We all play the “what if” game at times. We wonder how things could have been. We sometimes can’t help but imagine what might have been. Only If I had not been there, done that. What if I had not said that or reacted that way? The fact is we can’t rewrite history (although some people try). I try not to dwell on the what if’s but the other day I was thinking, what if my spiritual foundation had been where it is now two years ago. Would I still have ended up in the wilderness? Only God knows for sure. I believe that the storms in life can make us stronger. My mom use to say if it doesn’t kill you, if you survive, you will come out stronger. I also would like to believe if I had the faith I have now, the spiritual foundation, things may have been different. At least as far as how I handled being in the wilderness. I know now God wanted me there so He could work on me. Nothing I could have done about that. However, my “what if” was more about how I handled being in the wilderness. For instance, If I had not fought so hard to keep what God wanted to take away or if I had not been so prideful that I refused to ask for help, even from God. I told you I thought I was superwoman. What if I had not fell apart when the doctors diagnosed me and said I could not go back to work? When my life as I knew it fell apart, so did I. But now I believe my life belongs to God, so nothing or no one on this earth can destroy me. I can honestly say this because I have had trails and storms since the wilderness experience. They come with life. But because I now live for eternity and not for what is temporary, I can look at the enemy and say, is that all you got? You better get behind me satan and I mean it! It’s all because my spiritual roots have deepened, they are not just surface only. If our spiritual roots are surface only, then the storms of life will easily defeat us, but if we grow an extensive root system, complete with a deeply placed foundation, then we will be able to withstand the storms of life without losing our footing. We might bend but we won’t break! In order to have that strong root system, we must continually nourish our lives with prayer, Bible study and meditation. We must give our life to Christ and have faith that He is our Savior. He is greater than any situation or circumstance. Everything good comes from God. Anything else, whether He allows it or places us there for His reasons, we must know God’s plan is going to be fulfilled regardless and it’s for our good. Our job is to take constant steps towards deeper root growth, a solid foundation and a relationship with Christ. Then when we encounter storms we will neither fear nor worry. What if the world lived by this concept? Love and Blessings….

There have been times in my life I could really stink, wait, let me clarify that, my attitude did not give off the aroma of Christ! I probably could come up with quite a few examples but I’ll give you just one. I am ashamed to say I was egotistical. Back in the day as they say, I was self-centered, proud and arrogant. In other words I had the “it’s all about me” syndrome. Even though I felt like I was a nice person, that mind-set showed up sometimes in my attitude. Your attitude will determine how you relate to those around you. Some people may have seen it and others may not have. But God did! And during my time in the wilderness, God taught me nothing is about me, it’s all about Him! When the attitude we possess places others first and we see people as important, our perspective will reflect their viewpoint as well as ours.

Your attitude determines how you smell to God. Are you self-centered, proud, or arrogant as I was? Are those around you drawn to Him as a result of the love and peace you display? Do your conversations constantly honor God, represent the fruit of the Spirit, and eject the fragrance of life…or are they sometimes laced with bitterness, resentment, anger, complaining, and gossip?  Imagine what message it sends to our families, children, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, when we intentionally misrepresent Christ. And that’s exactly what we are doing when we have nasty smelly attitudes and claim to represent God, our attitude deform the face of Christianity. Anytime negative thoughts or behavior creep into our thoughts, conversations or behavior, we must reject them and pray to God for a clean heart. Does your attitude give off an aroma of Christ? Everyone needs an attitude adjustment now and then. I made a list of attitude adjustments I need to work on. I am a work in progress, as we all are. Right now I am working on taking captive of my thoughts before they come out of my mouth. In doing this I find I am inclined to speak the best, not the worst, to speak of beauty and not the ugly and to praise and not curse. I’m working on my attitude because I want to smell good to God all the time, not just sometimes. I realize I can’t do it alone. We must spend time in prayer asking God to reveal areas in our life that does not smell as they should. Please read today’s scriptures. Love and Blessings…

