While We’re Waiting, Lord Teach Us To…

Guest Blogger of the month, Rickey E. Macklin talks what to do while waiting on the promise of your soul mate.

Focus on the things that really matter

 Life is happening all around us.  Days, months and years are passing and what do we have to show for them?   Are we spending our years in sorrow and depression or are we making the best of each day?  Not to sound dreary, but the other day I did something I typically don’t do.  I took a visit to the cemetery.  After visiting the mausoleums of some loved ones who have gone on to be with the Lord, all I could think of was how much they accomplished between the time of their births and their deaths.  I then thought of my own life.  Sure, I would love to get married one day and truly look forward to it.  However, if that is not God’s plan for my life, then what?  Does my life begin at conception or standing at the altar saying I do?  Lord, teach us how to focus on the things that really matters.  Teach us to number my days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalm 90:12).  Teach us to keep our focus on you.  May we wisely trust in you so that when the time is right we won’t miss out on what you’ve planned for us from the beginning.

 

 

Focus on my purpose

 I love this part because it embodies our full existence.  God’s purpose and assignment for our lives existed in His mind before there was ever a you or a me.  If you are thinking that our primary purpose is to worship and bring glory to God, you are absolutely correct.  However, one of the ways we do that is by accomplishing what we were placed here on earth to do.  Every time we fulfill a divine assignment, we bring Him glory.  So, instead of focusing on a mate, marriage, and children, let’s make His will for our lives paramount. My point here is there is no good thing He will withhold from us when we put His agenda first.   It is His desire to give us the kingdom!   So, if you desire a mate, that’s a good thing. Just know that His timing is perfect.  As everything else existed in the mind of God before He called it forth, so is your marriage.  It is a true saying that your marriage has already been made in Heaven.  Now, it’s just a matter of time before it’s manifested here on earth. Until then, let this be our prayer.  “Lord, teach us how critical our assignments are to this generation.   Light a fire of passion in us that cannot be quenched by mortal man.  Create a passion in us for our purposes, for our assignments and for our destinies.  In Jesus’ name, amen.”

 

Focus on becoming the best me

 Since we are now thoroughly convinced that the person God has for us will come in His time, let’s focus our attention inwardly on the person we want to present to them.  This is a wonderful opportunity to not simply do you, but a magnificent time to become the “best you.”   So, go to school; develop your character; sharpen your skills, get that certification; get your debt in order; start your business.  Men, seek wisdom like Solomon to run your homes like a king.  Your family will be depending on you.  Ladies, study the Proverbs 31 phenomenal woman and increase your value like the queen you are.  Make it hard for companies not to promote you and even harder for your mates not to recognize you and say yes when the time is right.  Lord, during this season of singleness, teach us how to become our very best.

Focus on my significance

 Lastly, teach us how to embrace the fact that just because we may be alone that doesn’t mean we have to be lonely too.   Loneliness is like a disease that if left unchecked it will eat away at our souls.  It leaves us feeling insignificant and irrelevant.  It comes from comparing ourselves to others.  Paul says when we compare ourselves to others and measure ourselves by others we are living the life of a fool (2 Cor. 10:12).  I’m not sure if you’ve ever considered how significant you are from God’s perspective.  The same way the world existed in the mind of God before He spoke it into existence – so was your purpose and so were you.  You nor your purpose was an afterthought.  When God said, “Let there be,’ you were already a part of His plan. In fact, you are the “apple of His eye.” Since this is case, while we are waiting, Lord, teach us who we are.  Teach us why we are. May we never forget how important we are to Him and to His plans for this generation. Our value is incomprehensible to the human mind. We are, individually, God’s original masterpieces, and with or without a mate, we were created to do some amazing things.

Rickey E. Macklin
“Preparing You To Live Victoriously!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Rickey E. Macklin

Author, Minister, Teacher, Speaker, Certified Christian Life and Christian Relationship Coach, and United States Veteran, Rickey E. Macklin has devoted the past 20 years to assisting men, women, and young people with finding their God-given potential and purpose. He is a graduate of South Carolina State University, and he received extensive biblical training at Jericho Christian Bible College and later received a Masters in Theological Studies from National Bible College and Seminary. Find out more about Rickey by vising his website at http://www.courtshipvsdating.com

Guest Blogger of the month Jaclynn Scribner talks:”Rest”

I have a confession to make: I went back to bed this morning. After multiple hourly waking’s last night with my one year old and then a 5am wake time, when she went back to sleep at 7am, I too slipped back into bed. But it was a battle, I had to reason with myself for it. It’s a Monday and I have a stack of content to write among other business tasks planned out for the day. Should I spend the next hour on these tasks or get some more rest? Do you reason with yourself too when it comes to your business management tasks at hand along with juggling life with your child(ren)? And how do you choose?

