"The Spark"

Morning all! Happy Thanksgiving!!!:) I want to start off this blog by apologizing. I'm sorry that I haven't blogged in almost two months. I hit a dry spell and I've had some obstacles in the recent months and to be honest, it put my mental and spiritual space in a grey area. If I can't think of anything positive or uplifting to write about, I just won't blog. This is blog is meant to shine God's light unto those who may need to feel loved or encouraged. 

Anyway, this is a glimpse of what has been going on the last few months for all you new readers or subscribers. I've struggled with getting a handicap van and with transportation in general. Well after 10+ years of struggling, I finally got my van in October of this year!!! However, this van is fourteen years old. The first few outings were a nightmare! Something always went wrong. The tires were old, so I kept getting flats. Certain buttons were hard to work, etc etc. 

Y'all I was so disgusted! I kept thinking, "God, why would you give me a van with issues along with it?" I thought my family would go broke trying to fix everything that was going wrong with it. Along with that, a new friendship was being tested. Y'all, I was at my breaking point, little did I know, God was working behind the scenes and stretching my spiritual muscles.

 Even though, we may hit our "glowing season", God will stretch  our spiritual muscles. How many of you know that if you don't exercise your physical body, you will get stiff. Our spirit is no different. If everything goes right all the time, we have a reason to exercise our faith! 

Long story short, we replaced all the tires, got to go to the Toby Mac concert, I've been waiting forever to go to. It was awesome, by the way. Not only is the friendship that was being tested on the mends but, a new friendship was made and is now blooming beautifully. I am now experiencing something called, "the spark". The spark is when you, man, and God are in harmony together. God, may be temporarily closing a door to add to your life and/or stretching your spiritual muscles. Is this going on in your life right now? If so, stay in faith, it's not over, it's just starting! :)

Bless y'all!!!

P.S. How do y'all celebrate Thanksgiving/Christmas? Let me know in the comments below!

Your threshing floor

Luke  3:17
His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This morning I was on my computer and something who I believe was God kept telling me to stop what I was doing to look up Luke 3:17. I did not understand it at all, so, I did some research on this scripture and I also asked God for wisdom and understanding in order to convey the message to the best of my ability. This may be the toughest blog I've ever written to date, because I don't to mislead or lead anyone astray. I am  a work in progress as we all are. Therefore, I will say what I think the message it self means to me. If I am wrong however, please don't be afraid to let me know.

At one point or another, we all have to clean out anything that is negative or weighing us down in every way including spiritually. Some people mediate, some write things down. Christians pray and how they pray depends on their religion. Your threshing floor I believe is your spirit and the winnowing fork is the word of God and the burning of chaff means the surrender or dying of the old you and the unquenchable fire represents the everlasting desire to become better or know more of the word of God and what stands for.

How is your threshing floor?  

God loves us all

John 3:17

 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

We often put too much pressure on ourselves to live according to God's "rules" when all he wants you to do is have a relationship with him and the rest will follow. Everyone's relationship with God is different according to how and who we are. We often judge others because they aren't where we think they should be in Christ. In reality though, God knew our journey as well as what it would take for us to get there. Some of us find him when we are small, teenagers, adults, near the end of our lives, or not at all.

God however, gave us free will to believe or not believe. Christians like non Christians shouldn't condemn others based on their beliefs. God wants everyone to come to and follow him. He could force everyone to follow him but, that's not what God is about. God is about love, patience, and understanding with Christians and non Christians alike. Unfortunely,  these principles are losing themselves more and more in our world today. We need to start letting these things shine again. In the end, God made us equal no matter how society views us, or says. We should all respect each other regardless of where we are with or without him. All in all, build each other up and love each other through and peace, understanding and growth will take place which would and could bring us closer to God.

Finding your purpose in the darkness

Romans 8:28

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

God has a purpose for all of us. Not only does he have a purpose for us but, the good and the bad things we go through in life have a purpose too. It tears us down to the ground and weather you choose to get up and rebuild yourself, or stay down is up to you. He doesn't get tired of waiting on us though. He knows unlike us what the end result will be if we choose to allow him to rebuild. Sometimes like me, we are stubborn and he may force us to stay still, break down and then rebuild us the way he knows we are meant to be. During the process, we often question why? 

