All about that GRACE... (to be grounded)

Hey there, it's me again!  By the time you read this, it will be March- this year is going by! 

I want to begin by saying thank you to the overwhelmingly positive response to my super transparent post on Monday.  That was not an easy thing for me to do, but, I am, and have always been a firm believer that the things we go through are to bless others with our testimonies and I felt led to share it (uh, not when I first started writing, but well, yeah, you get the idea!). 

My class is progressing; we skipped a week because our instructor was unable to make it, so instead of Week 6 we just finished Week 5.  And let me tell you this - it is a lot of work to truly study the Bible!  It's a lot of reading, re-reading, homework and outside books.  A lot of reading!!!  This first leg of the class (10 weeks) will end this month, then we have two weeks off, pick back up in April and go through June.  Y'all just pray my strength in the Lawd - 34 weeks total!!!

Anyway, my attempts at humor aside, today's post, in keeping with the theme of the previous two, is still about being grounded - we will take a look at Bishop TD Jakes' watch night sermon from 2015, "Grace to be Grounded."  Now, of course, he started his series with this sermon (and there are two other "grounded" sermons that I won't discuss here but they can be found on you tube or on his website), but I wanted to talk about being grounded first and work my way backwards.  Hopefully it will make sense to you as you read on...

Like my play on words?  I have young people in the house, so I have heard the Meghan Trainor song, "All about that Bass," and so I thought it would be pretty cool.  I assure you that both the Tween and Teen think it's kinda lame... Anyway, I digress - GRACE.  

It is defined in the bible dictionary as follows (found here):

Biblically, grace is unmerited favor. It is God's free action for the benefit of His people. It is different from justice and mercy. Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve. In grace we get eternal life, something that, quite obviously, we do not deserve, but because of God's love and kindness manifested inJesus on the Cross, we receive the great blessing of redemption.

Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense. Grace rules out all human merit (Rom. 11:6). It is the product of God that is given by God because of who He is and not because of who we are. It is the means of our salvation (Eph. 2:8-9). We are no longer under the Law but under grace (Rom. 6:14). (See 1 Cor. 15:11, Rom. 5:2, 15-20, 2 Cor. 12:9, and 2 Cor. 9:8).

Got it?  So let's move on to the sermon - Grace to be Grounded.  You can watch the sermon here.  The sermon text was Psalm 1:1-3 (sidenote- I have such a problem remembering when Psalms should be plural or singular, so if I'm wrong, roll with it...).  It's short, so I will actually include it this time.  

Psalm 1:1-3 (NASB):  

1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, 

   Nor stand in the path of sinners,

   Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

   And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

   Which yields its fruit in its season

   And its leaf does not wither;

   And in whatever he does, he prospers.

I love this passage of scripture, by the way.  It is not something I was overly familiar with prior to hearing this sermon, but afterwards?  It has joined the ranks of my faves and hopefully you will see why in short order!

Sermon Notes (beginning with scripture overview):

• Meditate day and night = consistency
• He who does this shall be like a tree; God will put you in a spot to have an unlimited supply of what you need to finish what He set before you to accomplish
• Deeper roots = more and more raw resources 
• Like a tree with roots: position to connect with the resources needed to sustain everything He will bring out of you
• Stabilize yourself - it's closer than you think it is
• Live in position, not condition
• His fruit, His season
• You need to hear you say:  "Blessed is the Man"
• Blessed= position
• We sometimes don't recognize grace because of our problems
• The presence of trouble does not destroy the potential for triumph! (you'd better say that again, Bishop!)
• Your leaves shall not wither, He will stop the loss!
• We have to be a guard over grace; it tells a blessed man what not to do:  
• Grace must be guarded - be quiet sometimes!
• Stay out of the counsel of the ungodly; anything that doesn't line up with God's purpose and people who don't understand your destiny
• Be careful who you let influence you
• friends mean well, trying to protect you, but God can bless you in the storm (though he slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13:15))
• Be more disciplined
• Don't be bitter
• For what God is getting ready to do, you need to be GROUNDED
• Moving around is cancelling your blessing
• You need to be grounded in faith, behavior and in the Word
• Put on the whole armor of God to stand still!
• Just stand there, no matter what comes
• If your feet are planted in the house of the Lord, you will flourish in his gardens (See Psalm 92:13)
• The enemy is trying to fight you for your ground
• God has given you things that don't look like they're yours, but stand your ground!
• The more you stand, the more fruit you will have (gifts):  
• finances, relationships, opportunities
• God's going to put and position you around something too big for you (and it might scare you)
• Specific instructions for being grounded:
• Faith
• Prayer life
• Commitment
• Settle down!
• You can't get to His will your way
• You need to be grounded for the harvest; it's coming!

