George and Amal meet with Syrian refugees in Berlin, on the fifth anniversary of the Syrian crisis.
While You Wait
Bringing this little gem back, again. People have been reading it a lot lately. It’s back by popular demand.
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Waiting is one of the worst feelings. I remember when I was a kid, when I knew my friend Liz was coming to visit, I would sit by the window and wait. That was always a terrible idea because she and her family always arrived later than planned. I would sit by the window, watching intently; get frustrated; eventually walk away; then, I would be mad for a while; I would annoy my parents with questions, and then, I would try to distract myself by setting up doll houses or American Girl Magazines I wanted us to read through together and the quizzes we would take once she arrived.
No matter how mad I was during the wait, when they [she and her family] arrived, I was so happy. The pain of the wait was forgotten. We would hug upon her arrival, go off and play and use up every minute wisely…
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Women’s Month: Maryam Rostampour & Marziyeh Amirizadeh
[Image from World Mag]
By: Gabriela Yareliz
How many of us believe something so strongly that we’d die for it? How many of us have an integrity that allows us to stare death in the face and not flinch?
Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh met in 2005, while studying theology in Turkey.
After completing their studies, they returned to their native Iran and began spreading Christianity. This is a crime punishable by death in Iran. They passed out Bibles to at least 20,000 people and helped home churches grow.
In 2009, both women were arrested in Tehran and sentenced to execution by hanging. Both spent 259 days in the notorious Evin Prison. This prison is known for its torture, rapes and executions. Both women were interrogated for nine hours at a time, each week, and they were often placed in solitary confinement. While in solitary confinement, they would pray for each other.
The women turned the prison into a place of healing, and they shared their faith with fellow prisoners. They would sing and share with the other prisoners how God’s presence was there with them.
Some prisoners scoffed and asked the women why they didn’t just renounce their faith. Denying their beliefs would have gotten them out of prison.
Marziyeh said, “Our insistence on our faith is not our stubbornness… He [God] is my all. We are inseparable. My life has no value without Him. I love God so much that denying Him would be denying my own existence…”
Later in 2009, the worldwide church engaged in prayer and spread awareness, and as a result, international pressure mounted. The women were then cleared of all charges and released.
Both women are the writers of Captive in Iran. Why are they featured, you might ask? These women have an integrity that defied even death. Their faithfulness to their belief served to promote, not only their faith, but the concept of freedom of conscience, which is a human right and fundamental part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And in the end, their faith and the faith of others led to their miraculous release.
What mattered the most was clear to them. They made an unbreakable vow. Their courage is memorialized in their famous words, “It was an honor for both of us to suffer for our faith.”
#ThatShahLife
[A special thanks to David Limbaugh, who featured this story in his book, Jesus on Trial, pg. 101-103].
Radiance
“Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing but on the love of God that nothing can alter.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: March 7
“Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” Ps. 34:5
I want to be undauntedly radiant.
Monday Inspiration: March 14, 2016
“Beauty is fleeting, but a rent-controlled apartment overlooking the park is forever.” Carrie Bradshaw
By: Gabriela Yareliz
I walked 10.17 miles, on Sunday. You can think of me as a champion, a crazy woman– or both. Have your pick. But it felt good. The day was cloudy and fresh, and I was walking around in a t-shirt. What more can I ask for after a bundled-up winter? Seriously. It’s time to burn the leggings. #Freetheleg
Last summer, I was blessed to get a fantastic and sunny apartment in New York City. A rare treasure. Yes, I do realize how blessed I am. You can read that interesting story, here.
Anyway, the thing is I have been in the slow process of furnishing my space. On Sunday, I went out with a friend to look at furniture and décor ideas. And suddenly, in the midst of our conversation which ran the gamut– relationships to rugs– it dawned on me how time flies.
I think that in life, we often find ourselves waiting for something to happen that is out of our control. We are like, “Okay, I will go on this trip when [insert lame excuse, here]”; “Maybe, I will buy this when I get married or have a family,” or “Once I get this part of my life straightened out, I will do [insert cool idea, here].”
Why are we always waiting? There is wisdom and virtue in certain types of waiting. I am not against that. But still, there are so many dreams or ideas we have pegged on an elusive, future false sense of security or on a person or something that hasn’t arrived to our lives yet, and there are no guarantees.
Life is short. Realistically speaking, there are many things we could lose in the blink of an eye, at any stage of our lives. But that is what life is about: living with risks, taking risks, seizing opportunities.
Why wait, when there are things in your life you are sure of? (And I mean that you are sure that they matter to you; because maybe other aspects of the situation are ambiguous). Time runs through our fingers like sand. If you want something or someone, go for it.
Don’t wait until next year to chase that dream. Work now, and have it come true next year. Don’t put off something waiting for someone else; do it for you. And most of all, know your worth. Make decisions based on the fact that you are a gem and a child of God.
