Daily Devotional – 12/9/15 “Chocolate or complaining”

My nerves are on level 10! My schedule has been changed to accommodate overtime in our department and the traffic getting to work was horrible. Add that with I didn’t sleep well, last night, due to a headache and well, you get the idea. I think I ask God for forgiveness fifteen times in a few minutes. Jesus! But you know what? It could be worse. So you know what I did? I went and bought some turtles pretzels from the bake sale and I ate them! Yep, I ate them for breakfast. See, I could walk around with a frown on my face, mad at the fact that it took me an hour to get to work but why would I do that when I made it, safe and sound. I could let the disaster of my morning ruin my entire day but then that would be my fault. Baby, I’m too cute to walk around frowning so I decided to let it go. I couldn’t do anything about the traffic but I can surely do something about my mood. And I did, I ate chocolate for breakfast.

So between last night and this morning, whatever happened, happened. Get over it! Our attitude depends on us. Do something about it. Stop walking around mad at the world. Stop choosing to be angry when you can choose to love instead. Get out of the funk you’re in and enjoy life. It’s not about the money you have or don’t have, the car you have or don’t have, the house you may or may not want but it’s all about the genuineness of your heart. Quit holding on to what somebody did or said about you. Let it go. Eat the chocolate, buy that pair of shoes, skip the gym, read that book, take that long bath, sing loudly out of key; do whatever you want to do. Just stop complaining. Don’t complain because your circumstance could be a lot worse. And the bible says in Philippians 2:13-15 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” I have a choice, chocolate or complaining and I chose the chocolate. What about you?

Daily Devotional – 12/8/15 “A relationship of two!”

If your relationship is open to allow anyone to comment on it, make suggestions, give you advice and you take it; then it’s an open relationship and you can’t get mad when others walk in it. A relationship is two people and it takes those two people to make it work. If you need to validate it on social media, there’s already a problem. If you have to vent to the world about it, it’s already in trouble. Please understand, you can’t take advice from a single person on how to keep your husband or wife happy, how would they know? If you have someone who has never been married trying to give you advice on how to stay married, run! That’s like me trying to tell the mechanic how to fix my car when I’ve never been greasy from going under the hood a day in my life. This is why you have to be careful who you listen too. Yes, I know they are in the church but that doesn’t mean they have all the answers. Oh, and if you think running your mouth to a beauty or barber shop full of folk about the good thing you got at home, think again.

Look, you have folk waiting to destroy your relationship simply because they don’t like you. You even have evil spirited folk and it’s what they do, daily. They can care less about the wife or husband at home; they are out to get what they can get while wiping the ‘happy’ smile from your face. But check this, the main issue you’re having is running your mouth. Folk only know what you tell them. **Side note, this is in no way referring to domestic abuse. If you are the victim of abuse of any kind; seek help immediately. ** Stop running to your momma’s house every time the two of you fight or have a disagreement, you forgive and they don’t. Stop calling folk on the phone every time something isn’t right; you forget and they don’t. You’ll have folk looking all upside your wife or husband’s head because of some stuff you told them when you should have kept quiet. Marriage and/or relationships are very hard but you can make them harder by adding your mess to it. Your marriage isn’t like your grandparents. Your relationship isn’t like your brother’s. Stop comparing them. This is the same when it comes to the relationship you have with your church. Stop bad mouthing it every time you don’t get your way. Learn how to keep home business at home and deal with it there.

“If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?” 1 Timothy 3:4

Daily Devotional – 12/7/15 “Want vs. Need!”

You may not get what you want but you’ll surely get what you need. Ask the lame man at the gate of Beautiful. He asked Peter and John for money but instead, he got healing. Want vs NeedSee, had they given him money; he would have been right back the next day begging again. But because Peter gave him his healing, he can now get up and work for a living. He didn’t get what he wanted but he got what he needed. It’s the same for somebody reading this. You’ve been bombarding God with prayers for something specific and it still hasn’t shown up. The enemy will make you think God isn’t listening when beloved, it’s the opposite. God is listening but He knows what you’re asking for, you aren’t ready for so He’ll give accordingly. What do I mean? Well, you asked Him to send you a part-time job but instead your current job start offering overtime. God knows you can’t handle the part-time job right now (plus it’ll take you away from worship). You ask God to send you a spouse but instead He allowed you to see the person standing in front of you to see if you’d give in to temptation. God isn’t testing you to fail but He’s simply trying to see if you’re ready.

