Waiting with Expectancy!!!

After writing the blog post about working overtime, I received at text from a reader that said "WHAT NEXT?". I was confused at first, and then the person said "What do I do after I give God control and let him fulfill his plan. I didn't have an immediate answer. I was kind of stumped. So today, I remembered a sermon I listened to one day while driving to school, and the pastor spoke about waiting for God's blessings. He stated that we should wait with faith that God is about to make those things we have been praying for come to pass. I listened to the entire sermon, but I didn't quite get it. I knew that the sermon was a good one, and I knew that I needed to hear it. I just could not quite understand. What did the pastor mean about waiting with expectancy? What did he mean wait with faith?

I wanted to blog about the sermon, but I just could not get what he was saying. It wasn't until today that I was online browsing at something that I have been wanting and even trying to plan for. All of a sudden I saw something that was reassuring, and I really think it was a sign from God. I had looked at the same photos, but it was something different about the photo this time. So, it hit me. I understood what the pastor was saying. We have to wait for our blessings, and while waiting we have to show God we have faith that he is going to deliver.

Now that I understand, I realized that I had not been waiting with expectancy. I would easily get discouraged when I stumbled or it seemed that things weren't happening fast enough. I would even wonder if it was ever going to happen because it seemed to be taking so long. But with this attitude, it was never going to happen. I was questioning God's power. I wasn't waiting like I knew he was going to bless me. Instead, I was sitting around worried and wondering how I could possibly make it happen. I was failing to acknowledge the power of God, and relying on myself and other people to make something happen.

There are a few things that I have prayed and prayed about, and almost became discouraged about. Last night, I realized that I wasn't allowing God to make those things happen. I was too busy trying to be the superhero, and I suck at being a superhero. About a week ago, I was filled with excitement because I thought I was on the road to accomplishing one of those goals, and guess what, I was slapped with a huge disappointment. I told myself, "forget it and give up." But on last night I got confirmation from God not to give up. I must admit that even after the confirmation, I was still hesitant to be excited because of past disappointments. However, this morning I received further confirmation. So now I choose to stop questioning God and wait in expectancy.

So, I will leave you with this. When you have asked God about your plan, and you have relinquished control to him, wait in faith. Wait for your blessing as if you know God is going to make things happen soon. Show God that you know that he is powerful and that he can do all things. With this faith, God will really do some life-changing things.

Stop working OVERTIME trying to Change something you have no control over

Control is something most of us want to have over our lives. We work hard to accomplish our goals and live out our dreams. We usually have a plan for our lives and we work day and night trying to fulfill the plan. Sometimes we get so focused on the plan until we forget to ask God if that's the plan he has for our lives. Not acknowledging God's plan will result in a long struggle in trying to accomplish a plan that may not even be what he has in mind for us. We have to be very careful with thinking that we have control over our own lives because when we act this way it leads to unnecessary stress and worry. Sometimes the very thing that we work hard to make us happy, is the same thing that the devil will use to make us unhappy, worry, or stress. But when we give God complete control over our lives this does not matter.

So, let me break this down because it took me some time to understand. Many of us have goals or dreams of getting married, buying a home, getting a business off the ground, getting a promotion, having kids, or whatever goal or plan we have made for our lives. We stress and slave trying to make these things come to pass. Often times when we are not accomplishing these goals we go through each day worrying and working harder than we probably should be. I know I have always busted my butt trying to work toward a plan that I didn't get God's approval of. I have been trying to control my life, when I could easily put things in God's hand and do my part and be much happier.

You see, life can be very stressful and challenging. Life has many roadblocks. Life has traps. We will stumble over some of those roadblocks, and we will fall in many of those traps. All of this is okay because it's a growing and learning experience. This does not mean that we should go through life angry, bitter, and worried about fixing things that God can fix in record time. We have to learn to stop letting our plans, goals, and dreams determine our happiness. I know it's hard being happy when your finances are out of whack, the kids are acting like little hoodlums, you have been overlooked for a well deserved promotion, or your spouse or significant other just want get it right.

GUESS WHAT??? You can not go through life being miserable, unhappy, or feeling sorry for yourself. You have to learn to show God and yourself that you can be happy and thankful for your current situation. You have to release control to him. Releasing control does not mean that you are just verbalizing it. It means that you will stop working overtime trying to make it happen, just do your part and nothing else. You will stop worrying about it. Finally, you will show God you can be genuinely happy with where you are. When you release this control, God will go to work and you will start to see amazing things happen. He may even make the plan you had for yourself come to pass, but if that plan doesn't come to pass he will give you something even greater.

So, I will leave you with this. I understand that most of us are naturally independent people, and we work hard to have and maintain a good life. I also understand that it is scary not knowing or having control over our lives, but we should not fear when GOD IS IN CONTROL. God wants us to trust him and place our worries and woes in his hand. When we do this he can go to work. So, give god control over our plans, and STOP working overtime on things that we were never designed to CHANGE or CONTROL.

