Unforgettable

Proverbs 30:31 Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

I want to encourage other women on their journey as you are being prepared for the man of God he is preparing you for. We don’t have to sleep with him to get his attention. We need to focus on getting the Father’s attention and he will get that man’s attention. He didn’t forget me and he didn’t forget you. I came to tell you to stay in a place of rest before the Father and when it’s the right time, the right one will wake you up. Wait on God and allow him to make you Unforgettable.

When you can’t get me out your head,

and I’ve never been in your bed.

Unforgettable.

See your heart betrayed you first,

Like Judas did Jesus,

 And even worse,

You didn’t even get a kiss.

You were brought to a cross,

Abandoned and loss, 

And charged with a crime and the scene was love,

You will never be able to go back to the moment,

I was never thought of,

I will run laps in your head,

reminding your body it’s not dead,

You split my chest and entered a room,

 in my heart only reserved for the bridegroom,

You woke me up and now I’m yours to keep,

 you got me dreaming but I can’t sleep. 


Two…..

Love without Punctuation

Often we experience things, its always bigger than us so I want to encourage others if you are in a storm, or coming out of one, keep your eyes on the lighthouse. Allow God to heal it. He is able. Cross over to the other side. Don’t give up on love!

Sometimes my love feels like a sentence that runs on,

leaving me with questions of where it begins and where it ends,

I’ve discovered there is no punctuation for it because we are forever friends,

Yet,

it fights for periods where there are commas,

demanding verbs that eliminate dramas,

Leaving places and spaces,

for fill in the blanks,

for laughs and for pranks.

Longing for days together that include prepositions like, on, down, between and behind,

where pronouns are intertwined like our bodies, hearts, souls and mind,

Writing new chapters with adjectives that describe our love in directions,

that cause our lives to be defined by new languages of affections.

Where emotions are not followed by conjunctions like but,

that leave us with clarity and not always asking what,

because our love is able to handle semi colons to join our yesterday and tomorrow,

without sorrow,

strong enough for colons that connect us together never leaving room,

for anything to consume,

Us.

Forever bonded by trust,

in the parenthesis that include (you and me),

and God’s degree.

Ecc 4:9-10 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has no one to help him up.

Heaven's Honor Roll

On June 28, 2015, was a day I will never forget.  There was another very significant event going on this day and I had to make a choice which one I would attend.  I was invited to honor and celebrate a leader often underappreciated as a tremendous intercessor and a Pastor to the Body of Christ, Juanita Clay. 

 

I was running late and I accidently went into the wrong church and quickly found myself redirected and back on the right path.  I found myself a sit and I decided I wouldn’t be there long but to give my flowers and my card to honor the vessel of God.  God had other plans for me that day.  I was about to have an encounter with his glory.  A glimpse of his glory for the things I had suffered. I was about to find out, I made Heaven’s honor roll.

 The first time I had been in that service, a few years ago, I remember weeping and weeping asking God to not allow my sufferings to be in vain.   There was a time I honored God more than I had ever honored him before and it was in my previous marriage amid tremendous sorrow.  If you have been honorable and you felt like no one honored you, God wants you to know he has not forgotten.  He is about to bring you into a season of honor.  God is not unrighteous to forget our labor of love.  He knows everything we have ever gone through.  If we suffer with him, he said we would reign with him.  Mother Clay came in the room and right before she did, I began to weep and I said to the Lord, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. 

 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you did everything you could? You fasted, you prayed, you sowed, you sowed your tears, you stood, and it still didn’t turn out the way you thought it would.  She took the microphone and began to honor the leaders in the church, and she called my name. Wait…  I wasn’t on the agenda, but I was on heavens.  I came to honor her, and God surprised me and honored me among a people that absolutely did not know me.  I had been weeping with a grateful heart, honoring God.   She said today would have been Marie’s late ex-husband’s 41 birthday.  She said I want you to know I honor the Christ in you. As she looked at me, I felt God’s glory penetrate my soul.  She paused and said it again.  The glory of God hit me so hard.  It was so thick; you could have cut it with a knife. 

 

I broke on the inside; the compassion of God and heart of father was released to me.  I didn’t feel this when he was buried.   Although, we had been divorced 9 years and many spats later, what I did in my marriage to honor God was bigger than my marriage.  That was a day of God’s validation and a glimpse of his glory to come which was completely indescribable.  It was his seal of his approval to say, I remember what you did for me.  Only the angels and the Godhead knew what that moment meant to me.  I had an encounter with his glory like I had never had before.  I knew I had made Heavens honor roll.

 

The Prophetess, Makeba Buford, who I had never met, went on to ministered to me before her and her husband ministered the word of the Lord.  God still stepped down from heaven to yet again honor me before they gave the word. She said this prophetic message is so important to this young lady, just as if the president would interpret your TV show.  She went on to say so gracefully, how God had highlighted me. She said saw me when I went into the wrong church, and I found my way back to where I was supposed to be.  She said I had made a mistake a few years ago but the Lord was putting me back on the right path.  She said I was going to have encounters with the Lord like I had never had before.  That day was one of them.  She told me how the father was going to make me lay down in green pastures.  God knows exactly where you are.  Be faithful and be honorable before the Lord.

