In ALL Things Give Thanks!

I always gain these life lessons in the oddest places. Yesterday I went to target with my son to pick up some groceries. While inside of course he decided he wanted a toy. Most of the time I give into these requests and let him get a small toy. But yesterday my son said he wanted a BIG toy. The toy he wanted was over 30 dollars and I hadn’t come prepared to buy a toy that was so expensive yesterday so I explained to him he could still have a little toy but not the big one. Of course he didn’t like this so he started to cry. This made me think to myself, how many times do we do this to God?

We pray for what we think is this huge blessing like that job you wanted in another state that payed six figures. But, God blesses us with a job somewhere else that has less pay. How many times do we get mad at God for not getting the BIG thing? Did we ever take into consideration if the big thing is really as big as it looks on the outside. God can see the end results of every situation and our entire lives. He knows, what will really be best for us and nine times out of ten its not the thing we really want. Just like yesterday I knew my son had a million toys at home already and Christmas will be here before I know it.  I looked at the big picture but he only knew he wanted the BIG toy now.

Never take the small things for granted. The small things are what really matter and shape us. If you are never a good steward over the small things how can God ever trust you with more. If my son broke every toy I bought, I would have more reason to not buy him bigger toys but since I know this is not the case, I will probably take him back this weekend and get him the big toy. I saw a man today with one arm but he was carrying a ladder on his way to do a painting job. I looked and him and thought wow. I whispered to myself thank you God for letting my have two arms to use. How many of us view something like this as a small thing? Sure its a small thing until it’s gone, then we see how big of a blessing that really was.

Once we got in the car, I promised my son, I would bring him back this weekend for the big toy since he stopped crying and happily took home the small toy. I also took that time to teach him a  life lesson. I told him to be thankful for everything he gets, big or small because someone out there is not getting anything at all. I say all of this to say, in ALL things give thanks. In things big or small. In things good or bad. Thank God always because he will always meet your needs and bless you in the right season. Many times he may not give us the big blessing because we keep sulking over the blessing that we think is too small. Learn to be a good steward over what God has given you so that he can entrust you with more. Remember, everything seems small until we no longer have it.

Thanks for Reading,

J.M.

Is This God’s Plan or Your Plan??

This weekend I was in Atlanta Georgia and I got the chance to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Site. It was simply amazing to me. It made me realize so many things we take for granted in this world and how much of a difference Dr. King really made. He basically gave up his whole life in order to advance the world and his race. This concept got me thinking. Many of us devote our whole lives to advancing ourselves. We think about climbing the corporate ladder, starting our own family, and raising our own children. We get our degrees and good jobs and try to become rich or at lease comfortable.

Knowing all this, it makes you think, are we following God’s will for our lives or our own? Has God told you to do these things or to follow this plan you are on, or is this your plan? Most of us aren’t thinking about others. We have this “self made” attitude and we could care less about anyone else. During my visit to the memorial I almost felt selfish. A movie was shown of Dr. King’s final speech before he died. He spoke about what he would want said at his funeral when that time came. He went on to say, not to tell people about all the degrees he had gotten or prizes he won, because really that did not matter. He wanted people know in his dying hour that he gave his life to serving others. He tried to get justice, he tried to clothe the naked, and feed the hungry. Dr. King said these were the important things. Think about how selfless this was?

How many of us would put down our own dreams and follow that plan God has for our lives? Many of us are missing our destiny because we are trying to follow our plan and not letting God have his way in our lives. Dr. King’s life may have been cut short, but look at all that came from this tragedy. I really don’t think he was disappointed about leaving this world early because he did everything God has planned for him and more. I’m sure he had personal goals his self. I am sure he wanted to spend more time with his kids than he was able to, but he put all those selfish things aside to fulfill God’s plan for his life. Even when he spoke of his funeral, all he wanted people to know, was how much he did to help others. With this attitude, he still got fame and notoriety, he still had an abundance of finances. All the things we aspire to have from chasing our personal goals, he got while serving others.

I say all this so that we can inspect ourselves. We need stop being so selfish and start doing God’s work. God will always reward you for following his plan and doing the work for his people. And even though, his untimely death looked like a disappointment,  he made so many beautiful changes in this world. God’s planned prevailed. Personally I am trying everyday to be less selfish and follow God’s plan for my life and I suggest you do the same. Who knows what beautiful places his plans will lead you to. Will you put yourself aside and truth him?

Thanks for Reading,

J.M.

