Be Still....He's Got You

      I have been on quite the hiatus when it comes to blogging. I used to blog daily, sharing my journey and my thoughts but recently I have been real quiet. Not just on the internet, but in my life too. Maybe a little too quiet. There is a time monster in all of our lives when we learn that it may be wiser to remain silent, prayerful, and still then it is talk and move forward. This is a hard lesson monster, especially for one such as me who is not used to having to guard my mouth. I have always been quick to talk and slow to think it through first. I have always shared my thoughts and opinions freely, I have been quick to display anger and impatience, but in my journey I have learned to be still. I am not going to say it is easy, monster, it is not. It will be the hardest thing you master, the hardest thing you will ever do. To be still, to allow the Lord to move, to make a way, to deal with your enemies, to fight your battles while you are still, will be the hardest but the most rewarding experience of your walk.

    What do I mean by being still. I am not talking about inaction, or sitting back waiting on things I am talking about moving forward on your path, doing the work you have been called to do. You are still praying, you are still in your Word, you are still doing you. So how is that being Still? When I say be still it means not to pay attention to the distractions that are going to arise. As you walk with the Lord you will be blessed. You will get the job you have been praying for, get that breakthrough in your life you have been working towards, you will be enjoying all the blessings that come with it and while your enjoying it, the enemy is throwing things in your path to make you stumble. The enemy will throw people at you, situations, etc. to make you falter, to make you question and to ultimately make you leave your path. Don't give in monster, no matter what comes at you, be still, knowing that God has already worked it out. 

Here is what it looks like. You have finally gotten the job you have been praying for. You are happy, you are making lots of money, you are finally able to be the blessing you always wanted to be. Everything is great until it is not. Your car breaks down, your babysitter quits, and your co-worker is throwing so much shade at you she could be an oak tree. I mean seriously, what is wrong with her that she is constantly bad mouthing you, undermining you and basically making your dream job a nightmare. What do you do? Do you throw a fit, tell her where she needs to go and how to get there? Or do you be still. 

Scenario 2. You are finally in the relationship you have been praying about. You have met the man you are going to marry. You pray together, you go to church together, you are actively building a life together.  You are happy and you expect the others around you to be happy as well.... yeah not so much. Your getting advice from this one and that one, everyone has an opinion, some think your moving too fast, some don't like him, some just liked you better single who knows but everywhere you turn you find a new opinion. What do you do? 
Scenario 3. You are finally getting your degree, you have made it into the program, everything is great until it is not. You don't like your study group, your classes are not available, the books are too much, your job is tripping about all the time you have been requesting off. You are distracted by everything going on around you what do you do? 

Be still monster. I don't know what your dealing with in your life, but I know at times it can be stressful, You have so many things pulling at you, people talking into your life, everyday stresses and set backs and you just want to fire back. Be still. Psalm 46:10 "Be Still and Know that I am God."  simply means that you don't have to do anything. You don't have to defend yourself from attack. Exodus 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Hold on to your peace monster. You don't have to tell that chick where to go, you don't have to fight and argue with your family, you don't have to do anything. You can be still knowing that the battle is the Lord's and that no weapon formed against you will prosper. You can relax and bathe in the light that tells us that All things work together for the good of them who love the Lord. This monster is being still. Keep doing what your doing. all these obstacles and trials tell you is that you are heading in the right way. So next time someone throws some dirt your way, don't worry, God has got your back. 

I wish you stillness monster. 

Shifting sands, Mud Slide Zones, and other Faulty Foundations

Hello Monsters. How is your faith walk going? I know your getting stronger every day. You have put the past behind you, forgave yourself for past mistakes, put an end to negative thinking, and all your trust in God.
No, not yet, still working on it? No worries, keep walking, it ain't over till it's over.

