Turning Emotional Wounds Into Fruitful Liberty

By Mmatlou Lebogang

We go through certain life experiences that portray themselves as missiles aimed at destroying our lives. While going through such experiences it may seem like one's world is literally being shattered into pieces day by day. Add infatuation to that and you end up with something much worse than a regular heartbreak. I am by no means belittling the effects a heartbreak has on us humans. When you are infatuated you are a semi-human living being possessed with demons that none of your friends can help you exorcize over a doubles chocolate tab of ice cream. Infatuation is an obsession that is perceived as being simple to shake off overnight; you would be told to "just get over it". Your loved ones would not be aware that it is like any other addiction; yes, you do not smoke nor drink alcohol, but you are an addict! And guess what? Your addiction is worse than that of being addicted to consumables; simply because you are addicted to a human being whom you cannot walk into a bar and purchase like things with monetary value.
If you are reading this book, I call you "Honey"; this is my first beautiful work of writing art and I hope you enjoy every page you indulge in. Most importantly, I would like this book to get those who might have slightly forgotten to love and value themselves to slap their chicks to wake themselves up. I would encourage you to smell the coffee but you most probably do so every single day and it has failed to remind you about your self-worth. Yes Honey, remember those days where you used to have standards and you were not prepared to lower them for anyone? That's the "you" I am referring to here!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mmatlou Lebogang
• Release date: Sep 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9780620699341

Mmatlou Lebogang

Author of Turning Emotional Wounds into Fruitful LibertyDirector of Mmatlou Consultancy & Events (Ghost & co-writing, inspirational talks, events/seminar planner)Forever Business Owner (distributing products made mainly from Aloe Vera extract plus organic ingredients)

Book preview

Turning Emotional Wounds Into Fruitful Liberty

Turning Emotional Wounds Into Fruitful Liberty

Mmatlou Lebogang

Copyright © 2016 Mmatlou Lebogang

Published by Mmatlou Lebogang Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Back cover photo taken by Hofman Radebe of Outstanding Events Pty Ltd

30 Akademie Street, Bendor, Polokwane

082 998 0616

Cast away from all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel – Ezekiel 18 verse 31

About The Author

Mmatlou Lebogang is a Livestock Scientist and a mother of one boy child. She pursued her studies with the hope of climbing the career ladder and being in a senior management position one day. She also dreamed of completing a doctorate degree and maybe becoming a professor too. Little did she know that her life would be turned around when God revealed her divine gift as a writer; this is her first masterpiece and it is certainly not her last!

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my late grandmother, Manthibu Mapula Moabelo. The most loving and forgiving soul I have ever known. She was a prayerful woman who taught my mother how to pray, by the grace of The Lord, my mother passed on the teaching unto me and my sister. At my grandmother’s funeral ceremony I learned something about one of her prayers that continued to manifest over two generations, let me tell you a bit about that;

My grandmother did not get a formal education and she ended up working as a maid. Through her struggles she prayed that amongst her children, God should give her girl child an opportunity to be educated so that she could find a good job and be able to take care of herself. The girl child was my mother who is now a qualified teacher. Koko Moabelo’s prayers did not end with just my mother but went on to her granddaughters as well; my younger sister and I are both educated and we are blessed with jobs too! If it was not for her prayers we might have not been where we are today; and she continued to pray for us even when we were doing well in our lives.

May your soul rest in peace Koko:

Heaven has definitely gained an angel!

Acknowledgements

No words would ever be enough to show how thankful I am to The Lord for blessing me with the gift of writing, and for making sure it was revealed to me when I needed it most. I prayed for God to bring people who would add value in my life, and He answered my prayers.

I had never met Rami Chuene (the author of We kissed the sun and embraced the moon) but through her Facebook posts I was able to ignore my fears and start writing this book. I had never met Hlekani Shikwambana (a radio personality) but through her I had a telephonic conversation with TJ Malamule (a motivational speaker and author) who referred me to Tatenda Jeremiah Moyo (a young God-fearing man, an author, who gave me some guidance and helped me dream bigger than ever before).

My friends who believed in me the minute I told them I was writing a book; Prudence QueenPru’ Matlejoane, Thabiso Mmethi, and James Makhura. You guys are totally awesome and were sent from up above to support me through challenges I came across while writing this book. Thank you for allowing God to work through you to keep me sane while I soldiered through one of the most challenging periods of my life!

Contents

Prologue

Sprouting of the Bitter-Sweet Encounter

Optimism Has the Potential of Being a Curse!

Falling Too Hard and Way Too Fast

It’s All Clear Now

So Not Over Yet

That Was Only the Beginning

Healing is a Spiritual Journey

A Letter to My Fairy-Tale King’s Soul Mate

Prologue

Write the vision. And make it plain on tablets. That he may run who sees it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

– Habakkuk 2 verse 2-3

For the most part of my life I felt like I was not living to my full potential. I could not get the hang of it but that feeling got stronger and more overwhelming as I got older. I knew there was more I could offer in this life. I was adamant my existence was being underutilized. Without anything or no one to guide me, I thought I needed to give more and touch the lives of those in need. I did not know where or how to start, or if indeed there was anything I could do that would help in any way. I even wondered if I was being delusional or not, and that the state I was longing for might not exist. I never talked about that feeling as it was a complete mystery to me and I figured none of my associates or family might understand it either. It was spiritual and I needed to treat it as such. Spiritual journeys can never be taken with someone holding your hand, it does not matter how young or immature you are; it is your journey and your journey to partake alone.

After getting my first car I started looking for organizations where I could volunteer in my home town, they were met.

After years of thinking I could do it all on my own, I stopped and remembered something; God, my Creator, was the only one who could open that door for me. I was successful but I was not passionate about anything. I heard people saying they feel they do not have to work a single day because what they did was what they were passionate about. I did not know what they were talking about but I wished I could experience the same feeling. Such people had a natural glow and happiness that showed signs of coming from within; who would not want to be blessed with such a state of being? I was grateful for my job and was paid well (hopefully not overpaid), but I did not wake up every morning looking forward to doing anything work related. It was just something I had studied and I had to work hard to climb up my career ladder. I was not driven to do more than what I was paid for, I actually did less. I was on a survival mode; wake up, survive the day and week. Enjoy the weekend (or be utterly bored); repeat! I started reading the Word and working on having a relationship with God. I prayed for a few things. That He brings people in my life who would add value in it. That He gives me the wisdom to live my life to the full and have an impact in other people’s lives. That He reveals my gift and helps me nurture it. To my surprise, all I needed to do was to realise that I needed God in my team; there was no way I could do it all on my own. I needed to have the how can I be of your service kind of attitude. I don’t have a miraculous story about how I discovered my writing skill. To be honest it’s not even clear to me; the gifted one. There was one particular incidence that got me opening my laptop and writing like I had never written before. A South African actress and author, Rami Chuene, shared a video by Steve Harvey (author of Straight talk: no chaser) on Facebook; where he was talking about how it is important for one to just jump and not wait for the perfect time to pursue their dream. I watched that video once and I knew I had to shake off the self-doubt. I had been worried that no one would be interested in reading about my story. I had been having negative thoughts about the fact that I was basically an unknown brand; no one knew who I was and they would not want to buy my book. I was worried about how I would go about the whole process of writing and publishing the final product. But that video changed my life; it gave me the confidence to just go ahead and write my story.

Besides being excited, at the same time amazed by how fast I wrote and how the creativity kept flowing; I had a long list of fears. I could imagine that most first time writers go through an experience similar to mine. Like me, they must all be constantly anxious throughout the months they are busy working on their first piece of writing art. They must have wondered if their readers would find