It’s Friday and someone is fumbling with a failure from your past because here it is again trying to delay your present but I’ve come to tell you beloved, stop questioning the no. Don’t you know by now that what is meant for you; no man can stop. Child, read this carefully … there isn’t a man or woman alive or dead, a past mistake, a credit score, any amount or money, a degree or lack thereof that can stop what God ordains! I’ll take it even further … there isn’t a deacon, trustee, mother board member, usher, associate minister or pew member who can stop what God has ordained! So, why are you questioning a no you’ve received? Why are you crying about a door that was shut in your face? Why are you depressed over an application that was denied, a promotion that was turned down or a loan that was denied? That simply means whatever it was you were applying for, going for or trying to do; at that moment, wasn’t meant or wasn’t yours. It doesn’t mean God was saying no, so stop questioning God; trust Him when He says no. Obviously, He sees something we don’t. Clearly, He knows our means can’t justify the ends. Be thankful. It all goes back to Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Furthermore, Isaiah 55:12 says, “You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!” I rest my case!
Daily Devotional – 10/9/14 “Life is a journey!”
Life has a way of taking us on a journey, a road trip; if you will; and just like any road trip, it gets tiresome and you may get weary but you have a destination in mind. Yea, for some road trips you’ve packed; for some they may be spur of the moment and some may even be of an emergency situation but they all have a destination attached to the end and just like life it too has a destination. Now, the question I have is this … What are you doing on your journey? Are you sleeping in the backseat? Are you playing a puzzle while life is passing you by? Are you singing along to the radio while things are happening? Are you just watching the scenery while doing nothing? Or are you making stops along the way to learn what things are? Are you taking notes? Are you making things happening? Are you learning how stuff work? Are you teaching? What are you doing on your journey while you’re headed to your destination?
Yea, I know you might be at a point in your journey where the storm is raging but keep going because the storm won’t always last. Oh, your gas light is on, your money is low and you don’t see a gas station in sight? Check this out! I know a Man who has provided a way for me to ride on E when I knew the car should have stopped miles ago and all He said I needed was faith in Him. Have faith. Oh, you’re at the point on your journey where you don’t know where you are, your surroundings are looking unfamiliar and you’re out of your comfort zone? Then you’re in the right place. See, sometimes we have to be taken out of our comfortable place in order for us to be consecrated, that’s set apart, correctly. Stop fighting it. Somebody, at this very moment, is probably at a point on their journey of sickness and you’re tired of being here because every town you pass through you have to stop and see the doctor but it’s all for God’s purpose. Get your healing here, get back on your journey and keep going. No need of you getting down on yourself, having a pity party and all that because that doesn’t do you any good no way; you were meant for this! Nobody wears your sickness like you so own it until your healing comes because it will just wait until it does. This journey, your road trip won’t be easy; they never are. Yet the destinations are always worth it when you get there and home is always rewarding when you make it back! Enjoy the journey that life brings, even the bumps along the way because they all come with a purpose. “But the LORD’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken. Psalm 33:11”
Blog Tour … Queen’s Checkmate by Kierra Petty
Born and raised in Carson, California (Del Amo) a city in Southern California, Kierra Petty has had aspirations of becoming an entertainment magnate since was eight years old. In 2007 she received 1st place for Friar’s Charitable foundation’s Martin Roth Student Screenwriting award, where she completed her 1st feature length script at the age of 16. This blossoming film maker made a splash as a songwriter jumping on hook after hook, while attending Savannah State University. Within a year of graduating Georgia State University with a B.A. in film & Video Production, She has since release A Queen’ s Checkmate 1&2.
Queen’s Checkmate
Blurb:
Pain and tragedy never came in a more beautiful shell. A Queen’s Checkmate is the story of Amira, a girl becoming a woman, jaded by the disappointment of being failed by those around her.
After the simultaneous death of her twin brother and loss of her own innocence, she is trained to be a beast, hungry for revenge. Yet, as she grows so does her thirst for blood. Unfortunately her burgeoning feelings of love and lust ultimately derail her mission.
Will she find the satisfaction she wanted in the form of payback, ultimately making the biggest power move of checkmate or will she find that there is no satisfaction after revenge.
Queen’s Checkmate 2
Blurb:
Jump back into the story of Amira, as she tries to free herself from her own mistakes. Having attempted to gain her own revenge, she finds herself fighting for her life and waiting for the men in her life to come save her. Disgusted and feeling betrayed, Bri$$ wants no part of Amira and battles with whether she’s worth the trouble. After an intimate run in with a past flame, will Bri$$ find it in his heart to save the woman he thought he loved, or will he let the Queen meet her demise?
Purchase Links :
Queen’s Checkmate :
Queen’s Checkmate 2:
Fact about Queen’s Checkmate :
A Queen’s Checkmate 1 was written when Kierra was 15 years old. A teacher allowed her to spend her year as a Teacher’s Assistant, writing the novel instead.
