Two Words That Can Change Your World

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and the ability to show kindness and appreciation. Most would describe it as showing love and appreciation to different individuals who make an impact in their lives. However, I got to understand that gratitude is deeper than that. It is not only about showing kindness and appreciation to people who influence our lives the most or those who directly have a huge impact in our lives, but also to strangers, acquaintances and colleagues.

No matter how big or small the deed is the two words "thank you" are essential and can put a smile on someone's face and bring warmth to their heart. We might take it for granted and not say thank you even for the smallest things but it is necessary because you never know what doors or opportunities that thank you would open for you. We should learn to appreciate different people that we meet in our lives, some may not give us material things like our parents or family but the love, the smiles and the lessons we learn from them through interaction are worthy. They are investing their time in making sure you get all the support, encouragement and love and that's priceless and special hence we ought to appreciate and say thank you. 

Most of us have friends whom we have grown to even call family but, we have never said thank you for what we have put them through. For the  time they stayed awake comforting us from heart breaks, doing activities they don't really like just to see us smile, encouraged us when we felt discouraged and supported us through thick and thin. Have you ever taken time to thank them? If not, what are you waiting for? At times even if you do not feel like being thankful to someone even for the little thing, just say thank you because those two words can go a long way and spark something in another person's life.

There is also a heartbreaking mentality that some of us display. Yes our parents are obliged to take care of us as their children when we are young and dependent but that does not mean you don't say thank you father, thank you mother for raising me up to become the man/woman that I am today. They need to be appreciated for the hard work and perseverance. Parents go through a lot just to see us happy and have the best things in life they probably never had. 

Above all things it is also important to give thanks to God for everything.

“O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His loving kindness endures forever” (1 Chronicles 16:34). Always and forever above all, thanksgiving belongs to God, whether you are surrounded by good or bad circumstances. Thank the Lord for all things no matter how big or small. Nothing is too big or too small when it comes to God. Do not wait for that big promotion or car to say thank you God. What if you get that car and you lose your eyesight? The smaller things matter too, thank Him for waking up alive every morning, for the ability to walk, talk and see. Let your gratitude come from within and experience His love and kindness like never before.

I may not have said thank you enough but that is changing. I thank God for my life and really do appreciate all the women and men he put in my life. To my family and friends this is my open thanksgiving note to you. Thank you for loving, supporting, comforting and encouraging me and standing by me through thick and thin. Thank you for the laughter and tears and, I am the woman that I am today because you decided not to give up on me and for that I am very grateful from the bottom of my heart. I would like to encourage everybody to do a little exercise with me. Text, call, send a postcard, anything to people in your life or even strangers saying thank you, no matter who they are and if you want to share what you  experienced, please feel free to give me feedback via my email below. 

Gratitude is a powerful emotion.

Beautiful Scars

Life as we know it has wonderful times and its challenges too, and each and every one of us go through this. The problem is most tend to dwell much on the bad. Of course things happen and probably we do not take it well but we have to move past it and get rid of that pain deeply buried within us, mend our brokenness and shine.

Wounds are like teachers, they instruct and remind us of certain paths in life that we should never take.

They also serve as an instructor to our peers, to protect them from getting the same wounds we got. At times it can be God's doing as a way to teach us (Job 5:17-18):

"Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole."

God also comforts us when He wounds us, He controls life and when you aquire a wound through Him, it does not kill you; it teaches you. These are what I believe to be "beautiful scars". Not pleasant to aquire but also serve as a testimony of survival.

Situations such as broken families, failed relationships (romantic and none romantic), divorce and failed friendships may also leave us broken hearted. And most people tend to blame themselves for these mishaps in their lives and won't allow themselves to live a peaceful life. No one asks for bad things to happen in their lives but there is a reason why God let it happen.

There are some wounds so deep and not easily forgotten e.g rape, domestic violence and discrimination. These wounds carry a lot of pain, and unwanted memories, but survival from such trials and your story can help those that go through the same challenge. It becomes  a helping hand to uplift another person, a tragedy turned to "beautiful scar".

God does not put you in a situation He knows you can't handle and He brings different people in your life so you learn a couple of lessons from them.