I shared this moment to say that God is dealing with our root systems in this hour.  This is why I love him so much.  He addresses the pain, the losses, and the traumas of our life so he can heal the manifestations that result in sin. He knows exactly why that murderer became a murderer, a rapist, an adulterer, even a homosexual.   He came for the sick not for the righteous.  He came to save the world not to condemn it.  If we allow him to heal the broken places, he will make the crooked place straight and the rough places smooth.  Allow his love and glory to cleanse you so you can experience him in new ways, like you never have before.

 Jabez prayed and because he was more honorable than his brothers, God honored him. Get ready God is going to do this for you too!

1 Chronicles 4:9-10

And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because I bare him with sorrow.   And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, oh that thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!

And God granted him his request and God is about to grant your request because you were honorable. I believe there are more that are about to make heaven’s honor roll.

 

God's perspective: Life's playground

I wrote this poem on June 24, 2004 in the midst of a three year consecration and separation from from my late ex-husband. I was on my lunch break and went to eat alone at the park across the street from my job. I skipped lunch with my best friend that day, Sophia Williams. After lunch, I immediately wrote this poem. It’s time to come in from the playground…. God was letting me know how he sees us at times.

Jonnie and Susie are still in the air on their swings,

 Caught in between their childhood and the decisions of adult things,

 Who forgot to go get them?

 

Leslie and Timmy are on the seesaw,

 No one told them, if you steal that they would be breaking the law,

 

The law of gravity, because what goes up must come down,

Please tell them its time to leave the playground.

 

Samaria and Michael are playing in the sand,

Crying because the wind blew and the castle they built won’t stand,

But who forgot to tell them, you can’t build a house on the sand,

But who forgot to tell them, you need a strong foundation to understand,

That the sun doesn’t always shine and there will be rainy days,

Go tell them to come in from the playground, that childhood is only a phase.

Kimberly climbed up the slide and now is afraid to come down,

Who forgot to tell her, you don’t do drugs and get high,

Go tell her someone told her a lie,

 Because she’s afraid if she comes down, she’ll have to face the issues on the ground.

Vincent and Amber were hanging from the monkey bars and were afraid to go across,

But who forgot to tell them, if they try and fall that they can recover from the loss.

No one wanted to go first and be the boss,

Where are the leaders?

The interceders,

Please, tell them we need them to leave the playground now.

Todd found a beautiful toy in the park, jut after dark, that had been left all alone

 And Mark came by the way and claimed it as his own,

 Who forgot to tell them, they’re not children anymore----they are grown.

 And that Pamela’s not a toy, she’s real and that was not the deal,

 It was till death do them part.

 Please tell the girls to be responsible for themselves and not become toys,

 Because girls become women and men sometimes become boys,

Don’t forgot to take care of your things,

 And children, please, get off those swings,

 And the seasaw that takes you up and down,

 Please, come down from the slide, and face the issues that make you hide, stop playing on the merry go round,

 Please, please somebody tell the children to come in from the playground.

 

Sometimes you just need a reset

The other day my daughter’s ipad went black.  Everything appeared normal with it the night before as she watched it.  Sometimes in a relationship everything can seem normal and going well and suddenly it can feel like it went dark. What do you do?  I immediately thought perhaps she didn’t charge it properly all the way in the wall. Just like her ipad needed to properly be plugged in so do we in our relationships with God to properly function.  When we don’t spend quality time with God and set aside the time we need, we can end up feeling dead in our relationships.

She cried and told me she was having a hard time forgiving herself.  I knew she thought it was worse than it was and may not be repairable or it may cost too much for me to fix it right now.  So many respond the same way my daughter did when a relationship has not been properly maintained by one in the relationship and it gets dark.  You may be thinking it is too late or you just don’t believe you can fix it.

 My next reaction was to try and access the possible root causes of what she may have done to cause it.  Just like her ipad we must go back to the root causes and take an analysis of what may have caused the relationship to go dark. In our human frailty the first thing we do is just like my six-year-old did, struggle to forgive herself.  Forgive yourself and trust God that he can repair what was broken.

I didn’t get angry with her or start assuming it was all her fault.  That was growth for me. We must give our relationships grace to make mistakes and trust God to fix them. We also need to give each other grace to grow. I immediately went to google some possible solutions. My mind began to race, and I began to think of all the worse possible scenarios.  I didn’t have apple care insurance on it, nor had I purchased the insurance through T-Mobile 2 years ago when I purchased it for her.  I was thinking maybe they will have to erase everything and set it back to its original state.   

 

But sometimes you just need a reset.

