I am an author now. I’m tempted to just end my blog post here, because that’s all I really wanted to talk about today. I’m an author, guys. Can you believe it? 😃
I’ll share a few details of my journey this year and what it’s been- on the road to authorhood (is that even a real word? 😂). It’s been a very exciting journey; it’s been intense, it’s been funny, it’s been exhausting. It’s had a lot of different facets to it, but what matters now is that it’s over. We’ve made it. I’m officially an author now.
The one thing I’ve learnt from this journey is that you can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it and then create a plan for it. I already mentioned in an earlier blog how I’d already wanted to write a book for a while . I desired it in my heart. I really did. But the space between the desire and the manifestation is the actioning of a plan. I didn’t have a plan and therefore I had nothing to put to action. But once I put together a plan (courtesy of Harvest Institute strict deadlines), I was able to work backwards from my goal; and action bit by bit until finally, here we are.
So forgive me if it’s getting irritating already, but I’ll be repeating it consistently for a while. I AM AN AUTHOR and I love it here. I had a plan, I broke down my plan, I worked my plan and I wrote a whole book.
Allow me to reintroduce myself to you. Marlie the Author Keishamaza.
I’d heard about Harvest Institute for a long time. 4 years, to be exact. I knew I wouldn’t do it. It didn’t make my heart leap with excitement when I first heard about it and so I took that to be a sign that it wasn’t meant for me. Then I watched my friends go through it and really made up my mind that I wasn’t going to do it no matter what.
Harvest Institute is the school I’m enrolled for, under which is School of Leadership that gives us the requirement of authoring a book in order to graduate at the end of the year. I wasn’t going to do it.
Since 2019, though, I’ve had a dream of authoring a book, along with the exact contents of the book I wanted to write but never got round to doing it because of several ‘good’ excuses. I considered Harvest Institute briefly, a few times in my head. But still- I wasn’t going to do it.
Then one random day last year as I was in the shower, I heard very clearly, the voice of the Holy Spirit tell me that I was going to go through Harvest Institute’s School of Leadership. I laughed, because wow. After 4 years of running away? Are you serious? Now I was going to do it. I had to.
Now here I am, at the end of the year, with so much new knowledge and practice in leadership and a whole book with my name. And I don’t mean, like an exercise book labelled with my name on it. I’m actually a whole author. God did it, guys! The Holy Spirit did it. I’m glad I obeyed that voice and chose to make it through the year, regardless. I’ve been thinking about what this year would have looked like for me if I didn’t take on the opportunity and adventure to try out something new.
I know it can be scary, but explore some unchartered territory. Take on a new skill. Learn a new language. Join School of Leadership. Wink wink. Just venture out into something. You never really know what might come out of it.
When I think and look back at my life; in both the far and recent past, I realise how much the hand of God ha s impacted my life and how blessed I am to know God and have him impact my life greatly- for the better, of course.
If I could sum up my new life (I’ll explain shortly) in one phrase, I’d use ‘The Perfect Exchange’. There are many negative, nasty aspects about my life before that God traded in for much better, when I made a decision to actively pursue and follow Him. I used to spend 6 out of 7 days a week in the bar, until the wee morning hours, dancing and consuming intoxicants. I used to battle with severe pain when that time of the month came, and occasional sickness too. I had moments of extreme joy (majority of the time), but I also had moments of sadness and depression where I didn’t want to speak to anyone and couldn’t be bothered to do anything constructive. It’s actually quite a long list of ‘before’ traits that I dealt with.
When I started learning more about Jesus in 2018, and seeking relationship with Him for myself, many of these things started to change. I started learning about true salvation and what power it actually carries. I learnt that Jesus died that I wouldn’t have to experience sickness, depression, lack and so many of the things that I was dealing with. As I started to spend more time reading the Bible, praying and sitting under the leadership of spiritual parents, many of the things I dealt with started to leave. All the negative things were stripped away.
It’s like the more I gave myself to Jesus, the more I discovered and the more all the bad stuff was stripped away. So, yeah. When I gave my life to Jesus I made the perfect exchange.
Give your life to Jesus today. He can help you with all the things you’re struggling with that you don’t even know what to do about.
