“SMILE…FOR YOU MAY NEVER KNOW'

I awoke this morning around 3 a.m. to the song by our late brother Ron Winans. “…For we may never know, all the people we may touch, all the lives that we may reach…” I haven’t written in a while because I’ve allowed myself to become focused on my current situation. This morning, I decided to blog about the message that God has given me. Do you know that sometimes throughout the day, you can change the outcome of someone’s day or life, just by the expression on your face? The other day, my kids and I were taking out our trash here at the motel. Coming out of the building, I saw a new Motel guest; a woman and her daughter. I smiled as we passed them and went to the dumpster. My kids were in the room all day doing schoolwork and then playing, so we decided before nightfall, we would go out and play.] A few minutes later, we saw this mother and daughter walking towards us. As she approached, she managed a faint smile. I smiled back and said hello when she was in front of me. She has a brace around her neck and her daughter looked somewhat frail, but very pretty. After standing there for a moment, the woman said my daughter wanted to come play with your kids. She told me that she was very selective about who her daughter plays with. She had been watching the other kids at the motel play outside before us, but when she and her daughter saw us, they felt like we would be fine to play with. I called my kids over to introduce themselves to our neighbors. My Elysia then asked the little girl if she wanted to play. She said yes and they were off. I realized then, that I had smiled at this woman and little girl; something I didn’t always do, until a very nice lady named, Sis. Mobley, years ago, pointed it out to me. This woman changed my life, when she told me to smile whenever I talk to people. Not only did she urge me to smile, but to look the person in the eye and pay them the utmost attention as if they were the most important person in the world to me. I’ve been practicing her suggestion everyday. That’s my suggestion to all of you today. Smile, so that you can brighten someone’s day. For you may never know all the people you may touch, or all the lives that you may reach. So SMILE!!!

I've Been Looking For A Friend Like You

I’ve been looking for a friend to share my joys with. A friend I can express all of my sorrows to. A friend that will tell me when I’m wrong and applaud me when I’m right. I need a friend that will give me the right advice when I’m faced with a difficult decision. Not the advice one thinks I want to hear, but the advice I need to hear. I want a friend that will be concerned about the TRUTH according to the Word of God, and not the truths of this world; based on the circumstance.

My friend will be there for me when I’m hurting to comfort me. My friend will be there to pick me up when I stumble and fall. My friend will encourage me to keep going when I want to stop and throw in the towel.

I need this friend to sometimes carry me in my struggles. Sometimes the wind blows mightily and I can hardly stand up. I need this friend to literally carry me, and to handle the situation for me. To coordinate my life in such a way, that when I am ready to stand again, I won’t be unsteady, I won’t be afraid; I will be confident, sound, sure.

Most of all, I want my friend to be there for me, every time I call. Whether it is day or night, I want my friend to be there for me.

I want a loving friend: joyous, longsuffering, peaceful, faithful, meek, discrete and most of all loving.

This friend would be PERFECT. This friend I would CHERISH. This friend I would LOVE…This Friend I KNOW!

THANK YOU JESUS, FOR BEING A FRIEND OF MINE.

Someone's Coming to Town

You better watch out, you better not cry,
You better not pout I’m telling you why,
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He see’s you when you’re sleeping,
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows when you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake.

Have you ever really thought about that song?
I did this morning. I was thinking how much our children believe in that tune during the Christmas season. How society can persuade our children around Christmas time that they should be on the look out for this man, this Santa Claus that will bring them everything they ask for if they are good.

Well, that’s how we, as followers of Jesus Christ should be, Good. We should be on the look out, watching as well as praying for the coming of the Lord. We should watch what we say, where we go and what we do in anticipation of HIS return. I hardly hear anymore about Jesus’ return, but I think about it quite often, if not every day. I am always aware of HIS presence; hoping that the thing I’m about to do or say next is going to be pleasing in HIS sight.

He does see you when you are sleeping, and whom you’re sleeping with. He knows when you’re awake, and what you are doing while awake. He definitely knows if you’ve been bad or good, obedient or disobedient to HIS word.

So, as an encouragement to all of you and you, myself included better watch out, and don’t you faint, don’t be slothful and a playful saint because Jesus Christ is coming to town...