This past Sunday I visited an amazing church in Charlotte, NC. The visitors are given a choice of gifts to choose from. I selected this little book called “Confession BRINGS Possession” by Dr. Norvel Hayes. This book of about 44 pages blessed me tremendously. I read it several times and each time the Lord spoke to me and led me to a Scripture. I believe it was not an accident that I selected this book. It clarified a lot of things for me. It also prompted me to dig deeper into the Word about some things I had been struggling with. Is Isaiah 53:5 a promise that God will heal everyone? Why is it that some people are healed and some are not? Why did God not heal me completely? These are some of the questions I struggled with. I believe in miracles. I look at myself in the mirror everyday and say hey Ms. Miracle. I claim healing everyday no matter how I am feeling or what it looks like. But I still had these questions. This book is about how we as Christians should talk. The author talks about the promises that belong to us. It is our choice to receive them or not. For instance, one of the promises is that we are healed in Jesus name. According to Dr. Hayes the key is learning how to talk. God’s Word says “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed.”(Mark 11:23). So this is where my questions come in. We know the adage, name it, claim it, believe it, and then it is yours. I love saying it because it sounds good. It’s positive and I honestly believe it. But how about the times when we name it and claim it and we don’t receive?  I understand why some things we name and claim, God does not give us. We have a tendency to want things that are not good for us and God loves us to much to give those things to us. I get that.  But what about healing? The Word says Jesus suffered and died so that we would live and be healed. Dr. Hayes says, “It is because we want to talk to God about our mountains instead of talking to the mountain as the Scripture states. He states that, “God doesn’t have anything to do with our diseases, anything that comes to bring harm, does not come from God. The devil will always tell you that God just did not want to heal you. You can’t leave any loopholes for the devil to add “if’s” and “but’s” and “maybe’s”. You have to either believe it or don’t, there is no in between.” I believe all of that. Mark 11:23 does state “you say to the mountain, not tell him about the mountain”. However, if God says the promises are ours, why don’t we have all of them? According to Dr. Hayes the key is to continually say these things with your mouth. Continue to speak into existence what you need and have conversations with your afflictions and diseases. I believe this because God has already healed us. Jesus has the stripes on His back to prove He paid the price. Dr Hayes points out it is up to us to accept Jesus as the Healer. Anything that is wrong with us is our mountain. Talk to it! Let it know that it is not welcome! I’m getting excited just typing what was in this little book! But when I told you this book blessed me, it was not because it spoke these things that I already knew and believed. It is because it prompted me to dig deeper into God’s Word. Although I am in agreement with Dr. Hayes, I still had questions. There is nothing like studying the Word of God for yourself! I have learned from my son and the Holy Spirit that unless you understand the context of a Scripture, we risk taking it out of context. Context is sovereign and no single verse should stand alone for a doctrinal belief. The spirit took me back to Isaiah 53:5. If we don’t understand Isaiah 53:5 in its proper context, we can become very disappointed and disillusioned about God. I doubt Isaiah would be pleased if all we use was Isaiah 53:5 and claim this as a promise that God will heal us, but then leave out the entire implications of this chapter! When we do this, we become confused when we are not healed. We feel it was either our lack of faith or that God didn’t hear or has abandoned us. Paul prayed three times for healing, but God told him it was in order to keep him humble and dependent upon God. Timothy had stomach problems and frequent ailments so why didn’t Paul just lay hands on him and pray for him to be healed? When Epaphroditus was ill, near to death, why didn’t Paul just claim “by His stripes, you are healed?  Probably because Paul knew the context of that particular verse. We must take the whole Word to get the whole counsel of God, and that means the entire chapter, and sometimes, the entire book must be read to understand the context of a single verse. We can be healed, but it must be the will of God. We’re told to pray for God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven, and so we must trust God’s will, even if it means we’re not healed in this life or the way we expected the healing. The most important healing is our spiritual healing where we finally have peace with God and because of Jesus, there is no more condemnation. We can be healed, but we will only die again, but whoever believes in Jesus Christ, even if they die, they will live again. Thank you Jesus! So yes, I am going to keep naming and claiming it. I am going to speak to the mountains and curse the roots. I am going to thank God for my healing and I am going to worship Him. I am going to study His Word and learn how I can please Him. Because live or die, healed or not in this life, I will have victory and will live the abundant life that God has promised me! I know this is a long one, but led by the Holy Spirit. Please take time to read today’s scriptures. They will bless you. Love and Blessings…