In the end I chose the rest for three reasons.

SELF CARE: I am still learning that caring for myself is SO important. Before I became a mama, I didn’t even think about self care. Now it is fundamental to build it into my day. By getting some more rest this morning, I am better equipped to face the other tasks of the day and be more engaged with my daughter. These days rest is self care!

PRODUCTIVITY: We all function better on adequate rest, right? I’m going to be able to power through my content writing and household tasks if I am well rested. Tasks won’t look so much like chores if I can power through them and I’m less likely to take multiple breaks and lose focus.

CLARITY: I also know the creative side of my brain is going to function a lot better with another hour of rest vs being tired and foggy trying to think of how to best put the words on the page. Clarity in our message and business is so important and trust me, coffee can help but with rest comes a lot more clarity when we write and tackle those tasks. Plus since my business as a bookkeeper is juggling numbers, clarity is priority.

What are you tackling today in your business, and how are you getting enough rest?

 

About Jaclynn

Jaclynn Scribner is a wife, mama to a beautiful one year old baby girl, and a mompreneur. Her passion is to help other mompreneurs with their bookkeeping struggles and give them back more meaningful time with their businesses and families. jaclynnscribner.com or www.facebook.com/scribnerbookkeepingsolutions

 

 

Did you just ask yourself how you can be one of our guest bloggers? Ahhh that’s easy! Send your sample blog post of 200-500 words, along with a short bio of no more than 75 words to: alpotter2013@gmail.com. Topics we are interested in are in the categories of: Relationships, Lifestyle, Health & Wellness, Self-Help, Inspiration, Business, Christian Living, Parenting & Food.~Be Empowered!

 

On the other side of hope.

In 2010 I was given the most devastating news.

It was a month before the very first annual Empowered Women of the Year award ceremony dinner was set to happen. We were busily involved in grueling preparations. Ticket sales. Last minute scrambling to get decorations. Calls to the caterer to make sure the menu was finalized. Errands to run here, there and everywhere. Honorees need their pictures taken and…….

“Your surgery results came back and there was a small cancer in the lump we removed.”

“What did he just say?” I’m thinking to myself, as he swivels around in his chair and rolls back up to  his desk to set me up for my next surgery. “So, I need you to see a cancer Doctor, and let’s get you set up for your next surgery. We need to see if the cancer has spread to your lymph nodes.”

All this while his back is turned to me. He’s talking really fast too. This was just as awkward for him as it was for me.

“Okay?”

“No, it’s not okay,”  I’m thinking.

I mean what did he even just say to me? I came in two weeks ago at my OB-GYN’s request for him to check out this pebble-like lump that was lodged in what seemed like the cusp of my arm pit….not exactly in my breast. He asks me if it hurts. I say no. He says, “Let’s take it out.” I say,”Okay” Great! Then December 20th he takes it out and as I awake, groggy from the anesthesia, I hear an echo of words that sounded like someone said, “We’re gonna send it (the lump) to the lab for testing.”

That’s cool. I got things to do so I’ll see ya’ll on the 29th when I come get my stitches removed. My doctor said it was nothing. You all said it was nothing. I’m saying, (the blood of Jesus!) it’s nothing.

No one knew. I would have never told anyone that I discovered a suspicious, hard lump while I was doing a breast exam on myself in my full length mirror in my bedroom one morning. No way.

My mom’s best friend died of breast cancer when I was 13. She took that so hard. Ann was so close to my family that her daughter, Laura, and I called each other “cousins” I’d spend nights at her house. We’d go over on Friday nights and Ann and my mom would send me and Laura upstairs and leave us to our own devices while they would indulge in girl-talk for hours upon hours. Ann was my 2nd mom when I got in trouble with my “real” mom. You know how when you did something wrong as a kid, your mom told the family and her best friend and so you got the 3rd degree from all angles for about a month. Yeah. That was Aunt Ann to me. She’d sit me down, blink those big eyes at me, and say, “Alishia, you know better.”  So now I have the same advantage of doing that very thing to my 15-year old daughter! Yes! Life is good!