And he closed with having the congregation say this:  "My fruit, My season!"

As usual, I'm sure I didn't do the sermon justice, these are just my notes that I'm sharing with you.  But do you see why I felt that this was such a powerful sermon??? And I have to stop here and thank my birthday twin, Charlotte, again, for sharing this with me.  This was such a powerful series that literally changed my outlook on 2016.  I really do encourage you to go check out the sermon itself using the link above.

So what did I take away from the sermon?  I'm glad you asked (my favorite Rev. Meeks' statement from my days at Salem)!  So here's what Darvi got out of it (besides the notes above):

1) Pray.  Always.  Without Ceasing.  Always.  Pray.  This is how we develop relationship with God; prayer is a conversation.  I promise when I was younger and used to hear the old folks say that, I had no idea what they were talking about!  But, I'm older now, and I get it, I truly do.  As your prayer life grows, it will indeed be a conversation - He will speak to you.  You just have to learn to listen and be open to the many ways in which He speaks.

2) Read the Word.  Not just a cursory, random glance, but really read/study.  I've found some really nice devotionals and bible studies on Pinterest; you can do a search by subject matter and that is one way to get going with it.  

3) Believe.  There's a song that goes "what God has for me, it is for me."  You can hear it here.  You have to truly and deeply within your heart of hearts believe that.  No matter what it looks like now.  If He told you it was yours, it's yours.  But you have to activate your faith and not falter in your belief in His word.  This is hard and I stumble here all the time.  Just being honest... I always want to believe, but then something will happen that causes me to doubt and I have to start all over again.  I'm sure I have missed out on some things just because I faltered at the last minute.  

4) Be committed.  To prayer, to reading/studying, to your faith, in your church attendance, in your tithing - whatever it is, be committed to doing it.  Your commitment should be evident; no one should question it.

5) Stand!!!  Every time I hear this, I think of my good friend's mother, Auntie Barbara, singing this at church when I was younger.  "After you've done all you can, you just stand."  Here's the Donnie McClurkin song, because it is such an awesome song, here.  What does that mean?  It means, get out of the way, sit yourself down somewhere, get rooted and stay there.  Stand does not mean do nothing; it means to do whatever God has told you to do while you wait on Him to bring his promises to you to fruition.  Also a thing I struggle with, because I'm impatient.  But I've learned, just as I'm sure many of you have, that He has a way of making you sit still. I'm just saying... Remember, His Fruit, His Season...

So my friends, if being grounded requires us to activate faith, prayer, commitment and to stand in order to receive things that we don't deserve, how does it happen?  Because surely we all know that we don't deserve anything, right?  The answer is simply this:  Grace.  It is by his Grace that we can even get in the position to be grounded to receive His blessings of our faith and finances.  If you missed those, you can read them here (Grounded in Faith and Grounded in Finances).  

So, my question for you is this:  Who is ready to be like a tree, firmly planted and bearing fruit????  I know I am!  If that's you too, Holla @ Darvi and let's talk about it!  As always, Be Blessed!!!

xoxo 

I've been grounded...

Hello, my blog framily!  It's been a long time...  there's been so much that has happened and I've been just bone-tired!  I'm going to have to find a better system (says the woman who is beginning this post on her phone on the train)...  Can you believe that it is the end of February and we are careening towards March??? With March comes Easter, daylight savings time and, dare I say it- spring.   Spring is my absolute favorite time of the year!!!  It's kinda hard to believe that (as I am currently in the midst of a winter storm that dumped about 7 inches of snow in my corner of the world), but 'tis true!