Feelings and emotions may lie to you that God does not love you but God will never remove His love for you. You might have gone through divorce, rape, abuse, abandonment or even lost a loved one but that pain you felt or still feel does not define you. Don't let that pain be  part of your life forever but let it make you stronger. Let it make you desire only the best that God has in store for you.

Trust me when I say brokenness can make you feel depressed and lonely and even resent the people around you because of what you went through and from my experience it's not a great feeling. But I made a conscious decision that my life will never be defined by the negatives, loses and challenges I encountered in my life's journey.

I stumbled upon a Japanese concept whereby broken clay pots or any piece of furniture is not thrown away but put back together and painted gold on the cracks and thus it all looks new and beautiful with its cracks. I got a deeper lesson from this that in life we can be broken and have scars from different things we encountered but let's paint our scars gold and shine. 

The world shouldn't see our scars but rather see beautiful people who do not let life situations define them. No one is broken beyond repair, you can pick yourself up and make your life amazingly beautiful. Paint those scars gold, silver, bronze and turn something ugly to something wonderful and exquisite. 

Sometimes it takes being broken to be a better version of yourself. Be inspired!

"Unconditional LOVE."

"Unconditional LOVE."

Love is a very common subject and it has different meanings to different people. I believe that love is unconditional and is a special gift that God gave to mankind. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Love indeed  knows no hate or selfishness. The love I am talking about is the love that has no dependency and has no boundaries nor is it limited to one person or two people in a relationship. 

The love I am talking about is one that accommodates all things, from people to all of God's creation. God is love, if you love God you love everything about Him including all He created.

God's unconditional love does not choose, it is compassionate and kind. There is nothing that is so fulfilling than loving and caring for someone you don't even know with a genuine heart. Just like Mother Theresa who spent all her life loving and caring for everyone around her no matter who it was. She dedicated her life so that someone would experience the gift of love and happiness and she would say "We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with Great love."

Everyone has the capability to love and looking at the world today, so many people need to be loved. In fact everyone needs love. If we all could appreciate one another there wouldn't be "black, white or mixed race" talk and definitely slogans like "black lives matter" wouldn't exist because love does not encompass that.

Children living in the streets, abandoned new born babies, wars all that wouldn't exist if we all understood what love is. 

Love does not begin when you find that special person to walk down the aisle with. NO! It all comes from within and it starts by  accepting and caring for those that are around you, helping those in need and as the Bible says in Matthew 22:39, Love thy neighbour as you love yourself. 

We all need each other, let's go out there and be selfless and love like we never loved before with genuine hearts.

Danie - Listen to the expert

Experience indeed makes one an expert, and our mothers who have been on earth longer than us younger girls have a lot to teach us about life. Regardless of the fact that we exist in a generation where technology is growing fast or that we are technologically smart does not mean that we are smarter than our mothers when it comes to life issues.

Mothers have great wisdom, hence we must strive to learn as much as we can whilst they are still with us.
Imagine a world without women. Unimaginable isn't? 

God created a woman with extraordinary characteristics which makes her unique. She can carry so much burden on her shoulders but still smile, she goes through so much pain but still smile, she walks through her life's journey facing so much but still come out strong. 

To every woman out there, you are special, keep writing your stories and don't let anyone write  them for you..

for more information or questions you can  send an email to : alicenyampinga@gmail.com

About Danie

My name is Alice Dananai Nyampinga. I was born and bred in the beautiful nation of Zimbabwe. I studied Development Studies and I have an honors in that field. I am someone who is very passionate about development work, charity work and issues that concern women and children. I started an initiative with a couple of ladies called knit a hat whereby we knit hats with our own hands and donate them to underprivileged kids and we have been doing that for a couple of winters now. 

Besides knitting, I have braiding skills, I'm also passionate about decor, cooking and photography. I would say I am sweet ,sophisticated,adorable and intelligent love learning new things, even took up some Spanish lessons. 

My goal is to inspire young women out there to become what they dream of, great women who are world changers that leave a mark in this world.

email: alicenyampinga@gmail.com