Ann lost so much weight while she was on chemo. She went from having thick, beautiful brownish-black hair, always bouncy and flowing, to having none and wearing a scarf. I didn’t understand what was going on at the time. Why was Aunt Ann getting skinny? Why was she losing her hair? Why was Laura so sad? Mom said Ann hit her breast on the dresser while moving furniture one day, and suddenly she had breast cancer. Thank God we have more educational resources now than ever before, so that people know cancer is not something you get by being superstitious.

The last image I remember of Ann was her  waving good-bye to us standing in her doorway as my mom pulled off. That was my mom’s last time going to visit Ann. She looked to be about 80 pounds, frail and tender. She also knew that was my mom’s last visit. My mom couldn’t take it.

Ann died. And my mom grieved for months–years. It hurt.

I thought when I went to my OB-GYN and he felt the lump on the left side of my breast that he was accurate when he said it was probably nothing to worry about. No history of breast cancer in the family. So I didn’t want to tell them. He recommended and ordered a mammogram and ultra sound for me (which immediately came back abnormal for both results) and told me to go see a general surgeon to discuss removing the lump.

I found myself in that general surgeon’s office on the day of my “diagnosis” alone (because he rushed out the room to get to his next “victim”), confused (because he did not educate me on the disease, and did not even bother to ask me if I had any questions, even had one foot in the door and one foot out when I called him back in to answer the question:”what type of breast cancer do I have?”) “infiltrating ductal ,” he said. And whisked away. I found out later it was also Triple Negative, a type of breast cancer that is aggressive, and found in young African-American and Latina women. It is often carried over to generations of women in the family from a genetic mutation of BRCA-1, and BRCA-2 cells. (Thank God I found out much later that I did not carry that gene!) However, due to my history of having this form of cancer, my daughter will have to get her 1st mammogram at age 28.

My phone was blowing up. I had to text a ton of family, and friends and explain it all from the very beginning. That didn’t go over well with Mom as you could imagine. Every one was scared. Including me.

Later, I picked up my kids from (I don’t remember where) and dropped them off at (I don’t remember where) and went to Bob Evans (my favorite restaurant at the time) to eat one of my favorite menu items–the carved turkey with stuffing, sweet carrots, warm gravy…..mmmm…….and I cried, and cried huge stinging tears into the plate of food as I ate, and as if no one but me and God were in that restaurant.

I wanted to know a few things from Him:

Why me?

Why now?

Hadn’t I been through enough?…the divorce…the season of homelessness….the season of unemployment and losing almost everything I had….the 5-year battle with depression that had just ended in 2009?

Hadn’t I passed enough “tests” of my faith?

Am I going to die?

…and

Who is going to raise my kids?

Caleb and Sariah were 9 and 10 years old at the time. I was in a committed relationship with the man of my dreams (ummm… literally….we’ll tell that amazing story another day)

I was perplexed. Angry. In denial. And, soooo not trying to hear any of it.

That weekend after the doctor’s visit, I spent some time with my nurse friend, Annette, who walked me through that horrible moment on December 29th in that office. She texted me what questions to ask the doctor. She consoled me as much as she could because she was at work at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Kimmel Center, which is the cancer center there. So that weekend she looked at all my paperwork. “Alishia, this is a true diagnosis of breast cancer and so you need to be thinking about treatment options right now.” I couldn’t event think or respond. My mom was floored when I finally told her, and was adamant that I should not go back to that general surgeon, nor see his team of cancer doctors. I didn’t know what to do.

“Alishia, just say the word, and I’ll get you into Hopkins.”

The word was said. And it was done.

By the time I sat before those doctors: the oncologist, the breast surgeon, the radiologist, and the entire team. I was in an entirely different place, mentally, emotionally & spiritually. See when you come to a realization that pain is the reproductive system by which God produces your purpose,  you understand the process.

Pain is your purpose.

My husband (my hero), and I at the 10th Annual Southern Lights of Life Fundraiser in 2014, hosted by the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition. I was one of several survivors who were models that evening.

