Transition to a Better You

Happy New Year! After all of the celebrations and holiday festivities, we have crossed over into 2023. As we now look toward the spring season of this New Year, we can reflect on what we’d like our future to resemble. As human beings, we are in a constant state of change. Many people, at the end of a year decide a change or transition is necessary in order to become a better version of themselves. This reflective look assists us in tapping into our emotional IQ. In addition, it can prompt us to become more intentional about how we live our lives and; how we impact the lives of those in our circle.

Liberate. Elevate. Alleviate. A Look Back; A Glimpse Forward

The year 2022 came to us in a sobering way. Usually, we as a society are carefree, full of revelry and hope for a year that was better than the last. However, many of us are still operating in a post-traumatic stress disorder state because the shut down in the pandemic year of 2020 left us shell-shocked. In addition to the lives lost, many of us were directly impacted by an aggressive virus that snatched our loved ones from our lives. That year gave us a wake-up call to the importance of connection, family, and how or what is relevant.

The great pandemic of 2020 left us pondering what is really significant. We’ve asked ourselves more meaningful questions like ‘How do we move forward after this?‘ Or ‘Will we ever find that new normal?‘ experts kept referencing or ‘How do we remain hopeful and yet productive when there are still unanswered questions about how a virus that decimated millions of families spreads and mutates?

The Heartbeat of God is YOU!

Obligations…..we all have some. We are overbooked with deadlines, over worked at our jobs, over looked by peers and overwhelmed with family activities. We wonder sometimes how to meet our commitments and eek out some time for ourselves, family and friends. How can we pay all the bills, meet the need of our loved ones and be there for everything else without compromising our own peace and tranquility? In these stressful days, we’ve seemed to have lost the art of relationship. We don’t take walks with our spouses like we used to or take the kids to the park as often as we should. Even digging into a great book in our leisure time has become a lost pleasure for most of us. We are so consumed with duties but empty on how to relate to our fellowman. When do we just slow down, to take an inventory to re-evaluate the importance of all we do, or lack thereof?

God knows that there are essential tasks that have to be completed to sustain our lives but our society seems to have a deficit when meeting our commitment to Him. We remember to pay debts but fail to give praise to the one who has provided employment. We care for our families but many times are too busy to worship the one who keeps them healthy. Why do we seek to be blessed, yet ignore the one who sheds an abundance of grace on us each day?

Cultivating A Ministry Culture Around COVID-19

The spring of the year 2020 will forever be historic in America. It was in the spring of 2020 that most Americans came face to face with the Corona Virus also known as COVID-19. This highly contagious viral infection has been the reason schools, businesses, daycare centers, movie theaters and even churches have been locked down. Disney has closed all of their theme parks for the first time since opening in 1955. Supermarkets can hardly keep food on the shelves, especially items such as hand sanitizer, toilet tissue and paper towels. In the midst of all the panic, what is the role of the church? Or of the believer? I have experienced conversations with people who were wondering how is it that houses of worship have gone dark. Why are the doors shut on houses of God? Why are there no live streams, prayer calls or videos to offer hope? Very few pastors appear to be reaching out to parishioners during this season and those who are mature in the faith seemed disillusioned while babes in the faith seem bewildered. Everyone is looking for answers and leaders in the body of Christ have a Godly responsibility to nurture the flock in this season. True leaders take situations like a pandemic or other disaster to point people toward the cross; encouraging them to embrace God’s word.

Are You Willing to Die in the Fight?

Recently, I was reading the book of Esther 5:1-8 and in do so, God revealed a profound truth to me. In the story, Esther approaches the king to inquire if he would join the feast she prepared for him. Her objective was to make a petition to him so that she could save her people from certain death. As I read this I thought: how brave of her, to go to the king without him calling for her which meant death if he was displeased. Then God addressed me with the question, “Are you willing to die in the fight?” I had to think again about Esther. She came to the king to seek solace for her people but knew if he did not raise his sceptre to her, he could have ordered her execution. Although Esther prepared herself by fasting and calling all of the Jews to fast with her there was a chance that things could not go in her favor.

Esther, for the advancement of the kingdom of God was willing to die if it meant her people would be saved. She allowed God to use her as a type of Christ. Her response to Mordicai was, “if I perish, I perish. I’m going to see the king” As I thought about her response, it made me realize that many Christians today say they love God but are they really willing to make the ultimate sacrifice? Are we willing to die to things that keep us separated from God in order to advance His Kingdom in the earth? Or are we just satisfied with our surface worship that doesn’t have substance? Are we just willing to continue to give God our lip service until something catastrophic occurs in our little world? And lastly, what should we be doing to show God we are truly ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to spread the Gospel?