I love hot sauce. I have food with my hot sauce instead of hot sauce with my food. Don’t judge me. When I Googled “is hot sauce good for you”, I came up with a variety of results, some good, some bad. You can do the same with about any food product. And it’s not just Google; we can ask our friends and family for advice and get a different answer from each of them.  Each person has his own point of view and his own different perceptions about things. Even the “experts” tend to disagree or change their position based on their facts. And after my experience with doctors, I am a firm believer in getting second, sometimes third opinions. As a matter of fact, what is good for you depends on who you ask. Google is helpful but sometimes it can be confusing with so many conflicting answers. Google is informative but God knows everything. And God’s Word is one-hundred percent good for us all the time. God knows exactly what and who is good for us. Sometimes we get impatient waiting for an answer from God. But if we wait, He will give us exactly what we need, and who we need, at the time we need it. God knows what we need before we ask, and He has seen fit to make provisions for us before we could even think to ask. If you are seeking to build a relationship with God, His Word can keep you pure. His Word will bless you. God’s Word will protect you and give you wisdom. The Word will give you peace and comfort you. It helps you grow spiritually. God is so good to us. He left us with a guide that helps us see how to develop our relationship with Him. The Word clearly answers our questions on how to live in a world full of choices. God tells us in Scripture what’s good for us. Unlike Google, we don’t have to be confused when we read it, we can pray and ask our Father to help us interpret it correctly, and apply it sincerely in our lives. Please read today’ Scriptures in Food for the Soul and see how good the Word is for you. Love and Blessings…

We hurt when fake friends disappoint us, talk behind our backs, mistreat us, and are not there for us when we really need them. The way the world is today we kind of expect this behavior. Nevertheless, it still hurts and the hurt is more so when this behavior comes from our brothers and sisters in Christ. When someone in your family does something to hurt you, it is more profound than if it was done by a neighbor or a friend. The same is true with our spiritual brothers and sisters. We are family. We are supposed to love each other as our Father loves us. Are our expectations even realistic? Yes they are because this is what our Father ask of us. However our sinful nature, the human in us  sometimes causes us to  hurt one another, be it intentionally or unintentionally, the hurt is real.  So what do we do? We have to realize that not all who profess to be Christians really belong to Christ. Jesus warned in his parable of the wheat and the tares that there would be false believers in the world, sown by the enemy satan, whose aim is to cripple the testimony of Christians so that our witness would be compromised. I know this to be true especially since I chose to follow Christ. The enemy is always using someone to try to snatch me out of my character. I’m not going to lie, the struggle is real! But I try to remember  that as hurt and mistreated as Jesus was, he never let them snatch Him out of His character. I honestly believe as Joyce Myers likes to say that God sometimes put “sandpaper people” (difficult people) in our lives for a reason. These are the people who are hard to love, they are also people who the enemy uses to hurt others. How we react to these people is what builds our Christlike character. Jesus Christ is a great example of how to respond when we are hurt. The Bible also gives us specific instructions on how to behave when we are hurt. The first response should be prayer. Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” That is true for hurt as well as it does any other trouble. If you talk to God, He can give you the very words to say to your offender and He can bring conviction to that person’s heart when you approach them with a spirit of humility. Sometimes the Lord will deal with the offender directly and anything we say or do would just make matters worse. I know “Let go and let God” may seem like a cliché but He can always fix things better than we can. He can also comfort us and heal our hurt. Most important is that we have to forgive. When I think about the suffering and misery I put on myself just because I had been hurt and I did not know how to forgive. I cried many sleepless nights. I was angry and resentful. I wanted the people I loved to hurt as I was hurting. Hurt people hurt people. And then one night the Lord spoke to me during my pity party. He let me know that He had given me an assignment, and when He does that He uses all parties involved so that His purpose will be done. Sometimes, as He did with Pharaoh, He will harden hearts. (Exodus 9:12). It really doesn’t matter how wrong you think your offender is, you have to forgive. The healing process only began when I realized that. Forgiveness is for you, not the other person. Forgiveness and healing is a process and sometimes a slow one. But to be free from hurt, you have to start the process. This is God’s way. We hurt Him when we are disobedient. We hurt Him when we hurt each other. But He forgives us every day, all day. Love and Blessings…

