Death, like other adversities in life, is a lesson, which must be understood and cherished, not feared; it is a rite of passage we all must encounter at one time or another; it helps build our character and makes us stronger if we can endure its painful aftermath. The tests we face in life’s journey are not to reveal our weaknesses but to help us discover our inner strengths. We can only know how strong we are when we strive and thrive beyond the challenges, losses, hurts, adversities we face.

When in crises situation, never mourn along with the crises, rather speak to the crises saying and ask it, “Crises what opportunities are you hiding for me.”

Today is a new day. Yesterday’s mistakes and pains cannot affect today’s possibilities unless you dwell on them. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

You have to sometimes accept the fact that you have lost, you have suffered but call that yesterday and past and prepare for tomorrow. Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or learn.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Helen Keller

Some of these problems are catalyst that will speed up our reaction into becoming what the Lord expects of us. Without being pushed to the wall, we will have remained in our comfortable zone. But these circumstances challenge us to find the courage to move on.

A lot of young people like to be paid attention to, praised and supported in everything. There is nothing wrong with this. However, anyone who has ever become anything worth writing home about has had to handle fire and brimstone with naked hands, wander in the wilderness and survive under severe limitations. Through it they have developed self-motivation. Believe in yourself, push your limits, and do whatever it takes to conquer your goals.

Never give up, not because you still have tomorrow to try, but because you may not have tomorrow to try. Avoid being distracted by naysayers and negative minded people, who happen to fill our outer circles. Life is too short to worry about haters. They don’t deserve to be an issue in your life. Think about the people who love and support you.

When you can’t control what’s happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what’s happening. That’s where your power is.

Do not wish you would become, avoid procrastination. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Some of the people who are jobless are a result of you not starting your business.

Some of the people I studied with had great and adventurous dreams and visions of their lives that you desired to see them years later but unfortunately they lose focus on the way.

Have you ever known someone who had an exciting dream to do something great but did nothing to make it happen? It’s so important to act on the dreams that God has given you. You can take ownership of your dreams by planning and preparing for them. Remember, success is not accidental. Where do you see yourself in your career, finances or relationships? Put some action behind what you believe for. Maybe you don’t see how it can happen in the natural. The good news is you don’t have to have it all figured out. With your faith and obedience, God will work supernaturally in your situation to turn things around for good.
Believe in your dreams today. I encourage you to write down your short and long-range goals. Keep them in front of you so you will stay focused. When you make a move, God will direct your steps. He’ll make sure you come across the right people, at the right time. God will give you wisdom, insight and favor as you take steps to bring your dreams to pass.

If you trust God as your source, He’ll trust you with His resources.

No matter what has happened in your past, you can receive God’s grace and start fresh today. You can hold your head up high because His grace is enough. You may not be perfect, but you are forgiven and empowered to live in victory.
My friend and follower, receive His grace. Don’t hold on to past mistakes. Jesus has already paid for them. All you have to do is receive His grace and thank Him. Take it one step further and extend that grace to others. Don’t try to punish people for their past mistakes; instead, give them favor to start over. As you allow God’s grace to flow through you, you’ll see yourself rise higher, and you will enjoy God’s blessing all the days of your life.

Sometimes God will take you through the fire, sometimes He’ll make you fire proof and sometimes you’ll need to be purified by the hot furnace. Just hold on to His will, God has the final say and you are coming out better and when you come out every one will see that favour is on you.
Years ago I sent a tweet through my huddle @Ambstevembugua and later a stranger emailed me sharing about how the tweet ministered to him on his hospital bed and he realized that the fire He was going through was for his good as he learnt lessons, learnt to trust in God and is able to encourage people going through emotional bad breaks.
God is going to change your ashes for beauty, weeping may endure for this far but joy is around the corner. Maybe you are in the valley of disappointment and loneliness, that is not your final destination. Divine connection and provision is coming your way.
You may be going through a tough time, hardship, and struggles and barely making it through. You may not understand it but God wouldn’t have allowed it, not only that He could not take you out but wants to walk with you step by step and bring you out with great substance better off than you were before
You are destined to win! You will succeed in life! There will be road blocks, and obstacles will come, but it’s possible that you are going to make it! Keep pressing your way forward, have faith in God, your dream will come true. Too many are looking for instant gratification but know that not everything is going to happen the same time we want it to. Everything takes time. Still we must not give in or quit. It will happen. Remain patient while we learn the many facet in life, and even learn about ourselves and others.
Don’t just sit there thinking about the magnitude of the problem, no, no, no! Stand firm and declare the magnitude of our God, start walking towards receiving the divine provision.
Every day we must do something that will move us forward in the direction of our goals. Our consistent actions must also be positive and be in harmony with our thoughts. We must believe that our dreams, ideas, our goals are possible and also believe that we have what it takes to make them work in our favor. Write down each goal, surround ourselves with people that are supportive and be ready to take personal responsibility to make it happen.
We must have faith to believe that we already have whatever it is that we envision for ourselves in life. It is that kind of faith that will cause you and I to rise up from the hard times and begin to call things that have not yet come into existence as if they already did. (Romans 4:17) Believe that there is a higher power who already know that our outcome is going to be successful. You have this promise that regardless of the fire, mountain and valleys you will still be standing because you are a child of the highest God. Face the problem. God want you to just be strong and courageous, to position yourself and stand firm then He’ll fight for you so keep moving, keep shinning, keep pushing until something happen.

