The Word We Give Someone Else is For Us First

Attempting to keep up with this blog has proven to be a tad bit difficult. I am in a place where I am questioning the promises the Lord gave me. You see, my life has been one traumatic experience after another. The last one just ending a year ago. I have moments where I still question if what He said was really for me. So, I decided that I would recycle some messages He had given me while I was in the midst of my most recent storm. The problem with that is, you can convince yourself sometimes, after you've delivered the message that it no longer applies to you. That is so not true. These messages are just as relevant today as they were 3 years ago when He started giving them to me. These messages where for then to help me get through the storm and they are for such a time as this when my faith is beginning to waiver.
The Lord knows my commitment to Him. I have sacrificed and let go of so much to follow Him. I haven't gone back, I have no intention of going back, but sometimes.......sometimes I need to be reminded of my purpose. The very thing I despise to do, is the very thing He has called me to do. The very things I find difficult to do, He will use in a mighty way. My biggest obstacle in my journey is myself. People keep telling me to not grow weary in my well doing. That if I faint not......you know all of the "hold on" messages and the "you're so close to a breakthrough" quotes.
I feel like it took me an eternity to even realize my purpose. That I did the Jonah for far longer than I should have. I want to make up for lost time....and still I wait. His time is not our time always glides from someone's tongue as I check my watch over and over and peek out the window to see if the UPS man is coming to deliver my package. It seems as if I'll have to wait another eternity  before His promises are manifested in my life. Giving the enemy plenty of time and opportunity to whisper, "it's never going to happen," "it's taken so long it isn't even relevant anymore," "you're going to be one of those old women that are suppose to teach the younger women, except for the how to love their husbands part because you've never had one." The hurtful words and snickers are almost constant, ringing in my ear of all my failures. Using my "daddy issues" to remind me of all the seemingly broken promises from the Lord.
I said all of that to say. I had decided to fake it 'til I make it and post those old messages and I was stopped dead in my tracks. He had to remind me of where I was when I wrote them as opposed to where I am now. He had to remind me of who I use to be as opposed to who I am now. I figured the messages He gave me would help someone else while I attempt to refocus and get my mind right. When the truth is really that I just needed those simple reminders to get back on track. I will eventually post those messages, but for right now, I think I'll just focus on reconnecting with my Father. To get back to the time and place when He spoke to me mouth to mouth and I could hear Him as clear as if he were flesh and blood standing right next to me.
With anything in our ministries, as we go forth, it's for us first. He's using your past to save someone's future. So never forget, the things you see in other people were once a reflection of you and if the message you share with someone else doesn't cut you as well, you need to go back to the Father for a reevaluation; because the word we give someone else is for us first.

