See, what had happened was...

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had an amazing week and a half!

So yeah, I know I was supposed to post two Fridays ago, but it didn't happen.  Then Monday didn't happen. Nor did Wednesday.  Thought this post would be ready for Friday, but yea, about that.  Life happened...

Actually, part of it is due to unpacking woes, part is due to adjusting to new schedules, and the rest is the peril of not pre-writing.  But I will do better, promise!

Anyway, this past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to share in the 10-year wedding anniversary celebration of my Sigma daughter (one of) and her husband.  They are such a beautiful couple and it was a joy to be a part of their celebration.  So to Mr. and Mrs. Sean Gallardo, I salute you and your story, which is a testimony of the power of love (and its longevity), and keep inspiring those young people on your youth ministry! Congratulations again!!!  

I also had the opportunity to prepare a "thank you" meal in honor of one of my childhood friends who assisted with the move (even though he had to work) on two days.  He wouldn't take any money from me for his time, but he did agree to a home cooked meal, so I prepared a Sunday Dinner in his honor:  turkey wings and dressing, collard greens and macaroni and cheese!  We all enjoyed a great time fellowshipping together (and I think I followed the conversation about fantasy football?).  Thank you again, Alan Scott, for being a true friend!

So, as often happens when I get ready to write, I had one thing in mind but I've been led to write about something else.  And as often happens, these topics are born out of things going on in my world, or inspiration (or conviction) from my pastor's sermons - this is no exception.

My church, Victory Apostolic Church in Matteson, is launching a huge two-year capital campaign to secure funds to make improvements to the church's campus. In preparation for the launch, yesterday Pastor Singleton spoke on the "The Power of Unity."  The purpose of the sermon (as I gathered it) was to begin the process of unifying the church in thought and action for this campaign.  The text came from Judges 6:1-6. So here are my notations on yesterday's sermon:

If you aren't familiar with the book of Judges, it is an Old Testament book and covers the time when Israel had no kings, only judges.  Pastor Singleton said that the theme of the book of Judges is human failure and divine grace.  I don't know about you, but that sounds like good news to me!  

At that time, the Israelites were living lawless basically, and doing whatever they wanted, which essentially amounted to living outside of God's will.  I think we all know a thing or two about that... but guess what?  While you can do whatever you want, you'll never get what you want without living in obedience to God!  (Don't you love these little nuggets my pastor puts in his sermons???)  Ouch.  See James 1:16-17:  blessings come from God above.  Because the Israelites were disobedient, God stepped back and let them suffer the consequences of their actions and allowed them to live a life without Him.  Let's just say that it wasn't pretty!  And so when it got really tough, they cried out to God and He heard them. Let's put a pin right there!  Despite their abandonment of Him, He still heard their despair and responded.  Isn't that a good thing to know?  I am a witness that even when you are disobedient to what you know is God's will, when you find yourself in trouble (whether due to your own actions or God has stepped back or He's trying to get your attention), when you cry out to Him, He will respond!

In this part of Judges, God raised Gideon to deliver the people.  So the story goes, Gideon took an army of 32,000 with him to battle the vast armies that were constantly attacking them.  God told Gideon that he had too many men.  God make him send away all of the men who were afraid.  So 22,000 left.  Say what?  Know this:  fear is an immobilizer.  If people are fearful, they won't be able to act when the heat is on.  Note that in Revelation 21:6-8 the fearful won't be in the number.  Third note - there are some people you will have to get rid of to go with God.  I'll just sit that right there... 

But God told Gideon that the 10,000 men he had left was still too many.  What the what??? So the next group to go were the stupid (I promise I didn't make that up, Pastor said that yesterday).  Don't believe him?  See for yourself:  Judges 7:4-6.  There's a whole story there about the men who lapped water like a dog (leaving themselves exposed to the enemy) as opposed to the ones who used their hands as a cup to hold the water (allowing them to be on alert while they drank).  After they were gone, Gideon was left with a whopping 300 men. If you're familiar with Gideon's story, you know that Gideon and his 300 men were victorious because of their unified faith that God would be faithful to His word and that they would be victorious!

