Thankful!

"Don't be afraid to shut a door when that season has ended- God already has a better one opened for you!" Paula White.

Alright! 2012 is not ended yet... but I remember one of the goals I set to achieve this year was to have fun, I think!! How did that go? Did I really just relax, as I aimed to? Well, it has been a mix of working harder and playing hard :-) I totally love how the year started- with a big challenge of learning to close some doors and just say a blunt NO to many things. Yup, it was hard, but also a good skill to learn. Sometimes, saying no is not as easy as its spelling- even when it is the right thing to do. Anyway, looking back, it has been an interesting year of growing and learning. I caught myself complaining once in a while....but all the stress, I'm thankful for.

More of it come 2013! 

God have been gracious to me, family and friends- and colleagues at work. 

Talking about work... with all the challenges they brought o.... seriously...I'm thankful to and for everyone who gave me an opportunity to learn by doing- CP-Africa.com gave me the space to practice leadership and explore Africa. Dis Generation column in the Nation newspaper gave me a platform to speak up for youth development. UNAIDS' CrowdOutAIDS.org opened up a unique global opportunity to lead by serving. Ventures-Africa.com taught me how exciting it is to build from scratch, focus, work hard and be paid for what you do. My Oga there was very finicky about little errors so I did learn to embrace an excellent work culture too. Aside the above mentioned, there were a lot of other opportunities here and there.... But I pitched my tent at GPI, yup the work-culture has won me over.

So I think I'm going to stick to GPI globalpressinstitute.org for a long time :-) I love my boss and colleagues. The work culture rocks! And yes, it is DEVELOPMENT JOURNALISM! I've learned a lot these past months and definitely look forward to learning more and be productive! It is not going to be easy... but is anything easy these days?

I hope this post does not sound too good to be true. I mean, it has not been all rosy. I failed here and there. Was financially broke. Disappointed some people. Fell ill. I face the usual challenge people face. But in all of it, I think I'm still very well excited and alive!

On education and the rest of us, I did finish strong at NIJ. Combining full time education with full time job is a hard nut to crack :-) But I survived, by God's grace. One of the price I paid was becoming very anti-social for a while... but that is changing now- hopefully. It is very important to just relax- eat well, love deeply and pray fervently.

I lost a very dear friend this year. I was shocked. Devastated. Angry. Discouraged. And became afraid. 

But in all of it, I found comfort in God's word- the same words of comfort in three places- Psalm 42:5, Psalm 42:11, Psalm 43:5:

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He's my God.

(Psalm 42:5,11 Psalm 43:5.)

God is not a secret to be kept.

The year 2012 is not ended yet, but I'm thankful to everyone who has impacted my life, directly and indirectly. With all its challenges, we still have more than a thousand reasons to PRAISE GOD! Don't let the devil steal your joy. As I read on a friend's facebook update recently, "Think back on what God has done for you and praise Him in a new way."

No matter how broke or broken we are, there is always a reason to PRAISE God! Don't settle for being down in the dumps! Arise, yes arise and let God's glory shine through you! His love is not a secret to be kept.

Year 2013, the year of more LOVE. And, yes love is a verb. I've learned the hard way.