All posts by Treva Barnard

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About Treva Barnard

She is the mother of 3 beautiful girls, an author, a mentor, an inspirational writer and a minister in the gospel.

Transformation Monday

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“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” Ecclesiastical 3:1

In every season it brings on a whole new climate that will cause us to change and adapt to that season. If we don’t make the necessary changes within that season we will become uncomfortable and feel out of sorts. As it is in the natural so it is in the spirit. In life you will always go through transition,  transformation, change and timing. Changing used to not be one of my strong suits because it seems to be my life story. My life was always changing and  I didn’t like the changes that were going on.  I can’t say that I adapted or handled them all well. It would literally make me cringe. I had a routine of how I wanted things to go and when anything came to alter that it would mess things up for me. Change is inevitable but your response to change can either launch you or delay your process in moving forward. One day I realized that and it changed my whole perspective on how I looked at change. Change is not always a bad thing and even if it is how we handle it will determine what comes next. I also realize that not all change was bad and the change I wanted to see had to begin in me. Our response plays a big part in making a difference in whatever transition we may experience. As I begin to take more on my identity of Christ not only did I begin to change but things begin to change in my life for the better. Now when there is some sort of change I go to God for the answers and for direction to  help me get through this next season. God never intended for us to stay where we begin, but to transform into what He has called us to be. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Gandi

The Direct Timing Of God

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I hadn’t even been in my house for a year and I have seen more caterpillars and butterflies than I have seen in years. They are becoming a rarity. One day I saw 4 caterpillars in a row. I got so excited, like a little kid I decided to collect them. I got a jar and made sure there were different sizes of grass for them to crawl on, that there was enough grass at the bottom for them to eat from and there were enough holes at the top for them to breath. I made sure to continue to check on them from time to time. One day I checked on them and noticed that one of them had died, one had gotten away and the others were decreasing in size. I had never seen anything like it. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what was happening. I heard something say let them go. I really didn’t want to, but since my method wasn’t working I did so. Not sure if they even survived, but I never saw to many more after that. Today as God was downloading some stuff into me he took me back to that moment a year ago and said the reason why they were dying is because you had confined them into a place they were never meant to fit in and you tried to transform them into something before their time. They weren’t ready to be transformed into butterflies yet. To everything there is a time and a season. The process is unavoidable, but because you were trying to turn them into something before their timing it was becoming detrimental to their health. If you aren’t careful you can conform to the opinons and identity of others instead of transforming to the identity of Christ which you are called to. Don’t allow anyone to confine you to a place (a box) that you were never meant to fit in. Your were never designed to live in bondage. But don’t go ahead of God’s timing. Even when God shows us certain things it doesn’t mean that we are suppose to immediately go.  When it is your time and your season you will know it. Not only will you be able to sense it in the air, but as you get into position everything else will fall into place. Someone asked tthe question, how will know that you are in your purpose. It’s something that really can’t be explained other than you will just know. Be ye anxious for nothing, wait on the direct timing of God. Your season of change is coming quicker than you think and you can’t afford to let it pass you by this time. Ready yourself to jump in when God says NOW! Get in position because you are next in line.

