Tag Archives: CHANGE

Embracing My Scars

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“But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” Isaiah 53:5

Have you ever had an accident where it left a scar? Depending on the damage or severity of the accident would determine the type of scar it would leave or the length of time it would take for the scar to heal. If the damage is not attended to or handled properly it will cause a lasting scar with internal damage.

Scars remind me that I have been hurt but God reminds me that he can still heal

Scars can spiritually be a representation of things that have happened in our past by trauma experiences.  They can also be a representation of emotional scars that have not been dealt with.

Scars can sometimes be visible, while others are hidden. Some scars are big, and some are small. Even over a period some scars unresolved can still hurt and take longer to heal. If left unchecked they can leave a lasting memory that we wish to forget. Instead of healing from them we bury them and deeply embed them within our soul.

No matter the depth or height of our scars, there is no scar that God can not heal.  He has the power to heal us as if we have never been hurt. We must be willing to do the work it takes to be made whole.  When we allow God to completely heal our scars instead of coming from a place of hurt and pain, we can come from a place of healing, freedom, and peace.

My scars are a testament of what God can do. Through my experiences in life it was through my continued faith in God that brought me through.  Also, my continuing in pursuit to want to be mad whole and doing what is necessary to be set free. That meant I have had to deal with the man in the mirror and some ugly truths about myself.

“If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” John 8:36

This journey is an ongoing process to the freedom that God has truly called us to live.  I am determined to continue in becoming a greater version of my last self.  My prayer is that you will be encouraged through the testimony of my scars.

Song List

Below The Surface

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Photo by sum+it on Pexels.com

“Nothing changes if nothing changes”

As I was vacuuming the steps this morning, I noticed the railings.  It reminded me that I needed to repaint them.  Something said, “why not just take a damp cloth and wipe them off”.  I thought to myself why not.  As I begin to wipe them off, I was so disgusted at how much dirt was on the railings.  It was not even the fact that I needed to touch it up with paint but that it needed to be cleaned off. My youngest daughter was coming down the steps and I said do you see how clean this is?  She said, “was all of that dirt?”  I replied, “yes.  We were both surprised and disgusted. So, we know we need to clean them off more often.

I went back to finish cleaning the steps and as I was cleaning in the crease of the steps the Lord started dealing with me about how we are sometimes ok with just dealing with the surface things in our life. Dealing with the surface does not require much work nor does it allow us to walk in total freedom. We appear to look like we have it all together and we are a mess, we appear to be ok and when we are not, we appear to be happy and we are miserable or we appear to be well and we are really sick. We do not want anyone to know that we are silently suffering, and it is killing us.

“What is being manifested on the surface is the overflow of what has existed underneath”

The things that normally surface to the top are the things that have already being existing from within.  Currently we are in a pandemic and the death of yet another black man that has now started a Revolution is finally causing us to deal with what has always been. Racism at its best and a systemic system that needs to be broken. Although this did not begin with George Floyd, it has lit a fire to start the process of some necessary changes as well as healing. Our nation has appeared to be well and we have been sick for a long time. It is now starting to rear its ugly head.

For things to progress and change we can no longer just deal with the surface. What is on the surface is not the real issue and it will only bring temporary healing. We must dig deep and pull it up from the root. The system they created is working the way it is supposed to. Until a system that was never created for us changes and we get rid of the people who continue to work that same system, we will continue this same fight.

“Keep thy heart with all dilligience; for out of it are the issues of life” Proverbs 4:23

Before there can be a true change in a nation there also has to be a change within us.  This is also shinning a light on where we are individually and our need for change. The true work begins within. Then we can be more effective to the change in our homes, our community, and our nation.

My prayer is that you would allow God to deal with the root of those things that keep surfacing to the top, so that you can walk in total freedom and victory. That you would have the motivation and strength to do the work needed so that you can be free.

Song List

Continuing The Process

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“Enjoy the process! Know that it takes time, just be committed to doing your best each day”

– Unknown Author –

During this pandemic I have been working on getting the ground ready for my patio. I believe that one of the hardest things in this process is tilling the ground. You put in long hours, it is tiring, it takes up a lot of your time and your putting a lot of energy into it. If you have never done landscaping for yourself before, it is a whole lot of work. But once you have completed the process how amazing it is to be able to enjoy the fruits your labor.

Before I began to till the ground, I had to first map out the area where I wanted to put my patio. As I began to start tilling the ground, I came across different size rocks. There was still debris left from when they built my home, almost 7 years ago. Some of that stuff was still embedded in the ground.