I hope that all has been well in your corner of the world, and that life has been treating you kind.  I won't dawdle as I have lots of catching up to do, so without further ado...

Grounded.  The title of this post.  When most people think of grounded, there are probably two definitions that come to mind. Number one, grounded meaning punishment, as in what I impose on the Tween and Teen from time to time (apparently not nearly enough, but that's a subject for another day).  And then there's the second one, grounded meaning rooted. This post concerns the latter...

About a month ago, I was feeling a bit anxious about something (I can't recall exactly what at the moment, which is probably a good thing) and I was praying but still anxious.  Out of the blue, my birthday twin, Charlotte, inboxes me on FB with a link to two you tube videos, telling me to watch them because there was something in them for me to hear and that she was being obedient.  I clicked the first link and it took me to a TD Jakes sermon video, "Grace to be Grounded."  Even though I was in the office, I switched off Pandora and and tuned in.  It was the sermon he preached on Watch Night Service (New Year's Eve 2015), and let me tell you, I had forgotten how well the Bishop can break down a topic!  We'll get to that one later (I promise), but within the sermon, he indicated that he was going to be doing a series in the month of January about being "grounded."  I quickly went to the second video, "Grounded in Finances," and then on to the third video, "Grounded in Faith," which is the one I want to focus on today.  All three videos had me in tears but they calmed my spirit at the same time.  So thank you again, Charlotte, for being obedient!  And thank you God for speaking to me through those sermons.

I want to start by talking about being Grounded in Faith, because after hearing that one, it truly is the cornerstone of this whole faith walk thing, and I think everyone should "get" it. So, if you will stick with me for a minute, I'm going share my observations of Bishop Jakes January 10th sermon - "Grounded in Faith."

The text was found in Colossians 1:17-23, with particular focus on verse 17 (Bishop used the NIV version):  "He is before all things and in him all things hold together."  

We must be rooted to God, who holds us together, and He wants to be before all things in our lives.  Translation:  We should do NOTHING without God.  God killed the guilty sin so that we could live; He sent Christ to die in our name so that we could live in His name. Being a Christian is to rest in the shed blood of Jesus which saved us from the wrath of the law. Through Christ's death and resurrection, He is able to present us holy and blameless in His sight because we got his purity and righteousness.  The crux of the Bishop's message was this:  If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, you will see fruit.  If you are on the fence, you won't see fruit. (I'll stop right here and have a transparent moment, because at the time, I was having some faith issues and I really needed to hear this message).

Bishop Jakes went on to clarify what it means to be rooted in faith, being clear on these things:

1) in whom you believe- deity

2) in what you believe - doctrine:  (see Hebrews 6:1-3:  preeminence of Jesus; baptism; laying on hands; resurrection' eternal judgment, even though Believers have escaped- Romans 8:1)

3) instrument of faith - how do we get faith????  (see Romans 10:17 - faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God).

- if you are alive in Christ, you should crave His Word

- Right here Bishop Jakes made a statement that should've stopped his whole congregation: people like coming to church to hear the music, because music doesn't demand that they make a decision (Ouch!), which means they have a dead spirit

- When your spirit is alive, you want to eat; He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall never thirst

- 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 - the preaching of the cross is the power of God

- God will show the world that He is your God by how He blesses you - He will give you a testimony!

And last but not least, remember that God has a purpose for your family (and He will sustain you for His purpose even during your stupid decisions).

Do you see why I was so excited about this sermon???  I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what was going on at the time, but I do know that I was having some doubts as to whether I was consistently moving in the direction of God's purpose for my life and was having some anxiety about finances and the future.  This sermon calmed my spirit and gave me hope...

