Have you ever found yourself just doing the same mundane thing from Sunday to Sunday, just doing enough to "get by"? Were you taught a traditional way of doing things instead of forming and developing a true relationship with Jesus Christ? In my early days of truly being saved, I was so lost. I thought that if I didn't dance I wasn't really saved. I thought that tears meant that I was in the presence of God. I thought that if I missed a Sunday of church I would go to hell. I thought that because other people were required to cut their families off that I was as well. I went through a season where I wouldn't really talk to my mom because I thought that I had to cut away from my family. I stopped talking to people because I thought that I was now confined to this group of people. I felt bad because I didn't have $100 or $1000 dollar seeds to sow into the ministry. I felt bad because no one was asking me to lead prayer. I wanted to plan events for the ministry and it just felt like I was being ignored and looked over. It seemed like every time I put myself out there, I was never needed. The "church" didn't need me. I told myself and I told God, "I will NEVER volunteer to do another thing again for them. They don't need me. I'll be a faithful member, but that's about it." I said this out of complete anger and hurt. So many things happened to me to make me want to leave this ministry but I knew that God had called me to this ministry. I knew that I couldn't let people push or pull me out of what God had intended for me to be planted in for a season.
And through all of this, Jesus began to reveal Himself to me. It's not about being in front of people or holding a microphone or even sowing the most money. All of those things are good in due time. In God's divine timing. I've been telling God for so long that I don't want to be someone who just sits in church and never grows. I want to experience His ordained way of living for my life. I want to do whatever HE wants me to do no matter how uncomfortable it makes me feel. Through relationship with God, I learned that just because I have a gift and He has revealed that gift or those gifts to me does not mean that I have to "openly" use them just yet. Yes, by all means use your gifts and let GOD get the glory but for me personally, there is some Godly coaching that He has and I had to be humbled first. I had no idea the attacks that come with planning events or the hard work and tough skin that you have to have to get things done. I was a softy and I still kind of am but God is delivering me from that (praise break). It was not my time to do those things and I had no idea that we had a committee for the youth that I wanted to plan. Do you see why I was not ready to plan an entire event? I had no idea what kind of committees we had in place. I couldn't even fully tell you the vision of the ministry that I was apart of. Do you know the vision that God has given your visionary? We want to do so many things but we don't even know the reasoning behind the things that we are apart of. So, are we really apart of it? I was shy. I took a vision that I had and ran with it. No prayer or anything, I just knew that God would work it out. I didn't even have the first $100 seed to sow into the event that I wanted to plan for God's youth. No money, no connections, no direction, just vision. And that is dangerous territory. "And He spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;." Luke 18:1
As my relationship with the Holy Spirit grows, I am learning my purpose and I am intentional about fulfilling the call that God has on my life. Am I doing it because it's what my leaders want for me? No. Am I doing it because it's what my friends and family want for me? No. This life is all about the choices and decisions that we make and I have finally made a quality heart decision to walk into my God ordained destiny. It won't be easy and there will be plenty more times where I will want to quit. But, destiny won't let me. So, today if you find yourself in any of these situations and circumstances, PLEASE seek God. I am still apart of that same ministry that I wanted to walk away from because that's where God wants me in this season. If I am the only person at Sunday service or Tuesday service or any other service, I'll be fine as long as God is there. I no longer wait until Sunday to praise, worship, and seek God. Because I know that I need Him every hour of every day. I am nothing without Him and if I don't consult with Him on a regular basis, then I will be lost. Always wondering what my purpose is, getting involved in clubs and organizations just because, writing about the wrong topics, not forgiving others, being disobedient, and just walking towards a terrible eternity. Just because our sin may not reflect the sin of others does not make us exempt. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Romans 3:23-26 This means that He has set us free! It is because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we are made free and made whole. Walk in that freedom sis! Religion will have you trying to please everyone. An intimate relationship with God will have us focused on destiny and not people pleasing or performing as my Pastor calls it. I have learned so much in this last four years and I am still and will forever be learning! This faith walk with Christ is paralleled in my mind to education. You have to start off with your ABC's and 123's then as you progress, you get to learn your colors, and then form sentences, and then a little while after that, you get to learn how to do math with letters! :) That's exactly how it is with Christ, we have to meet Him and then He teaches us how to love Him, obey His commandments, and how to submit to Him (the basics). After that, its how to love others, identify our gifts, etc. It's a continual walk and a never-ending experience. Education means to come out. So, we are coming out of a life of sin into a life of love, forgiveness, obedience and sacrifice! There are so many benefits of being a Kingdom citizen. And yes, there is a major difference between being drafted into church and being drafted into Kingdom. Church can drop your self esteem, Kingdom will help enhance your self esteem. It will show you who you are and WHOSE you are! A Kingdom lifestyle is a liberating lifestyle. We are free to be our true selves with no apologies in Kingdom living. We learn how to carry ourselves as young women of God and how to have manners. What to wear and what not to wear so that we are leading men of God to Christ and not to the bedroom. How to speak properly, etiquette, how to act in general. We learn a lot of things that we should have learned growing up. But hey, we live and we learn. And guess what the best part about Kingdom and relationship is- we get to impart the wonderful knowledge that God has shown us and that He has used others to show us into other women so that they too can be educated and be the best women of God that they can be! I love you sis and I pray that something was said to liberate you, to encourage you, to make you laugh, and even to urge you to do some self examination. I just want you to know that you are not alone! There are many people who go through so many things and they are not aware that there is a way out. CHRIST is the only way out.