From the Abundance

Sometimes when we pray and God doesn't answer the way we expect Him to, it can make us question Him, our faith, our prayers and everything we believe.  It's easy to have faith and trust God when He answers the way we expect, but what about when He doesn't?  What about when we've prayed and believed God for a miracle and we still lose the person we were believing God to heal?  What about the husband or wife we've been waiting on for years that hasn't come?  Will you still trust Him when you've given your all and done everything you can and His answer isn't what you wanted?  What about when the answer is flat out NO?  Will you still trust Him? A few days ago my cousin had an accident and ended up in the ICU clinging to life.  We did what we knew to do.. we prayed, we sought God, we declared his healing, we believed God for a miracle, we trusted God for the impossible. As we waited and believed for manifestation of his healing on this side my family...

Every year I try to do a post on or very close to my birthday and this year's birthday is quite a bit different than any other I've had so far.  This is the first birthday I've spent away from my family & friends.  Although I'm blessed with sweet friends and co-workers here that have made my day special, I've kept it pretty low key today.  I spent the day working, helping families and walking in purpose. The past year has been filled with transitions and changes and learning experiences. For the first time ever I've had to walk through things without my support network being close by and it's been so eye opening. I feel like I'm stepping into adulthood for the first time for real.  You never know what you're really capable of until that safety net is gone.  I've experienced some of the most trying times of my life over the past two years and when God relocated me it was a chance to start fresh and step out into purpose and obedience. I...

It's taken me a while to get to the place where I could write this blog.  I've been struggling with writing for the past few weeks and hadn't really realized why.  Tonight all of that changed.  I needed some couch time, for those who don't know me couch time is when my friends and I play therapist for one another.  I'm fortunate that most of my close friends are actually social workers, therapists or ministers/Pastors.  So I was talking to one of my friends an explaining to her all the things that had been going on in my head, the things God had been showing me about myself and how I'd just been a bit overwhelmed with it all.  Then it hit me.  The light bulb came on and I knew exactly why I was struggling and what I was struggling with. I'm in a season where everything in my life is new.  New city, new state, new people, new church, new job, new relationship, new everything... That's all great but what I forgot was that with all that newness ...

About a year ago I was having a conversation with a friend and we were talking about God's instructions and being obedient when He speaks.  Fast forward to a couple of days ago and that same word was spoken by another friend with myself and the first friend present for the conversation.  I can't begin to explain to you how excited I was.  God had just awakened me from a deep sleep with a specific set of instructions, then sent vessels to confirm it.  It didn't take a long time, it didn't take a bunch of extra stuff.  It was a simple coming together of believers. In the initial conversation I had with my friend she spoke to me about how things would start to fall into place once I started to move in obedience.  It's been an amazing journey so far and I can't even express all of the things God has done and is doing.  This morning on the Prayer call Bishop Walker was speaking from Psalm 23:2 on the topic of He Knew what I needed...  Rest, Resto...

One of the things I love to do when I travel is find funky unique places to visit.  The photo above was taken while I was on vacation in Miami.  There's a huge area called Wynwood Walls where the buildings, fences, and pretty much everything is covered with beautiful graffiti style art. My friend and I took tons and tons of pictures and I have several of this particular painting.  There's so many intricate details in this picture that drew me in and made me want to look closer.  I was flipping back through pictures and thinking about what I wanted to write today and I ended up thinking about the course of my life.  I figured I would be married by now, have a couple of kids, a business or a great job, and be well into ministry.  Although it is nothing like I imagined it would be, I can truly say it's been amazing thus far.  Yes, there's been some hardship, some pain, some disappointment, and many many tears shed along the way but overall, it'...

It's teacher Appreciation Day and I would be in error if I didn't shout out all of my teachers and all of my friends that are blessed and gifted to carry this mantle.  Whether you teach at school, in church, academics, music, sign language, dance, Sunday School, art, makeup, or anything in between... Thank You!  It takes a special person with lots of love, compassion, and patience to teach others.   I have to give a special thank you to two of my favorite teachers.  Mrs. Connie Murphy,  my elementary school Art teacher and Mrs. Joan Stafford, my senior English teacher.  These two ladies established and set my creative foundation.  I was the Art helper for a few years in Elementary School and Art was always my favorite class. Mrs. Murphy always inspired us, encouraged us to be different and expressive in our artwork and kept us motivated when things didn't turn out quite the way we wanted.  Mrs. Stafford helped my love for writing blossom. ...

