Ode to 2010: Post 3 of 12

Lesson #2: Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"- Hebrews 11:1

More than anything, I know that without God, I am nothing. This year has taught me that I have to be oblivious to what I (physically) see and focus on the things hoped for. Everything I’ve stood on faith to believe, I have received. The things that have been slow to come are obviously not finished being worked on. I’ve had to truly stand on His word with every step.

I think about why certain relationships have ended the way they did or why certain job opportunities have or haven’t presented themselves, and I merely have to stop dead in my thoughts. I have to go back to realize how God has rescued me before. There is nothing more I can do to change my future but to believe God for what I desire. More than anything, I have to realize that God will not give me more than I am capable of handling. It’s like a 3 year old asking for a new (real) car for Christmas. No parent would give a toddler a 10 ton machine right? So why would God give me things that I am not ready for?

I think about leaving a job that I thought was carved specifically for me. This was such a defining moment for me. I was a part of a dynamic management duo that was set to take the Atlanta schools by storm. Once we got wind of shady businesses practices, we began to ask questions. As you know, the moment you try to stand up for something right, you because the person that was wrong. In order to not further be a part of foolishness, I simply walked away without a fight. I didn’t put any energy into it. While I had some free time to dream, I spent some very valuable moments with my father, soaking up some valuable knowledge. Within a month, he was gone. I didn’t know why God wanted me to leave that job until I watch my dad leave the earth. I knew in that very moment that God wanted me to take time to do things that were most important, and that was to be with my dad. That one small step of faith turned out to be the best decision I ever made. Months later, my organization lost all government funding, folks went to jail, and the entire operation foiled. God wanted me out of the way.

Since the day I have left, I have had numerous opportunities to travel, work on high profile projects with celebrities, work on contracts that I would have never been able to work on, meet incredible new people, and live out my dreams. Now this my friend, is a life of faith. Not knowing if unemployment will be renewed. Not knowing if the money in my savings will be enough. Not knowing if a client’s check will clear. Not knowing if the next client will become available. Not knowing if I will get the interview. My life has truly been founded on “give us this daily our daily bread”. I have had to make myself understand that it only takes a one phone call, one moment, one person, one day, to change your entire life. (For the good). God can take everything you’ve been praying for and give it all to you in one singular moment. When I stand firm on this very belief, I am not pulled into a whirlwind of depression and fret. I just have to know that if it is to work out, then it will. If the answer doesn’t come in this very moment, then it will have to come in the next.

Finding comfort in living from faith to faith...no other choice,

~Mel

Faith is refusing to stop looking beyond....

I refuse to stop believing. I refuse to stop dreaming. I refuse to stop looking beyond what I currently see. I refuse.

Over the past year I have seen God work miracles that I literally never thought possible. I've replayed the chain of events over and over in my mind and I realized that God had me in his hands all along. No matter what I wanted or thought, He was in total control. The more I doubted, the longer it took for manifestation. Miracles are triggered by belief. Mere faith. That's all.

One of the most intriguing passages in the bible is "without faith it is impossible to please God". (Hebrews 11:6) Sounds simple enough right? All you have to do is have faith and keep it moving right? Right... easier said than done. Faith is easy to exert when everything is fluid and moving smoothly. Faith is that back up against the wall type stuff. Faith is the nothing left in your account and you still manage to write a faith check when the pastor calls for it at the alter. Faith is believing that God will provide healing when 3 doctors tell you that you won’t make it. Faith is looking in the face of death and saying you know your God will take care of you. Faith is knowing your unemployment benefits will expire soon, but sow a seed into the life of someone else. Faith is waking up every morning believing God will provide fresh manna from Heaven like before. Faith is moving to a new city with no sight of a job and knowing that God will open up a door. Faith is saying that you will be debt free by the end of the year and not believing anything different. Faith is that radical level of thinking. All of that makes God's heart full. He becomes so overwhelmed with emotion at your exertion of faith that He finds extra ways to bless you. It's called overflow. When you please God, you receive things that you don’t even ask Him for.

