From the Abundance

Sometimes you meet the greatest people in the most unexpected places...  This past week I had the pleasure of meeting two!  I was on the plane headed home for Thanksgiving and noticed the lady next to me sniffling and coughing.  My initial thought was, oh great she's sick and hacking all over the place. When I looked over at her I realized that she wasn't ill but she was wiping away tears my first thought was to talk to her.  I didn't want to pry and ask what was wrong but I just hoped to lighten the mood and maybe take her mind off of things for a minute.   I stuck up a conversation and just asked if she was going home or visiting friends.  I was so unprepared for what she would say next. She told me that her one and only son had passed away 6 weeks ago and she was flying back to Lexington to meet her brand new granddaughter for the first time.  She couldn't quite explain the cornucopia of emotions she was feeling all at once.  How can you fe...

And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 2 Kings 4:2  This text seems so simple at first glance but when the Pastor was reading the text in its entirety to tell the widow's story it was the last part of verse two that grabbed me like a kid in the trick or treat bowl.  I heard the words I have nothing... but a pot of oil.  That word arrested me so fast, so completely and utterly knocked me over.  Let me explain why. It wasn't the fact that the widow didn't have anything but more so that she didn't realize the value of what she actually did have.  The oil!!  If you've got the oil you have everything you need.  The woman didn't just have oil, she had a pot, or a VESSEL.. (catch me in the spirit).  The woman had oil but she also had a place for the oil to be kept.  The same thing has to be true for us. In or...

This past weekend the church I've been attending was in revival and My God was it an amazing time in the Lord.  The atmosphere of sheer expectancy was breathtaking.  I love being in a place full of believers hungry for more of God!  There's something spectacular about being under the downpour of heaven. Sitting in that room filled with hundreds of believers anticipating the infilling and downpour of the Holy Spirit gave me a small glimpse of what the Day of Pentecost must have been like. Imagine being surrounded by a room full of people only there for one thing... the Holy Spirit! This revival was unlike any I've ever been a part of.  Not because the service was so different or the songs were special or even the preachers.  They were all great.  The thing that was different was me.  Each service I went in expecting God to show up and move like never before.  I expected miracles, signs, and wonders.  I expected somebody to be healed, deli...

Yesterday I spent a good part of the day in the library, working and writing.  I needed a quiet place that wasn't my house.  I finished up there and ran to the store to grab a couple of things I'd forgotten the previous day.  On the way out I had the opportunity to talk with a homeless man. He was sitting on the ground eating breakfast (by this time it was late afternoon) he'd gotten out of the dumpster at steak and shake.  He asked me if I had $.47 so he could get a drink. I gave him all the cash I had in my purse, it wasn't much but I was glad I had some cash to give. I stood and talked with him and offered him some of the snacks I had in my my hand  but he didn't want to take  anything away from me. I told him I didn't mind sharing and it would be my pleasure but he told me he was diabetic.  It touched me in such an incredible way that someone with nothing was worried about me not having enough.  I asked his name and if I could pray wit...

Last week was a crazy week for me.  It was productive and full of things to do , but also very emotional.  I've been applying for jobs, creating content for my store, visiting churches, trying to carve out my spot here in Daytona and do what God has for me to do.  I know that sounds like the normal things you do when you move but for someone who's used to going and doing, this idle time is killer.  Before I came I went to visit my hometown and the pastor there prophesied to me several times about this journey that God is taking me on.  He told me that what I've asked is a hard thing and because of it, I'm being tried but that God would fulfill His promises and nothing would fall to the ground. This is one reason I always carry a spiral notebook in church.  Anytime I receive a word of prophecy, word of wisdom or knowledge I like to be able to go back and review it, pray about it (especially the details), remind myself of God's confirmation, and encourage my...

In my final post on mental health I wanted to take some time to explore a topic that's not considered a mental health issue medically but it is quite common.  Don't let the title of this post trick you into thinking I'm posting about unresolved Daddy issues because I'm not.  It's something that we all struggle with at some point in life or another... self-esteem. Whether you're a man, child, woman, or confused about which.. at some point your self esteem will waver.  There will be some days where you feel too fat or too skinny, too tall or too short, not smart enough, not pretty enough, not fine enough, or just plain old not good enough.  We all have those moments, but for some people it's their constant reality.  They feel like they never measure up.  The problem isn't that they're measuring, the problem is who's standard they're using.   If I constantly compare myself to the next person, the media's ideal beauties, the world's sta...

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...