(10 min read)

Hey loves! Happy Wednesday! *sings in my Eminem voice* Guess who’s back? Back again! I am THRILLED to be back writing. I took way too long of an hiatus, but God got me back on track expeditiously. I pray that this post uplifts, encourages, and heals. Let’s jump into my first 2020 post!

And he saith unto them, “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 KJV

Merriam Webster: make (verb): to bring into being by forming, shaping, or altering material; lay out and construct.

In order to make something, you take items from their original state and “construct” them into what you are trying to create. For example, I am a crafter who especially loves wood designs. There’s something exciting about buying a plain piece of wood, sanding it, adding a stencil, painting, and designing it into a beautiful piece for the front door or yard. Before it becomes what you see as the finished product, the wood undergoes major altering, requiring sanding and smoothing before you can even begin to add stencils and paint.

The wood often makes me think about us, and how God will take us, sand off the negative things attached, the sharp or broken pieces, any blemished piece… then, He’ll smooth us out, preparing us for the things that He will then adorn us with.

I. COULD. SHOUT. RIGHT. THERE. When I think back to how God took me, sanded me down, smoothed me out, then added His will and His way to me, I can’t thank Him enough for allowing me to choose Him. For forgiving me, and deciding that I wasn’t damaged past repair. His goodness, His grace, His mercy…there is nothing that can compare!

Think about the process of sanding. To sand (verb) means to smooth or dress by grinding or rubbing with an abrasive (such as sandpaper) (Merriam-Webster). Grinding with an abrasive? I would imagine that if wood were human, it would be painful at points. Rubbing off layer after layer until you reach the point where the wood is ready to be decorated. Is that what we ultimately want from God, though? To be decorated in a way that shows His light on our lives. When we talk and think about God, we talk about His goodness and blessings. Oh, God blessed me with a husband! Oh, God blessed me with a successful business! Oh, God blessed me with a promotion and financial increase! As long as we have God’s decorations, we sing His praises. Then there are those of us who look at another person’s blessings from God and ask God to make us like them. God, make me like Jessica because she’s a boss, and was a millionaire before thirty! God, Stephen has thousands of followers and a platform, and I’m just trying to get like him. Oh, but wait, we can’t forget those of us who hate and say things like “God, how can you bless their marriage when he left me for her, and now I’m over here single and lonely, meanwhile they’re building a new house, and she didn’t even get him the right way.”

Am I in your business today? LOL!

I get it. We have been taught our entire lives that God is a miracle worker, a provider. He does everything good, and satan is in charge of everything bad. God gave us the job, but the devil is in the racist boss. God gave us a vision for our children, but the devil is in the friends who have them drinking and doing drugs. Then, as soon as God doesn’t fix it, we turn on Him. Yea, because everything is suppose to go our way, no adversity whatsoever, and if we do, we’re suppose to come out victorious because we are a child of God right? But what do you do when God’s definition of victory is not what you had in mind? What do you do when you prayed and prayed, and God didn’t come through like you expected?

That’s where we need to focus today. This whole children out of wedlock thing, growing up in all these broken families, then don’t even get me started on the wounded girls on facebook talking about “well my grandfather beat by grandmother and she stayed through all that just to be married and have a kid, everybody don’t want to be married, I can just have my baby and raise him or her as long as we amicable, I’m good.” Girl, shut up! Stop spreading these lies and passing it off to other women like that’s somehow empowering. Newsflash, your grandma probably didn’t pray about the man in the first place, made her own marriage, then wanted God to bless it. Be real, we all do it. We make our own way, then ask God to surround it, instead of us surrounding Him and His way, and letting Him give us what He wants. We stand up in church at the alter call and say we’re going to follow God, but we don’t admit that the follow is predicated on the direction. I hear so many people questioning God’s goodness or even His realness because they’re going through a tough situation. God is suppose to be a feel good magician. One who does it your way and in your time, and gives you your expected outcome. As soon as He doesn’t, you question Him and His authenticity, then go making your own life and trying to act like this is what God wanted for you. No. It’s what YOU wanted, God just stepped out the way and let you do you.

