The old woman and the young lady: A short story.

When you are a child of God, His Spirit lives inside of you, and His Spirit is going to make you more like Him, one way or another.

If you think that God doesn’t have a sense of humor, then where do you think we get it from? He created us in His image! Let me tell you a story.

There was an old widow who lived alone. She had no children, her family lived in another state, and the only close family that she had was her church family. Although she visited church every Wednesday for Bible Study, and every Sunday for service, after church, she’d rush out the doors to her car, because she didn’t want to talk to anyone. She just wasn’t a people’s person. She loved people, but she was never one of those people who could strike up a interesting conversation with a total stranger, or anyone for that matter. Not only that, but she got annoyed easily. There was a woman with an infant who would sit by her every Sunday, and when the Bishop would get up to preach, the baby would cry and make all kinds of ruckus, frustrating the old lady even more. One day, the old lady decided to come to church five minutes late, hoping the rows would fill up and she’d be seated far away from the young woman with the baby. When she came in that Sunday, all of the seats were filled, and an usher told her that she had to go to the overflow room. The old lady was disappointed. “That’s what I get,” she said to herself. “Oh well, on the bright side I don’t have to worry about sitting by that hollering baby. Lord forgive me, but it’s the truth Jesus. I don’t know what’s wrong with that baby, it’s like a little demon baby. Sorry Lord, I was wrong for that.” As she was thinking all these things, she went back out the doors and the young lady with the baby was coming out of the restroom into the sanctuary. “Really Jesus?” the old lady thought. The young lady saw her and said, “Hello, I saved your seat. I was wondering where you were. Good thing I caught you. I had to change the baby real quick, but I made sure to save you a seat up front. Is everything okay?” The young lady smiled as she held the baby in one arm and used her free hand to grab the old lady’s hand, leading her back to the seat she’d saved just for her. “I’m Carol, by the way. Nice to meet you,” the young woman said. The old woman chuckled and said in a low tone, “God has a sense of humor.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. What was that?” the young lady asked. “Oh, nothing,” the old lady said with a smile. “Everything is fine, and my name is Martha. Nice to meet you as well.” They went to their seats and shortly after, the Bishop went to preach and the baby went crazy. It was like the Bishop pressed a button that aggravated the infant, each time he went to preach. On this day, something different happened though. The old lady said to the young woman. “Do you mind if I hold him?” The young lady smiled and said, “Sure.” The old lady put the infant on her shoulder and gave him three firm, yet gentle pats on the back, and the baby made a long burp noise and went to sleep. The old lady whispered, “He was just gassy, that’s all.” The old lady had learned that trick from when her mom would burp her siblings, ages ago. She gave the baby back to his mom and they enjoyed the rest of the church service. After church, the young lady invited the old woman over for dinner. Come to find out, the young lady was also a widow and had lost her husband during a deployment overseas. The young woman and the old lady became good friends and now consider themselves family. They both learned a lot from each other. The old woman learned the value of kindness and fellowship. The young woman learned how to cope with being a widow and she also learned that she didn’t have to go through that season of her life alone. They both learned that you have more in common with people than you think, and that God puts us here to love and help each other get through life. God is intentional in everything He does and He strategically placed those women there to help each other grow. The old woman never had any intentions of ever saying anything to the young woman, with her fussy baby, but God had other plans. He knows how to get us to where we need to be. Proverbs 16:9 says, “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” The old lady had her plan set that day, but God determined her steps, and redirected her back to that seat, beside that young lady with the noisy baby, but guess what? The old lady haven’t been the same ever since… and that’s a good thing! My question to you is? What’s that “noisy baby” in your life? Maybe it’s a co worker, a child, a customer… God is saying, put your feelings aside and be kind to that person. You never know what kinds of battles those people are fighting. Don’t rush through life all caught up in yourself. Take time to love, be kind and help someone else. ❤️

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Take a break.

When everything and everyone is getting on your nerves, do you know what that means? You need to take a break! Put down your phone, turn off the TV, go to your prayer closet, or anywhere that you can get to that’s quiet and pray. In this prayer, don’t talk… just listen. The reason that I said, don’t talk is because oftentimes when we are frustrated, it’s because we’re running low on the Spirit Of God, and like Erica Campbell said, “I need just a little more Jesus.” In these times we need the Lord to fill us with His Spirit until we’re in overflow. We need Him to pour in us until we’re empty of all distractions. Romans 8:26-27, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”Listen, we don’t always know what to pray, but as long as we can just get to a quiet place and listen for God’s voice, we’ll be okay. He already knows what’s on our heart without us uttering a word. We know that if we are frustrated, we can receive His peace, but what happens when the source of our frustrations are unknown to us? Then what? God doesn’t want us to receive His peace and five minutes later, become frustrated again. Therefore, it’s imperative that we listen for His voice, so that He can fix the root of the problem, give us direction and as much as His Spirit that we need.

Who are you following?