Part Of The Outcast

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Everytime me and my girls are out we always seem to run into someone that I may know. They always ask me that questions, “Dang, moma do you know everybody in the whole wide world” Laughing, No I don’t know everybody I just know a lot of people.  They are so fascinated by how many people I know which in their eyes it seems like millions of people has them asking a series of questions like how do I know them, where did I meet them, how often do I talk to them, etc. They want to know the whole history in detail.  Growing up I was very activite in sports and activities within my school, very involved within my church and community, but  I never saw myself as one of the popular ones. I knew that I was well loved within my family, my church, among my friends and my piers, but yet I still felt like there was something missing and feeling this need to fit in. I always felt like I was an outcast and could never fit in with the one’s who were part of what I considered the “popular club” or shall we say the click. I always thought something was wrong with me and would try to do stuff just to fit in. I was so disperately  trying to fit in that it would bring me out of my character that people would even notice. The few times that I went to a party or a club the 1st thing that was asked of me was, “What are you doing here” People would even question what I was doing because they knew I didn’t fit in, that just wasn’t me and I didn’t belong. It had gotten so bad as my need to just fit in or somehow belong that when I would look in the mirror I didn’t even know or like the person that I would see. Through the years I allowed it to build insecurities and eventually lost who I was. I lost an identity that I really wasn’t sure of from the beginning. I have made a lot of bad choices, wrong decisions and have made a lot of mistakes, but the one thing that I was sure of is that I loved God more than anything.  Now as I talk to others and  finding out some truths about back then that being  a part of the in crowd wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. So I appreciate it more now than I did then that I wasn’t a part of the in crowd, but part of the out cast. Truth be told though I have experienced a lot in my life time it has that keep me from so much more. Through God’s love for me and finding out who I really am through him he is rebuilding my self-esteem, myself image of how I have viewed myself, my self worth and healing all those areas where I was broken and have been damaged, my places of insecurities he is making them secure again. Though as painful as it has been I am grateful for who I am becoming, the woman he has always called me to be. If you are wondering why you have never fit in, it is because leaders stand out and don’t fit into the mold of what others think that they should be. “You are wonderfully and fearfully made” Psalm 139:14 Until you know who you are in Christ Jesus you will spend a life time trying to fit in a place you were never meant to fit in and pleasing people who have never had your best interest at heart.  God has called you to stand out and YOU have to be ok with who God has called you to be regardless if others aren’t.  Chosen, called out, set a part, and different. For once in my life I finally know who I am and I love the person that I see when I look in the mirror. Though the roll to lead gets lonely and can be cumbersome at times, greater is your reward when you follow God’s lead.

Strength To Stand On My Own

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Yesterday I was out watering my plants and when I came around to watering the Japanese Maple Tree I noticed that it had some what detached itself from the stick it was connected to.  In the beginning stages of growing a tree sometimes a stick is attached to the tree to keep it from growing crooked and until it is strong enough to stand on it’s own.  I planted the tree almost a year ago and I honestly didn’t think that it was going to make it because it wasn’t producing anymore leaves and the leaves that remained were falling off. Even the branches were dying on it. I kept watering it every other day and prayed that the roots would have settled and were strong enough to make it through the winter. I kept checking to see if there were any changes and there wasn’t anything. By spring it flourished and the leaves were beautiful as it stood looking healthy and strong.  As I looked closer at the tree the stick that was attached had snapped in half and some of the strings had come a loose.  That let me know that the tree had grown and it was strong enough to stand on it’s own.  So I removed the string and the stick.  I stood there for a moment just to make sure that it was able to stand on it’s own and sure enough it was.  That made me smile.  I was glad that I didn’t do what I had initally started to do which was to up root it and throw it away.  Just because you don’t see any evidence of life on the surface doesn’t mean that their isn’t anything growing underneath the soil.  Sometime’s the greatest things are produced in a dark place. Give it some time to be produced. Don’t give up on it just yet.  God will send people and things in ours lives to help us along the way, but if we aren’t careful they can become a crutch.  If we continue to use our crutches how will we know what we can do on our own.  Crutches can become a handicap when they are used past their season and we become so depended on it that we think that we need it survive.   At times God will remove the things that we have become depended on to hold us up (crutches) so that we can see just how strong we really are. Your greatest strength is sometimes found when you are finally able to stand on your own.

Broken, But Not Beyond Repair

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I was on my way home from work the other day and it was pouring down rain so bad that I had to turn on the wind shield wipers just so that I could see.  My back wind shield wipers haven’t been working properly and will work when they want to. I decided to try to see if they would work and of course they didn’t.  I have known that they have needed to be fixed for sometime now, but because I have never really had to use them that much has delayed me in doing so. In order for me to go have them looked at may require me possibly taking some time off of work and money that I don’t necessarily have at the moment. The motor probably has gone bad in it which won’t take much to have it fixed, but according to it’s importance to me at this moment gets put on the back burner.  If it ain’t broke than don’t fix it right?  Though that maybe a minor issue if our mindset continues to follow that pattern that is how you will view something’s of great importance and needs immediate attention in your life to which not only causes you to make hasty decisions, but the wrong ones. How do you process the things that are broken in your life?  Not everything that is broken needs to be fixed, but not everything that is broken needs to be thrown away. When something stops working it’s easy to try to get something new to replace it; however, new doesn’t always mean that it is better. Something’s may just need minor adjustments, a little more time, effort and work. More times than not we make the assumption that what is broken is unfixable, we want invest the time to see what’s wrong or what went wrong and throw it away. We place more value on something that is new when the real value is in what we invest into over a period of time. Don’t be so willing to throw away something because it stops working before you find out why it stopped working in the 1st place and see if it’s worth saving at all. Treasure is never found on the surface, but underneath the ground.  You will never discover it unless you are willing to invest the time in finding it.  Some of us stay in a place of brokenness because we are seeking the wrong thing(s) to be fixed. The good news is though you maybe broken you are never broken beyond repair. Let the potter put you back together again.