When we have challenges, sometime it requires more than a personal desire or goal, we have to be driven by the desire to be obedient to God, knowing that He appointed us the assignment and there is no way we can fail. And God blesses us for our obedience. We are thankful for our blessings and everybody is happy for us, right? Wrong. Some people are upset at what God does for you. There are times when God blesses you, relationships are lost. Some people have the spirit of Cain; they hate the fact that you have favor with God. You have to be aware because sometimes the very ones that you think have your back are waiting to stab you in it. It is not your enemies you have to worry about, your enemies cannot harm you because you keep them at a distance. Everybody will not celebrate your successes with you. They can’t be glad for you because somehow they feel your success came at their expense. That should have been their job, their house, their husband. They irrationally believe that you have their blessing. A jealous heart, which is not of God, can be the beginning of betrayal. They don’t get that success is success only because it relates to struggle. How can you have victory without conflict? Success is the reward that God gives to the diligent, who through perseverance and patience obtained the promise.  There is no way to receive what God has for your life without fighting the obstacles and challenges that block your way to victory. One thing I have learned is that there is no way to reach the goal without going through the struggle. I use to look at people and wonder how it felt to be where they were, now I look at people and I wonder what they had to go through to get where they are. What did they have to give up? How many relationships did they lose? Everyone can’t go where God is taking you. Your struggle helps you to appreciate the blessings when they come. But some people don’t want to know your story or what price you have paid to get where you are. They just want what you have. When I speak of successes, I’m not just talking monetarily; sometimes people can’t understand why you have the blessings of peace and joy. These are gifts from God. Unfortunately sometimes those who are closest to you will try to steal them from you. I think about Jesus sitting at the table with Judas. He had no problem discerning who would betray him with a kiss. Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t see the betrayal coming. Sometimes a good heart does not see the bad. We have to pray for discernment. When God blesses us, we must keep our eyes on the Giver, not the gift. Because the Giver will protect us from those who mean us harm and will sometimes remove them from our lives. And if He does remove them, we must not try to keep them or let them back in! Even people who betray us is a part of God’s plan. Jesus would not have made it to the cross without Judas. God will place people in our life and He will remove them, and there is always a reason for both. We serve an intentional God. What God has for us is for us and no one can take it away unless we let them. Guard your heart. It is easy for us to fall into jealousy in our society and become a Judas. But, it is important for us to realize what is most important in our lives and what matters most. We should encourage one another and rejoice at others blessing. We must pray that the Lord will help us to keep our eyes on Him; people change, things change, but God will forever stay the same. Love and Blessings…

