Do the Work in 2024!

Happy New Year Girrrl! 

I pray that the first 3 days in 2024 have been fruitful! 

As women, God has called you to do the work in 2024. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the challenges and projects that we encounter on a daily basis, but we must remember that God is always with us and has equipped us to handle whatever comes our way.

In 1 Chronicles 28:20, King David reminds us of this truth: "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished."

This verse applies not only to the building of the temple, but to any work that God has called us to do. We must be strong and courageous, knowing that God is with us every step of the way.

To truly do the work that God has called us to do, we must first seek His will for our lives. This can be done through prayer, reading the Bible, and seeking wise counsel from others. Once we have a clear understanding of what God wants us to do, we must take action and put in the work.

Here are some practical ways to do the work:

• Set goals: Write down what you want to accomplish and create a plan to achieve it. This will help you stay focused and motivated.

• Take action: Don't wait for the perfect moment or for everything to fall into place. Start taking small steps towards your goal today.

• Persevere: There will be obstacles and challenges along the way, but don't give up. Keep pushing forward and trust that God will provide the strength and resources you need.

• Seek support: Surround yourself with people who will encourage and support you in your journey. Join a small group or connect with a mentor who can offer guidance and accountability.

Remember, doing the work that God has called us to do is not always easy, but it is always worth it. As we put in the effort, we will see God's hand at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. So let's be strong and courageous, and do the work that God has called us to do in 2024 and beyond.

Your Storm is Connected to Your Assignment

Some years ago, my cousin had a t-shirt custom made for me that said ‘On Assignment’ in rhinestones (yes, I wore it with rhinestones) across the front. If I’m honest, I wondered why she purchased that particular t-shirt for me, I mean, what assignment was I on? Every time I wore the t-shirt, I would get stopped and people wanted to know what the assignment was. I would reply with my ‘churchy’ answer and say, “I’m on assignment with what God has commissioned me to do!”, still having no idea of what that was. Don’t get me wrong, I had bits and pieces of it, but I didn’t know the full extent of my assignment. As the years went by, the Lord began to speak to me more and more and began to make clear to me more aspects of what He called me to do. As I pondered on what I saw in the spirit, a myriad of emotions began to form from excitement, fear, doubt, and the list goes on.

Then it started. What you ask? The storm.

As the rain fell, winds blew, and floods came to beat up on me, the magnitude of my assignment became clearer and daunting. What are the storms in your life telling you? Storms come into our lives to develop and prepare us for what is to come. Usually, the bigger the storm, the bigger the assignment. Joseph endured many storms from being despised by his own family, sold into slavery, accused of rape, and falsely imprisoned! Now those are some storms turned into hurricanes! God was developing Joseph for the huge assignment at hand – leadership in Egypt.

God will allow storms to come into our lives so that he can get us ready for the assignment ahead. Don’t fret in the storm because there are some things you need in the storm to successfully fulfill your assignment. One of the things I love about the story of Joseph is as you read throughout the chapters, you will read a repetitive line: ‘…the Lord was with Joseph’. Just like God was with Joseph, know that He is with you also! Keep your hand in His hand as he leads you through the storms of life.

Be encouraged in the storm because it is connected to your assignment.

The Shift Is Here!

Although the past couple of years have been challenging, I’m still hearing testimony after testimony from women who are experiencing the shift of God! They have shared how God is turning things around in their lives from their marriage, to finances, to vocation, and every area of their lives – the shift is taking place!

When we are driving (particularly automatic cars) there is a part inside the car called a ‘gear selector’. It allows you to shift the gear in Park, Reverse, Neutral, or Drive. If you have a SUV you may have some additional choices. Shifting this gear selector lets the car know what you want it to do! If you want to go forward, you shift your gear into drive, conversely, if you want to go backward, you shift your gear into reverse. If you want to get going and move to another destination, the car will not achieve this goal sitting in Park - it won’t move. 

Many of us are disrupting progress because we are trying to control the gear selector in our lives instead of letting God take total control. When our hands are on the gear selector things look like this: 

-We are ready to go, go, go! We have moved the gear selector to Drive and we’re off! God is saying, no, in this season I need you to be in Park, I need you to be still and hear from Me. But because we are not heeding the voice of God and controlling the gear selector on our own, we just keep driving and driving, never getting to our destination! Some of us are crashing and burning because we should be in Park right now, letting the Lord minister to us in this season. 

-Some of us are in chilling in Park! God has given us the vision, the instructions, the marching orders and we won’t take our hands off the gear selector so God can move it into Drive. We sittin’ in Park on our gifts, sittin’ in Park on our abilities and sittin’ in Park on our vision. We won’t move. Why? Doubt, fear, people-pleasing, discouragement and more are all clogging up our engines! The engine light is on but we won’t go get it checked! So, we just sittin’ in Park, chillin’, not moving and not doing what God has told us to do. 

-Some of us are in Neutral, not really moving but just coasting along. Procrastination is the thorn in your side causing you to stay in this gear. You won’t take your hands off because of fear so you stay in your comfort zone, just coasting. 

-Some of us are in Park but looking in the rear view! You can’t move forward because you are constantly looking back. You are pining over what you thought you lost but you didn’t’ lose, God shielded you! Looking in the rear-view mirror causes us to be stagnant and immobile. God is looking to do new things in our lives, but we won’t let go of what was! In fact, the ‘what was’ becomes more dominant than the ‘what is’ or the ‘what shall be’ (we will jump more into this one at the next Girrrl Get Empowered Virtual Event)

Register today: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtcOCspzIiGtVtWlEk2a7LBmTLvSIlEXb_

What gear are you in right now? Is your hand still on the gear selector? I want to encourage you today to take your hand off the gear selector and let God take total control. Life is better when God is in the driver’s seat. Let Him shift your life today!  

