An Allegorical Tale of Trust

by Torika Dokoni Vosavakadua (Read her inspiring blog: https://torikavosavakadua.wordpress.com/

She was stunned when she first came across it — a beautiful, delicate, small flower pushing through the hard earth. The Creator said it represented her heart. He had warned her she would feel pain as it grew, but she would experience deep joy as well.

Her Creator — whose eyes were continuously on her — smiled with joy when He saw her notice the flower peeking through the earth.

As she viewed it, she grimaced, recalling the intense, sharp pain she felt when the Creator worked to plant the seed into the hardened earth. Afterward, it throbbed, a dull and steady pain. She often doubted the love the Creator proclaimed to have for her. Why must it hurt so?

After He planted it, she would often visit the sacred plot. “I don’t see anything growing,” she would tell Him. He would look at her with eyes full of intense love, and he would say, “Wait and trust Me.”

She waited, often in disappointment because what she longed to see was slow in growing. She could feel the roots deepening, though the flower had yet to be seen. So she continued on the path the Creator led her down, and with every disappointment along the way, the roots of the plant deepened.

One morning, quite unexpectedly, she glimpsed a flower pushing through the earth.  Its petals were a vibrant blue with violet tips and a yellow-white center. It was no ordinary flower. The petals appeared sturdy, and the stem was encased in an intricate sleeve laced with gold and silver.

“Its name is Trust,” said the Creator as she knelt by the flower, examining the beautiful petals.

The Creator chuckled when He saw the delicate way she examined the flower. He knew the flower’s petals would not be torn — they could not be torn. But she was not as confident.

After a thorough inspection, she said, “It’s small but strong.” She paused, hesitating. “It is beautiful, but it is so small … I endured so much pain to grow it. Shouldn’t it be bigger?”

The Creator smiled. “No, Beloved, that will come. Growth will be a little easier now. It will grow into a large, strong and beautiful flower in time.”

They sat together in silence for some time. She continued to examine the flower, transfixed.

Finally, the Creator asked her, “Did you feel it when the roots grew?”

She nodded. “Oh yes, I felt it during difficult and painful circumstances.”

“Yes, Trust is difficult to grow in some of my children. The roots must make it through the very hard ground of unbelief. It is a very painful process for you and for Me.”

“Where did the roots go?”

They were growing toward the Spring of Living Water. That spring is what’s needed to sustain it. I had to send many storms to soften the hard ground, so the roots could make it to the spring.”

She nodded and quietly reflected on the trust that was slowly but surely overriding the doubt, confusion and pain that frequently attacked her.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, recalling a verse from the Creator’s sacred text: “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).

Queen Esther’s Inspirational Stories

Yes she has friends,  Yes she has family,  Yes she has best friends; she’s strong, smart, beautiful, she’s just 21 but she’s also  a fighter...
We are reprinting excerpts from Esther Daveta’s Blog (Queen Esther). It contains stories to inspire, written with heartfelt emotions to give hope….that spoken words cannot describe. PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK:  https://life9056.wordpress.com/

Dr V says, "Had I read these inspirational stories as a teenager I would have navigated life's many challenges more constructively! Be inspired to write narratives of your life's journeys through personal blogs."

A fighter who’s trying to uphold Godly values and morale. It’s hard being a ‘young ‘kirei' (beautiful-Japanese ) Fijian buiniga ’21’ girl with values and godly principles to uphold and stand for.
“Wow, she used to do this before, she was the one who….”,
“Is she really not gonna come with us to the club to celebrate ‘Lu’s 21st'”...
They all ridiculed her and stomped her with ‘her past’. This did not break her down but made her stronger than she was before. Lost some of her friends, her old habits, even the young blonde man that had promised to never leave her, left.
She realized friends, family & even the guy who said he’ll take a bullet for her,  causes you more pain than a bullet, will never keep their promises at times and that God is forever faithful.
Thing is society, has imprinted the thought that we should take revenge on those that have hurt us, that we should hate them, curse them & ignore them.  That’s what society, this world wants us to DO.
But as a young woman and man of God, what would you do. Like for real?
Be honest here! What would you actually do?
Now take that thought and compare of what WOULD Jesus do, more like what DID Jesus DO? *deep sigh* yeah, that’s right. He forgave. He showed love to those that cursed him & he hung on that rugged cross with OUR endless sins with him,  as his blood shed down his nailed feet. That’s what he did for US. That’s why, personally it’s hard to portray the ‘WWJD’ [what would Jesus do] act as young as myself.
People will talk about you, ridicule you, bring up your past against you, even backstab you; But you stand strong,  you fix your eyes on the cross, because thing is, we were never promised  a smooth road. Standing for Jesus, standing for this amazing God is hard but is worth every second of my life.  

