Be Yourself Everyone is Taken

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I cannot tell you how many times I used to sit and wonder why things worked out for this person or compared myself to other people and what they were doing.  I would think to myself that this person did xy and z to “make it” so if I do xy and z then I will make it there too.

It was not until God spoke to me and let me know that there was an error in my thinking.  It is not that God does not have a purpose for me.  He has a purpose for all of us.  But not all of us can go around chasing the same purpose.  Because we are not the same person and we do not have the same set of gifts and abilities.

I can tell you so many bloggers that I admire (Heather Lindsey, Necole Bitchie, The Single Woman).  But no matter how much I love them and what they are doing with their life I am not them.  I do not have their life purpose, I have my life purpose.  If you read Heather Lindsey’s blog she talks about God told her to quit pursuing her Master’s degree.  God did not tell me that, not only did he tell me to get my Masters but also He told me to get my PhD.  Now is my path or her path for everyone, no of course not.

But the key is knowing God and knowing what God has planned for you.  And in case you are ever confused about what God wants you to do, remember that if God wants you to do something He will give you the grace to do it.  And if he does not want you to do something, He will close doors to prevent you from doing it.

There have been many nights where I was so tired and half sleep writing my paper.  But yet and still when I turned it in I would get A’s and B’s.  I am convinced that during those nights that God had to be guiding my hand because there has been so many times where I did not feel like doing anything.  But in the areas I lacked God picked up and this is how I knew that He wanted me to finish because He made it possible for me to finish.

Now there has been some other things where God has shut the door.  Before I got my Master’s degree I just knew I wanted to be a licensed marriage and family therapist.  That was MY plan, I was qualified, and I didn’t feel anything could stop ME.  Do you notice what the common theme is in these statements are? That these were MY plans but they were not God plans.  After I got my Master’s I went on to tried to get licensed.  I have the education, I have the experience, and it should be easy right?  WRONG? Every door that I tried to open to get a licensed closed dead in my face.
The result was me getting frustrated because my plan was to be licensed and doors slammed in my face and that was not a part of my plan.  But it was not a part of God’s plan and He let me know it.  I had to give up on that.  I had to pray and tell God if it was not meant for me to do it, then allow my mind to let it go.  And that is what happened.  When I allowed my mind to hear what God was telling me, He told me that I didn’t need to be licensed right now and that is not the plan that He had for me.  And once I let go of my plans a lot of frustration went out the window as well.

After my Master’s God told me to get a PhD.  And like I said you know that God wants you to do it when He gives you the grace to do it.  My PhD was not easy, by far.  But some way, somehow He led me, and now I am almost done.  And being almost done with my PhD makes me wonder what God has in store for me and I no longer think about that license.

I went a little off into left field but there is a point that I am trying to make and it is this.  Not everyone can be a single mother, get a masters, and then get a PhD.  For some reason God made it for me.  HE used the talents and whatever else I had that I did not know was there for me to accomplish these goals, because these things are within MY life purpose.  And I am sure that whatever your gifts are, are within your life’s purpose.

If you follow God, He knows what each and every one of our life purposes is and we will not be disappointed.  He knows us and He knows how to use our gifts.  If we keep chasing someone else life purpose then we will miss ours altogether.  You may can sang like no body’s business.  But you are not Beyoncé, because there is already a Beyoncé.  But you are you, and in time you may be better than Beyoncé or your gifts may be used in a better way than Beyoncé’s.  But trying to be like her, will keep you from being like you.

In closing embrace your own gifts and realize that God gave them to you for a reason.  There is no need to be jealous or insecure of what other people have or where they are because and you will spend the rest of your life chasing their dream.

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Secretly Judging Others, And Then Being Convicted By God

Sometimes pride can get in our way without us even knowing.  Sometimes we get so full ourselves and how we have changed that we unknowingly get on our high horse.  Just this past week I was at a gathering.  During the gathering there was a man and as soon as I spoke to him, I assumed something was wrong with him.  I assumed that he was “slow.”  He spoke slowly, with slurred speech, and it was hard to understand him.  But like the good “Christian” I am, I was polite to him and went out of my way to be nice to him.  It was not until a few hours went by and I was talking to him that I noticed he had a hearing aid in.  He was deaf……..

