Something on the inside…

Happy 2012..Let the Lord work on the inside!

Hey family!

It’s been another minute! I was compelled not to let 2011 go and 2012 come without a comment! 😀

So, a little while back, I watched a show* where a young girl was this close to relaxing her curly hair because a boy liked her hair that way. Long story short, it turned out to be a misunderstanding–of course all works out well in on TV! I got thinking..

First…chica even wanting to change her natural hair for some turkey…ya’ll ALREADY know how I feel about that—-BOO! Why we go all out to change who we are to please another human–especially one that God hasn’t sent you or told you is for another post!!  My main thought is around how easy we will change for people…and not so much for God.

While we do want to pay attention our physical appearance, we need to concentrate on what’s happening on the inside. Is God pleased with how we “look”? How much effort do we put into changing for Him?
When we live for Christ, we  should willingly take on His characteristics and personality in our words, thoughts and deeds. While this isn’t “natural” for us, it’s not impossible as God will give us the mind, strength and grace to please Him with the Holy Ghost and Word as our guide.  If we allow Jesus work on the inside, the “fruit” (love, peace, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, faith, meekness, self-control and goodness, Galatians 5:22) will show up on the outside. After all, salvation does indeed beautify us (Psalm 149:4) and will “attract” others to us, as well as “repel” folk that aren’t in a place to have prime time in our lives (by the way that’s a good opportunity to pray).

As 2011 ends and 2012 begins, let us continue to ask God to bless us to beautify the inner man with His word as we continue to bless Him and be who He’s called us to be in Jesus name!

My prayers go out for you all that God’s richest blessings be with you in 2012 and beyond!

Love,

Blen

*The show was Reed Between the Lines with Tracee Ross and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Currently, it airs on BET on Tuesdays…it also comes on at random times during the week.

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Rejoice with them that rejoice… right?

Hey family,

Welcome new followers–God bless you! And faithful followers, God bless you as well!! Years ago, I worked with a wise woman of God who used to quote Proverbs 10:22 when the Lord blessed her with something. She’d say aloud,  “the blessing of the Lord, it makes rich and He adds no sorrow to them”.  I used to chuckle when she said it, but I think I finally got why she said it.

Praise is what we do.

While we are happy to receive the blessings from God as He gives them, it is sometimes a challenge to share our news with people, in part because of the reaction we may receive. As we testify or people witness the blessings of God in our lives, ideally we’d like for them to be happy for us. Very often, people may comment adversely, causing us to not want to share how God made a way.

I raised my daughter as a single parent, which was a challenge to the third power sometimes–especially financially. The Lord saved me when she was 3, which did not  put me on Easy Street— He did send “ex-ree” 😀 blessings down on occasion. Whenever I wore something new to work, a former co-worker would notice and ask me “how can you afford that?” Oh, it gets better! Another ex-coworker–no, a manager once said, “I don’t know how you can dress all matched up like you do. I don’t have time to comb my hair. ” *insert hair blown back here* Of course that comment was a reference to me not being married , but “Sue-Ann” didn’t know it was with God’s grace getting my child and myself together every morning. On another occasion, the Lord blessed me to get some “accoutrements” on my car.  Someone went to my superior and said something like, “Blenda’s got money to do that– that’s not cheap!” Seriously?! Is that any way to react to someone received a blessing? Comments and attitudes like that are enough to make you stop testifying altogether.  But it shouldn’t.

Psalm 107:8 says, “oh that men would praise the name for His wonderful works to the children of men”.  And since He doesn’t add sorrow to His blessings, we should not be sorry or fearful for what He’s done, rather tell of His goodness! When Jesus healed and forgave folk in the Bible, they ran and told that thing to all who would listen!

Now it is true everyone can’t handle hearing about your blessings, so tune into God to find out who you can celebrate with and how to handle the naysayers. You may find the “negatory” folk are the ones who need to hear about God’s goodness and the plan of salvation.   If they are saved already, gently remind them that all that’s good and perfect comes from Him–and ask what good has happened in their lives lately.

Lest you think this post is about receiving all a ton of material things from God, that’s NOT my point. God has blessed me to grow spiritually, be healed emotionally, sustained physically, and be kept financially–and I am not sad about that at all!  With all that’s going on bad in the world, we really have a lot to be thankful– not sorrowful for.

Go ‘head and testify. I will praise God with you!

Be blessed all!