God’s answer to my “why’s”– he wanted to take me from faith to faith and from glory to glory. See, I had gotten to know him as my healer when I went through the divorce. I had gotten to know him as friend when I was alone in many court battles with my ex-husband, and raising two stair-step kids on my own. I had gotten to know him as my provider when I didn’t have the means to make the ends meet. Whoo! And now, I was about to get to know him as a God of miracles!

Once I got a hold of what God was doing, and why he chose ME to do it through. It was on! I said these words to God before that visit to Johns Hopkins, “Lord, I want you to produce a miracle through my body. I want you to heal me miraculously. No chemo. No radiation. No removal of my breast. God set me up before the earth as a pinnacle of your power to heal.”

Amen.

After many weeks of being processed into that miracle, listening to message after message come over the pulpit about healing and miracles ( I don’t believe in coincidences; I believe in divine order) With women from all over the country praying for me through a weekly prayer call I was connected to (Thank you Dr. Vikki Johnson!) From sitting with my children and educating them on my 95% chances of survival because we caught the cancer early. To telling my entire family that we all have to speak the same faith language and pray the same faith prayer (we were praying for a “Node Negative” result from surgery–that would mean the cancer did not spread to my lymph nodes) from going under the anesthesia totally believing that not only was God able to do it, but that he wanted to do it for me!

2 days before travelling back up to Baltimore for my results, I attended a local church (my church was in Baltimore at the time and I didn’t have the funds to drive up there that Sunday) The Holy Spirit had led me to worship at The Pentecostals of Dover in Delaware. The pastor was preaching about healing and miracles. Ha! Ok God. I hear you. And so this altar call for me was different. It was God and me sealing the deal. I said yes to the pain. He said yes to my miracle. So I simply wanted to “thank” Him for my healing. Not “ask” him for it this time.

My children and I on Mother’s Day 2014. Caleb and Sariah

As I was walking away from the altar and about to head out the sanctuary, I could hear Pastor Trout get back on the microphone. “He said, “I don’t know who this is for, but God said by Tuesday, you’re going to have your miracle!” Hmph! That was for me! Tuesday was my appointment with Johns Hopkins to get the results of my lymph node surgery.

That morning, March 11, 2011, the breast surgeon, Dr. Lisa Jacobs, asked me if she could see me before bringing my family back into the room. It was my mom, my good friend S. Renee Smith who cleared her entire calendar that day, and my soon-to-be fiance (now my husband).

I sat in her chair and she lay a piece of paper on my lap. As she layed it on my lap, she said these words, “Node Negative” She diagnosed me as stage 1, and recommend radiation, “just in case” she said, “there’s some residue left.” Well since God and I had that little covenant going on. I chose to believe–without the radiation–that I was healed. I had my miracle. God will make sure there’s no residue left!  And he did. So here I am today celebrating close to 6 years, cancer free! I get my mammograms annually, and still conduct my own self-exams monthly.

My favorite verse of scripture, my life verse, is Psalms 126:5 & 6, the New Living Translation says:Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.  They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

My memory collage. (top left, top right, and bottom right: Me with my nurse after my lymph node surgery.

Here’s my point. This is what the other side of hope looks like. On the side of “the beginning,” there is a struggle to believe in hope, even though you know for a surety that hope is all you have to hold on to at the time. So you hold on. In tears, you hold on. Through the roughest part of the journey when hopelessness is against you, you hold on. When no one else believes, you hold on. You carry that seed of hope, bent over, limping, falling along the way. And then Romans 5:3-5 kicks in, you remember that “hope maketh not ashamed” meaning that God will NOT allow you to hope and then shame you later by not fulling what you’ve hoped for. And this hope comes in different forms when it comes to this journey called breast cancer.

Some survive the battle and live to tell it. Others survive the battle in a different way, through courage, strength and dignity, and their family members are the ones who live to tell their stories, carry their legacy, and make an impact in the world (see D’Angelo Williams Story http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000715205/article/mothers-struggle-with-cancer-inspires-deangelo-williams).

D’Angelo Williams, of the Pittsburgh Steelers, lost 4 aunts and his mother to breast cancer. Instead of losing hope, he turned his pain into his purpose. He has a movement now to make sure women receive free mammograms through his foundation. He’s on the other side of hope.

Either way, know this: God doesn’t waste pain.

