My Time On Vacation

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm kind of switching gears a bit here and going to share something different but important. The title I have for the blog is called "Pray For Wisconsin". As many of you ladies know that I'm born and raised in Wisconsin as many of you are as well. For those of you who may or may not remember last week Monday on July 27th, severe rain and severe storms plagued Wisconsin. Prior to that occurring, I believe our state has had record breaking heat causing it to be a hot summer! Not only that, due to the Canada fire, the fire spread across the Northern states especially to our state! The smoke odor filled the air causing it to feel unbearable but by the grace of God I was okay. Anyway my mom and my grandma always say whenever the weather is sticky it's eventually gonna rain. Also have you ladies ever heard the saying. "When it rains it pours?" Well that's exactly what happened last week Monday on July 27th and it rained for most of the day until 5 PM when the sun came out! Early in the morning when I was praying and reading the Bible, I couldn't believe how dark it was outside! In fact my brother took a picture on his phone and showed how dark it was where he lives! (Side note: I'm the only one who lives with my parents because my other siblings moved out. I trust the Lord's timing when it will be time for me to move out.) It was raining hard both in the Northern part of Wisconsin and Southeastern Wisconsin! (Southeastern Wisconsin is where Milwaukee, my hometown, is located.) In fact in the Northern part of Wisconsin (Appelton to be exact) there was a tornado that occurred and it did some damage to precious people's properties. It only left one person dead but at least 19 people were injured. The news reporters were also saying that this is one of the worst tornadoes in Wisconsin since 1984 if y'all can believe that! (Those precious people had to do massive cleanups the next day on Tuesday July 28th which was last week.) Not only that, quite a few places (like stores, libraries, and some people's houses) suffered power outages! I got to say by the grace of God, our power stayed on the entire time! Of course as many of y'all know this isn't the first or last time severe rain has occurred in Wisconsin. As a matter of fact four months ago in April of this year just a week after Easter Sunday, Wisconsin was hit with severe flooding causing there to be water in our basement twice! (I hosted my virtual prayer meeting in the basement on day one of the flood in April of this year!) People also lost some items due to that flood and the Northern part of Wisconsin got hit with a tornado! (Side note: on the third day it flooded we were in an indoor concert with Christian rapper KB at "Discover Church" my parents church!) But by God's grace there was no flooding in our basement that time. I additionally remember a year ago a week after I got back from being out of town, there was severe flooding to the point we lost electricity and it didn't come back on until Sunday night 10:30 PM a couple hours after my virtual Bible study! In both incidents, mom cleared out the water in the basement both last year and in April of this year and dad likely had to help her! I remember sixteen years ago as a teenager me, my siblings, and mom were home during the summer (I don't know if dad worked a later shift or was out of town) we ate dinner and it started raining. Mom told us to go to the basement and there was severe flooding. But we were there to help get water out of the basement! Simply put we've had some severe flooding in Wisconsin but I got to say this last incident it's a miracle water wasn't in our basement! But I'm sure there are others that weren't so fortunate. I'm asking for us to pray for our precious state of Wisconsin. Pray for those who were affected by the tornado and pray that they're able to recover all what was lost from them. Pray that God will send people their way to give them food, water, shelter or anything else they may need after this. Additionally may we pray for those who were affected by the flooding and most of all pray in midst of this this will cause people to turn to Christ and not get bitter at Him. Let's also pray that the next time it rains it doesn't rain too severely! I don't know about y'all but having severe rain can be traumatic for people. In fact I had a slight panic attack about that last year after the flood in August! The state of Wisconsin has gone through alot in recent years and of course the joke we have is you can experience four seasons in a week! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. I'm sure many of you live in multiple different cities in the state of Wisconsin and I'm sure that some of y'all were impacted by the storm. Thank goodness the Lord brought us through. Blessings, have a great week everyone, and let's continue to pray for our state not only to recover after the storm but also pray that a massive revival breaks out in our state too!

