A factual series of events of gabik.blog on the Printed Living Word and what to expect.
Welcome to my new, gleaming blog. Your visit is highly appreciated. You came to the right place where together we will explore the biblical truths, pray, and grow our faith, but most importantly, I believe here, we will go through our daily lives guided by “The Printed Living Word” of the most-high God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
What a journey it has been to get to this day, a day of posting my first blog article. Getting to this point was daunting; rather, clicking the “publish” button was intimidating. At this point, I have written several unposted articles and a few chapters of my first book, but still, the first blog post has proven to be the most challenging one. Having lots of topics and ideas to write about made it difficult to choose what should be the first topic to post on the blog. Deciding on the niche I should focus on is, at this stage, very vague.
Is it because of a lack of confidence, fear of failure, or simply the anxiety of putting my writing out there for the whole world to read, review, judge, praise, and criticize? Perhaps I am not feeling confident enough to inspire others at this moment. Maybe I am doubting my success rate in the writing sphere? Even so, my mind is overflowing with ideas, my spirit is bubbling, and I want to put everything on paper. Thank God, my zeal and passion to write are stronger than the fear of failure and doubt. So, we are here. Hooray!
My name is Gabi. I am a mother, an entrepreneur, and a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My heart is in my mission, “The Printed Living Word.” I call it the mission ministry because it is not a church-based ministry but more of an intentionally targeted mission. As a mother, my mission is to build a home for my children. As a businesswoman, I am required to daily work my business, earn profits, and make a living. However, as a missionary woman, it is a different ball altogether; it brings a different kind of fulfillment I cannot even express in words.
Though the dream of blogging was born in my heart a few months ago, I did not hesitate to start working on it right away. There is a lot to learn, resources are scarce, and I need to focus on personal development more than grammar and the business side of blogging. However, it became very clear that this is another platform to reach out to the world. Praise the Lord! Besides reaching out through blogging, I have several book ideas I’ve been battling to bring forth for years. I believe blogging would help improve my writing skills, and it serves as a perfect platform to showcase my books.
I launched The Printed Living Word in 2018. It was in pursuit of getting the word of God to spread and help people easily access the Bible at their disposal in vernacular, especially those who could not afford to buy a copy. The idea of free bible distribution was born in my spirit, and I started giving away free bibles. That marks the start of my mission ministry. It did not take me too long to realize that a Bible is like a core rock, which one must keep hitting to drink the living water flowing from it. People, Christians included, would keep their Bibles on their bedsides or workstations, clearly visible in their sight but unopened, for weeks, months, or even years. I realized that it is not about having the Bible at your disposal; the real struggle is to read and understand the Bible.
It became my goal to put the Bible scriptures in a fun, attractive, and easier-to-grab way while at the same time leading the reader to the Bible for reference to grasp the information directly from there. Not only do I want to create an environment for myself to search the scriptures and get a deeper meaning for my salvation, but I also want to do it with many more other Christians out there whom God would allow our paths to cross through this blog.
This blog website’s purpose is to showcase my books as well. My upcoming book is called The Spirit of Nehemiah. The concept of “The Spirit of Nehemiah” was born over 5 years ago. I created a Facebook page called The Printed Living Word with the aim of starting my journey toward what God has placed in my heart. During that time, I was going through a season of crushing; all I had was lost, and everything I knew had turned upside down. I had no idea which direction to take.
At first, the idea of writing a book about my life experience was very strong, and I came up with a book concept called “Rebuilding the destroyed walls of your life.” I designed a mock-up book cover with a picture of a crashed aircraft, broken, rusted, and floating in the ocean. I didn’t know what I was doing then; perhaps I had hoped to tell my story and come up with inspirational ways of putting my life back together. One thing I knew was that God led me to take an extraordinary interest in the life of Nehemiah for a reason.
Years have gone by, and the spirit of God working in me has not stopped pounding on Nehemiah. The concept became clearer and clearer as time went on. Inasmuch as that was about life lessons on how to rebuild destroyed walls of life, it became clearer and beyond doubt that this is about the supernatural ability to lead. My interest was drawn to leadership. I read books and articles and listened to podcasts, and I could not let anything on leadership pass by without giving it my attention. It did not take me long to realize that most writers and speakers on leadership were big corporate executives, successful entrepreneurs, and leaders who wrote about their proven years of life practical experiences they gained as they led. They made practical examples, told real and current stories, and shared their successes, mistakes, and failures.
