LOL With Natasha Nishimwe

May 2, 2013 ~ Sophie ~ 3 Comments

Ok its May and I am back! Thought it would take a month or so but I realized I can’t keep away from this place. Good news is that I am back with our very first LOL guest! It can’t get any better. Natasha is an amazing person. See for yourselves.

Names: Natasha Nishimwe (which means ‘Thanks be to God’)

Occupation: Student

RB: Likes and dislikes.

NN: Mmmhhh, well, I like reading, writing, taking pictures of nature, I like staring at the moon, sunset, stars, shooting stars, mountain climbing, camping, swimming, walking(with someoneJ), getting together with friends, painting(walls), traveling, community volunteering, wooohhh, the list is long… I hate SIN with all its fruits that make lives sad, lost and miserable!

RB: What do you understand by Living Out Loud?

NN: Well, one time Albert Einstein said that if u can’t explain something SIMPLY then you don’t understand it well enough, so, LOL is simply living an inspired and inspiring life.

RB: Ever tried Living Out Loud?

NN: Yeeaah, even though I didn’t know that it’s a Living Out Loud action until you asked me this question! There’s a time I decided to spend my holiday volunteering in an orphanage in my country (Rwanda), and to my surprise I was told that since that orphanage had opened in 1979 it was the first time that a Rwandese did something like that, all other volunteers who had come there were coming from Europe and America. That action inspired other young people from Rwanda to share their lives and love with these little angels through even greater ways.

RB: Any highs and lows during the process?

NN: Sure, it gives such a deep joy to see genuine smiles on teens who say that there’s nothing to live for in this life, that nobody loves them, but hear them telling you that you make them feel important and loved, and get a huge passionate hug… that is a high! Or feeling the ticklish touches of the little ones, their laughs… it’s like sowing a seed of hope and love into someone. Yes lows are there too, where you face criticism, and discouragement… you know some will ask you how u want to spend your holiday serving without being paid, if you are really normal… but there’s so much in life than being paid for everything we do.

RB: What/ who inspires you the most?

NN: Different people depending on which area in life they have been highly successful. My own mother has the ability to stand still and maintain the deep joy no matter hard and harsh this life can be at some point and I’m weirdly and in a special way inspired by the sunrise, when I see its rays chasing away the darkness and cold clouds every morning (am glad am in Africa where we see the sun throughout the year) it brings this assurance that there’s a God busy making my life bright every day, it chases away fears of the future and regrets of the past.

RB: What advice do you have for fellow seekers of LOL out there?

NN: Well, actions speaks louder than words, let’s just live what we say and believe, and it doesn’t have to look like everyone wants it too, or to be accepted by everyone, LOL requires traveling the road less or never traveled.

Thank you Natasha for sharing a little bit of yourself. Find her here

🙂

Sophie

The Living Out Loud Challenge

April 13, 2013 ~ Sophie ~ 9 Comments

When this year started, I had a 25+ long list of resolutions. I made them simple and easy to achieve so I can get committed to them. One significant resolution was the living out loud challenge I set for myself after an inspiration on Pinterest. This challenge was supposed to be a-photo-a-day challenge but then I realized I do not have a camera to take daily pictures. I was determined to come up with something as creative and as fun as the photo-a-day challenge, after all I was still in the new year’s mood(feeling energetic, fresh and all). And so I decided to record extra ordinary moment in my life daily. Something that happened that put a smile to my face or that gave me a contented feeling. Daily. It made sense. I was to write them on small pieces of paper and then label them “Day 1, Day 2,…” Its seemed and sounded reasonable and ever since that day one(January 1 2013), I have been writing these notes. Of course I had to make sacrifices such as letting go of my personal journal but it was all worth it. There are times I read some old notes and I instantly remember what happened on those days. The challenge has been an aid in inspiring me and has brightened my days. In fact it has been so great and amazing that I have decided to expand it here on Rare Beauty as a feature by interviewing several different people. They will be able to share with us on how they strive to live an inspired life, a life full of meaning in this chaos that we all face daily. How they are able to overcome challenges and live out loud. We have one life and instead of looking for dust in the diamonds, we should focus more on looking for the diamonds in the dust. I hope you will be inspired by these amazing people. Stay tuned.

