a story book even though its much more. I imagine the characters coming alive like it probably would in a Disney movie. I imagine the garden of Eden, the first home described in the first book - Genesis. God's masterpiece of natural architecture built complete and ready for his beloved children, even while they were just seeds conceived in his heart.  I imagine His joy and excitement when he summoned the trinity and crafted mankind marvelously after his own image and likeness. I imagine the compassion he felt seeing the man all alone and knowing he needed a mate, the pleasure and enjoyment of  seeing them together. They revelled in the joy of having each other, dwelling together in communion with the Him. They were  surrounded by his glory and serenaded in eternal beauty. He endowed them with such creative  imagination as he possessed and freewill to exercise this brilliance in naming th...

I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. Psalm 121:1‭-‬2 MSG‬‬ While I was trying to teach my son how individual household appliances get powered from the mains, using the illustration of a three-pin fuse plug attached to an appliance, the Holy spirit drew my attention to the semblance of this process in our relationship with God.  Inside the white plastic casing of the plug are three wires and a fuse, each wire serves different purposes, one is called the live wire because it carries electric voltage from the outlet to power the  appliance, the second is the neutral wire which returns unused electricity back to the mains and the third wire carries any excessive current leakages into the ground – earth, to prevent sudden shocks or electrocution. While the fuse breaks to intercept damage to the appliance, from sudden power surge or high voltage. Now if the plug is fau...

For so many years I have had this recurrent dream in which I was pregnant.  I remember a particular episode of one such dream in 2010, where I saw myself in early pregnancy, hugging and congratulating a dear friend who was heavily pregnant.  She had been waiting on God for a baby and I didn’t even know she was already pregnant at the time as I had not seen her in a while.  Receiving the news of the birth of her baby a few months later, after a season of waiting, was both a delight and a scare for me, as the thought of having another baby after 3 already in my quiver was not particularly attractive to me.  That was how I interpreted these dreams -another baby in the making, but years have gone by with no physical addition to my quiver -which is a relief by the way.  However, the dreams continued intermittently over the years and I kept wondering and asking God what it meant.  I had several deep encounters with God in the place of worship, service and p...

Today's verse of scripture speaks so loudly to each one of us. I have encountered overwhelming times where pain and fear scream louder than my faith, and  I am searching for a ray of hope, a place of solace to anchor my faith...I know some of us are there right now.  At such times, I have always found solace in God's word and his promises, I encourage you to do the same.  Like David says in our verse..." Why am I so sad? Why am I so upset? I tell myself, “Wait for God’s help! You will again be able to praise him, your God, the one who will save you.” Psalm 42:11 ERV. In those split seconds when your thoughts start running wild, remember his word and promises to you: When you’re scared, remember - God hasn’t given me a spirit of fear. (2 Timothy 1:7) I can cast my worries on Him because He cares for me. (1 Peter 5:7) Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) God is my refuge. (Psalm 62:7) When yo...

There are loads of things I find easy, well not too many, but we all have them, things most of us do quite easily,  I mean things that just come naturally to us like talking, laughing, eating,  sleeping and…Then there are things we are specially gifted to do, each one of us has something like music and singing and dancing and…, art and drawing, sculpting, painting and…tenderness, compassion, love and…some of these things and I don’t mean the artsy ones, come naturally to me, but not waiting.  Waiting for me is torture and a struggle, the moment it looks like something is going to require waiting I practically begin to look and dig around for some ways that I wouldn’t have to wait for it, most times, I work up a frenzy in the process or dig myself further into a hole of my making.  However, the bible says to wait “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him…”Psalms 37:7 NIV.  Waiting is an essential part of the Christian faith, very critical in o...

“I know you wonder what lies ahead… beyond the bleakness you see. I have made irreversible changes, do not seek to understand, only trust me. I will cause you to walk upon your high places, I will pour out upon you creative ideas, my spirit of creativity beyond your comprehension. There will be a total turnaround such that if anyone asks you of these times you will not remember the toil of your process. You will forget the pains of all the labour you have laboured for the joy of the new life I give to you.  I make all things new.” Grace whispers by Rita Oladiran Photo credits by @resolutely_fearless