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "The Importance Of Sabbath Rest". This is based from the fourth commandment from the ten commandments when God told the Jews to make the Sabbath day Holy. Holy means set apart for the sacred. If course we know as Christians when we got saved, we were called out of darkness to God's glorious light. When we get baptized in the Holy Spirit evidence of speaking in tongues, (that experience is separate from the salvation experience) that gives us grace to walk in the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 3:22,23) and to be holy. We Christians are called to both walk in love and walk in holiness. We are called to be set apart from the world and into living for God as a daily lifestyle. I'm sure many of you ladies already know that but what does that have anything to do with the Sabbath day? Do you ladies remember the story of creation mentioned in Genesis 1 and 2? God created the world for six days such as sun, moon, stars, planets, galaxies, plants, water, animals etc and called everything good. When God created Adam and Eve, He made them and us in His image and called what He made very good! Of course we know that Adam and Eve (as well as the rest of us) were created for relationship with God but it got broken because of sin. (Thankfully God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross to restore that relationship.) But going back to the creation story, God made the world in six days but rested on the Sabbath day seven! Now we know the number seven is significant because that number represents completion! (You can do your own study where the number seven appears in certain places of the Bible.) Did God rest because He was tired? No!!!!!!!! He rested to set an example for us! Remember when I mentioned the importance of holiness and what it means? Holy means to set apart for the sacred and I already mentioned that we Christians are called to walk in love and holiness. But just as we're called to walk in love and live holy, the Sabbath is supposed to be a holy day. That means we are to set a day aside not only to rest from our work labor but also for us to have a day set aside for the Lord! Now again is everyday a gift from God? Yes. Each day we're giving is a blessing from the Lord! Some of you who grew in church maybe used to hear the old saints say. "Thank God He woke you up this morning" or heard "What a blessing it is to be in the land of the living". Those are very true sayings and something to be thankful for. Also should we carve out time each day to spend quality time with God in prayer and His Word everyday not just in Sundays? Absolutely! Should we live for God everyday? Absolutely! But again we must make it a priority to prioritize the Sabbath to set a day aside for the Lord and physical rest. You might be thinking. "Why are you addressing this in a blog? The reason is because as you ladies know we live in a busy busy world. We know that our days are filled with work, bills, taking care of our families, running errands, additional relationships and so many things can fill up our days to the point we burnout! I'm sure you ladies know the challenges of dealing with burnout as well as I! We know if we don't set healthy boundaries how to structure our time, our day to day life can get the best of us. Ladies I believe that God knew that before time which is why He set the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. Not only that Hebrews 10:25 says. "Let us not stop the forsaking the assembly of meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging one another all the more as you see the Day approaching". What is this Scripture saying ladies? It's very obvious not for us Christians to stop meeting together at church! That has something to do with the Sabbath day! Also it says we should do it all the more as we see the Day approaching. Why did they capitalize Day? Day here isn't just any day but Day here represents the return of Christ! Going to church and being with other Christians is one of many ways to help prepare us for the return of Jesus in the rapture! (In another blog for another time I'll share more about the rapture!) Isn't that something? God wants us to make His house a priority to have time for Him, fellow Christians, and not think about the burdens of work! Ladies another thing I want to share is it used to be back in the "old days" that not many places were open on Sundays! The only places that used to be open were the police station or hospitals were the only places open on Sundays. Places like gas stations, restaurants, and most jobs back then were closed on Sundays! Isn't that wild? We know today sadly many places are open seven days a week and competes for our attention especially being in God's house. Another thing I want to share about is the Sabbath day is to be a time of rest. I think about when Jesus visited Mary and Martha of Bethany's house mentioned in Luke 10:38-42 where Martha was busy serving while Mary sat at the Lord's feet to listen to Him! You ladies know the story that Martha got upset and begged our Lord to have her sister Mary to come help her! Now was Martha doing in of itself wrong? No. She was caught up serving that she forgot to sit at the Lord's feet. How many of us Christians can admit we've been guilty of doing what Martha did? Is serving a bad thing? No. Is working a bad thing? No. But everything must be in its proper place and Martha has misplaced priorities. We Christians can do that too but I believe that's another reason why God made the Sabbath day for us His people to have time to be at His feet. Again should we spend quality time in prayer with Him everyday not just Sundays? Of course! But again we must prioritize the Sabbath day and protect it. That's another point I want to my. Ladies there has been attacks against churches in America and I believe it's essential for us to pray more than ever for each other, our pastors, and churches. As some of you ladies may remember, during COVID many churches couldn't meet in person and only could have ten people at the most there! (Side note during COVID I transitioned from "Discover Church" a mega church to a smaller church called "New Life Assembly Of God Church" and I was still able to go to church then and now by God's grace! I'm a member there now and "Discover Church" when COVID died down, resumed to regular services.) I believe that was an attack on churches meeting and I don't know if you ladies are aware, there are pastors who have been going through legal battles, others raided by corrupt officials, and others unjustly jailed in our own country! I believe that's an attack on churches and our religious freedoms and I believe it's time for us to take a stand! It's time for us to stand on our religious freedoms, stand for and pray for our pastors, and fight for the Sabbath day! That's important especially these days. As for me I'm on vacation right now but even on vacation, I'm still going to church! I may not be at my home church but I'm attending another church far away from home until I return back home! This church will do an evening service which is why there's no virtual Bible study tonight.(But I'll be back the following Sunday night August 9th to resume virtual Bible study!) I'm on vacation for me to reset! So I would encourage you ladies to pause and reflect. How well are you prioritizing the Sabbath day? How well are you taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental health? Are you praying and standing up for religious freedom? Are you resting in the Lord? These are things I've had to ask myself lately and I know the Lord is helping me with balance! I'm sure some of you ladies need to ask the Lord for help in those areas as well too. Prioritizing the Lord daily is important, prioritizing our mental, physical, and emotional health is important, and prioritizing the Sabbath is important. It's easy to allow other things especially our day to day responsibilities (not that in themselves are wrong) to crowd out our God time is why we need to guard it! We also need to pray for our pastors for God to help them especially those dealing with legal battles and being jailed, pray for protection for God's house, and us to continue to be a country that honors God's house and His Word! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week. P.S. I will be coming back home soon too as well!