I remember my mother would say always start something the way you want to finish it. She would say you can’t start on shaky ground and expect to end on solid ground and even if it does get shaky, it won’t collapse when you start on solid ground. She was talking about relationships. At the time I didn’t get it, but now it makes sense. And not just relationships, it applies to all areas in our lives. The foundation matters! Especially when it comes to our faith. You don’t build a house and hope when the storm comes it will not fall, you build the house to withstand the storms. The same applies to our faith. Jesus Christ frequently illustrated His teachings with parables. Jesus described two men who each built a house (Matthew 7:24-27). Jesus said one man was wise and the other was foolish. The man who made the better decision about where to build was a wise builder because he chose the rock as his foundation. I’m sure it was a challenge to build on rocky ground. It probably took some time, patience and hard work. But the wise man believed it would be worth the effort. On the other hand, the foolish builder didn’t consider the foundation to be important. He may have thought it would take too long and building on the sandy soil would be easier. When a storm came, the house built into the rock survived the downpour, but the house on the sand was destroyed. Jesus stated, “And great was its fall.” Jesus was illustrating that we can live wisely or foolishly. It all depends on where we lay our foundation. It is important to build our spiritual foundation as well as our physical. Jesus said that if we obey His word and follow Him, we will be like the wise builder. His teachings are sound principles about how to live successfully. We will be unshakable! If our foundation is weak we can’t survive. Our only hope is in our Lord and Savior. We know that the Lord is not only our redeemer, but in Him we have a rock-solid foundation. He is our rock! Our foundation is strong when we know Jesus and stand on His Word. No weapon formed against us will prosper. The world may be sinking, but we won’t sink when we stand on the solid rock, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Following Jesus provides a solid foundation for our lives, our families, our friendships, our associations and our future. When we build a relationship with Jesus; we will come through the storms of life, the trials and difficulties that are part of life. Love and Blessings…

I hear many reasons why people do not attend church. Most of them are because of the hypocrites, judgment and negativity. Some say the church talks more about it’s offering, than the sermon. All are valid points no doubt. I don’t judge. I will tell you if you can deal with church folk, it prepares you to deal with the world, which is full of many more types of God’s children. We are all God’s children, the good, the bad, and the ugly. As believers we have to learn to love and get along with everyone. This is not easy! That is why we need Jesus. The church is not just a building, we are the church. A building without believers is just a building. When Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). He was saying the Church, His followers, would not die out. The church should be alive, a warm and caring body of believers striving to serve God, to do His work and to support and encourage each other. That’s how it should be, but like a lot of things in this fallen world, the enemy is trying to take over. I for one refuse to let the enemy block my blessings! We go to work and face some of the same issues, the same attitudes we face in church but that does not stop us from going to work. We go because it is our means of survival. I believe the same of Jesus, He is my means of survival. So I will stay on team Jesus and I will be His number one fan. I look at church this way, not only is it a chance to study and get to know our Savior; it’s a chance to cheerleader and root for our team captain. It is a chance to worship and sing praises to His name, not only because of what He has done or what we want, but just because He is God! Sports fan love to sing their team’s praises. We wear t-shirts and hats supporting our team, and we can talk about our favorite teams all day. A true fan, whether their team is losing or winning, is still loyal. That’s how I feel about my Tarheels and Panthers! How can I not be loyal to Jesus who always wins! His team is always victorious! We know how it feels to win an award, or walk across a stage, or accomplish something major. The joy doubles when we are praised and recognized for our accomplishment. It feels good. I believe God feels the same way when His children, all together are in one place worshipping and praising His name. It pleases Him. Yes, we can do that alone and at home. That pleases Him also. However, look at it this way sports fans, I’m sure our team would appreciate that one fan in the stands, but it would not be same as thousands. Our truest and greatest loyalty must be to the Lord at all times. David said it best, “I will extol the Lord at all times” His praise will always be on my lips.” Think about how many times we praise things of this world more than we praise Jesus. We boast more about our successes more than what Jesus has done for us. When the fact is we would not have had those successes if it had not been for God’s mercy and grace. Yes, I love my teams but my number one loyalty goes to Jesus Christ. I am His number one fan! I can watch my teams play all by myself (especially when they are winning), but it’s nothing like watching them with other fans. I feel the same way about God; it’s nothing like worshipping with other believers. God did say where there is two or more, he will show up. (Matthew 19:20).

 It is not wrong to enjoy our teams, ours interest, and our accomplishments. But our highest praise goes to our Lord. “Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:3). #GOJESUS #TEAMJESUS #NUMBER1FAN Love and Blessings….