Today the world lost a musical genius, an icon, an amazing entertainer, humanitarian, and extraordinary musician.  His gifts touched people spanning various generations, nationalities, racial groups, ethnicities, and age groups. There's a lot of folks who got capes slapped on their backs today and became SUPER SAVED at the thought of the "saints" mourning the loss of Prince.  I have a few things to say about that.. 1.  He was a person that touched, inspired, and reached more than most preachers ever will in a lifetime.  2.  It's sad when anybody dies because there's loss there..He was someone's family.. without the titles and accolades, he was still a son, a cousin, a husband, and worthy of being mourned; and 3.  Most importantly, He's a soul that will have an eternal resting place just like the Super Saints... no different than you or I in those areas. So leave people alone and let them mourn... Any great music lover, saved or unsaved felt that loss t...

As February comes to a close I can't help but be excited because spring is around the corner!!  You know what happens in spring... EVERYTHING blossoms!!  I love to see new little buds come up on the trees, the beautiful flowers that come shortly after and the sweet aroma that fills the air.  I can only imagine that's what true worship smells like to God. I don't know if anybody else notices or if it happens this way for anybody else but every so often my worship completely shifts.  I was thinking back to a time where I could barely lift my hands, didn't really cry out or worship vocally.  Not because I didn't want to, simply because I was bound.  I couldn't praise God so how could I get in His presence?  I would sit in service and feel God moving but couldn't really express how I felt.  Then one day I was visiting what would become my church home and I went to the altar for prayer.  The pastor looked at me and said 3 words that were the cat...

It's been a little over a week since I moved to my new place in Daytona Beach, but it already feels like home.  As I've been out and about taking care of business I'm asked the same question over and over again.. so what made you move to Daytona?  My Answer is always the same, God sent me here.  It's been really amazing to see how He's already made provision for me in this new place.  I'm excited about what's coming but also excited about what this means. Since stepping into my call of ministry this will be my first time in "foreign" land.  Everything I've done other than blogging was done in Lexington and Louisville.  At times I felt like Jesus, needing to shake the dust off my feet and carry on to a place where I would be better received.  I'm not knocking Lexington but the truth is, sometimes your home isn't the place for your gift.  Proverbs 18:16 says that a man's gift will make room for him and bring him before great men....

As I sit watching this beautiful blanket cover the streets, buildings, and trees I am reminded of God's love. The streets are covered with dirt, rocks, holes, oil, and trash.  Just beyond the edge of the street there's a sidewalk lined with trash cans, mailboxes, fire hydrants and other random things.  When you step beyond the sidewalk there's grass and more sidewalks, stairs and buildings, trees, more cars, and a few people braving the cold.  The amazing thing is, the snow keeps falling, keeps covering, and keeps coming back no matter how many times you try to shovel it away.  That never ending blanket covers everything.  The dirt, the grass, the mailboxes... everything covered under this beautiful blanket of snow.  The same way God covers us. His love wraps us up, covers us, and makes us new.  It covers to the point that nobody sees the dirty places in our lives, the holes and voids in our hearts get filled, the oil and residue of past ...

image :http://www.jeanniebottles.com/geniebottles/ I find myself in a position that I'm sure somebody else is in right now too... I'm in transition.  I know that may not seem like a big deal at the surface but when you really think about what that means it becomes a bit more tricky. I guess I should explain myself.  When I say I'm in transition, I literally mean moving from one place to the next in every area of my life.  Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing.  I'm moving forward to bigger and better.  The frustration comes from not being able to release certain things the way I need to in this place.  For the past few years God has been giving me tons and tons of stuff, but with the tag "for later".  It's like getting a gift on new years day that says don't open til Christmas.  I have so many thing in me that I want and need to release, but I have to do it in God's timing for them to be effective.  I want His perfect will, not...

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Recently I've had a lot of opportunities to just sit back and observe people. Never before have I had the insight and vision that I have now.  I guess that's what experience does for you... When you go through things that expose your own areas of fragility it's a lot easier to recognize it in others. I always tell people there's a blessing in being quiet and this has been one of those times.  In the silent watching I've learned that people are a lot more fragile than they would ever have you know. I had a long conversation with a friend that was really rather shocking. I knew this friend was going through a difficult patch but some of the things that were shared int he conversation really allowed me to peer a little bit deeper into their heart of hearts.  I saw a vulnerability that I had never seen before.  Here is a person that's proud, a fighter, hard worker, rarely asks anybody for anything and ...

