The Special Encounters

The last couple of months I have allowed the worries of the world to interfere with my spiritual growth.  About a week ago I got a tweet from a new follower named Stephanie and it read: “Hey lady! How is God treating you today?”  I literally stopped what I was doing because it caught me off guard. I was just tweeting random craziness and out of nowhere here was someone asking how God was treating me.  I instantly felt condemned about my recent actions, words and thoughts.  I responded “Hi, he’s been great to me, what about you?” I replied but you know, sometimes we go through the motions and say what we feel people expect us to say or we answer with truth not really pondering the significance of the words we speak.  Later that week Stephanie tweeted Everyone has something they feel strongly about.  But the question becomes are you going to do anything about it.

Yesterday I went to the track to walk and I had the pleasure of accompanying a beautiful young lady around my age that I knew while growing up.  It was my first time really talking to her and her spirit was AH-MAY-ZING! She spoke with such grace and conviction about her love for God and all he’s done and is doing in her life.  I saw in her what I need to see in myself.  She truly inspired me and spoke to my heart and made me do inventory of my spiritual characteristics.  After leaving the track, I felt like God put us on the track at the same time for a reason.  I thought back to the tweet Everyone has something they feel strongly about.  But the question becomes are you going to do anything about it. And it meant something totally different at that moment.  I ‘claim’ to have such a Fear Of and Love For God, yet I do nothing about it.  It’s not in my everyday talk or my walk and definitely not in my tweets LOL. I’m not saying that it should be all that I talk about, but it should be evident when coming into contact with me.

So Today my Voices are Praying: praying for forgiveness of my transgressions, strength in my never ending journey of being a better person, awareness of my actions both good and bad, control to guard my tongue from the things that are unlike him and I pray most of all for a more profound voice to speak of his greatness!

In the words of Stephanie How is God treating you today? And what are you going to do about it?

…Until Next Time

God's Favor

My career plan in 2010 was to start working when the kids went back to school, stay on that job a year, then move on. I started working in August of that year, but before I knew it, a year was gone, I was still there, and I didn’t have any prospects for a new job. Honestly speaking, I was a little down in the dumps about still being there and not moving on. Because in my mind, my course there had ended, the job served its purpose and I was ready to move on.

On May 22, 2012 I wrote down my prayer “I pray for a job with great benefits, good understanding people, not far from home, more money, good working hours, not much overtime... I pray for a job that will allow me to utilize my current abilities as well as grow in other areas. A job that will challenge my mind and get me out of this current rut.  I am not an average person, therefore I want greatness to reflect in all areas of my life! Work, home, family, demeanor....” I prayed for a new beginning…a chance to meet new people at my new place in life.

In June I was offered a job, but I had prior engagements that were top priority for me at the time and my current employer agreed to wait for me an entire month. (good, understanding people *check*) When I turned in my notice one of my former co-workers told me “You don’t want to burn any bridges” and my response to him was “Some bridges need to burn to prevent you from trying to cross them again.” At the time I didn’t realize how powerful that statement was, the only thing that mattered to me was, in my heart I knew that my time there had come to an end and God agreed.

My travel time to work was once anything from 45 minutes-2 hours dependent on traffic; with the new job my travel time became 15-25 minutes dependent on traffic (not far from home *check*) Hurricane Isaac happened and we experienced damage to our home so we have been staying by my mom, the kids school was destroyed so their schools are now in alternative locations.

Jeremiah 29:11 reads For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Being that I got my job only a month before all of this happened, I am able to recognize God’s favor in my life. The toll that living on one side of town, working 5 towns over, and my kids being 3 towns back would have taken on my mind, body and spirit would have been tremendous.  God spared me from the exhaustion that would have happen to me had I still been working that job, but he also made sure that his timing was perfect so that I realized it was him working things out in my favor, not just “my plan” unfolding.  In a previous post entitled Restoration I wrote “Restoration happens when your willingness to live a Godly life and God’s timing collide…” I also wrote “We have to be at the point in our lives where we allow him to take away what we have in mind for ourselves…and allow his will to be done” and this is exactly what happened to me.

      Moral of the Story: Just because things don’t happen when you want them, doesn’t mean they won’t happen when God’s timing is right. In the bible there are many instances that God performs acts to make people aware that HE IS! “You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other”. I feel the reason God doesn’t allow things to happen when WE want them is because he wants his presence and power to be recognized and not overlooked! If things happen in our timing we may think it was a lone act when in all actuality it wasn’t.