Also, look out for my book The Perfect Exchange, coming out soon. I’m sure you’ll love it 😊
I used to get the world’s worst cramps (every girl that suffers from cramps probably says that), but the truth is it feels like the absolute worst thing in the world. While I was at school, there was always a time during the month where I was expected to be in the sickbay for one to two days. I’ve always hated medicine and anything to do with hospitals and medical spaces though, so I fought the idea of taking medicine; and so, by default, my only treatment was sleep. Thankfully, there was a special sleep bug that would always bite me at that time of the month. So the sleeping part wasn’t too hard. Sleep distracted me from the pain.
When I finished school, I still suffered the same thing. I remember always having to cancel plans and meetings and all sorts of things because that time of the month had come, and whenever it came, I would be immobile. I would throw up all the time yet I didn’t have an appetite. So I wasn’t eating. I’d get heat flashes – sweating profusely – and yet I would be feeling cold. My body just felt like it was in disagreement with me.
One day, I woke up in the middle of the night with a slight discomfort in my belly. I knew that the time had come. So, I woke up, wore a sanitary towel just in case it started that night while I was sleeping, and then I went back to sleep. I woke up at about 9 a.m. the next day with severe pain in my tummy and slight weakness in my body. At that time, I was staying with my grandmother, so I called her on the phone, and asked her to come to my rescue. Having experienced these bad cramps several times, she knew what to expect and came in instantly.
My grandmother, whom I call Nuchu, had decided that very strong black tea would help. I’ve never really liked hospitals or medicine that much, so if there’s ever a natural remedy for treating anything, I’d pick that over chemicals and medication. I think that’s why strong black tea was always the first solution to my problem. It was the thing I was most likely going to allow, that also had the possibility of doing a job in my tummy. I took it gladly. Well, in pain, but with an open heart. It wasn’t always extremely effective though. Typically, the first day of my period was a forced holiday for me; and a mini-ER session in my room.
My breakthrough came in 2018, when I read two books by Andrew Wommack that changed my life: You’ve Already Got It and Spirit, Soul and Body. In these books, Andrew Wommack talks about how when Jesus died, He took up all our disease and put it on the cross, and that if we are believers of Jesus Christ, sickness is not our portion. That was the moment of my breakthrough. I started reading several scriptures on healing, and speaking them over myself. I learned to pray against sickness in my body. I would reject it whenever I felt it. It was a very easy truth for me to receive, and believe because of course, I didn’t like medicine and hospitals. So this seemed like a much better option, an option that I was more than willing to take.
I don’t know at which exact moment the change happened, but I do know that it did. I remember one day just thinking about the bad cramps I used to get, and wondering when it all changed. I don’t get cramps anymore, at all. It gradually graduated from pain, to discomfort in my stomach, to no pain at all. I don’t experience any form of cramp pain anymore. All I can say is that I am super grateful. Learning and understanding that pain and illness is not God’s will for us, has changed my life. I prayed and received my healing and now, I don’t have to suffer disgusting cramps anymore, or have elders wait on me hand and foot. I don’t have to suffer from trying to swallow tablets or drinking strange syrups. I found a better option for healing. Hallelujah!
A while ago, I went to visit my grandparents on a Sunday afternoon. It was a calm, quiet and fun afternoon. We all greeted each other, had lunch, made merry; you know, the typical things that you would do on a Sunday afternoon lunch. Everything was going well and we were all enjoying ourselves, until someone came to us with the news about a mini crisis that was happening downstairs. Okay. Maybe I’m exaggerating just a little bit. But in the eyes of the person who was dealing, it was probably even a major crisis.
My little cousin—Joel—had locked himself in the bathroom and couldn’t get out. Joel is 4 years old, so when I say ‘little’, it’s not even an exaggeration of any sort. He really is a little boy. He had taken a trip to the bathroom, and because typically at that age children are fighting for independence and really want to be grown, he went ahead and did the grown thing to do and locked himself in the bathroom. After all, we all need privacy, right? Long story, short, he failed to turn the key again to unlock the bathroom. So, he began to cry and call for help. By the time I reached the bathroom, Joel’s dad had already rushed to the scene and was trying to calm him down and figure out a way for him to get out of there. We kept trying to guide him on how to get out, but nothing seemed to be working. “Push the key in a little, and then turn it”, “Okay, take the key out of the lock and pass it to us”. We were not short on solutions; but he was unable to execute, and that only frustrated him the more.