So what is the point of this blog? I will tell you. While you have been working on you, God has been blessing you, He has been moving you forward, He has opened doors, introduced people into your life, and done a whole host of other things that are too wonderful and numerous to name. You, monster are moving out of your Between time situation and into your After.  (quick note her there will always be a between time in your life, right now you may be dealing with  several Betweens, between jobs, between relationships, between well you get the point) As you enter the after stage you will begin building, building a new life, a new career, a new relationship, a new mindset, I don't know, the point is your building something. If you ever saw a house being built you know the first thing that is dug is the foundation. The foundation is the core. It is what all else is built upon. Without a good foundation, a strong foundation, a well planned and built foundation the house will fall. The same goes for you monster. Whatever your building for yourself will fail without a good foundation.

If you have been paying any attention to this blog, you know I always go on about reading the Bible, getting that Word deep down into you, I also nag you about praying and praising, going to church, and listening to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  The Word, Praying and Praising, Church and the Holy Spirit's Guidance are the cornerstones of your foundation. I don't recommend building anything without these things in place. You can try, but chances are that if you do you will end up back in a between time experience, probably worse off then you were before.  Not to beat a dead horse, but its not enough to give lip service to God, you got to put the things He tells you into practice, everyday. Luke 6:47-49 clearly lays out what to expect when you don't. "As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.  They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.  But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”  Build your foundation, monster, that way when your blessings come and you begin building you will have something that lasts. 

   Here is what it looks like monster. You have been working on you and you have been praying for God to send you the right man, a man that you could marry, build a life with. Suddenly you find yourself with a guy, he is great, he seems to be all you prayed for what do you do? Some of us are tempted to throw away all the promises, the hard work, and the foundation that we have built and jump all in. How do you proceed with this relationship? You said you would not have sex until marriage, do you keep that promise, you said that any man in your life would have to be a Christian, share your faith, and be a man seeking God, do you turn a blind eye when He stops going to church? In your walk you have been dealing with being honest, having integrity, putting God first, do you look the other way when you catch him in a lie, when he is less then what he should be, when he would rather not go to church, pray or even know if he really believes in God. In building this relationship what is your foundation? Is it built on rock or is it shifting sand, changing and moving every time the wind blows something new into your life. Are you willing to build a relationship on this foundation?
     You could have been praying for a job, you got the job, but it is stressing you out, your missing church because you have to work, your too tired to pray anymore, your caught up in everything around you and you are too busy to hear from God. Are you willing to build a career on this foundation? This scenario can be placed on any between time transition you may have. We are so quick to pray and ask for things, for change for breakthroughs that sometimes we latch on to the first one that looks our way. We forget to wait on God and see if this is from Him. We try to make this new thing, opportunity, person fit  We slap a praise on it and say it must be God's will for us. We struggle with it, compromise with it, toss away the cornerstones that we are supposed to build on and hope for the best. In the end monster anything you build on a shaky foundation will fall.

A rule of thumb to remember is God will never bless you with something that brings you grief. When God makes a promise He keeps it, He doesn't need your help to make it happen. Remember Abraham. He wanted a son, God promised him one, He got tired of waiting and produced Ishmael. That opened a whole can of worms, read your Bible. If He had waited on God, waited on his Issac blessing he could have saved a lot of people heartache, including himself. So monster the question you want to ask yourself is, does what you are trying to build fit on your foundation? If it doesn't, if you have to compromise your foundation it is not your blessing, it is a distraction. You can build with the distraction and get an Ishmael or you can wait and put the right blessing on your foundation ( I promise it will fit) and have an Issac. I'm just saying, choose wisely monster, build your foundation on the Rock.

It's Not Above Your Pay Grade.

Hello there monsters. How is the faith walk going?

   Lately I have been hearing a lot of people talk about what they would like to do, what they wish they were able to do, what they would do when God blesses them with a position, status, etc. I don't know about God, but I am sick of hearing about all the good people would do if. If they were a prayer leader, pastor, choir director, if they knew their Bible better, if they were allowed to preach, to teach, to lead, they would do so much good. If they had more money, more time, if someone would just notice all the good that they have to share. If this, if that, if if if if if. I am so sick of If.  They honestly believe that they have to be "in a position" to do something. What position are they waiting for? Exactly what position do you have to have to do good? Is there such a thing as a do gooder position? I think not. People get caught up in status and titles and positions, especially in the church. The truth is that we are so busy striving to be somebody, that we are not helping anybody.
 I believe they are making excuses to not do anything at all. I know that God uses all people, the lowest to the highest to do His will in the earth. In fact the Bible is filled with stories of ordinary folk doing extraordinary things. So what is your excuse?


