July 2017

Sena Wogormebu

Leave a Comment / Interviews /

Sena Wogormebu Ladies and well gentlemen today\’s interview features a lovely young woman with the things of God at heart, a talented and skilled footballer or soccer player amongst many others. She\’s a person with a set focus in life and goals to achieve. Sit back, pick notes, enjoy! Nelia: Hi Sena, kindly tell us about yourself. Sena: I am a young person, 20 years of age. At this point in life I am working on two things: the inside of my heart and the inside of my pockets. I like the idea of grinding in your 20s, building in your 30s and chilling in your 40s. If I should describe myself using one word, the word is vivacious (full of life and good spirits… happy and lively in a way that is attractive). I like fashion, football and photography. I’m a big fan of goals, I love black excellence, and most importantly I love God. I’m currently in my second year at university studying Marketing with Digital Communications. Nelia: How was growing up like for you? Sena: Growing up for me has been great. I’m from a family of six: three sisters, myself, my mum and dad. My sisters and I are close in age and we share a very strong bond. For this reason, I am big on family and girl power! Nelia: Girl Power she says. On that note what motivates you in life? Sena:What motivates me in life is my vision of the future. I have put plans together which makes me look forward to what is to come and knowing that God has even bigger plans for me makes it ten times more exciting. Nelia: Why soccer? Which position do you play? Sena: Growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy. All my friends were boys and hanging out with them included getting involved in most of the things they were into, which included soccer. After a while I got really deep into it, even when my friends stopped pursuing it, I continued. I play as a striker. [/av_textblock] [av_video src=\’http://vimeo.com/120007335\’ format=\’16-9\’ width=\’16\’ height=\’9\’] [av_textblock size=\’\’ font_color=\’\’ color=\’\’ admin_preview_bg=\’\’] Nelia: What are some lessons or experiences that you’ve had with playing soccer, especially as a young woman. Any stereotypes or the sort? Sena: Growing up, soccer wasn’t popular amongst girls so I always found myself playing soccer with boys. I was always the only girl amongst a group of about 20+ boys. A lot of the time boys used to look at me thinking ‘she’s just a girl, she doesn’t know how to play football’ until I touched the ball and shocked them. I gained a lot of respect through this and so many times I have been told by boys ‘I’ve never known a girl that is able to play soccer the way that you do’ or ‘I didn’t know that girls could play soccer’. Nelia: Hahaha they didn\’t know girls could play soccer huh? This journey wouldn\’t have been easy. What sacrifices have you had to make to be at the point you are right now in soccer? Sena: A big sacrifice I made for soccer was leaving my family behind in the U.K. as I went to play ball in the States. I sacrificed a comfortable life in pursuit of my dreams. It was at this stage of my life where I discovered that outside of your comfort zone is where you grow and really experience life for what it is. I explored so many new things and went through so many challenges. Through this I learned so much. I definitely feel that the sacrifice was worth it.  Nelia: \”Outside of your comfort zone is where you grow and really experience life for what it is\”.  What are your short term and long term goals with regards to career, sports, and life in general. Sena:My career goals are as follows: – Graduate – Work in digital marketing – Work in the film industry – Start my own businesses – Charity work, missionary work, ministry  As far as life goals I want to travel, have a husband and kids, be financially stable, be genuinely happy and fulfil destiny. Nelia: How would you define success? Sena: Success for me means accomplishing a plan, goal, dream or even an idea that you bring to fruition. It can be as simple learning how to tie your own shoelace or as big as becoming a billionaire. Nelia: As simple as tieing your shoelace or as big as becoming a billionaire. In other words, success is defined by yourself. Moving forward, do you think young Christian women are finding it difficult to identify and align themselves with the purpose of God for us? Sena: If there is any difficulty in young Christian women being able to align themselves with God’s purpose for their lives, I believe it is due to distraction from either the opposite sex or society or fear or lack of understanding. Distraction from the opposite sex by maybe getting into relationships, being head over heels for their partner or focusing so much on their appearance in order to draw that kind of attention. Girls can get wild when it comes to boys and love. I say distraction from society in the sense that society makes you focus on things of the world such as beauty and money, whereas Christianity is more concerned with the things above – hence the scripture seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteous. I mentioned fear because when it comes to God, often times you can be left not knowing how and when things will happen, which is why faith is a key ingredient. And finally lack of understanding. The bible says ‘my people perish due to lack of understanding’ – understanding scripture, understanding the plan of God for your life and understanding that heaven and hell is real.  Nelia: Preach on sister! Indeed for lack of knowledge of who we are we perish in this world

Sena Wogormebu Read More »