Sometimes, we loose our faith completely when we see no way out. It is in the darkness, however,  we find out who we are.  In order for this to happen though, we must continue to walk the dark path and believe he is still there walking along with us. I am a living testament to this. During my fourteen years of torment, I prayed and cried for God to take me home. If I would have been able to do it myself, I would not be here today. Now that I am on the other side of that darkness, he has given me an answer to most of my questions. Now, I can use the dark times I walked through and use it as a light of hope to those who now are walking that dark path. I wonder if everyone would do that instead of running or hiding, how much brighter this world would be.

Struggling with Forgiveness

Romans 12:17-21

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 

18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 

19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 

20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Most people want to seek revenge on those who have hurt them, or someone they love. If it will make any of you feel better, I will be the first one to admit that I have. Once the anger fades, which sometimes took years for it to start fading, I wanted to reach out to them and bless them in some way. I hope you guys understand that it was a very long and slow process. I thought I would never be able to forgive those who hurt me. I thought I was condemned to hell at the point. However, with time my heart healed.

Once I finally healed, God revealed to me why things happened the way they did. I then got a

whole new perspective on things. Sometimes, he will reveal those things to us and there are other times where he won't. I believe God likes to do things when we aren't expect them. Sometimes, the answer is so simple that if you don't look or listen closely, we miss it.

We aren't meant to know why some things happen, or why they don't. Sometimes, we must just accept things the way they are, or aren't. There are times that we just have to leave a door closed and go through the open one. All in all, forgive those who may have offended or hurt you in any way not for their sake but, for yours. If you don't, the only heart that you will hurt  and jeopardize is your own. 

You're not alone

Matthew 16:24-26

Then Jesus told his disciples, 24“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

 Has anyone ever felt like they can never catch a break from the troubles of life? I'm sure everyone has, some even take their own lives because the bear of life can become just that great. Some people become bitter or become like empty vessels through life. There were many periods of my life, where I felt worthless, a burden to others, I was bitter towards life. I even tried to commit suicide several times. I thought my family would be better without me. However, my physical condition wouldn't allow me to do that.

I was given no other choice but to stay on this planet, work out these feelings, and face my situation, no matter how bad it was, or I thought it was. I wonder if the people who had taken the choice of suicide,  where would they be right now if they didn't have that choice like myself? What would they be experiencing after the storm has passed? What would they have learned about themselves, or about God for that matter? How would have God used their pain in order to turn it into their life long purpose.

Some people know from an experience, but most find it in their pain and hard times. Looking back now, I'm glad I was forced to stay. God used my what I once hated so much as a tool to keep me here to see what would lie ahead. This tool was my Cerebral Palsy. This is partly why now, I see it as a blessing, not a sickness I must be healed or delivered from. I am now living in heaven on Earth and not by earthly  things but, by spiritual things. One of those things being love, which is what God is made of.  God, can't help those that don't help themselves, all you need is some inner strength,  faith and know that you're not bearing your cross alone, even when it feels like it. We will forever have an alli in him, don't run from the darkness to go to the light. Let him walk you through the darkness that will ultimately lead you to the light. In there you will not only find yourself but, you will find who you're meant to be.

My prayer: My heart goes out to anyone who has lost a child or someone you love not only by suicide but in any way at all. I commend you for still being here. I pray that God will help ease the pain and sadness that burdens your heart and spirit. May peace and restoration start building in your heart. Amen!

~Elia~

Acceptance

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

Yesterday, I had a totally different scripture to reflect on and talk about. This morning however, God changed the direction of my heart towards the topic of acceptance. Let me also start this blog off by saying that I'm not perfect as no one is. Acceptance is something I have struggled with my whole life and still struggle with today. I didn't realize this until recently. I figured I would write on this not only to encourage you but myself as well.

We have to understand that sometimes God sets us apart because his plan for our lives are so much bigger than this world, or even we can understand. There comes a time where we have to come to accept and love ourselves, the way he does. For the most part, I have accepted and love myself the way he made me, disability and all.

Most people want me to be healed, I did too at one point. Do I wish this now? To be quite honest, no, I don't. Why don't I? Because, God is starting to show me pieces of the whole picture that I couldn't see during my storm. However, now that the light is shining, I can start to see glimpses of the whole picture for my life. Have you ever thought that maybe what you're so self conscious about, or are suffering from may not only make you grow, but may also be a tool used to fulfill your purpose in your life? I sincerely think so. If people don't accept you like in the scripture above, pray, forgive, and move forward! The phase "Dance like no one is watching takes on a whole new meaning, praise like no one is watching! :)

~Elia~