      You probably are scratching your head now, after all the Bible is full of heroes, Great men and women of God. Look a little closer. These patriarchs and matriarchs of the Bible were just regular folk, regular folk that did extraordinary things. Abraham was a gentile, called out from his people to become the father of the Jewish nation. Moses was a child of slaves, adopted and then exiled by the Egyptians. He was a sheep herder and a self proclaimed poor speaker who led the Israelites out of slavery. Rahab was a prostitute, a foreign woman, an enemy of Israel who would be the mother of Boaz and in turn an ancestor of Jesus.   Ruth, her future daughter in law was also a foreigner, a widow, and poor. David was the youngest and the least of Jesse's sons. He was deeply flawed but his heart and his faith delighted the Lord and he was one of the greatest kings and writer of the Psalms. Samson was an ordinary man with a drinking problem, a terrible anger management issue and a predilection for picking the wrong women.  Joseph was the youngest son and sold into slavery by his own brothers, God used him to not only save the Israelites from famine but the Egyptians as well. Esther was just a simple Jewish girl placed in a beauty pageant when the king tired of his wife. She was able to save her people from laws that would destroy them. The disciples were a rag tag bunch of fishermen, peasants, and a tax collector. This list could go on for days but we will stop here. The point, monster, is that God does not need you to be in a "position" in order to use you. He can use you just as you are right where you are.

We put so much emphasis on what we do, what position we hold in our jobs, our society, our churches and our organizations. We look for people to validate us, to show us that we are important and have influence. 1 Corinthians 1: 27-29 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. The truth is God uses you, He does not care about your position, what others think of you, how important you are or how many people read your blog.  All God needs is a willing heart, a faithful spirit, and hands that are willing to work. So monster, you can stop waiting for your if moment and do it now. Volunteer now, feed the hungry now, donate now, start up a prayer group now, begin a bible study, whatever it is that God has put on your heart to do He has already given you the means to do it. Don't sit there a moment longer holding on  to your if, do good now.

Go forth monster and do good.

Too Good to be True? No It's Better!

How is your life going monster? Is it good, is it better then you expected, Is it all you asked for? Is it phenomenally awesome and blessed?  Take a look. Remember that before you answer the question, you will have what you say you have. Take your time.

In our journey together we have discussed lots of things, your thought life, your prayer life, your social life, etc. I know you have been praying for some things and my prayers have gone up with yours. What have you been believing God for?  Are you waiting on the Lord, expecting Him to do what He has promised? Are you doing the work, preparing yourself for your blessings, working on your prayer life, reading the Word, doing the best you can do in your life as it is now? If you have monster I am sure you are starting to see the blessings flow into your life. You are experiencing breakthroughs. Things are moving faster and new life has been breathed into old bones.

In the midst of this movement you may start to have doubts, after all you have spent so much time praying for something, a job, a promotion, a change,  a child, a house, a relationship,  whatever. If you have been praying for it, expecting it, praising God for it, then monster, when it arrives don't let doubt creep in with it. God is a God of suddenly. Read your Bible. Whenever he moves it is Suddenly. In life when good things happen to us, when they are blessings from God they seem to good to be true. We are taught to be suspicious of things that come into our lives suddenly, of people who enter our lives with no drama, of jobs that open up with no warning, of opportunities that didn't exist yesterday. Suddenly they are there, they are for you, and they bring such joy and happiness. They are more than what you asked for, it might not be what you wanted, but it is everything you need, it is above and beyond anything you could have imagined for yourself. This is the nature of Blessings. Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly  above all that we ask or think, Jeremiah 29:11 lets us know that God has a plan for us, to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future.

