ON MENTORSHIP: FIX YOURSELF FIRST_ BY BISHOP SAHR ISAAC PETERSON.

My dear young people,  

In this life I urge you with all my heart: start fixing yourself. My greatest concern is for those who go to universities and colleges without knowing why they went, and for what purpose they are there. Many enroll because everyone else is enrolling. They choose courses because they sound good.They sit for four years, collect a certificate, and still walk out with no direction. 

The world has become like a desperate lady who at the slightest attention wants any man to claim her and define her. That is how many of our youth are chasing titles, validation, and the approval of the crowd, even when their soul is not in it. Do not let the pressure of society pin you down. Go by what God has placed in you. Do the things you truly admire doing, the things that set your spirit on fire at 2 a.m. Do them positively and consistently. 

Talent without discipline is empty. Dreams without daily work are only wishes. Water the seed you were given even when the ground looks dry. The road will not be smooth. Challenges will come. Bills will come. Doors will shut. People will mock you because your path is different and your season is different. Peer pressure will shout. You will see your mates posting achievements, cars, offices, contracts you do not have yet, and you will be tempted to compare your chapter two to someone else’s chapter twenty. Stop. Breathe. Let me be honest with you today. For the past one year I have been unemployed in the formal sense. I work for nobody. No office ID. No monthly payslip. Yet by the grace of God I pay my bills. Water rate, light bill, rent, food, family needs. There has been no lack that has beaten me over. I am not humiliated by it and I am not defined by it. Why? Because I have learned to trust the good Lord. He is not late and He is not confused about your life. While you trust Him, work. Work smart. Learn skills. Read. Ask questions. Use what is free around you. Work hard. 

There is no shortcut to mastery. Show up even when no one is watching. And pray swift. Prayer is not the last thing you do, it is the first thing you do. Young man, young woman, your worth is not in a job title. Your worth is in who God says you are. Fix your character first. Fix your skill. Fix your spirit. Fix your tongue. Fix your habits. When you are right on the inside, opportunities will locate you on the outside. Do not run because others are running. Walk in your assignment. Some are called to teach with chalk dust, some to write, some to build, some to serve in silence for a season. All of it matters before God. So, tonight, I leave this with you. Refuse desperation. Reject comparison. Embrace purpose. Be faithful in little. God is taking notes. May your homes be covered. May your visions be watered. May you prosper in all things and be in health even as your soul prospers. 

© Bishop Sahr Isaac Peterson

- Sierra Leone