I will share examples of great men and women who overcame odds and today we celebrate their achievements.

One  great gentleman who had to go against all odds to succeed is Thomas Edition.  He was an American inventor and businessman, who has been described as America’s greatest inventor. He is credited with developing many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures Thomas Edison was fired from his job when a chemical experiment leaked acid on to his boss’ desk. However, despite being almost penniless, Edison rose to be the most prolific inventor of his generation.

Another great personality is Sir Winston  Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) who was a British politician and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Churchill was famous for his stubborn resistance to Hitler during the darkest hours of the Second World War. Winston was born at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock near Oxford to an aristocratic family – the Duke of Marlborough. He was brought up by servants and friends of the family. He rarely spoke to his father, and he spent most of his childhood at boarding school – Harrow. Churchill wasn’t the best student, having a rebellious nature and was reportedly slow to learn; but Churchill excelled at sports and joined the officer cadet corps, which he enjoyed. On leaving school, he went to Sandhurst to train as an officer. After gaining his commission, Churchill sought to gain as much active military experience as possible. He used his mother’s connections to get postings to areas of conflict. The young Churchill received postings to Cuba and North West India. He also combined his military duties with working as a war correspondent – earning substantial money for his reports on the fighting. In 1899, he resigned from the military and pursued his career as a war correspondent. He was in South Africa for the Boer War, and he became a minor celebrity for his role in taking part in a scouting patrol, getting captured and later escaping. He might have gained the Victoria Cross for his efforts, though officially he was a civilian at the time. After this experience,  he gained a temporary commission in the South Africa Light Horses and later commented he had a ‘good war’ while continuing his work as a war correspondent. Today the whole world has heard a lot about Churchill.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”– Nelson Mandela

Another great leader is Nelson Mondela (1918 – 2013) who worked very hard to train as a lawyer, despite the South African apartheid system making this very difficult for a black man. Against the odds Nelson Mandela was able to practice law, helping many black South Africans to survive in the apartheid system. When Nelson Mandela was sent to jail for his opposition to apartheid in the 1960s, there seemed no end in sight to the all-powerful apartheid system of South Africa. But, against the odds, Mandela played a critical role in bringing about the end of apartheid and the first truly democratic elections.

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” – Nelson Mandela

Against all odds, Against all logic we still hope. It is hope that keeps us going. If you have to lose anything in life, don’t let it be hope.

It is often when night looks darkest, it is often before the fever breaks that one senses the gathering momentum for change, when one feels the resurrection of hope in the midst of despair and apathy”- Hillary Clinton

Every day when I woke up early in the morning to pray at 3 am, I fill my mind with positive thoughts. I declare positive and great things upon my life and the results is always a positive full day. Well, if it can be thought, it can be done, a problem can be overcome and odds overcome.

He who doesn’t want to face his challenges shall always face challenges!

Being a public speaker has not been easy and every day for me is a learning opportunity as there is no any audience that is 100% similar to the other. There are always surprises, fear of unknown and the fear that there was a very high expectation on me leaving to me doubt of my ability to meet the audience expectation. I have learnt to face this fear and sometimes I visit a stadium, assume there are a million people staring and listening and I start shouting. Sometimes I do this when I go for meditation moment in forests, Heaven’s gate prayer mountain or our maize plantation. Overcoming what frightens you the most strengthens you the most. This has made me strong and confident. If I was given authority to speak over your life, I would wish you 3Cs ;Courage to dream, Confidence to chase your dream, Commitment to eagerly achieve the dream.

I have come to realize that the world and its circumstances does not sympathize with us neither does it give a damn. Your mediocrity and stupidity becomes your companions to doom and the world will not give you space unless you take it up. The world does not wait for you. It does not recognize you until you possess your ground and rule. For all the years I have been a coach, instructor, tutor, trainer and teacher, I have encountered with thousands of people who relied on my skills, knowledge and experience in the field to make a difference in life. The outcome of the session largely depended on my ability to inspire change within them. I have seen people who had earlier been my students rise to very high levels and do marvelous things that I couldn’t achieve despite the fact that I equipped them with the skills.