Contact Kierra Petty:
pettythoughts90@gmail.com
Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/kierra.petty
Instagram: @sleepless_in_atl
https://twitter.com/sleepless_inATL
Youtube: Kierra Petty
Facebook Group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/343212795832727/
Author Page on Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/authorkierrapetty?ref=bookmarks
Daily Devotional – 10/8/14 “You’re usable! “
While at work this morning, sitting at my desk, working I noticed something on my glasses. Now, let me point out; I’d been sitting at my desk for over 30 minutes with my glasses on and hadn’t noticed a thing on them. So, I take them off to clean them and it wouldn’t come off. It literally took me, no lie, almost 20 minutes to clean this sticky mess off of my glasses which left some sort of residue (and I’ve still yet to know where it came from) but oh get this … there’s a lesson or at least a devotional in it. Yep! Because even though it left a blemish on my glasses, they are still usable. You missed that? Let me say it like this. Although whatever it was that caused a mark on my glasses, I can still see through them which makes them usable. Still don’t get it. Let me try it this way. Even though you’ve been hurt and man may have left you battered and bruised, you are still usable to God. Even though you’ve been cast down by the hands of folk who said you wouldn’t be nothing but another statistic, God cleaned you up and used your battle scars to tell your story and now your testimony is allowing you to testify to thousands. Yea, I know you thought that blemish on your skin would cause you to be put in the junk pile but baby God said the junk pile is where He finds His jewels (Yeen know?) You thought that scar would make you ugly, no child, that scar was to make you usable.
Even for you, that person who may have attempted suicide before and you may have to look at the scars every now and then. Don’t look at them as a mistake you made, once upon a time yet look at them as a manifestation of God’s healing that has now taken place in your life and the fact that you made it through. I said this the other day and it’s still true … You can be at the pits of hell and God can snatch you back (and use you) but it’s all dependent on your prayers and the purpose He has on your life – Ask Jonah! (For Jonah 2:2 says, “I called out to the LORD from the midst of affliction directed at me, and he answered me. From the depths of death I cried out for help; and you heard my cry.”) It’s not about the scars you have on your body that makes you usable but it’s your belief, it’s your heart, it’s your faith, it’s your dependability, it’s your hope in yourself … Your scars don’t matter, that blemish don’t matter and that bruise don’t matter because you’re still usable if you allow yourself to be used. Look around, God uses regular folk every day to do His will. He uses me and I was a nobody who He called on one day and I answered, He made me somebody; I was filthy and He cleaned me up; I was torn and He repaired every part of me; I was hurt and He healed me; I was battered and bruised yet He filled this clay jar with His anointing oil and my life has never been the same! It doesn’t matter what folk say, it doesn’t matter how they look at you, it doesn’t even matter what they call you; God still deems you usable. Your scars are just battle wounds to let folk know you’ve been in the war yet you survive which makes you victorious.
Daily Devotional – 10/7/14 “Same enemy, same tricks!”
Why are you still falling for the same old tricks from the same old enemy? You knew when you got that text that said “hey boo” it was a set up but you replied anyway and now you’re crying because they won’t reply back. When that credit card application came in the mail saying you had been preapproved, you knew better than to open it yet you did and applied and now you’re crying about being in debt. That car note was too high when you signed for but you were too busy listening to your friend telling you to get the white one like her and now every month you want to act like God caused this storm. Ok, so you got a new boo and she got you dressing differently and going out more and your boys are all talking about you but you can care less; you like her. Your mom said, she was ok but told you to watch her because there was something about her but you aren’t listening because you’re grown and your nose is wide open. She’s changed a few things about you and now she’s even gotten you missing church. It started off one Sunday a month but now it’s two and before long you’ve gotten away from church all together and now your mood is bad, your attitude sucks and you can’t figure out why your boys stop calling. Well, I’ll tell you. It’s because you fell for the same trick from the same enemy. Girl, how many times will you continue to fall for the enemy’s trick of love when you know good and well it ain’t nothing but lust? Love doesn’t hurt. Love doesn’t cause scars. Love doesn’t leave bruises and love doesn’t have you lying. And stop using the excuse of daddy didn’t love you because daddy wasn’t around cause baby God is the best Father you’ll ever find and He’ll give you love, I’m talking about that type of love that has no boundaries, no conditions and no limits. The type of love that’ll make you love yourself enough that will the time is right, it’ll allow you to be loved by someone else.
See, this is why 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Please understand, sober doesn’t mean you’ve been drinking but sober here means serious in demeanor. Simply stating be serious so that you can be alert and watchful of your surroundings and see what’s going on so that you can “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. (1 Peter 5:9)” This is what I want you to get, the enemy doesn’t change the tricks he uses, he doesn’t change the plays of his games, he doesn’t even change the uniforms of his players; all he does is change the players. It’s us who doesn’t change because we fall for anything. We continue to allow the past to haunt us, we continue to allow generational curses to curse us, we continue to allow hurt from years ago to hurt us, we continue to allow ex everything to cause strife in new relationships, we let friends cause mess in our homes, single friends to break up our marriages and old church members to still cause hell in the church they haven’t been members at in 10 years … same enemy, same tricks! When will we stand against this? When will we resist the enemy and cause him to flee? When will we kick him out of our home? When will we snatch our stuff back? When will we take our joy back? You’re constantly stressing walking around the enemy in your home crying while he or she is smiling talking on the phone you’re paying for, eating the food you’re paying for, using the electricity you’re paying for while you’re working every day. Get tired enough and do something! It’s the same tricks and the same enemy so you should know the plays by now to beat him. At least try …
Lakisha, the Author 