No Sins? Then Throw Your Stones!

Why do people feel the need to call out the sins of others? Does it make us feel better or do we think we are helping them? I agree that its good to help others and try to put them on the right path if you see them going the wrong way but you should not be purposely looking for a reason to call out someone’s sin. Many so called “Christians” are so ready to point out your sins and shun you away because they don’t want any part of that. But think about this, how can you save souls if you turn away everyone who needs saving? The Bible tells us, Jesus was married to the backslider. By no means am I saying you should be luke warm but you should be lifting up the sinner not condemning them. As the caption for this week says, worry about your own sins. When you stand before God you will give an account for the things YOU did, not anyone else. In the Bible when we see a woman about to get stoned for sin, Jesus tells the crowd let the person without any sin, throw the first stone. No one could throw one because we are all sinning and falling short of God’s glory daily! Yet God’s mercy is still keeping all of us. While you are busy pointing out someone else’s sin, you probably missed a few sins you just committed that you didn’t even know about. Be very mindful of doing this because you could ruin your witness and we never want to turn anyone away from God. This post hit my spirit over the weekend because of an inbox someone sent me on Facebook. I posted a picture of me in a dress with a caption that read, “I might have him selling his soul for me”. Most people know these are only song lyrics but apparently someone missed the note. The person that inboxed me told me that they thought I was a Christian, and why would I want someone to sell their soul for me. I explained to the person that it was not that deep and they took the post out of context. You can never judge anyone’s relationship with God by what they put on social media. You don’t know the love they have for God in their hearts. Most of these people are sitting around waiting to condemn you when you do the first thing they don’t like or that they feel a Christian shouldn’t do. Don’t let people like this bother you. If God didn’t want you to do something, he would convict your spirit about it. He would not send anyone to condemn you about your actions. This person probably committed ten sins of their own that day but felt the need to speak on me. I know God is preparing me for something greater so critics come with the territory. The more attention you attract, the more critics you will have. When I reach the best sellers list, imagine how many people will be critiquing my work. I had to make this post to encourage you guys and let you know that you should ignore people that purposely try to point out your faults or what they believe to be faults. On judgement day, you will give and account for everything YOU do and YOU say. So that means you need to worry about YOU! Run your race and do what God is telling you to do! At the end of the day, God deals with all of us differently and no one can tell you how you feel about God. Sweep around your own front door and try to keep it as clean as possible. Of course you should make it your business to help others and try to save souls but just be sure you are convicting spirits and not condemning others. We do not need another savior, Jesus already died to save us all. Run your race and save as many souls as you can but do not get consumed with the sins of others, you won’t be asked about them, they will!

Thanks for Reading,

J.M.

They Meant It For My Harm, But God Used It For My Good!

Have you ever noticed that when you’re successful and prospering in life people will give you a hard time for no reason? When you have a calling on your life and other people see it, they will try to do anything in their power to push you down an destroy your spirits. I’ve had this done to me by so called friends, co workers, or even family. Sometimes even when I didn’t realize I had any special gifts or talents, people would try to push me down. They did this all because they saw something that I couldn’t even see yet and they were intimidated. This post hit my spirit last night while I watched Cars 3 with my son. I won’t spoil the movie in case you guys haven’t seen it yet but it teaches a valuable lesson. One of the cars that always seemed like a underdog and was constantly put down, came back and won a championship for the team. People had put her down for years only because they never wanted all the hidden talent in her to come out. Sometimes people will put you down out of envy instead of elevating themselves. This is especially true if you are from a small town. Most people who want to elevate and be successful have to leave that town to be successful and expect that crabs in the barrel mentality. As children of God, it seems like we face even more scrutiny from people at times. You could do absolutely nothing to a person, but they just don’t like you because they are jealous. I remember growing up I would hear girls says “I don’t like her because she thinks she’s all that”. In reality they probably thought the girl was all that, but instead of telling her they chose to express hate and pick with her. Sometimes when I go through things like this I wonder why, but then I remember God is in control. To make this lesson personal, at my current job a lot of times they give me a hard time. They knit pick my work way too much and give me more duties than any other member of my team. Then I’m told that I can’t make more than a co worker that doesn’t even have a degree when in four short months, I’ll complete my Masters in Finance. Sometimes its frustrating and one day I wanted to give up and God spoke to me and said, “What they meant for your harm, I will use for your good.” I’ve been holding on to those words every since. I’m still in this situation. I don’t know how God will work it out, but I know he will. This situation along with the movie last night, taught me a valuable lesson. People can try all they like to stop your destiny, but they cannot curse what God has already blessed. The winning car in the movie had been talked down to for years and told she couldn’t race. In the end all those mean words and scrutiny was meant to defeat her, but in the end, that was used as motivation to help her win a hard race. I don’t know what you guys could be going through out there but I’m here to tell you, whatever someone is using for your harm, God is going to turn it around for your good. The bible tells us that ALL things work for the good of them who love God. So whatever you could be facing this morning, stay encouraged. Your situation is going to turn around sooner than you think!