Blen

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As the (jive) turkey turns…

No time for gobble-gobble

Time for another episode of Jive Turkey-ville! I’ll tell this story with the names changed to protect the innocent (and guilty). 😀

“Ginger” has been baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost for over 10 years. Early in her walk, she was a little unstable (as most of us are) and ended up falling for a guy, “Tyrone” who was “churched”, but not saved. Ginger was so smitten, she nearly considered backsliding! Tyrone ended up breaking her heart anyway, which was likely God’s way of delivering her. Although she was hurt, Ginger knew it was best.

On occasion, Tyrone would call her to say “hi”. During one of these instances, he tried to get Ginger to let him come by for dinner (sigh, that tells you a lot right there). Disgusted, Ginger stopped answering the calls and they stopped for the next few years.

Recently, the phone rang–Ginger didn’t recognize the number, thinking it was a family member. Oh, gobble-gobble, now!!! Tyrone was on the other end!! Regretting she answered, Ginger was curt but polite. Tyrone was very pleasant, though, asking about family, what she’d been up to and things along those lines. Ginger found herself enjoying the conversation and thinking, hmmmm…maybe this dude has changed. He suggested lunch since he’d be in the area, so they agreed to Friday.

As Ginger read the Word that week, a couple of Scriptures came up.
“As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). Also, Joshua 9 where the usually astute leader and his men were fooled in part because they did not “…..seek council from the Lord” (v. 14b). She didn’t think much of the “warning” until talking with the Lord during her prayer time. The Lord was telling her NOT to meet up with Tyrone..rather invite him to church.

When he called to firm up plans, Ginger let him know that she couldn’t make lunch and invited him to church. He heartily agreed and she was nervous, but excited that a soul would be coming to the house of prayer.

Sunday came and “surprisingly” dude never showed up. Nor did he call to explain what happened or come to church on his own. And funny, the calls stopped, as well. Umm hmm…anyone else smell jive turkey?

OHHH… and going back to the firm-plans call, after Ginger declined, homeboy emphatically stressed he had taken that Friday off and assured her he could still meet her. We can’t say what was on his mind, but I wonder if he had a bag packed thinking he’d be spending the weekend with his sandal dangling off his toe..who knows? LOL!!!

So while Ginger was a little miffed that Tyrone was still up to his old tricks and how she almost fell for them, she realized she followed the voice of the Lord and stayed in His divine will for her. That’s a blessing!!

Bottom line: temptations will come, but the Lord provides a way of escape
(I Corinthians 10:13) to those who choose the use the hatch!

Be blessed family!

Blen

Pic courtesy of: http://www.joystickdivision.com/2008/11/happy_thanksgiving_from_joysti.php

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Don’t miss your “flight”

Hey family,

As a person who likes to fly, I am usually very fastidious about printing my boarding pass, getting to the airport early, getting my baggie with the liquids out, checking my gate, etc.

A couple of months ago, I was connecting to a flight in Chicago and had a 2 hour layover. I checked the gate location a few times, and proceeded to it, while getting breakfast and coffee enroute. Once I got to my gate, I had my nourishment and chatted with friends via telephone/text checked emails, social networked..just doing my thing.

When I saw the plane come in, I waited for the announcement so I could board. When the counter flight attendant started talking about customs forms, I got a little nervous…it turns out that flight was going to Toronto, CANADA! Apparently there had been a gate change and I didn’t hear it/check again. Thank God, the new gate wasn’t far away and I made my flight–I was the very last one to board. As I sat down, the Lord spoke to my heart and put my faux paux in a spiritual lesson.

Family, I was so busy with other things, I didn’t pay attention to anything that may have told me that my gate had changed. I didn’t hear an announcement, see that people had left the area or look up to quintuple check my gate information. Many times, we are so caught up with the cares of this life, we don’t hear or heed the small, still voice of God. We don’t double check His word about the things we should be doing (or not). And we let people (rather the spirit that operates within people) to grieve and vex our spirits, rather than going to God in prayer about it. These actions can cause us to miss the blessings of God. Even more grave, we can miss Heaven or the rapture!

Keep the lamps trimmed…

Remember the parable of ten virgins from Matthew 25:1-13? Five were foolish and five were wise. While waiting for the Bridegroom, the foolish ones let their lamps go out rather than keeping them trimmed with oil, as the wise ones did. Consequently, when the bridegroom came, the foolish virgins were left behind. I wonder if it was because they were too concerned with the cares of this world? Maybe they thought they had plenty of time to get right? Mayhap they were not listening/paying attention to the Lord’s voice and followed someone else’s? Walking in the flesh, rather than the spirit? We’ll never know, but we can learn from their error.