 

So instead of getting stuck in my head like some of us do in our relationships and don’t fix what is broke, I decided to set up an appointment at the apple store.  I took it back to the manufacturer. God wants us to bring our relationships back to him so he can fix them when they go dark. God wants you to know it is not as bad as you thought it was. God wants you to know you don’t have to throw away the good times with the bad ones. I went to our appointment yesterday and all the technician did was reset it. We weren’t turning it off and recharging it and he said when you don’t turn it off all the way sometimes, it will eventually shut completely down.  In our relationships God wants us to know sometimes we just need to reset, recharge and simply rest and know that you are not starting from scratch when you turn it back on this time.

Can you see like Jesus?

I remembered years ago, I was in a McDonalds in downtown Chicago and I was watching this lady order herself and her small daughter a meal.  The lady was swinging on the little girl and cursing her out.  So many people began to focus on her and the child, although it was crowded.  I received my food before her and went to find a seat.  I proceeded to put a few French fries in my mouth and went to swallow.  The lady sat down and the little girl went to snatch her food from her mother and ran as fast as she could so she could eat.  As I got ready to swallow my food, my throat began to close as the love of God swelled up in my heart so strongly, that I almost choked. I was compelled to spit my food out and went to pray for her.

I immediately got up and sat next to her.  I told her what had just happened to me and how concerned the Lord was about her and her situation.  I asked her what was wrong.  She told me her son had been falsely accused and just put in prison and she could not get him out. Here I was sitting next to a big stocky, strong black woman but when I shared the love of God with her and told her how God interrupted me she broke down crying and allowed me to pray for her.  

Can Jesus interrupt you? Can you hear him when he speaks to you? Can you see like Jesus? How would most have seen that lady? So many were judging in their hearts but couldn’t see what they couldn’t see? Do you have eyes but cant see?

I will never forget that encounter as long as I live. I will always be grateful that I obeyed the Lord. I am grateful I didn’t judge her in my heart. I saw passed her anger and saw her pain. God wants us to share his love with the world. When someone is acting out, can you cover them and can you see like Jesus?

God wants to separate us

 

You may be asking what is God trying to separate us from.  God wants to separate us from our past to bring us into our future.  In the words of Pastor Keion Henderson in his message Built to Last, he said, our future wants to have an exclusive relationship with us.  He said, when we cheat on our past with our future, it results in a bad breakup.  For this to occur, we must allow God to separate us by placing enough distance between our past and our future. God wants us to break up with our past.  The only reason it becomes a bad break up is if there are things in our past, we are trying to bring into our future.  We must guard our future.

 

Let’s check out how God did this in the bible with the children of Israel.  When God got ready to bring them out of Egypt, it took miracle after miracle to bring them out.  They finally reached the Red Sea that looked impossible to crossover and the Egyptian’s changed their mind.  They decided they weren’t going to let them go after all. You may be thinking you thought you had made it through the worst parts already.  Now on your way to your promised land, you have run into an obstacle that feels impossible to overcome. How many of us have cheated with our past with our future?  

 

 A lot of us. My greatest struggle was me transitioning from my past into my future with the foreknowledge that God had better for me.  I had to learn to love myself in the in between places while allowing God to love me broken, mistakes and all.  I remember a time in my past I would take 5 steps forward and then feel like I took 10 steps backwards.  God brought me into a place of stability now a little shy of almost 7 years ago.  I decided I wanted everything he had for me more than what I wanted for myself.  I aligned myself back up with his dream---- so take hope.  Don’t allow your feelings to get in the way of what God has promised.  Don’t give up. Crossover, because God is about to drown your enemies into the red sea.  God is about to drown destruction, fear, and abuse. Let them be drowned.

 

Pastor Keion said in his message we have been anointed for Forward.  God told the children of Israel to go forward.  It required them to take the necessary steps into what appeared could drown and destroy them but as they moved forward, God then made a way out of no way.

 

You are anointed for Forward.

 

He needed them to obey and go forward so he could separate them enough from their past that he would be able to drown their enemies without them also being drowned.

Exodus 14: 26 Then the Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea and the water will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, and over their horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the water returned to its normal depth at daybreak. The Egyptians tried to retreat in front of the advancing water, but the Lord destroyed the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 28 The water returned, covering the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh’s entire army that had pursued the Israelis into the sea. Not even one of them remained.

It’s in that forward movement you will see that God has already gone before you.  God will not allow us to be drowned emotionally, physically, financially in anyway.  But he does want to drown our enemies.  This year I’ve grown and enjoyed some of the most profound podcasts on relationships.  I’ve heard a lot of statements surrounding showing up and becoming our best version of ourselves.  However, I discovered that it is not just necessary to become a better version of ourselves for us. It is equally as important not to come into agreement with the enemy as our future spouse transforms from their past and becomes who God said they will be.  God’s love transforms us into who we are born to become, but it is a process.   That process starts with allowing God to separate us from our past so we can have an exclusive relationship with our future.  Love covers a multitude of faults.  Love is waiting in our future.

 

 Exodus 14:15-16 And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go Forward. But lift your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

You are somebody's rainbow

 

Today one of my dear nieces and husband celebrated their 9th anniversary.  One thing she wrote to him as she posted from her page was so profound that gripped my heart.  She expressed that this year was filled with rainbows, and you only get rainbows after a storm. 