Eventually, the final solution was to break down the bathroom door or break the section of the door around the lock, so that it could be pushed open. So, the men went off to find the tools to do it or the right person for the job, so I remained at the window with Joel, in the middle of this major crisis. At first, when he saw his daddy walking away, he began to cry and shout, “don’t leave me, daddy”, so I assured him that daddy had gone to find a solution and everything was going to be okay. I told him that I would be there with him and wasn’t going to leave until he had broken free. So we began to talk. He kept looking back at the door every so often and then you would see panic set in, but then I kept decompressing the situation by speaking to him and taking his focus off the door. I was speaking to him through the back window of the bathroom which was facing another house behind us. I engaged Joel for close to 20 minutes as we waited for the solution to arrive. I told him stories, I asked him to tell me stories; then we started to name the different colours around us (more like he named, and I asked him to name) and talk about the house behind us that was still being built. We shifted the focus and Joel was able to stop crying or feeling afraid. I let him know that someone was coming with a solution, and that they might end up banging the door down; but I also re-assured him and let him know that everything was going to be okay. And indeed he believed it because he was able to calm down.
After the incident happened, and also a few times while it was happening, I kept thinking to myself how important it is where you place your focus. You see, while Joel was looking at the door and fixating on the fact that he was stuck and was unable to get himself out, he was fearful and panicky. The moment the focus was shifted, however, to something other than his current problem, he was able to speak and smile and feel okay again. It’s the same with us in this life, the moment we take our focus off the problem, and fixate on something else, the overwhelm starts to fade. This is especially helpful when, like Joel, you’ve tried everything in your own strength and nothing seems to be working. The best thing you can do is leave the job to the professional and focus on something else.
God is that professional, for us. He’s the one who has more strength and more control than we can ever comprehend. Take your focus off the overwhelming corona statistics, take your focus off the failing business, take your focus off the difficult relationship, and focus on something better. Put your trust in God and take care of the things that you can and should control. When God promised that He would never forsake us, He meant it. Take a chance off your situation and focus on the things that are working. God is in control. He’ll fix the door.
What do you need to shift your focus from today? Take the focus off that situation and focus on God.
I was reminded, today, of a situation I went through earlier in the year that really tried and tested my patience. I went to Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) in January this year to pick up a certificate of graded results that I’d requested for a long while before and forgotten to pick up. When I went to pick them up, I really needed them to finish clearing my files at the university; and so, I knew that I couldn’t take or give any excuses- I just had to have them that day.
I arrived at the UNEB offices in Ntinda—a suburb of Kampala—a few minutes after 9AM, which is their opening time. I had already planned out my day. Since I was going in the morning, during their opening hour, I would be among the first ones there, I would probably be served within 30 minutes, max, and then I could get out of there and proceed with all the other things I had to do for the day. By 10AM, I was still there- unattended to, because the office I needed to go to was still locked and the person in charge had not arrived yet. I adjusted my next task of the day, and kept the rest as they were. It got to 10.30, there was still no sign of her, and many other people had joined the waiting line for that office. I had a book on me, luckily, so I picked it out of my bag and began to read the book as I waited, to ease the excruciating wait. It got to 11 o’clock, then 11.30, and still there was no sign of the lady in charge. Now, truthfully, I had started to get quite bothered by the wait, because first of all, it was very unfaithful of the person in the office to show up more than an hour late with no communication to anyone in her department, secondly, because now my whole day was being shifted and disorganized and there was very little I could do about it.
If it were up to me; I would have left by 10AM, max. In fact, I toyed with the idea a few times. But I had to stay because they had something I needed. I didn’t want to postpone or prolong the process by leaving and having to come back another day for it. In any case, what if I came back another day and still had to go through another excruciating 3-hour-wait. So, I stayed.