The wonderful thing about faith is that is starts within. You don’t have to order anything special online, or talk to one of the world's top experts, or even have a conference with others. You can begin operating in faith with a mere thought. It can all be done within a blink of an eye. Last week I was lying in bed and couldn't sleep. I flipped the TV on to Mike Murdock and he was talking about sowing a faith seed. He spoke about when he first began in ministry and God blessed him with his first $50. As soon as he got that money, God told him to sow it into a family in the service. He said he fought tooth and nail, but he eventually sowed that seed. On the way out of the service. A man walked up to him and shoved $50 dollars in his hand. God told him to sow the money he JUST got and he did. The next day, someone came up to him and sowed $100 to him and another couple sowed a whole new wardrobe to him. So you know what I did right? I immediately got my check book. I said, "Ok God, let me see what you're talking about. I need a sign". I wrote a check to my mom for $50 and wrote her a note to say that I was going to one day turn that $50 into $500,000. She was in tears and said she blessed the seed. So I leave to go run errands the next day and I see a small envelope addressed to me in the mail from DC. I looked at it like, "who in the world is writing to me?" I opened it up and it was letter from one of sorority sisters/spiritual partners telling me what a blessing I have been to her life and enclosed was, I will let you guess, yes, a $50 check. Within 24 hours, God had already replaced what I thought I was sacrificing. When she gave me that seed, I immediately resowed that seed into my mother. Instead of paying to get my hair done, I went and had hers done. So the next day I went to my favorite consignment shop to look for winter coats and cute pieces and I was able to get everything I wanted for $20. If I showed you what I bought, you would think I was a professional liar. lol. No one can beat God in a math game. He's a master of it all.

You see, it was never about the $50 for God, it was all about the faith. It was the faith that God would replace all that I have sown above and beyond what I could ever ask or think. No matter what the numbers look like, God's math always reigns supreme. Regardless of what I may have wanted to happen, God has always been in total control. I have seen God take the little that was in my hand and make it much more in His. It didn’t happen until I let go though. All the things I have ever wanted have come from believing. Whether it has been something material like a coat, a car, or a pair of shoes, or something more substantial like a scholarship, a spiritual breakthrough, or healing in my body. God has shown me that when I totally surrender, He can truly go to work on my behalf. I think about when I was little and I wanted my dad to fix something. I never doubted that he couldn't do it. I would be like, "Here daddy, you fix it," and he would say "ok baby girl, daddy's got it". No doubt, I knew it would be done. Not one worry.

The same thing with God. We can’t say God fix this marriage, this relationship, this job situation, this pain, and then keep looking over His shoulder to make sure He is working on it to our liking. That's not how He operates. He wants to know that we trust Him totally. No sense in giving it to God if we still have our hands on it. That's not how the mechanic works is it? Does the watch repair man ask you to come behind the glass counter to work on your watch with him? Does the doctor allow you to be awake during major surgery? No. Surgery is his area of expertise and you trust him to work it out right? Right. The same with God. God's most earnest desire is to do a complete work in us. From start to finish, He wants us to be all that we can be. He already believes in us, it is up to us to believe in Him. Once we line up with what He believes, even the sky won’t be the limit.

After the year I've had, nothing really shakes me like it used to. I know that God has a total plan for my life. A plan that I have nothing to do with. After witnessing my father take his last breath, I know that God has a total different plan that I have ever imagined. On March 12th, 2010, I totally took off my rose colored glasses and looked at life for what it was. No longer was I consumed with the shoulda, coulda, and wouldas. I knew in that very moment that the purpose was in me couldn't end up in a white bag, being shipped off to a morgue. I knew that if I didn’t trust God totally, I could end up living life in circles. I refuse to be that person. If no one else had faith, my daddy did. That's how I know God is a God that operates on His own plan. Some things can’t be explained or put into words. But in the very moment my father died, something in me began to live. My faith took a life of its own. I began to see God in a totally different light. I saw God as this massive figure with a plan of His own. Every dream board, dream book, and dream book mark I had made for 2010 didn’t have my dad missing from it. In that very moment, God showed me that just because things happened that weren't in my plan doesn’t mean they weren't a part of the overall plan. From that day on, faith was all I had because faith was all I knew. Many people thought my faith would waiver, but instead it started to get stronger as the days went on.

