Your Life Matters,Love Yourself!

“Few years back I was struggling with the issue FEAR, wow! I mentioned it with bold letters as it is so big!
Since I was a little girl,I started experiencing it but as we all think and say FEAR is not a thing. We don’t take it seriously at all.
But every night and whole night I used to hold my mother’s hand to sleep but I wasn’t able to because of the fear I had in my heart.
I grew up with these feelings and then the time came when I was moving to different city where my mother wasn’t there with me to hold my hand during the nights.
This FEAR start to increase, though I was staying with prayerful family but I was alone in my room at night and often struggled to sleep.
I was over powered by fear and struggled to be alone any time of the day. I used to sit on a chair the whole time until the family came back and I used to keep all the lights on, no matter if it was night or day.I started feeling so alone, unhappy and lost my peace and joy.
I wasn’t able to sleep and I wasn’t able to share what I was going through and what I was feeling.”
Because FEAR is funny not a serious thing. Right?
Everytime I shared my struggles with others, I was teased, they made fun of me. This was funny for them but wasn’t for me.
No one understood my struggle and I felt that I am being judged because of the questions that people used to ask about my struggles “Karishma! How can you be so fearful you are a 20 Year old girl not a Child, don’t you love God? Don’t you have Faith? Don’t you follow Jesus? And why are you not trusting Jesus?
I was crying and praying continuously and asking God to help me but I stopped sharing my struggles with people.
One day I met a friend who knew me as a joyful person and she asked me, “How are you girl?” I am fine “I replied”.
She started looking at the floor and looked at me again and said, ” Karishma how are you?” I looked at her and my tears started coming out and I just nodded my head for NO!
I wanted to tell her I wasn’t okay, I haven’t slept well from a long time, when I am alone I don’t enter in my room, I sit in common room with all lights on and continuously watch TV but I wasn’t saying anything then with a low voice I said, “Can I share with you something but you have to promise me, you will not tell anyone and will not make fun of it.” She held my hand and assured me , then I shared with her what was happening and I was continuously crying but she listened to me very patiently as she really cared and didn’t leave my hand and once I was done talking,she just encouraged me with few kind words and said, “Can I pray for you?” Later she said, “Do you want to meet me ones a week? So we can pray together and talk through all what you are going through.”
She was the first person who heard me and felt my pain, later she and her husband, counseled me for fear for almost 18 months and I was able to open myself to them because I knew that they were not judging me instead they were praying for me and with me!
We all need that person, who can pray for us and with us.
I was continuously loosing my hope and there was even a time which I only shared with this lady and her husband,I said to them,”what is the point of living like this,having a fearful life.” (Of course I wasn’t thinking to end my life because I was continuously praying for myself and God wasn’t letting any bad thoughts to come in my mind) but everyone doesn’t have that.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord . “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11”
I was thinking God wasn’t listening me but now when I look back, I can see that he was preparing me so I could experience this and so I could understand the people who go through the same pain.
Now when someone comes to me and tell me about it, I know how it feels.
Because God had and has a plan for me.
After a long counseling through God’s word and prayers I was healed and I realised that when I had to stay all alone in a big house for few days.
I was so comfortable, in peace and I was staying with my joy.

My mentor always said, Karishma until you are alone you won’t know if this fear has gone.
Word says:
The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles.
Psalms 34:17

If we ask his help, he is faithful and just to help us and provide us what we need.

As he sent my friend and her husband in my life to help me.
I still feel fearful but it’s not what I went through.

Please give people some grace when you get to know that someone is going through some emotional challenges. Listen to these people who are looking for a person who can lead them, guide them and understand them.

And, give yourself a grace too so you can go to a person you trust and share what you are feeling and going through.

Recently a brilliant young actor Sushant Singh Rajput from Bollywood who had lot of potentials in him ended his life. Now people has started talking about Mental Health and issues of depressions. He felt that the best way to deal with his struggles is to end his life.
Doesn’t that happens to us sometimes?

We look great, people love what we do, people love us but do we really love ourself?

I asked many people about…

What do they think about suicide?

Why do people end their life?