Waiting, and holding on are an important part of the Christian faith, and of life in general; and yet many a time, we give up waiting, right before the breakthrough comes. We pray over something consistently for so long, and then give up right before the miracle happens. We work diligently at a job or business venture and then give up right before the promotion or increase comes. The problem, I think, is that we don’t know the exact moment in which the results will start to show, and so we judge our performance or our effort based on the amount of time we’ve spent waiting as opposed to what the actual final outcome is; because sometimes, we don’t even get to see it.
I don’t know what it is that you’ve been waiting for, for what seems like eternity, but I’d like to encourage you not to give up. A story is told of a man who bought off an area which he was told had gold. He bought all the tools he needed and began to dig. He dug for a long time with no results and eventually gave up and sold off everything. The person who bought the land, dug for a small fraction of the time and landed on the gold. The man gave up, right before he hit the gold. The only reason I stayed in the UNEB office that day was because I kept imagining that the moment I got up and left might be the moment the lady shows up and I’d have missed the mark by a smidge. So, I endured.
I know that the wait can be agitating and excruciating sometimes, but I promise you, the breakthrough will come. The very thing you desire is on the other end of the waiting process; so, you might as well be joyful as you wait. The gold is closer than you think. Just hold on a little longer. Don’t give up now.
I first met Sam, last year (2020), through my friend, Biggie, who suggested that the three of us should put our skills and gifts together and start a social media business. I had been doing social media account management for close to two years by that time and Biggie had been doing something similar, too. Sam, we brought on board, mostly for his numbers brain. We needed someone to balance out me and Biggie’s creative side and Sam was the perfect fit.
The first time that I met Sam, I was so excited about our new business- LoveWork- and all the things we were planning to achieve. Sam just had this way of dreaming really really big and then breaking the dream down into bite-sized pieces that you can achieve one step at a time. He spoke with such zeal, and so much passion. It was impossible not to feed off of his vibrant energy. He always spoke with excitement. If you were listening to him, you had no choice but to be excited with him; even if you didn’t even know what he was excited about.
A little later in the year, I found out that Sam was battling sickle cells when Biggie mentioned it to me this one time that he’d been in hospital for a while. It was one of those things that just takes you by surprise, because wow, he looked super healthy all the times I’d seen him, and so full of life. It was hard to imagine that he had this battle that would occasionally draw him away from the world that he was so happy to be a part of and added value to every day.
And he lived his life as though he had nothing to worry about and absolutely no limitations- health or otherwise. He had daily goals, weekly goals, and a number of big, inspiring, long-term goals. He most definitely had a healthy mind, full of big plans and ideas.
Through all the hardships and difficulties that Sam went through with his health, he never gave up hope. He always dared to dream, and dream big. He was constantly pursuing growth and career advancement. He was always so energetic and full of life when I saw him; and he spoke with so much passion and excitement- always. Sam was a true Champion of Hope, as he liked to call himself. He never walked around with self-pity or a defeatist mentality, and I celebrate him so much for that.
Him and Biggie, went through a leadership course last year (the one I’m currently doing), which required them to write books by the end of the year. Sam went through the course and came out an author. Amidst all his nights in hospital, in the middle of trying to complete his Master’s research, and in the middle of many other challenges, I’m sure, because this life is full of those. But Sam persevered and pushed through and is now an author of a book that talks about resilience, determination and hope- the epitome of his life story.
Besides the book he wrote, Sam made it to his 30th birthday; against many odds. Several doctors told him that he wouldn’t make it to 30, and yet God got him there. Isn’t that such a great testimony? He has really lived a life of resilience and defying several odds.
Sam went to be with the Lord 2 weeks ago; on the 7th of April. As much as I’m sad that he has left us, and that his energy and passion are gone from this world, I am also super grateful that I got to be his friend, to spend time with him, to be impacted by him, and to run a business with him as well. He taught me many things about life and business, which I will carry with me for a long time.
Thank you, Lord for the opportunity to interact with such a great man. Thank you, Sam for all the lessons you taught me. Rest in peace, my friend. Till we meet again in glory.
I like to come up with ideas and I love to think. Might sound a little weird but it is what it is. I’m always coming up with (what I believe to be) great business ideas, project ideas, content ideas- you name it. I’m just always bursting with those. I always like to say that at any given moment if someone were to read my mind, they would discover about 100 ideas per second constantly flashing through my head. Or if someone poked me open, ideas would just come gushing out. The only problem with my many ideas is that I think that I’m the only one that can understand them and execute them. And ironically, many of them never end up being executed, or at least fully executed because I’m trying to be a one-man Broadway show. Just imagine trying to run an entire Broadway show, ALL ON YOUR OWN! It’s exhausting, first of all.
