Positive Quote For Today

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."— Maya Angelou


My 8 Requests to Jesus

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With permission, I have extracted this picture-quote from the website of Serhii Bilyk. All rights reserved worldwide.

When Jesus was arrested by His enemies, He was taken to a Roman governor called Pilate. Their intention was to have Him put to death. But Pilate didn't see anything wrong with Him, so he asked them, "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?"

That Pilate's question is, as Billy Graham said, one we should ask ourselves. The question, which is in Matthew 27:22, is worth repeating: "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?"

As sojourners in this fallen world, we ought to accept Jesus in our hearts and make Him the Lord of our lives. And as sinners, we ought to ask Him to bestow us with the peace He promised His followers.

I don't know about you but for me, I have welcomed Jesus into my heart. He is my friend and king. And I draw inspiration from His teachings as they are written in the four gospel books.

After welcoming Jesus into my heart, I have witnessed Him perform miracles in my life. He has made me an early riser, set me free from guilt, helped me overcome my addiction to adult films, and molded me into a truthful young man.

But to be honest, I still struggle in some areas. I have, for instance, felt shy and self-conscious when chatting with people. And many a times, I have lacked money to meet my needs, something that shouldn't be happening to a king's friend.

Today, I thought it wise to write down several requests I want Jesus to fulfill in my life so that I overcome the struggles I am currently facing. The requests aren't many. They are only eight.

Firstly, I want Jesus to increase my faith in God and in His Word. And why do I desire to have more faith? Because I believe it is the key to unlocking our potential and realizing our dreams.

Secondly, I want Him to give me discernment. There was a time I used to be social with everyone who came my way, but after some characters responded to me rudely, I became a bit withdrawn. I now want to discern the people I should associate with and the ones I should avoid like the plague.

Thirdly, I want Him to grant me patience since I am always in a hurry to accomplish my goals. When asking for patience, I am not sure if I should phrase my request like one man who told God, "Give me patience and give it to me now!"

Fourthly, I want Him to instill me with courage. The kind of courage He displayed when responding to His critics. But in my case, I just want to look people in the eyes, to say "no" without feeling guilty and to be myself without worrying what others think of me.

Fifthly, I want Him to make me more assertive, a virtue closely related to courage. For quite a long time, I had a habit of talking tenderly to others for fear of hurting their feelings. After noting that some people have taken advantage of my tenderness by making me do boring tasks without pay, I now want to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough.

Sixthly, I want Him to keep my passion for blogging going from strength to strength. I believe that if I stay connected to Jesus through prayers and Bible study, I will become the internationally acclaimed blogger I am aspiring to be. Didn't Jesus say in John 15 that if we remain in Him and He in us, we will bear much fruit?

Seventhly, I want Him to fill my heart with so much love that I become happy when I hear someone has succeeded, especially someone I know. You see, just as I would wish others to rejoice in my success, so do I wish to rejoice in the success of others.

Lastly, I want Him to watch over my dad. At 74 years of age, Dad is the most supportive and understanding person in my life. Only heaven knows how I would survive without him. That's why I want Jesus to watch over him.

Those are the eight requests I have for Jesus. Having witnessed Him do wonders in my life, I have faith that He shall fulfill most of the requests, if not all. Oh, this much talked about Jesus is wonderful! Am I not blessed to have Him as a friend and king?

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on the 8 requests I have for Jesus, you might also enjoy another one on "Jesus: the One and Only" which I wrote a few years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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Practising What We Preach

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With permission, I have extracted this picture-quote from a website called Emily's Quotes. All rights reserved worldwide.

If there is anything I have discovered about people, it is that they can give advice and not take it themselves. They can, for instance, advise you to count your blessings often and then waste their time wallowing in hate, guilt, worry and jealousy. That's interesting, isn't it?

I have to confess that I have also been guilty of dishing out advice and then finding it hard to live by it. And that has happened many times since I was a student at Starehe Boys' Centre, a prestigious institution in Nairobi where I had my high school and college education. Okay, let me tell you more.