..and I got many different answers and views…
Some said weakness.
Some said lack of joy, happiness and peace.
Some said depression.
Some said these people have no hope.
And so on…

And in a way these are true too but how can we have the joy, happiness and peace which would not leave us?
Is it okay to kill ourselves when Bible clearly says killing is a sin?

Of course not!
The true Joy, happiness,peace and hope we can only get through Jesus.

Bible also says,
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

I don’t know if the people who commit suicide are weak or what but I know that they feel so alone and lonely and they stop being happy and that’s why they end their own life.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Walk with him on his WAY with your TRUTH and he will surely give you a LIFE with happiness, joy and peace.

And the happiness, joy and peace he will give you, no one will be able to take it away from you.

Suicide is a sin because murder is a sin. Life is gift of God and its not to end in suicide.

Suicide is not a planning, it is a thought.

Which comes to our mind and if we don’t know how overcome it, this overtakes us.

Come to God with your broken heart and he is able to heal it.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
Psalms 34:18”

If you are loosing your joy, happiness and peace please call on to God and he will rescue you!

If your heart is broken for anything,please come to God and he will provide you the best help and lead you through the storm of your life.

Sometimes he calms the storm you are in and sometimes he calms you during the storm you are in.
Just like me, first he calmed me and then he calmed the storm of my life.

You will never know what people around you may be going through inside.
Dear ones, during this Lockdown Pandemic,loneliness and uncertainty is terrible.
Please reach out to someone you feel might be lonely and struggling.Just listen to them patiently and pray with them.

Do’s
1. Stay Socially Connected.
2. Talk about your feelings and struggles to someone.
3. Be entertained, Watch and listen to Positive Music and TV.
4. Develop a healthy routine. Exercise, Pray, Going to bed on time and waking up early etc.
5. Good Humour and fun time with friends and family is really helpful.

Don’t
1. Don’t be quite about your Mental State and struggles.
2. Avoid saying discouraging statements and negative criticism.
3. Do not Hurt someone’s feelings.
4. Do not judge others or compare.
(Comparison is a dangerous territory)
6. Do not be alone for a long time.

Still if you feel discouraged and is struggling with something.
Hey!! LET ME TELL YOU I AM HERE FOR YOU; GOD LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY.

There is nothing impossible for God.

Trust him with all your heart.

Blessings

By: Karishma George

Mask, Mask am I rightly Hiding Behind you?

We all love different types of MASKS. We always seek to be someone else and want to do things like others do because many of us don’t want people to see who we really are. Many of us have gone through these questions in our life ones.
Who am I?
Am I what I do?
Am I what and how I feel?
Am I what others think of me?
And many more never ending questions!

To hide and to represent ourself to others we often wear a mask on our face. We hide what we are and how we feel about things.
We hide ourself behind the mask so the people around us can’t really know us.
We have masks to hide our…
Pride, Selfishness, Loneliness, rejections and righteousness

The masks we try to put on might be…
Anger, Love, Acceptance, social media and righteousness
And so on…

Masks
Behind the mask of Anger we often hide our feeling like loneliness, rejection and many other feelings.
Because we don’t want people to see our feelings so we usually find a mask of Anger.

Mask of Social Media
We wear a mask of social media because we want people to see what we want them to see but God doesn’t see what we want him to see, instead he sees in us what even we can’t see.
It says, if you lie about something over and over again even we ourselves start believing the lie as that’s the truth.

Why do we want to hide our righteousness?
In this “COOL” world we don’t want people to know our relationship with Christ because according to many people, religious people are not the right fit in the “COOL” groups and in this “COOL” world.

Long back I met a girl and she wanted to go to seminary but she always said, “I have no idea what I want to do”. One day when I got to hear that she wants to go to seminary I asked her, “why did u hide this?” She replied, “I don’t want my friends to know that I am too much into religion so that I can’t hangout with them because if they know that I am a religious person, they may stop calling me to hangout and they may laugh at me too.”

Are we embarrassed of God?
Is he embarrassed of us?

Even the mask of RIGHTEOUSNESS!

What is the mask of RIGHTEOUSNESS?
The mask which we usually wear at the Church around the people of God and no one can know that these people are wearing a mask on their face…

But when we start spending time with them, we often see that they pray very well. They may have a pretty good Biblical knowledge too but what about the relationship with Christ?