God is giving you a harvest from your seed of hope. That harvest is character, integrity, trust, and a new perspective on life. Your story is a harvest that can be passed on to others. There’s no way that harvest is just for you. What are you going to do with your pain? You have to turn it into purpose. Who are you going to inspire with your story, or the story of your loved one? (who did not lose the battle to cancer…..she won it by how she fought it!!!)

We don’t always understand everything that God allows but we know there’s purpose in it.

For more information about breast cancer awareness, visit:

Susan G. Komen Foundation ww5.Komen.org

Cancer Treatment Centers of America http://www.CancerCenter.com

BreastCancer.Org http://www.BreastCancer.org

Realizing Who You Are

Today I put out a devotional on my YouTube Page from my book The Woman You’ve Empowered Me to Be!:Staying on the path of emotional healing and freedom, a 31-day devotional. And the topic was: “Let God Define You.”

How many times have you allowed a situation, a failure, a mistake, a bad relationship, a family “curse”( so we call them) to define who you are and where you’re going in life?

We tend to do this because the heaviness of those things I just mentioned often clouds our view of what and who God says we are beyond the surface of those circumstances. Jesus said this in John 10:10, “The thief comes but for to steal, kill and destroy.” So one of the things, this thief  (yes, the devil) comes to do is destroy your identity and hopefully have you wandering in darkness about who you really are.

The thing to remember is this, God defined you before he strategically placed you in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart). And he uses certain circumstances to fashion and refine that definition as we grow in him. And it he can place you in any family lineage, any socioeconomic situation, any community, and geographical location and you will still be who HE says you are. You re not a “de-fected” work but you are “per-fected” work, because in Genesis we learn that after God created everything , including man, he stepped back and saw that it was good (Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good).

So stop looking at your life as some failed experiment not worth investing in or continuing with. You have been made, fashioned, formed, and birthed in this earth for a purpose. Realize who you are by drawing close to God. If you want to know your purpose, that answer on lies within him. If you want to know who you are outside of where you’ve been in life ( and because of) then you must pursue him and chase after him, and when you do that watch him overwhelm you with good Why would he do that? He would do that because you are his and he loves you. You are valued at a high price ( he gave his son for you–the ultimate sacrifice). You are literally a child of a KING. And so that means that you are ROYAL ( I Peter 2:9)

 

Hey!~I want to share something with you…..

Join me tomorrow for one of my exclusive career empowerment webinars “Using Social Media in Your Job Search!” Click the link to find out what you’ll learn https://CareerEmpowermentWebinars.Eventbrite.com

Guest Blogger of the Month Chanel Walker-Baily Talks Self -Esteem

Self Esteem Is a critical component to the make up of the human spirit. This internal entity has the ability to outwardly set the precedence of confidence over fear and a sense of power over weakness.

It ignites at birth and those responsible for our care and well being aid in its initial shaping by making mental deposits. These deposits can be either positive or negative. Often times, young tender lives who know nothing different simply accept what’s given until their own level of knowledge begins to develop. Some are fortunate to begin with healthy pledges setting them on paths that have a greater chance of being sure. While the remainder spend countless years trying to clean out the adverse residue caused by others in an attempt to regard themselves differently. They stumble, look to another for affirmation and are overly concerned about opinions that often really don’t matter.

Christ declares in His word that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)

Furthermore, He knew us even before we were in our mother’s womb. (Jeremiah 1:5)

For those struggling to maintain a healthy self reflection , consider first what The Heavenly Father has to say about you. All else is irrelevant because His truths settles all matters in Heaven and on Earth. Nothing and no one will ever supersede that!

About Chanel

Chanel Walker Bailey is a Christian Inspirational Writer, blogger, aspiring author and speaker. She currently uses her God given talents on several platforms. She is the creator of the RealBoldTruth.com blog website in which she has penned nearly 70 articles since Jan 2015. Some of her blogs can be heard audibly on Heart Ministry Radio, an Internet Christian radio station. She is also a monthly contributing writer on Kish Magazine’s Dreamer’s Blog  website. (Kish-magazine.com) Chanel also is one of three host on the monthly internet talk show “Straight Talk For Women Only” sponsored by her church, Victory Christian Fellowship in New Castle Delaware. (STFWO.com) Chanel is a loving wife, mother, friend and is a regular attendee of The Daughter’s of Esther Ministries facilitated by Pastor Mary Cooper.

