Seeds & Jewels

How do you think outside the box when there does not exist a box in the first place? How do you imagine something that has never existed before? When I am asked to think outside the box, I immediately consider a picture of imaginary boundaries around a 6-sided object which I need to set aside in my mind’s eye to consider new perspectives. This box could be past experiences or circumstances but wait, what happens when there is no box. What guides your thought process? What do you do?

It’s the year 2020 and it has been an interesting year. We were barely in the first quarter before the visitation of a variant of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus called the Corona Virus (COVID-19) which was first detected in December last year. Not to bore you with the details and effects of this disease but to remind us of the fact that this isn’t the first time that the world would been plagued with a deadly disease. In fact, history is replete with plagues and disease outbreaks occurring from as far back as 429-426 BC in Greece (the plague of Athens)* till date. These include the influenza, smallpox, cholera, black death, yellow fever, malaria, bubonic plague, etc. Most of which have been managed effectively. With the morbidity and mortality that could result from these disease outbreaks and the economic implications for countries, world leaders aim to halt the spread and ultimately the effects of these diseases among populations as quickly as possible. Some...

Yes! I said so. Before you have my head, please read, you will be helped. Historically, wine was stored in wineskins, these were made from animal skin and had the ability to stretch to accommodate the fermentation process of new wine. Jesus while teaching John’s disciples (Matt. 9:17) uses wine and wineskins to illustrate his teachings. He teaches that it was unwise to store fresh wine in old wineskins because the subsequent fermentation process would break the skin and the wine would be spilled. In other words, old wineskins had reached their elastic limit. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Let us take a few steps down memory lane, in 2 Kings 4, a widow cried out to one of my favourite old testament prophets - Elisha seeking help. All hell had been let loose, her husband was dead, and her sons were about to be sold into slavery to pay her debt (double wahala!). Elisha asked a pertinent question: what hast thou in the house? Wise woman mentioned that she had a small jar of oil (never say yo...

Hurray! The first edition of Sofa Conversations was a blast. We had so much fun, learnt new things and made new friends.   (please keep reading)

“It just tastes wrong” the Judge said to Anna. Confused, Anna rushed back to the kitchen. What had she done wrong? She had followed the recipe to a T, yet even she could taste the lack of savour. Perhaps she could do it all again. Anna started, 1 tsp of baking soda, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of plant based milk, 1 tsp of vanilla flavouring, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of salt. She threw these ingredients into the mixing bowl and mixed to perfection. Once she had achieved the desired fluffiness, Anna poured the mixture into a hot saucepan and fried in batches.

Have you ever considered the life of Joseph? Think about it, his life seemed riddled with irony. Loved and favoured by his father, yet hated and framed by his brothers. Trusted by Potiphar, yet tempted by Potiphar’s wife. Abased in the prison, yet exalted as a prime minister. In spite of all these, Joseph lived a life of service. Join Lesson 1 for the reading on Joseph here. We know the story of the “Coat of Many Colours”, or a tunic as referred to by the Bible. This was an outright display of Jacob’s love for his son Joseph. Joseph was Jacob’s son of his old age, his beloved, and the tunic sealed his place as the favourite son. To learn more about Joseph’s life of service, and the significance of his “tunic of many colours”, please read through Lesson 1 of the Strategies For Living Course. While the course may have ended, the materials are available for self-paced study without certification. Be sure to visit our course page  for more information.

Sofa Conversations was borne out of a need to create effective and safe platforms for women to be mentored, learn and apply deep truths and strategies from God’s word to excel in life, solve problems and be adequately positioned to fulfil destiny. ·        Are you a woman? Are you curious to understand what the scriptures have to offer you? (Keep reading...)