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "David And Jonathan's Friendship". For those of you who have been with me during my virtual Bible study, especially this month on July Sunday nights, I've been talking about friendship. The first Sunday I talked about Paul and Silas from Acts 16, the third Sunday we talked about Amnon King David's mentioned in 2 Samuel 13 son having a bad friend with his cousin Jonadab that led him to sadly rape his "lover/half sister Tamar!" How wicked is that? That also shows that the wrong friends can influence one to do some very evil stuff which is why it's so important to choose your friends wisely! (I'm sure many of us have heard the old saying. ''Show me your friends and show me your future'' and ''You are who you run with.'') This past Sunday we talked about Jesus hanging out with His friends in John 11 (I wrote a blog about it too) Mary and Martha of Bethany and how He comforted them in the midst of their pain and how He comforts us in our pain. But on the second Sunday of August, we talked about this very subject. David and Jonathan's friendship is mentioned in 1 Samuel chapters 18-20. This took place after David killed Goliath mentioned in 1 Samuel 17 a story most Christians know about. But we don't talk about what happened afterwards. David used the sword to cut off Goliath's the Philistines head! Jonathan was King Saul's oldest son who was Israel's crown prince. He was interested in David and loved him dearly in a "nonsexual way". He even gave him one of his swords and one of his royal robes! Isn't that sweet? That shows how truly unselfish Jonathan was and that stresses how important it is to have friends that are unselfish. Prince Jonathan did that because he knew that his friend had a calling on his life and encouraged him in that. Ladies, how many friends are like that in your life? Either your friends are leading you to Christ or away and either they're trying to push you to go to your destiny or distract you from it! Only you can make that decision! Prince Jonathan could have been jealous of David like his dad was and even could have sided with his dad against David! He had the right to do so not only because of him being a son but also being a prince. Did you ladies not know that not only was David attacked by King Saul and had to flee, did y'all not know that Prince Jonathan had ''to lie'' to his dad just for David to get away? Not only that, did y'all not know that David married Michal King Saul's oldest daughter (It's likely that her and her brother Prince Jonathan were probably close in age) who also lied to King Saul but that was the intention to protect David from being killed? I'm not saying that Prince Jonathan and Princess Michal lying was right but they did it to protect from being killed by King Saul! Isn't that sad that King Saul's oldest adult children lie just to protect someone they cared about from being killed by him? That brings me to another point, a true friend is loyal, a true friend defends, and protects their friends from harmful situations. The Bible even mentions that when Prince Jonathan defended David against King Saul, King Saul got angry with him and dared to curse the day he was born! How wicked is that? But Prince Jonathan didn't care. He did not want David to be harmed no matter what and was determined to be his friend despite King Saul hating him! How many of you ladies have friends like that? How many of you ladies have friends that are willing to stand up for you when someone is slandering your name, gossiping about you, or folks accusing you? How many of y'all would risk making your parents angry or your boss for wrongly accusing your friends? I'm sure if most of us are honest not many people would do that. Listen ladies, the right friend will not only encourage you to live godly but also will encourage you in your destiny, defend you, and love you unconditionally. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs 17;17 says ''A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity''. Ladies I'm sure y'all have heard the old saying. ''You'll know your real friends when hell breaks loose'' is a very true saying. Anybody can be your friend on a good day but who knows how to be a friend when things go wrong? Who will be your friend when you get sick, go through marriage issues, face divorce, your kids acting funny, you lose a job, go through legal issues just to name some challenges? Y'all know that all of us will face storms at some point but who in your corner is strong enough to go through those things with you? Prince Jonathan is such a beautiful example of that and I pray that we have friends like that! Not only do we need to pray to have friends like that but we need to pray that we'll be friends like that for others too! After all, wasn't God there for us on our best day and worst day? Of course He is! But what really blows me away is how many people in the body of Christ know how to be true friends? May God help us in that area! That's the reason why I wrote this blog. We need kingdom minded friends, folks full of the Holy Ghost, loyal friends, and friends who are ''spiritual warriors''. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Tuesday, and pray that we friends like Prince Jonathan and be a better friend to the Lord too.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Jesus Raises Impossible Dead Things". The story we're gonna use is the story of Lazarus. Of course many of you know that story which comes from John 11. This wasn't the first or last time Jesus visited them and some of y'all remember the Scripture Luke 10:38-42. (Jesus visited their home with Mary of Bethany sitting at His feet while Martha was busy serving. I wrote a blog about that and there is a lesson of us prioritizing relationship while not forgetting to neglect our intimate time with the Lord.) Another important thing to understand was that Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha were close friends to Jesus as well as His male disciples, and women of Galilee.But Lazarus was sick to the point of being bedridden. In our modern day he would have been at home hospice care with his sisters Mary and Martha of Bethany as his caregivers! I'm sure some of you ladies can relate to caregiving for older siblings or parents and know how challenging that is. They begged for Jesus to show up but as we know He didn't show up right away. It could be because He was busy, in another city, or Father God in prayer told Him to stay back. But after awhile, Christ and His male disciples traveled from another city to Bertha and by that point Lazarus had died. As you ladies can imagine Mary and Martha of Bethany were weeping along with family members and neighbors too. They both asked Jesus where was He and perhaps could have stopped Lazarus from dying! Isn't that something? Christ certainly could have shown up sooner and ladies how many of us in our minds or hearts wondered the same thing especially in our prayers? I know I