 

I wrote back to them and told them, “Your union is so important to our family’s tapestry.  May God’s love and grace continue to sustain you through every flood.  May God continue to give you wisdom to build and understanding so his purposes can be established. And after you both have obeyed him like Noah, as he built his ark for his family, may the Lord himself shut you both in and forever secure your union from being destroyed. I love you both to the moon and back!  Your ability to overcome in your marriage is a prayer answered and a rainbow in my sky after all my teary years that God would restore honor and marriages in our bloodline.”

 

When I finished writing this, I began to thank God for their union, and I went into a travail of gratitude and a worship for their covenant as God spoke to me and said, I came to reminded you that I didn’t forget your sacrifice. God showed me today that their marriage is a rainbow in my life like God told Noah.

 

Genesis 9:12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

 

You are somebody’s rainbow.

 

Don’t give up in the flood and the storm.  Let God show you the rainbows he has placed in your life.  It’s not just about you.  God is not finished with you yet. He is not finished with your family.  Keep believing him to restore your family and all he has promised you.  He made us a promise. Apostle Dr. Matthew Stevenson III, called me to stand years ago for an open congregational word.  He said God says, I am going to begin to avenge your tears and I am going to start in the life of your nieces. God wants us all to continue to obey him and build our ark like Noah and when we have done our part, allow him to shut us in like he did Noah in the boat. There is a rainbow on the other side of the flood and storm. Somebody is depending on you to make it through the storm because you will be a sign of God’s covenant.

 

Gensis 7:16 Male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him. 16 Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered just as God had commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

 

Perception is our reality

So many times, in relationships we don’t see the way God sees the situation and that’s because our perception is our reality.  We should ask God to show us how he sees a situation in our lives. When God got ready to judge King David, listen to how starkly different he describes the situation from his perception and the way King David perceived it.  It was so different how King David saw it that he pronounced death on the man, and he was the man.

 

And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:

But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:

And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

 

This is King David the man after God’s heart.  King David was so far removed from what he did that he couldn’t see what he did the same way God did.  All of us have blind spots. God sent the prophet to tell him exactly how inconsistent he was with his perception of his reality. David didn’t understand the value Basheba held in Uriah’s life to God. Sometimes we mishandle people in relationships without knowing the work God has done in that persons life. The prophet goes on to address the real issue of David’s heart.  He reminds him of all God had done for him and would have given him.

 

Then he tells him that because he despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in the Lord’s sight and caused great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, he would be judged.  We must be mindful of our ways and submit our hearts to the Lord and ask HIM to reveal how he sees our actions and whether they are pure and right in his sight.

God dealt with the core reason of what made King David take Basheba and have her husband positioned so he would be killed on the battlefield. He told him he despised his commandment and because of his actions, it gave the enemies of the Lord great occasion to blaspheme.  There are things that we can do that will cause sinners and believers to blaspheme because of our actions. 

Are we abstaining from all appearances of evil, so we are not giving the enemies of the Lord an occasion to blaspheme? It doesn’t matter how small or great our actions are on social media on display as believers in Christ.  We must be mindful because perception is our reality, even though it may not be the truth. We must see it how God sees it.

  

The benefits of Abraham’s covenant

Sometimes we read the bible like a fairytale, but we absolutely should not. This was not a suspense thriller action packed movie; this was Lot’s life and his family, and they were the only ones about to be saved.  The city of Sodom and Gomorrah sin had come up before God as an abomination.  God was about to destroy the entire city with fire and brimstone.  The only reason Lot and his family were spared was because of the benefits of Abraham’s covenant with God.

 

You may say, does God honor our obedience?  God not only honors our obedience but because of our yes to him, he promises to make a covenant with us to a thousand generations.  Did you know that some of the blessings you are receiving are because they did not get theirs?  Somebody made a covenant years ago in your bloodline.  God is not only honoring your acts of obedience; they are watching from the balcony of heaven now a part of the cloud of witnesses watching their promises also be fulfilled in your life.

 

In Hebrews 11:39-40

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

 

They did not receive their promises because God had something better for us, that they without us would not be made perfect. God has been waiting generations for you to step into this next place of purpose.  He has things for you that your generations never received.  Have you ever asked God what those better things are he has for you that they never received?  Are you willing to fight for them? So many only ask for the things God has for them but God has things your ancestors never received that he has reserved for you.

 

I asked God to give me what my great grandmother, grandmother and mother never received.  I labored for it and entered generational warfare to get them. God wants to reveal to you and unlock his eternal secrets. Will you seek him for those better things and receive the benefits of Abraham’s covenant and your generational blessings?  

 

God was so committed to Abraham that even when Lot hesitated to leave, God sent angels to come down and lead them away from destruction.  God is sending angels to bring my family and your family out.  It may look like they are going to be destroyed and it is too late, but I encourage you to continue to trust God for the deliverance of your loved ones. If God went out of his way for Lot and his family for Abraham, he would do the same for us. 

Genesis 19:16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.