We know Christianity is not a religion it is a relation with Christ, so we don’t need to wear any type of mask. He accepts us as who we are!

Do you ever try to pretend to be someone else with your family or the people you love or people who love you?
No! Because we don’t need to do that,
Right?

Last year I met someone and when that person was leaving, I wrote her a letter (because I love to write letters to people I love) and I wrote a line in that, “Dear, I wish I was like you, so confident.” She could stand in public and could say things or whatever she wanted to say. When I met this person, I wondered about how this person is so confident about everything and can stand in public but is that what God wants me to do?
Does he want me to be her or to be me?

Of course God wants me to be me and he wants to accept me not someone else in me!
For how long, can I pretend to be someone else, not very long, right?

In Luke 12:2

The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is in secret will be made known to all.

There will be a time when everything will be revealed and nothing will be hidden too.

There is nothing which is hidden from God. We can’t hide anything from him.
He knows the real us but he still waits for us to remove the mask we are wearing and go back to him.
The mighty things can happen when we take the mask off and ask God to do his work in us.

I always say and I have even written that in my Bible:
“He doesn’t count my sins instead he counts me in those he loves!”

Let’s come to him with real us and let’s be the ones he wants us to be!

Let’s be who we are and come to God because he loves you as much as he love me or someone else!
His love is not partial.

Task:
Is there any mask we need to remove?
Are we even aware of the mask we have on our face?

Sit with God and talk to him about the mask you are wearing and why you are wearing that!

Find a Godly person (someone you can trust and share about the mask)

Let’s remove it and be ourself with God.

Blessings

By: Karishma George

Knocking on the door!

How important is it to knock on the right door?
Once on my birthday, my friends were all set to surprise me and they made a plan to surprise me. This was the plan: They would walk in my house at 12.00am and scream “Happy Birthday” to me.My roommat/a very close friend was in on this plan too and they all were set with their plan.My friends called my roommate and told her that they were sitting outside and asked if she could keep the door unlocked, so my roommate agreed. It was 12.00am and my roommate wished me a happy birthday. She kept going out and checking on something so I asked her what was happening. She didn’t reply and she kept on talking on the phone. Then she stood at the door. Now it was 12.15am and my friends entered in and did what they were supposed to do.They all were laughing because my friends were sitting outside the wrong door and they kept on knocking on the WRONG door and trying to open that door, but it was locked from inside! They kept on telling my roommate that she hadn’t unlocked the door!
So they could have been in trouble by knocking and trying to open the wrong door.
Just like this moment, God has told us that when we knock the door it will be open for us.

What is that door?
That door is the door of his love and eternal life.
Just like when my friends were lost my roommate stood at the door and called them again and again and gave them the address and the location.
When we are lost, God himself opens the door (which no one can close), stands outside and keep on calling our names, giving us the right address and directions. But sometimes we try to open and to knock on the door that is not for us.

This may relate to our lives sometimes. Just like the prodigal son, his father was waiting for him until he came back.
God waits for us until we come back to him. He is that loving father who stands at the door and if he sees us lost he starts calling us and giving us the address and directions. He keeps on waiting for us and calling us so that when we see him standing and waiting for us, we overflow with joy and with a peaceful smile on our face (just like my friends, when they saw my roommate they were so happy and peaceful)

Meet him at that right door because he says:
“I have open the door for you that no one can close.”
Revelation 3:8

Task:
Ask yourself:
“Am I knocking or trying to open the door where God is waiting for me?”

Blessings
By: Karishma George

Germination

We can count the seeds in the fruit but only God can count fruits in the seed.

Growing up I always wondered how the seed look like from the inside and if it already had many fruits in it. I would ask questions like “But if the seed is very small, how could it have many fruits in it?” and many other questions!
Germination has been my favorite topic to learn and to teach because it gives me a thought about what the seed looks like from inside.
My mother always works on her garden and I help her often. Sometimes, we can only see the soil. Sometimes we see small sprouts trying to come out and sometimes we can see the plant. But how does that work? Through sunlight, air and water!
Is that all??? No! The most important thing is to take care of the plant to get more of what we have planted.