Confronting your past, to propel your future

     In writing this book, I had to confront my past. I've never been ashamed of it. I always knew that everything happened for a reason, I just didn't know to what end. I didn't like all of it, some of it lead me down dark paths, but the Lord always called me back. People always told me that I was stronger than I thought. That someone else who had gone through what I'd been through would not have survived it. That was evident in the many people I'd met who had completely gone to one extreme or another as a result of some trauma or hurt. And for some reason they were always attracted to me. I could not figure out for the life of me, why all of my friends, in my opinion, were bat-crap crazy! I kept asking the Lord why I kept encountering these people.
     It wasn't until I had children of my own that it started to make sense. My daughter had friends that had major issues. They were always at my house and always wanted to talk to me. WTW!!! Lord, will I ever get away from people who can't handle their own lives? I know, that sounds really harsh, but years of not having really close friends made me cynical and unable to be sensitive to others issues. I didn't have anyone that I could rely on like that, no one to dump all my issues on. So why do they keep coming to me? My issue with not wanting to deal with other peoples issues kept me from realizing my purpose in the kingdom, when dealing with other peoples issues is part of my purpose. I talked to them and told them what they needed to hear. I tried to help them as best I could. Of course, teenagers will always do what feels good to them. My own children didn't and don't listen to me. It's not until something happens and they realize the truth in what I had told them previously, that they get it. Sometimes people will only get it when something happens. My main goal in raising my children was to train them up in the way they should go and to keep them from making unnecessary mistakes through my own experiences.
     Not just with my children and their friends, but with people I encountered on the job as well. I didn't realize the scope of my influence on the job, lol. I was a hot mess, but in all the people I encountered, didn't try to make them a hot mess too. I wanted everyone else to be better. Well, let's tell the truth, most of us use to be a hot mess. Some of the people I encountered were a hotter mess than me. I tried to influence them to be better. My hot-messed-ness was on a whole different level. Most women I encountered were in toxic relationships and wouldn't let go, I refused to be in a relationship at all, lol. My claim to fame was never settle down, never let em see you sweat, don't stick around long enough for them to catch feelings, lol. Hey! I'm not anything if I'm not honest!
     So imagine my surprise when it all started coming together. When the frozen layers of my heart began to melt and I actually wanted to help the youth. I mean, it's bad enough that we don't learn the truth about religion and God until we're adults, but it's even worse that the youth of this generation aren't even learning the little that we learned as youth. Grandmothers are so much younger these days and are still out clubbing and kickin it to truly be grandmothers. Instead of teaching the babies, they are drinking and smoking with them. No one attends church because they have witnessed so much death and destruction, hardly anyone believes there is a God anymore.
     I have seen the same traumas I endured as a child in a lot of these young girls today. They don't have to say a word, their behavior speaks for itself. I want so badly to tell them that this is not who they are meant to be. That there is Man that loves them unconditionally and will never hurt them or leave them as many of their fathers or male relatives have. Of course you have to gain their trust first, though. These children trust no one. They feel like everyone is against them and no one knows what they've been through. Trust me, been there, done that, bought a t-shirt. They have no clue how many people are out there that truly understand and want to help, because no one wants to confront their pasts. No one wants to admit or share the horrors of their youth to help this generation survive.
     Then you have parents that get angry when you try to help their child. They have no intentions on doing it, but don't want you to do it either. What ever happened to it takes a village? You can't say two words to someone's child without them wanting to come and fight you like we're still in high school and when their child starts getting into trouble it's either a major shock or it's like they knew it would happen eventually. WTW!!! We have to do better by our youth. This generation will not be the future if we don't help them survive the present. That means, swallowing our pride and sharing the wisdom we gained from our elders or even trial and error. However you obtained it, it must be shared. Give this generation hope for a future.
     I heard someone say that this generation is just lost, that there is no hope for them. I refuse to believe that. The way the world is right now, we have to band together so that this generation can make it better. That starts with a firm foundation. It may not come from home, it may have to be you. Our teachers have lost hope in our youth, they are unwilling to continue to try. It's become too much dealing with these unruly children and their ghetto parents. The system has broken down and failed our teachers who were the second line of defense for these kids. So now where do they go? What do they do?
     What will you do? Can you admit to being broken, relive your past by telling your story to empower someone else? Can you imagine the blessing that will flow when you embrace your past to help someone else? No one ever said it would be easy. Life was not and is not easy for most of, but it can be better......for you and the lives you touch.