🙂

Sophie

BEGINNING FROM …

January 3, 2013 ~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

BEGINNING FROM THE END

I don’t intend to seem rude or ungrateful in the least to the numerous friends and family who have offered, “Happy New Year” on some platform-phone, social media and in-person. But I won’t be revealing state secrets when I confess that I find “Happy New Year” all but cliché. Seriously, do we pause to even think of it? Its meaning and weight before hurling “Happy New Year” in the many intriguing styles? What is happy and new and year to you? In retrospect, you all mean well, so, thank you.
Granted, we have much to be grateful for the new Time Address as we will be negotiating our lives in an all-new calendar date called 2013. For this, I am most grateful to my Lord.
So, why must I “BEGINNING FROM THE END?”

While all sorts of gurus embrace the moment by dispensing wisdom and philosophies to live by this New Year, I invite you to God’s word as I make the case for 2013.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead, I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3v13 and 14 NET)

The immediate context of these words in Paul’s epistle as read here to the Philippians, is ‘Pursuing the Goal’ of attaining to Christ’s knowledge.

Goals (read…resolutions), friends, is the new hype in town these next few weeks.
How do I start, maneuver and eventually close 2013 in victory? I find three precious truisms in the apostle’s words:

1. ACKNOWLEDGE
Acknowledging is same as accepting…accepting that my past year(s) was short of its possible glories. It means to fess up to my shortcomings against myself, God and fellow humanity. My relationships might have been short and perhaps I killed in spirit! God have mercy! Paul admits, “I do not consider myself to have attained.” Nor do I. what about you? I acknowledge also my inadequacies without self-pity. This means I need you…I am not an island. And finally, I admit to the fact that I am totally helpless without God. I need you Lord!

2. FOCUS
The responsibilities of live can be overwhelmingly crowding. Focus therefore, is not an easy one! Focusing means to be ‘single-minded’ as Paul says. I must choose by God’s wisdom which battles to fight and drown all sideshows out of my space. This includes in the words of Paul, “Forgetting the things that are behind.” This must be reached since it is tempting and easy to keep going fishing in waters of my past- past fears and failures…past mistakes and misfortunes. Focusing means in the words of EGWhite, that I “must give all and do all for Christ; for the Redeemer will not accept divided service. Daily I must learn the meaning of self-surrender. I must study the word of God, learning its meaning and obeying its precepts. Thus I may reach the standard of Christian excellence. Day by day God works with me, perfecting the character that is to stand in the time of final test. And day by day I am working out before men and angels a sublime experiment, showing what the gospel can do for fallen human beings. (AA 483)
Just like the apostle, I will choose my battles, I will drown out the hullabaloo and I will concentrate on the task at hand. My college professor, Dr. Jocelyn Mercado often said, “Focus” and she could repeat it again and again…“Focus” “Focus” “Focus” … How true, I keep realizing!

3. MOVE
Paul says, “reaching out for the things that are ahead with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Wow!
An upward move! It brings to mind the song,
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Lord, lift me up, and let me stand
By faith on Canaan’s tableland;
A higher plane than I have found,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where these abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till rest I’ve found,
“Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”

Take note however, mobility demands purpose. Purpose inspires that spring; that bounce in my step! It gives some steel, call it even, grit in the seconds and minutes and hours of my day because I live for something beyond just myself. That is purpose! It gives the sparkle on my face, the twinkle in my eyes and an inevitable acceleration to my upward move. My true confidence of course is founded on my Savior and my Lord’s unfailing Word from whom also emanates my purpose.

Oh, I wanna BEGIN THIS YEAR FROM THE END; to behold the glorious prize before me! To keep my eyes on the bull’s eye, to commence my journey from the destination for there is no other safer point to begin apart from my prize- my Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ.

Won’t you join me in this quest?
-Daniel Onyancha