 

All is well

 

I rushed frantically into the emergency room, holding my limp 2-year-old in my arms.  The lady at the desk tells me to fill out the small sheet on the desk, so I did and to have a seat.  Surely, I’m thinking they will call him soon.  The lady at the desk casually gets up to get her a bag of chips as if nothing else is important.  While my toddlers’ lips are turning more blue by the second.  Suddenly, he lets out this loud gasp for air.  Immediately, I run up to the desk, now disturbing her chip break to demand that he be seen.

 My baby is not breathing well as I explained.  He was rushed back into the emergency room. I heard a loud announcement over the intercom system:  CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE.  I watched the curtains be pulled.

 

That’s right…Jeremy had gone into cardiac arrest, while I was patiently waiting for the tech to call me while she ate her chips.   This really happened but in the face of adversity at twenty-two years old; I was able to say, all is well.

God promised us that his peace would guard our hearts beyond our understanding. I remained calm.  No tears.  No anxiety attacks.  I was just looking for answers and praying for Gods best.  God did not fail me and he will never fail you either.

 

The bible says if we faint in the day of adversity, then our strength is small.  I knew he would be alright.  He had lost oxygen to his brain and laid in intensive care for 5 days before being stabilized but I still was able to say, all is well.  This reminds me of the Shunamite woman whose son died, that was able to say, all is well.  God wants us to be able in the face of death, to still be able to say, all is well.   

Some may never have a testimony like this but even on the brink of your diagnosis, God wants you to come to him and trust him so you also can say, all is well.  Whether you are facing foreclosure, the loss of your job, death of a child unexpectedly or the loss of a spouse.  God is able to bring you out of that place of grief and loss and allow you to have a testimony of: all is well. The prophet Elijah raised her son from the dead but she had to bring him to him. Have you brought that dead thing to God to be resurrected?

This is what she did to ensure that nothing and no one would interfere with what she needed from God.  She kept her mouth closed.  Are you in a situation that you need God to move miraculously?  She knew where to get the help she needed. She didn’t even stop to tell his father when he asked her was everything ok.

Do you run to your spouse or others for things you should be running to God to in prayer? God wants us to depend on him and trust him no matter how bad our situation is and know that he is in control aa our testimony can also be, all is well.

2 Kings 4:22 Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.” 23 And he said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath.” She said, “All is well.” 24 Then she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite. 26 Run at once to meet her and say to her, ‘Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child?’” And she answered, “All is well.” 27 And when she came to the mountain to the man of God, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.

Negatives

There we were framed in a moment of time. We were mounted by a prophetic promise and vow that was holding it all in place. The nails that it hung on, were the same ones that held Jesus to the Cross-love. It began to lean to the side and the picture was now suspended in air. I didn't know if the love was strong enough to keep us in place. The image was no longer clear. I couldn't see him anymore in the picture with the kids and me. I thought mine would be different from all the other marriages that ended up destroyed and torn by adultery. The picture was ripped.

I was suddenly thrown in a dark room.

But in my spirit I had negatives that needed to be developed. I could see us together; we were called to the multitudes. My tears became the solution that allowed me to see the images that were still hid to the naked eye. I was interceding in the dark and even when it didn’t looked like anything; I still kept praying.

1 Corinthians 7:1616 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

When I wanted to stop praying, I couldn't. I was compelled. I was driven to this dark place where only God could help me see what no one else could. He was sharing his eternal secrets and causing the passions of Christ to be developed from the negatives in me.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

It was in this place, that I would discover the beauty of who he had created me to be. Why did I have to go through this? Why me? I was torn, split and I desperately wanted to quit. I didn't even know why I still wanted to be married anymore. But other things began to appear in the negatives as I kept weeping. The solution for the images was producing a clearer picture. It was no longer about what he was or wasn't doing, if he loved me or not, how angry and bitter I had become. I had finally gotten passed me, passed us. I began to see my great-grandmother, Clara Muhammad. I was close enough now to the negatives, that I could hear her cries and her cries became mine.

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Get God's attention

I love King David.  The word says he was a man after God’s heart.  Did he make mistakes?  Of course, BIG ones. He was charged with committing murder and adultery but he was still God’s man and his baby died.  He still paid a price for his sins. He numbered the people because he wanted to know how many were following him and thousands died because of it.  However, David knew it was better to fall into the hands of God than man.  He had big problems with his kids like some of us must deal with.  Nevertheless, he was the King, and he knew how to get God’s attention.   

 

He knew how to fall on his face and seek the heart of God for his life and get the strategies he needed for his battles.  David was a man of war, so much so that his son Solomon never had to fight one battle. Get God’s attention for the strategy for your situation.

One of my favorite exploits of David’s was when he inquired of the Lord and asked, Shall I go up at Ziklag?  In this moment his own men were ready to kill him. He encouraged himself and went to get God’s attention. There will be times you will feel alone because others won’t have the faith to do what you have to do. They don’t have the strength to fight.  They won’t even seek God for the strategy.  But God told him to pursue, overtake and recover all. He headed out without any real sense of direction.  But God ordered his steps.

