NEVER ALONE

Each of us have heard someone proclaim "I'm alone, but not lonely." Being able to separate the two is typically a good sign that an individual has a sense of appreciation for their alone time. In other instances an individual has no desire to be alone, they crave and desire consistent interactions with others or a specific person. It is in this seemingly unfilled desire that loneliness and often depression creeps in. Sometimes feelings of loneliness and depression become all consuming literally sucking the life out of a person. There are numerous reasons that serve as an impetus for alienation. Issues related to health, an inability to lose weight despite valiant efforts, loss of income, betrayal, divorce and abandonment are perfect catalysts to feel that God is not concerned about you or your needs, wants, and desires.When life hits below the belt there is an instinctive need to grab the belly and double over in pain while falling to the floor.

Two days ago I was listening to a question and answer podcast and the person asking the question had so much despair and wanted to literally cave in and quit. The despair was so palpable and real. I could relate so much to the caller because I too was in the same situation and have yet to find a permanent solution to this problem. After the person expressed their problem the host blurted out Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Tears just streamed down my face as I felt the love, care, and warmth of God spewing forth from those verses of scripture. I was shocked by the response of the host and yet it was exactly what I needed to hear. I don't know about you, but sometimes I live in my head and the voices of my problems speak louder than the voice of God. I am in the process of going back to the beginning and tuning my ear to the One who gave me life. 

For the past twenty-two years I've felt as if my foot has been constantly on the accelerator and I need to just pump the brakes. I need to literally measure my thoughts against the validity of God's word and discontinue living inside my head. At this moment I know God is with me, He will rescue and protect me, He expresses joy and gladness over me, His love is available to quiet my racing mind, and He loves me so much He sings over me.

Friends you are Never Alone. The Creator of the Universe holds you in high esteem and is there with you every moment of your life. "The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

I AM AFFIRMATIONS

Life is beautiful! However life can also be difficult and hard. It is so easy to allow tragedies, disappointments and setbacks to get in our way. Thereby sullying God's sacred posture in our human experience. When Moses had an encounter with God and questioned how he was to identify or describe God to the children of Israel. God replied to Moses:

"I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you."

Mirror work has been used for eons to bring people into alignment with their purpose, destiny, and calling. Instead of reciting traditional positive affirmations let's use scripture for backup.

Stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself

•I am God’s child for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God which lives and abides forever 1 Pet. 1:23
•I am forgiven all my sins and washed in the blood Eph. 1:7
•I am a new creature II Cor. 5:17
•I am the temple of the Holy Spirit I Cor. 6:19
•I am delivered from the power of darkness and transformed into God’s kingdom Col. 1:13
•I am redeemed from the curse of the law Gal. 3:13
•I am strong in the Lord Eph.6:10
•I am holy and without blame before Him Eph. 1:4
•I am accepted in Christ Eph. 1:6
•I am blessed Deut. 28:1-14
•I am a saint Rom. 1:7
•I am qualified to share in His inheritance Col. 1:12
•I am the head and not the tail.
•I am above only and not beneath Deut. 28:13
•I am victorious Rev. 21:7
•I am dead to sin Rom.6: 2, 11
•I am elect Col. 3:12
•I am loved with an everlasting love Jer. 31:3
•I am established to the end I Cor. 1:8
•I am set free Jn. 8:31-33
•I am circumcised with the circumcision made without hands Col. 2:11
•I am crucified with Christ Gal. 2:20
•I am alive with Christ Eph. 2:5
•I am raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places Col. 2:12
•I am His faithful follower Eph. 5:1
•I am the light of the world Matt. 5:14
•I am the salt of the earth Matt. 5:13
•I am called of God II Tim. 1:9
•I am brought near by the blood of Christ Eph. 2:13
•I am more than a conqueror Rom. 8:37
•I am in Christ Jesus by His doing I Cor. 1:30
•I am an ambassador for Christ II Cor. 5:20
•I am beloved of God I Thess. 1:4
•I am the first fruits among His creation James 1:18
•I am born of God and the evil one does not touch me I Jn. 5:18
•I am a king and a priest unto God Rev. 1:6
•I am a joint heir with Christ Rom. 8:17
•I am reconciled to God II Cor. 5:18
•I am overtaken with blessings Deut. 28:2
•I am healed by the wounds of Jesus I Pet. 2:24
•I am in the world as He is in heaven I Jn. 4:17
•I am a fellow citizen with the saints of the household of God Eph. 2:19
•I am sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit Eph. 1:13
•I am complete in Christ Col. 2:10
•I am the apple of my Father’s eye Ps. 17:8
•I am free from condemnation Rom. 8:1
•I am the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ II Cor. 5:21
•I am chosen I Thess. 1:4
•I am firmly rooted, built up, strengthened in the faith and overflowing with thankfulness Col. 2:7