Caught Off Gaurd

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Have you ever been driving and right before you are about to change lanes you had to immediately swing back over to your lane to save you from a head on collision because of the car that was in your blindside that you never saw coming? A blindside normally accures when something comes up along the side of you and you are unaware. Thank God that I had a quick reflex that kept me out of an accident. There are something’s in life that will catch us totally off guard because we never seen it coming and we end up hitting it head on. Sometimes the signs are there, but we either ignore them,  look over them  or we are looking in a totally different direction and we don’t even notice it and preced anyway because we think the path is clear. The good thing is, though something’s may catch us by surprise it doesn’t God because he already knows. No matter how many times in the life that we may make the wrong decisions that may lead us down the wrong path, it’s never to late for us to get back on course.  It may delay us to our destination, but we are never denied access. It is up to us to learn from our mistakes so that we want repeat them again and no matter how bad the damage and as painful as it might be, we are never damaged beyond repair. Take what you have learned from it  into the next season in life. Pay attention to the signs and make sure that your view is clear before proceeding to the other side.

A LIGHT In The Midst Of A Dark Place

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All of my life I have always been fascinated with lighthouses and never really knew why until now.  From an early age anything that I would draw it  normally included a lighthouse on it.  My dream was to some day collect lighthouses and to one day see a lighthouse.  This year part of my dream has come true and I was able to see a lighthouse.  I went to  go visit my daughter in L.A. and we took the train to go see my family in Cali.  My Uncle mentioned that he wanted to take us to go see the lighthouse.  You should have seen me.  I was like a kid in a candy shop jumping up and down with excitement.  They had no idea what this meant to me and neither to what extent did I.  The visions that I had when I would see the lighthouse was totally different than what actually happened, but the fact that I was getting ready to see a lighthouse in itself was priceless.  Can someone say BUCKET LIST!  It was everything that I could have imagined and it was breath taking.  It was just like what I had seen in pictures and read about as it set on top of a hill looking over the ocean.  You could see miles and miles away.  The weather was perfect that day.  It was as if time stood still for me and I breathed in every moment of it.  Lighthouses is a tower, building or structure that was designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and used as a navigational aid or maritime pilots at sea or on inland water ways.  Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, safe entries to harbors, and can also assist in aerial navigation. Light comes in many forms and is one of the most important sources of energy used throughout the world and without it we wouldn’t be able to see and would be some what lost in direction when in the dark.  As I look at the state in which our country is living in today we are in a very dark place.  It is sad  and hurtful to see and experience, but it doesn’t shock me because God said in his word 2 Timothy 3:1 that difficult times would come.  In all that is going on don’t loose site of the bigger picture which is that God is coming back.  We may not like the things that are happening in our world and nor are we responsible for the decisions that are being made that are out of our control, but we are responsible for our response.  They say if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything.  You do have a choice and the decisions that you will make especially in the days to come are what will make a difference. Don’t allow the standards of others make you lower yours.  In spite the decisions of others STAND FIRM in what you believe.  Chose ye this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.  I now realize why my love for lighthouses have been so great.  Mathew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” If you are unable to see the light in the midst of your dark place maybe it’s because the light is you. Are you willing to be used by God to be a light that shines from within you. Shine bright like a diamond.  Be the light to others who still can’t see.

They Are Depending On Us

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The other day I was going out to water my plants and some of the neighborhood kids came around me like flies asking could they help me.