The Word says faith without works is dead right? (James 2:20) So everything we do should show our faith in action. So if I believe God for a trip, I should always have my luggage ready. If I believe God for a job, I should already have my work clothes separated in my closet. If I believe God for a husband, I shouldn't be giving my body away to every man I meet, right? Right. I should still be moving according to what I believe God wants for my life. If something is not in His plan, then it won’t come together. If it is, then it will be. Can't fret over things I can't change, that's the bottom line.

Faith is one of the most powerful, underrated tools we possess as believers. We must hold on to what God promised and never stop believing. If you do nothing else... keep holding on...!

Moving in faith and looking beyond my right now...

~Mel

Moving Forward, No Matter What

No matter what you have faced today, declare that you will move forward. This is not saying that you will not face adversity, pain, an argument, or a disagreement. This is merely saying that no matter what comes your way, you are going to make a commitment to yourself to not dwell in those moments. It is in the moment of adversity that God can rise you up stronger than before. There is nothing that you cannot face with God on your side.

Know that life will not be perfect, but God has a perfect will for our lives. In saying that, I am merely stressing the importance of relying on God. We must seek Him daily to be renewed in strength and in understanding. The same God that delivered you before, will do it again.

We should practice moving forward in even the smallest things so it will become habit, a way of life, then our character. You will truly feel triumphant when you look at the journey God has brought you along. It is awesome to see God's hand over our lives.

Don't ever think that a situation you are facing is bigger than the God in you. He has placed all the abilities you will need to overcome the mountains that you must climb. Keep moving swiftly towards the promises that He has laid before you.

Pressing ahead, moving forward, not looking back,

~Mel

Moving Forward Quotes:

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause. Abraham Lincoln

It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal. Helen Keller

If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself. Henry Ford

Song of the Day: Moving Forward by Israel Houghton

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Let Tomorrow Get Here

Now, this is an area that I am notorious for, well, I have been in the past. I'm getting better. Worrying about tomorrow, next week, or even something later on in the year. What God has shown me time and time again is that, I am not to worry about tomorrow, because He is not done blessing me today.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on the many daily victories that God has delivered me from. When I wake up each morning, I say, "Lord, I need a miracle today." Now, to me, a miracle is something that happens, that is totally against the odds, something that was statistically not supposed to happen. Now, when some people think miracles, they think of turning water into wine, the red sea parting, and being resurrected from the ground. But God performs tiny miracles on our behalves daily. Whether it be a court case being thrown out, not getting a ticket, an extra day off, your hair growing, face clearing up, a parking space, your flu mysteriously going away, someone giving you a coupon, a pair of shoes at a ridiculous price only in your size. Well, you get my drift.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee:

because he trusts in thee." Isaiah 26:3

God is in the business of providing daily bread. He wants to take care of you day by day. Go back to the Lord's prayer. The 6th line says it clear, "Give us this day our daily bread". Not our weekly, monthly bread, yearly bread, but daily. If we pray this prayer faithfully, daily, we will be provided all we need. That's all God wants us to do. Its like winning the lotto. Instead of taking the cash option for 1 million dollars, we get a daily allotment of our riches. Lord knows if we had 1 million in our hands right now, it wouldn't be a dime left at the end of the year. (Don't judge my analogy, you get my point..lol) God wants to assure that you have all you need, when you need it. Every single day.

"Be anxious about nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7

For if we dwell on tomorrows struggles with today's strength, what fuel will we have to face our "right now"? None. God said it so clearly in Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Incredible huh? God knew that worry would be a reoccurring demon . He knew it would be easy for us to fall into the trap of looking at the negatives vs the positive. He knew that we would not always understand our journey. But He did know that we would be able to overcome it because He wrote it in His word and His words are true.