The Wait

     It's been approximately 5 or 6 years since my radical transformation, the beginning of the prophesies over my life and the revelation of who I was to become, began. And still I wait. It has, by no means, been easy. I have fallen off more times than I care to admit and most of the time was spent fighting the inevitable. I've been discouraged and disappointed, but still I wait. What keeps me while I wait? The fact that I know my purpose and the great things it will do in the Kingdom. I don't know if anyone else has struggled with finding themselves or their purpose in life as much as I have, but the fact that I finally know gives me great peace.
     For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Habakkuk 2:3 Wait, according to Strong's means to long for. So if we rewrite this scripture, it says, For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, long for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
     During my childhood, I felt so isolated. Moving around constantly, never having a stable home or friends that would be there through it all, kept me in a constant state of loneliness. Growing up SDA did not help at all. It made me stand out like a sore thumb and kept me the butt of jokes because I couldn't hang out and party on Friday nights like everyone else. Through everything I'd been through, I questioned why I was still here. A common question of most people that have been through horrendous situations. I tried to assimilate myself into my surroundings and I did, but only for a time. It was like the Lord truly had a hedge around me. I did my dirt, but I never got in as deep as some of my friends and if I did, He always had a way of escape (that apparently, I took). I felt like I was in a bubble, because for all the dirt I did, I don't think I ever felt dirty. Does that make sense? No matter what I did, I could never fully become the people I was surrounded by. He never let me go down the rabbit hole. Even when I was being self destructive, He held on to me and I never knew why. I couldn't figure it out. I always wondered why I couldn't do all the things that my friends were doing or even the things that I wanted to do that they weren't. It wasn't until I was an adult, that I realized I had been set apart for a reason.
     When He began to reveal who I was to become, He also revealed how the transformation hadn't just taken place in my adulthood. He showed me all the things that had happened to me that made me who I am and how He would use it all. I was afraid at first, still unsure exactly where He was going with all of it. I've never been one to want to be on the front lines, I wanted to be a medic. I wanted to be one of the ones in the background that helped patch up those on the front lines and send them back out into battle. Ha! Little did I know! A sprinkle of this tragedy, a smidge of that disaster, and a dollop of some pain where all steering me toward His final product. I am excited to see the final reveal. When all of His promises are made manifest. That's what keeps me while I wait.
     I have gone through stages of waiting. I began to scrapbook. That was definitely a gift I had no clue I possessed, but it served as something to keep me occupied and out of trouble. At the time I began to scrapbook, I was teetering on the edge of the old and newer me, leaning more towards the old me. But thankfully, my God-sister introduced me to it and it held my attention for 3 three years. Making things that were divinely inspired gave me peace and kept my mind from being idle. Starting this blog years ago was one of the stages, but it was not yet time. How do I know? Well, my house was broken into and all three laptops were stolen and I never got them back from the police, (no surprise there).  Losing my parents and all my worldly possessions  allowed me to seek the Lord more deeply. I had nothing else to do. He would give me message after message that caused me to study the Bible more than I have ever studied anything in my life. I didn't study that hard for my NCLEX. Upon going back to church, I was forced to share these messages. I say forced because this was one of the times that I was fighting in vain against what I felt the Lord was leading me to. Anyone else see the progression?
      Now almost 5 or 6 years later, He is still giving me messages that I share here on the blog I started years ago. A blog that was initially started to share my scrapbook creations with the world. And still I wait. I wait for the manifestation of the things He promised me. My Adam, whom He told me would be the complete fulfillment of my purpose. No, He didn't say he would complete me, but this, what I'm doing now is only part of what God gave me to do. My Adam will have the other half of another ministry He gave me and I can't wait!!! Am I still skeptical about marriage, of course. Coming from a broken home and seeing dysfunctional marriages my whole life, I still wonder if I'm even capable, but if the Lord said it I believe it. And still I wait.
     Take a look at your life, ask the Lord to reveal His plan for you and watch how He breaks down the path you had to take to get to where we are now and where He plans to take you from here. God is awesome that way. All we have to do is ask and then wait. Waiting does not mean being idle. Let's get that straight. It means have faith that the Lord will do what He said He will do while He prepares you to receive it. In the meantime, do whatever He has given you to do now. It all serves as steps to the newer you. The you, you were meant to bein Him. Your job could be part of the steps. Ever wonder why He placed you in the profession you're in. Your children or your marriage could be what He wants you to focus on right now. Just ask, wait for the answer, and keep your hands out of it once He reveals it. Don't try to "help" Him move things along. He has a perfect plan and us in our sinful state can do nothing even close to what He can.
      