My grandson’s middle name is Ezekiel. Ezekiel means “God will strengthen”. I just finished reading the Book of Ezekiel and I pray that God blesses my grandson with the strength that He gave Ezekiel. Ezekiel was preparing to become a priest when the Babylonians attacked Judah and carried him and many others into captivity. He was a young man at the time of his captivity. Although he was a captive, God commissioned him for a great service. The prophet Ezekiel had the thankless job of proclaiming God’s message on the crowded and hostile streets of Babylon. At the same time that Jeremiah was warning the citizens of Jerusalem of the coming destruction of that holy city, Ezekiel was preaching the same message to the exiles in Babylon. They were hundreds of miles away from the Promised Land and the temple, but God would not leave them in the dark. He sent Ezekiel. Even though his exiled audience was cut off from the temple, the priesthood, and the related ceremonies and feasts, the prophet Ezekiel informed the exiles not only of these details, He warned the people of national calamity, including warnings of disease, death, destruction and deportation. But he also warned of the importance of obeying God’s law and seeking after Him.  His purpose was to remind the people of their spiritual unfaithfulness and of God’s faithfulness to His own promises. During Ezekiel’s life and ministry, the northern Kingdom of Israel was corrupt politically and spiritually. (sound familiar) They were in captivity because of their disobedience.

 Our Lord is the God of second chances. God could have wiped them out but instead He sent Ezekiel to be a tower of strength among his people during their captivity. Ezekiel’s message to the nation was that they return to the Lord. God declared that he would restore them to their own land. Sometimes it is easier to give God’s message to other people than your own family or friends. But God is not concerned with difficulty, He is concerned with obedience. Ezekiel probably seemed strange to his neighbors and friends. Ezekiel did whatever God asked him to do, and God asked some extraordinary things of him. He shut himself up in his house, he ate his food by weight, and he sacrificed his personal appearance. It is one thing to prophesy about impending judgment and warn people to repent; it is quite another to lay on your left side for 390 days and then your right side for 40 days. And I can imagine what the people said when he did not mourn his own wife’s death!  But Ezekiel did not worry about how he looked to others, for he owed his obedience to God. So if God told him to do something he did it. God had a purpose in having Ezekiel perform each thing He told him to do. A point was illustrated and a lesson was taught. Some may have laughed at the prophet, and many probably ignored him, and unfortunately they missed the lesson.

 God did not just throw Ezekiel out to the wolves, He prepared him for what He was asking of him. Ezekiel received and reported revelations from the God. He told Ezekiel that “I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flit” (Ezekiel 3:9). Through his visions Ezekiel was adequately equipped by God for his calling. My favorite is the vision of the “dry bones”, it shows the power of God, how he can raise those who have been scattered, but who are also dead in sins. This was Ezekiel’s message to Israel, a nation that had been scattered and God’s promise to restore. God’s presence being revealed to Ezekiel in captivity demonstrates that holiness has nothing to do with geographical location, but the condition of people’s hearts. God is moved by the faithfulness of men like Ezekiel, who became a prophet not because of status but because of his faith in God in a dark land, no matter the circumstances. God told Ezekiel to speak to the people, whether they listen or fail to listen, was not his concern, his responsibility was to deliver God’s message. No one wants to hear bad news or hear about the consequences of their actions. Ezekiel probably was not very popular and people dreaded seeing him coming. But God strengthened him. God also told him, if he was not obedient, the people’s blood would be on his hands. It is our personal responsibility to spread the Gospel, no matter where we are, or how uncomfortable  we may feel.