Thanks for Reading,

J.M.

Let’s Be Honest….

This will probably be the most honest and personal blog post I’ve ever done. I’m doing this blog post because a lot of times we are not honest with ourselves, we lie to ourselves and try to cover up our true feelings. I do this way too much, anyone that knows me personally, knows I rarely ever express my feelings. Well lately I had to be honest with myself about some things and I chose to share them, in hopes you will be honest with yourself as well. So yesterday my son turned four years old and I should have been so happy right. Well to be honest yesterday morning I was kind of down, but let me explain why. I took the day off from work to celebrate with my son, just the two of us. I surprised him at school that afternoon with cake and ice cream for all his friends and I got him gifts. So as I was driving to school to surprise my son, I was talking to God. I wasn’t questioning God , but just thinking, why am I raising my son alone. Am I even really strong enough to do this? Why didn’t my son have a large family around him on his birthday? Would he feel sad it was just me and him? Most of my family members live in other cities so it was and is always really just us. He’s my bestfriend, right behind God. Whenever you petition God, he will always send you an answer. Many times we may not like the answer God gives, but he will give us one nonetheless. This feeling combined with all the other things I had been dealing with lately, had be feeling kind of discouraged. Like am I a good mom? Right after that God sent me an answer. Let me first say God can speak to us in many ways, through dreams, other people, speaking to us himself, but we have to be sensitive to his voice. So once I got inside my son’s school and got to his class, I saw him sitting there looking and waiting with his friends to see if I was gonna bring the cake like I promised. Once he saw me his face just lit up! I was so thankful to God that I was able to do this for him. We had a nice time with his friends and they were all so excited. So one of the older ladies that works inside my sons school, came up and spoke to me because she saw us celebrating. She’s not my sons teacher so I had really only ever spoken to her in passing. She went on to have a conversation with me. She told me she always sees me dropping my son off and picking him up and that she admired me. She said I reminded her so much of herself when she was younger. She had also been a single mom but she was raising three kids alone. She told me “you always make a way to come through for your kids”, and she said “God sees what you go through”. She went on to tell me, “Just know that God’s got you, and he will keep you strong”. I’m not sure if she knew how much those words meant to me. God was telling me then he put me in this situation because he knew I was strong enough to handle it and that he has his hands on me and my son. I say all this to say, in this season I believe God has been teaching me to depend on him and him only. I have truly learned that. Since I moved to this city, I have felt isolated, but I also know God put me here for a reason and I have grown so much! I have learned that elevation requires isolation and in this moment that I feel the most isolated, I know God is getting ready to elevate me. I’m ready to branch out and do something new, and I believe God is leading me into a new season. I am hopeful that new season will come with a new city, but I trust God’s timing. This week made me be honest with myself and accept the fact that I feel alone. Once I was honest with myself I felt so much better. Is it some emotion you are suppressing? Are you not being honest with yourself? Embrace those feelings today. Get the lesson God is trying to teach you so you can go to the next level. Suppressed emotions will only frustrate you and keep you depressed and anxious. So, with all that said, let’s be honest. Please leave me some comments. What do you need to be honest about?

Thanks for  Reading,

J.M.

Know Your Breaking Point!