The reason I chose this bible verse is because God asked the disciples to follow Him and let HIM MAKE THEM, fishers of men. God does not mix words. He didn’t say “follow me and you’ll become a fisher of men.” He said follow me, and I will MAKE you a fisher of men. Making implies that they’ll be undergoing some forming, shaping, and alterations in order to become a fisher of men. If that’s the case for the disciples, is it fair to suggest that when you choose to follow God He will make you? Into HIS vision, not yours. That means that when you’re getting the job, He’s making you. When you’re laid off, He’s making you. When you get married, He’s making you. If your spouse leaves you, He’s making you. When you’re getting rich, He’s making you. When you have to file bankruptcy, HE’S MAKING YOU. Everything isn’t the enemy! Everything isn’t God turning His back on you! Some things He’s orchestrating to construct you. I can thank Him all day for His grace and mercy, and His many blessings, but when I became a woman, I realized I need to thank Him for his No. Shout when he sends pain. Rejoice when it’s a trial, because that means He’s not through with me! Some of you are praying for longevity in life, but fold up when you go through something. If God was through with you, you’d be coasting. But when He still has work for you to do, He makes you!

Stop crying over the pain. Stop being angry over the disappointment. Maybe God let that relationship die because you are suppose to be in the lineage of a King, Ruth! Maybe God let them betray you, so that your life would be an example of His glory working in you, Joseph! Don’t be so quick to give the devil glory as if the negative things are all his work. He has less power than you think! Not as clever as you think! The Bible says in 2 Corinth 2:11 “Lest satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of His devices.” We know the devil’s plan! He comes to steal joy, kill dreams, and destroy you. But God’s plans are never to harm you. You must not be so quick to get angry with God. As anger festers, it can be dangerous. A person will complete 5 years of sobriety, get fired from their job, and the devil will try to use that to destroy them. Playing with your thoughts, making you think God doesn’t love you. No! Maybe God wants to use you! Maybe if you had stayed on that job, you’d never be shifted to where He wants you. We need to stop looking at things like it’s the devil. We are not ignorant of His devices!

Take comfort that God will never…hear me… NEVER cause pain without purpose. Your thoughts, are not His thoughts! I was satisfied just having another baby and getting married, but God cut that relationship from my life in a swift, two-second motion. When I dried the tears, He gave me a vision too big to even believe. Only God could take me into that kind of destiny! But what if I kept chasing that relationship? Giving the devil credit, and thinking I’m fighting Him. I did that too you know? The ending of my first relationship cut me deep. DEEP. We have a son together. There was a girl he just could not let go of. Every time I turned around he was back cheating with this girl. I chased behind him for years. I prayed over him while he’d be sleeping in our home. I read proverbs 31, and walked through that house praying and calling on God to fix him. I fasted. I sewed big seeds of faith in the church. I did everything to fight the devil that I thought was coming to destroy my family. Guess what, all the while, it was God coming to destroy that relationship! I was asking Him to bless something He wanted dead. When I look back, I had a blog in me. I had a career of helping children as a pediatric nurse in me. I had a ministry in me. I had a confidence in me that was covered up by the insecurities that dead end relationship created. I was giving the devil credit when God was making me!

To the women thinking you have to settle for anything less than what brings your heart into perfect peace, fix your thinking! To the man that thinks God let this girl trap you, now she taking all your money in child support and you just can’t get ahead, open your eyes! “Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they” (Matt 6:26). Why you trippin? Maybe more child support means you’ll fight to get more of a salary, and finally open that business God put down on the inside of you years ago! Maybe keeping you single will give God the attention He needs from you in order to lead the singles ministry He instructed you to. The point is, the process of being made will have its painful moments. Your expectations will be let down. You might feel confused at times. Even lost. You might even have to cry. But choosing Christ means choosing to follow. And following means being made. Wilt thou be MADE whole?

Let me pray with you:

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us. Renew our minds. Enlighten us. Fix the way we see things happening around us. Construct our hearts. Strengthen our faith, that we may follow you even when we can’t see a clear direction in front of us. Help us to trust you as you lead. Your word says that all we need is the faith of a mustard seed. Let your will be done today and everyday. Let your thoughts and ways be all that we seek. Make us whole, Oh God. It is in your son Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

xoxo my loves!