Would you like to be the next guest blogger on AlishiaEmpowers!™ ?

Simply send your submissions with a jpg head shot to  alpotter2013@gmail.com

A Prayer for Our Nation

 

Dear Lord,

You said it, and here we are. You said in II Timothy 3:1 that in the last days perilous (meaning dangerous uncertain, unsafe, treacherous, vulnerable, precarious)

You said it. And here we are. You said in Matthew 24:12  that because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. We are at a place in humanity where dangerous and terrible times have come, and devastatingly so.

But, Lord,  you also said you  would send healing if we did all of four things:

1. Humble ourselves (Humble means not proud : not thinking of yourself as better than other people)
2. Pray (to address God with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving)
3. Seek your face (seek meaning to search for)
4. Turn from our wicked ways (turn meaning to cause your body to face a different direction)

God in return for this you said you will hear from heaven, you would pardon (forgive) our sin, and heal our land. We want this. We cry for this. We plea for this. But we recognize we must do our part. Every one is asking Lord, “Why?” Everyone is asking, Lord “What needs to be done?” Congress blames the president. Some whites blame the some blacks. Some blacks blame some police. But you, God are putting the responsibility  on ourselves as individuals to look into our hearts and acknowledge that we have come short of your glory. We have sinned before you with our passionate anger. We have forsaken you ways by having other “gods” before you in our lives. We have disappointed you with our selfish ways and accusatory fingers pointing in other directions, but today the fingers point right back to us.

Your servant said in Isaiah 59:1-2 “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

We repent Lord, and turn our hearts back to you. We confess that YOU are the King of Kings and YOU are the Lord of Lords! We declare today that we will stand in agreement with your will for this earth whom we are a part of. We declare today that we need your presence in our communities. We need your presence in our homes. We need you presence on our streets. We need  your presence in our precincts. We need your presence in our workplaces. We need your presence in our schools. We need your presence in our government. Lord, we need YOU. And we acknowledge that today.

Let love reign and rule and be the guiding force of our relationships. Let love cover us all.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

 

 

Don’t Let Anyone Steal Your Hope

Matthew 19:26 (NIV) Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

So how about those Cavaliers, huh?

This was a team who was at the bottom of the barrel. In a drought. Not one single champion ship win in 52 years!!!! Went to the championship last year, was down their three best players and lost. Went to the championship again this year against another history making team who seemed to be dominating the industry as one of the best teams ever: The Golden State Warriors, who had 73 wins, the highest number of wins in NBA history. People said LeBron couldn’t do it–That he came back to Cleveland, promised his city a championship, but wouldn’t be able to deliver it after all. “Poor LeBron,” some said. “I guess this is it for him,” others scoffed.

The Cavaliers were down 3 loses in the NBA finals. Folks said, it was really over then–that The Warriors were going to win another championship on their home court because NO team. I mean NO team has EVER come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA finals. Ever.

So how did they do it?

Hope.

You know, it infuriates me when people tell me what I cannot do, what I’ll never do, and what God won’t do!

I admonish you today, let it infuriate you too and fuel you to speak what you want, then fight to get it. The Bible  does state, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and the forceful men lay hold of it” (Matthew 11:12 NIV). People are quick to tell you what you can’t do when they don’t believe in their own capability to accomplish anything.

You must be forcefully determined to believe and take hold of the report of your Lord and Savior, the redeemer of your soul (your soul being your emotions). No matter how crazy that thing looks, feels, or sounds, his words are the most reliable. And his ability is beyond what we would ever be able to do on our own. Rely on him, not on people’s opinions, and certainly not your own.

A Declaration for You

Lord, today I declare that I will stop listening to all of the negativity that frustrates my desire to pursue more. According to your word in Matthew 13:7, I will no longer allow the thorns of the evil one to come up and choke the word you have spoken over my destiny. I will not listen to strong opinions of people that don’t have anything in life, don’t want anything in life, and don’t want me to want anything in life. I will surround myself with confident, empowered, and positive-minded individuals, who are accomplishing great things and forcefully taking hold of the kingdom, while keeping you first. For the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. I am confident that once I release negative people out of my life and replace them with people that are speaking my language, I will boldly live without want of anything, and obtain what I thought I would never have.

