One of the things I love about being in Africa is the slow pace of life. (I have had the blessing of traveling there 9 times to minister in four different nations.)
Now I will admit, it can be so slow at times that it can become irritating. I remember one time in particular, in an area outside of Kampala, Uganda. I was up and ready, waiting promptly for the time I had been given to go and minister Sunday morning. Twenty minutes later, I called my host. He assured me he was on his way. An hour later, he arrived. (I remember thinking I could have gotten another hour’s worth of sleep like he probably did.)
You might think he lied to me. However, this is an area where cultures collide. I have come to learn when an African gives you a time for something, it usually means that is when you start getting ready for the event (and come whenever you are ready). And if someone tells you they are on their way, it means they are doing things toward getting ready, not that they are in the car enroute.
Was I late to minister? Nope. Since this is a cultural thing, and time means something totally different to them, people were just starting to arrive.
So, now in Africa, whenever I am given a time for something, we always laugh because I make them clarify to me, “Is that American time, or African time?” And I make sure they know when I need something to be American time. (African time just doesn’t work when you need to catch a plane to come home!)
I really do love being in Africa, and I love the Africans, because their emphasis is people and relationships.
One day in Busia, my dear Ugandan friend Sarah 
and I were walking down the road on a specific errand. As we passed one of the little market stores, someone came out and waved. We stopped to say hello, and next thing I knew, plastic chairs suddenly appeared and we were sitting in them, enjoying a soda. After about half an hour, we went on our way to complete the errand.
I always have a hard time coming back to the States, knowing my relaxing pace of life is about to end.
Our society prides itself on being busy. How often have you asked someone how they are doing, and the answer is telling you how busy they are? That seems to be the “standard” of whether or not your life is really important.
What has all of our busyness gotten us? Constantly being weary and tired!
Every year I ask God to give me a scripture He wants me to meditate on for that year. In 2014 it was Isaiah 30:15, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (NJKV). This verse is loaded with truth that I am still unpacking! (If you read that verse in a hurry, you might want to go back and read it s-l-o-w-l-y…)
Hebrews chapter three is all about coming into a place of rest. This is talking about both in our souls, and physically. I have discovered as I throw off the busyness, and slow down in my activities, it makes it much easier to calm my soul, and live in a place of peace and contentment.
This has to start with a shift in our mind set. Busyness does not equal importance. It does not equal a fulfilled life. Life should be about relationships; first with God, and then with others. But too often we are so busy doing the “stuff,” that the relationships are what get pushed aside.
If you are thinking you can’t slow down – you can’t take any time to just relax, or that you will spend time with others later, after ______ (fill in the blank) then please see that as a red engine light in your life. There may not be a later, for you, or for them. We know this in our head, but don’t really believe it (until our world is shattered with a death).
If you would like some specific things you can do to consciously slow down and live your life at a less busy and rushed pace, I have put together a list of suggestions. Click on the link below, and you will be taken to our library page. Just follow the instructions to access and/or download the PDF.
Seven Tips On How To Slow Down and Enjoy Life
So now you know how to do something 
like the Africans. Slow down, and take the time to be with God, and with those around you. Be African with me.
Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.
pressure herself into that kind of a false image. She humorously decided her ministry was to have people over, letting them see her house messy and lived in, so they would feel better about their own houses. (And the result was more friends started inviting her to visit them, because they no longer cared how their house looked when she came.)
to change themselves to meet someone’s image of perfect (which is unattainable)?
need to eat better, or do something to move our bodies around more to be healthier than we are. (I fall into both of those categories.) But let’s do it for health reasons, because we know our bodies are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and we are to be good stewards of the body He has given us. Let it be because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, knowing it is the direction He is taking us.
bring life into this world. If that has changed how I look, I consider it an honor and a gift from you that my body is reflecting that blessing. I am determined not to compare myself with others anymore. Teach me how to be content, confident, and happy with who I am, both on the inside where only you can see, and also on the outside at what those around me can see. 
by other children when we were young. Or we still feel the effects of being rejected by cruel classmates in school. We can be rejected by bosses and co-workers. We can experience a very painful rejection by our own children whom we love and did our best to raise, or face the ugly monster of rejection through an agonizing divorce.
That is a dangerous thing, and it sets you up for more rejection.
identity is based on what He says about us, we can be sure that we are not going to be faced with His rejection. He paid a very high price – far above gold or silver or any amount of money, to make sure we can be free from the effects of the kingdom of darkness and any rejection we received in our lives.
However, the enemy acts as a squatter. He will live in that place, taking over what is yours, until you discover him and kick him out. That “deed,” or promise from God in His Word, is the authority you have to do so.
at three years old, Becca’s left leg was amputated. Since that time, I learned my authority does not come with my words by treating God like He was some genie in a bottle, but in my relationship with Him; knowing who I am in Him, and who He is in me because of spending time with Him and getting to know Him in an intimate, personal way.
Let me ask you, what are you doing that shows what you believe about your self-identity?
with words. When Jesus was being mocked and tormented by those making fun of Him, that was in exchange for our peace! 
each other? And then we wonder why the rest of the world would rather be in the bars than in our churches? And we judge them for that (along with their many other sins. SMH (Shake my head….)
Judgment is making a verdict of condemnation that demands a sentence or a punishment; true testing of the fruit, or having discernment, does not. And too often, we pass a personal verdict of another Christian’s actions, passing a sentence of some kind on those who aren’t doing what we think they should be doing in various ways. Sometimes we are aware of what we are doing, and sometimes we aren’t.
our mind will almost immediately start thinking things like, “That person has no business being here. If they would stop eating like that, they would lose weight.” But we don’t have the full story. What if that person has already lost 100 pounds, and one day a month they treat themselves, and this is that once-a-month day? They are excited about their progress, and rightly so. But in our minds, we are heaping judgment and condemnation on them, based only on the “fruit” of what we see, not on the truth of what we cannot see.
I recently met a woman who was the first one in her family to receive Jesus. Eventually, the entire family of both parents and all seven children were saved. They used to be a very close family, but when they all came to know the Lord, they started to constantly argue and bicker with each other, over what churches they were going to, what they believed the Bible says, and fighting about the things they thought others should or shouldn’t be doing. How sad is that?
I want to release you, so that you can find freedom in surrendering to God’s best for you. Yes, God will use Christians in your life to give you direction, and instruction. But if it comes with judgment, they have crossed a line. The Holy Spirit should be the one to convict, not Christians to condemn.
The last thing I want to say is that we have to be careful that in our hurt of being “misjudged,” we do not judge others for judging us. I did not write this so we point our finger at someone and say, “See! You shouldn’t be judging me!”