On thing Esther’s example taught me is that we all need to pull in to get closer to the Lord. I learned through prayer that God loves intimate, one on one time with us. We need to sacrifice time with friends, children and even spouses to get a bit closer to Christ. Without spending significant time with God, we will crumble under the pressures of life. Esther knew God and because she did, had no doubt that God would deliver her people from the evil verdict that loomed over them. She harnessed the ultimate belief and hope that God would save her (II Thess 2:16).

We also have to humble ourselves even more toward God. Esther was humbled and willing to die at her husband’s hand for her people. The modern day believer, from what I’m witnessing is deluded into believing that trouble should never knock on their door because they are saved….it’s a fallacy! As children of God, we’re called to war in the spirit and our relationship is described in military terms for a reason. If a soldier is not willing to fight, prepare and do battle he is sent home. He is not ready to fully embrace his call. In order to be victorious in our battles we must trust God because He is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).

It is time for the church at large to recommit to dying in the fight. We have to let our carnal desires go and spend more time with the Lord. When is the last time we’ve fasted, led a brother or sister to Christ, spent an afternoon in the word or a few hours in prayer? In spending time with Him, he will teach us not only how to wait for His timing (James 4:4) but also we will become more like Him. Our carnal nature will become subject to the Christ in us. Let’s endeavor to get closer to Him in this season. If we choose to do so, our carnal man will die which will allow us to win the battles the enemy of God throws at us. We will be more than conquerors while spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ in the earth.

What carnal desire or habit are you willing to sacrifice and thus die in the fight to evangelize the world?
http://www.thebrokenvesselspeaks.com

Growing and Glowing This Holiday Season

Find joy with those you love most this holiday season.

It’s nearly Thanksgiving and before you know it Christmas will be on the horizon. There is nothing like the holidays! Time with family, friends, good food and making lasting memories is what this time of year is for. The best thing about the holiday season is you can create a legacy of joy with loved ones. However, to enjoy the holidays to the fullest, it’s a good idea to slow down and make the most of life’s little moments. It’s in the everyday that we can find those tender moments that will stay with us long after the last ornament is boxed away.

Let’s Just Learn How to F.L.Y.

First Love Yourself…

Back in the day when I was growing up, it was cool to be FLY! Fly at that time was a slang term that meant you were sharp, cool, cute and ready to take on the world. We used that word the way younger people nowadays use the world SLAY. I guess every generation has its own style of slang communication but I still use Fly from time to time.

As I’ve grown up, I’ve embraced a new acronym for the slang term FLY.

F.O.C.U.S.

Fresh Opportunities Create Unbridled Success!

Here we are again at the end of another year. In just under a month and a half, it will be 2019. Every year during the holiday season, we’re encouraged to love our fellow man a bit more, forgive wayward relatives and lastly, re-establish goals.

I’m of the belief that all of this indeed should be given much consideration during this time. However, more importantly, we need to master how to get it all done more purposefully. One of the things that has plagued me in the last quarter of this year is the word: FOCUS. I know we all need to be committed to something and stick with it in order to achieve anything in the marketplace. On the other hand, I needed an acronym to help me recall at a moments notice what focus meant to me.

Surviving My Life as a Military Wife

In 2007, I married the love of my life! He is charming, funny, a great listener, and the best friend I’ve ever had in life. We still get each other, even after eleven years of wedded  bliss. It hasn’t always been easy, but somehow, we made it work. When we married that fall day, I had no idea what I was signing on for. I married my husband, but his mistress is the military. My husband has served this great country of ours for 31 years… and counting! He loves serving his country and he loves his troops.

Needless to say, his passion has taken him on multiple deployments throughout our marriage. Now deployments are much easier on me but I must admit, those earlier separations were like having a year long root canal for me. It was during these deployments that I realized I needed to create a plan if I was going to survive as a military spouse. I had to learn that his dream of serving would take him away from the monumental moments in our marriage! I used to be so miserable during the holidays, my birthday, or our wedding anniversary because I’d be pining for him.

Let’s Become Infectious

There was a time when I was growing up in the pentecostal/holiness sect of Christianity we were indoctrinated with the idea that certain “places” believers should never allow themselves to go. The idea of creating friendships with those who are believed to live a more carnal lifestyle supposedly “destroyed your testimony” and “compromises” your very salvation. After living most of my adult life as a believer, I simply beg to differ on this approach. This fear based teaching, that you can lose your salvation through associating with unbelievers is not scriptural.