Be Still

       I found recently that compared to how happy I was while at school, I was quite depressed at home. My sister even asked what happened to me, she said that I used to glow, and that now my glow had faded. My default face mood was a frown when it used to be a smile, my default sounds were complaining and grumbling instead of the before thanks to Jesus for how good He is. My default mindset was always on the next thing I needed to fix, on the problems I wanted solved, the things that were going wrong, instead of on Jesus, the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, the might and power of God, instead of on things above. My mind was not being controlled by the Spirit, but by my emotions, which were led by the next wrong thing someone did, so no, my mind experienced neither life nor peace. Oh by my word, I let my mind be troubled, I wasn’t trusting either Jesus or God. I thought I could handle it all; hoped I could fix it, if only I said this or did that…

     … Well, I found that the burdens I was taking on; the worrying, the strategizing, the complaining, they clouded my light. I was unable to love, couldn’t focus on God as much. In a bid to handle things my way, I wasn’t doing the things I wanted to the most, and I wasn’t even fixing the problems. I was hurting myself and people around me, getting in the way of God’s work, frustrating everything, and to make matters worse, I felt guilty for it all. How do you handle the situations that come your way? Do you talk to God FIRST about it and see what He has to say (He might tell you how to handle it or not tell you what to do (i.e leave it to Him)). I know that in Psalms 46:10, God says Be still and know that I am God… but sometimes, I fear that if I stay still, everything will fall apart. How silly! How can I handle anything better than the God without whom nothing would exist? I love the translation that says “cease striving”. I need to learn to stop trying to do things, even good things on my own, I should learn to stop trying to fix people and just focus on loving them (can’t do both). I should learn to trust that whatever the Holy Spirit is leading me to do is going to be enough. Finally, I should learn to just sit back and watch God be God, and I know I’ll see some amazing things, because the end of that verse says “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

    

You Belong.

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptised by^[c] one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ And so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honour to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.

-1 Corinthians 12: 12-26

As a human being, God designed you purposely, He carefully crafted you with specific abilities, talents, passions, personality, and especially as a child of God, He has a specific place(s), specific roles that He has fashioned you specially to do. You are a crucial puzzle piece in God’s big picture and it won’t look the same without you. You are a specific body part in the body of Christ, and without you, we would be lacking an ability that is necessary to our function. You are very important in God’s eyes, you've been fashioned for a specific purpose, intentionally. Let’s look at it this way, God knew that there would be a problem in the world and as a solution to that/those problem(s), He made you. He endowed you with resources from Heaven, abilities from Him, strength, way of seeing things, everything. You are a special package sent from Heaven to us on Earth! To the body of Christ, we need you! Because you are the only you, there is a lock into which you are the only key that can fit. 

Picture from Google

In other words, you belong in the body of Christ. After all, that is what you were made for!

Total Submission, complete obedience.

I cannot stress enough how important total submission to God is. To you, to your relationship with Him, to His process of making you into who He wants you to be, to your enjoyment of life and to your victory over the devil. It is simply indispensable.

The other day, my sister and I had this heated quarrel that could have been avoided had I been more patient. Sparks (not the good kind) were flying, hurtful words were flying, and in the midst of it all, the Holy Spirit told me to shut up. I did (against my natural will). As the dust was settling, He reminded me of my Bible study that morning. That morning, He had specifically pointed out to me that quarreling was worldly and not spiritual- 1 Corinthians 3:3. “Nmeli, this is not who I am molding you to be, you were not being led by the Spirit in that, you were being worldly”… and as I was about to voice my excuses... “even if she was wrong, you could have reacted in love.” So I surrendered, apologized to the Holy Spirit, and at that moment, He replaced all my anger and pride with love and remorse. I got a pen and wrote her an apology letter, presented it to my sister and verbally told her that I was sorry. I sat with her and we talked, and I enjoyed my sister’s love again. I liked it so much better than quarreling. 