certainly have and there have been prayers I've prayed over the past several years while others for over twenty years and answers still haven't come yet. Maybe you ladies can relate to this as well too. Maybe you've prayed the same prayer or prayers for yourself and loved ones and wonder why the answer hasn't happened yet. Do y'all remember the blog I wrote last Sunday that talked about getting frustrated? Don't you ladies think that in addition to Mary and Martha of Bethany being sad that they possibly got frustrated? I know I would have and I'm sure you ladies would have too. But Des that, Christ comforted Mary and Martha and reassured them He's the Resurrection and the Life! That's comforting for us especially today when our saved loved ones die physically we know that they've gone home to heaven. That doesn't mean that grief is easy but having that promise of Christ is what gets us Christians through. Christ wept and comforted them then He commanded the stone to be removed! Remember Lazarus was in the grave for four days and Mary and Martha by then had given up on hope. Then Jesus prayed to the Father and commanded Lazarus to come out and he did! Lazarus isn't the first or last person that Christ raised from the dead. We know that He rose Jairus's twelve year old daughter and raised a widows son from Nain from the dead. What makes those cases interesting was that they died but within minutes or hours, Christ rose them from the dead! But Lazarus was in the grave longer than those people and was in a impossible situation but Jesus raised him up for all to see! I can only imagine how happy Mary and Martha of Bethany were and how thrilled the crowd was to see Lazarus be raised back to life! Ladies what impossible situation are you going through right now that you need Jesus to intervene in? Do you have a loved one addicted to drugs or alcohol who needs to get delivered? Do you have loved ones that are unsaved whose hearts appear to get harder towards God? Did the doctor give you or a loved one bad news diagnosis and there seems to be no hope? Are you in a financial crisis despite you giving to God's house and you're praying for finances to be stable? Have you been applying for different jobs or been at job interviews and you keep getting rejected over and over again? Do you know a married couple that's had infertility struggles and the doctors aren't giving them hope to have children? Are you or a loved one going through legal troubles and it seems as though that battle will be end or be resolved? Ladies no matter what the situation is, Jesus is able to turn the situation around! It may not happen in the time that we want but He's able to raise anything or anyone dead back to life! If Christ can raise what's "spiritually dead" back to life, how much more can He raise what's physically dead, relationally dead, or even dead dreams back to life? I really wanted to share this with you ladies that Jesus is our hope. Another thing I want to share is because we're in Christ, we Christians have hope for "a eternal bodily resurrection" that will happen at the rapture something I know we're all looking forward to! (That's for another blog for another time.) I have shared this to give y'all as well as myself that Jesus is our Resurrection! He rose from the dead on the third day which is the ultimate resurrection after being crucified on the cross three days earlier for our sins. He didn't stay dead He rose again! I'll be sharing this story at Bible study tonight at 7 PM and hope as many of y'all come to that.That's what I wanted to share with y'all. Blessings, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Trusting God's Timing When You're Waiting". I'm sure all of us know that waiting is fun isn't it? Actually know it's not! Who likes to wait in line, get stuck in traffic, wait on a doctor's appointment, or wait to hear back from an employer to see if you got the job just to name a couple of examples. But most of all as Christians, how many of us know that waiting on God can be a challenge? Ladies in my 21 years of walking with the Lord despite me being in my early thirties I understand how challenging that can be. I definitely understand how a Christian can earnestly pray to the Lord about many things such as a loved one to get saved or come back to Christ, someone to be healed, a single person to get married, a childless married couple to have kids, or a loved one incarcerated (especially unjustly) to be released and the answers to those prayers seem delayed. How many of you ladies have felt frustrated with God when that happened? Ladies it's okay to be honest with God and I'm not afraid to admit I've been frustrated with God too. Afterall that's what that previous blog is about dealing with being frustrated with God. Ladies I want you to know that people in the Bible had to learn how to wait on God for various things and I'm sure many of you know the examples of that I'll share. One obvious example is the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. When he was seventeen years old God gave him a dream at night that he'd be a great leader and his loved ones would bow to him! Just imagine sharing that dream with your siblings and parents and see how they'll respond to that! As we know that his evil brothers (with the exception of Benjamin the youngest brother) hated him and plotted to kill him! Let's not forget that his dad Jacob (or Israel) favored Joseph above the other brothers and gave him the coat of many colors which caused jealousy to escalate in the house too. As we know that Joseph's older brothers (not Benjamin) grabbed him, threw him in a pit, and sold him as a slave! Let's not forget how Joseph's earthly father felt believing that his son was dead finding his coat dipped into blood! As Jacob (or Israel) was grieving, Joseph worked as a slave in Potiphar's house for a time where he learned to deepen his walk with the Lord and be a hard worker. We know that God blessed Potiphar's house because of Joseph but sadly, Potiphar's wife tried to tempt Joseph to sin sexually but he refused. Despite him standing for righteousness, he got wrongly incarcerated and I shared about that last month about it! He not only lived in prison, he likely worked as a jail administrator and he met the cupbearer and the baker and interpreted their dreams. The cupbearer forgot Joseph when he got restored to Pharaoh while the baker later died. Imagine being in the position of being forgotten by someone who should have remembered you while you're forced to live and work in prison! But God gave Pharaoh a dream about prosperity and famine hitting Egypt for seven years and we know that the number seven means completion. Joseph later got "laid off" from his jail administrator position and got sent to the palace to interpret Pharaoh's dream! Joseph became prime minister in Egypt, married his wife Asneth, had two sons Manasseh and Ephraim, and saved money and grain during the "seven prosperity years" to prepare for the