Daily Devotional – 5/31/18 “I will not explain!”

Stop trying to explain to folk how you made it, especially when most of them never believed you would. Stop feeling sorry for walking in purpose after you’ve survived being knocked down, too many times to count. Beloved, you have to get to a place where you tell folk, “I will not explain.” See, they weren’t there those days you contemplated suicide when the pain was too much. They were not there the nights you had to drink yourself to sleep because you were tired of being alone. They were not there those Sundays, after you’d preached real good and checking account still in the negative. They were not there those times you were abused by the one who vowed to love you. They weren’t there when you had to figure out how to feed a family of four, for a week, with the $20 you just borrowed from grandma. They weren’t there when you had to deal with being broken because you are anointed. They weren’t there when you were rejected for being righteous. They aren’t there when you encourage everybody else yet still suffering. They are not there when the voices, in your head, would not let you rest but you made it. They weren’t there when the depression, sickness and a shut womb almost shut you down but didn’t. Baby, don’t you dare explain!

From here on out; stand with your head high, your shoulders back and your neck on go to roll and to tell folk … I WILL NOT EXPLAIN! I will not explain why I love who I love. I will not explain why I live where I live. I will not explain why I drive what I drive. I will not explain why I put up with what I put up with. I will not explain why I serve like I serve. I will not explain why I do the things I do. I will not explain why I worship God like I do. And I definitely will not explain why God called me because you don’t understand it. Please hear me well, this is not personal but let me take it there for a line or two. You hear the sermon but you don’t see the hours of studying, missed times with family and friends and the struggle of carrying this mantle. You see the books being written but not the hours it takes to make sure it’s right, the money being spent when there were years of no sales and royalties. You see the glory but before you speculate, ask for the story. To make it plain, keep your mouth off of folk’s lives and blessings when you don’t know the hell they have endured and/or still enduring. Either be happy or hush. For our testimony is now Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”