Be mindful of who or what you’re following. You’ve heard these sayings, “Follow your heart.” “Follow your dreams.” An influencer may say, “Follow me on social media.” All too often we’re so busy following other people or our own desires, that we fail to realize that anything (including our own desires) that we seek or follow more than we follow God, is a recipe for disaster, and let me tell you why. We were all born with a talent. The talent that God gifted us with is supposed to be used to glorify Him. That’s our gift back to Him. But what happens when you focus on the talent, more than He who equipped you with the talent? You begin to follow your dreams first, instead of following Christ. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” People, we should be looking to God first, and our dreams will follow us. God will lead us to our destiny. We shouldn’t be out here looking to people, things or ourselves to fulfill our God given destiny. We should be looking to God. Looking to anything or anyone other than God will cause us to use our gifts for the wrong things. We’ll be out here using our God given talents for self gratification and vain glory. You know what else will happen? When you follow people and not God first, you give them the power to dictate how you use your talent. Which is why, if you do your research, many people in Pop culture aren’t happy. They feel like they can’t be who they are, they have to be their labels “image” of who they are. Don’t sell yourself short folks. Follow God, and everything else in life will follow you. You won’t have to seek these things first. God will lead you to these things. Blessings will be added unto you. And another thing, don’t follow your heart, unless you’ve first asked God to speak to it, and I’m going to tell you why. Because the heart can be deceptive. After all, your heart is yours, and it’s going to want what it wants naturally… Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Have you ever followed your heart and fell in love with someone you know darn well wasn’t right for you… but, your heart said give that person a chance? Then what you thought was love, ended in heartbreak? That’s because the heart wants you to do what feels right, but doing what we feel is right and doing what God says is right are two different things. A lot of times our right is tied to our own motives. God’s right, which is THE RIGHT WAY, will have us living with purpose, which means our life will be fruitful, because we’re looking to Him. Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Don’t look to people to put you on, God will put you on, and He will connect you to the right people. Don’t look to the things of this world, because the things of this world don’t make you, the Word of God does! Don’t look to yourself, because there’s only so much you can do, and not only that but selfishness separates us from God, we can’t love or live the life God intended for us to live if we’re selfish. So, in conclusion, follow God FIRST, and your dreams (the desires of your heart) will follow you. ❤️

Confession time.

Okay, so a moment of transparency… I’m good by myself, but doggoneit, 🗣🗣🗣I WANT A FREAKING HUSBAND! Every now and then I’ll ask God, “God, where is my husband?‼️” I know that my future hubby is out there somewhere, asking God, “Lord, where is my wife?” Lol I have hope, but dear Jesus, 😫“WHY IS IT TAKING SOOOO LONG????” I used to be like many independent women who “claim” that they don’t need a man, or who are overly consumed with their career or anything other than a man, but goshdarnit, lol, I need a man! 🤷🏾‍♀️… side note, I’m so proud of my substitute cuss words… now if only I can practice this in my everyday speech. Cussing is something me and God is working on… Yeah, so anyway! I’ve gotten to the point that I’m feeling like Al Green! I’m so tired of being alone, I’m so tired of on my own, Won’t you help me, BOY, just as soon as you can. 🎵

Not many people will put their thoughts and feelings out there for the world to see, in fear that the world will laugh or judge how they feel. I could care less though. I’m tired of faking the funk! I want a husband who fits into my purpose, and I into his. I want a life partner. I want a teammate. When God created Adam, Genesis 2:18 says, “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” This tells us that we need a significant other to help us! Help us in ministry, life and not to mention we need a husband to procreate, or if you’re like me and you don’t want anymore kids, then you still need a husband for sex! But sex isn’t at the top of my list for needing a husband (which is why I’ve been celibate for 2.5 years! Yay me!), I need a husband because I believe husband and wife is a part of God’s design for us. I need someone to fellowship with daily, a teammate, a soulmate. Even now though, I hear the Lord telling me to have a little more patience, and I am. I’m being patient but I’m also being proactive, meaning this year, I began to date again! Yay me! I realized that my future husband wasn’t going to fall out of Heaven into my bed, or come knocking on my door saying, God sent him to marry me, so, just as faith without works is dead in other aspects of our lives, I realized if I didn’t put my faith into action to be seen, so that my future husband can find me, then I’d be waiting forever. Anyways, here’s to the wait!

May your wait be full joy, while you seek God and find yourself. May you learn to love yourself so that you’re able to love your future significant other. May you receive the full measure of everything that God has in store for you, and may the Lord fulfill your desire to have a life partner to love, become one with and to glorify His name. In Jesus name. Amen. ❤️