Who are we?
Are we seeds or the fruit?
In my view, we are the seeds and we are planted in this Earth by God. He is a great farmer and provides us with everything.
He is not only the farmer but he is the light, air and water for us.
If we are not at the place of his presence we will not grow into anything. But when we are in his presence, we will grow and bear fruits.
We must have heard the saying,

“We can count the seeds in an apple but only God can count the apples in the seed”.

Yes! We always see how many seeds we have but we don’t know or can’t imagine how much more we will have later when the seed turns into a tree. Only God knows that.

Galatians 5:22-23 talks about the fruits of the spirit.

“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

We think we can only have one or two fruits of the spirit, or let’s say few if them. But is that what God said? No. He has introduce all of the fruits to us.
He wants us to have all the fruits of the spirit.
How can we have all the fruits..
We need to prepare ourselves for that.
Firstly, we need to prepare the soil (soften your heart) then let the farmer plant the seed and be in a place where you can get proper sunlight, air and water. Remember, the most important is to take care of the seed (be in God’s presence). Also, no weeds should over take the seed.
Like our lives, many time we grow very fast and many times we are very slow just like the seed in the soil trying to come out.
The fruits of the spirit are given to us already but we need to let God work in our heart and let him be the Light, Air and Water to our lives.
He didn’t say, have two or three fruits of the spirit. His word is the seed. Let’s plant that in your heart and be in his presence to grow and have all the fruits of the spirit.

Task:
Which fruits of the spirit do you have and for which fruits you need to work?
Soften your heart and let the GERMINATION happen in our heart!
🌱💓🌾

Blessings
By: Karishma George

Karishma, Karishma! Listen to me!

God called out, “Samuel!”
“Yes?” Samuel replied.
“What is it?” 1 Sam.3:4
He got up and ran to Eli.“Here I am. Did you call me?”
“I didn’t call you,” Eli replied. “Go back to bed.” So he did.1 Sam.3:5
Then the Lord called out again, “Samuel!” Again Samuel got up and went to Eli.“Here I am. Did you call me?” “I didn’t call you, my son,” Eli said. “Go back to bed.” 1 Sam. 3:6
So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?” Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy.1 Sam.3:8
So he said to Samuel,“Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” So Samuel went back to bed.1 Sam. 3:9
And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”And Samuel replied, “Speak,your servant is listening.”
1 Sam. 3:10

What is happening to Samuel?
God kept on calling Samuel but Samuel didn’t realize that God was calling him or he was confused about what was happening. And that is what happens to us.

Many times God is calling us to talk to him but we are either confused or we don’t even realize that he is calling. I recently started reading the book of Samuel and I realized there are tons of times when God calls us to talk to him or to listen to him but we look to people and think they are calling us.

It is very important to know our calling.
All of us are called for different works.
I am a teacher and many times I try to find other options for me but I never get selected or I can’t go for that because my calling is to be a teacher.
He wants me to teach and he helps me in my teaching.
People usually say I teach in a very unique way because it is not me but it is God who is showing his love for others through me.
We all have a calling but we need to talk to God and know our calling.

How can we know what God has called us to do?
How can we talk to him?
To know his calling for us, we need to spend time with him.
Read his word, spend time in prayer and allow yourself to share your thoughts with him and have someone who can pray for you and with you.
Listening to people is very important because if Samuel wouldn’t have listened to Eli he wouldn’t have known that God was calling him but the most important thing is to listen to Godly people – people who can pray for you, with you and guide you through his word.
Should we listen to everyone?
No! we should not listen to everyone. We should only listen to the one God has chosen for us to talk to.

Who is that one person?
Again, Pray for God’s guidance and allow God to talk to you.

Each day he calls us by our name and ask us to talk to him but we are too busy to talk to him!
It is very important to sit in his presence and listen to him.

“Called are many but chosen are few.”

Be the chosen one not only the called one.

People say do what makes you happy, but honestly that is not true because there is nothing that can make you happy and give you peace for all the time. But God does gives us true joy, happiness and peace.

Do what makes God happy and do what you are called for.

Task:
If you are not spending extended time with God, make sure you spend time reading the Bible and praying daily.
Maybe start with 10 minutes to begin with.
_____________, _______________ (mention your name) listen to me!

By: Karishma George