It is time for many of us to encourage ourselves, get God’s attention and go up, so we can recover all like King David did! 

 

1Samuel 30

21 And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.

22 Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.

23 Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.

24 For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.

 

Don’t be mad at those that didn’t help you fight and the ones that didn’t support you. Everyone can’t go with you but make sure your heart is right when you return with the spoils. God is a righteous judge. This is another reflection of the heart of God and why God calls David a man after his own heart. Get Gods attention and allow him to deliver you so you can recover all he has for you and yours in this season!

Tomorrow about this time

You have received prophesies and are believing God to fulfill them in this season. Yet you have people around you just like Elisha’s servant did that have challenged you what God showed you is impossible. Yet, you know you have heard from God like Elisha did.

 

Elisha was not moved.

 Neither should you be

Don’t let the past season make you believe that God cannot fulfill his promises. God is going to do it. God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than ours! You know what you have asked God for, and no man can give it to you.  Your right to it is found in your ability to have faith to receive it! 

  

Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria!

There had been a famine in the land and no rain for three years.  The famine was so bad they were selling bird poop and eating their babies!  You may be thinking it can’t get any worse than this! Out of the blue the man of God releases the word of the Lord and this happens next!

 

 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So, let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

 

Notice Elijah didn’t prophesy to the lepers.  You may be saying, I haven’t received a prophetic word to confirm this season. They didn’t get the prophetic word either. He said this was going to specifically happen tomorrow---the next day. What if the lepers decided that they were going to stay where they were longer with no sense of discerning of the time and season? They said, if they stayed where they were that they were going to die.  Do you know that you must decide to move forward? It’s not even an issue of going backward anymore, you can’t stay where you are anymore!!!

Your season of drought and famine is OVER!!! You may not know how or who God is going to use, but it is going to happen if you move forward.

 Do you not know that although you may be the least to think you could affect a city, a nation or your own family, your ability to discern the time and your season to OBEY is critical. 

It is critical for everyone around you to receive the fulfillment of their prophetic word and for your own deliverance and prosperity for you to obey!

The obedience of the four lepers was completely hinged on the prophetic word coming to pass and they never got the prophetic word. They just recognized in their own personal lives, they needed to move forward.

Some of you have decided to camp out longer because of the fear of the unknown. They had no idea that God had angels that were with them, and that the enemy would hear them as a mighty army. You are not alone. God has sent his angels on assignment to help you accomplish this assignment. It’s time to receive the spoils that God has promised you, about this time tomorrow. God is holding our prophetic tomorrow in his hand.

 

 

The still small voice

We live in a time where we need to know and hear the voice of God.  However, some don’t believe he is still talking.  I wouldn’t serve a God that couldn’t hear and respond back to me.  Maybe you fall into the category of those that do believe he is still talking but you have trouble deciphering his voice. 

In life we find ourselves in many different situations, each day, needing the mind and counsel of God but we look for him to answer sometimes, the way he did in the past.  Maybe when we are going through the hard, trying times, we feel like we can clearly hear God stirring us another way.  But we need to learn to hear him outside of the the winds, the earthquakes and the fires. In trouble sometimes we can hear God so clearly but not in God’s whisper.  

Don’t miss his voice because you are looking for him in the drama. Can you hear him when it’s quite?  Do we allow the situation to dictate how we hear him?  In this season, consider that perhaps, he may want to speak to you a different way.  The father has allowed so many of the things that we were previously accustomed too, to be brought to an abrupt halt due to Covid and other economic hardships, as if the world has been silenced.  

 In the Prophet Elijah’s day, he taught Elijah a lesson and we can learn from it as well. 

 

This is what happened.

 

1 Kings 19:11-13King James Version (KJV)

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

 

I remember several years ago, I asked the Lord to teach me to hear him more clearly in the details of my life. There would be times, I would hear this still small voice that sounded much like my own. For example, I was taking off the safety pins from the skirt that I was going to wear that was attached to the coat hanger from the cleaners. The still small voice said, “Take one of the safety pins with you today because someone is going to ask you for one”.  The Lord later on let me know he was teaching me to trust his voice in everyday life.

Now, I could have argued with my rational as to why and ruled out that it wasn’t going to happen but instead I put one in my purse.  It was some hours into my day and one of my employees came in my office and out of the blue asked me did I have a safety pin.  I was thrilled to give it to her without explanation.  It is the still small voice of the Lord that guides us beyond our own understanding that often we discredit and never learn to follow.  It’s not “something told me to do that as we so often say.  It is the still small voice of the Lord that is trying to let you know he is with you. 

 

If you learn to listen in the small things than you will be able to trust him when he tells you about the big things in your life.  I want to challenge and encourage you as you are prompted by the Lord to begin to listen for his voice not so much how you may have heard him in the past but the still small voice so that you will know that he is concerned about the details of your life. 

Stay here

Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.