The What Factor

Leave a Comment / Self-love. /

The What Factor of Self-Love Inasmuch as we all strive to be the coloured versions of ourselves (go read my series on be your selfie if you haven’t to understand what it means to be your coloured self), there are certain things about us we cannot change. We have to embrace them wholeheartedly. I read about a black young lady in America. A white guy told her you’re pretty even though you are black. Her response, epic! She said, “I am not pretty even though I am black, I am pretty because I am black! ACCEPTANCE! This is the introduction to my next post on the series, what do I have to love? You can’t choose and pick what to love and what not to love. Self-love is not a buffet at the state Banquet or a five star hotel. It is a one meal menu, yet with so many ingredients. What I’m getting at is, Self-love is not a pick and choose game where you can go like yeah I love that, nope I don’t love that. We discussed the ingredients used in the preparation of a cake right? A lot of things go in there, depending on the type of cake of course. But at the end of the day, with the magical touch of the baker, we have a great cake for our celebrations. You are the baker of your own cake my dear. We all watch these shows for cooking and baking. There’s always the recipe but when and if you try yours, it will never taste the same as mine. I love chilli, you may not. Maybe I love my cake moist and fluffy with less sugar. Perhaps you love the texture of your cake to be like bread with lots of sugar in it. But at the end of it all, I have my cake, and I loooooooveeee it. So must you be willing to accept your cake and loooooooveeee it as well. That is self love. Acceptance. This is why it was very important to answer the how question and who question before the what question. The How and Who factors are like the processes of the baking process. The mixing, kneading, whipping, measuring and all that comes with it. The What question however, is really the point at which you take the cake from the oven. Then you’d have to accept the cake as it is or you’d have to go through the whole process again! But that is life right? Sometimes everything you’d spend a fortune of time and money in just falls off like a tower without a foundation. It is as if the very support of your life has been swooped from underneath you. But you’d have to get the oven set again, mix up the ingredients again and again till you get what you desire, then accepting it will come with so much ease and fulfilment. The How factor, most importantly demands that you LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL; YOUR HEART, MIND, SOUL AND STRENGTH. I call this the dimension of love. And getting this step right is very important because all the others rest on the strength of this. The Who Factor talks about loving you. Ordinarily, it would have been love the ‘raw’ or ‘real’ you. But I’d say work on the ‘raw’ and ‘real’ you. You owe it to yourself. Invest in your self and in your personal development. You are far above rubies. That is your work. Rubies are red jewels or red diamonds. They’re worked on as well after they’re mined. They go through a process of refinement. That is the process you have to go through as well, to attain your worth of not being a Ruby, but being far above the worth of the Ruby. I hope you catch this revelation. After this process of refinement which includes going through fire, being hammered, shaped and all, then you can confidently answer the What factor, by saying I accept who and what I have become. I love the cake I have been able to bake. Love, Nelia.phenomenalwoman

The What Factor Read More »

The Who Factor

Leave a Comment / Self-love. /

The Who Factor In the “HOW FACTOR” of the Self love series, I ended on the What question. Which is, you can’t choose and pick what to love and what not to love about yourself. The original plan was to continue on that note but there’s been a little bit of a twist that would help the chronology of this series. On that note, today we’ll discuss the “Who Factor”. I hope it is safe for me to assume that every person reading this post today practises certain basic personal hygiene such as bathing everyday and brushing. Attempt to go 3 days without a bath and you will not recognise yourself in the mirror. Oh and I dare you not to brush your teeth for just 2 days. You’ll look around to see if there’s a gutter around when you open your mouth to yawn. (I’ll come back to this analogy in a bit) The Who Factor addresses the question who is the object or the receiver of the Self-love. Easy right? Yourself some will say. But just hold on. Why can’t you just wake up, put on clothes and walk out of your house to work or wherever as the case may be. You will need to keep yourself in a presentable way before you step out of your house. As a person, we realise the need to put some amount of effort in grooming ourselves and taking care of our physical needs and hygiene. Now the Who Factor refers to you, first of all. But loving the “raw” you doesn’t really help anyone especially you. Bishop Dag Heward Mills in his message titled “HOW TO FULFIL YOUR PROPHECIES” mentioned that as an ordinary person, ‘you are not nice.’ You need to put effort and time to make yourself nice. You need to groom yourself, take care of everything that concerns you to attain a certain level of ‘niceness’. I do not completely agree with certain extreme body modifications. In my opinion, it is an insult to the one who created you in His image, gave you His life and formed you with His own hands. However, loving the raw, unadulterated, unimproved self is pretty mediocre. The law of nature even supports growth. So must you. You need to grow, and not just in physique. Your spirituality, intellect, personality and everything else that matters. Just as you can’t live without taking a bath or brushing your teeth, you cannot say you love yourself without making the conscious and deliberate effort to become better at every point in time. The best gift you can give to yourself is to work on the “raw” you. You owe it to yourself, nobody owes you that responsibility. Not your parents, not your pastor, not your spouse. What am I saying, not even God owes you that. Lazy people who don’t like house chores such as cleaning, washing or cooking don’t bother me. You can always pay someone to get them done for you. In fact that is someone’s occupation and profession. Here’s the real deal, the work you owe to yourself can not be done by anyone else but you. One aspect of Self love is walking away from anything and anyone that adds no value to your life. The other side of the coin, however, is adding the value to your life yourself. The value you give yourself, is the value others will give to you. Same unit of measurement. Being your ‘natural’ self or ‘raw’ self isn’t enough. Improve your skills. Make meaningful use of your talents and gifts to benefit others. Live a purpose-filled life. And don’t pass out of this side of eternity full; leave having emptied yourself. Love, Nelia.phenomenalwoman