         
With the help of the Holy Spirit, I burnt the bridge that the devil had been using to climb into that relationship, by my submission to God's Word despite my way. James 4:7 says first to submit to God, then resist the devil and he will flee from you. See? You can't have victory over the devil until you submit to God. I recognized that I was not the boss of me, God is (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and if I am going to be everything He has planned for me to be, and have everything He has planned for me to have, which is so much better that anything He is asking me to leave behind, then I have to submit. I have to say even in tough cases, “Lord, not my will but let Your will be done.” When God sends you a word and you accept it, His Holy Spirit empowers you to obey it, you're not doing it on your own, you have help.

Personally, I would rather have kept this whole quarrel story to myself, because “what impression does it give people of me?”, but that is my own submission test this afternoon. God knows why He told me to share it, and what He is doing with it in my life… I have chosen to submit because I know that what HE has for me is so much better than the flawless reputation that I have held on to for so long. 

You?
     

How big? ... really

I was watching interviews of today’s famous people, especially singers, and I saw how they made so much money by making songs and in ways that don’t necessarily go according to God’s Word and way of doing things. Suddenly, God seemed to me this small impotent deity that was not really necessary in this situation (of making money). The lie I was beginning to believe was that maybe God is not enough; maybe He is not big enough or mighty enough to handle issues as serious as money. In my mind, He suddenly became like this child that is shooed into his room when serious adult issues are about to be discussed. My peace suddenly left, and anxiety set in; what can I do to attain this kind of wealth? I suddenly felt as though I had not been doing enough, as if I would never be able to do enough and now (since I had to accomplish this on my own), I felt discouraged, a crawling infant faced with a mountain and the task to climb it…

In that split second, the Holy Spirit pointed it out, I was still in distress, and immediately, I shut down my computer and opened my Bible. My Bible opened to Isaiah, those chapters (40-45) that talk about how great and mighty and high above everything God is. Suddenly, that tiny deity vanished and God, through His Word showed me that He is the mighty God. God cannot fit into my little box, because, see, the entire earth is His footstool. He is not the child to be shooed; He is the center of the discussion and the only reason why that discussion makes any sense. God is not a poor wretch, all the gold and silver belongs to Him (Haggai 2:8), and nothing is more relevant in any issue of life and beyond than His Word. God started working on my heart, showing me the true picture of reality, refocusing my mind on the truth… He is the greatest. God is faithful, loving and good.

Many times in life, we get distracted from the truth, a lie slips into our minds and we start believing it, first, these lies tell you that God is small, impotent and just not enough for you or what you need in life (because this is the only way to cripple you). It comes up in what we think about relationships, family issues, worldviews, money issues and just as easily, any issue of life. The lies tell you that your God is not sufficient in this situation, that His ways and points of view are old-fashioned, and no longer relevant… those are lies! God is supreme, He is sufficient. He is the most relevant today and forever. God is God, and nothing else can take His place. The truth is there spelled out in God's Word (the Bible), read it.

The devil will try to deceive you into thinking otherwise, but nothing and no one can take God’s place and I pray that by the help of the Holy Spirit, You see and keep it that way in your heart, mind and in your life.

He spoke the world into existence.

Some songs about God's love for you

In the last blog entry, we explored a little of how in love God is with us, here are some songs to help you. Enjoy... 

While we were yet sinners...

Google or read in your Bible Colossians 3:12- 15

You can’t give what you don’t have. Notice how, before all these things we should do, “we” were defined. As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved…. This is how we should see ourselves. Most of us; Christians know in our heads that God loves us, and that was why He sent His son Jesus to die for our sins, but we don't know in our hearts what this means. What do I mean when I say God loves you? This is the creator of love we are talking about. From the broken humans around us, we see shards of love and we enjoy it, we want it. Even in its imperfect state, love is beautiful enough that most of us spend our lives trying to get it. If the love from mere humans could be so inviting, how much more the love from God? Most of my life, I saw God as this angry, scary ruler who I had to spend most of my life trying to please and not offend. I did not see him as a lover, who wants me to know at least a little of how much He loves and cares for me. The closest (although imperfect) depiction that we have of God’s love for us is true love between a man and a woman. When a man loves a woman immensely, I assume that he is doing everything to get her attention, to woo her heart, to let her know how much he cares for her, to get into a relationship with her. The Bible says that the Church (that’s us) is the bride of Christ. In the love relationship we see between a groom and his bride, the groom (hopefully) is not an angry, scary ruler who the bride has to spend most of her life pleasing and trying not to offend. That’s ridiculous! So why do we think that about God?