 

What in your life is trying to tell you to stay here? If you stay here where you are, you are not going to get what God has for you. You must be convinced in this hour that no matter what is dictating to you even if it is a familiar voice that sustained you in the last season, you must continue your pursuit in God!  

 Elisha’s own leader told him to stay behind but he refused to listen to him.

 The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.”

You will have to be persuaded that whatever God has shown you inspite of the people, places or things that are dictating and trying to silence you, you will have to silence their voices.

Your friends may be questioning your ability to perceive God at this point.  Elisha in times past was aware of the times and seasons of his time.  His friends now are questioning his ability to hear God and whether he is actually aware that his leader is about to be taken away.  They are wondering why he is following and pursuing Elijah so closely when even Elijah told him to stay here.

 

When God has given you a desire like Elisha you will need to know it is from God.  You will need to be able to do something to receive it.  You will need to be close enough to it to receive it.

 

 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”

Once again, his leader has challenged him to stay here.  What in your life is challenging you to stay where you are? You may have received an email. You may have gotten an unfavorable diagnosis, your mate may have even filed for the divorce.

Is it your inability to see past your debt and you have stopped your pursuit to purchase that house?  Is it in believing God for the salvation and deliverance of your spouse because they have moved out and are with their new boo? Now your emotions are telling you, its too late. Don’t stay here. Keep going.

 

The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied, “so be quiet.”

You must silence everything in your life that is speaking contrary to what you desire.

Elisha again continues his pursuit, but he responds once again the same way…. He tells them to be quiet. We must silence our fears when God has made us a promise.

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So, the two of them walked on.

 

Just like Elisha was persistent, we must be to receive what God has for us in this season.  You need to be persistent in pursuing God for his promises.  

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

If you keep going, you are going to get the desire of your heart.

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

 Even if it is a difficult thing you have asked God for like Elisha did; it is not impossible IF you can believe and see it, you will receive it!

 

 

Offenses will come

What do you do when the truth and a lie are confronted like two football players that collide?  Years ago, I had the pleasure of watching the movie, Concussion.  I absolutely loved this movie for several reasons.  I respect the passion and connection that Dr. Bennett Omalu demonstrated as he would ask his “dead” patients what happened to them.  There they laid on that table, with no longer the ability to have a voice; and yet their bodies held within them the story of their lives.  He became their voice.  Have you been called to be a voice for others?

There was another compelling moment in the movie I connected with him.  It was the integrity and honor he held for them to be willing to place his career on the line and his own finances, nevertheless, he was offended.  Jesus told us in this world, offenses will come.

 How do you handle these types of offenses?  He remained faithful to his cause despite the opposition.   God wants you to remain faithful to the truth and message he has given you regardless of the opposition and the offenses that you are facing.  Regardless of the fact, that my father’s side of the family are Islamic, I still share my Christian beliefs.  Keep sharing your story.  Keep sharing the word of the Lord even as I pray that God will deliver and save them although it is viewed to them as I am being offensive. 

However, evidence that Dr. Omalu discovered caused the truth revealed to cost him a great price. Has your purpose and calling lead you to a place of great price?  Have you ever stood up for what is right, and you had to suffer for it? I have and I was able to relate to Dr. Bennett Omalu in this movie. 

Dr. Bennett Omalu made a difference although millions of people are still diehard fans for the game of football. Even if people still decide to play football, at least the truth was told.  Even if millions of people still choose to follow the teachings of the Nation of Islam; I will speak my truth from the word of God. 

Even if you are rejected for the work that you are doing, do it for the glory of God.

Even when you feel like you are not honored for your sacrifices, do it for the glory of God.

His work has provided a greater awareness of the painful truth associated with head injuries to football players that otherwise would have never been proven.  I pray that the revelation of Christ will be revealed, and more people will be made aware of the error that has been embedded in the minds and hearts of those that have believed them for generations that follow the Nation of Islam and other false religions.  God wants you to know he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that you would not be lost. Jesus is Lord!

 

 

Push

Sometimes in life we all need a good PUSH!  As a child begins to learn how to ride a bicycle without their training wheels, we can all learn some valuable lessons in our personal and spiritual development.

  Sometimes we want to rush things and we are not yet able to navigate the winds of life that come to sway us away from our path.

 Sometimes we think we are strong enough to balance our own weights and want to ride independently.

And sometimes there are those of us that just need a PUSH…………

 

No matter where you find yourself in your career, your ministry, your education, or even your relationship with God; we will all find at times we need a push. Even after a woman has carried a baby nine complete months, she can not deliver that baby without a PUSH. Whatever God has even placed in your spiritual womb will require your ability to PUSH. You will have to push pass your own disbelief because maybe it is taking longer than you expected. It’s a journey that without the loving guidance of our heavenly father, we would all end up on the side of the road.  I can remember when I graduated from high school, I was under the silly notion that I didn’t need to go back to school because Jesus was coming soon.  I had been out of school a year and wasn’t doing anything to develop myself personally.  It wasn’t until a friend said you need to go to college and I registered the next day.  All it took was just a PUSH.   