After I tilled the ground I then had to use the rack to clear the area, shovel up the access dirt, put in a wheel barrel and put it on the other side of the house. Doing that over and over can take a lot out of you but your determination to keep going is what causes you to make it to the finish line. There were some places that I had to till more than once because it was not leveled out and there was still grass and roots that took a little more time with getting them out. I would occasionally look back to see the progress I had made, yet I still had a long way to go.

I realized though it was hard labor it was causing me to use muscles that I have not used in a long time. It was strengthening me in areas where I had become weak and loss muscle, it was stretching my capacity to be able to handle more.

In this season God is tilling the ground within us, within our hearts, within our minds. He is uprooting those things that have been embedded in us all the way back to our childhood. The unforgiveness against those who have hurt us and caused us pain. He is uprooting those negative images and words that has been spoken over us and to us. It is all a part of his purpose and plan that we walk in total victory, that we are made whole and free so that we can fulfill our purpose in Him.

” If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”

John 8:36

My prayer for you today is that you do not stop in the middle of the process. That you would commit to the process, that you would see it through and that you would finish it. Don’t stop, don’t give up, keep going. You will be better because of it.

Song List

In the Midst of Tragedy

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Photo by Isabella Mariana on Pexels.com

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;”

1 Corinthians 1:27

I did a follow up call with someone that I was talking with earlier today. She was concerned about whether she was going to get paid or not due to school closings. I found out the information that was needed and as a courtesy, I wanted to follow up with the call. In doing so it opened up a door for conversation. I didn’t know her and she didn’t know me, but we talked as if we had known each other forever and we talked on the phone for at least 15 minutes.


Do you sometimes wonder why does it always take a tragedy for us being a little more kinder, to show more love and support, going the extra mile, for us to be doing more of what we should have been doing already?

It would probably be safe to say that sometimes we forget, we lose sight, we lose touch or allow the cares of this life to cause us to be disconnected.

Though things are so uncertain at the moment and they have changed so many times in the course of a day. As people are hurting and in turmoil they grow weary causing them to be unsure of what to do next. It is in these moments in the midst of tragedy everywhere, that I still feel that there is hope for humanity. 

God knew us before we were even formed in our mothers womb and knows actually what it takes to get us back on the path that he has called for us to be. Just like the ingredients it takes to bake your favorite cake or meal, it is those ingredients of life that God uses to create us into who he has called us to be. Unfortunately, he uses a little of bit of tragedy, sorrow, along with joy, happiness, peace and discomfort, etc. and he mixes them all together to mold us an make us.

” Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am they God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will up hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness”

Isaiah 41:10

Sometimes things have to die, so that other things can live.  Dying to old habits, old mindsets, our selfish ways, so that we can birth to new habits, new ideas, create a better path that others may follow. It’s up to each one of us to be willing to make the necessary changes so that we will become better as a result of it. There is still life even in the midst of tragedy.

In this time of quarantine we should all be willing to do a self examination of the things we need to change within ourselves. What are the areas where we need to heal?  Is there someone we need to forgive? As much as we want things to go back to the way they used to be, things will never be the same again. 

Yet I still have this hope that we will all be better after this, as it is causing us to change and have a different aspect on life.  Only those that remain the same are the ones that refuse to change.

Here I am Lord, let the work begin in me!

“Create in my a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit with me”

Psalm 51:10-19

Song List

Holy Spirit by Kim Burrell https://youtu.be/hpOjwb9w1cU

Holy Ghost, fall down on me
Let Your spirit fall down on me
Holy Ghost, fall down on me
Let Your spirit fall down on me

Create in me a new heart, oh God
And renew a right spirit within me
Cast me not away from thy presence, oh God
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me

Holy Ghost, fall down on me
Let Your spirit fall down on me
Holy Ghost, fall down on me
Let Your spirit fall down on me

Holy Spirit help me to walk right
Talk right, live right, help me to be right
I’ll never do anything without
Your leading spirit, Holy Spirit

Cast me not from thy presence, oh Lord
Take not Your spirit
Take not Your spirit from me
Take not Your spirit from me
Take not Your spirit from me

What In The World Are You Thinking

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Did you know that the very things that you are thinking can either cause you to go back, stay stagnated or to move forward?

Our thoughts are so powerful that they can either be a hinderance or a progress.

Where are you in the process of your thinking?