Be Empowered!

 

 

Be Accountable Today So God Can Give You Your Tomorrow

You know some of us spend a lot of time wishing & hoping today was tomorrow. We spend a lot of our thoughts on how we wish things could be. The “only ifs” “What ifs,” and “How comes?” tend to consume our minds and overwhelm us. Because of that, we end up missing the whole purpose of what’s in front of us, and what God wants us to get out of it. We don’t realize that our today is part of that map that leads us to tomorrow’s destiny & victory. My most memorable experience with this distraction was the years shortly after my separation and divorce. I spent days upon days weeping for my children who, by the way, weren’t event old enough to realize there was no”Daddy” in the home. But because I grew up in a household affected by divorce, I was miserable for my own children. In addition, the frustration of raising two stair-step kids alone was too much for me to bear.

So, I constantly made comments about how I couldn’t wait until I could have some one in my life to help me raise them. One day, my spiritual mentor, Gina, said to me, “Alishia, stop living in tomorrow and enjoy your children today.” Although her words made such an impact, I made no immediate effort to give in.

Two years after she said that to me,we became homeless, and I was forced to follow her advice. One night I took the kids outs to Wendy’s so we could get away from the mayhem of where we were temporarily living. I only had three dollars to my name as I was also layed off from work. I bought three chocolate “frosties” for us, all one dollar each, and we laughed and enjoyed each other’s company for hours in that restaurant–not having  a care in the world! I wached my son play with his 2 toy race cars and my daughter playing with the frostie, chocolate laced around her little pink lips.

From then on I made it my goal to enjoy (be content with, as the Apostle Paul put it in Philipinas 4:11) my current state of being, always looking for ways I could enhance it, so that when my “tomorrow” came, I would be ready for it & appreciative of it. In other words, I had to be accountable for what the Lord wanted from me in that season, which was to get close to him and to simply mother my children according to his word and his purpose, being fully confident that all my needs would be provided by him, even the need for my children to be fathered by him. (Psalms 27:10 & Philipians 4:19)

My dear friend, determine in your heart today, that you are not going to get consumed in wishing it was tomorrow. Do not become so distracted by what isn’t that you end up missing what you’re supposed to be doing and receiving today. What is God requiring of you? Is your heart consumed with the desire for companionship and marriage to the point where your thoughts, meditations, and queries to God are all about that one topic? Are you fulfilling the assignments that God is giving you in your season of being single? Are you frenzied over your financial status, a new job, higher position on your current job, more pay, a new house?

Make yourself accountable in this season for what God is requiring of you in your single days, in your days of not having enough money, in your days of not being in the position on your job you want to be in–in your condition of not making the salary you desire.

If you are married, move your focus away from what needs to change about your spouse and focus on you. Have you been faithful over a few things so that God can make you ruler over many? (Matthew 25:21) I guarantee you, if you get what you’re supposed to get from the Lord in this season of today, you will flow right into the destiny of your tomorrow.

From the 31-Day Devotional: The Woman You’ve Empowered Me to Be! (2010) Tate Publishing & Enterprises. Read more of my devotionals by subscribing to this blog!

Don’t Look Back

Can I give you a word of advice? The past is gone. Identify the purpose it served but don’t be consumed in the “Why?” the “How come?” and the “I can’t believe that happened to me!” It will keep you in a place that will prevent you from moving forward.  The good thing is that what you went through wasn’t meant to kill you, but it was designed to build you into a person with character, integrity, and confidence that the Lord breathed into you from the beginning of time. Don’t ponder on the bad choices you’ve made. God allowed you to make them. You are being developed. It was good that you were afflicted (Psalms 119:71).

Don’t ponder on the bad choices you’ve made. God allowed you to make them.

Now this one thing I challenge you to do as Paul so eloquently admonished us in Philippians 3:13-14 so that you can get to the next place of promise…”forgetting those things which are behind” (they are behind you my sister or brother. Believe that!), and reaching forward to those things that are before,”…. (there are some things sitting right in front of you that you are about to possess, but if you keep your head turned in the opposite direction, you’re going to miss them)….”press toward the mark,”… (pressing means that despite the pull on you to remain stuck, you are pushing against the force–not with it)…”for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Woman of purpose…Man of purpose…there is a reward waiting for you. Press toward it, and don’t look back anymore.