famine. Later famine hit in Egypt and all over the world which forced Joseph's brothers to come to Egypt, buy food, and bow to Joseph! Isn't it something that the very ones who hated Joseph would be the ones begging for his help later? If course Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, forgave them, reconciled with his old father Jacob, and took care of them, their households, his immediate households, and Egypt during the entire famine! Another example that I think of is the life of King David. He was the youngest of eight sons in his family, was a shepherd boy, and wasn't esteemed by his family all that much. But later the prophet Samuel came to Jesse's house (David's earthly father) and he brought his seven sons except for David! Isn't that something that Jesse didn't even consider his youngest son? The Lord revealed to Samuel that neither David's elder brothers were chosen to be king so Jesse had to hurry David in the house and Samuel anointed David to be the future second king of Israel! As we know wicked Goliath the Philistine giant tormented King Saul and his army and that upset David who decided to go down to fight Goliath! We know the story David took five stones and a slingshot which hit Goliath on the forehead and he fell and died! (Side note I believe that Goliath was probably connected to the Nephiliam because of his height something I've been sharing with Christians over the past few years.) Now you'd think that David's life would be a "walk in the park" well sadly things drastically changed. King Saul got jealous of David and tried to kill him multiple times. It got so bad that Jonathan the crown prince (King Saul's oldest son) and Princess Michal (King Saul's oldest daughter) and David's first wife had to lie to King Saul and help him get away from him! Whew! This went on for years until one day King Saul, Prince Jonathan, and other Jewish soldiers were in the battlefield and a massive massacre happened. Prince Jonathan and many Jewish soldiers brutally died while King Saul got wounded and committed suicide! David had to wait many years to be king but after wicked King Saul died, David at thirty became king of Judah and seven years later, became king of Israel! Not only that, King David was a warrior, a Psalmist, and a harp player and I know many of us have enjoyed the book Psalm! (My dad used to read the Psalm to me and my siblings growing up especially Psalm 1, 23, 34, 63, 91, and Psalm 100.) Even as king, King David encountered ups and downs such as his sin with Bathsheba, (he repented and wrote Psalm 51) counting the people, wicked kings fighting him, and even his own son Absalom tried to take the throne by force until his hair got caught in the tree and got killed! But throughout King David's life the Lord was with him and I want you ladies to know that the Lord is with you too. Joseph in the Old Testament and King David endured a lot and they often had to wait on God which wasn't easy but God gave them grace during that time. Ladies I don't know what you're waiting on and we must always remember to trust God's timing which I know is easier said than done. That's not easy for me either but looking at a couple of these biblical examples helps shape my perspective and I pray does the same for you ladies to remember that God orchestrates everything. Does it make the waiting easy? No!!!!!!! But it reminds us that God's in control. I pray that this blog encouraged you ladies, blessings, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Are You Frustrated With God?" I know this maybe controversial but I'm sure that every Christian has dealt with that whether we want to admit it or not. Have you prayed for something to be one way and God allows the total opposite to happen? Let me give you ladies some examples that perhaps you can relate to. Have you prayed for someone unsaved or a prodigal (someone who once walked with the Lord but drifted away from Him) especially a loved one to get saved or come back to Christ but their hearts got even harder towards God? Isn't that heartbreaking? How about you praying earnestly for someone to be physically healed but they got worse or worse yet ended up passing away? I've had that happen and I'm sure many of you ladies can relate to that. Perhaps you're a Christian single woman (as I am) and you've prayed for years for a mate along with other Christians praying but you're still single. Others may know a Christian married couple that's been married for many years and yet struggled with infertility struggles in forms of miscarriage or failed IVF while they witness other married couples having kids without any problems. Perhaps you have a loved one (like me) who's been going through legal troubles in court or worse unjustly incarcerated and you're praying consistently for God to intervene in the circumstance and it seems like justice is delayed. Maybe you're praying for employment because you got laid off from a job and you've been applying and going to job interviews and you're getting frustrated over the process of that. Ladies I'm sure many of you can relate to some of these scenarios or more well I can relate to to some extent! Another point I want to share with you ladies is people in the Bible had moments when they got frustrated with God and life too. Yes that's right people in the Bible were human beings too just like the rest of us and many of them cried out to the Lord for help but answers seemed delayed. One example that comes to mind is the story of Mary and Martha of Bethany. Many of us know that those precious single ladies were godly women and were some of Jesus' good friends along with their brother Lazarus. (They likely were friends with Jesus' male disciples along with Mary Magdalene and the rest of her female friends who were the women of Galilee.) We read their story mentioned in John 11 where Lazarus was at home bedridden and was very sick to the point of death! We don't know what his physical ailment was but in our modern day it would be Lazarus being at "home hospice care" with his sisters Mary and Martha as his "caregivers". Mary and Martha begged for Jesus to come to them but He was delayed for two days! I'm not sure why there was a delay maybe Jesus was busy, maybe He was in another city, or maybe God the Father in prayer told Jesus to wait. But either way there was a delay and Lazarus's health went from bad to worse until the day he died! When he died, Christ and His male disciples decided to visit Mary and Martha at their point of grief. That seems quite strange don't you think? In fact both Mary and Martha told Him if He had been there Lazarus wouldn't have died which was true! I can only imagine the grief that Mary and Martha of Bethany must have experienced not to mention them possibly being frustrated with Jesus over what took Him so long to get there! But Jesus promised them that Lazarus would rise again and asked the people to remove the stone! Now Lazarus was in the tomb for four days (yes y'all heard me right