Immediately I felt convicted.  And you may think “why?”  I was nice to him, I was polite, and made an effort to include him in group conversation.  But all that really did not matter, because in my heart I judged him.  Because of the way he came off, I made him out to be “slow” and felt that it was my obligation to be nice because something was wrong with him.

You may be wondering what does this have to do with anything.  Well let me tell you.  It was pride.  It was me thinking that because I am such a “good person” that I could be nice to anyone without passing judgment, when really in my heart, I was passing judgment.  Throughout the rest of the gathering he engaged in conversation about politics and he was far from having an intellectual delay.
How many of us “Christians” get on our high horse and go out of our way to show people how nice we are, how Christian we are, or how accepting we are to all people?  But deep down inside we are judging them.

If we choose to be a Christian, choose to be nice to someone, or be Christ like to someone, we should choose to do it because it is what God calls us to do.  Not because it’s what we feel we should be doing as Christians.  In case you are wondering what the difference is.  One is acting a certain way because God wants you to act a certain way and because you want to glorify God you behave in a way He wants you to. And the other is acting a certain way to show the WORLD that you are acting “Christian.”  When really we are out to please God and not the world.
All the while I thought that I was pleasing God by being nice, when in fact I was displeasing Him by secretly judging someone and feeling it was my obligation to be nice to this “poor soul.”  I was wrong.   God sees and loves everyone the same and therefore as a true Christian I am obligated to see everyone the same way.  I should be nice to him because he is my brother in Christ.  Not because I feel sorry for him.

Sometimes we can get on a soap box thinking that we are doing the right thing, when in fact we are dead wrong.  And even though it may seem like we are doing the right thing on the outside, God convicts us to let us know that we are not as “high, mighty, and perfect as we think” and that we have a long way to go.

Through ever interaction and experience with others, we should seek to grow.  And when we start to feel bad about something we should try to understand why we feel bad.  More than likely it is because God is trying to convict us about something that we were doing wrong.  Even though in this situation it was not apparent on the outside, I knew and more importantly God knew that my mind was wrong.  There is no hiding the way you really are from God.  And because of it, I was ashamed.  In this situation, the best thing to do is be aware, ask for forgiveness, and go forward with a new mentality.

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How To Talk To God?

It it surprising to me how many Christians are unaware that they can speak to God and that God actually speaks back.  And in case you are confused about what the Holy Spirit is, it is the spirit of God and it sole purpose is to be the line of communication between you and God. 

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Acts 2:1-5 

So the idea of the Holy Spirit is confusing to some people since on the day of Pentecost, people spoke in tongues and different languages.  But that is not just what the Holy Spirit is about.

“Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not!” Corinthians 12:30

So here you see that Holy Spirit is not about speaking in tongues, or even healing.  The Holy Spirit gives different gifts in different ways.  It is about the direction that God gives us in order to go about our lives.  For this reason, I do not understand why so many people trust other people in what God has to say for their lives.  I mean can’t they hear God themselves?  Of course we can go to other people and get confirmation, however to trust solely on what other people tell us about our lives is not wise.  Because they may not understand what God is telling you, they may discourage you from what God is telling you, and that is the reason why God is telling you not them.

The thing about the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit will speak to you in a way that is best for you.  I feel that this can include words or pictures.  In whatever way that God chooses to talk to you is the way that He chooses to talk to you, and you must be open to the way that God speaks you in order to hear God clearly.  And being able to recognize the fact that God talks you makes it easier to hear God talking to you.


