A lot can happen in 3 days...

Yes, I know it's no longer Easter, but, about that Easter post I promised... 

I hope that everyone had a great Resurrection Sunday!!!  The climax to the most important story that is the foundation of the Christian Faith!!! 

I saw this posted on Facebook and felt that it summed up everything about the conclusion to Holy Week:  

Yep, that's it, that's all.  For believers such as myself, Easter is the most wonderful time of the year!  That is because it is the conclusion of the prophecy foretold in the Old Testament: sure there's Christmas, which symbolizes His birth, and then there's Good Friday, which symbolizes His death, but without the Resurrection?  There's no glory!  And so it is the best part of the story!

Service was very lively on Easter; it was truly a celebration!  The praise dance ministry danced along to the choir's singing and it was out of this world!  Pastor Singleton preached a special message entitled "The Living Don't Belong Among the Dead."  The text came from Luke 24:1-12.  It is in that passage of scripture where we find the women going to the tomb to put spices on the body of Jesus.  The women weren't seeking Him; they thought that they knew where to find Him.  However, as we know, Jesus wasn't there...

Pastor Singleton noted that things are not always as they appear to be - Jesus appeared to be defeated, but He conquered death by rising again.  When He rose, He left the tomb because the living don't belong among the dead.  As believers, we are resurrected to newness of life.  We were born again, not to fit in again; we weren't saved to go back among the world.  Moreover, going to church is your covering for when you have to deal with the world (for those who think that they don't need to attend church).

So now for some real life application, right?  I know that Easter was over a month ago now and you might be scratching your heads as to why I decided to post this message anyway. Well, I'm glad you asked!  So just go with me here...

To sum up the image above and one of the main points of Easter weekend - a lot can happen in 3 days.  Sometimes, all it takes is 3 hours!  See, the Pharisees, the devil and his minions thought that they had won by crucifying Him.  But the fact of the matter is this, the plan had been set in place from the beginning of time and He had already won.  His resurrection was the physical manifestation of the sovereign power of God!  The resurrection was the conquest of death and that is good news for believers because we already know the end of the story.

Now, I have to admit, I'm not always so good at having hope.  Real talk?  I've been beaten down so much that there are times when I just expect the worst so that I won't be disappointed.  Which is a horrible, horrible way to see things, but sometimes that's how it is. There have been many times (too many to count) in the not to distant past that I have felt defeated concerning some situations in my world (just looking at the surface).  But that's not where my story ends (thank God!).  I will get a call, text, facebook message, read a post, a scripture or something that just speaks to my situation and it's like a match lit in a dark room.  It's not a whole lot of light, but it is light.  And in that light lies hope.  When hope burns, then prayer and praise go up.  And in 3 days (hours or minutes), what looked like a dismal and hopeless situation can be turned around!  That's my testimony; too many times to count!

So can you holla @ Darvi and share your 3-day testimony with me???? I love hearing your stories, they speak light into my life.  I have a lot to say, so get ready for the ride!  Be blessed!  xoxoxo

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