I almost forgot, the other blessing staying over a year brought me was some friends that have changed my
life forever! God allowed me to meet them at a time when we could each compliment each others lives. How's that for favor?

So today my voices are praying that God continues to make his favor known in my life and that I continue to realize it and give him thanks, glory and honor! God loves when we share the greatness of his word and his great works and I love it when he shows off!!

…Until Next Time

  

Restoration cont....

A friend of mine once told me "its amazing how God can restore you to your destiny at any point in your life" "this is probably the destiny that God had planned for you a long time ago but instead of doing things his way you did them your way, and now that you are allowing his will to be done and he’s restoring you back to your rightful place" thanks to her I was driving home from work one day and Restoring the Years by Donald Lawrence came on…and on THAT day, after THAT conversation THAT song meant so much more to me.

The feeling that came over me while hearing that song made my soul cry with joy. Restoration means something miraculous! As the song was playing I could hear my friend’s words reigning in my mind…. Restoring is when your heading down the wrong path and God steps in and allows a detour that will lead you back to him, Restoring does not simply mean to replace something, it also means fixing something that was broken … it does not merely consist of restocking inventory with something better but it can also mean completely revamping inventory by changing packaging (the way you dress and how you are perceived by others) and the storage place (the company you keep).

Restoration happens when your willingness to live a Godly life and God’s timing collide…then and only then will we be prepared to handle the type of blessings that God’s wants to bestow upon us. We have to be at the point in our lives where we allow him to take away what we have in mind for ourselves…and allow his will to be done (whatever that may be). It means replacing our thoughts with his thoughts, yielding to him to help diminish the power of our flesh and build our spirit… But we must first desire more than just pain being replaced with joy we must desire a closer relationship with God because then and only then will we be restored with increase like in Job 42 when Job prayed for his friends and God blessed him with twice as much as he had before… Verse 12 begins by saying ‘So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning…

So today my voices are praying that we as people remember that it is time to take self out of the equation. My voices are praying for God's guidance and my willingness to follow, because I know only then will my life and God's timing collide causing my time of restoration.

Until Next Time...

Renewed

I haven’t posted in a while, not because I’ve forgotten about it,  but because I was in a place that I know all so well but I hate being in; A place of discontentment, lack of faith and a feeling of defeat.  See, when I write to you guys, I write from a place of sincerity, experience and in the spirit. Any of you that know me, know that my greatest fear when writing the message behind the voices, is that I relay a message from the wrong voice!  So with the disconnect I allowed to form, writing inspirational things wasn’t something that I was going to do, because I refuse to speak in a way that isn’t true to my heart, what I’m experiencing, thinking or being led by the spirit to say.

With that being said, the last couple of weeks I have been thinking “this can’t be all that life has in store for me work wise”. “My” plans were to get back into the working field, stay at my current job a year, then move on to something that would not only enhance my current abilities, but something that would allow me to grow beyond them. Instead of things going according to “my” plans…I’m still at the same job and I feel as though the knowledge I once had in my field is deteriorating because I’m not using it to its full ability. I feel as though I have depreciated down the ladder of my career instead of gaining more value.  

As I was going through this rut, I had a task at work to relocate a user. But this one was unlike any other i've ever done, it was a young black woman that had been promoted into a supervisory position at work. It got me excited and brought me great joy to do this move because I viewed it as a sign that it can be done…as I was configuring her computer I noticed something on her desk that read something similar to Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. After I glanced at it, all I could do was smile, because once again God was sending a sign to let me know it’s not “my” plans that matter…it’s His!

Sunday when I got to church Pastor was talking about gifts being stagnate and being confused about what is keeping you from the next level (speaking to me or what?).  He went on to explain that what God has in store for you is yours…Point Blank! “NO ONE can stop your advancement to the next level if it is of God’s will but you!”  He clarified that so many times we stand in our way by losing faith, giving up or submitting to the flesh. I left church feeling brand new, with my faith and perspective back on track (God’s track)…and I couldn’t be more excited!

So today my voices are Praying…Praying for continued strength down my path of righteousness, faith and prosperity. Praying that God’s will make way in my life and I don’t halt the miracles that are in store for me.  Praying that I learn to live in the spirit and allow my flesh to become completely defeated, for I know the flesh is weak…but with the fear of God I know all things can be overcome!

Until Next Time!