In the Bible, God goes to great lengths to tell us over and over again (so it is not mistaken) that He loves us. I mean, I don’t care how much a man loves a woman, he does not know the number of hairs on her head, but God knows that about you! Sometimes, when I consider how many people are in this world, I wonder if God notices me. This detail shows me that He does not just stop at noticing me, He knows me, all of me including my ugliness and He loves me! Most of the love celebrated on tv is between flawless couples, the lady is just the right size, has just the right smile, hair always lies perfectly, not a single strand out of line, even when she just woke up! When I see this, I am discouraged, because I am never that perfect. But another thing about God’s love for me and you is that it is not afraid to get messy, matter of fact, if God claims to love us, this love relationship is never “picture-perfect”, because we are always messy. In Romans 5: 6, we find out that God’s love came just at the right time. I have noticed that it is in those times when I have really blown it that the love I receive from people is amazing to me; those are the "right" times: times when I don’t “deserve” it. At other times, when I’m doing everything well, it is easy for me understand why people would love me, I mean, I’m saying all the right things, doing all the right things… I see why they would love me. God’s love came to us at a time when we would see absolutely NO reason to receive love. It’s the kind of love that has nothing to do with you, with the way you look, the way you perform… a singer sings “loving you is easy cos you’re beautiful…” well, not this kind of love. In verses 5-8, God loved us while we were still sinners, while we were still powerless, He demonstrated His love – Christ died for us.

Another thing about this perfect love (unlike the imperfect love we see all around) is that it never ends, it never leaves. In Romans 8, we are told that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Once you accept Jesus into your life, you are accepting the love that God demonstrated when He sent Him to die, and nothing will ever be able to snatch you away from it.

I pray that you come in contact with God’s love for you, in a tangible way, then you will be able to love others.

Trust without Borders

“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders…”

When I was learning to swim, I simply could not get myself to “lay” in the water. I could not let my feet off the pool floor… impossible! What it I fell? I just could not get myself to do it. I would try, bend over halfway  as if I was going to swim, then stumble back up again. Sometimes, however, my dad would hold my two outstretched hands, facing me, then I would stretch myself out on the pool and I could kick. While holding my hands, he would walk backwards, pulling me forward while I kicked in the water. I was, so to speak, swimming in his arms. I knew he was strong enough, he would not let me fall, his grip was firm enough, so I let my legs float – I trusted him.

You find the need to trust when you can’t handle everything by yourself, when you don’t know what to do or how to do it and there's someone who does. You trust a good doctor’s prescriptions, because although you don’t know all the details of your illness, he does. Trust echoes surrender, dependence and sometimes in the case of our relationship with God, seemingly foolish obedience. 

When you trust God, you are saying “I’m not sure about this (on my own), I can’t handle this, but I know you can, I know you are capable, I know your Word is true, so I’ll obey you. I don’t know how to work this out, but you do, I can’t handle the consequences, but you can. God, I don’t know, I just don’t know how, when, where, what, why, but I know you, and you do. I’m ignorant and maybe even scared in this area, but you are not and you are holding my hands and leading me- it’s on you, God. The bill is on your bank account.

God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are far above our thoughts. His plans for our lives would blow our natural minds, it would literally defy logic and probability; it is above natural- it’s supernatural. It has not even entered the heart of man what He has in store for those who love Him.

