Oh! What a Makeover!: You Can Bounce Back! You Can Smile Again. Your Story Isn't over Yet.

By Vivian Cynthia

No matter where you have been, there is no reason to be hopeless in life. There is hope; you can smile again. You can bounce back no matter how low you have sunk in life.

God wants to give you a makeover, a total makeover. Not only will your enemy not recognize you, you will not even recognize yourself! Before and after makeover! This book is based on Genesis 41 (the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob/Israel), how he got a total makeover from prison to the palace! Many of us are ready for the palace; all we need is a makeover, and we cant step into our destiny looking like this. Oh! God make me over! Its long overdue!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: May 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482862737

Vivian Cynthia

Vivian Cynthia is a mother of a beautiful daughter, has been through many life challenges; and through the endless love of God she has bounced back and is living the life that God destined for her. She is an inspirational speaker, preacher, guest in various TV and radio programs. Facilitator of various seminars and camps. She is a seasoned therapist, has counselled people with life issues, ranging from emotional to spiritual issues for almost two decades.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Vivian Cynthia.

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4828-6274-4

                Softcover        978-1-4828-6275-1

                eBook            978-1-4828-6273-7

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Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

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Contents

1 Preface

2 Introduction

3 The Dreamer And The Journey To The Palace

4 PERFECT MAKE-OVER, by a Perfect God, for a perfect candidate

5 The MAKEOVER Journey

6 THE FALL – Falling is an event not a lifestyle

7 BEFORE AND AFTER – You can Bounce Back

8 Its Time For A Make Over

9 Beauty For Ashes - Let Go Of The Old…. Embrace The New

10 Let go of the PAST - Seize the Present

11 Let Go Of Fear…. Fear Has A Voice, Don’t Listen To It!!

12 Let Go Of Bad Habits And Addictions

13 LET GO OF Guilty Conscience, Hurt, Toxic Relationships, AND Blame

14 Let Go Of Worry, Anger And Bitterness

15 INSIDE OUT MAKE-OVER – Change your mind change your life

16 It Will Heal, Stop Picking The Wounds- Emotional

17 Speech Make-over

18 Financial Make Over

19 Physical Make-Over

20 Epilogue: Look What The Lord Has Done

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, to God almighty, thank you my Master and King! You are so amazing, the lover of my soul, you are the best thing that ever happened to me. My love for you is indescribable. I don’t know what I would do or would be without you. You are my life; you are the reason why I wake up each morning. I am forever indebted to you; I know that you are working all things for my good!

To my one and only daughter Tumi, you are a rare gem, I’m so proud to have you as a daughter. I love you with all that I have. Thank you for the love and support.

To my mother, Annah Sibeko I thank God for affording me an opportunity to be raised by such a strong and wise woman. Thank you for raising me the best way you could.

To my sister Mamsy, you are my only sister and my best friend. Thank you so much sesi for sharing your family with me. To Siphiwe, my brother in-law, thank you Kwani for being the brother I never had. To Sphume and Maboys Qiniso, I have only love for you guys.

To madam Mtsitsi and Ga, thank you gogo and malume for everything… You have been with us through many seasons for our lives. We are grateful; a great harvest awaits you, for your service.

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To my late father, Bra Mzi, I know you would be proud. You always believed in me.

To the late Thami Magwaza, You were such an inspiration. Thank you sir, for reminding me of Who and Whose I am.

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To my friend Coach Sipho Mnyakeni, I really thank God for the divine connection. abahlobo bami Ps. V.W.; BOM Mashinini, and shlobo sami Ps. MMA Nhlapo. Thank you for everything.

Thanks Dee, for the support and believing in me. Lots of love.

To my spiritual family and all my friends… great will be your reward for all the support you have given me. Thank you for standing with me in prayer and making me believe in this dream, I honour you and love you!

To the Bounce Back family, great things are yet to come! Together we are bringing hope to the hopeless… Ithemba alibulali!

1

Preface

I am so grateful to God almighty for affording me the opportunity of finally writing this intriguing book. This book seeks to portray God’s absolute sovereignty, His love, mercy and kindness. And that God is Alpha and Omega, who never leaves any of His projects unfinished. Whatever God begins He sees it to completion because He never begins anything before He has completed it. I hope everyone reading this book will be as inspired reading it, as I was writing it. It seeks to bring a message of hope. Hope for the present and hope for the future.

Now that I think about it, this book is actually long overdue. But sometimes just like Jonah of old; we choose to rather embark on our own journey to Tarshish first, instead of heading straight to the city of Nineveh. And in the process our detours are extremely costly and they affect everyone in the ship of life around us. They go through a violent storm and are forced to throw possessions into the sea because of disobedience of just one Jonah who has boarded a wrong ship. Now I understand that Jonah had to be transported by the fish to go where God wanted him to go in the first place.

I guess God had to allow me to first go through the pages of this book through experience, and live it, before I was inspired to pen the words and write it. My life has been a long journey, to a point where I thought there have been too many detours, God might have changed His mind about me. I have delayed Him so much, and I even assumed He has given up on me. I had to experience storms of life for myself, pain, rejection, loss and hurt to realize that God has not changed His mind about me. He can still give me a makeover. If He has given me another chance in life He definitely can give anyone a makeover no matter how low you think you have sunk. I have learned that, once you’ve hit rock bottom, you can only look up and bounce back higher than you were before!