With all the noisome pestilence about us, it’s not always easy to stay Christ-focused, I admit. God provided ways to stay on high alert, though. Along with the baptism in Jesus name and the gift of the Holy Ghost, (Acts 2:38-39) reading God’s Word daily, committing it to memory and making an effort to practice living it will help us to hear God’s voice clearly. This way, we don’t follow a strange voice, but flee as Jesus said in John 10:5. Strange voices are full of trouble! The more we listen to God and practice following His word, the stranger the voice of the enemy will become.

Bottom line? As we journey on to our Heavenly destination, let us keep in mind that God gives wisdom liberally and wants us to use it liberally. Some things we do can be recovered from, while others can be life-altering and regrettable. Every word, thought or deed has a consequence and rather than making fleshly decisions that will cause pain, grief and suffering, let us walk in the Spirit so we suffer for the cause of Christ, reap blessings, God be glorified through us and we go back with Him when He comes.

Don’t let anything make you miss your flight! God bless you!

Blen

Flight pic courtesy of: http://www.examiner.com/cruise-travel-in-baltimore/fly-on-day-of-cruise-or-travel-early

Lamp pic courtesy of: http://www.finehomelamps.com/Hurricane-Lamps.html

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Declaring independence from “foolishmess”

Hey family!

It’s been another minute, I’ve been a little busy running, but it’s all good. It’s wonderful to be busy!! Ladies, I wanted to share a recent experience or maybe test that echoes the importance of prayer, and exercising wisdom so your are free from “foolishmess”.

I was at a conference at a hotel where a handsome guy from across the aisle and I made eye contact and smiled. Very nice. After the conference let out, as I went to run an errand, we ran into each other. He very politely asked what I was doing later, where I was going to eat and could he “holla at me” (hmm) after my errand. As I was going, the Lord gave me the foresight to pray before I talked to this guy. I told the Lord is this was going to be frippery, he needed to just go away.

As I made my way back from my errand, I heard “yo, yo, YO!” I turned around and it was Dude. Now remember, I’m quite grown; I haven’t seriously been called “yo” probably since I was in high school and didn’t like it then. After this, Dude asked me to call him. Not on his cell, but the room he was staying in!!! On top of that it was in hushed tones! Yall can draw your own conclusions on what Dude was thinking. What kind of monkeyshine is that? Men are still “ackin’” like this who are over age 35? Seriously?!

While I was disgusted by Dud, I mean Dude trying to run a game on me, I thank God for helping me to think and recognize the trick of the enemy. He likes to send a decoy you when you’ve been waiting and trusting God for your blessing. Let’s review the highlight–well lowlight reel in this guy’s game.

http://www.rocas.com.mt/cRubies.html1) Any man who really wants to approach a lady will NOT address her by “yo”. And a real lady won’t answer to that, either. That 106 and Park talk is not àpropos for a virtuous woman whose price is far above rubies (Proverbs 31:10).

2) When a man wants to get to know you, he will ask you for YOUR number and pursue you, rather than him telling you to pursue him. That’s against the natural order of things! By nature men are hunters and like a challenge. They don’t value anything handed to them! Genesis 29:20 says Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, but it seemed like a few days because of the love he had for her. That’s what I’m talking about!!!!

3) I know this is obvious, but is worth a revisit. No man should act like he’s worried about seeing you in public. I have heard, “oh he’s shy” and “sometimes you have to help them along”. I don’t discount shyness or advocate women giving men a hard time “just cuz”. There is NO excuse for Dude to be looking over his shoulder and whispering while talking to you. That’s code for married, engaged, attached, or scouting out his next prey.

Single ladies, I so know the exasperation of waiting to get a Boaz only to get a Bozo! Pray about your encounters with guys, so you’ll react with wisdom rather than emotion. James 1:5 says God gives wisdom liberally for the asking. Why make foolish, emotional decisions unnecessarily? Better to not get into a situation than get caught out and live with the consequences.

With God’s help, do NOT be the low-lying fruit that a man can come by and pluck off the vine. The sweetest fruit is at the top of the tree and requires some work by the person who wants it—it’s okay to let him work for it. Know your worth and trust that good and perfect gifts come from God (James 1:17). If the gift doesn’t fall in that category, it’s NOT from God—-reject it, keep waiting and renewing your strength like Isaiah 40:31 reminds us! Your blessing is enroute!

God bless you!

Blen

Pic courtesy of http://www.rocas.com.mt/cRubies.html

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