I realized (somewhere around that time or in the weeks since), that I sometimes live an anxious life, despite my best efforts to stay calm and to remain grounded in my faith.  And truth be told, I feel really bad about that.  I don't like feeling like I don't believe or trust in God, especially when He keeps showing me, time and time again, that He will take care of ALL of the things I need in my life. But the reality is, I still get anxious sometimes when I can't see how things are going to work out.  What can I say?  I am just a work in progress...

And I am working on that, day by day, one day at a time.

So how does this grounded in faith thing work in the real world?  You know, after you leave church and you're sitting at the kitchen table late at night after an enormous fight with your ex-husband in front of your kids, and you are looking at a stack of bills, wondering where the money is coming from to pay everything, just worrying in general just how things are going to work out - that's what I'm talking about.  How do you remain grounded in your faith during those times?  The answer:  you pray, you read the Word, and you listen (ok, sometimes during that process you cry and you might even search Pinterest for an appropriate quote or scripture for the situation - just telling you what I do).  The truth is, there is no magic pill or combination of things that will suddenly renew your faith.  But I can tell you this, when those hard days come, you will have to dig deep with everything that is within you and find any shred of faith you can and cling to it!  The Word says:  "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you."  Matthew 17:20 (NIV)  Have you ever seen a mustard seed?  They are pretty tiny...

God is the same yesterday, today and will be the same tomorrow.  It's us who change. When we became believers, we became part of His family based on our belief in what Christianity is all about. Being grounded is hard and ongoing work - we can't forget who He is or what He has done.  We must trust and believe that He will always honor His Word, if we do what we're supposed to do.  It doesn't take a whole lot of faith, just a little bit (reminds me of a little song the children's choir used to sing at my grandmother's church, "faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith.  you don't need a whole lot, just use what you got, faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith).  

So some parting scriptures for your anti-anxiety arsenal:

Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Matthew 6:33 - Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I hope that this encourages you and you can check out Bishop Jakes' Grounded in Faith sermon here; I'm sure I didn't do it justice...

I missed you - Holla @ Darvi and just say "hi."  Say a prayer for my sister, Kim, she is facing some health challenges at the moment, but we are believing God for a complete healing. Be Blessed and have a great weekend!

xoxoxo 

Expect the Great (Trust - Part I)

Hello, blogland!  So I had written a really great post, full of Darvisms and my computer blinked and I lost it.  I have been working on it for over an hour; it didn't even save part of the draft... so I'm a bit bummed; I'm not sure I can recreate it. *sigh* 
But here goes:

I hope that 2016 has been kind to everyone thus far. It is off to a great start in my world (save this bogus computer issue a few minutes ago); nothing tangible has changed, but I'm feeling magnificent and excited about the new and great things in front of me for 2016! (Again, save for this bogus computer issue... windows 10, we are not friends right now! And while I'm at it, Blogger either; you are autosaving this post, but saved NOTHING from the one I lost... just saying).

The kiddos are back in school and I've started another contract project.  Today is the Tween's birthday; she's 12 now!  Which reminds me that I have to do some awesome mommy stuff for her later today...  Life is good!  I got a new planner system (motivated by one of my gifts from my 2015 Secret Sistah) and I spent Saturday setting it up in the pretty new binder that I purchased for it (I love office and organizing products).  Wanna see?  Here you go (it is a project life, Becky Higgins planner):

Isn't it cute????  I'm a sucker for a new planner, even if I already have one, go figure!  And notebooks.  I love notebooks...  But I digress.

I'm sure everyone is still basking in the glow of a new year and all of the new expectations, hopes and dreams that come with it.  This is the time of year when most people, myself included, sit down and try to plot a course for the year of goals that they would want to see accomplished, both big and small.  I like to set out my goals in written form, in what I used to call my "Plan 180," but I think that name will change this year.  My "plan" encompasses each and every aspect of my life and I commit to accomplish certain things each year.  This year I will take the additional step of selecting one goal from each category to share with my Journey Sister, who will be my cheerleader and drill sergeant as I strive to accomplish them this year.  Whatever you call them, resolutions, intentions, plans, goals, dreams, I highly encourage you to write them down for a visual reminder throughout the year and also so that you can check them off as you reach them.

