PAIN IS GOOD

In the process of life and in the process of becoming who God has called you to be, pain will come.  Earlier in my walk as a Christian, I wanted everything God had to offer, as long as he didn’t allow me go through any kind of pain. 

Later, I found out that I was like a woman who wanted to have children, and I mean biological children of her own, but didn’t want to go through the rigors of pregnancy or childbirth.  It is like asking God to drop a baby from heaven for me!

I heard a wise woman say that we ought not to pray for self control, because we already have self control, we just have to work out self control.  Now to be able to work out self control, I really have to go through trials, don’t you think?  Because do I weigh and claim that I have self control until I have faced some kind of trial that requires for me to exercise control?

When a man decides that he will tone up his muscles and develop a six pack, he doesn’t get it by buying himself ‘Sports Illustrated’ and checking out the abs of the athletes that are featured, nor does he develop a six pack by enrolling in a gym to sit and watch other people train and surrender themselves to the rigors of exercises.

We all want to have a great future, we all believe that behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining, but a great question we all must attempt to answer is just what are we supposed to do while still within the dark cloud?

 Here are a number of suggestions that can help.

1. Keep your focus on the promise of a silver lining even though you can’t see it yet.
2. Stop trying to explain your situation to others, they are not likely to understand, so why waste your breath?  In any case, you do not owe them an explanation, because he who has called you and delivered you up to be tried will come and save you.
3. Stop complaining about your situation!  Why beat yourself up over something you lack the capacity to change?  Complaining will only push you further away, so keep the faith and keep quiet.
4. Keep a positive attitude, because the testimony that counts is the testimony that you can give during the test.  If you can still say Jesus is Lord in the pain, then a great weight of glory is being formed in you.
5. Character is definitely forming, because your experience here will help in determining how you will go through the next test.
6. Finally, know for sure that your enlargement is at the corner.  Psalm 4:1, says God enlarges us in the place of distress.

Folks, as God’s children pain is part of the package and pain works out in us a refining that nothing else can.  The next time you hit a pain spot, remember that your muscles are being formed and in not too long a time, your six-pack will be something others will admire and glorify God for. 

Remember, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

 God Bless you real good.

Sista B

BE REAL TO YOURSELF!

Last week I had the opportunity of ministering to a church family dear to my heart.  And from the moment I walked into that auditorium to the time I left, I was not in doubt as to what they stood for, and I definitely wasn’t confused about what they were about.  From their dressing to the way they spoke and the things they spoke about, it was living without a façade. Everyone, at least the ones I related with, knew that life lived from under the wraps of pretense was no life. At least it was not the life that God ordained for his children.

I had the opportunity to take another look at my own life and I remembered when it was just raw faith and God!  I remember how we used to literally come to God with no decorum, and no special order of service, we just came because we recognized he is our father and we had no one else to tell the issues that plagued our lives.  I remember that receiving the answers that we sought was not a question of how we couched our prayers and that God wasn’t interested in how we said what we had to say, as much as in what we had to say.

In our quest for relevance and impact, in pursuit of God to the place of destiny, the truth is that stuff will happen. The enemy will throw things at us in his bid to get us off track and deny the power that we carry.  How we respond will determine how we come out on the other side of it all.  Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life and today I am looking at Jesus, the truth.  It is not only about him being the real deal, it is about the fact that when we come to him we can be sure that he will tell it to us the way it really is.

There is the scripture that says we shall know the truth and it shall set us free, but I will like to extend it a little further by saying that if we know, tell and do the truth then surely, we shall be set free.  My policy is that nothing happened with you as the only player. If you used to steal, it had to be that you stole from someone.  If you had committed abortion for instance, someone performed it and someone got you pregnant.  My point is whether you tell the truth or not, someone already knows and if you don’t tell it yourself and they decide to tell it for you, it may be distorted.

There is a freedom that comes when you open up and tell the truth, there is also the fact that everything that the devil does is shrouded in secrecy and whatever he wants to keep us in, he will achieve in the place of secrecy.  Whatever you are able to expose, the devil cannot hold you with any more.  However, he is able to use the things we hide against us time and time again.  He taunts us, and he accuses us in the same breath!

People ask me why I find it easy to talk about my past and I say it is because I have been set free!  Some of it I am definitely not proud of, but because of those experiences I am a great Life Coach. I can tell you categorically that because it didn’t kill you, if you let God he will use it, your life will become better and others will benefit from it as well.

The next time you step out, remember that God wants to use the real you and all your experiences form the authentic you.  God’s mercy is the reason why we stand and he that has received mercy need not fear again.  Like Jesus said, let him that has no sin cast the first stone, as for me… I have been set free and so I will spread my wings and fly.  What about you, are you free?  Really free?

