Tag Archives: COURAGE

The Need To Produce

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Photo by Ella Olsson on Pexels.com

“For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations”

Isaiah 61:11

I was outside looking at some of my flower trees within my garden and I could start to see little green buds on some of them and some of them you couldn’t see anything. I noticed that the ones that didn’t have any new buds on them had dead flower pulps at the end of their limbs.

Yesterday, I was outside in my garden and my neighbor came over and said, “You have to take these dead parts off, as it is still trying to send energy to a dead source.” As I was outside today, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I started removing all the dead pieces off the ones that weren’t producing new buds.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

Hebrews 12:1

Have you ever felt a heaviness on you? Not a heaviness that comes from someone who we knew has passed or even the fear and doubt that we sometimes may feel. But like a weight that has come from other people or things that have been physically gone, yet the are spiritually still connected. They could still be in your life and they are nothing but a dead weight that continues to hold you back from producing the things in which God has called you too.

Maybe your lack of being able to produce is because you keep sending your energy to a dead source. It isn’t producing life, but continues to weigh you down, drain your energy, slow down your progress, causing you to go numb, making you feel lifeless because you are dying on the inside.

It is up to us to let go of those people or things that are no longer producing fruit in our life. Letting go of those things, whether bad thoughts, wrong desires, bad habits that continue to add poison and toxins to our bodies. We have to be willing to release the negative energy and cultivate a positive space so that we attract positive energy back into our lives.

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth shall ye not know it. I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert”

Isaiah 43:9

My prayer for you today, is that during this time of quarantine you would have the courage to cut off and cut out those dead parts in your life. And as God begins to heal those places, that you would be able to experience the newness of life and fully be able to produce the very things that have been lying dormant within you. And as those dormant places begin to come to life, that they will produce a harvest in its season.

Song List

Just For Me by Kirk Franklin https://youtu.be/TD3zS_GxS3M

Lyrics

Just for me
Many doors you’ve closed
Just for me
Sometimes you will say no
So I’ll be
Tested in your fire
To purify my desires
So my blessings won’t be
Just for me
So caught up in myself
I couldn’t see
The world did not revolve around me
So storms are in your will
So I can feel what others feel their needs, if I could speak honestly

It don’t feel good
But growing never does
It don’t seem fair
For you to call this love
But if necessary pain
Is the ingredient for change

Even when life may be bittersweet
It’s working

Just for me
All the moments I missed
That were just for me
Because I chose not to
Wait patiently
Before every mistake
Was the same amount of grace
That kept my blessing waiting


Just for me
But trust in your timing is not easy
And what I want’s not always what I need, Somewhere I forgot
You are God and I am not
I see, if I could speak honestly, It don’t feel good
But growing never does
It don’t seem fair
For you to call this love, But if necessary pain
Is the ingredient for change
Even when life may be bittersweet 

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

It happened, NOW WHAT?

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A lot of times we become stuck at the experience, unable to move forward because we can’t see past what has happened.
We continue to play and rehearse the scenes over and over again in our head. With the same questions: why did this happen, why did this happen to me, etc. Unable to heal because we continue to open up the wounds.

ACKNOWLEGEMENT

  1. It happened
  2. It was painful, it hurt
  3. It was life changing
  4. It wasn’t fair
  5. I didn’t deserve it

At some point we have to pull the needle off of the broken record. We have to stop playing the movie of our favorite scene or maybe the worse scene in our life. At some point we have to pull our own selves out of the tar.

It has happened, NOW WHAT?

I realized there was a decision I had to make. And that was to either to LIVE or DIE. I wasn’t physically dieing, but slowly of a spiritual death. Walking, but dead on the inside. No hope or desire to go on. Breathing, but not functiong. I was a dead man walking.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he

What kind of vision do I have for myself?

TRUTH is I had to come to terms with it.

  1. I had to look at the man in the mirror
  2. Examine myself
  3. Where did I go wrong
  4. OWN IT

Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are somethings that have happened to us that stole our innocence as a child. There were somethings that happened to us that was beyond our control.  But at what point do we stop allowing it to have control over our life.

You will never be able heal from the things you refuse to confront

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It wasn’t until I could look beyond what I could see in the natural, that I was able to move forward.

DISCOVERY 

  1. Finding out who I am through Christ Jesus
  2. Believing in who He has created me to be
  3. Learning to Love me
  4. Putting me first

Through everything I have experienced there was something that I had to learn and I take them with me through life’s journey.

So, NOW WHAT?