Are you a dreamer?  I am.  I have too many dreams to count; they scare me sometimes, because I feel that I don't have enough time to even attempt to flesh them all out, let alone try and accomplish them.  Some have been in my head for many years, others are new. The thing is though, that they don't go away.  Even if I put them out of my mind for awhile, eventually, they come back.  

At watch night service, on the dawn of the new year, Pastor Singleton spoke about Joseph, the great dreamer.  The scripture text was Genesis 50:22-26, Exodus 13:19.  For those of you unfamiliar with Joseph's story, here it is in a nutshell (you can also read it in beginning with Genesis 37):  Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob and his favorite.  Because Joseph was his favorite, Jacob made him a coat of many colors.  His brothers hated him (haters!).  At the age of 17, Joseph had several dreams that he shared with his haters, in which he dreamed that he would reign over them and they would bow down to him.  The haters didn't like that at all.  One day his haters plotted to kill him. His brother Reuben was the only one who had compassion and urged the others not to kill him but to throw him alive into a pit instead (and he planned to go back and rescue him later).  The haters/his brothers, ended up selling Joseph to some merchants who were traveling to Egypt. When he got to Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar and because the Lord was with him, he prospered and was promoted.  A misunderstanding with Potiphar's wife landed him in jail (she wanted him and he refused so she lied on him); Joseph again prospered and was promoted while in jail. Joseph had the gift of dream interpretation and he interpreted dreams while in prison.  News of his gift got to Pharaoh, who summoned Joseph to interpret a dream, and eventually promoted Joseph over everything in the land.  As time passed, a famine struck the land and the only food was in Egypt.  Joseph's haters, I mean brothers, were placed in the position of having to come to Egypt to try and buy food.  At the end of the day, just as was predicted in the dream Joseph had many years ago, Joseph reigned over his brothers and they had to bow down to him (they didn't recognize him, although he recognized them and he never took money from them but gave them more than they asked for and returned their money to them).  Joseph eventually reconciled with his family and all was well (see Genesis 50:19-21).  

What can we learn from Joseph's story?  I'm glad you asked (straight from Pastor Singleton's message):

1) Whenever you have a dream, there will always be someone to throw dirt on it and try to extinguish it (ie, haters);

2) Dreamers go through hard times, hurt and humiliation (see Genesis 37: 5-8);

3) Joseph was elevated so that he could bless others; his story shows that faith cannot be destroyed by circumstances; 

4) Joseph never let his success make him lose sight of his greater expectations;

5) At the end of his life, he made his family promise not to leave his bones in Egypt (the land of his death), but instead to take them to the promised land (the land of his promise);

6) We must not only keep the faith, but we also have the responsibility to pass on the faith to others; and

7) What God has promised must come to pass; keep the faith and keep passing it on!

What does all of this mean???  Time for the Darvisms now:   For you (and myself, I am definitely talking to myself today), don't be afraid to dream big.  If God has given you a big dream or several big dreams and nothing around you looks as if any of it is possible, think again.  Keep your faith intact, no matter what it looks like.  Scripture says, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:14.  Keep moving!  Don't dim or lower your expectations because of what it may look like around you.  God took a truly negative circumstance for Joseph by his haters and turned it around for the future good of not only Joseph, but for his entire family.  And through it all, Joseph had compassion for his brothers, even after what they did to him and he used his success and position to bless them.  I challenge you to expect the great from your 2016 plans, intentions, goals and dreams, as God has given them to you, and keep pressing forward!  Here's a song to motivate you, Expect the Great by Jonathan Nelson, you can listen to it here.  (One day I will figure out how to embed the video in the post...)

So as I rush to finish my 2016 plan, I will be praying over all that I have written and asking God to bless the dreams He has put inside of me.  I fully expect the great and plan to have a praise party as I celebrate each and every blessing this year!  What about you - do you expect the great in 2016???  You know the drill - Holla @ Darvi and let's talk about it!  If you share something, I will add it to my prayer log to touch and agree with you on your great this year!  As always, be blessed!

xoxoxoxo

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!