A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning. The moment you light the world around you with positivity, the light will reflect back to you and even the challenges and obstacles will reflect back and light the next pavement.

It is important to stay positive because beauty comes from the inside out. Your positive action combined with positive thinking results in success. Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.

Positiveness is a weapon of mass destruction so is negativity. It is contagious and influential. A positive and high spirited person always wins or learn how to do it better. Put your focus on to your vision and don’t let the negativity around to attract you rather let the surrounding be influenced by you.

In January 2018, I freely donated and installed in our church  Fire Extinguishers and other Fire Safety equipment and signage and in God’s reward in return  I was given a great chance to supply and equip all the Safari Rallies that were competing in the 2018 national championship with Fire Extinguishers. This was a great business deal supplying a truck of dozens of 6kg Dry Powder Fire Extinguishers to Kasarani Stadium where the more than 60 vehicles were being serviced. In the process I interacted with some of the world renowned Rally drivers and one thing about them is that all this time while supervising servicing of the vehicles they were portraying positivity and everyone looked a potential winner of the race by their attitude. Stay positive and happy. Work hard and don’t give up hope. Be open to criticism and keep learning. Surround yourself with happy, warm and genuine people.
Work hard for what you want because it won’t come to you without a fight. You have to be strong and courageous and know that you can do anything you put your mind to. If somebody puts you down or criticizes you, just keep on believing in yourself and turn it into something positive.

With God, time and yourself you can achieve absolutely anything. As long as you are alive just dare to dream big and make a difference. The gift of life, gives you the greatest opportunity to live and chance to rise above any situation. With hopeful attitude you can overcome any struggle and live a purposeful life.

Live your life so well that when you go to the other world and have your life projected on an LCD screen you will celebrate your life. Don’t put limitations on yourself, dare not measure your achievement with your current capacity. You have a divine and untapped ability within you to rule, subdue, multiply, be fruitful and have dominion. Don’t settle for your human capacity. Live up to your God-given potential.

You need to be aggressive, consistent and tough. Be a fighter and fight hard but smart. Put life where it is supposed to be. Give Technical Knock Outs(TKO) to obstacles, challenges and adversities coming your way and don’t give up. You can actually overcome all the limitations of life and achieve your dreams, if you don’t give up too early.

Every level in life has special grace for it. It’s sufficient grace that makes you get what you did not deserve. This grace however should not be taken for granted. You can become anything in the universe and can achieve absolutely anything if you maximally utilize this grace. God’s grace grants us immeasurable ability to overcome adversity of any type.

Assuming you are a parent, delivers a beautiful and bouncing baby boy and then one, two six years down the line you realize the child is not growing from the birth stage. No any development at all. This would scare you, right? If the baby is growing normally and few months after delivery you realize it’s moving around, talking and lifting things, this would excite you, right? For this baby to grow, there is a lot of effort involved sometimes being hit here and there while trying to move around. The baby will have to persevere and endure a lot and within no time develop the stamina to move around. You have to fight the odds in life to be able to reach a greater height. Purpose to go an extra mile and overcome all difficulties that comes your way.

If you lose a family member, involved in an accident and lose a body part or suffer an irreversible misfortune, just accept it has happened, adjust by finding courage and help within and then adjust to pursue your great destiny.

I have realized that one of the most fulfilling moments is when you face a difficulty and overcome it. I am a fun of football and one of the best moment in football whether world cup or premier league is an extra time and penalties after a draw. The teams have to go through a bruising moment, consuming all the energy they had but once a team win they forgot the bruises and exhaustion. Even if some players suffered fractures and soft tissue injuries, once they win they all forget the pain. For the team that lost, it goes on to prepare for the next game. If Manchester United lose to Arsenal, they go to prepare for the next game with Chelsea. They accept the defeat, go to the board room to find out their mistakes and adjust their weakness and then advance to prepare for the next game focusing for a win.  Same applies to our lives, you have to beat all odds, overcome it and enjoy the outcome. Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.

Most people view problems as merit for them to give up and quit. Any opportunity that portrays negative results acts as a catalyst for them to surrender but this should not be the case. Many are the times that bad times become the stepping stone to a flourishing outcome.  Accept, Adjust and Advance.

You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages. =Michelle Obama

Against all odds, Against all logic we still hope. It is hope that keeps us going. If you have to lose anything in life, don’t let it be hope.