AYANFE'S HOPE NOTES

If there's one time that loneliness becomes almost unbearable, it's during this Christmas season. I've been there. You just feel out of place when all you really want is to be with your own people. The man you love, your children, your brothers and sisters. You want company. It's as if having these people around just adds extra pep to an already beautiful season.

I know your life is less than perfect, but there are people who will do anything to have a fraction of what you have. So instead of wanting more, why not turn the tables and be the answer to someone's needs. And there is no better time to do that than this beautiful Christmas season. So make it happen for someone.

I love Christmas! I absolutely do! There's just something special about the season that I can't explain. I practically hold my breath from October just awaiting the arrival of this grand month. But I also know it comes with a lot of frenzy and pressure. The need for money, the need to buy, the need to be and belong. You want to spend the season with the ones you love and to be loved yourself. I have had different shades of Christmas and I just feel strongly about sharing one or two things with you my darling listeners just so I can inject hope into someone who's lonely, broke, depressed and feeling totally lost and out of place this season. I need you to hold your peace and stay strong. Whatever stormy season you're wading through, it will soon pass. You're going to come out on the other side and you'll smile again.

Could it be that part of the rejection some people have suffered is because of how they sold themselves to the people they look up to for love? Afterall, if you see and carry yourself as rags, can you blame the other party for abusing or disdaining you?

What do you do in a relationships where you are merely tolerated as against being wanted and celebrated? What do you when the acceptance and affirmations yoy desire aren't coming? How do you deal with the pain of rejection so you don't lose your mind or entire self? Do you want to know my answer? LIVE! There you have it! Live your life, Independent of anyone's approval. Learn to live and be. Master the art of living deeply from within. Accept and celebrate yourself, independent of any external affirmations.

Sometimes love is not enough. Loving someone is not enough to sustain a relationship if the other party has made up his or her mind not to reciprocate. Being insistent on loving someone does not guarantee that the person will love you back. It takes two to tango. Even the Bible makes it clear that two people can't walk together except they are in agreement. Giving love does not mean you will receive it back, except the other party wants same. Love and loving becomes easier when both of you are on the same page with that decision. The moment that decision is standing on one leg, then pain sets in.

Rejection hurts. It hurts so badly and if left unchecked can wreck great havoc on the affected individual. There's nothing as painful as someone you adore taking your love for granted, thinking little of you or even walking out of your life. The sting of rejection when it is from someone you hold so dear can drive you crazy and leave you numb. However, must realise that someone's rejection of you must never be your assessment of your real value. Rejected or not, you're still valuable and a treasure worth fighting for.

Listeners of Ayanfe's Hope Notes share their love encounters with the Father! Of courses this love is also yours to experience and enjoy! All you need do is let the Father love you! He's waiting to do just that!

If you have gone through some form of deprivation or abuse, it can be pretty difficult to reconcile how God sees you with how you really feel about yourself. It takes a lot of getting used to to accept that you are a prince or princess when you have been treated like trash. Let God show and teach how important you are. Simply open up your heart and take in His love. He is a Father who spoils His own. From my experience, He does not bless you according to your background or upbrigning. He does so accroding to His resources which are inexhaustible. He will give you things you can't afford or possibly work for just so you will know that you are worthy.

The Father's love is so amazing! It's a love that's so indescribable! Its a love that pampers and indulges!

I have known the father's love for me, he's been good, he's been good. Through it all He's always there for me, he's been good to me!!! So, what encounter have you had with the Father's Love? I really want to know. Here is one of mine!

There are good people and there are the bad ones. Don't shut your heart to life or the gift of people, just because of some few negative people. More importantly be determined to be a good person, the type who lightens other people's burdens, so that the memories they have of you is sweet, pleasant and such that provokes a blessing from their heart into your life.

Do you realise that good or bad, God is able to make all things work together for your good? So if there are people who are saying bad stuffs about you behind your back and have turned your challenges and trials into hot topics, please let them say! Don't forget God works in mysterious ways. While they're at it, God might just be using them to set you up for your next level!

Do you have friends? Have they added colour to your life? Have you ever trusted someone to have your back only to be stabbed so deeply? The simple truth is friends hurt and friends heal. We need friends. We need people who will be there for us in those times when all hell is let loose. We need them to help us make sense of the madness around us. We need them to cry with us. We need them to celebrate with us and celebrate us. All we can pray for while reaching out and building friendship is discernment while also asking God to make us that friend that brings healing to others. Friendship is a gift from God we all must not deny ourselves of because of the actions of some other people in the past.

Today's podcast is to challenge you not to allow your ideas and vision die. I know life sometimes shakes us so hard that we begin to loose grips on dream we once held dear. It is in those moment that you must buckle up and give it whatever it takes.

Difficulties have a way of compelling us to grow. That's what going through a divorce did for me. It forced me to grow, even when i didn't feel like it. It pushed me to seek knowledge and by so doing, I became a more valuable asset.

Feeling underachieved? Worried that your life is on a slow lane and the world has left you behind? Struggling to embrace your successes becasue it is a far from where you want to be? Tell you what? You are doing just fine! Celebrate today's success as you prepare for tomorrow.

Sometimes in life, all we want to do is settle. But then, something or someone comes along to push us out of our supposed comfort zone, which we usually don't like but eventually realise it was for our good.

I don't know about you but stepping into new territories and things can be scary for me atimes. You're not sure if it will work out. But as its been proven over and again, the only way to know is to step in and see where the uncharted waters will take you.

Have you ever found yourself being forced to grow and stretch beyond limit? At such moments, it always seems like you're going to break. But when the season is over, you realise it was all for your good.

There is a general belief that failure in marriage equals failure in life. What's your take on this? Here's mine.

Situations have a way of making you doubt yourself, thinking you don't have what it takes make it. I've come to tell you, yes you can, yes you will!!

Ever wondered why we go through pains and hurts in life? Sometimes it just doesn't make sense at all. But then, there is always a purpose, part of which is to encourage others in their down time through our experiences and lessons learnt from difficulties. That way, we become an inspiration to others.