Esther pictured with friends at the National Youth Leaders Camp held in Navoci Nadi on Jan 11-13, 2018

Yes, we have our own weaknesses but this doesn’t stop us from proclaiming God’s grace that we don’t deserve & his eternal love. I fell, I came back up, I failed, I came back up, again & again & again & again. A Champion doesn’t give up! 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (For when I am weak, then I am strong ). Try this God. Have a meaningful personal relationship with the risen Christ.
Believe me, he will use you for the greater things ahead of you, because he is doing so for me.💕✊//

Overcoming Challenges and Developing One’s Full Potential: The Story of Joeli Bili

by Joseph Veramu
 One powerful impression I got after getting acquainted with Joeli Bili is that personal challenges are an integral part of our daily lives. However if we have a positive attitude, trust in God to deal with our problems and put our hearts and minds into succeeding, we will achieve our goals.

The Youths for Integrity Network has been an important part of Joeli’s life. He shares that, “I am a living testimony and am forever grateful for my involvement with YFI which has enabled me to come out of my comfort zone and successfully get this job. The YFI workshops are very helpful in making us articulate our views and gain confidence.”
Joeli applied for a civil service job with the Ministry of Economy and was successful. Just a week ago, he was promoted from an Information Officer to a Training Officer. He admits that with so many youths applying for fewer job opportunities, one needs to stand out in the crowd in the sense that one must exude confidence, be articulate, have self-initiative and be imbued with the values of integrity. Of course, since youths are going through their own self-journeys, they will face many personal hardships and that is where one’s spiritual life becomes very important. Alluding to his own example, he says, “We can do all things through God who strengthens us.”

Joeli hails from Lakeba, Lau, from the village of Yadrana with maternal links to Waitabu. He was raised in a very conservative Christian milieu and his family has motivated, inspired and shaped his character building him to become the person that he is today. One important lesson from his family is that one must work hard to develop one’s full potential. This is an affirming message he wants to share with all youths in Fiji and beyond. “Although my parents have raised me in a very conservative setting with very strict conditions, I am deeply grateful to them as it has allowed me to keep track of my goals in life and not being swayed away by unnecessary things.”
Joeli admits that when he was child, he always wanted to become a teacher, seeing it as very appealing especially in shaping future leaders. However, as he grew to adolescence and young adulthood, his interests changed to social science studies.
Currently, he is undertaking degree extension studies in Journalism and Political Science at USP. He says that he “enjoyed it. Last year, I got to experience studying and working at the same time. I love it and encourage young people to excel in their education and try to further their studies whenever they can. I’ve seen for myself how often people would say “I can’t study cause I’ve got full time work.”  I would challenge this thinking! When you have the will, nothing is impossible. I still even got A+ while I’m working! It all comes down to time-management and making the right choices.“
Close friends of Joeli describe him as someone who values serving others and is actively involved in community work. A normal weekly schedule for Joeli would be : Monday to Friday are work days, Saturday is attending to school work and other youth engagements and Sunday is mentoring with students at St. Christopher’s Home through the Mentor Me Fiji Foundation. He is very heavily occupied but even with these tight schedules, he still manages to have fun and have a few bottles of wine with friends!
Joeli admits that, “Life is not about making yourself busy, it’s about making yourself happy. So whatever we do, we should always be happy and know that our Heavenly Father loves us and has a plan of salvation for everyone. So be happy, for God is great and he hears our prayers.”
On the topic of Volunteering Joeli says, “People often have the perspectives that volunteering for a worthy cause is a waste of time mainly because it is unpaid work. But to get a job easily nowadays, I would highly recommend youths to grab internship and volunteering opportunities. It’s not only about serving others but getting to know the real person you are as well as keeping your CV filled with constructive experiences.
Joeli is a private student at USP which means that his studies are self-funded. He admits that, “There came the time where I had to look for a job to help in financing my studies and there were many days when I really faced a lot of challenges. Now that I have secured a job as Information Officer, I am happy as the saying goes “To get to the rose, we have to come across thorns. We should never lose hope as the road is still long to be discovered.”
Joeli says that he has had to learn to be “open-minded in getting to impart issues such as human rights to his close friends and relatives. Joeli admits that the culture of silence is indeed a social issue in itself. “To some of the people close to me, Human Rights is something like the name of Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter movies that cannot be mentioned under any circumstances. I have had to tell them that human rights issues need to be discussed honestly and openly.”

Joeli’s advice to young people, “Live your life to the fullest, be happy and never lose hope in whatever your wildest dreams are. We are too young to live sad lives! But whatever you do, remember there is a Living God and always give thanks to him even for the very little achievements you have gained.”

A Note from Dr V: “Joeli is one of our very successful youth leaders having actively taken part in YFI events and the National Youth Parliament. He is very generous and has helped to fund three workshops for disadvantaged youths (even though he only had part time work at that time).
Joeli also has a reputation as a great debater and his Oceania Arts and Culture Studies debate team was declared the champions after winning the final debating contest at the 2017 USP FALE Debate Series. One big lesson I have learnt from Joeli is that we must have a positive attitude, persevere in our goals and trust in Jehovah through the risen Christ.”
Blog piece by J Veramu