Knowing this how can you listen to the nay sayers who look at your blessings and tell you it is too good to be true. That there must be a catch, that you are fooling yourself. Don't listen to them monster. How big is your God? Is there any limit to what He can do in your life? He knew you before the foundations of the world were made, throughout His Word are constant reminders that if we keep His commandments He will bless you, Numbers 23:19 remind us that God is not a man that he should lie, or that He should change His mind. Take a look at the blessings flowing into your life, all good things come from God. Look at the people/person that God may have sent into your life, look at what they do, listen to how they speak. We know men by their fruit, anyone sent from God will have Godly fruit. They will add to your life, not detract. Same thing with material blessings, they will not bring you pain, grief, stress, etc.

Relax, monster, you have asked, you have believed, you have expected. Enjoy the blessings in your life, share your blessings and testimony with others and for all those that believe that it is too good to be true, pray for them so that one day they will know that if it is that good then it is from God.

Wise Choices

           

     Choices. Everyday,every hour, every minute we are faced with choices. What to wear what to eat, which bill to pay, what shoe to buy, etc. A lot of these choices really will not cause any sizable ripple in your life. You probably won't look back on your life and say, "Wow, if only I had wore the red heels instead of the black ones I would be so better off right now." Those types of choices thankfully are easy and carefree choices. If only life were so easy. 


   Then there are choices that change your life, change your direction, change your outcome. Important decisions like where to live, what type of job/career you choose, who you date, marry or have kids with.  Intricate things like whose advise you listen to, what type of people you hang around, whether or not to do something you know is wrong. These choices change your life. They color your world, in extreme cases if you make the wrong choice you could end up somewhere a lot worse then in the Between. So how do you choose? How do you pick when there is so much at stake?

   Wisdom. There is a difference between a good choice and a wise one. After three years of looking for work, I am offered a job. Now I have to make a choice. It would be a good choice to take the job, find a sitter, and work. It is good to make money. It is good to have a job. This job would be a good choice. Then the variables come in, I have to work Sundays, so I won't be able to go to church, I\ have to work some nights, so my child would be at the sitter's late into the night, my schedule will vary week to week, so she may have to quit soccer. Is it still a good choice? Enter more variables, I am not making salary, it is a minimum wage job, no benefits, varying hours, time away from my home, my child, and my church. Is it still a good choice?

      Wisdom comes from God, its listening to the Holy Spirit, and allowing Him to guide you. The truth of any situation is already in you, you just have to be still and tap into it. For my situation Wisdom tells me that my child's well being should be my priority. Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Wisdom says that I should not give up going to church because I have to go to work. Wisdom made me stop and add up the cost, not the financial one, God has provided for me faithfully during this time and I have never lacked for anything, but the intangible one. Is it wise to put your child in someone else's  care, is it wise to miss her soccer games and practices, is it wise to spend more on child care then what you make? Wisdom looks into the future, it looks at the quality of the decision, it takes into account the effect your choice has on the ones you love, and who are dependent on you. When you view a choice through the lens of Wisdom you see that a good choice is not necessarily the right choice for you. 


     Solomon was the wisest person in the world. There has been none that equal him. Yet with all his wisdom he often made poor choices. He chose women that worshiped other gods. At the time He thought it was a good choice, He was a king, the easiest way to form alliances with other kingdoms is to marry into them. It may have been a good choice politically but as far as a wise choice, not so much. He allowed his wives' beliefs to sway his heart,  he allowed his choice to change his life. In the end He lost favor with God. His kingdom, that he worked so hard to make great was destroyed. His choices, although good, were not wise. I may not be a King, but my family, my life, is my kingdom. The choices I make affect my subjects, the values and ideals that i cultivate in my life and in my child's life will leave ripples that will outlive me and my choices. The same goes for you monster. When it is time to make a choice, you don't just want to make a good choice, you want to make a Wise one. 

Choose Wisely. 

Keep It Moving....