You cannot walk in the plans God has for you without trusting Him, because most of it ride on the realms of the unknown.

Do not be afraid, you worm [insert name here], little [insert name again], do not fear, for I myself will help you, declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. (Now reread the sentence continuously with your name in it). – Isaiah 41:14. In your walk with God, there will be a time when you’ll have a reason to be afraid, to be scared, terrified, worried…  For me, now, I feel God beckoning me out of my comfort zone, to a new level of boldness, to a new level of faith, and frankly, I am scared. However, God spoke and is still speaking and reminding my heart of that verse. God is God; He is Supreme, all powerful, truth, so of course I can trust His Word. I know this, my head knows it, but sometimes, my heart forgets, I don’t live like it is true.

In some areas of life, we are experienced in trusting God (for me, it is in the area of provision). I have no doubt that God will always provide for my needs, because He always has. We have walked that path so many times before. He has given me the opportunity to experience His faithfulness in that aspect of my life, and I have taken it, sometimes as a result of my decisions or of others’ in my life. Yet, in some areas, we are babes, timid, worried and just plain scared - worms. In those areas, we are unsure, insecure, frightened (that area for me, is in my relationships with people; to stop idolizing them, to stop worrying about what they think about me, to stop building my life (what I say and do) according to a blueprint that would most please them, to be bold about my relationship with God despite who’s listening in). I am still inexperienced in seeing that, relationship-wise, God is enough for me, that I don’t need those connections as much as I need my connection to Him. That I don’t have to hush my voice when talking about God, or refrain from talking about Him in a public place.

Of course, I know that God is higher and bigger than all, He is more powerful. However, my heart does not know or fully trust and understand that yet. In other words, I haven’t allowed it the chance to experience God in that way often enough. I have been too afraid, too “wormy”, so it has not taken the risk, and therefore, simply does not know. How does a heart learn? Experience. A truth we know does not become real to our hearts until we have experienced it, until we have had to trust God in that setting..- live, over and over and over again. Peter did not really know that he could walk on water with Jesus on His side until He stepped out of the boat, his comfort zone. There are so many things that we don’t know that we can accomplish with the Spirit of God who dwells in us. There are areas in your life, where Jesus has said “come”, “come on, do not be afraid, little one, because I am with you.” Just obey, give your heart the chance to know.

Because, it is inherently the nature of a worm to be scared, you might be scared while you obey, but even in that go against your natural inclination and obey, follow the Spirit, your new nature, and step out in faith. For, as long as I stay in my fragile little boat, and refuse to walk on the sea with the One who spoke the seas into existence, I am missing out on the life He planned for me from before the foundations of the Earth. I am missing out on what He has made me for and made for me.  I am missing out on God. He knows I’m scared, hence the title “worm,” but He also knows that His strength, bravery and courage are more than enough. I only have to trust Him and take His hand, accept His help and obey His call to step out of my prison-boat and let my heart experience and therefore know Him in this new way. 

This song by Casting Crowns beautifully encapsulates this blog post...enjoy:

Unlock the Cage

“God is like a lion, He doesn't need you to defend Him, just unlock the cage.” – A poet.

Sometimes, when I think of God using me, I think only of the big things, of global impact, but daily, small acts of obedience not only show God that we love Him, but unlock His power in our worlds. Look at the amazing things that resulted from Daniel’s simple decision to stay true to God when the people around Him were worshiping the king, how about his friends and the fiery furnace? They didn't have to do something especially breath-taking or extravagant for God to move, they only had to stay true to what they believed in those moments. Like many of us; big dreamers, I don’t have a problem going on endless theological arguments, or holding big events for Christ, but what about those little moments when all He asks is my simple trust? Those times when I’m talking about God to a friend and I turn down my voice when someone passes by, or times when a friend comes to me with an issue that God has helped me through before, and I can’t bring myself to tell them how I really got through it. Cos, what if they don’t believe in God? What if they “get offended?” “Is it politically correct?” Those times, those are the times that we have the opportunities to unlock the cage of God’s power to the world around us. Those little moments of obedience are the moments that unlock God’s power in our world, our campus, our neighborhoods and beyond.