To my single people: Being unmarried, often means you will have to make tough decisions alone. You’ll have to build your own world and do things that maybe you envisioned doing with someone else, initially. Decide. Do it. Build.
My message to you this week is that I hope you do something that takes you closer to your dreams. (Yes, buy those floral sheets that make you feel like Marie Antoinette. Who cares what anyone else thinks!) Don’t just build your world; build an empire, and build it around the things that matter most.
And remember:
“Being single used to mean that nobody wanted you. Now it means you’re pretty sexy, and you’re taking your time deciding how you want your life to be and who you want to spend it with.” Carrie Bradshaw
Shall we let the Monday fun begin?
I’m feeling bold. Yes.
#ThatShahLife
xoxo
Friday Glee: March 11, 2016
By: Gabriela Yareliz
“God, finish the work you started in me before I got in the way.” Hannah Brencher
“As you move forward in pursuing your passion and dreams for the future, don’t forget to be grateful for the many ways God has already shaped your life. It’s absolutely necessary for living and leading with passion!” @PropelWomen
“Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” Charles Spurgeon
“I am not afraid… I was born to do this.” Joan of Arc
“God is not only more powerful than anything you’ve done but also stronger than anything ever done to you.” Christine Caine
[Inspiration from @PropelWomen]
Women’s Month: Priyanka Chopra
[Image from People Magazine]
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Yes, Priyanka Chopra is one of the highest paid actresses in Bollywood (and one of the best, if you ask me). She is also a go-getter, singer, producer, and philanthropist; an inspiration to millions of Indian and non-Indian women, alike.
Ms. Chopra is the recipient of the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honor in India. She has won countless film awards, and she is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She was also Miss. World in 2000.
She has advocated for the rights of children, and through her writing, columns and interviews, she has been vocal about women’s rights, women’s safety, women’s right to education, the injustice and dangers of female genital mutilation, and the need for gender pay equality.
Ms. Chopra is also the founder of The Priyanka Chopra Foundation for Health and Education.
She is educated, informed, a cross-over actress and singer, striving to make it globally (she currently stars on ABC’s Quantico, and when I see the ad around NYC, I internally cheer). More importantly, she is not just a pretty face. She has proven to be an advocate for girls and young women, globally. She inspires me.
This is what using your blessings to bless others looks like. Priyanka will continue to mesmerize, advocate, achieve and inspire.
Women’s Month: Shirin Ebadi
[Photo from asiasociety.org]
By: Gabriela Yareliz
As we continue to celebrate women throughout the month of March, I felt the hall of fame would be entirely incomplete without Shirin Ebadi.
Ms. Ebadi is a human rights defender and the first female judge of Iran. After the 1979 revolution, she was dismissed as judge and no longer permitted to serve. She was demoted to a secretarial position. I am not kidding. She did not quit, and she continued to submit her application for the posts she desired. It wasn’t until 1993 that she was permitted to practice as an attorney, again.
She is also a winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. She was awarded the Prize for “her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children.” She is the first Iranian to ever win the prize. Talk about living #thatshahlife! Her award was also the first award to be confiscated by authorities (Iranian authorities took it away), but nothing stops this woman.
She is the founder of Defenders for Human Rights Center in Iran and Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child (SPRC).
Today, she is featured because she is a woman who has persevered and lived courageously. She has stared down fear and danger, and she continues to fight for equality and a better world.
“How can you defy fear? Fear is a human instinct, just like hunger. Whether you like it or not, you become hungry. Similarly with fear. But I have learned to train myself to live with this fear.” Shirin Ebadi
Wings
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Today was a beautiful spring-like day in NYC. Thank you, Jesus! I wasn’t outside for very long, but when I did step out, without a coat, I felt the sunshine on my arms. It was magic. I haven’t felt like that in forever. Thoughts of future warm, dark blue New York City nights filled my mind.
I got home, and I decided to listen to Delilah on the radio. (So 90s, I know). I love hearing the callers’ stories, as they share their pain, love, heartache, frustration, joy and dreams come true. (Those of you who read this blog often know Delilah is my evening guilty pleasure).
My favorite caller tonight said:
“I have been going through so much lately, Delilah. What do you do when you feel you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel? What do you do when you feel you can’t do it anymore? My faith is all I am clinging to… We are human beings; we want things done in our time, but it’s always in His time, Delilah.”
Delilah answered:
“You know what I have learned? When God asks us to put our faith in Him and there is nothing beneath us holding us up, either God will put solid ground beneath our feet or God will give us wings to fly.”
He is only one prayer away; He’ll save the day.
“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.” Psalm 39:7
“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.” Psalm 40:4-5
I hope you find rest in Him tonight. I pray you get the solid ground beneath your feet so you can stand or the wings you need to fly.
Miami Vice
GABRIELA YARELIZ 