Happy Monday Monsters!!! Wow it is already the end of July. Time is flying by even though at times it feels like nothing is moving forward. I can totally feel the earth spinning under my feet sometimes when my day feels like it is in fast forward. At other times I feel like snails are zooming past me. It gets very frustrating when you have you so much you want to get done and nothing seems to be progressing. In the between, you feel like everyone and everything is moving forward, and you are at a standstill or worse in reverse. You are watching your friends zoom ahead in their careers, families, relationships, whatever and you have yet to pick out what shoe your going to wear today. It is like your coming in dead last in the race. You saw yourself so much further ahead in life then where you are now. losing

This is just an illusion monster. There is no race. You may be in a different place then where you thought. You might not be working fast enough to "keep up" with where you think you should be, but you are not losing. You, monster, are in the perfect place, at the perfect time, for you. In the Between you will learn about Divine timing. God's time is totally different from ours. He thinks in Eternity while we struggle with the Now. I want a career Now, I want a boyfriend Now, I want a baby Now, I want that promotion Now, I want the new house, car, life, money, etc. Now. You are looking around at everything and everybody else and saying why them and not me. They are getting theirs Now. Well monster you are not them and you don't know what they did, went through or experienced to get their Now. Your Now is coming, just not right now.

Sucks huh? I have always had a problem with patience. I am a go-getter. I like to keep it moving. If something is not working i fix it, discard it, or trade it in and I keep it moving. I was taught to go and get what I wanted. I was a Wonder Woman. I kicked butt and took names, and did not have to practice patience.

 Well in the Between you will find that your old way of doing things does not work. Hustle as hard as you want, you still will not get to the Next. I told you the Between is a character building workout. In life you can't do 10 sit-ups and get an instant six pack. You have to eat right, exercise daily, work out those muscles, throw in some cardio and earn your six pack. Same thing applies to building your Character. You have to get rid of bad habits, bad thinking, bad living and start building good habits, good thinking and Godly living. It is going to take time, and effort.

There is good news!!! You seriously didn't think I would leave you without any did you? No matter how long you may spend in the between, wandering in the wilderness, dealing with your mess God has a plan and a promise for you. You are not losing anything. You are gaining. And God has promised to Restore all that you have lost, better yet He will give you more than you lost, more than you dreamed or hoped. Joel 2:25
 ^"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm," I know, it sounds crazy who was talking about worms anyway. Dig deeper, God will restore to you anything and everything that has been taken. Your job, your home, your relationship, your friendship, your children, your strength, your health, your joy, the list is endless. It does not matter how old you are, how young you are, where you are, God has promised restoration and not just replacement but more and better then what you lost. Joshua 24:13 "So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant."


This means monster, that your life is not at a standstill. You are not losing, it is never too late and  you have no expiration date. He will open doors for you and you will be able to walk through them, He will bless you beyond measure. This is not to say that you can just sit back and wait for it, it is to give you hope, to know that all you are working towards is waiting for you and you will have it. Not Now but Soon. So quit looking at what others are doing, having, etc. and get about your business. Don't you have some work to do? Keep it Moving 

Be the Blessing

Happy Monday Monsters, I hope you enjoyed your weekend and took a day to play, to breathe and to laugh. The first lesson you will learn in the Between is patience. Your looking toward the Next, cleaning out your Past, working out your Between and hopefully you are not waiting around for a Blessing. You, monster, are already experiencing blessings. Your learning, your growing and when you stop and breathe you see all the blessings around you. You are covered in blessings, and in the Next you will be over run with them. In the Between you learn to see the simple blessings God provides daily. You might not have what you want, but God will always provide what you need. I have learned that the quickest way to experience the Blessing you have been praying for is to be the Blessing: in someone else's life. 


That's right. I am dragging you out of your closet, your hidden space where you are working on you to encourage you to be a Blessing. In the Between you will be tempted to hold on to what you have. To keep your things close, after all you have control over your material things. Your time is precious, you have things to do, jobs to apply to, a child to raise, a job to get to, a relationship to develop, this could be an endless list of things you need for you. Well as long as you focus on you, the Blessing your waiting for will continue to wait on you. Its not a typo it is the truth. God has already answered your prayer. Everything you have asked for is waiting for you, you have to get past you to get it. How do you do that? Be a Blessing.


