Yea, I know you’re tired of hearing folks say you’ll be alright, you’ll get through this, just hold on, God is able, you’ve got to have faith and yadda yadda! But I’m here to tell you that even when your walk gets tiresome and it seems like it’s not worth going on, there is joy in your journey. See, God didn’t place us on this path for us to give up but he placed us on this journey in order to get us to where we need to be. I know the days seems to be getting short and your suffering nights seems to be getting longer but they aren’t, God is simply putting you through so that you can be stronger. This is why in Jeremiah 29:11 it says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” If God meant for this journey to harm you, why would He promise you a future and not just any future but a future with hope? Don’t you know by now that in order to get from one place to the next you have to move? Then why are you complaining about this journey? Obviously, God is moving you from the place you’re in into something better or He would have allowed you stay right where you were. See, Isaiah 55:12 says, “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Can’t you imagine being pushed out into the wilderness because folks have wished badly on your life, yet as you’re walking this journey your faith shows you that God is right there with you and now, you hear singing yet you don’t know where it’s coming from but it makes your heart happy; you hear clapping and although you don’t see the hands it makes you hold your head up high and you hear rejoicing but you don’t see the lips it’s coming from yet your soul rejoices, doesn’t it make you feel good? See, there is joy in your journey, can’t you see it? No, then you aren’t looking! You may not see the sun when it’s raining but you know it’ll be back, right? This is the same with your joy as long as you don’t give it away. No, folks can’t take or steal your joy because joy is God and He should be on the inside of you so they only way folks get your joy; you have to give it to them.
Stop giving away, so easily, the joy that God has given you. You walk into the job humming your favorite song, feeling good but as soon as Dorothy Downer comes along, you hand her the joy you just had because you’ve allowed her to ruin your day. You allow folks who like to see you act a fool cause you to act a fool when you should have smiled and walked away. So what, they were talking about you; that means you’re on their mind! So what, they’re always whispering when you walk into a room; that means you’re worth talking about! So what, they always hate on you; that means you’re doing something right! Don’t you know by now that misery loves company because it’s no fun being alone? Then why are you keeping her company when you should have told her to get the hell on? Baby, there will always be somebody talking about something you used to do, something you’re doing now or thinking about something you might do; so what? Let them talk, child! The more they say your name, the more God hears and if your name is constantly in God’s ears then He’ll know who you are over those whose name He never hears which means He’ll come and see about you when you call him. So let your haters talk, let you enemies wish bad over your life, let the folks push you down because when it’s all said and done, God will still be right there so walk on!
I get it; death has come more times than you would like in your family, sickness seems to be a constant, disrespect is always on the lips of your children, abuse seems to always find it’s way into your job, bills seems to always outweigh your paycheck, hard times always fall when the time isn’t right and it seems like the more you pray; the worse your situation gets but just hold up! I mean, hold up your arms and say to the Lord; “Here I am, Lord; use me because I won’t be giving up anytime soon!” See, when you proclaim before the Lord that giving up on this journey isn’t an option, the devil hears it too. Yea, he hears it because he watches you just as much as God does and when you let him know that you aren’t giving in under the pressure of the storm, he backs off. When you’re weak the devil is strong because he gains strength from your weakness so when he see your knees buckling, he adds extra pressure so that you’ll finally cave in to falling because he knows eventually you’ll get tired of being down which may mean you’ll curse God. But baby, when you fall while you’re in Christ, fall gracefully so that you bounce back up, dust off your clothes and shout in the devil’s face, “That’s all you got?” See, in John 15:4, Jesus says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” When you become a Christian, you accept the Father (God), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit; therefore you are planted in great soil and in order for you to continue to grow in this soil you have to stay in this soil. Yea, the winds of time, disappointments and setbacks come and can sometimes try to blow you out of it, but just replant yourself by repenting, believing and studying for yourself.
No one ever said your journey would be easy but what is? If it’s worth having then it should be worth working for, right? You can put in 60 hours a week at work but you can’t even give God 3 hours on Sunday. You can stay at the club until they make the last call for alcohol yet you complain when worship service runs over 10 minutes. Child, if you put in time with God, He’ll put in time with you. Well, James 4:8 says, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” Be loyal to God and He’ll be loyal to you. Listen to God and He’ll listen to you! Walk with God and He’ll walk with you! God has already went ahead of you on this journey because he laid it out, so he knows what is waiting for you behind the curves and over the bumps but He has already prepared you for it, so walk your journey because even when it doesn’t seem like it, there is joy in your journey! No, I didn’t say walk just any journey but I said walk YOUR journey because it was prepared for you and you were made strong to endure what God has for you. Stop allowing folks to skip you or take the place the God has made rightfully yours and stop walking down someone else’s journey because it looks easy. Stop wishing for my blessings because baby your legs may not be strong enough to endure what mine has to get what belongs to me so get your own!
Lakisha, the Author 