However, when it was time for me to go back to school to get my Master’s degree, it took many, many years of consistent pushes from many different people.  I just didn’t get it over night that it was time for me to go to the next level of my education. I had a good paying job but this next degree would place me on a new path at my job.  It was time for me to let go of what was familiar and safe.

 I thought I was strong enough and ready for my next level of promotion but I had a lot of development and training that I needed to get there.  Sometimes, it’s not about getting another degree.  It’s about being seated at the table with the right people at the right time that God has called you to reach so that you will have the authority and access you need to have a voice. 

Maybe you lost your job and you have wanted to develop your own business/organization or step out in full time ministry for years but didn’t have the time.  Now you have more than enough time and with the help and strength of your heavenly father you now have the PUSH you need. God is going to open that door and surround you will the people you need that are going to PUSH you into your NEXT!

Audacity to Hope

   We were born for the times that we were needed the most.  When God sent us in the earth, he sent us as an answer. What have you been called to die for? King David asked, Is there not a cause?  What makes you weep? What takes your breath away? What would you do every day without being paid if you could afford it? God made Abram and Sarai a promise of having a son.  All they asked for was a son but Gods plan from their ability to believe him for a son would affect every generation that ever lived after them. 

What desire has God given you, but you don’t even understand how much bigger Gods plan is attached to that dream?  Nevertheless, to have that child, he would have to have the audacity to hope against hope.  He was 99 years old, and Sari was 90 years old.  Their bodies naturally were dead.  Their strength and even their desire was truly challenged after so many years of hoping and not receiving the promise. I’m going to be perfectly honest; I would have told God never mind.  You took too long and I don’t want a child anymore at that age.

 

What are you believing God for, and you feel like it is taking too long? Don’t be like Abram and Sarai and try and make it happen without God.

 

Then God comes and tells him he is going to give him this promise son, Isaac. The word declares God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  When he gives us a promise it’s for our generations not just us, but it will take the audacity to hope against hope.

There will be times, it will look dead.

There will be times, it will feel dead.

There will be times others will mock you for even daring to believe God.

There will be times we even hinder our own promise until we become the man or woman God made the promise too. God gave them the promise as Abram and Sarai but it would take them all those years to receive it until they became Abraham and Sarah.

 

Most people believe they were waiting on God.  God was waiting on them to BECOME.  It will take you allowing God to make you the person he gave the promise too! Believe God for your expected end and have the audacity to hope in the face of adversity.

 

126 When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. God is challenging us in this season to allow him during our own captivity to allow him to cause us to dream again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Ruth

Meet Ruth 2.jpg


Who is Ruth?

Please indulge me, as I take a few minutes to share about someone very near and dear to me. My sister, Ruth Muhammad.

If you have wanted a baby girl, Ruth was born that beautiful brown eyed, curly head, healthy baby girl. She was a dream of every mother at birth. Ruth was a big sister, a loving daughter, a kindhearted friend and a mother that loved her children in spite of her flaws, insecurities and troubles.

One of the things I admired most about my sister was her artistic abilities. She was so talented. We all ran to her as children to draw all of our art projects. Ruth was my first teacher in some places in my childhood.

I did not learn how to tie my shoe from her or my ABC's, but I learned how to choose my friends. I learned that doing drugs was not the answer to my problems. I learned the importance of finishing school. I learned that the streets would never be my friend. I learned to never trust in my natural beauty. I learned to value people every day because you never know when a loved one will be gone.

Some of our last moments were the most special to me. Ruth came to visit me and on this particular day, I was doing my homework and she bent down and kissed my hands, and told me how proud she was of me for finishing school. She was killed the semester before I graduated from college.

Another moment, I had before her passing, I saw her on the street on a cold night. I was going to the store. There I was 24 years old, she was 28, and the only thing she asked of me, was to hold my hand as we walked through the store. I did it without hesitation.

The last day, she came to visit before she was violently taken was 3 days before she was murdered. I had gotten a sore throat. She was sitting in the hallway on the stairs outside my apartment door. I asked her what made her come and I kept saying, I am not normally home at this time. I left school early that day.

She told me Jeremy, my three, soon to be four year old, had asked her for a Barney tape for his birthday. She insisted that she had to get him the money. She handed me a wad of change, running in and out the door several times to gather more, until it totaled $10 dollars. She was crying so hard. I asked her what was wrong. I'll never forget her last words to me, I'm tired now. I am tired of the streets and she knelt in the floor and just wept. She had a heaviness on her, I will never forget.


She let me know before she left that she was concerned about her children. Jeremy often asked for them, which would cause her to cry harder. See, Ruth had gotten on drugs as a very young teenager. This door was the slow demise of her life that was a constant struggle that lead to many other paths of destruction.

Ruth died a death that was every mother's nightmare. Ruth struggled with a lack of support. I believe proper support would have helped her end to be different. It is through these support systems that I am hoping to help other young single moms to overcome. I pray that through Ruth's Vineyard, my sister will find a place of honor on this side of heaven, through every woman that receives what she needed the most. Support.