2

Introduction

In this book I want to talk to all the dreamers who like Joseph have big dreams of the palace but they find themselves in the pit of life, slavery and in prison and might think it’s over. God has not forgotten about you, neither has He changed His mind about you. You are about to take Egypt by storm, Pharaoh has just dreamt a very confusing and troubling dream. You don’t have to cut corners, bribe people or orchestrate events to get out of this prison. Pharaoh will send for you speedily, because you are the only person who is destined or graced with the favor to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, the palace is beckoning. You have been incarcerated and limited for too long, it’s about time that you get a makeover, and transformation from being a slave or prisoner to being a ruler. And you are about to get a big makeover from the prison to the palace, HALLELUYA!! You will soon be saying ‘Look what the Lord has done!’ No matter where you have been, with God you can Bounce Back!

He is able to bring you up from the deep miry clay and plant your feet on the Kings high way, in the presence of your enemies. The enemies have to be present so that they will be able to witness the before and after the makeover. There is no makeover without the before and after, and God allow people to see your before (when you are down and out) and some people will even have an opinion about your circumstances. But when they get introduced to the after the makeover, they will have difficulty recognizing you. You will be like those who dream (Psalms126:1-2) your mouth will be filled with laughter. God’s capacity for restoring life is beyond our understanding.

Your accusers will be asking themselves questions: Is this not the same person that was down and out, what happened to him or her? It does not matter how long you have been in that bad condition, you may either receive a sudden makeover or a gradual transformation. But once He is done with you, you will be a new creature all together. So that you can be able to give Him all the glory in their presence, and say with boldness just like the Psalmist ‘if it was not for the Lord who has been gracious to me I would have lost my mind.’ Oh what a makeover!

Don’t give up on yourself, or on the dream God has given you, and never give up on God. With God anything is possible; He cannot be limited. Not only is He God of a second chance, but He is God of many chances, and God of another chance. If Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave; surely He can resurrect you and give your dream a face lift. Just because the vision tarries, or life has torn your dream apart does not mean it will not come to pass. You are nearer to the fulfillment of that dream than you realize, God is able to do exactly what He has promised to do.

This book aims at bringing HOPE to the dejected, downhearted, and disconsolate even those who have fallen by the wayside of life. Even those who think it is over and nothing can be done any more. The Lord wants to restore every broken, fragmented and shattered life. Just give God a chance; with Him no one is beyond repairs. He is the Potter that specializes in putting lives back together again. It is really not over until God says so; He is the Alpha and the Omega of all life. He is the resurrection and the life, your life and your dream can still be restored, allow Him to make your life over. I hope and pray that after reading this book your life will never be the same again.

3

The Dreamer And The Journey To The Palace

Genesis 41:14; 42

(V14) So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.

(V42) Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger, and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck.

Genesis 41 (tells the story of Joseph the elder of the two sons of Jacob [Israel] and Rachel). It is a story of how he got a total makeover from prison en route to the palace. And also how once at the palace Pharaoh decorated Joseph further by putting his signet ring on his finger. Dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He was arrayed with three symbols of transfer and sharing of royal authority as the highest executive office below that of the Pharaoh himself in Egypt. God wants to give you a total makeover and also dress you with gear fit for a King, no wonder even you if you can allow God to make you over, no one will be able to recognize you once the Lord is done with you. He is the master of transformation, just one encounter with the Master will transform you beyond recognition. Remember the total transformation that happened to Paul (Saul), when He had an encounter with the Master on his way to Damascus. You too can have your own transforming Damascus encounter.

Now, let us reverse a few chapters before and see how it all started. Background of Joseph’s story (Genesis 37, 39 and 40), he is first mentioned as a 17 year old young person. Joseph was despised by his brothers because his father adored him more than he loved them. And he had shown his preference by making him a coat of many colors, Joseph was favored by his father. The coat became a symbol of Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph, and it aggravated the already strained relations between Joseph and his brothers. He dreamed a dream foretelling his future supremacy and destiny, which increased the hatred of his brothers. Joseph’s brothers resented the dream God had given Joseph, and his father’s favor towards him. Nevertheless he went on to become prime minister of Egypt and ended up taking care of his entire family during a famine. So, favor and verbalizing your God given dream can attract hatred even from your loved ones.

The devil doesn’t want you to know that God’s favor is on your life, or that you’ve been blessed by Him with all the good things you enjoy. The truth is, the devil doesn’t want you to think God has done anything good for you at all. He will try to convince you that you have no purpose, power or potential. He’ll try to persuade you that your background means you won’t amount to anything and, if that doesn’t work, he’ll play the childhood memories card. If that doesn’t work either, he will remind you of all the disappointments you’ve been through in life. And if you buy what he’s selling, you’ll end up with such self-doubt and low self-esteem you won’t believe God has blessed you in any way or that He has a wonderful plan for your life. But He has, no matter how limited your ability or your accomplishments, every blessing you’re enjoying today happened because the Lord is on your side. David understood that his enemies were attacking him because they witnessed the favor of God on his life. The question is, do you understand that God’s favor is on your life too? If you don’t, you won’t expect the attack, understand the reason behind it or how to overcome it. You’re blessed and favored that’s why you’re a target.

One day Joseph was sent by his father to visit his brothers, who were tending flocks in the fields of Dothan. His brothers saw him coming and resolved to kill Joseph, jealousy and hatred is dangerous. The ten brothers planned to get rid of their young brother over a coat and because of his dreams (favor and destiny). But Joseph was saved by Reuben the elder brother, who persuaded them to cast him into a pit instead. Thank God the pit was dry; Joseph would have drowned and died pregnant with his dream inside of him. Even if you can find yourself in a pit of life, thank God the pit will not kill you nor abort your dream. You are just passing through, don’t give up on God or your dream; the pit is not your destiny, and there is a palace to go to. You are destined for the palace, hold on to your dream. They could not get rid of Joseph because of the dream that was inside of him. It is difficult to either limit or eliminate a dreamer; the dream inside of