In January 2007 when I was in my final year at Starehe, I gave a series of three speeches in which I challenged the students to think like geniuses. I winded up my final speech by warning them that if they didn't learn to think like geniuses, their lives would become boring and uninteresting.

Those speeches, which I delivered during three consecutive evening assemblies, were really inspiring going by the feedback I received from the students. I also felt good about what I said in the speeches, the best I ever gave in my years at Starehe.

But you know what? Two years after delivering the superlative speeches, my life became boring and uninteresting following my diagnosis with a mental illness at the university where I was pursuing an engineering degree. Imagine I would sleep till as late as 1:00 p.m. A miserable wretch I was.

And my failure to practise what I preached didn't stop there. Since I turned over a new leaf in 2016 and started sharing truthful and original stories on this blog, I have set resolutions and offered numerous pieces of advice which I haven't followed.

In one blog story about courage that I wrote in 2018, I resolved to never fear saying "no" to people. But just a few months ago, I found it difficult to utter the word "no" when responding to an invitation by the vicar of a nearby Anglican church to be playing piano in his church.

And in another story I shared in 2019, I encouraged my readers to laugh when troubles come, for we can't have all play and sunshine everyday. Ironically, I became depressed later on that year after a guard instructed me to settle down in one place during a wedding reception I attended. So depressed did I become that I was unable to get out of bed in the morning for two or three days.

Such inability to keep my soul happy using the knowledge in my head reminds me of a dog described in a poem I came across in John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. The poem read:
There was a dachshund once so long
He hadn't any notion
How long it took to notify
His tail of an emotion.

And so it happened, while his eyes
Were full of woe and sadness,
His little tail went wagging on
Because of previous gladness.
In some other blog stories, I resolved to look people in the eyes and to not be afraid of anyone. But you know what again? Even after writing down those resolutions, I have kept falling short of displaying manly qualities.

After Mum died early this year for example, I would sometimes feel shy and self-conscious when chatting with the people who came to condole with us. That shyness made me realize I am yet to gain enough courage to come out of my shell.

Then several months ago, my brothers hired a valet named Jeremiah, a middle-aged man who would have made an excellent policeman given how strict he was, to be looking after our aging Dad. And yikes! I sometimes felt like jelly when talking to him. The thought of requesting him to do something filled me with trepidation.

Jeremiah must have noted my shyness and naivety judging by the way he started talking back to me and asking me to carry out some tasks. His attitude towards me aggrieved me to an extent of making me explode with rage. In my anger, I bawled him out while pointing at him with my fingers.

My initial lack of courage kept me from setting clear boundaries with Jeremiah right from the start, boundaries that would have prevented him from talking back to me. But such is life; we don't fully appreciate a resolution or a piece of advice till life throws curveballs at us.

Indeed, I have preached water and drank wine. By failing to keep my resolutions and to follow the advice I have offered others, I have acted like the Pharisees who Jesus accused of not practising what they preached. I will strive to better myself, to talk the talk and walk the walk - a wonderful trait for you to acquire as well, my beloved reader!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on practising what we preach, you might also enjoy another one on "Part 1: Handling Criticism" which I wrote a couple of years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author

Name: Thuita J. Maina
Nationality: Kenyan
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just For Laughs

There was this drunkard named Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"



The 7 Deadly Sins

  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note

I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination. So I am trying to enjoy each day as I anticipate to fulfill my dreams especially meeting my soulmate and traveling abroad. Tomorrow may never be mine.

Fun Facts

  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com

Health Tip

So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help to give you that greatest blessing of all - good health.


Wonders of the Modern World

  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

Great Example for Politicians

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels

  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Computers & Radios
  6. Anesthetics
  7. The atom bomb

My Supreme Desire

Although I'd like to be rich and famous, my supreme desire is to be radiant: to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without hate, guilt, worry, jealousy, cynicism and envy. I wish to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so and to treat all men with kindness - to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Making Peace With the Past

"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."

~Eileen Caddy

Toughest Colleges to Get Into

  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins

  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love

"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen

The World's Largest Cities

  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes

  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers

  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)