  1. Allow yourself time to heal
  2. Take it step by step
  3. Trust God’s leading
  4. Keep Moving Forward

It isn’t what happens to us that keeps us from moving forward, but how we respond to the things that have happened.

Take your negative situations and turn them around for your good.

Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Give Thanks

https://youtu.be/zE-4DsUf_Uo

Lyrics


Give thanks with a grateful heart

Give thanks to the Holy One

Give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son


And now let the weak say, “I am strong”

Let the poor say, “I am rich

Because of what the Lord has done for us”

Give thanks 




Small Beginnings 

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The other day me and my girls had gone to visit my sister and her family. As we were looking at the gifts my nephews had received for Christmas my sister was holding one in her hand that she was getting ready to put away. She said that her mother had gotten them for the boys, but when she looked at all it entailed she said there was no way she was going to even attempt with putting it together. I looked at the box and then took out the contents and said, “Let me try it.” They thought that I was crazy, but I didn’t have any doubt I couldn’t do it. It was a very long an strenuous process. It was a roller coaster that had a million tiny pieces. And looking at the picture there was a big hill and at least four loops with curves. You had to follow directions which caused you to be able to pay attention to details. Now that is one of my strong points. As I would progress they stood in amazement and were surprised that I hadn’t given up yet. My sister told my I had the patience of Job. She said, “You have been steady, diligent and focused.” I was almost finished with it, but there was a part at the bottom that wasn’t working properly which was causing me to get frustrated. It had already been at least three hours that I had been working on it and I was a little tired. I couldn’t understand what was going on because I had followed the directions. I had  to improvise in order for it to work. When I looked at the back of the instruction manual I realized it operated on batteries. You have got to be kidding me, right. I had not noticed it said anything about batteries until I looked at the front of the manual and there it was. I’m not sure how I missed that. Either way I was able to get it operating, but the cart wasn’t gaining enough speed to make all the transitions. I couldn’t figure it out to save my life. Frustrated, I decided to pull myself away from it. Deep breath. In the back of my mind I was still trying to figure it out because I wasn’t willing to give up on it. I had come to far and had put too  much work into it to just let it go. Something said, “Start the cart from the bottom of the hill and reverse the direction  it was pulling up the hill.”  With excitement I screamed, “I did it, it works” Everyone came in to see it. There were two areas within the loops that it wouldn’t complete the flip, but with a little push it completed the loops and started over. We were all happy with that. My nephew was ready  to try it for himself. 

Zechariah 4:10 ” Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand”

Sometimes we can become discouraged, frustrated, overwhelmed and want to give up because we think what we are doing isn’t working. But the same process it takes for a seed to become a plant, a flower or even a tree or a caterpillar to become a butterfly, is the same process it will take for our visions, hopes and our dreams to come into fruition. We have to keeping working at it and watering it. Before we know it the very thing that started off small has turned into something much bigger than we had even expected.  What was once a dream has become a reality. My encouragement to you is, “Don’t give up on it just yet.”

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!!!

You Are Worth It

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Life has a way of tearing you apart to the point that even to yourself you become unrecognizable.  Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror one day and wondered “Who Am I”  Sometime’s it isn’t until everything that you once depended on has been removed or to the point of rock bottom that you finally step away from the scene to refocus, re-evaluate your life as you find yourself of needing to hit the reset button and began again.  As easy as we would hope that could be it isn’t as easy as it seems.  When you have lost your identity through faults, failures, mistakes, opinions of other people while trying to fit in where they thought you should or who they wanted you to be and even when they created you they still didn’t want you. The process that you have to go through while on the road to recovery, healing, restoration and finding who you are again can be long and painful but is necessary for you to find your true identity and to be able to move forward in your life. The great thing is that in this journey and quest to finding out who you really are and who you were created to be doesn’t have to be done alone.  Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee”  It is when you seek your identity through the eyes of God and not through the eyes of man that you will find out who you really are.  I know that life has thrown you some unexpected blows or it could even be that you are in a place because of poor choices and bad decisions that you have made in your life, but you are never to far down that God can not reach you and you can never be to far removed to still receive his grace.  2 Corinthians 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”  No matter how many people have left you, abandoned you, dropped you, said you were nothing, would never be nothing or amount to anything God simply wanted me to remind you that YOU ARE WORTH IT and if you still have doubt or need more clarification that he does, remember that he died on the cross just for you and me. No matter what you’ve done, what’s been done to you or where you have been YOU ARE WORTH IT.  You are never to broken or too damaged beyond repair.  God still has need of thee, YOU ARE WORTH IT!