There's so much on my heart and mind right now that I really need to release... things have been locked up for weeks and months and I just haven't been motivated to write.  I really haven't known where to begin.. Feb 24 I got the most devastating call of my life.  It was about 2:30am and I was a little restless and my phone rang.  I immediately knew something was wrong  when I saw my older brother's picture on the screen.  I answered the call and received the news that our father had been murdered in his home.  I was in shock, numb, in disbelief, and devastated wasn't even close to describing it.  I maintained my composure through the call but when I hung up and the heaviness of the words I had just repeated hit me, I crumbled. With tears running down my face, I called my mom and told her.  She was on her way immediately.  During the time that my mom was driving to my house I sat in the middle of my bed, cried and prayed, prayed and c...

  For the past few night's I've found myself wide awake in the wee hours of the morning.  I'm not talking that, wake up to go to the restroom and pass back out awake.  I mean the bright eyed, bushy tailed, can't get comfortable, not even yawning type of awake.  I haven't quite figured out what it is that God is trying to get from me or to me but I'm available.  I have spent these nights in worship and meditation.  I don't know about you;  but I discovered that there's something special about seeking God early in the morning (aka late at night).  I used to struggle, I MEAN REALLY STRUGGLE, with 5am prayer.  I would always want to go then I would calculate... "ok i have to be there at 5, which means I would have to get up by at least 4 to shower and be dressed, then it'll be over around 6:30-7.. what am I going to do for two hours before school starts? I can't go back home and go to sleep, I can't go to anybody's  house...

It's been a while since I've been able to sit up and keep my foot down long enough to write anything more than a few sentences but today I'm pressing through.  A few weeks ago I was involved in a car accident that resulted in the need for the cast you see on the left.  For those who know me personally, this little monkey is a sticker that pops up a lot in our Facebook conversations.  A friend posted that this was a very fitting picture for me and I agree, but let me tell you why.  One of the hardest things for me to do is sit still and do nothing.  The second hardest is probably to receive.  I don't mean gifts on birthdays or anything like that, but to genuinely receive from others.  I'm so used to doing things for myself and by myself that it's often a last resort for me to ask for help.  Oh does God know how to show you some things in the midst of a situation! For the past two weeks (and still) I haven't been able to put any wei...

I was sitting at my Granny's house last night and she asked me a simple but loaded question... are you ok? I gave my usual response of yeah and kept talking.  Then the Holy Ghost arrested my lips and said tell the truth.  I wasn't ok.  For the first time in a long time, I came clean.  I said you know what Granny, I'm not.  She thought I was sad about a guy but he was the furthest thing from my mind.  I wasn't even sad, more than anything I was frustrated and felt stuck. I explained to my grandmother that I don't know what to do with the place I'm in right now.  On the one hand God has shown me this amazing life that I'm supposed to have and all of the things that are a part of it but on the other hand my real life is nowhere near what I've seen.  I feel like I'm just here.  What do you do with that??  I strive to do what He wants me to do and I know some of it's just playing the waiting game but wow... Since my spirit man lives ...

  One of the things I set out to accomplish this month was writing a letter of interest and support for the upcoming ministry things that I'm working on.  So as I wrote the letter I found myself asking the recipients to make an investment in souls.  When I wrote the letter I was thinking investments in terms of planting seeds.  In the week following, I had several conversations with friends who were in the Valley of Decision, self included.  As I talked relationships with one of my friends, I asked if she was willing to invest in the guy again and give him the opportunity to get to the point he needed to be.  So later that week I was asking myself that same question. This made me think...  Investments require risk.  Anything you're willing to pour into, you have to consider if the risk is worth taking and if so, how long are you willing to wait on the return in your investment?  I thought long and hard and definitely prayed about it....

Since everyone has decided to jump on this bandwagon of 30 Days of Thanks for November I decided to do something a little different.  So I'm going to give you my list but with a twist... it's things I haven't always been thankful for (in no particular order of importance, just as they come to me).  So here goes.. 1.  I haven't always been thankful for my intelligence.  I know that may seem arrogant or strange but let me tell you why... when I was in Kindergarten we were placed in reading groups.  The groups were identified by the color of yarn necklace we wore.  Mine was ALWAYS green and I never knew why.  I HATED that green yarn necklace.  I wanted to have different colors like everybody else and to change colors like my friends.  One day I cried and cried because my necklace was always green and FINALLY my teacher explained to me that it was a good thing to have a green necklace because it meant that I was a good reader. 2. My crazy ...