Then, the clouds shall unfold, preparing HIS entrance, then we shall behold HIM, face to face.
Watch as well as Pray.

Life-Training-Love

I had a conversation with one of my beautiful nieces last night. We were talking about relationships, and her inability to really find herself and know what it is she wants, or who she really is. I reminded her of a past conversation we had years ago.
She told me that she’s glad I’m not her mother. I would like to share with you the reason for her statement.
She asked me one day if I would let my 16-year-old daughter date. If not, when would I allow my daughter to date? I told her no. I would explain to my daughter that I want her to study, enjoy being a young lady. I would want her to get to know who she is. Find out her likes and dislikes.
Now, there is a deeper part to that. We as women have been blessed with the ability to love selflessly, unconditionally.
With that in mind: at 16, my daughter gets her first crush. She says she’s in love with this boy. She begins to like the musical artist he likes. She begins to like the same food he likes. She loves the movies he loves, and the television shows he watch. Then they brake up. She’s heartbroken and soon discovers she’s lost her appetite, she doesn’t want to hear her music and look at her favorite TV shows. But, it’s not the food she loved, or the movies or TV shows she usually watches: it is the choices of her boyfriend. You see, we give our selves so wholly into our relationships, that we lose ourselves in the men we love.
So now she’s 18, new love, new life choices. Now 20, in college, Hallelujah, making good grades, but, another heartbreak, grades slip a little, but she gets back on track.
So now it’s my daughters graduation day from college. We are all elated! My daughter holds her degree in hand proudly. We get home and she seems sad.
What’s wrong baby? She says I don’t know mom. I’m glad about having my degree, but I just feel lost. I feel like I don’t know myself at all. Food doesn’t taste the same. I tried looking at TV last night to relax and got irritated. I tried listening to music and I became even more irritated. I then share with her that the food, the TV, the music she listens to, is all the choices of the past relationships she’s had. I explain that her choices were lost in the shuffle because she wanted to please her boyfriend; so she lost herself several times.
That’s why I would encourage my daughter not to date. Now from 16 to 18, I can control. But, I would hope that our relationship, and her relationship with God, would allow her to respect my wishes. I think that we, the church, need to stop following the traditions of the world and get back to training our children the way that God would have them to go. If we spend time teaching our girls and uplifting them in their lives and filling their lives with enrichment, they wouldn’t fill the need to need a boyfriend, or even desire to have one. Sure, they may see a boy they like and become friends. But lets teach them to keep their focus on growing, education and God.
Now I know a lot of parents would call this being too strict. I call it training up a child in the way he should go. I call it LOVE!

I Can Take It

“I wouldn’t put more on you, than you can bear. So if its there, it means you can bear it”.
I woke up this morning with these words melodiously ringing in my ear. I thought about the tasks of the day. It’s habitually the same as every day. I get up and get my kids schoolwork for the day organized. I get dressed and I prepare breakfast.
It seems like an ordinary start to most mothers’ day. However, for me, it’s a little more challenging. Every day tasks that I have to execute is done with intense pain and limited mobility, thus making a 5 minute task more like a 20 minute task for me. I have come to walk in the path that has been laid out for me at this present time, with broad shoulders, a head held high, the stature of a confident soldier and with great humility.
Having been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and OsteoArthritis, severe pain has become problematic, constant and forever present. The level of pain I live through every day is a pain so great, I wouldn’t want the most evil person in this world to endure; and I mean that.
I wake up in pain from the neck down, and go to sleep with pain from the neck down.
However, by the grace of God and the faith I have in God and the strength that He has given me to get through…I do just that, I get through each day.
I love combing my girls hair, but it has become such a task, that leaves my fingers so stiff with pain that it seems as if they were beat with a hammer.
To raise my arms to cook, it makes my shoulders hurt so fiercely that I sometimes have to hold my breath and take small breath’s to endure it.
I say all of this, not to complain, but to encourage all of you to be thankful for every ounce of strength, endurance, drive and mobility you have, unaccompanied by pain.
If your biggest complaint is, “I just don’t feel like it”, then please take it from a severe pain sufferer, you are truly blessed, as am I, and you should thank God for every pain-less moment you have, and don’t complain.
And to all the silent sufferers, just know, whatever your affliction or trial, if God has allowed it, you can bear it.

