The Night I got Robbed…

On the 22^nd of January, at around 8pm along Yusuf Lule Road, just before the signpost that says ‘Yusuf Lule Rd’ I got robbed. Amidst bumper-to-bumper traffic, I was seated in the driver’s seat. My cousin was in the passenger’s seat. We were coming from her place in Kololo heading to Garden City when the left back door opened suddenly and closed just as suddenly. I thought I had locked the doors as I always do so I was in shock at first but in a few seconds, my senses came back. I remember screaming as soon as the door opened because I thought we were going to be kidnapped and forced to drive to a far away place and be left for dead. That didn’t happen but instead, my purse, which was on the floor of the back seat near the left back door had been snatched, and the thief was getting away fast.

I quickly put the car in Park, pulled the handbrake and took off my shoes in preparation to chase the man down. I had only ran passed two or three cars behind ours when I realized he was too far-gone and I’d need something faster to catch him. It was then that I stopped a few boda boda men so that they could help me chase the thief and catch him. None of them were willing to turn back. Their reason was that there was no way they or I would make it down the valley without being killed. Apparently the thieves grab their bait, ran down the Golf course valley and if they are pursued, they are well armed with knives to defend themselves.

When I realized that no one was going to help us, I got back into the car and tried to calm down because I was so upset. I wasn’t immediately sad for the loss of the money and belongings but I was shaken that something of that manner could happen. My cousin and I did a double check of what had been left in the car and surprisingly; my laptop, which was on the back seat in plain view, was still there.  Then I started to feel thankful that we weren’t hurt. I then called my brother and informed him what had happened. He was at Garden City waiting for us. He was upset as well but couldn’t think of a way to recover my bag and its contents.  As traffic moved on, everyone around us went back to normal (not that they were amused one bit with what had just happened since they all watched on as if it were a movie) we moved forward. It was then that I tried to run a mental inventory of what was inside the bag. There was a bit of money, about two hundred thousand, my wallet with photos of family, my driver’s license, my personal and business cheque books, a few business cards, my make-up bag and some paper work I needed to tend to on Monday (Electric bill and recently paid car service note).

We turned into the Garden City entrance  when my brother called again to check that none of the cheque leaves were signed. I remembered that none of my personal cheques were but the business chequebook had our lawyer’s signature but needed mine in order to have a transaction take place. He then cleverly pointed out that they might try to use that to withdraw some money and then we will have our thief. I was excited at the prospect of meeting the man that was so bold and pulled off something that I had never thought of.  I called a friend at my bank immediately after and asked him to block my accounts until I reported to them on Monday and also to look out for anyone that tries to withdraw money during this time.

We were at Garden city now having dinner and I started worrying that my passport might have been in my purse. I didn’t allow the saddening thoughts to stay in my head but I instead relied on the fact that nothing the thief took were going to better his life in the long term. I called mama and told her and she advised me to call a relative working with Police to ask him to send a patrol group out into the valley to search for any paraphernalia that could have dropped of the bag as he ran off. I did that and went on to enjoy my night. I returned home safely by 11.05pm. On my way home, I wondered how he knew that the purse was on the floor when it was dark enough not to see. I then wondered if he had followed us and knew where it had been placed before hand. I got home and immediately checked for my passport, which was in the cabinet I always keep it. I thanked God for the passport being there and for none of us being hurt. I also prayed that the desperation didn’t bring us to a sinful cycle that won’t end. As I write this, I am back to normal only appreciating life more, loving God more and being more grateful.

Wishing for a little more ‘love thy neighbor as you love yourself’

Lately I’ve been having a lot of saddening experiences. Every time I think of our nation and our people, it makes me sad. I am not angry, and I am not necessarily losing hope either but there’s a melancholic feeling that engulfs me when I think of where we might be headed if we keep up this way. Before I graduated college, I was very optimistic and was quite sure that there was something I could do in my own little way to make things better.

But slowly over time I have become dead to all the corruption, the intended evilness, the ill intentions. The silent traps set for otherwise good people that lead them to do bad things. In a word, I was fed up. Now I feel helpless. I feel as though nothing I can do or say would change anything and that for me is a very bad place to be.

I think my feeling this way is a result of many other personal occurrences but I am praying myself out of this one. I am really hoping to do a lot of things this year, and that’s not just new year talk… I intend to live this life and live it for the love of God and the love of people. The latter will be a bit hard for certain specific individuals but I know that I know that nothing is impossible. It’s all in His court.

Have  you shown any love lately??

Announcement

Hey everyone!
I know this is an inappropriate post to put up as my first one after crossing the line from Miss to Mrs. but it’s terribly important.