I have been out here several times and have never had that happen. When I am in my garden this is normally part of my meditation time with God and to be honest I was needing that time, but I saw this as an opportunity to minister by way of help. I put my needs aside and humbled myself before God so that he could use me in that moment. So as I began to let them take turns some of them would try to spray the others, drink the water or play with it and I would have to guide them back to focus on what they were suppose to be doing while still having fun. It was a very simple task and I realize it probably had a lot to do with it being water, but the excitement and the energy they displayed in wanting to help made it hard to resist. My next door neighbor said if they are bothering you, you can send them back. I responded that they weren’t a bother. You know I love the kids and I will get them if I need to. Lol, he said please do. Two of the kids I had known since they were babies, but only one of them remembered me and she gave me a hug. She is 8 years old, boy do I feel old. As we completed the task together I told them thank you for helping me and they said you welcome with big smiles on their  faces and then they ran away. My heart was filled with joy, now that I miss. Back at my old church I worked with the Youth Ministry and they have always been one of my passions. Though I don’t deal with them in a great capacity as I did then I realize that was my teaching ground for what is to come and I try to be open to what he is doing now. The words that Jesus spoke are  so important as it gives us our direction, but I believe his greatest impact in his ministry was what he did. When I reflected back on it God showed me how I ministered to them at that moment. 1. You showed them how to serve 2. You gave them opportunity 3. You gave them direction along the way 4. You showed them love by allowing them to come in your space and with a cheerful heart 5. You showed them appreciation 6. They went away filled 7. You were ministered back to you. WOW! I was blown away. That happened within maybe 15-20 mins. We can sometimes make ministry so hard and really it’s that simple. I thank God for being humble enough and open to what he was trying to do in that moment. Although I may never know the impact that one moment may make on their lives, but Ican only image the thought if I would have turned them away.  It still takes a village. Don’t be so caught up in the former glory that you miss out on what God is trying to do through you now. He’s coming another way.

GET UP!!

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Early today I took the girls to the Biltmore House to see the farm animals and when we got around to the goats there was one with a cast on it’s leg. My first response was Awe look at the goat and began to feel sorry for it, but there was something on the inside of me that kept saying  “Get Up”. I waited around a little to see if he would get up or does he normally just stay in that one spot. One of the workers went in to try and get one of the goats so that the kids could see them up close.  Sure enough the goat got up and left. Though it had a limp he didn’t allow it to make him stay where he was. Now no telling how long he has been in a cast and I’m sure he had to learn how to walk all over again, but the fact that he got up proves to me that he kept trying until he was able to do it on his own. There are so many things that can happen in life and if we aren’t careful we will allow it to cripple us to the point that we want get up and move forward. We will make all kind of excuses why we can’t or why we won’t. My question to you is why not? If at first you don’t succeed dust yourself off and try again. I know that it hurts and yes I know how unbarrable it can become, but YOU ARE WORTH IT to try again. You have been given life and an opportunity that some others may never get the chance or opportunity again. Despite your disability don’t allow it to keep you from moving forward. It was through my pain that I found strength and courage. It was through my strength and courage that unlocked my faith that lied from within. No matter how many times I got nocked down or I messed up there was something from within that kept pushing me to get back up again. If a goat can get back up again then what’s your excuse. GET UP!!!

Change Is Necessary And IT Begins With Me

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I was reflecting back to when I was working in Home Care as an Administrator about 5 years ago and thanking God for where he has brought me from. Although I know that I have a lot more growing to do what a difference a couple of years can make.  You never realize how far you’ve come until you look back. That was a time in my life  I hated change so much that it would literally make me cringe. I had what you would probably call “a tunnel vision” There was only one way which was mine and I was comfortable with where I was. If it didn’t make sense to me or if I didn’t feel it in my spirit I wasn’t ok with changing and didn’t really care who knew it. Even though I was good at what I did because I was so blinded by the truth of what was really going on inside of me I was not only hurting others around me, but I was slowly over all killing me. “A Mess”  Though not everyone saw me in that light and even when I tell others of my experiences they doubt my stories because of who they know me to be now. I started not to like the person that I was becoming and began to do some soul searching. As the Lord dealt with me I realized that up until that point I had gone through so many changes and transitions in my life I began to resist any type of change. Overtime I began to build up walls of anger that became resentment, that turned into bitterness and unforgiveness. Most of the things that I had experienced in my life weren’t all goo

d. Matter of fact they were very painful. In most cases I wasn’t given an option nor much of a way out.  The greatest thing that happened to me though was the moment when I learned the power of forgiveness. As the Lord began to change the process of my thoughts than my perspective began to change.  It changed my life forever.  Then as I began to see the fruits of it, that even when things happen that are beyond my control or they don’t turn out the way that I had planned because my perspective has changed I am able to get through it. I know that whatever God allows to happen in my life is all working together for a greater purpose and for his glory.  God sometimes allows things to happen in our lives because he knows what it will take to get us to make the necessary changes that he needs for us to make and sometimes it’s just to save our lives. Everything that has happened in my life no matter how painful it has been, it pushed me to become better and because I made and continue to make the necessary changes within my life I am able to move forward.  Change is inevitable.  Change your mindset and your posture will follow.