Not now doesn't mean never

     Over the course of the past couple of years, so much has been revealed to me. The problem with that, however is that no one ever tells you that prophesy and revelation may not be for right now. We know the Lord does not operate in time. We know that His time is not our time, but they never tell you what that really means. It took a while for me to realize that whatever was revealed to me doesn't mean that it's for right now.
      Disappointment had kicked in well before I realized that this was the case. I was impatient, wondering why the stuff I was told and saw wasn't coming to pass. I will not lie, I was throwing a tantrum like a two year old. I was praying and asking the Lord what is the problem, doubt started setting in. Maybe I didn't hear or see what I heard or saw. In the midst of all the visions, dreams, and prophesies, I had begun to envision what should happen according to what I had seen and heard. Pretty much convincing myself of how I thought things should go. They say, the Lord never does anything the way we expect Him to, because He knows the end. He knows the way things should go to get to an expected end. Our limited minds can not fathom the things of the Lord, but we spin these fantasies according to our limitations as humans and end up disappointed. Sometimes, the Lord is just waiting for us to let go of our preconceived notions, for us to exhaust our limited resources and brain power before He moves. It's not to be mean, but He needs us to realize that it was Him. That it was not our in our own strength that this thing was accomplished.
     I had to refrain from taking things into my own hands. We have a tendency to want to help God and mess up the whole thing. Causing whatever it was to be postponed or take another route. It's confusing being a new creature in Christ. I've always been a Christian, but I was never this in tune with my Father. So you hear people say wait on the Lord and then you hear other people say the Lord helps those who help themselves. When does which one apply. How do you know when to just wait and how do you know if you should move in faith?
     Well, waiting for your spouse requires that you both wait and help yourself. Now that doesn't mean go out dating everyone or interviewing for the position. Let me explain. I am a home body. I prefer to be at home doing whatever it is I feel like doing whether it be writing, reading, or doing something mindless like watching YouTube. My best friend told me that my Adam was not going to just walk up to my door and say, "Hi, The Lord sent me, I'm your Adam."   Now, let's not get it twisted, the Lord could do that if He wanted to, but in most instances this is not the case. So, in order to meet my Adam, not find, because he should find you, I need to get out more. Have I done it? No. The Lord knows my heart, He knows my circumstances. Working midnights, I just have no energy to do much of anything  during the day except sleep. Could I find another job? of course. Could I start working day shift, most definitely, but that is not what is conducive for my household. I need to be available during the day. I have teenagers that are always on the go. They need a ride here or a ride home. There's no rest for the weary, lol
     Anyway, So even in waiting for the Lord to send my Adam, I've been told that I have to get out of the house and become more active. This is not the case for everything you're waiting on. Sometimes you can move in faith, make the wrong move and be disappointed when it doesn't work out. Well, did the Lord tell you to do it? It's a tad frustrating trying to navigate this whole faith thing. The key, however, to being successful is to stay in constant communication with our Father, stay in His word. Constantly seek Him and He will reveal things to you. Just keep in mind, that He gives no time frame. He doesn't give specific dates. There are a lot of variables that play into prophesies and visions coming to fruition. For one, we have free will. Like I said before, sometimes we can try to "help" the Lord and mess things up. I learned that we have to want His perfect will. If we pray for something smaller than what He has for us, that's what we'll get because you've put the Lord and His awesome power in a box. We have to want the great things He has for us, believing that our all powerful, all seeing Father has THE BEST for us, not just mediocre.
     Sometimes, you will feel like He isn't speaking to you at all. It could be that you're not sitting still to listen or He's waiting for you to do what He told you before. We just have to trust that even though we don't hear from Him, that He is still moving on our behalf. What we want, may not be what's best for us at that time.  Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14., because not now doesn't mean never.