Now Faith

I’ve lived thru many tests of my faith in God. How do I know? I’m still here; I’m still standing. On December 30, 2011, my children and I were evicted from our home. I thank my God for this new move in our life. Why? Because I BELIEVE by FAITH, that God is in control and that He’s working it out for our good. Although, my kids and I are currently living in an extended stay motel, I must tell you that I’m so happy and excited about the next move of God…. it’s on the way. Now, Faith, Is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.(Heb. 11:1, KJV) Ok bottom line, I trust in God, I don't have another choice.
My sister B, shared with me a New Year sentiment, two words, “Expect Greater.”
I do so in the name of Jesus. For right now, my kids and I will be waiting on Faith Blvd., for our Deliverance Bus.
Happy New Year!

Will You Hug an Addict Today?

We are his people, the sheep of his pastures. What does that statement mean to you? To me, it sounds very special. We often walk around like we don’t have any other duties in this present world. Why? Because we’ve been baptized in Jesus name and we’ve received the gift of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues as the spirit gave utterance. Now we are happy in Jesus, Hallelujah, we are going to heaven; we can just sit here until Jesus comes.
But…. we are not done. Now is when the ‘real’ work begins. My topic focus today is about the way some churches treat addicts, recovering and present.
I don’t think that most addicts want to actually be addicts. There is an unfortunate thing that happens when you try a drug for the first time. Especially when you have taken your eyes off Jesus and are in search of something else to fill your void or soothe the pain in your life. The reaction that follows is all about body chemistry. If your body chemistry can’t handle the mix, then you become addicted, it not, you usually walk away because the reaction your body has is so upsetting you say, “I don’t want to try that again.”
For those of us that had a body chemistry blend happen as a result of trying a drug, we become an addict to that drug. I know, I tried a drug one day, to me innocently and instantly became addicted. It was over the counter, other people take it all the time, but the chemistry reaction my body had with the drug, caused a sensation in me that made me zone out. It also put me to sleep for hours. I loved how zoned out from the world I felt. I had kept my problems at bay. Now I wanted it again, immediately because my problem was in my face all the time and I didn’t want to face it, so that drug was the way to fix it. I believe it took me about 5 years to wean myself away from that drug. I thank my God that He delivered me from this drug and my uncomfortable circumstances.
We have so many people hurt in the church-world, and they feel like they can’t turn to anyone, because no one would listen or because the spirits of judgment and ridicule bombarded them. When someone comes to you for help, its time to stop giving them that same old, oh you just need to trust in God, you are struggling because you just want to be rebellious.
Addiction usually happens as a result of a void a person feels, or something very painful that they feel helpless as a result of that pain; not just because they woke up one morning and said, gee I wish I were an addict.
In the church, we have lots of addicts: drug addicts, sexual addicts, food addicts, etc.
How do we treat addicts we know are addicts? For instance, when a saved man or woman of God becomes an addict and gets into trouble, ends up on the wrong side of the law and goes to jail. Do we visit them? Or do we say he got what he deserves. When its time for that person to get out of prison, are a band of brothers and sisters waiting at the gate so they can see the love of Jesus staring them in the face? Or do you here about their release and wonder how long it will be before they get in trouble again.
We are his people, the sheep of His pastures; we need to start representing Jesus Christ more and not our own selves. If Jesus still walked the earth, would he be at that gate when the saved prisoner was released? And if he couldn’t be there as the prisoner is released, He most certainly would be there to see Him later that day, to show Him love and let Him know that He doesn’t have to suffer alone anymore because He had his back. God would be His real friend. Can you imagine the success rate of an addict prospering if He was received as if He did nothing wrong. If the saints rallied around to welcome him home. Holding a feast for him, giving him words of encouragement. Letting him know that you will be there to encourage him. Letting him know that if he needs to talk, you are a phone call away. What a difference it would make in his or her life.
Lets stop pretending that we are perfect. Lets stop judging people when they fall. Lets start receiving a brother that has fallen and appears to want to be reunited with our God, lets treat him as we should; As a brother, in the spirit of love. Lets love on them, a lot. Will you hug and help an addict today?