PHAT FEST TODAY SEPTEMBER 4th AT KYADDONDO RUGBY GROUNDS!!!
DO NOT MISS IT FOR THE WORLD!
It’ll be a concert filled with so many miracles and good things! I am sure of that. Tickets are on sale at the entrance and at the venue from Noon onwards so please please if you read this, get off work early, use your lunch break to go get a ticket and come have a blast!! One that will surely change your life!

Shalom One and All!

Operation: Get my stuff right

Hello peoples! I am really not good at this writing thing anymore… I think it has to do with the fact that I am not in school anymore and the literary phase is slowly passing but I pray it never really goes away. I remember when all I wanted to do was sit down and blog about every little thing! Now I just tell myself that I’ll summarize what’s been going on and when I do get round to it, it doesn’t seem as fun as it all was when I was actually doing it.

So here’s my summary:

I have been away from home for the last week and it’s been terribly lonely for me seeing as I have spent the last seven months with my fiance, seeing him nearly everyday and talking when we don’t see each other. I think it has definitely taught me a lesson… never to take his constant calls for granted. I used to tease him about how much he really must love talking to me but now I’m the one wishing he were here with me instead of another friend of mine I travelled with… But that would just make things all that much harder for us since we want to really only share the same room after we are married.

On a different note, this is the quickest I have ever been homesick! The things that love does hahaha! So yeah, I am getting a lot of the wedding things ready and it’s amazing how much of a help my mother and fiance have been. I really thought I’d be in control of everything but shock on me, they are running the show and i definitely don’t mind which is a surprise in itself.

I can now comfortably say that I am going to be fabulously dressed come that day and my baby is going to be the luckiest man alive and the happiest too! 🙂

Food for thought: Being in a ‘developed’ country reminded me of how lucky and blessed we are. There seems to be so much suffering here and no one ever catches it because they have been this way since they can remember. It is in their faces, in the hunch of their backs, it is everywhere. It is in the old man who has to drag a mobile kitchen along Fifth Ave to sell a couple of kebabs, in the stout black woman who greets us with a tired smile every morning as she asks us if we’d like our room cleaned. All these things make me feel a little unsettled because I feel like I am one with all these people, like we are of the same family, so every time I want to reach out and do it instead of them… I should be doing it for them, they are older, they deserve better than cleaning up after me in hotel rooms or feeding me as I waltz my way down one of the greatest shopping Avenues in the world… Would it work out better that way? Would the world be a better place if we saw each other as fam?

God Knows!!

Shalom Brethren and Sistren!

In my last post, I was a little upset, a little down and a little depressed and yes, I admit, I was a little angry. But today, when I woke up, I had a great feeling that everything was going to work out the way God intended everything to work out. ( More often than not they do and even when we think they haven’t, truth is they have but we are too stubborn to accept God’s divine will).

Anyhow, I got up, showered, refused to let that phone call that got me up on this rainy day bother me and decided I was going to be productive no matter what. As this world would want it, something happened in the middle of the morning that threw me off. I was discouraged and all my plans and hopes started to seem a little too highly set. I lost morale and was in almost the same position I was in at the same time I wrote the last post.
But I kept repeating to myself inwardly that He had all this in control and things would be alright.

I worked at my fiance’s office today and when I got there, I was in a rut. I didn’t want to spoil the day for him because everything was going perfectly for him so I was happy. I then went to lunch with a friend and things started looking a little brighter. All the while, nearly every sermon on Power FM today was about faith and continuing to believe even when the impossible was something that seemed well, impossible!

By four o’clock, I was calmly working on all the things I had set out to do and I had been given more revelation and assurance that God knows my struggles and that He is there right by my side and I was so elated that His presence was in all I was doing which only further confirmed that this is all right. Everything was alright because God knows my heart and He knows what’s best for me.

If there is anyone reading this that believes, then read this carefully. If and when the devil attacks, and that he will, remind yourself that you are the temple of God and faith is the one thing you’ve got to fight. God’s Spirit lives in you and don’t for one second allow yourself to wallow in your misery because that is precisely when the devil starts to lie to you in order to put you on another path. One so far away from God’s path for you.

God knows everything that you are going through so even in the midst of worldly weakness, remember that you are God’s chosen and that He is there for you, all you have to do is ask and believe in faith and it shall be given unto you.

Shalom all! and more Shalom to those that prayed with me and for me to get through the last mini earthquake in my life 🙂

Be Still…

I am listening to that Kirk Franklin & Toby Mac song and I am fighting so hard to be still… and know that He is God. Yes I know deep inside that He is God but why is the being still so hard?