The Who Factor Read More »

Mary Magdalene

4 Comments / Bible Character Study /

From Demoniac to Disciple. The Lord\’s right-hand woman   Have you ever come across the famous painting of the last supper by Italian artist, Leonardo Da Vinci? If you have, you may have noticed a feminine looking character sitting on the left hand of Jesus. You probably haven\’t but that it\’s alright because this post is going to talk about what you didn\’t see in the painting, which is a feminine looking character which some people believe to be Mary Magdalene. My work is not to justify whether or not this assertion is true or otherwise. On the contrary, my work is to study the character of Mary Magdalene and her ministry during Jesus’s days on earth. Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala was the most prominent female follower of Jesus Christ. Born in Magdala in Judea, she was a Jewish woman and had been recorded to have seen both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Magdala means “tower” or “castle,” and in the time of Christ was a thriving, populous town on the coast of Galilee about three miles from Capernaum. Dye works and primitive textile factories added to the wealth of the community. It may be that “The Magdalene” was connected with the industry of the town for it would seem as if she was not without means, enabling her to “serve the Lord with her substance”. Before we study Mary Magdalene’s life and character, I deem it necessary to dissociate and liberate our minds from those who connect her with prostitution or being a harlot. Although Mary was a woman of high standing and comfortable circumstances, she suffered from the malady of periodic insanity from the demons that possessed her very being and not harlotry. We are not privy to a lot of background information about Mary Magdalene, thus before she met Christ. Her life and story and ministry began after she met Christ up until the resurrection of Christ. Luke 8:2-3 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod\’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. Mary was the only woman who’s number of demons were mentioned. It stands to reason that amongst the women that Jesus healed of the evil spirits, Mary was the most troubled. However, the very the moment Jesus\’ compassionate eyes locked the wild-eyed and cringing woman of Magdala, He saw in her what no other person saw; the minister who would be a blessing to His own ministry and to others. There was therefore the need for this woman to be set loosed from her bondage. In His authoritative voice and with all power, He commanded the tormenting demons to come out and stay out of her. The demons couldn’t do much but to obey and succumb. Her deranged and nerve-racked mind became as tranquil as the troubled lake Jesus calmed. Sanity returned, the rosy tint was restored to her cheeks, and she was made whole. Now, “clothed and in her right mind, in dignity and strength”, she was ready to become one of the most devoted woman disciples of Him to whom she owed so much, her freedom, breakthrough, dignity, sanity and even her life! And this is how Mary of Magdala transitioned from being demon possessed to being a disciple of Christ. Lessons or Nuggets from this Character. 1. Women matter in ministry: If there’s only one lesson to pick from the character of Mary Magdalene, it will be that women play a pivotal role in ministry. Women cannot be sidestepped in the five fold ministry and many others. I say this for two main reasons. First, following the story of this woman, we realise that she followed Jesus right from the moment of her sanity till his death and resurrection. And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod\’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. Mary became a disciple. Freed from demonic shackles, she became the right hand woman of the Lord, his personal person, his body body, his hommie! Her personal ministrations, along with those of other women who had been healed, greatly aided Jesus in His missionary activities as He travelled from place to place preaching and teaching His message. Grateful, these women became generous, ministering unto Him of their substance. Mary left her home in Magdala to follow Jesus. Constantly on the move as Jesus and His disciples were, there were many details in connection with their personal comfort and well-being requiring attention to which these women could see. Quietly and effectively Mary would do what she knew needed to be done. Further, money was necessary for the Master’s campaign work. We never read of Him or His disciples asking for money, yet funds were necessary. Much of it came from Mary and other women like her who had been so richly blessed of the Lord. Now it was time for Christ to be crucified. Mary went with her Lord into the shadows of death not forsaking Him at that darkest moment of His ministry, not thinking of what was going to be left of her after her Lord and Saviour was gone. She followed Jesus on His last sad journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, not as the preacher or teacher she knew him to be, but as one going to die a shameful death befitting of criminals and murderers. And as they followed, they still “ministered unto Him.” Mary was present with the other holy women at the mock trial of Jesus. Mary was present in Pilate’s Hall and saw and heard the religious leaders yearning for the blood of Him who was so precious and dear to her heart, the darling of Heaven. She listened as Pontius Pilate pronounced His death sentence of crucifixion although he had found no fault in Him. She witnessed and wept as Jesus left the

Mary Magdalene Read More »