Grief is …

Grief is tricky
Grief is hard
Grief is sneaky
Grief is also a tactic the enemy will use.

Hear me … even those of you who are at the angry stage and don’t want to grasp what I’m about to share. (Come back later, it’ll still be here)

Do NOT let grief consume or confuse you! Don’t let grief stifle your life or cause you to sin. Don’t let grief open doors not meant for you.

Your loved ones aren’t visiting you. The Bible tells us, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Who you’re seeing is a familiar spirit the enemy is using to gain access to your life. When he does, he creates a stronghold. A stronghold is a wall/cave used to hide or mask your enemy. Yes, I know you want to see them, but they’re gone. Let them rest so that you can rest and live. As hard as this is, you are very much alive. Don’t allow your life to die with the death of your loved one.

This doesn’t mean you won’t grieve. Baby, I had a moment before typing this. Yet, don’t let grief consume you to the point, you forget how to live.

Also, don’t allow the emotional intoxication of grief to entangle or entrap you into something you wouldn’t agree to when you’re sober. You aren’t thinking clearly and neither will you make the best decisions. Wait! Wait until your thoughts are rational and you aren’t a mess.

Pay attention to your spirituality, as well. Ensure you’re connected to the right spiritual place, people, and leaders who can help you navigate this new normal. Not everybody speaking to you during this time has your best interest. False preachers and prophets are at the ready when you’re emotional, saying things to pull you in like … “Your loved one was praying for you.” “Your loved one covered you.” “You are alive because your deceased loved one protected you.” “Your loved one is watching over you.” LIES!! When the body is dead, it’s dead. There is no more work for them to do because our spirit is then placed into our new, eternal body, made by God.

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 5, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.”

What lives on is their memory and legacy. Sure, the prayers they prayed for you while alive can still manifest, but that’s because of the seeds they planted coming to pass. It’s not because they’re here. They aren’t.

I know this is a lot of information and it probably triggered something within you, but I come in peace. I want you healthy and sound, spiritually and physically. I want you to grieve properly. I want you to heal. I want you to live.

Grief is hard enough. I don’t want to lose you, too, because you’re angry with God for not giving you a warning or explanation for repossessing who belonged to Him, anyway. You have a right to grieve. Just don’t grieve as if there isn’t still hope.

I love you and I’m praying for you, and us to make it through this.

💚

It’s a celebration!

Blow the whistle and sound the alarm … it’s a celebration!

Today, I have the privilege of celebrating 47 years of life (with my twin sister, Laquisha) and 26 years of marriage to my husbae, Willie.

Life and marriage hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve found it to be worth it. Therefore …

I shall celebrate!

Why? Because there were times I didn’t deserve to live. Times I was so deep in sin, I shouldn’t have made it out. Times when marriage wasn’t pleasing and walking away seemed better.

Somebody say yet. Yet, I’m here, we’re here and we made it. 47 years later, I’m walking in the plans God predestined for my life, and I’m enjoying the blessings of a God fearing man who God placed as the head of this family. Therefore, I’ll shed tears of happiness and no longer take a minute for granted. Instead, I’ll celebrate.

God is faithful, I’m grateful and beyond blessed.

Lakisha

In Sickness and In Health

Happy May First!! Is that even a thing? Who knows, but it sounds good. LOL!

Hey y’all … Lakisha, the Author stopping through. Today is the beginning of a new month, and what better way to celebrate than with a new book.

Yes! It’s release day for Book 4 of the What Did You Vow Series. In Sickness and In Health.

Jade and Alex met as children in the foster care system, overcoming obstacles and beating the many odds stacked against them. Over the years, people and life disappointed them. Yet, the one thing they could always count on was each other.
Even when jobs and school separated them, they always found their way back to each other. Seven years ago, they stood before a justice of the peace vowing never to give up on each other or themselves.

Then a tragic accident leaves one of them fighting to live. The other is thrust into the role of caregiver to a patient whose body, mind, and faith were all left broken.

Will their marriage survive the hardship and mental torment of trauma or will the In Sickness and In Health part of the vows shatter when they are put to the test?

Happy Reading!!

3 reasons God makes us wait

During your waiting season, God does 3 things. He prunes, prepares then promotes.

Someone may ask, why does it hurt? Well, pruning is removing anything dead, damaged, or can compete with your growth. Preparation includes stretching ensuring you have room for said growth. Both come with a little pain because here’s the hard truth. Some of you have stuff in your background that’s damaged, dead, and competing with your purpose.

You break down when folk don’t show up like they promised. It’s a trigger to all the times people didn’t show up for you in your past or you were abandoned. You’re afraid of letting go because times before nobody was there to catch you. You’re angry from all the things you’ve had to experience and it wasn’t even your fault. The depression, self-doubt, fear … you’ve got to heal otherwise you’ll bleed all over the folk God sent you to lead.

God needs you beloved, but He can’t send you as you are. Otherwise, you may damage those God sent you to deliver. God can’t position you in leadership and you’re still getting mad and acting out of character when things happen. Baby, things will happen and you have to know how to handle it. Yet, you can’t if you’re still being triggered by stuff you’re afraid to cut away.

God needs to prune and prepare you, otherwise what you’ve been sent to grow, will die. That’s why the waiting season is important, but you may miss it while complaining instead of confirming God’s plan for your life.

Watch our latest sermon and Bible Studies from the April series, Waiting Room. Follow Tenple Church’s Facebook page, visit our website to learn more about us, and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

How are you waiting?

Spiritual Waiting Room

Sometimes, as Christians, we can become depressed, and feel forgotten or forsaken when things don’t happen right away. We’ll get frustrated when we witness others being blessed with the very things we’ve been praying and preparing for. But what if, maybe, this is your season to wait? You do realize we don’t go right from planting to harvesting, right? There will be a wait.

This month God gave me the series Waiting Room. Yet, here’s a few things I want to point out about the spiritual waiting room.

  1. A waiting room is usually found in a place where you need a service. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t need to be.
  2. A waiting room isn’t the place for you to stay. You can get comfortable but don’t lose focus on the why. You are here to wait, not stay.
  3. A waiting room isn’t where you’ll get the results. The waiting room is only a temporary holding point between hearing God’s promise and it being fulfilled.
  4. While in the waiting room, you need to act like you have sense. In other words, wait well. Stop complaining, gossiping, lying, etc. God pays attention to how we wait and treat people.
  5. Don’t be moved when you see others going ahead of you. You don’t know what they’re waiting for nor who they are “seeing.”
  6. Act like you know … Your time will soon come!

How will you act in the waiting room?

Follow Temple Church, visit our website to learn more about us and subscribe to our YouTube channel! God is up to something. If you missed the previous sermons and Bible Studies, now is a great time to catch the replays.

“But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” Micah 7:7