The thing that I’m really learning this year and have to be super intentional about is learning to work with others. A famous quote says, “if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together”. I am meditating deeply on this quote and what it really means. Looking at my own life, I can draw some answers. I usually am more focused on trying to get the thing going, any which way, rather than on how far it can go, and so I end up doing it on my own. the truth of the matter is that ideas will almost always kick off faster if it’s only one person involved because it’s only one final decision to consider, one person to rely on, one person doing everything, so the only hinderance is one person. When you want to do things together with others, however, there’s a lot more time involved in the process. There’s more than one opinion to consider, more than one final decision to wait on, more than one person to control, there’s just a lot. But, in my opinion, it’s way more worth it. One of these options takes you fast (and may not necessarily take you far), and the other option takes you far. And obviously, going far takes a bit more time.
Many of my great ideas die out within a short period of time, mostly because as I’m in the middle of executing one another ‘greater’ idea pops into my head and then I jump ship. So, anyway, back to what I’m learning. Things go a lot further when you involve other people in your journey. The more people you are working on an idea, the more ideas you have, the more resources you have and so the greater the potential of what you could create. When you work as a one man show, you’re only limited to doing what one man can do. The amount of time, the money put in, the ideas you create- it’s only as much as one person can do. Imagine if you were two people trying to do the same thing; things would move a lot faster for sure. If you want to get a meal cooked quickly, a meal that one person cooks in an hour, two people can do in nearly half the time because the tasks are split and so the time spent on the activity is significantly less than it would have been had it been one person preparing the same meal. So, I’m learning to invite other people on my journey with me. For all the incredible ideas that I come up with, I actively look out for people who can help me achieve it and would love to be a part off what I’m doing so I don’t end up carrying all the work on my back and eventually getting burnt out.
Learning to partner and learning to work with others is the greatest thing you can do for yourself in this life. I promise. You need to be very careful and cautious about who you invite to join you, of course. But partner. It’s a good thing. You have to be able to all complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and all have the same values to be able to work coherently together, I think.
Whatever dope ideas you have for yourself, your business, your community, your nation, the world; find someone or a group of people you can work with. You’ll go much further with more manpower and more resources that when you do I on your own. I strongly believe there’s a reason we were not each born into our own little worlds, and given our own unique strengths there. We exist in this world, right now, together, and there will always be someone with similar skillsets, gifts and ideas to you; so make use of what’s around you. Partner with someone today.
Growing up a Catholic, there’s a famous hymn we used to sing a lot in church. Maybe you know it. “Whatsoever, you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. When I was hungry you gave me to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me to drink…”. Something something. I don’t remember the lyrics well but it was definitely along those lines.
Now, I’m sure that from a young age many of us, if not all of us have heard it said, that we should treat others the way that we would want to be treated. The good ole Golden Rule. We’ve heard different versions of it, perhaps, which, if you think about it all seem to be saying the same thing. We must treat other people the same way that we would want or expect to be treated. I agree completely with that statement, but I’m here to contest it a little bit. Or maybe we’ll call it an upgrade. Allow me to add some flesh and spice to this famous Golden Rule.
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me’.
Matthew 25:40.
