Lessons from Lot's Wife on How to Submit to God

Lessons from Lot's Wife on How to Submit to God

If you’ve been apart of the Far Above Rubies Collective for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m totally obsessed with gifs (this post is probably the most extreme example of that lol). This is because I LOVE to express myself and I just adore how simple yet effective gifs are for adding that extra layer of meaning and/or emotion to my blog posts, emails and even a social media comment or two!

Next to gifs, I love memes. As you’ll know if you’re apart of my Facebook or Instagram communities, I like the inspirational ones and post those most often but I love the funny ones too- so you can imagine my delight when I came across one that said:

We are called to be the salt of the earth; not salty!

a few weeks ago!

In case you’re unsure, the Urban Dictionary defines the term “salty” as “the act of being upset, angry or bitter” and, if we’re honest, the path to purpose can make us feel that way sometimes- especially if it:

  • Changes life as we know it

  • Costs us our relationships or attachments

  • Causes us to relinquish control (of our plans/what we had in mind in favour of God’s)

  • Arouses fear and so on

We see this (and more!) clearly demonstrated in the life of Lot’s Wife via Genesis 19 as her inability to submit to God’s command, not only made her salty as defined above, but literally got her turned into a pillar of salt!

She’s a great example of the fact that, although the gift of free will means that we have the freedom to say “yes” or “no” to God, there are always consequences for either decision- for better or worse. So we need to know how to make the right ones (even when they don’t necessarily align to what we want), all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.

Lessons from Sarah on how to become the woman God wants me to be

Lessons from Sarah on how to become the woman God wants me to be

So, I grew up in the 90’s…

When Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was just “The Rock”…. and still a wrestler

When “the running man” was an entirely different dance to what it is now

When Nickelodeon was at it’s absolute peak

And during the golden age of hip-hop and R ‘n’ B-

With male groups like Dru Hill, Jodeci and Jagged Edge, and female groups like En Vogue, TLC and Brownstone…

Before, I continue, I know what you’re thinking.

“Nina, what are you even talking about?”

“Why all the 90’s nostalgia, how will this help me become the woman God wants me to be and who the heck are Brownstone?!”

Well, they’re the singers of the classic song “If you love me”

Which is essentially about a woman telling a would-be lover that the journey to becoming the person that you say you want to be starts with:

  • A decision

  • Making sure that your words and your actions are congruent

  • Taking the steps necessary to be that person today

We see this confirmed through the events of Sarah’s life as well

via Genesis 17 and 18, all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.

Lessons from Sarah on how to manifest God's promises

Lessons from Sarah on how to manifest God's promises

If your upbringing was anything like mine, lovely, you probably grew up singing the old and well-known hymn “Standing on the Promises of God” (and still do!)

It’s a phrase that we hear a lot even outside of the song, right?

“I’m standing on God’s promises”

“Having done all to stand, continue to stand”

But how do we go from the standing (trusting and believing that it will come to pass) phase to the manifesting (living the dream) phase? In other words, how do we do like Sarah eventually did and give birth to our God-given promise(s)/vision?

Well, the answer lies in the following 3 words and phrases:

  1. Delay is not the same as denial (so you must know what to do during your waiting period)

  2. Your mistakes do not negate your promise

  3. Faith

all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.

Lessons from Sarah on how God reveals Himself to us (part 2)

Lessons from Sarah on how God reveals Himself to us (part 2)

So last week, lovely, we talked about 3 of the major ways that God tends to reveal Himself to us. Today, we’re diving into part 2 of that message:-

Because- here’s the thing- God’s ability to reveal Himself to us is not just dependent on His will and desire to do so. It’s actually (pretty much) dependent on us.

Yup, let that sink in!

You see, it’s great that you now know how God reveals Himself but that’s not where your responsibility ends. You also need to know how to:

  • Show that you are ready to receive His revelation in the first place

  • Encourage God to continue to communicate with you

so that you can walk worthy of your calling as the wonderful woman of God that He ordained you to be (in accordance with Ephesians 4:1)- all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.

Lessons from Sarah on how God reveals Himself to us

Lessons from Sarah on how God reveals Himself to us

Within Christian circles, we hear a lot about “letting God lead us,” “waiting for His direction” and “being led by the Holy Spirit” but, in the words of Brother Kanye-

“How, Sway?”

If you, like Kanye West, have ever wondered the same thing- as in:

  • How does God reveal Himself to us?

  • What should I be looking out for?

our girl (and spiritual mother), Sarah, has us covered once again- all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.

Lessons from Hagar on how to stop running away from your calling

Lessons from Hagar on how to stop running away from your calling

If I was to ask you about a person in the Bible who completely took off running when faced with their calling- you'd probably say Jonah, right?

But what if I told you that there was a female who:

  • Lived many years before him

  • Also tried to run from her calling

  • Therefore has much to teach us but is often overlooked due to being overshadowed by her mistress?

Well- if the title of this blog post hasn't given it away yet- there was and her name is Hagar. The events of her life help us to understand:

  • Why we run from our calling in the first place (the root cause)

  • How to stop it so that we can come out of rebellion and live up to our God-given purpose- all of which I shared in the live video below

Lessons from Sarah on how to challenge your limiting beliefs

Lessons from Sarah on how to challenge your limiting beliefs

Proverbs 23:7 says:

"...as he thinks in his heart so is he"


In others words, to quote Confucius:

"The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can't are both right"


When it comes to believing God's word about our purpose, this is really important because our limiting beliefs can act like the thorns described in the parable of the sower- they can spring up and choke His word so that they become unfruitful.

This is a phenomenon that we see quite clearly through the events of Sarah's life in Genesis 16. As such she has much to teach us about the:

  • 4  things that can cause a limiting belief system

  • 3 ways that we can challenge and overcome them

so that we can truly speak up, step out and shine as the wonderful women of God that He created us to be!

Lessons from Abigail on how to choose faith over fear

Lessons from Abigail on how to choose faith over fear

So last week we started talking about Abigail- namely what her actions (as recounted in 1st Samuel 25:2-44) teach us about how to let God fight our battles.

On delving deeper into this same passage, I noticed that there are also great lessons to be learned here about what it takes to choose faith over fear because- let's be honest- walking in purpose to birth the vision, business or whatever it is that God told you to do is scary!

Manifesting vision requires us to do new things, meet new people and draws us into new arenas. It costs us old habits, mindsets and maybe even relationships. In short, it will take you waaaay outside of your comfort zone!

Here's the thing, though:

"[Your] breakthrough lies on the other side of fear" (Will Smith)

There's just no avoiding it, lovely! But don't worry, like I said earlier, Abigail's got us covered. As such, I did a follow-up message to last week's one explaining the exact steps that we must take to make this happen, i.e.:

  1. Make a decision

  2. Confront your fear

  3. Have a strategy

  4. Take action- all of which I shared on my Facebook page this week via the (live) video below.