I am tired. I am confused, I don’t want to face anyone at any time. I can’t smile because deep down I am hurting. I am saddened that even though I know that I know that He is God, and despite the fact that I know that because He is, I am and He is love… I want to just break down and let it show on my face in my walk and my ‘swag’ that I am not ashamed of whom I love and I shall stand for what is right no matter what.

Even when it feels like my efforts are unappreciated, I shan’t compromise the goodness of the Lord in me. I shall not be made to feel small because if the Lord is my Father, then I am the daughter of a King!!

Wooooo…. I came here sad and drained but just in typing the above, I am a new person… Changed from the one who in a fit of tears bumped the ka white pillar at garden city, who wanted to cancel all programs so that I could go home and crawl into mama’s lap and cry some more.

Guess what, even though this involves someone i know and love very very much, I am not going to compromise. I shall deal with everything with love and in love. And most of all, I shall be still and I shall keep on trying day in and day out to make things better.

I only pray that God grants me the energy and strength to go through everything with grace and humility. The pain, that thing tugging at my heart is actually just a silly weapon of the devil… i know now that it is not from God and of God. He doesn’t want His princess to hurt or shake or be confused. No, all that comes from Him is good and perfect in every way!

So devil, listen carefully. You have no control over me. I am not afraid of you. Your antics are old and are not match for the Holy Spirit that lives in me. Jesus. is. Lord. And He reigns!

… I AM STILL…

He is God!
Shalom

In part for Sleek…

So, I lost my password again… what else is new? LoL for some reason I haven’t tried to figure out how to personalize passwords on this wordpress thing and yet I insist on sticking with this very blog just because… well because blogger had its time and now there’s tweeter or twitter (that’s how much I am behind) that I don’t know how to work or even what it looks like but most of all because I don’t like the idea of calling my friends my ‘followers’ and thus I do not want to be a tweet/twit.

Anyhow, all is well in ziva-ville and if I might announce, although the last couple of weeks have been stressful, there has been a lot of productivity.

My side-business finally reached our set target just yesterday and I am so humbled! That saying about good things coming to those who wait is totally true. So many times I wanted to throw in the towel and give up but thanks to all the people who helped me hang in there, we have arrived! I can only pray and hope for bigger, better, more blessed things from here on out.

Still on the topic of business, I am encouraged to venture out into yet another field. I never dreamed I’d even succeed at one but such is the hopelessness of a human mind. Lately, I have learnt increasingly through experience, that where God is, there success lies…always. And even when He chooses that a certain plan fails, it is all in His plan to make the ultimate plan (His will) succeed. Better for those who believe in and abide by His command because they reap the fruit of His goodness. I am so so very blessed to call Him Abba, Father.

The wedding’s coming up and it seems like the whole town is also planning a wedding of its own. Not one week has passed without me getting a text message to so and so’s wedding meeting. I am truly happy for everyone that is getting ready to share in the joy of marriage but I wonder sometimes if I too will get sucked into the wedding meeting frenzy and call it my ‘proggie’ instead of having a life and building on all its joys and adventures.
Time will tell but as for me, in this very moment, I want to steal away and thank God for all the good He has shown me and to hand over to Him all my cares.

I am smiling at the days to come, humbled by the path He led me through, and grateful that He calls me His child.

Oh and I finally made the switch from PC to Mac… I know I haven’t mentioned it on here but for the last five months, I have been pondering on whether to switch and last week I made up my mind… well, more like a friend of mine had a macbook to sell and he kinda nudged me in the apple direction but I am loving the experience so far. I don’t know if I am completely ready to bid farewell to my loyal sony viao but we will see.

Shalom to one and all and Happy Long Weekend to all the Ugandans reading!

Waging War

On my way back home from the hair salon, one of my favorite songs of the year played on Power Fm (104.1). It is called waging war by Cece Winans. I love this song so much for so many reasons… for one, I am tired of the devil stealing from me and so in recognition of this fact, I put the volume on full blast and sang my heart out as i flew over the ka swampy area en route to kalangala (where I reside 🙂

Anyway, in that divine moment, I became aware of one of the roles I am supposed to be playing in this life. We should all stand against these devil sent principalities in high and low places sent to come and deceive us. I have been pondering on the things that I can call passions and I have really tried to dabble in quite a few areas but the circle of searching brings me back to an active fight and stand against the enemy. The Bible says in Romans 8:18 :I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” And indeed there is much to look forward to when you have given your life to Christ. But sometimes I think that   Hebrews 10:18  “And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin” has a simpler meaning than we think. Yes, Jesus died for our sins and those who believe in Him and died with Him are alive in our Lord. So then much of the suffering that we endure here on earth is not necessary so to speak. I hovered over that word ‘necessary’ because somehow it felt like I was tampering with what some might call life but I refuse to believe that it is necessary for a little infant to die horribly from child sacrifice so that somehow somewhere, the circle of life can continue. I cannot for one second agree that such is life. And then my thoughts were made stronger when I read that “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Thessalonians 5:9.