In this verse, Jesus is telling His disciples a parable, in which he tells a story of His return to earth on the final day where He calls the righteous into the Kingdom and he welcomes them because they fed him when He was hungry, clothed Him when He was naked, visited Him when He was in prison and so on. Now, the disciples were very confused by this statement because there was never really a time when Jesus was in prison, or when He was hungry (except after His 40 day fast but that’s expected). They couldn’t think of a time where they saw Jesus without clothes. So, generally, what Jesus was saying was a little confusing to His disciples. In verse 40, which is the verse we’re looking at, Jesus then explains to them and says, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me”. So, my plot twist question is this: has it ever occurred to you that the way you’re treating others is the way you’re treating Jesus. Jesus loves us all, which is why He came and died for ALL our sins. And in His great love, He treats and views everyone the same and wants us to do it to. He sees Himself in every one of us (and if we believe in Him and confess, He lives in us too), and so the way we treat other people is the way we are treating Jesus. If we look at the examples from the scripture we’re studying, when we help to clothe a naked person, we’re clothing Jesus; when we feed someone who’s hungry, we’re feeding Jesus. If you add your own examples- when you offer someone a free service, you’re offering it to Jesus, when you speak to someone you’re speaking to Jesus. And if we look at it the other way around- when you yell at someone, you’re yelling at Jesus; when you abuse someone, you’re abusing Jesus, when you disregard, someone’s worth, it’s like you’ve done it straight to Jesus. All that we do, we do unto Jesus, so think and act with that in mind.
From now on, before you do something, think twice about it. If you knew it was Jesus on the receiving end of that, would you still do it? If the answer is no, then don’t do it. Think before you act and speak. Act and speak as though you were doing so to Jesus. Because you are.
I really like to say those words, I realized. Hehe! But really, I did do a thing, guys. A really, really BIG thing (At least to me it is).
Growing up, I always had a musical gift, which my mother nurtured and encouraged constantly. She was always encouraging me to sing and reminding me how gifted I was. I did vocal classes as a child, took piano lessons, and also wrote music a lot. I don’t quite remember what age I started but I know that I probably wrote my first song (that I was content with) at age 10 and that I did music training (piano and voice) all through high school. As a child, many times it felt like she was just forcing me into hobbies that I wasn’t too keen on (mostly because all these lessons would happen on the weekend or over the holidays while my friends were out playing). So, I went for all these lessons because my mum had asked me to, but not really because I was trying to nurture a gift or go anywhere with it.
In my high school (S1 to be exact), I was fairly active in the world of music. I took piano lessons at school, did voice training and was a part of the school choir. An announcement was put out for auditions for a school play and, of course, mother dearest encouraged me to sign up. To cut a long story short, I trained and practiced hard for that audition, but on the day of the audition, just as I was about to begin my song, two boys that used to bully me walked into the room. I froze, barely sang and wished the ground would swallow me up in that moment. I never really sang in public again after that. Well, I did, maybe twice or thrice after but with wells of fear inside of me and an extremely shaky voice (from the fear). In short, after that incident in my S1, I never really sang again or nurtured the gift that God had given me. I let my fears get the better of me. I let the fear win.
Fast forward to 2019, I was on holiday in Canada, visiting my mum, and also getting some well-deserved rest at the end of the year; I felt God tell me to step out into boldness with my gift the following year (2020). He asked me to record and release an album or EP and to join the music team at church. I joined the team once I got back and started writing a song that very day that I heard the instruction. The writing process was long and hectic this time round because I’d been so out of practice with my writing. I hadn’t written any blogs, poems or anything creative in over 2 years, so to say that I was rusty is a bit of an under-statement, I’d say. As I started the journey to write music, I was quite excited. Excited to be venturing into new territory, and to be revealing a new side of myself to the world. But I was also very fearful, still, because it was ground I hadn’t tread in over 10 years and there were fears I had never really addressed. But I chose to look passed the fear and just do. And so, I did. I did a thing, guys. I released a song 😊.
I had mentioned earlier that I was a little rusty with my writing so putting together a whole 6-8 songs for an EP was more difficult than I thought, so I decided to just start with what I was able to do to avoid procrastinating the gift into the next decade of my life. I wrote two songs. So, I took myself to the studio to begin the process and I recorded one, which I happened to release on Valentine’s Day. I’m officially a recording artiste y’all. I still can’t believe myself when I say that; but also, it’s been such a long time coming, I’m glad I can say that. So, anyway, the point of this is to let you all know that I wrote and released a song and you should check it out (it’s attached to the end of this blog). But also, to say, that whatever that thing is that you’ve put off for a long time, it’s not too late to pick it back up again. Pick that talent up and dust it off the shelf. Don’t focus on the fear, don’t focus on your weaknesses; instead focus on your gifting and how you can share that with the world. Don’t let fear have a hold on you. Do a thing! You are capable of so much.
The Marlie Diaries 