So as I see it, we are left with two of my favorite subjects and the underlying theme of the message/passages:  faith and obedience.  So per Pastor Singleton, here it is in a nutshell:

1) you don't need to know how HE is going to do something, you just have to be comfortable that the Lord  will do it!  

2) victory starts with obedience to God!

My takeaways for the week?  Obedience to God always yields a greater reward than trying to do things your own way (sounds familiar, right?).  Faith is how you truly get to the next level.  When you are facing those giants in your life and you don't know how you will slay them, your job is to pray about it, then step back and let God handle it, knowing completely that He will.  *you can pause for a praise break now..."

What am I saying?  Same things I've been saying:  listen and be obedient to what you are being told to do and no matter what it looks like on the surface, believe that God is taking care of it.  That's it, that's all.  Easy to say, hard to do.  Work in progress...

Anyhoo, I promised that we'd talk about the cozy house but guess what?  I'm not ready yet! But I did snap a photo of the outside of the house for ya (excuse the overgrown bushes and crazy looking landscaping; I doubt those will be groomed before spring given the shift in our local weather.  Read:  IT'S COLD!)  But, here's the cozy house:

It's cute, right??? The inside is coming along; my storage challenges are immense, but I'm making it work!  Still a lot of unpacking to do, but we'll get her done!  

So until next time, have an awesome week!  Holla @ Darvi- I've missed you!  Be blessed!!!

When things go wrong...

Happy Monday, Blogland!  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Here in the South Suburbs of Chicago, a tornado actually came through and touched down.  No one I know was injured or had any major property damage, but it was still pretty scary stuff!

The tornado brought with it heavy rains, flash flooding and yep, you guessed it, some leaking at the new cozy house.  Le sigh.  When things go wrong... What's a girl to do?  Welp, this girl just put some towels down and kept it moving.

So I'm still elbow deep in packing, moving and unpacking.  Made a lot of progress over the weekend (got my clothes packed, yay!).  I was trying to make sure and get the electronics over to the cozy house so I could be ready for my cable/internet/phone installation this morning.  Um, yeah.  About that.  So said telecommunications company called Saturday afternoon to say that they won't be coming today and they don't know when. Say what???? When I NEED my internet to be up and running today?  When this IS premiere week on TV?  When things go wrong... Welp, guess I'll just finish working on getting the craft room/office packed and moved instead and keep it moving.

So I keep saying "when things go wrong..." and you're probably wondering why.  And I'm not gonna keep you in suspense!  So back in the day, when I was pledging, we learned a poem that has always stuck with me over the years and my mind always goes back to it when difficulties arise.  It's called "Don't Quit."  Wanna hear it?  Here it go:

Don't Quit

by Anonymous

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Life is queer with its twists and its turns, As everyone of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about When they might have won, had they stuck it out. Don't give up though the pace seems slow, You may succeed with another blow. Often the goal is nearer than, It seems to a faint and faltering man, Often the struggler has given up When he might have captured the victor's cup; And he learned too late when the night came down, How close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out The silver tint of the clouds of doubt And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit, It's when things seem worst that you must not quit!

Isn't that great motivation? That's been one of the ways I've keep myself sane during this lengthy season I am living in now.  It sometimes seems like morning is never gonna come!  And I'm not saying that sometimes I feel so overwhelmed that I can't breathe; yeah, those days happen too.  But, I allow myself a little bit of whine time (no joke, sometimes it comes with tears), then I focus myself on the day's tasks. Nothing more, nothing less.  I'd hate to give up now when I have no idea how close I am... so I keep it moving.

It's also a faith journey.  A few months ago, Pastor Singleton preached on God's faithfulness and illustrated with the story of Job.  Things that stuck with me from the message that I want to share with you:

1) God knows exactly how much you can take and there is no way to grow in faith or get to the next level without getting through your tests;

2) Sometimes God's permissive will allows the gate to be opened for tests and trials in your life;

3) We have to get to the point that regardless of what we see with our eyes or feel, we don't lose our faith because we know who God is for ourselves; and

4) In the midst of trials, you must feed your faith and then your doubts will starve.

So when things go wrong?  Remember that God is faithful.  Don't stop moving.  As my grandma used to always say, "we can only see to the corner, but God sees around the corner." 

So what do you lean on when things go wrong in your world?  Holla @ Darvi!  Have a great week and be blessed!