Slow Down & Cherish Each Moment

My heart is heavy and so I decided to write. This morning I learned that a 23 month old baby boy passed away from severe burns, while his mom and mom's boyfriend sits in jail facing felony child abuse and neglect charges. The baby boy happens to be one of my son's classmates at aftercare. I don't know the details, but I know that my heart aches for the families involved. Incidents such as this make you think about your own child or children. It makes you wonder if you are giving them the best life possible, or if you hugged them tight enough before you left them, or did you tell them you loved them.

I know this morning my mind is not settled and I just think about the innocent life. Children are truly blessings and sometimes we unintentionally forget that. Sometimes we get so caught up into life and routines that we don't always take the time to cherish the small moments. I never want to experience such tragedy, and I never want to wonder if I hugged my love bug enough, if I kissed him, of if he knew that mommy loved him.

Learning of this news, forced me to reflect over my life. I must admit every since my son was born I have been working hard and none stop to give him an awesome life. We have been moving none stop. I almost feel like in May he should walk across the stage with me. He literally listened to law school lectures while in the womb, he has tagged along with me to meet with professors, and he has had to endure me giving up mommy and son time to allow me to study. I never looked at things in this perspective until today. I always thought of it as I am doing what I have to do for us. Yes, I want an awesome future for my KING, but I don't want to sacrifice precious moments with him.

I realized that maybe I need to slow down, hug him a little longer and tighter, tell him I love him even more, and just be sure to take advantage of each day. I encourage all parents to hug your child or children a little tighter and longer today and from this point forward. Remember to take advantage of every second with your little ones.

Forgive, Forgive, and Forgive!!!

All of us have experienced being hurt, betrayed, lied to, or anything that has led us to hold a grudge. Sometimes we get so angry until we despise being in the same room with the person. Instead of dealing with the situation and moving on, we choose to bury the anger deep inside. We don't realize that we are giving that individual power over us and our emotions. We are holding ourselves back by not forgiving and just letting it go. If every time we think about this person and what they have done, we get mad then that means that we have allowed that person to negatively affect us. We should never give anyone the power to control how we act, react, or feel.

I know it's hard to forgive when you are constantly reminded of the event that caused you to be angry or hurt in the first place. Although you may be hurt or upset, you have to remember that we hurt God often, but he doesn't hold a grudge. He forgives us and continues to give to us abundantly. How can we expect God to ever be so forgiving of us, when we hold a grudge until God knows when. Some of us are holding on to grudges from 10 years ago. The person we are angry at, probably has forgotten all about the situation. That person probably has moved on and isn't given any thought to what we are mad over. This is why we need to learn to forgive and move on.

No, I want say that you must forget about the situation, but we must forgive. I firmly believe that it is okay to remember that situation as long as you have forgiven and do not let it control your feelings and emotions. The situation should be viewed as a lesson learned. Think about what you learned and how you grew from the situation. You know now never to make the same mistake or allow the same behavior. Think about it, you are smarter now. So, forgive the person and thank them for making you a better person. And do not worry if they care or accept the apology. That part is solely on them. Once you do your part don't worry about the rest.

So remember to forgive, forgive, and forgive as much as you need to. Trust me, each time you will grow and become wiser, stronger, and much happier. You will no longer be holding on to hurts and pains from the past. You will feel free. So, each time you feel yourself holding a grudge, remember how you mess up or fall short, and how God forgives without thinking twice.

"If You SAY SO"

I know most of us have heard of "the power of the tongue" or "speaking things into existence". I know some of us may not even realize the power in those words. I know I didn't really understand the power that God had given me. The reality of those words came to me on this morning. Most mornings I need a boost or uplifting, so usually I search for songs, quotes, or even small sermons to give me a push. It's like my morning coffee. This morning I stumbled across a sermon titled "saying so". It caught my attention because I was wondering, "What could this possibly be about"? As I listened, I realized that the pastor was discussing "SPEAKING THINGS INTO EXISTENCE." At that moment I knew that God sent that message to me because today is day two of my detox and the theme is "changing the way you think".

As I listened to the sermon, I realized that I had all of the tools I needed already to fix my situations, to heel, to accomplish my goals, and to do everything that is pleasing to God. He had already given me the answers, and I was ignoring them. I guess I am so used to thinking about all of the negative, and allowing past situations to determine what I thought or predicted about future situations. I need so badly to change the way I think; I need a renewed mind. Instead of looking at the worse in situations, I need to look at the positive and learn to be in control of situations. Many times I would be so negative and declare that the worse things would happen, and the worse would happen. For instance, some mornings I would wake up and declare a long and awful day. Guess what, my day would be the worse. If I learn to speak good things, and stay positive even when I face adversity, I will see so much change in my life.

I am not saying that when you speak good things, you will never face a trial or tribulation. I am saying that we need to start speaking blessings into our lives. When you feel down, declare and claim a better mood. When your relationships are failing, don't just say it'll never get better. Sometimes we get caught up in looking at how big our problems are when we should be talking about how big our GOD is. He can fix, change, repair, bring together, and bless any situation. We have to learn to have faith, work at it, and speak positive things in our lives. Let's get out of the habit of dwelling in our hurt and feeling sorry for our situations. Let's renew our minds, and start to speak ourselves out of our trying times.