No matter how much you change your lifestyle, if your frame of mind has not changed you are destined to repeat the cycle. Change your mind, change your life!

You can put someone in a new home, but if their mentality hasn’t changed they won’t appreciate it.

Someone can continually go from relationship to relationship, but if their mentality hasn’t changed they will never be satisfied.

You can move to the other parts of the world, but if your mentality has not changed what you ran from will follow you.

We can get so caught up in changing the outward man with materialistic things, but yet our character still remains the same. Could it be because the way we think has not changed that our inner man remains the same. Are you focusing on the wrong things?

Today’s Word: 

Think

  • have a particular opinion , belief, or idea about someone or something
  • direct’s one’s mind toward someone or something; use one’s mind actively to form connected ideas
  • consider the possibility or advantages
  • have a particular mental attitude or approach
  • imagine

Scriptures on Thinking

Every thing that has been created in life began with a thought.  How you process the thought will channel the direction that your life will go in.

A person can be very creative and have great ideas, but if their thoughts don’t motivate them beyond what is in their head those things will never be brought to life.

What is your motivation?

How do you see yourself?

And where do you see yourself?

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used

when we created them”

Albert Einstein

There have been many times that I have had great ideas in my own life, but the things that I thought towards myself talked me out of them. My own doubt, fears, insecurities and the opinions of other people.

The power to believe in yourself is HUGE!

It wasn’t until the moment that I realized who and whose I was that I started believing in myself. My thoughts begin to change and it has changed the course of my life forever.

It has given me a different out look on life and has changed my perspective on how I look at things. Though I feel like I still have a long way to go, it’s a start and  I never want to go back.

Change Challenge: “Let It Begin In Me” Psalm 51:10

  1. Mindset– the process in the way you think
  2. Focus–  Whatever you focus on becomes a part of you. Focus on those things that will push you forward
  3. Motivation– channel in on the things where you are able to draw strength from so that you can create beyond the ideas, dreams, visions and goals that only stay in your head
  4. Plan– if you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten. Out of your head, onto paper, into reality. Do you need to go in a different direction?
  5. Become- the thing in which God has called you to be.

In order for life to change there has to be a transformation in the way that we think.

GO AFTER IT and BE GREAT!!!!

 

 

 

 

I Found A Treasure In the Midst of My Darkness

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“Your word is lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”

Psalm 119:105

Today darkness is associated with bad luck, evil and afflications.  It also comes from our ignorance, disobidience and rebellion.

When we think of darkness we automatically think of doom and gloom, evil, sin, hopelessness, death and sadness just to name a few.

Darkness most of the times comes due to things we’ve done or choices that we have made because we were out of the will and safety of God.  Sometimes darkness will come when it is beyond our control.

Today’s word

light

noun

  • the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible
  • an area of something that is brighter or paler than its surrounding
  • provide with light or lighting; illuminate
  • having a considerable or sufficient amount of natural light; not dark’

What’s the difference?

  1. Night- referring to when we are ignorant of God and we go stray like people who go to sleep at night
  2. The day is near– referring to te return of Christ is coming
  3. Lay aside the deeds of darkness – our sin, our disobidience, our ignorance, our selfishness
  4. Aurmor of light – The light of Christ

Do you know that we have the power  within ourselves to dispell the darkness that comes within our lives?

Romans 13:12 Put on the aurmor of light

Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine

So many times in the midst of our darkness we try to rush out of it because we don’t like what it represents or how it makes us feel. If we aren’t careful at what we are focusing on in the midst of our darkness it can lead us into depression.

Change your thoughts, change your life

Sometimes it’s hard for us to come out of some dark places that we are in all because of how we see it.  If we can change our perspective on how we see and view our dark days we want get stuck there. Our problem in most cases is that we go to everything else accept for the source. God does his best work in the midst of a dark place.

There are somethings that God wants to show or share with us. There are even somethings he wants to reveal to us.  Sometimes it is in those dark places in our lives that God can bring out certain things that lie within us.

Psalm 121:1 I will lift up my eyes to the hill

So in those times when we can’t see clearly or when we feel like we can’t see at all, it is that hope that lies within us that causes us not to give up.  If we could only Reach Up and Look up.

Reach Up – hold onto God’s unchanging hand and he will lead you and guide you in the way that you should go.