Now some of you, if you’re like me, are terrified. I don’t have the right words, I am a shy person, I don’t know how to accomplish this task… well the good thing is that you don’t have to know how, you just have to trust and follow the One who knows. In Joshua 1:9, God said to Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua was about to take on an unbelievable task for the first time. God promised to be with him, and that was all He needed. God has promised to never leave nor forsake us. When the angel told Mary, a virgin that she would give birth to a son… pause and think about that for a second… how impossible is that? How could she ever go about that? She didn't even have the first natural step checked off yet, and here was her task; that she would do something she had never done in her life, had no experience doing and absolutely zero knowledge how to go about. Well she had the logical question: “[huh?] How can this be?” How will I talk to my friends about what I truly believe, how can I live everyday boldly for Christ? How do I even get started? “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Luke 1:35.

On this side of history, the Holy Spirit already lives in us, is already empowering us, we just need to trust Him. Simply trust. Even in the midst of fear and uncertainty, trust that whatever the consequences may be, God is big and strong enough to handle it, just like Daniel trusted. A relationship with God is personal, but it is not private. Be vulnerable to the Spirit, obey, and trust God to handle the rest. Not only does this draw the lost to the love and embrace of their maker, it grows your faith, makes it real to you, so that you don’t have to constantly convince yourself over and over again that God is real. It aids the transition of that head knowledge to your heart. We pray for revivals on our campuses, maybe God is waiting on us.

        God has created a desperate hunger in all of us, a neediness for love that only Him can satisfy, we seek many things to try to satisfy it; for some, it is success, wealth, sex, drugs…  For me, gaining the approval of as many people as possible. My thoughts consumed by what people might be thinking about me. I would've won the award for the “nicest” girl around. Oh and of course, because I’m a Christian; I am just trying to “show the love of God.” Well why did I only “show” that “love” to people who are beautiful or handsome enough, smart, talented enough, people who might have something to offer me? See, I was trying to satisfy that neediness - the one that God put there to draw me to Himself - with lesser gods; idolized people’s good opinion. Since being nice is a well-liked social skill, it is hard to identify the obsession as sin. However, no matter how hard I tried to fit in with some groups, it never worked out, so I had to keep looking. In closing those other doors, God gave me the opportunity to find his unending and satisfying love. 

      In my thirst, I was reaching out for a cup of salty water that would momentarily satisfy only to leave me thirstier. Had I gotten it, with every drink, I would have been wrapping one more round of iron chains around myself. What God did for me was move that cup of salty water away from my reach. There was no reason why I wouldn’t have fit in perfectly with those groups of friends. Sometimes I even said “That friend would draw me closer to God.” I had all sorts of rationales, but God is not fooled, and just as it seemed like I was about to grasp it…oops, moved again, sorry. See God was offering me the fresh, living water of His unconditional and unending love, the only that could ever truly satisfy me, that could set me free. He was saving me a lot, so I thank God for those unanswered prayers, I thank God for all those relationships that never worked out no matter how hard I tried. I thank God for those disappointments. That those cute boys I had huge crushes on didn’t even seem to notice that I existed. That I never got into that college I wanted so badly. I thank God that He didn’t allow anything keep His throne in my heart, that His love persisted and insisted that I stay free, not enslaved. I thank God that He would love me that much. God I thank you, I thank you, I thank you for all those unmet desires. 

       I thank you that despite my ignorant yearning for muddy, salty water, You insisted that I have the pure, refreshing and satisfying cup that never runs dry.

People are amazing! But of course, they were made in God’s image. People are just a shadow of an even more amazing God, and instead of chasing the shadow, we are called to seek the real deal. Our hearts are drawn to amazing and wonderful things because we were made to be drawn to God. The wonder in people is supposed to point us to their Maker. If people are projects, God is the one who came up with the idea. All those things that impress us in people were put there to cause us to say “How great is our God.”