I thought wrong. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I remember when I was young and naive, I wanted to marry a man of God, preferably a pastor. In my (young and naive) mind a pastor or man of God in general was a better choice to have as a spouse, than a “regular man”. Silly me… Little did I know that even a man of God was still a freaking MAN! They have the same issues we all have. They sin just as we all sin. They have their struggles and face temptation just like the rest of us. They have things they’ve yet to overcome too! A title doesn’t make them any less of a man. Romans 3:23– For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. ***Sighs*** I just thought… at least I wouldn’t have to face the same demons with a saved man as I did with someone who I was previously unequally yoked with… After “talking” to a couple of pastors, I realized that I had unrealistic expectations. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that no one is perfect except God… I know this, but why did the guys I end up “talking to” or dating, imperfections had to be so… imperfect? 😒No, not physically… spiritually! Why were they comfortable with spirits that I was uncomfortable with? What was God trying to show me? Well, I believe it’s two things God was trying to show me. One is obvious, and that is that no one is perfect, so I just have to choose my battles wisely when making a decision about a spouse. Obviously, I don’t want to settle for something toxic and try to squeeze love out of it, that’s ridiculous. So, number one again, no one is perfect, but choose your battles wisely. Number two is, well this should be number one because it’s definitely more important, shift your focus to God. All that time, I was looking for a man, I should have been looking to God. Don’t get me wrong, I was saved, but I wasn’t chasing (seeking)  God like I should have, and when you’re not seeking God like you should, you’ll entertain all sorts of ungodliness and all sorts of ungodliness will chase after you. You may try to get rid of it, but if you’re not completely focused on Jesus, then those spirits will torment you. Thank God I’ve found my purpose in life, and is using it to bring God glory, and not myself. Using my gift for the Kingdom of God has changed my ENTIRE outlook on life. The more I began to seek God and use my life for His glory, the less time I had to entertain foolishness, whether it was with a saved man or unsaved man! Listen y’all! SAVED PEOPLE SIN! Lol It doesn’t make it right, but I’m telling you, none of us will reach perfection until we reach Heaven. The only thing we can do is try our best to follow Jesus example of how to live and love, and be like Paul and PRESS!

Spiritual issues and physical things.

Some of us are perfecting the wrong things. There are some people who battle their insecurities by purchasing a new body, hoping that it gets them the love or validation that they should first accept from God and then lavish upon themselves. There are people who try to battle their demons with money, buying expensive things and even fame, but you can’t get rid of those spirits with the things of the world, you can only get rid of them with the Word of God. If hatred is in your heart, you can’t get rid of it by beating your face… it doesn’t matter how much makeup you apply. If you battle low self esteem, you can become an overachiever all you want, but in your mind, you’ll never be good enough. Do you understand where I’m coming from? It doesn’t matter how good we “appear” to be on the outside, if we don’t understand that greatness is an inside job, then we’ve missed the mark. We have to love God, ourselves and others. We also need to believe what God says about us, more than what people think about us. No matter how much of the things of this world a person possesses, those things cannot hide the ugly truth. It’s like putting a bandaid on a headache… It does nothing but make you look foolish. Deal with the source of the problem instead of trying to bandage it with the things of the world. External flaws are easy to cover up. It’s those inner demons that stick out like a sore thumb. None of us are perfect, and we will all be a work in progress until the day Jesus returns, so for now change your mindset. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Focus on the will of God, because that’s what really matters. When we leave this life, having the perfect physical features or millions of followers on social media, or all the money in the world won’t matter at all. What’s going to matter is the fact that a person has accepted Jesus in their heart, and that they’ve lived a life of love through Christ. Jesus told us to love our neighbor as ourself (see Mark 12:31). This means we cannot love someone else if we do not love ourselves. Change what you can, accept what you can’t, but never try to fix a spiritual issue with physical things. It simply doesn’t work.

Healing hurts.

Don’t be afraid of your brokenness being exposed to God. Too often people get comfortable with being broken, because they’ve been that way for so long, and some refuse to turn those not so pretty parts of them over to God because it hurts to let their pain go. I know it sounds crazy, but when you’re used to pain, it becomes your norm and it hurts to get rid of comfort. Therefore people “protect” their pain. Ask anyone who has ever dealt with an addiction of any kind, and they will tell you that the road to sobriety was painful. Sure, the addiction may have caused them pain, but that pain was comforting, and getting rid of comfort hurts! No one likes to be uncomfortable, but God didn’t call us to be comfortable, therefore, He will call us out in order to wake us up. He will expose us, just to cover us with grace. Hebrews 12:5-6, “And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Allow room for the Holy Spirit to correct you. Correction is not comfortable but it’s necessary. The Lord wants us to learn from our experiences, good and bad. He wants us to become better, not bitter. When it comes to past pains, don’t allow what happened to you to get inside of you. Let’s just say that you did, but you don’t even realize it. All you have to do is ask God to remove anything in you, that’s not of Him. It’s not going to be a pretty picture when He starts to reveal what those things are, but you must trust Him, and let those things go. The truth is, we’ve all gotten comfortable with something painful. We may not know it’s painful because we’ve been carrying it around for so long, and that’s why we need the Spirit Of God to reveal those things to us. Quit holding on to the very things that’s holding you back. Accept God’s correction. His correction is a redirection to a better life for you. God doesn’t correct you to condemn you, He corrects you so that He can fill you with His Spirit and you can live victoriously, the way He intended. Embrace His power that’s at work in you. Healing always hurts before it heals. As the saying goes, “The truth hurts,” but Jesus said it will also set you free. The only way to put you back together again, is to allow God to get rid of whatever it was that broke you in the first place. Don’t get comfortable in your brokenness, instead meet God there. Let Him see the good, the bad and the ugly you, so that He can make your mind, body and soul, both beautiful and free. In Jesus name. Amen.