So, in this path to finding and fulfiling the will of God set out for my life, I am inching closer to what I believe He planned for me before the foundations of the earth. I pray that by His grace, I am able. I’ve never felt that song like I did on my drive home and I definitely can feel the direction this is all heading. Yes the enemy has his jaws wide open like a hungry lion but I am putting on my full armor and waging war for Christ and all He did for me and for you too.

Shalom!

unco-ordination

I once wrote this. . .

“I have dreamt all my life for that one person that God made for me and when I do find him, it won’t be that easy to get away from me. I can tell you that much. Imagine that, for every one of us, God made a person who would bear with us. I personally treasure the thought of the man who will take all my stressing and ranting, who will be with me through my pms-ing , my childish needs, and my obsessive cleaning bouts. Yes, I am one of the few women out there that still believe that my match is somewhere in this world and I will find him.”

I find that I lived the very exact words above. It was an accident that I fell on an old journal entry and at the same time happened to be going through extreme pms, intense frustration, and obsessive cleaning escapades.

And today I went to a funeral service and I couldn’t help but realize that humanity at large just doesn’t get it. not life, not joy, not happiness, not laughter… none of it all.  I really want to rant and rage but somehow somewhere inside of me, I am telling myself not to because I have found a greater peace in knowing God. In loving all the things that He brings my way and today, I bless His name for allowing that revelation to come to me at a time when I needed it most.

There I sat in a church willing my heart not to think all the things that I was letting it think… things like, ‘his lifestyle says it all’ ‘maybe he had it coming’… and then I began to pray tirelessly that this evil  would be lifted off my tongue and that my eyes would be opened to the creature that God created and that He had now taken back to be with Him. And that is when I began to hear all the wonderful things that I might could have missed had I been too busy talking to myself and mumbling about how things could have been different only if he had done this or that…

And then I heard, the news that left me completely boulverse (i think that’s a french word but oh well!) It went a little bit like this; “From a young age, he gave his life to Christ…”

Everything within me just left me and there was an overwhelming sense of relief.

So now here I am, grateful for the life of a brother and in celebration of all the joy and pleasure he brought to the life of all those he knew.

I am not claiming to be one of those that get it or that believe they know what they are doing but today, it was made more evident how much more I need to lean on God’s understanding and to reflect on His ways to live a fulfiling life.

Shalom is mine 🙂

Bless!

SO…

Now that I am semi assured that there is joy and life ahead, I may start blogging as I so promised myself LAST YEAR. How bad are all these resolution thingies? I won’t even go into how I ended up neglecting this space for more than six months but suffice it to say that forgetting my password didn’t help at all.

Yes, I am engaged! It was all very exciting I even cried. I didn’t think it’d happen to me… not the engagement part but the crying one… And it seems that that very incident opened up a very emotional me so now I cry when I feel like it and burst out laughing at the tiniest show of humor. I think I’ll remember that moment for a very long time.

Of course every up side comes with a down side… here it was that I never did get to tell ALL the people I wanted to tell myself. It was like a wild fire had just spread and wasn’t even being counter attacked so there was no putting out, only rampant spreading… yes, such was my fury that I would relate gossip to an ignored wild bush fire.So yeah, turns out there were some people that ended up being mad because I didn’t tell them about the proposal a whole four hours after… and then there were the ones that called me the next day to TELL me that I was engaged. In a little fit of complete madness I decided I would send everyone that I considered a friend a facebook message and guess what… Yeah you guessed it … that only fueled the fire!

I shan’t dwell on all that though. I can happily AND proudly say that all the necessary parties are well aware of my future plans and have ALL given their blessing so now I can attempt to enjoy being engaged… NOT! Well it took all my given enjoyment period as a bride to be to inform said parties so now I have come rushing smack dab into planning.

Despite the fact that our wedding is quite a few months away, I cannot for the life of me just sit back and let other people help me. I am actually taking away some of the duties of service providers just so that I know that if I provided that service, nothing would go wrong… Oh well, we’ll see where all this planning will get us… hopefully to a very very happy start to the rest of our lives together!

Shalom!