four days!) but Jesus prayed and then declared. "Lazarus come out!" Lazarus walked out with his grave clothes and I can only imagine how happy Mary and Martha of Bethany were! I'm sure one moment they cried tears of sadness but after awhile cried tears of joy seeing their brother Lazarus again! Of course there was the crowd there too and they got to witness Christ raise Lazarus from the dead and they rejoiced too! Their prayer was answered but not in the way or timing that they wanted. I also think about Job, King David, the weeping prophet Jeremiah, and even the prophet Elijah all I'm sure got frustrated with God. In Job's situation as we know, he lost his health, wealth, and his kids, his wife told him to curse God and die while his "so-called friends" accused him! I can only imagine how frustrating that must have been for Job enduring so much and his loved ones were no help at all! We know that King David wasn't esteemed by his family, was plotted to be killed by King Saul, (but wicked King Saul didn't prevail) was betrayed by friends, betrayed by his son Absalom, pursued by evil opposing kings, and even had to bury some of his children! How can imagine how he must have been frustrated by some of that stuff. What about the prophet Jeremiah who warned about Israel being destroyed by the Babylonians (which did happen) but the people and Israel's king didn't want to listen! To make matters worse, they locked him up, and told him to be quiet but he said. "The Word is like fire shut up in my bones!" Jeremiah later got released but he got to witness King Nebuchadnezzar and the rest of the Babylon invade Israel and I can only imagine how that broke Jeremiah's heart which is probably why he wrote the book of Lamentations to express his grief. I'm sure he explained his anger and confusion to the Lord in prayer about that. What about the prophet Elijah who prophesied it wouldn't rain for three years which happened, then it flooded, called fire from heaven, and killed the prophets of Baal. Then wicked Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him and he ran away and the Lord asked him what was he doing there! Of course God knew the answer but Elijah was probably "burned out" and had enough with God and life and begged for God to let him die! I'm not happy he said those things but I'm happy he was honest with God when he was vulnerable! He begged God to take his life out of frustration! Ladies people like this give me hope to know I'm not the only one who's been frustrated with God and life at times. Ladies God isn't afraid of our honesty or questions! In fact some of the sweetest prayer times I've had was pouring out my heart towards the Lord. Ladies if you're in that spot of frustration, let that be a time to stop and pray. God already knows what we're gonna say before we pray we might as well be honest with Him! Contemporary Christian artist Amy Grant has a song called "Better Than A Hallelujah" from her 2010 album "Somewhere Down The Road" that talks about God desires an honest heart over a hallelujah any day. (I shared that song on my YouTube channel four years ago too!) Also don't be afraid to go to counseling or reach out to friends to uplift you as well. Something else that we Christians need to remember that the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter mentioned in 2 Peter 3:9 says. "The Lord isn't slow in keeping His promise as some think. But He is patient and doesn't want known to perish but all to come to repentance". In that Scriptures context is talking about some people have lost heart because the rapture hadn't happened yet and why hasn't Jesus returned for His bride yet! The Apostle Peter is reminding us through the Spirit God looks at things from a eternal perspective not just in regards to the rapture but other regards too. That's not easy to understand but that's something we must remember. That's not easy for me to understand but Scripture like this helps keep things in perspective and I pray it does the same for you ladies too. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, have a good week, and remember don't be afraid to talk to God about your frustrations!

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Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day. I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to share with you ladies another blog called ''The Importance Of Vision Part 2'' as a follow up from the previous blog. I really believe that the Lord lately has been dealing with me about the importance of vision and it says in Proverbs 29;18 says ''Without a vision the people perish'' something I shared in the previous blog. Remember that I said why many nonbelievers or prodigals live recklessly? It's because they don't know Christ as Lord and Savior and secondly they have no vision. But I also shared about how Christians who live for Christ but they don't know His will or goals for their personal lives! I mentioned that in a previous blog as well too. You might be saying. ''What are ways to know about a vision?'' Well number one it's to seek the Lord in prayer! Everything starts and ends with prayer! That's simple isn't it? But if most Christians are honest, when was the last time they earnestly sought the Lord in prayer about His will for their lives to align with their goals? Jeremiah 29;12,13 says ''You shall call upon Me and I will answer and if you seek Me with all of your heart, you will find Me!'' It all starts there ladies and everything begins and ends with God! The next thing I want to share is what problem do you see in the world that bothers you? You might be thinking. ''Why does that matter?'' Could it be racism, injustice, poverty, the spiritually lost without Christ, broken families, natural disasters, people being uneducated, incarceration, church splits, human sex trafficking, people who've gone through tragedy, bribery in business, unemployment, gender inequality and the list goes on and on? What are issues that sometimes keep you up at night that cause you to get on your knees and cry out to the Lord? What are things that grieve you or make you mad? If you answer those questions that probably should give you another clue about your vision. The next thing I say is what are you naturally or spiritually good at? I mentioned that in the previous blog. What is something you can naturally do that it takes work for others to do? Is it to cook, teach, preach, do arts, help others, have a listening ear, being an intercessor, leadership skills, administration etc.? What is something you enjoy doing that you lose time doing? What conversations have you had with loved ones and them telling you what you're naturally good at? In regards to spiritual gifts, do you have the gift of help, do you have the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, discerning of spirits, apostolic, prophetic, evangelism, pastoring etc? (I combined spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 and the fivefold ministry offices mentioned