Remember, nothing is to big for God. Just because we face trying situations does not mean we have to remain in them. Let's learn to have faith and to speak our way out of our trials and tribulations. If you can say it, it can happen. If you don't remember or take anything from this post, remember the phrase "If You SAY SO".

Let's Face It TURNING AWAY should not be that hard

Today is the first day of the Spiritual Detox and the theme is "Identifying Toxins". The song that immediately came to mind was Turning Away by Bryan Wilson. The chorus portion of the song says : "I’m turning away from the things that I do that I know aren’t pleasing in your sight"
"I’m turning away from the messed up mindset and the things that I know aren’t right"
"I’m turning away from the past the hurt and shame, all the things that had me bound".

I listened to the song a couple of times this morning, and then I began to think about the toxic people, behaviors, and things that I needed to turn away from. There was one thing that was at the top of my list, and I didn't have to think twice about it. There are some things that we know are not good for us, but we hold on foolishly. I know that God has sent me so many signs and signals to rid my self of things, but many times I did not listen. I resisted and I allowed the toxin to become stronger and stronger. The more I resisted the harder it became to get rid of the toxin. I was allowing the toxins to control me. I started making excuses and feeling sorry for myself, when I was the one responsible for my current situation. I started feeling stuck, but I shouldn't have felt stuck.

For instance, the song says "I'm turning away" not Lord, I am stuck, I want to turn away or I am trying to turn away. The artist is speaking about doing it. We have a choice. When something is not pleasing to God and it is destroying us spiritually, emotionally, physically, or mentally, we need to turn away from it. Don't empower the toxins and allow the toxins to play tricks on your mind. The toxins will have you thinking that you are not strong enough to turn away, when really you are. Think about it. We all do things that we probably shouldn't do. Some of those things may even feel soooo right, but we know its not good for us. Guess what, we still do it. At that moment, we were turning away from logic, we were turning away from what's good for us, and in a sense we were turning away from God.

If we can turn away from God who is responsible for providing all our needs, then surely it should not be hard to turn away from something that doesn't mean us any good in the first place. Step out on faith and get rid of the toxins. Turn away from it and choose what's best for you. I am going to listen to my own advice and get rid of the toxins that were on my list, and I hope you will too.

I am SOOO Glad that God doesn't take BREAKS!!!

Imagine being in a situation and you called on God and he said "hey pray to me later, I am on lunch break." You wait 30 mins or 1 hour, and begin to pray again. This time he doesn't even pick up. Maybe you get the voicemail. Maybe he rejects the call. He calls back minutes later and says "Oh, I was running late from my break, now I can help you." I know this would cause us to go through several different emotions, and I am sure we would not feel that important. We may even feel abandoned during that lunch break. But, Guess What? We do it all the time. I know I do.

At work, when I get tired of staring at two computer screens or looking at records, guess what I go on break. When I get tired of studying and the words begin to run together, I go on break. Whenever I get hungry, I go on a lunch break. Truthfully, a few months ago (I probably should phrase that better because it has been longer than two months) I went on a spiritual break. I did exactly what I do not want God to do. I decided that I was tired of some situations and some hardships, and I put myself on a break. Crazy, Huh? Unlike many of us would do, while I was on break God still tried contacting me. HE still protected me and was there. He still tried to provide me encouragement and show me my purpose. But OH NO, I wasn't having that I WAS ON BREAK. I did not want to involve myself in anything else. I needed time to myself, well I thought I did.

The more and more I took this so called break and ignored him and my purpose, my break continued to turn into more work, trouble, and worry. My break was no longer a break but a fight against my destiny. I thought that I could go on vacation from life, and it turned out to be the worst thing I could do. I made excuses like I have to get my life right and then I'll follow him or what will people think if I become this self-righteous God fearing person. I was worried and afraid. I was afraid that I was too weak to fulfill my purpose. I was worried that those who knew me beforehand would feel that I was a hypocrite, and turn away from me. God was telling me that I should lead and be an encouragement for people. But I was like "who in the world would follow me." "I am not popular; I don't have that many friends." I wondered, "If I can't get my own few friends or family to follow me, how will I get people who are not my friends to follow me." I was thinking, "God You have the wrong person for the job."

But then hardship after hardship began to beat me down. I would go to him, but I wasn't sincere. I just wanted him to bring me out of some situations. I know God wasn't happy with me being a coward, or going on this self destructing vacation. No, he wasn't on vacation, but he was showing me how it would be if he was. So, I began to listen, but I wasn't moving fast because I still had fear. But one day I realized that God understands that the path to fulfilling our purpose will not always be easy. He knows that we may even stumble and fall, but he will pick us up, dust us off, and put us in a place where it will seem we never fell. So, I am currently trying to fulfill my purpose and I am not as worried about my plight. I know someone is listening and someone is being encouraged. My goal is to reach millions, and one day I know that will come.

So, I leave you with this. DON'T allow life's situations to push you to take a break from GOD. He doesn't want us hurt, lost, or alone. Also, listen to him, and when he tells you to do something, do it regardless of you fear because he will never lead you to the wrong places. When in doubt or feeling a little weary, Imagine calling on him and he say's "I'm on vacation, I'll call you later."