 Obedience to the will of God can be difficult. It is a struggle to live the way God wants us to live while the rest of society continues in its sinful ways. Our actions may not be as dramatic as Ezekiel’s but the consequences can be important, both as examples to others, and as indications of our obedience to God. Obedience is better than sacrifice. The Book of Ezekiel stresses the ultimate aim of God’s charity and chastisement, that “they shall know that I am the Lord.” The message is clear, we must obey God and seek after Him! God may ask us to do things that are at odds from our wills and desires. We may be laughed at and talked about. The question is will we still be obedient like Ezekiel? Much Love…

We all have had those times when we are on top of the world one day, then feel like the world is on top of us the next day. The issues of life can weigh heavy on our shoulders. Health issues, financial issues, children issues, job issues, family issues and relationship issues; they can occur one at a time or all of them at once. When they come one after another, my mother would say; when it rains it pours or if it ain’t one thing it’s another. At these times we may question if God’s peace is powerful enough to calm life’s storms? We may ask ourselves is God’s peace always possible, even when we are going through storm after storm? Ok, maybe you haven’t wondered but I have. I now know without a doubt the answer is yes, we can have God’s peace through the storms and His peace is powerful enough to calm any storm. I know this because I am in that place right now. It is amazing! Just a few years ago I would never have imagined I could experience peace in the midst of a storm. I was in the wilderness with storms raging all around me, and there was no peace, at least I thought there was none. All I knew was pain, anxiety, depression, and worry. Who knew that having a relationship with Jesus can change you and the way you perceive things! I know that no storm is beyond God’s sovereignty.

When we are overwhelmed because of the chaos of life, it’s easy to forget that God is standing in the middle of the storm with us. No matter what we are going through, He is there. And if God is there, so is peace. God is peace. He is there in the storms next to us ready and waiting to reach out and rescue us. God is waiting for us to turn to Him for help. As soon as we turn to Him, Jesus reaches out without hesitation. Turning to Him means humbling ourselves, and admitting that we cannot handle this situation in our own strength. Turning to Him means handing over the situation to God and trusting Him to handle it how He sees fit. I use to say I could kick myself, because if I had done that, maybe just maybe, I would not have been in the wilderness so long or maybe it would not have been so bad. But I have stopped kicking myself because the lessons I learned are valuable and the relationship I developed with Christ Jesus is priceless! A relationship with Jesus can provide continuous nourishment in life’s storms. I learned I can thrive in any situation when I am in touch with my Savior. I learned that it is a rainbow after every storm; I learned to lean on Jesus when my strength is gone, and I learned the only way to get through the storm is to go through it and let Jesus lead the way. I learned nothing stays the same, that this too shall pass. Because of those lessons I believe I can take what life throws at me. In order for me to keep this mindset I have  to stay close to my friend, Jesus. I know that I know that I know that He has my back! I don’t ever want the old Curleen back, the one where there was peace only when life was going my way, the way I wanted it to go, when I controlled the outcome and the direction of my life. How sad. How stressful! It is stressful because we know that it is not realistic; we control nothing on this earth but how we choose to think, act, and handle what life throws at us. The storms continue, but during the storms I may cry, I may hurt, and I may even get upset at times; but I keep moving because even if I don’t know what’s coming next, God does. The same Jesus that calmed the raging storms for the frightened disciples is the same Jesus that I am in contact with every day. He loves me the same as he loved the disciples. He loves you the same as He loves me.

 I realize it is not easy to find peace in the mist of the storms, especially when they are coming at you like tornadoes. It takes strength that you probably didn’t  realize you had. It takes the courage to keep moving forward even with tears in your eyes. In the wilderness, every time I wanted to give up, God said no and then He would give me strength to make it another minute, another hour and then another day. He gives us what we need when we need it. The good news is each time you make it through; it strengthens you more and builds your resilience. In difficult times, we may not understand life and its unfairness. We have to ask God to help us to trust Him for what we cannot understand. When life’s journey gets wild and scary, we have to trust Him and know He is in control. Once I realized that, and turned my life over to Him totally, I now have peace and joy, instead of anxiety and worry , no matter the circumstance. I challenge you to trust Him. I promise you one of two things will happen; God will speak to that issue and like magic it will disappear, or He will guide you through it, giving you comfort and strength to endure. God will not abandon us! I pray that if you don’t have this joy and peace that goes beyond understanding (people will wonder why you dancing when it seems your world is falling apart) that you receive it. It comes from Jesus and it is free! Those who know me know I love free stuff. All we have to do is trust and believe! Love and Blessings…