My Adam and His list

     I was told years ago to make an Adam list. A list containing all the qualities I would like in my husband. The Lord did say write the vision make it plain. So, that's what I did. I must say though, that my initial list was just a rough draft. Superficial, in accordance with my limited exposure. I say that because, as I grew in Christ, my list began to change. As I came in contact with different people I saw things that I hadn't even known were desirable, because I had not been exposed to them. My list transformed much to my surprise. Besides that, I had gone from never wanting to be married, to knowing that I would be married and fighting it, to I actually think I might want to be married. So as my perspective changed, so did my list.
     My Adam has no specific color, race, or creed. He needs only to be a man of God, who believes whole heartedly that Jesus died on the cross for us and rose again. That He is the master of the universe and without Him we can do nothing. He has to know who he is in the body of Christ, his purpose in life, and know for a fact that I am meant to be a part of his purpose and vice versa. Physically, I would prefer him tall...taller than me just isn't saying much and despite my own extra fluffiness, I prefer that he have a nice physique. Call it what you want, I'm just being honest!!!
     Have you taken a good look at your list? Do you even have a list or will you be satisfied with just whatever and whomever? Have you become so desperate that you will chose anyone to escape being alone; to get to know yourself, your purpose in the kingdom, and what you have to bring to the table?
Do you know who you are? Do you know what needs to be worked on within yourself that should probably be done before your Adam arrives?
     Oh! Let me address why I call him my Adam. He can be your Boaz, but give me my Adam. Everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve. If you don't, read the whole Bible and you'll find it. Adam was made first, in the image of God and naked. Set in a beautiful garden, given one of the most important jobs that would affect the entire world even now. Even after those tasks were completed, the Lord decided that Adam should not be alone. He put Adam to sleep took a rib from his side and created Eve. I don't know about anyone else, but that fact alone is powerful to me. The first marriage took the phrase two become one to a whole different level. Adam and Eve never having earthly parents were made specifically for each other. No bad experiences or heartbreak to overcome. No baggage to pull from storage for show and tell, so that your spouse gets to know all of you and what they have to deal with. No walls to be broken down.
     They were in the midst of paradise to enjoy one another and their communion with the Lord. As we also know, the enemy slithered in and deceived Eve and convinced her to sin. We can sit and debate who's fault it was that sin entered the world, we can sit and wonder where Adam was that the enemy was even able to get to Eve, but if we do, we miss the bigger picture. The bigger picture is why did the enemy seek to destroy the first marriage? What was his motivation? Yes, Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, no longer to enjoy life stress free without physical labor; knowing the fullness of God providing all their needs and having a one on one relationship with Him, but there was a deeper motive behind the enemies actions.  One that would curse us for generations.
One that would touch every race, creed, and color; no respecter of persons, financial achievements, IQ,  or geographical location. This one simple deceit, kept anyone from even knowing the fullness of the blessing of marriage and its purpose, because we've been distracted by the blame game and the enemy knew if he could plant one rotten seed, it would sprout rotten fruit and disease the whole institution of marriage through the ages.
     Thusly, my Adam list had to change. Did I really write it out as a guideline for Jesus to follow? No. I was instructed to write it, but made me check my own motives, to gauge my faith, and what I truly believe is my calling and purpose in life. It turned into an outline for what I needed to concentrate on within myself. As I wrote and rewrote and wrote it again, the Lord would ask me specific questions pertaining to me. I was like Lord, this isn't about me, this is about the man you're sending to me. Then He asked, are these the same qualities that you possess? How can you ask me to send you someone with these qualities when you don't possess them yourself? Well! It was like cold water being splashed in my face on a cold, frigid night. It made me check myself. After the enemy decided at that very moment to remind me that I never wanted to get married anyway. Reminding me of all my flaws and issues I used as a barrier between me and marriage.
     I actually listened to his foolishness and slid back into my old way of thinking and in hindsight it didn't take much coercion. Which just let me know, I wasn't completely sold on the idea anyway. I found myself saying the things I had promised the Lord I'd stop saying when people asked if I was married. Because you know there is power in our words. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, what we speak is our reality. The enemy can't read your mind, he can only plant seeds of negativity there, it's not until you speak things aloud that he is privy to our inner thoughts and can act upon them.   
     I completely understand why people are looking for their Boaz. I've read the story, multiple times. I get it. Boaz finds Ruth in his field, gleaning after his handmaids. He takes a liking to her, despite knowing her story, that she was a foreigner and a widow. He was her kinsman redeemer. I know we would like for someone to take us as we are, see us and not our past, love us anyway. I even get that Ruth's life was planned and had already included meeting Boaz, that Ruth was Boaz's rib. I get all of that and I'm not delusional. I know that I am not like Eve. I was not born without sin, like Ruth, I have a history; but there was a purity in the creation of the first marriage. It was purely created for a purpose and while, since the introduction of sin, the purpose has changed, it makes it no less powerful.
     Needless to say, once again the Lord had an opportunity to show me, me. I didn't like it, but I understood. My book is the byproduct of this revelation. These blog posts are part of this revelation. I am passionate about the ministry He's placed on the inside of me and they are burning a hole in my gut, but patience is a virtue He's still working out in me, along with a multitude of other things. Apparently, I am still not ready, so I wait patiently and continue to write.
     I challenge you to make your own Adam/Boaz list, if you haven't already, and see if you measure up. If you don't ask the Lord to fix those things in you that you want to see in your mate. It's amazing how perfect we think we are until the Lord shows us otherwise. I thought I was perfect for me, considering I had no desire to be married. Even had He not said that I would be married, there were things in me that needed to change even to birth the things He put in me. So it was a two-fold assignment. Take the challenge! See how the Lord moves and watch miracles take place in your life.