However, I often pour all that awe and worship into the wrong cup. I direct it to the person, instead of the Maker of the person, and that enslaves me. Paul describes it as exchanging the truth about God for a lie, and worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).  How does that look? For me, I think “oh my life would be so much better if this person were in it.” I feel special when they are nice to me and not special when they are not. I would even become jealous of them, feel inferior to them, want to be them. I become hyper-aware of the way I act around them, so that they see a flawless image of me, then maybe they will approve of me. In simple terms, we idolize people, and God is not cool with that, He won’t share His glory with anyone.

Like us, other people were made to bring glory and attention to God. The very things that were supposed to draw us into God’s presence, into freedom, enslave us to people when we look at it the wrong way, which is easy to do in this world we live in. We see people from God’s point of view by renewing our minds with the Word of God; speaking the truths of the Bible to the lies that sneak into our minds about people and by the help of the Holy Spirit. When we see people from God’s point of view, we are free, our worship of God is enhanced and we can love people the way God intended. We can truly love, not a half-hearted love of intimidation, fear or pity. We can fully love and have real relationships, because we are not valuing them because of anything else except the fact that God loves them.

We can love without thinking that they are a necessity in our lives, because only God is. God takes back His throne in our hearts and minds, and we are free from the fear of man. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power and of a sound mind. Idolizing people or putting anything above God in our heart instills fear in us, weakens our love, drains our power and attacks our sound mind (Romans 1:21-27). We can live and enjoy the life God has made us to live. God, who is the source of all that we are impressed by, is already in love with us and we can't impress Him. Nothing can change that. That sets us free.

Made from Scratch

He made us from scratch, and He made the "scratch" too.

 “If we are not impressed by our strengths, talents and God-given abilities, we cannot be depressed by our weaknesses and inabilities.”- JM. Why do I feel more valuable when my talents are on display, or when everyone thinks I’m amazing and much less valuable when I get a really bad grade, don't do so well on an exam or when I play the worst at a sport? I am finding my value in who I think I am, I am defining myself by the things I can or cannot do, I am basing my identity on things that are not strong enough to bear that weight.

We must realize that our true identity is that we belong to God. 
He made us from scratch and gave us everything we have. When we see those talents and abilities as gifts from God given to us to bring glory to His name, we are seeing life from the right point of view. Cos see, you are more than your roles, skills (or lack of it), test scores (good and bad), more than your responsibilities, the school you attend, your appearance, your affluence (or lack of it), those things don’t define you. God had already defined you long before any of that came on the scene, before you were born into that family, got your human body, became a member of your race you already had an ultimate identity. You are His.

This is your core, this is who you truly are; “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10. We find our value in the fact that He unimaginably loves and values us. The Bible says we are the apple of his eyes (very important). Think about it; the God who literally spoke everything we see and marvel at today loves you that dearly. The most important of everyone you will ever meet in life and beyond, the Supreme; He loves you that immensely (to give up Jesus as a sacrifice for us). That is where we find value, in Him, in His unconditional love that never changes so neither does our value.

And then, He gave you everything you have (or don’t have) for His purpose: to display his glory. Everything you have is just an add-on, like tools to help you do the work God made you to do. They are not rightly the core of your identity; none of those things can define you. When we get a hold of that, we are free from all the limitations set by our characteristics, we are free to live the life that God intended for us to live. We are free to walk the path he made uniquely for us. We realize that without Him we are literally dust, and everything we are is from Him. We realize what life is; an opportunity to give Him glory. Real life is lived from this point of view; the true point of view, and with this purpose; the only purpose of life.

He is the Maker, He knows best.

Take control of this blog

Jesus, I pray that as I have started this blog as I sense you leading me to, that You take perfect control of everything that goes on. That I don't write anything except you've asked me too. Matter of fact, take my pen (as Lecrae said), or in this case, my keyboard and create these lines.