I guess that I am getting at is that so many people ask how they can talk to God or how they can hear from God?  Well it is easy just simply open up your mind, your hear, and be receptive to what God has to say to you.  It may take some practice at first, to hear what God is saying or knowing that God is actually speaking to you, but once you do; you will know where God is leading you, what He is telling you to do, and then you cannot go wrong. Listening to God and knowing God’s voice will help prevent you going down the wrong path and doing a whole bunch of stupid stuff

I can recall so many times that I heard God not telling me to do something or get involved with someone, and me doing it anyway causing myself a harm because I should have listened to God.  I can recall that listening to God has kept me out of trouble.  Trouble that I did not even know what coming at the time was going to be trouble. Just because the idea of talking to God may sound crazy in this day and age where so many people are moving away from the traditional value of God, does not mean that we still cannot communicate with God.  And allowing someone to tell you that talking to God and Him talking back to you is crazy will only undermine your belief system.  What is Christianity if only about having a relationships with God?  What is the whole point of the Holy Spirit?  Do you think God is just sitting there hoping that we get things right?  Or do you think that He has sent his spirit down done to us so that if we listen to it we know that we will get things right.

To all those people saying that I am crazy for talking to God and believing that He talks, back, I can tell them I can name a whole bunch of crazy going on in the world today that will override  the notion that me hearing from God is crazy.

In closing if you want to hear from God you can, open your mind and even your mouth to do so, and it is as easy as that.  I can recall when I was talking to God, I was not even aware that I was talking to Him.  I would just have a conversation with myself in my head and a voice would speak back to me and tell me what to do, console me, or make me feel better.  This went on for years before I realized that it was God talking to me.  See no one had ever told me that we could talk to God in that way and He could talk back.  I had to figure it out on my own.

 Which is why I am saving you time and telling you.  So that is about all for this post people, I hope you understand what I am saying and practice in your daily communication with God.  Trust me it helps.

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Trusting God, When You Feel Lost.

Have you ever had those days in which you want to give up?  Give up on everything and not really sure where the direction of your life is going?  For myself, it is not secret that I have education, and I thought that life was leading one way only to find that God was taking me in another way all together.

This for me was both confusing and frustrating.  The question that always remains in my mind is how can I have plans for myself when God has other plans for me?  And His path seems way harder then I ever imagined.

Through this Bible verse we know

“’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.’” -Jeremiah 29:11

But so often times we look at the prosper part, not thinking about the amount of work and things in between that God requires of us to get there.  Often times leaving us feeling frustrated with ourselves and frustrated with God.

Frustrated with God’s promises of being successful at the path that He has given us, but not seeing the success yet.  Going through the motions of hard work but not being where we want to be at yet.

The first thing to understand is the definition of God’s success, is not our same definition.  Being prosperous in God’s eyes may not look like being prosperous in our eyes.  I am sure in God’s eyes I am prosperous because I am doing the things that He wants me to do, but in my eyes I have a long way to go.

And really that is where the internal struggle begins.  That is not seeing things like God sees them and viewing our success of prosperity through the eyes of the world.  And this is really just another definition of faith.  Believing that God has the best for you and wants the best for you even though you do not see it yet, or even though you do not understand it.  And also staying on the path despite what you see, knowing that it is going to get you to be exactly where you need to be.

For those days where you see no end in sight and the days that you want to give up, you just keep going; trusting that God is leading you somewhere even if you do not know where.

The idea of Christianity it very simple.  Either you can chose to believe God and all those wonderful things in the Bible or you do not.  You can choose to believe that God is leading you in the right direction or not.  You can choose to believe that whatever rut you are in right now is going to last forever or not. And although it seems like such a basic understanding of God, choosing to believe what God has told you can be both the hardest and easiest things that you an go through depending on your situation.

It can be hard to believe in prosperity when you are stuck struggling to pay your bills and always tittering on the edge of being broke.  It can be hard to believe that you are going to be a parent after you have be diagnosed with infertility.  It can be hard to see that God is going to bring something great from a difficult situation, when all you see is the difficult situation, and they keep coming back to back.  But if we do not believe that God can do these things, then why believe in God at all?  If anyone can turn things around and make things happen then surely, God can?  If not Him; then who?  And if not anyone, you would be stuck in the mind frame that your situation is permanent and will never change.  And this simple statement is not the work of God; but the work out doubt and being fearful.  And

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18

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