in Ephesians 4;11) Which of those natural or spiritual gifts/offices that ''jump off the page'' to you? Only God and you can answer that. Another question to ask yourself is who do you know that's excelling in the area or areas you want to be successful in whether naturally or spiritually? You probably heard the old saying. ''Show me your friends and I'll show you your future'' and ''You are who you run with!" I had a former pastor's wife tell me something as a child that I still remember to this day and she said. ''Either your friends are leading you to Christ or away from Christ!'' Ladies these sayings are so very true. What friends are you spending time with and what mentors are you hanging out with? Are your friends or significant other encouraging you to grow in Christ and encouraging you to fulfill your goals or are they pulling you away from Christ or from your goals? What mentors are you seeking to gain wisdom from? The Bible says in Proverbs 11;14 ''Where there is no counsel the people fall but in the multitude of counsel there is safety'' and Proverbs 13;20 says ''Walk with the wise and you'll be wiser!'' Yep that's right ladies! Surround yourself with friends and mentors that enhance you spiritually and that urge you to get closer to your goals. Surround yourself with people who will pray for you, motivate, and even ''push you out of your comfort zone'' to be who God made for you to be. Ladies I have incredible mentors in my life who help me to continue to grow spiritually and help me obtain the goals that I have in life. Some are men, some are women, some live in the same state as me while some live in a different state (Those that live in a different state I talk on the phone, facetime, or Zoom call) but either way, their advice has been a blessing to my life. Plus having mentors in your life will cause you to grow! Believe me ladies, you don't want to stay stagnant naturally or spiritually! You and I can't afford for that to happen to us! That's why having the right friends and the right mentors will help with the process and keep your distance from those who are a stumbling block to your progress! You need to pray and have enough wisdom to know which relationships to keep your distance from and which ones to ''go no contact'' as well. Another thing I'll say is learn to persevere when the going gets tough. Oh my goodness ladies. There are quite a few examples I can think of that perfectly relate to this. I think about Joseph in the Old Testament and many of you ladies know that story. He was hated by his brothers, thrown to a pit, sold as a slave and worked as a slave, (We blacks certainly can understand that fully well!) was lied about, unjustly incarcerated and had to work as a jail administrator, but then was promoted to the palace and became prime minister! Not only that, he got married to Asnath, had two sons Manasseh and Ephriam, reconciled with his brothers and forgave his brothers, took care of them, their households, his old father Israel (or known as Jacob) and took care of the nation of Egypt despite famine in the land! Another example I think about is Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. I know I've written about him quite a bit in blogs especially this year but he came from a lineage of pastors, raised in a godly home, gave his life to the Lord, and was very well educated. There was racism in the South and that bothered him significantly. He started doing bus boycotts that started with the late Mrs Rosa Parks (born 1913 died 2005) getting unjustly arrested which forced the bus companies to allow blacks and whites to sit together instead of separately. But he didn't stop there. There was a demand for neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and churches to be racially diverse and that didn't go very well in the South. Dr King Jr was arrested countless times, his house got bombed, many black protesters lives were in jeopardy, and when they marched, blacks got sprayed by the water hose and dogs bit some folks! But through that, Dr King Jr kept focusing on the vision and he shared in 1963 at Washington D.C. the ''I Have A Dream Speech'' and later won the ''Nobel Peace Prize''. In 1964, Congress passed a law called the ''Civil Rights Act'' that has allowed blacks to live wherever they wanted, work where they wanted, go to school where they wanted, and go to the same church as whites which was radical for the time. We know that later in 1968, Dr King Jr got assassinated but after that, the ''King Museum'' was founded in his honor by his late wife Coretta Scott King (born 1927 diied 2006) Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we know came from heaven above to come to earth through His virgin birth, sinless life, did miracles, died on the cross, and rose again on the third day. As we know, it wasn't easy for our Lord either. We know that in the garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to the Father to let the cup pass from Him because He knew how brutal the cross would be. But I'm glad that He followed through as well as the rest of us God's people, Christ gave His life on the cross for our salvation and healing, but rose again on the third day, and after forty days, returned back to the Father in heaven. It wasn't easy for Joseph in the Old Testament, Dr King Jr, or our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but they pushed through and I'd encourage you ladies to push the challenges with your vision. Maybe loved ones are trying to talk you out of it. Maybe you're dealing with financial setbacks, career setbacks, relational setbacks, delays, or whatever it is, ask the Lord for grace to endure until the end. The last thing is be sure your vision builds a lasting legacy. That's something that I'm aiming to do and something I pray that you ladies do too. Leave a legacy for your family but also aim to leave a legacy spiritually and for your community. Think about many people throughout the Bible and throughout history that have left a legacy. I mentioned a couple of them already. Joseph in the Old Testament, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, our American founding fathers, the late Dr Billy Graham, the late Joni Lamb-Weiss and the list goes on and on. What do they have in common? They used their lives to glorify the Lord, worked hard in their vision, and built a godly legacy. I know that all of us at the end want our Lord to say to us. ''Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joys of salvation and you fulfilled all you were supposed to do on the earth!'' Ladies it was the late Myles Monroe that said. ''The richest place on earth is the graveyard''. I don't want to go to the grave or go home in the rapture and realize I wasted my life or didn't accomplish what God intended for me and I'm sure you ladies would agree too. That's the last point to remember is that building vision builds legacy for both this life and the next life. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.