Being a successful, Christian single in times of duress

     Oh boy! You know there are a lot of things that need to be navigated carefully when you are single. Fear, pain, loneliness.....There are snares waiting to ambush us around every corner, but particularly when it comes to painful situations.
     I lost both of my parents three years ago, three months apart and I was single. It would have been so easy to break my vow of celibacy or go back to drinking to cope, but there are ways to deal with this situations. By no means are they easy to pull off, but with lots of prayer and a made up mind, it can be done.
     I found myself saying, if I can be perfectly honest, that it would be nice to have someone to crawl into bed with. Not even on a sexual level, but in times of duress, we seek comfort. To have someone waiting with open arms to rub my hair and tell me it would be ok, that I would be ok, would have been a soothing balm to my bleeding heart. But! There was no one there offering that place of refuge and recharge. I felt like I had the entire world on my shoulders and had to be strong for everyone else. No different than what I had been doing, but now to add death to the ever growing heap on my shoulders was almost too much. It was awesome, all of the support as the memorials were going on, but what to do when everyone has gone home? What to do when there are no awkward conversations to ignore the pink elephant in the room? What to do when there is a trap awaiting you in the stillness? When the darkness holds more demons waiting to fill the spaces created with the loss? What to do when the only offers of comfort  come in the form of temporary physical escape from temporary people?
     You see people's true colors in the midst of your distress. What they offer, if they offer anything at all, tells you peoples true intentions. The crazy part about it, they say we teach people how to treat us. Did I teach these people that all I needed was sex and all would be right with the world? In the aftermath of death, what does sex have to offer? Nothing! Nothing but more emptiness and sometimes pain. You know you just have to wonder what is going on in peoples minds sometimes, lol. These are the times when a lot of people get the side eye, like Really!!! Are you really serious right now?
     People that you hadn't talked to or seen in ages come out the wood work telling you if you need anything, let me know. Well, you know I could go on about that but I digress. We're talking about how to cope. In the midnight hours, when I was wide awake, staring at the ceiling, all I could do was pray. I told the Lord all the issues I needed help with. I told him everything that I needed to be removed from me. I claimed promises, I yelled and screamed out my frustration. I told you guys, I've never been big on crying, lol, but I'm good at yelling and screaming.
     To keep from falling into the trap of meaningless sex, disappointing my Father and myself; I kept myself away from those type of situations. No, you can not come over. No, we can not go out. It seems a little extreme, but you have to know your limits. You have to have discernment as to people's true motives. Most men assume that vulnerability is an easy segway to getting laid. Be a shoulder to cry on, be supportive and listen and eventually she'll succumb to loneliness. Not even thinking that what women really need they are not willing to give. Not thinking that a women in distress needs more than just physical escape. Knowing full well that when they get what they want, they will disappear.
     That is why we as single women, not just Christian women, but women in general have to know who they are and why they are. In order to fend of the attacks of the enemy, in order to recognize the snares set before you, we have to know our triggers. The enemy knows. He knows what you like, he knows how to push your buttons. Watch and pray. Keep yourself from situations that may cause you to stumble or backslide into old habits.
     Find hobbies, visit new restaurants,  go back to school, be more active in church, travel....there are plenty of things that we can do as single women, to keep from being idle. The phrase, "idle hands are the devils playground" is so true. Sitting at home waiting for something to happen leaves too many minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years of idleness where the enemy can replay all your mistakes, highlight your failures and your flaws, remind you of all your losses. Who wants that? There are so many things inside of us that we haven't tapped into. We've spent too much time doing other things, avoiding being with ourselves that we have no clue who or what we really are.
     In those moments when you are going through, you have to look past, reach around, stretch beyond that moment to something greater. Tell the enemy to get behind you and press on. Look to the hills from which commeth your help, don't look toward man, because he will leave and deceive, disappoint and hurt you. The only thing that truly works when you are going through, is to seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Still Struggling

     Can I just be absolutely transparent and honest? I'm still struggling!
     People.....some people believe that once you give your life to Christ that you no longer sin. That there is an instant transformation. One of the reasons people call Christians hypocrites. I said one of the reasons, I know there are quite a few others, but for this post we're just talking about this instant change that is supposed to take place. This miraculous change where you become perfect, lol. Yes, I'm being facetious.
     Any Christian worth their weight will tell you it's a daily struggle. The enemy has studied us. He knows what we like, he knows what will tempt us. Have you ever noticed that whenever you make a decision to do something or not to do something, distractions and temptations start coming out of the woodwork. Yea, you'll know you're on the right path when that happens. The problem is, most people just give in. You have to fight your flesh and die to self daily. Everyday you have to pray for the strength to not give in or give up.
     It's a daily struggle for me not to curse someone out. It's a daily struggle not to go grab a bottle from the liquor store. It's a daily struggle not to go back to being a predator. Laugh if you will, I'm telling you my struggles.
     I still struggle to believe what the Lord showed me. I struggle daily not to give up and go back to the old me because it was easy, it was comfortable. It is a daily struggle, but evertytime I wake up the Lord has placed a song in my heart so, I sing it. Every day, it seems like Pandora knows the songs I need to hear at any part of the day, to keep me encouraged and uplifted. Everyday, someone reminds me how blessed I truly am and that for all the bad I endured, my greater will cover and surpass it all.
     So be not weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not! Galatians 6:9.
     More scriptures for overcoming temptation:
1 Corinthians 10:13
Matthew 26:41
James 1:13-16
James 4:7
Ephesians 6:11
James 1:2-4