I went through an extended period of self-deprecation, reprimanding, belittling, and undervaluing my own knowledge and experience as compared to other business and leadership speakers and writers. Would my short-term life experience be enough to testify and convince my readers that I know what I am talking about when compared to other business and leadership writers and speakers? That led me to conduct an extensive study and research because I wanted to find out if I could find something similar, or rather, a school of thought that would confirm with my spirit what God has placed in my heart.
As much as that delayed the launch of the blog website to the public and the announcement to release my first book to the world, the process grew my knowledge, increased my ability, and instilled all the confidence I needed to go on with this project. Every moment I spent working on this project built up my knowledge and confidence. This concept has become part of my life and serves as a confirmation that I am on the right track.
Pastor Ray McCauley, a prominent South African leader and founder of a Christian church called Rhema Bible Church, wrote in his book ‘called The Bottom Line, “Preach what you practice”. In other words, as you speak, practice what you are speaking about. He wrote, “If I applied the truth of my sermons, could I then overcome adversity and emerge victorious?” He was referring to a very difficult time of his life, when what he thought he knew was challenged.
As a young Christian, I sat under his administration at Rhema Bible Church in Johannesburg during that exact difficult time of his life. I remember how much he used to bless me with his preaching. I understand now that he was preaching his own inspiration; it came from the heart, and the spirit of God backed his sermons tremendously. Reading about this motivated me to go on writing and blogging about business and leadership even when I am still in the practice stage.
Here is a glimpse of what you can expect on this blog website going forward.
One of my favorite scriptures is taken from the Bible story about the death of Lazarus. Lazarus was a man whom Jesus loved; he got sick and died. Prior to his death, Jesus Christ was informed that Lazarus, His beloved friend, was on his sick bed (John 11:3 NKJV). But Jesus continued with His mission instead of hurrying back to heal him. When he finally arrived, he found him dead and buried for three days. The key point I would like to emphasize is Jesus words when He arrived at the tomb of Lazarus. He spoke to Mary, and Martha Lazarus’s sister said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40, NKJV) This means we can be told or read the word and forget what it says. When we reach the point of forgetting, our faith is lost. We need a constant reminder to keep our faith alive.
This platform is “Have I not told you?” meaning it will serve as a constant reminder that we have to live by faith to see the glory of God in our lives.
Inspiration and Motivation
This blog website is for people who are in business leadership and those who are aspiring to be. I plan to use my unique ability to teach, inspire, motivate, and bring about positivity and willingness to try.
Through prayer, we put our supplication before God in the name of Jesus Christ. In prayer, we declare things that are not, to come to pass. When we pray, we prophesy victory; in our prayer closet, we hear God speaking to us; we get directions, solutions, comfort, strength, encouragement, and many more. I believe the only way to overcome any type of struggle in our lives is to pray.
The word of the Lord is the lamp unto our paths (Psalm 119:105); it lights up our ways. It is very clear to me that the core of the matter at hand is FAITH. How is faith acquired? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith is like breathing, and the word of God is like the air that we take into our lungs to breathe. Failing to believe is failing to breathe, just as failing to read the Bible is failing to take in the air into your lungs.
I believe my writing will be enough motivation and inspiration to change your life. May it boost your confidence and help you develop a positive attitude towards your dreams and aspirations. Let it fuel you to keep going, inspire you to step on the next step of the ladder, and help you build one brick at a time until you complete your mission.
The Future
Do visit my blog website again as often as you can, or subscribe to receive updates on new articles and upcoming books. Take note of my book and mini-book launch dates and grab your own copy. Always remember to leave me a comment. I will be glad to hear your thoughts. You are most welcome to help spread the word by sharing the articles with your circle. If you click subscribe, you will be informed every time there is an update on the blog so that you get it first-hand.
I believe in a God of miracles, signs, and wonders. My faith is centered around victory; without a doubt, expect all my writing to be about ‘victory in the name of Jesus’ because that is the only language I speak. No matter how hard the situation might be, I believe that Christ Jesus has overcome the world. (John 16:33), so are we.
I am looking forward to interacting with you.
Shalom
gabik.blog on The Printed Living Word 