Season Reflections

This week on The Bloomer’s Journal, we’re taking a step back to reflect on the journey so far. Growth isn’t just in the doing—it’s also in the pausing, the noticing, the becoming.

There’s something powerful about checking your pulse and asking yourself: what has God revealed in this season?

This episode creates space for honest reflection—on the lessons, the stretching, and the quiet ways we’re being shaped along the way.

Transcript

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Hi and welcome back to yet another episode. This is The Bloomers Journal and I'm your host Nandu Khapila. In this episode, we are taking a step back and we're gonna have a look at Q1. I wanna call it the first season of 2026. What was it like? What are we learning? What are the nuggets? What are the reflections from this last season? As you know, life is always teaching us or trying to teach us a thing or two. God is always revealing and showing us more and more. So we're just taking a step back today to go through a number of those. Let's get right into it. The very first thing that came to mind when I was thinking of reflections of this past season is just the fact that you can decide that you want something and go for it. That you can literally wake up one day, make a choice, and that be the beginning of something new, that'd be the beginning of something fresh, that be the beginning of something you haven't known and something you haven't experienced before. So that choice part is actually so important because I think for me it was a hurdle, it was intimidating for the longest time to say that I'd actually pursue something I was not familiar with, something that would potentially make me quite uncomfortable, trying new things, trying to be a person you've never been before can be intimidating, it can feel like a big task, it can can feel like a stretch to to achieve. So the choice part is very important to get through. So when was it for me? I I don't remember like a specific point in time where I've made a decision, or just as I think about it, it feels like many different moments where I was bit by bit making the decision and deciding that I wanted something new, I wanted something fresh, and that defined looks different for all of us. I know that for Unondum, it was gaining freedom from the fear. I think I've been so scared for the longest time. I was a child who was scared of trying new things, and I became an adult who would do just what I needed, who would do just enough to survive, but I never had the guts to be a bird, to be an eagle, to really fly, to enjoy the clouds, to enjoy the sun, to fully be, and that may sound very vague, but it sits very deep and heavy in my spirit. So I wanted to continue to grow not only in age but to grow in bravery. I wanted to grow in courage, I wanted to grow in understanding myself, I wanted to grow in my confidence as I built strong foundations. Um, I wanted to give myself a chance at building foundations even as I move into my late 20s, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to orchestrate and craft my life with intention. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to clearly define the kind of person that I wanted to become. And then once I had made that decision, I then needed to put action to it. That's the thing with choices, that's the thing with decisions, is that they need to be paired with action. And one of the really beautiful things that I've gotten to learn, even about myself, is that I can actually do hard things. The decision alone is not going to be enough. You're going to have to make the decision at least a couple of times more. When you decide you want to have a podcast, you have to decide every week that this is something that you're doing. This is something that you're committed to. When you're deciding to be a certain kind of person, you are going to have to exercise um that muscle over and over again. So the action part of it is very important. The doing, the doing, no matter how small, no matter how big, the doing over and over again, the same actions, the training of yourself, the training of your mind, the growing in resilience, the growing in determination, the growing in consistency of thoughts and of mind and of where you are standing, the consistency of just sticking by the decision that you've made. And I think one thing I do want to mention around this point is just the fact that there is so much grace that is available to help you with whatever that looks like for you. God is a great help. God is a great help, and I almost want to say you want to leverage the Lord or you want to leverage the Lord's help. He offers it to us freely, He is forever standing beside us and wanting to actually support us. So literally give God the opportunity to be that for you, to be the one who will give you strength to show up every week, to show up every day. Lean on him to be the one to sustain you. Lean on him to be the one to give you renewed energy to keep going. Lean on him to be the one to keep motivating you, if you will, to be the one who continues to push you, to be the one who continues to remind you, to be the one who gives you the strength and ability to do it, even when you're tired, physically, emotionally. It takes a lot to want to change things in your life, to want to become a different person, to want to pursue your dreams. It takes a lot, and so God is here. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you're going to have to carry the load all on your own because that wouldn't be truth. It wouldn't be truth. The next one is around being faithful. I've added this one very clearly as one of the values that I want to live out, one of the values that I want to encompass in different areas of my life. It's who I want to become. A person who is sewing, a person who is investing, a person who is planting, a person who is showing up consistently, a person who is living in the present. Like I know that the sewing brings harvest. I know that there are rewards, but this season is really drawing me to focus on just the showing up. It's calling me to focus on the present. What can I do today? And again, tomorrow I ask myself the same question: just what can I do today? What can I do right now? So I want to be someone who is faithful. I believe that the Lord calls me to be someone who is faithful in my relationships, in my work, in my gifts, in everything that He has blessed me with. Some things we sometimes see as small, we sometimes see as small or we take for granted, but I am learning to fully see. I am learning to fully see. God is helping me to fully see and to really appreciate and to be a faithful servant. The next one is around gifts and talents and abilities. Something I wish I knew is that these things can be developed. I think a lot of times we imagine that you are born with your gift, and you know, ever since you were a baby, you were just singing in your dreams, you were doing backflips this way and that way, and I think that's a myth. I think it is a myth. Uh, I'm seeing this through not only my journey, but just um my friends as well. I've actually got a specific friend of mine who has this baking business and it's booming, number one, it's growing, and she is just so incredibly talented. The creativity, the level of detail, the level of craft that is in her baking just blows my mind away. And I happened to be there when she was starting her business. When she was starting her business, I was there to see like some of the things that she wasn't happy with, some of the things that she wanted to improve, and when I tell you, each and every week she has something new, she has perfected something, she has mastered something else, she has added like these incredible things um that she can do with cakes. So I was just thinking to myself, a lot of times we just think that you've just arrived with the gift, like you're just going to arrive, and I just don't know how true that is. These things need to be developed, and the Bible tells us about um, you know, the story of the one who got a lot, the one who got little. Literally, with whatever you have, whatever it is you have, and we do this thing where we see what we have as small. You may look over to your neighbor, and what they have may seem big. What you have is big, it's big enough, it's good enough, right? What it needs from you is for you to nurture it, for you to hold it with both hands, for you to appreciate it, for you to take the time to develop in it, take the time to grow in it. The last one of my reflections I want to leave you with today is just around the fact that I feel like I'm finding myself and getting to know me through God. I feel like I'm finding my footing. And it's through the relationship that I have with my best friend, the relationship I have with my father, my dad, that being the Lord, that being my savior, that being my redeemer. I feel like I am discovering so much of who I am. I am discovering the depth of Unondumiso. There's so many things I also so many different ways that I've defined myself over my life. And just by being close to the Lord, I'm also learning me. I'm getting to know me, I'm getting to redefine me, I'm getting to unlearn so many things, and I'm getting to learn so many new things, beautiful things that are bringing refreshing or a feeling of refreshment in my life, that are bringing healing, that are bringing freedom, so much freedom. I feel that I'm at the peak of my life with just the amount of joy I get to experience in my day-to-day, the level of peace I get to experience, the level of love that I get to experience, the things that I get to do, some very difficult. I find it such an honor. God has given me supernatural grace in this very season, and I believe it's because of what I'm getting to learn, the knowledge that I have now that is rewiring me, the knowledge that I am allowing to change the way that I think, the way that I see life, it's changing my perspective, it's changing me at the core. So that is a very beautiful one. I see it in the little things, I see it in the big things, and it makes me excited for the future, it makes me excited for this next season as we step into the next. I am looking forward to the more. I'm looking forward to stepping more into myself, growing more comfortable in my own skin, and just being.