Why is it that we knit pick people? Why do we continuously do things to people we know we would not want done to us? Why do we take advantage of people we know that care for us or that we feel won’t speak up? This is a common thing that is done in society. You see this happening even with children at school. How the quiet nerd is always picked on because they feel he or she wont react. This happens in our careers. Some people in your office may knit pick you to the point that you snap. This happens even in our romantic relationships. Someone could take you for granted and push you to a point that you no longer care. People are going to continue to do things like this, there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t control the actions and thought of other people, but you can control yours. I say all of this to say, Know YOUR breaking point. Know when it is time for you to walk away from a situation. This could be any situation, a friendship, relationship, job, living situation, ect. Know how much you can take. We all know when we are getting mentally and emotionally exhausted with a situation. When you get this feeling, try to have a talk with the person or people and let them know what is going on. If this doesn’t work, at all costs try to remove yourself from the situation before you snap. If you don’t feel strong enough to remove yourself, pray and ask God for forgiveness. Jesus was mocked his whole lifetime but he still asked his father to forgive those people who mocked him. He said “They know not what they do”. Forgive whoever has hurt you and pushed you to this point. Forgive them but move on. If you have a conversation with someone and express that you are unhappy with a situation, and they dont change, trust me they don’t value you. Most of the times people know when they are giving you a hard time. But most of the time they don’t care or they think they can just run all over you. People will use you up and then act like you are crazy or wrong when you snap. I say you should know your breaking point because some of us can take more than others. Then when we do snap we all mostly do or say things we will regret. So before you get to this point leave. Being hurt all the time isnt normal. Someone putting you down all the time isnt normal. Waking up everyday dreading going to work isnt normal. If you have that gut instinct to make changes, do so. Because when you do snap and speak those hurtful words, they cannot be taken back.

Thanks for Reading,

J.M.

Drop the Dead Weight!

Show me your two best friends and I’ll show you yourself. Certain people should be in our lives only for a season but we like to make the permanent because of loyalty. Loyalty is not always the best policy. Some people refuse to grow and change for the better so as you grow, you will have to leave them behind. Sure it is okay to still be friendly with them and love them but you make have to cut personal ties. Did you know that you can block your blessings by continuing to talk with people that God has already told you to let go? As you climb higher in life you will have fewer friends, this is just a natural process. Everyone knows that Elevation requires separation. Certain people stick around only to use you and keep you from going higher. Sometimes God will withhold your blessing until you leave them alone, only because he does not want them to take it. Be wise in your decision making and sensitive to God’s voice. Never worry about being lonely if you lose a friend or a significant other. Anytime God takes something away he always gives back something much better. When I saw much better, I mean he will surpass your expectations every time if you just wait on him and trust his timing. If you have to wonder if someone really cares about you or if they are really a friend, they are not. If someone only calls you when they want something, that’s dead weight. If you are living right and praying and working hard and you wonder what is keeping you from rising to the next level, check your back, it may be all that dead weight holding you down.

Thanks for Reading,

J.M.

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It’s Not All About You!

If someone would have told me five years ago I would be writing a post like this I would’ve laughed in their face. The person I was before I became a mother only cared about myself. I never thought about helping anyone or giving anyone anything. It was all about me, me, me. I’ve seen a lot of social media posts lately where people are bragging on their accomplishments so I had to write this post. Posting your accomplishments is great especially things you are very proud of. But instead of always focusing on how you can get ahead and how far you’ve come in life, how about reaching back and helping someone else come as far as you have. A lot of times, people are scared to help someone else because they think the person may surpass them. We forget in this moment that what God has for us is for us, no one can take it away. Do you realize that when you see God on judgement day you will have to give an account for everything you have done in this life? How will you feel giving that account and going through all your accomplishments but never being able to say anything about helping another person? God has us here to do his work. He has no arms to hug or hands to help besides ours. Stop thinking about yourself and help others, I guarantee when you do this you will go even higher because you pushed someone else higher.

Thanks for Reading,

J.M.

Why Is it so Hard to Love Your Enemies?

This topic has been on my heart since last night so I had to write on it. Why is it so hard for us to love our enemies? When people do the smallest thing wrong to us we are ready to cause a scene and cut them off. I’m guilty as well so I get it but I want to know why? The bible clearly tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who prosecute us. But most people can’t turn the other cheek. They always feel the need to “clap back”. I think we focus so much on getting the last word, we don’t even think about what the other person could be going through or showing them love. I don’t mean that you should let people use you but don’t be rude or try to hurt someone just because they did it to you. Please know and remember karma is alive and will and God will repay all those who wrong his children. God loved us so much he sent his only son to die for us. He let his only son die knowing that some of us would never love him in return. That is amazing. I know God is perfect and we will never be that but if he can send his son to die for the very people that crucified him, then you can surely love your enemy. The real reason why some of us can’t love our enemies is because we don’t love ourselves. God made you perfect just the way he wanted you. If you’re unhappy, quit your job, lose some weight, leave that old relationship and love yourself. We are our biggest enemies and critics. Once you really start to love yourself and value your peace, loving your enemy will come easy.

Thanks For Reading,

J.M.