I am a disciple of Christ because

•I have love for others Jn. 13:34-35
•I am built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone Eph. 2:20
•I am a partaker of His divine nature II Pet. 1:4
•I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works Eph. 2:10
•I am being changed into His image Phil. 1:6
•I am one in Christ! Hallelujah! Jn. 17:21-23
•I have all my needs met by God according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus Phil. 4:19
•I have the mind of Christ I Cor. 2:16
•I have everlasting life Jn. 6:47
•I have a guaranteed inheritance Eph. 1:14
•I have abundant life Jn. 10:10
•I have overcome the world 1 Jn. 5:4
•I have the peace of God which passes understanding Phil. 4:7
•I have access to the Father by one Spirit Eph. 2:18
•I can do all things through Jesus Christ Phil. 4:13
•I walk in Christ Jesus Col. 2:6
•I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God Phil. 3:14
•I live by the law of the Holy Spirit Rom. 8:2
•I know God’s voice Jn. 10:14
•I show forth His praise I Pet. 2:9
•I always triumph in Christ II Cor. 2:14

I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE

 

It is so easy to get lost inside of our minds and believe things about ourselves that are untrue. Sometimes we have to step back and consult with the ultimate authority regarding our importance and significance to the Creator of the Universe. 

Psalm 139:1-18

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit. I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night-but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand. And when I wake up, you are still with me.

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I JUST DON'T GET THE GREEK STUFF

I admittedly am not a fan of Greek life. I attended Greek Shows at Xavier and Dillard Universities while a student at Our Lady of Holy Cross and they were always fun. However, I had been volunteering and serving others since I was in elementary school so it made no sense to me to pay an organization to serve others. It just sounded ridiculous and full of hype. So my son starts attending Dillard University in 2013 and I wanted him to live on campus to experience "college life". Little did I know that he would be recruited by the Greeks. When he mentioned as a freshman that some guys from Alpha Phi Alpha told him he should look at them I was dismissive and firmly stated he needed to keep his focus. During the sophomore year his interest intensified. My husband and I presented this negative picture of fraternities, but he was firm in his desire to pledge [for a sense of brotherhood]. All of his application requirements were in order and the chapter decided not have a line last year. I was so relieved and thankful. At the start of his junior year my son said he definitely would not pledge. Once again I was so excited and thankful. Then he went to an informational meeting and felt drawn to pledge Alpha Phi Alpha. I was totally ignorant of the great leaders that were a part of the organization until doing some research.

                                                 

I had so much trepidation and didn't want him to pledge, but he decided this was the path he wanted to take to manhood. I gave the required permissions and prayed incessantly. On 11/14/15, during the Neophyte Show I realized in a whole new way that my son came through me, but he is not for me. He made the decision while fulfilling his campus leadership responsibilities and transformed into an Alpha Man in the process. I will never get the Greek stuff, but today I can say I'm a Proud Alpha Phi Alpha Mom.