Sista B

You will make it...

Hi

How have you been?  This last Sunday was 10/10/10 and a lot of us made it such a big deal.  I didn’t set out to make a big deal of that day but you need to know that I kind of did eventually.

Even though the peculiarity of the date was not lost on me, it was the sound I could hear in the spirit that got to me.  It was one of those days when you wake up and just know without anyone saying anything to you that it was a special day.

I felt like the clouds were literarily heavy with all kinds blessings but I got to church and it felt like not every one was expectant and had the kind of anticipation that I had, it was then it dawned on me that the scripture that says that ‘the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut short’ is a proclamation and promise quite alright but it is also a call to come before God with an expectation.

Today’s post is therefore about our expectations, what are the things you are expecting out of life? How do you recognize that your season is here? There is a sound!!! Something that goes off in the Spirit that just tells you this is the right time to make your move.  Our lives are based on our relationship with God and our relationship with God is manifested in three different ways: knowing him, hearing him and obeying him. 

Like I wrote last week my life turned when Jesus came into my life and my diamond began to receive its due polish.  The thing about Christ’s coming into any life is that it brings a relationship.  So my question today will be what are you hearing? What is the sound in the Spirit, because expectation will come out of knowing and knowing will come out of hearing.

Your frequency needs to be tuned to the right source.  Tune out all the distractions and tune out all the frustrations, tune in to the spiritual channel that tells you what your day holds.  When you are tuned in here, and you begin to hear what is classified as life giving word, you begin to find out that your mindset changes and so do your expectations. 

I also find that talking about sounds a lot of us have not entered into the place of our destiny because we have chosen to be everybody else but us.  We all have sounds and our sound is the unique personality trait with which we are empowered by God to make a difference.  Samson’s sound was his strength, David’s sound was his courage and love for God, Gideon’s sound was his ability to run in fear to his source… what is your own sound?

The call to make a difference is hinged on our ability to utilize your sounds and be who God has called you to be.  So maybe this week you have been able to peep into the future and you are finally able to say what your diamond will look like after polishing. Maybe the reality scares you because you seem so far from it, it is okay.

As long as it is your sound and you are willing to join forces with God, I can assure you that you will make it.  Gideon was the original ‘manless’ man.  But the day he heard a sound from heaven he realized that his sound was good enough.  He awoke to his reality and became a judge and a warrior.

I know the clouds are gathered and everywhere is dark and you are frightened but it is a good thing, because despite the darkness and the ferocity of the thunder and lightening, there still is a silver lining before behind the clouds. 'You will make it' is the sound of the Spirit today.

God bless you.

DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

I was speaking to someone yesterday and I asked her “How will you describe my life?” “Complicated”, she replied.  She went on to explain that she was sure it didn’t all start like that.  What she described as complicated is about all the multiple roles I have to fill on a daily basis and somehow, God helps me to get through them.  So, even though my life can seem complicated, I will not trade it for anything else.

The thing is there was a time that my life was so predictable that it didn’t seem there was anything that I could contribute.  I heard it said to me that I was a failure even before I had a chance to start and it was for reasons like that, that I didn’t think that I had a chance.  

Then the table turned, everything I didn’t even think I was capable of dreaming about began to unravel and things began to change.  It is for this reason that this blog NEVERTHELESS is born.  So many of us were incapable of dreaming for a great part of our lives and we didn’t think we had something to contribute.

Then the tables turned for you too.  The question is what happened to me? How did the table turn? Jesus found me, one rainy Saturday morning, I woke up and I knew that my day had come.  I couldn’t quite explain to anyone the details of that day ahead but I just knew that it was my day. 

And now sixteen years later my life is complicated.  Which means my life is full, I have a husband who I love and I know loves me too, and three adorable children. Even though I know I didn’t even deserve these, I am actually at a place where I can make a contribution for change.

Twenty years ago, I didn’t look like this, and probably didn’t even send off any vibes indicative of a future with meaning but it was because I was a diamond in the rough.  Today maybe you are at the exact spot I was in life twenty years ago, and a lot of people have said you carry nothing to be celebrated. I want to let you know that it is because you are still a diamond in the rough.  

No precious stone looks like the finished product but with time and plenty of fire and purifying it begins to look exactly like it was meant to be.  Nevertheless is the word that changes everything.  So you may look like a lump of clay right now and all kinds of struggles may be the hallmark of your life, Nevertheless you are still a diamond even though still in the rough.  So kick up some more dirt, stand straight, square your shoulders and keep your chin up!  Because I know you are a diamond, only still filled with dirt.