"All things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

What we will deal with and have dealt with is nothing new to God. If He told us everything right now, what would be the use of living to see it. Its like Christmas coming and you find out EVERY thing Santa brought. You're not sitting on the edge of your bed waiting for Christmas breakfast, to rush down to the tree, the anticipation would be gone. That same feeling can be equated to what God is going to do for your each day. On top of God granting you a new day, He will grant you small miracles throughout that very day, along with the strength to face anything that you will find along your path.

Stop worrying about what 2011 will be like, 2010 has just gotten started. Stop worrying about May, June & July, God has yet to bring you out of this month. Stop worrying about what February 12, will be comprised of, February just got here. And you need not be concerned with how to deal with your boss at the Thursday meeting because you don't know what will be waiting on your desk today. The truth to the matter is that there is no greater author than God. He is constantly strengthening and renewing us for our next chapter. When we go back and read our story, we will see His daily works on our behalf. Stand firm and know that He is refueling you as we speak for tomorrow, so use all the fuel you have right now for today!

Living this day all the way out... tomorrow will be here soon enough...

~Mel

Our now is not our forever

One thing that life has shown us is that where we are right now will not be where we are in the very next moment.

Just this past week I was flying all over town as I usually do and for some reason, I had my windows down and I heard the weirdest noise. Being one that pays attention to every detail, I got out of my car and found the culprit. Low and behold, I had a HUGE nail in my tire. I said, "Lord, please get me home safely." So, I proceeded down I-20, at least 25-30 miles from my house at about 70 mph. As I was approaching my exit, I heard this loud "CLACK" and my car started slowing down. Apparently the nail decided to come out of the tire, leaving me with a steadily deflating tire. I was literally 10 miles from my house. But guess what? I was 4 miles from a tire shop. So I begin praying like the folks from the Bible. Real hard and real loud. I refused to let panic settle in. I put on my flashers and pushed all the way to the shop. When I arrived, the mechanic said, "I don't know how long you've been riding, but you might as well get ready to buy a new tire." Honey, I told that man, "You must not know the God I serve and how capable he is."

That day, he became a believer. Not only did I make it safely, my $200 tire cost $15 to patch and 10 minutes to fix. He said that it was no wonder my car didn't spin out of control or get in an accident. He was literally at a lost for words. So was I. Well, I was at a lost at words to speak to him, but I immediately began to throw up words of praise. God did it again! He saved me and I didn't even realize what I was being saved from. I just knew that I wasn't going to accept defeat and be on the side of road for hours. I pushed my own belief to believe that I would make it and I did! (Oh, did I mention, the name of the shop was Mitchell Tire? My last name... yeah. God is just that kind of God.. lol)

You see, because I already saw my self out of that situation, God delivered me to victory. I kept saying, "Lord, I need you, stay with me." And that he did. During that very moment, it didn't seem like I was going to get any reprieve, so I knew all I had was God. Even when every odd is stacked against me, I hope against hope. I trust and know that God is a God of RIGHT now. His timing is impeccable and His grace is everlasting.

The old Mel would have thrown in the towel and given up hope, but for some reason, I just cant bring myself to do it anymore. When I feel like I am up against the wall, I use it as my launching pad to move on to something else. In this season, I have seen God show up when I was at my very last bit of hope and money in the bank.

I think above all, I have learned to not dwell in my moments of difficulties and disappointments, I just cannot let the enemy get away that easy. Of course, my human (flesh) side wants to shout out a few expletives and get flustered, but nothing is accomplished once my hissy fit is over. Perhaps the most effective way is to begin to thank God for what He's done and what He's about to do. Watch your perspective change and watch God move in a mightily way. I certainly saw that when my tire was fixed.

There is nothing God can't do. There is no place that He cant pull you from. There is not a life that He cannot provide. Just trust and believe that your right now is not your forever.

Pushing beyond my right now....

~Mel