Look Up – Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith”

SONG LIST

“I Am Light” Indie Arie

I Am Determined Beyond The Struggle

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de-ter-mi-nation

  • firmness of purpose; resolve
  • a fixed intention or resolution
  • the ascertaining or fixing of the quantity, quality, position, or character of something
  • the result of such ascetaining

I had been dealing with somethings on my job, that I didn’t feel like was fair. It felt as if I didn’t have a voice in the matter.  It was so stressful to the point that I even thought about leaving. I haven’t ever been much of a quiter and the only time I left my job was when I was a single mother in my early 20’s  and what I was getting wasn’t enough to take care of me and my child. Like something had to give.  I was trying my best and it just seemed as if my best wasn’t good enough.  One day I came home and I began to cry out to the Lord asking for his guidance and his direction in what he wanted me to do. All I could hear him say was stay and trust me with you. Allow me to work on you, in you and through you. I had to humble myself enough to allow God to do the work . Sometimes we want God to change the situation when in most cases the change needs to begin within us. I had to change my perspective and look at it from another angle. Instead of looking at it as a disadvantage, but working it for my advantage. Romans 8:28 “All things work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to his purpose”.  The greatest change that we can ever see is when the change begins within us.  I admit I can be a little edgy and I like who I am, but God said I need to put you back on the wheel. This time I didn’t fight him, nor resist. The work God has done in the matter of weeks has been amazing and it is only the beginning. This has been a humbling experience and it feels good to not only see what he is doing, but to experience it first hand. It wasn’t just my job, but my whole life is changing through this experience. He used my job to change me, which is changing things in my life and birthing forth somethings out of this situation.  It is the 8th month  and the number 8 means “new beginning”. What are you allowing God to do in you? We always come to God asking him to do something new, but yet we don’t want to do the work it takes for those things to happen. We have to participate. Even when I wanted to quit there was something in me that kept me pushing through. It is through the process that I am changing and so are the things around me. I found my voice and am now able to walk in my roll. DON’T QUIT, JUST DO IT. You will be better because of it.

You No Longer Have To Hide

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I have always been a major fan of super heroes. You know the Transformers, Avengers, Fantastic 4, X-Men, The Hulk, etc. I was always fascinated with how they could transform into something else and come to the rescue to defeat the villians. The movies would have you sitting on the edge of your seats and waiting for the next one to come out when the movie was over. When I was preparing to preach at a Women’s Conference God started dealing with me about my super heroes. I was like Lord if anything you had to deal with why did it have to be them.  Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world,  but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” I realize now why God was so specific when he talked about transforming the mind. When you transform your outerward apperance and you don’t deal with what’s going on in the inside of you, you are only covering up or masking who you really are. When you transform your mind through the word of God you change your life and the things around you. The battlefield begins in the mind. If we don’t kill those negative thoughts within our mind, they set root into our heart which then produces into our life. Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.   The thing about super heroes and villains is that their moment of fame and power is only temporary which still leaves them hiding who they really are. God never intended for you to live your life behind a mask. A mask represents low self esteem and the loss of identity while it keeps you hidden and locked down from who God truly intended you to be. When you renew your mind through the word of God you will find your identity, yourself worth and exactly you are in him. When you find your identity you no longer have hide behind a mask, but can bodly walk in who he has called you to be.

The Mind of Christ

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When I have been burned, cut or had an accident that has caused some sort of pain, my 1st instinct is to try to find the source of where the pain is coming from, do what is needed to stop the pain and go through the healing process so I can get better. Yet our1st instinct when someone has hurt us is to retaliate. What can I do to make them hurt the way they hurt me? Pulls us out of character to the point that we become foolish. Retaliate 1st and recover later. What we don’t realize is that when operating in that manner we not only afflict more pain on ourselves, but cause the recovery time to become longer. Although there are different sources of pain you would think the methods would be the same. Find the source, address it’s need, heal from it and avoid it from reaccuring. But how many times do we find ourselves right back in the same place that hurt us the 1st time. Becoming addicted to the pain is not only scary but a dangerous place to be in. God did not call us to live a life status of a “Victim” Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” Having the mind of Christ means there has to be a transformation which can only be done when we our minds are being renewed by the word of God. Just like we get up everyday and put on our clothes, we have to clothe ourselves with the word of God. The word of God has to become a life style. You have to put it into action in order for it to work.  Yes! We all have our moments, but it shouldn’t become our excuse. When we have the mind of Christ we no longer think and operate out of our flesh, but by his Spirit. So no matter the source of our pain our method changes from retaliate to trusting and allowing God to lead us in what we do and say.

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