Hi ladies it's me again and happy Tuesday! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I wanted to share something different but today the Lord put on my heart to share in this blog called "The Importance Of A Vision Board". Ladies to be honest with y'all, I haven't used a vision board until this past year if y'all can believe that! You might be thinking. "Why is having a vision board important or does the Bible help anything to say about it?" First let's start here. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision the people perish". Another translation says. "Without divine revelation people cast off restraint!" Whew! Ladies let me say it like this. Why do you think about people who are unsaved or prodigals live so recklessly? (Which is why it's important to pray for the unsaved to get saved and for prodigals to come back to Christ.) Ladies here's something else that's also troubling. It's sad to know that many people who say they're Christians don't seem to have goals in life! Let me explain what I mean. Many people that say they know Christ as their Lord and Savior don't know what His will is for their personal lives! Isn't that crazy? Besides them knowing their sins are forgiven, besides them knowing that they're going to heaven when they die, and besides reading/applying the Bible, praying, and going to church, they're unclear about their purpose! Ladies I don't know about y'all but that's not okay with me! I also know that we God's people will have to stand before Him at the bema seat of Christ giving an account for our intimacy with Him, our godly character, how we helped the needy, (see Matthew 25:31-46) and how we impacted the world with the gospel. We know He'll hold us accountable for those things but what few talk about is Christ also will ask did we walk out our lives purpose. Not only that, did we help others discover and walk out their lives purpose? That's why I'm writing this blog. I also want to share about a couple of Christians that encouraged me to go on this quest is number one Terri Savelle-Foy and the other is Pastor Ben Tankard. Terri Savelle-Foy is the daughter of the late Dr Jerry Savelle who was a well known minister (He led "Jerry Savelle Ministries" for years) and best-selling author, and she even worked for him for twenty plus years for a time! Later in 2014 she branched out to start her own ministry called "Terri Savelle-Foy Ministries" and has written many best-selling books like her late father! But what was her life like before that? Well she grew up in a Christian home, was a p.k., (pastors kid) and got saved at an early age didn't mean that life was easy. She got raped as a teenager, was in a abusive romantic relationship, (Thank God she didn't marry that guy) dated a different boyfriend who became her future husband, and got pregnant out of wedlock! (On a positive note she did graduate from high school at in 1987 and graduated from college in 1991 at the proper ages most people graduate from high school and college.) Strangely even though she got pregnant during her engagement to her future husband, she miscarried, got married and endured infertility struggles for several years before having her only child Cassidy born in 1997. As if that wasn't bad enough, she had no vision or purpose for her life, she and her husband had financially struggles, marital struggles that got so bad she and her husband separated! She worked from home for a time and as she prayed the Lord gave her strategies how to rebuild her life. God healed her from the trauma of her past, God restored her marriage, and overtime He gave her a vision for her life and her life has purpose! Another example is Pastor Ben Tankard. He grew up in the South, was raised as a p.k. (pastors kid) as well, grew up poor, and his family of origin lived in survival mode. But he was gifted in music and was a good basketball player throughout his elementary through high school years. He played tuba in the band and he was captain of basketball teams. In 1982, he graduated from high school and attended college for a basketball scholarship for a year or two years before dropping out to go for the NBA in 1984! But things took a drastic turn when he got injured and couldn't play anymore! (This was before the 21st century where sports players can have time off, go to the doctor and physically recover before returning to their sport especially baskets and football.) In 1984, Ben at twenty years old got saved, played piano for the first time in service, and his life forever changed! He worked as a dog catcher and worked at a music store for a time before starting his own record label called "Tribute records" and released his 1990 debut album called "All Keyed Up". He invented something called "Gospel/Jazz" which received a ton of rejection! He also married his first wife and had children with her while trying to balance his life as a Gospel/Jazz artist and released multiple albums. His "breakthrough album" was 1997's "Git Yo Praz On" a project I've owned since a child which propelled his musical career! But he suffered more setbacks dealing with the death of both his parents and a friend (they all went to heaven) and endured a brutal divorce! But in the 2000s he recovered, married his second wife Jewel, (a divorced mom of her only child Cyrene) blended a family, started "Destiny Church" in 2002, business owner, and is a author too. What lovely stories hugh? How does a Christian find their purpose? Number one seek the Lord in prayer. That seems obvious but sadly many Christians don't pray as much as they should and a Scripture to verify is Jeremiah 29:12,13. Many people focus on Jeremiah 29:11 but refuse to look at the verses after that. Jeremiah 29:12,13 says. "You shall call upon Me and I will answer. If you seek Me with all your heart you will find Me!" Ladies that's essential for learning your life's purpose! That's the first thing. The second thing is seeking wise counsel. The Bible says in Proverbs 11:14 says. "Where there is no counsel the people fall but in the multitude of council there is safety". Ladies it's essential to go to wise godly council who can help you navigate that. I'm sure if you ladies pray hard enough not only for God's guidance, you also need to pray to have wise godly counsel too. I know the importance of that and I have godly counsel too. The next thing is to know your talents. What are your natural or spiritual talents? What is something you can do naturally without thinking about it? What's the one thing you could do all day if you could? I'm not talking about a a vacation but what is it you enjoy doing? Only you and God can answer that question. Another thing is it's important to have a vision board! I know right? Terri Savelle-Foy said. "If your vision is clear the results will appear". Believe it or not I have a vision board in my room that I see and pray over regularly. I believe that you ladies need one too. That's why I wrote this blog. You need a vision board to gain clarity where you want to go in life. The next thing is to pray that God will help you take the right action steps to fulfill your vision. It doesn't have to be big steps but small steps to reach your goals. The Bible says in the book of James (He's the younger half brother of Christ) 2:26 that says "Faith without deeds is dead". For instance if you want to lose weight start small first. Want to pray more? Carve out more time to pray. If you want to go back to school, it's important to pray and discern what school to go to. These are small examples but if you take small steps they can improve your life. The next thing is don't share your vision with small minds or people who opposed it. I think Joseph in the Old Testament made that mistake. His brothers (we know the story) hated him and when he told his dreams they hated him all the more! Ladies be prayerful and careful who you share your vision with. I've had to learn that the hard way and I make sure to share with those who support it not try to bring it down. The last thing is to work hard and trust the results to God. I believe the hard work is the easy part but trusting God with the results is sometimes the hard part. God's been dealing with me on is after the hard work to trust Him with the results. The Bible says in a familiar passage of Scripture in Galatians 6:9 "Let us not grow weary in well doing. For in due season we will reap a harvest if we faint not." So ladies I pray this blog blessed you, I pray it will motivate y'all to have vision in life, and create a vision board. Know that you're not too old or too young age wise and whether you got saved recently or saved for many years, it's not too late to ask God for vision or make a vision board! That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Blessings, enjoy the blog, and have a blessed week everyone.