This is what it looks like. You have been praying for a breakthrough, for a man, a house, clothes, food. I don't know what your praying for but it is time to get off your knees and get to work. The Word says that God will bless the works of your hands, well if your hands are not doing anything what is there to bless? All your prayers have been about what you need, what you want, what you can't do without, etc. Once again you have entered Self-ishness. Move away from Self and focus on Others. 

I am not bragging, I am sharing hopefully something in this will inspire you to be a Blessing. I do not have a job, instead of sitting around waiting for the phone to ring I volunteer. I counsel teen moms. I put all the focus into it that I would my career. As a result I am able to bring joy and love into other peoples lives. Since I am not working I cannot fill my desire to shop. I know sad right. I clean out my closet and my daughters closet and clothes every few months and donate them to Goodwill. Our closets are overflowing with clothes, and I have not shopped in years. Each month I take bags of food to the food pantry and our kitchen is overflowing with food. We can't eat it fast enough. My mom loves to garden but does not have the time. I get down and dirty in her garden and it is overflowing with flowers, fruit, we had so many tomatoes we were giving bags of them away! I live in my mother's home, like a visitor for months until God revealed to me that I was praying for a home and I had one. I got up and now I clean my mother's home, take care of her animals, fix her meals all the things I would do for a husband and I realized I was in training for the life I said I wanted, but for her I was the Blessing she was praying for. For the women I counsel, I am the help they have been praying for. For the ones who benefit from my clothing and food I am the Blessing they have been praying for. In Blessing others with the little I had, with the works of my hands God has blessed me in abundance.

I am not telling you to give something to get something, but I am sharing with you that if you will bless others God will bless you. So to steal from Barack's last campaign. Change. Be the change you want to see in your life.  So today monster go be a blessing, you can start by smiling at every one you meet. That smile you give may be the one thing that changes their day for the better. Be the Blessing.

Resurrection: Its Not Just For Easter

Good Morning, monsters. Hope you enjoyed your holiday. How did the soul searching go? Did you get that bitter taste out of your mouth, more importantly did you begin to root it out of your soul. I know its difficult, I warned you that it was a tricky, sneaky thing. It may take awhile to get its tendrils out of the nooks and crannies of your soul, but keep at it. I am constantly walking around with a bottle of Round-Up, squirting every nasty tendril that pops its head up. Every day I am hacking away at that root. Writing this is killing the bitterness, every key stroke is making it weaker and soon, it will be all gone.

On to today's topic. Congratulations graduate you have left the Before. You've put away all your exes, you have stopped the back in the day episodes, and you have retired from your party planning career. Now what? If your anything like me, your shocked. For the first time you are awake, and the light is blinding. You look around and realize you have been living in a bubble, life has gone on merrily around you and your having a bad hair day, your wearing ugly sweats, and you can give a detailed recap of every bad reality show on television. Don't go back into hiding! Shake it off. Get up get out of those nasty sweats, do a mini makeover, and face the day. Really face it.

When I finally came to myself I was shocked. I was chilling on the couch eating chips, watching some inane woman making a fool of herself on national T.V.  and I caught my reflection. I had become a couch potato. Me! I hadn't rocked heels in a year, my poor babies were locked away in boxes, and what was I wearing, pajamas at 3 in the afternoon? My nails were not done, my legs not shaved, and I was rocking my natural hair color. This had gone too far. Your wake up may not look like this but its still a wake up you begin to take notice of what your doing, eating wearing, you notice your surroundings, congratulations baby you are awake. Today is your Resurrection Day.

So what does this mean? It means you are no longer distracted by what you lost, you've stopped all the distractions, you have begun working on your bitterness and suddenly you have become aware of yourself. This is a strange moment. Now that your not looking back, you can look forward and all you see are possibilities. The whole world has opened up to you, its like you have not been breathing and you can finally fill your lungs. You get off that couch, march into the bathroom and reclaim you.  This post is going to be short. Today you are going to be so excited about you that this blog is just blocking you from saying hello to you. So monster go do it. Change your hair, put on some make up, go sit in the sun. Today is the first day of your new life. Get to It. Because after today we step into the In Between. Enjoy your day