GREEN LIGHTS

On December 31, 2014 I discovered our home network was having problems so as is the routine when your modem and router essentially stop communicating with each other the following steps ensued: unplug devices from their power source and allow them to drain for a few seconds; press the restart button; look for green blinking lights. I worked on both devices until almost 8:00pm and decided to not be pulled into the new year with a problem. Around 1:30am I thought about something I had not tried and my husband quickly went to our home office and tried unplugging the telephone line from each device all to no avail.

On January 1, 2015, I awoke at 8:00am determined to resolve this matter. With a large cup of coffee in hand and a pack of chewing gum I was ready to get to the bottom of the problem. The clock ticked through the day and finally at 5:30pm I contacted the manufacturer of the router. The conversation was circular in nature with the bottom line being if you would pay $29.95 we will give you the technical support needed to possibly remedy your problem. "Your router has to be reconfigured and that might help." I responded to the technician "it might not help and I'll be out of $29.95. I'll contact the warranty plan and just get a new one that way I can speak with you free for 90 days." He thought that was a good idea as my home probably needed an upgrade to our router because of multiple wireless devices and live streaming." So during the interim I pulled out a router previously used at my office and our wireless internet connection resumed. 

On January 3, 2015, after identifying that we had a working modem and faulty router. I contacted the warranty company for the router and was rapidly refunded the full price of the router. The customer service representative stated "do not send us the old router, we don't care what you do with it. Take the refund check and buy you a new router. I know how difficult it is to not have use of your wireless devices. You should have the check in 7 to 10 business days." I was so grateful to God for a smooth transaction. 

I continued to look at YouTube videos on how to reconfigure the particular band of router that was inoperative. I was able to get it configured and then a message came: you are not connected to the internet. So the router was emitting a signal, but the internet [i.e. modem] was not connecting with the signal. I decided to contact the ISP [Internet Service Provider]. We discussed all that is previously stated and knowing the inevitable was coming: "did you try to plug the ethernet cord directly into your PC?" My response was yes and I also used another router and I have wireless internet capabilities. "Well therefore, you do not have a problem with your modem or internet service. My response "yes I know, but, most internet providers are no longer using this modem, because it stops communicating with routers and emits a much slower signal. Why are you all still using this modem? You need to offer something better that will keep up with high level routers." I proceeded: I just spoke with another internet provider before speaking with you and they do not use this modem because of a proclivity for compatibility issues. He said "oh we have another modem and we can send it to you at no charge. In fact you will not need a router. The router and modem are built in one. So you can get rid of your router. Stay on the line I can process your order right now." 

So here it is all along the gatekeeper [ISP] had the key and I was going through another source [the router] that sometimes worked and sometimes did not work only to return to main source [ISP]. This labyrinth is so reflective of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Our sources [jobs, health, family, friends...] for all intents and purposes are working well [all the green lights are blinking]. There are a few hiccups that cause us to unplug, reboot and restart. However, when life causes static through an array of circumstances we sometimes will just malfunction. No amount of rebooting, unplugging, or reconfiguring will remedy the situation. This is where we have to return to God and get something "new". We know there is nothing new under the sun, but we see things from a renewed perspective. In 2015, let's put the complicated or big stuff before God our ultimate gatekeeper and allow Him to send people and situations to push us on the path where the lights are green all day long.

IT IS ALREADY DONE!

I was conditioned to believe that God was typically on the verge of doing something. There was always an about to/getting ready to or futuristic quality about God. I've been to so many worship services that encouraged me to pat my neighbor on the back and tell them what God was about to do. After many years of feeling like I was almost about to or maybe/possibly almost ready to get blessed I heard a message from a spiritual teacher and he stated"nothing is going to happen that has not already happened. God has done everything He's going to do."  I thought wow! So God is not withholding anything from me I am the one in the way. I still struggle with getting in the way and often revert back to a withholding mentality, but I catch myself and renew my mind and often say aloud it is already done. You are not about to or going to be blessed. You are blessed already.

JUST DROP IT

Drop the junk that keeps you weighted down and cemented in setbacks. As the saying goes: You cannot put anything new in hands that are full. Let it go.