 

Sorry. I Got Stuck.

So Yeah. Here I am again… another moment of transparency. I often wonder if my life was meant to be this constant Encyclopedia of how to turn your pain into purpose and if so, when I will I ever get to the final book: letters XYZ!

Have you ever tried to pursue a dream, and got stuck in the middle of the process? Of Course you have. There was some type of obstacle; some hang up, some type of  “achilles heal” of sorts that unexpectedly jolted your energy. Let’s just call them out shall we? So we have financial obstacles: you were about to get that house God promised you and then suddenly at settlement you need 2000.00 more dollars…some unexpected debt you did not know that was still on your credit report. You felt the weight of that surprise obstacle and you got stuck. Then there are the physical obstacles that erupt…..a sickness occurs. You end up flat on your back, and then everything snowballs. You end up behind in your bills, discouraged and flustered, and the sickness takes a toll on your emotional energy and you get stuck.  Or there is the attack on your mind through fear…..you’ve gotten to a place of moving from a “thought” to “action” but you became paralyzed with fear…..and got stuck.  And alas……rejection. You went from thought to action to implementation and your idea was rejected, your loan was denied; the investor said “no” the publisher sent a rejection letter and you said, “You know what? Forget it.”–stuck. All the while, the people that will benefit from your destiny being fulfilled (because you do know it’s not about YOU right???) are waiting, they are hungry, they are thirsty, panting for what God has put it you or wants to do in your life to be manifested.

Romans 8:19

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

It’s easier to stop running a race, and then sit down and watch everyone else finish than it is to just stay in there: knees throbbing, muscles cramping, stomach churning, throat burning, lungs aching, and all. It’s easier to sit around and make excuses for why we cannot finish the task at hand, than it is to just stay in and do it! Didn’t we think when God made the promise, that he knew there would be the obstacles I just mentioned earlier? And what do we say to God when he says, “Why haven’t you done what I’ve asked you to do?” We say, “Sorry. I got stuck.”

I found myself saying that since October of 2015 when I was rejected by a literary agent. The rejection was so powerful (note: power that I gave it….not power it really had) that I literally stopped. I stopped writing, I stopped running, I stopped breathing, I stopped dreaming,  I just stopped. And every time I would hear the voice of God say, “Get up and let’s go. Send out another letter. Keep writing.” I would think about how that rejection stung like a bee sting. And how painful it felt going in.  And I simply surmised, that if I just stopped trying, I won’t have to worry about the sting of being rejected ever again. But I found that the agony of immobility was even worse. I knew that time was being wasted, and that there was an expectation of me to finish.

Philippians 1:6b says, “…he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”….but not if “We” don’t do our part. Hmmmmm.

…….

I was speaking with a young vibrant gentleman from my church just before writing this blog and was encouraging him to be all that God has called him to be and that NOW is the time. I told him that the enemy knows that the light inside of us is an eminent threat to the darkness of his Kingdom. So, if he can mar us, tarnish us, and frustrate our purpose; he no longer has to “worry” about us. Truth is, he is afraid of us. That is why he and his posse come with all sorts of weaponry and devices to thwart us off the course of our destiny. You can get UNSTUCK. It’s just a matter of choice. I wrote a poem in my 2nd book called “I Choose My Today” and the first line of that stanza says, “…No one can choose it for me.” Ha!

Who or what are you allowing to “choose ” your destiny for you?  The Songwriter, LaShun Pace Rhodes said, “It is God who controls my lot, and my times are in HIS hands”

Psalms 31:15a

My times are in your hands;

I am still in my process of overcoming rejection; Truth is: I know I can do it. I know I am almost there….to my next place of destiny, that is. You may be reading this and saying, “Well shouldn’t you wait until you are out of “it” to testify and tell your story?” Ah. Nope. See, I’ve learned a long time ago not to wait until the end of a thing to testify, but to testify along the way, because God is doing something  RIGHT NOW! He’s doing something in your process. And he is doing something in others, in me,  through my transparency.

Transparency frees YOU then it frees others.

Let’s make this pledge together as Eleanor Roosevelt so boldly challenged:”Do one thing every day that scares you.”

And I add to that, then we watch God move in a way we’ve never experienced. For “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us,” Romans 8:37

~Be Empowered!