Oh Saint, God doesn’t make failures and quitters yet we have to go through, sometime. God will not always give you what you want but He’ll supply you with what you need. You want a house but you need an apartment so that you can become a better steward of your money. You want a car note but what you really need is a bus pass because you didn’t keep up the maintenance on the last one you had (you’re not ready). You want a promotion but you need more training, what’s the sense of being promoted only to be demoted (wait your turn). You want to be a pastor but what you need to be is a preacher first. You want to be the leader but you really need to get following down first. You want to be loved but you need to learn how to love yourself. You want to go but you need to learn how to stay where you are, every once in a while. Please understand, sometimes your wants and needs may be on the same accord and sometime they won’t. But you need to realize that in God saying no, there’s a reason. Look for it in His delay because although you may not get what you want, God will definitely give you what you need.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:19”

Writing didn’t find me!

Being a author, whether through a publishing company or being self published, takes hard work. Why? imageBecause writing isn’t for wimps! Nawl! But it’s not just the writing because them comes the hustle and flow! See, what’s the sense of spending all of your extra time writing to simply allow your work to sit idle. You have to grind extra hard being a new author just to get your name out there. Then you have to keep up the hustle and the grind to keep your name out!

Yea, you’ll have a few bad reviews but your work won’t please everybody, all the time, so keep grinding. Yea, you’ll have folk, even some family and close friends that won’t support you but even Jesus knew this for He said in Mark 6:4, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” Yet don’t stop the hustle.

I pray daily for God to kill more and more of my flesh so that I can be spiritually better than yesterday. This doesn’t mean in order for me to stop writing fiction books (unless God says it) but so that even they will be anointed!

I told you that writing didn’t find me; it was etched in my soul even before my daddy’s sperm met my mother’s egg! How do I know? God told me. He said He knew me before I was formed which makes my writing (whatever genre) ordained! It is my prayer that the mark I leave on your life is a good one. I pray that when you look at me, you see God. I pray that God will use me abundantly to save folk. And I pray that He allows my gifts to take me places I’ve only dreamed of.

It’ll happen … In God’s time! Don’t give up, hold on! (that’s for somebody) #transparentSaint

Daily Devotional – 12/5/15 “Writing didn’t find me!”

Being a author, whether through a publishing company or being self published, takes hard work. Why? imageBecause writing isn’t for wimps! Nawl! But it’s not just the writing because them comes the hustle and flow! See, what’s the sense of spending all of your extra time writing to simply allow your work to sit idle. You have to grind extra hard being a new author just to get your name out there. Then you have to keep up the hustle and the grind to keep your name out!

Yea, you’ll have a few bad reviews but your work won’t please everybody, all the time, so keep grinding. Yea, you’ll have folk, even some family and close friends that won’t support you but even Jesus knew this for He said in Mark 6:4, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” Yet don’t stop the hustle.

I pray daily for God to kill more and more of my flesh so that I can be spiritually better than yesterday. This doesn’t mean in order for me to stop writing fiction books (unless God says it) but so that even they will be anointed!

I told you that writing didn’t find me; it was etched in my soul even before my daddy’s sperm met my mother’s egg! How do I know? God told me. He said He knew me before I was formed which makes my writing (whatever genre) ordained! It is my prayer that the mark I leave on your life is a good one. I pray that when you look at me, you see God. I pray that God will use me abundantly to save folk. And I pray that He allows my gifts to take me places I’ve only dreamed of.

It’ll happen … In God’s time! Don’t give up, hold on! (that’s for somebody) #transparentSaint