 

Check Yo’self Boo - Consider Your Ways!

In one of the earlier seasons of Housewives of Atlanta (yes my guilty pleasure), Sheree was working with a vendor who didn’t follow through on his commitments. They got into a heated discussion where the vendor says to Sheree “you need to watch yourself before you get checked” and she infamously responded with the coined phrase, “Who Gon’ Check Me Boo?”

Continuing with gained insights from the two-chapter book of Haggai, I believe God is ‘checking us’ in his challenge for us to check ourselves! 

Just like the remnant of people, who returned from Babylon, sat idle on their assignment to rebuild God’s temple, many of you are sitting idle on the assignment you have been given. You go on living day to day, ignoring what God has said but now, God is saying it’s time to check yourself! 

Check your priorities

The children of Israel sat idle on rebuilding the temple for 14 years. They said it wasn’t time yet to rebuild the temple. God sent the prophet Haggai and ‘checked them’, saying,  “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in paneled houses, and this temple lie in ruins?” (Haggai 1:4). Then He goes on to say, “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5). God checked them on their excuses and misaligned priorities. 

How do your priorities stack up? 

You say you don’t have enough time to work on the business - how is your time spent throughout each day? How much time are you wasting? 

You say you don’t have time to write, or study, or whatever you’ve been commissioned to do but how is your time appropriated? Is it spent watching hours of television? Or are you spending hours scrolling through Facebook? 

You say, I don’t have enough money to give. Where is your money going? What are you spending money on? Are you overspending? OUCH, sorry I stepped on my toes. If you go through your online bank statement and look at where your money is going, I know you will discover the leak. 

Sometimes our lives can feel like tires. We run and run, staying busy but not focusing on activities within our assignments. Then life pokes us and we begin to deflate. The air is coming out but we can’t locate the puncture. God is calling us right now to ‘check ourselves’ and ‘consider our ways’. When we really take an honest look at where we are and get real with God on our punctured places, God won’t just plug the puncture and give us a temporal fix but He will completely make us new and whole again - He will restore us better than ever before! 

God wants you to walk in victory, be productive, and wants you to not just understand the assignment, but carry out the assignment! Let there be no ‘Sheree’s’ here, you don’t have to ask who gon’ check you, as daughters of the Most High - God Gon’ Check You Boo by Challenging You to Check Yourself! 

The Time is Now!

I’ve been drawn to the two-chapter book of Haggai recently and I have discovered some jewels! Not to go into much Sunday school lesson detail, but, out of the 12 minor prophets (they are only “minor” because of the length of their books), the first 9 spoke to Judah before they were taken captive and exiled to Babylon and the last 3 (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi) spoke to those who returned from the 70-year exile. 

Upon returning from exile the people began to rebuild God’s temple. They started this project with such excitement and vigor. Two years into the project, the foundation for the temple had been laid and the altar was built. Then discouragement set in and the project came to a halt for about 14 years! Project Rebuild for God’s temple laid idle for 14 years and the people were still saying, it’s not time yet to rebuild. 

Their hesitation to rebuild was caused by discouragement and rooted in fear and comparison. When they reflected on the old temple, the temple that King Solomon had built, they thought the temple they would build would not compare to the luxury and grand nature of the old one. They let comparison immobilize them. Discouragement set in and they became complacent. 

Haggai came and spoke a Word to them from the Lord saying how can you say it’s not time to rebuild My house when you all are in your own paneled houses? God says for this reason, I withhold things from you because you’ve neglected to put me first. God says ‘you eat but do not have enough, you drink but you are not filled with drink, you earn wages but they are put into a bag with holes’ (Haggai 1:6)! 

God is saying to us that the time is now to rebuild. Many of you have started projects, businesses, ministries, and so forth but for some reason you let discouragement set in and you’ve stop building. You tell yourself: 

-this just isn’t the right time

-I will wait until the pandemic is over

-I will wait until my money is right again

-I will wait until my children are out of the house

-I will wait until I get married

-I will wait until I get another degree 

And the list goes on…

Sometimes when we know we are supposed to do something and we know God has given it to us, we can’t speak against the assignment itself so we revert to speaking against the ‘timing’ of it. If resources don’t flow the way we expect them to then we say it’s not God’s timing. If the task at hand is hard and difficult, we say it must not be God’s timing. Sometimes the believers can get so ‘spiritual’ and don’t get anything done because it’s not “God’s timing”. 

What I do know is that if God gives it to you, He will give you the provision for it. He might not place it neatly in your lap wrapped in a bow but he might make you work for it. God may seek to develop some things in you that you gain while working for it like: 

-Diligence

-Perseverance 

-Resourcefulness

-Trust in Him

-Full dependence on Him

-Integrity 

-Character 

And the list goes on…

I believe God is saying to us today to put Him first and He will enable and empower us to do the rest! 

The time is NOW to rebuild and move forward in the assignment God has given you! No more excuses.

 

Comfort and Rest for Your Spirit

It’s hard to believe it’s been one year since my brother passed away. My mind raced all week, thinking about him constantly. I couldn’t get any rest in the days leading up to his death anniversary date (March13th). In many ways I’m still in shock, even a year later. This week however, I learned first hand what it means for God to give you rest. Not just rest in the physical, but, rest in your spirit. 

This past Sunday the choir at my church ministered ‘My Help’ based on Psalm 121 and the comfort that this Psalm offers is immeasurable. It lets me know that God is my help and in that fact I can rest. Here are three key components in this Psalm to rest in: 

God made heaven and earth (vs 2) - I hear you say what does this have to do with comfort? Everything! God is our creator and He made everything. Since He made everything, He’s in full and total control of everything! This is a fact you can rest in because no matter what your situation is, you can rest in the assurance that God is in full control. He created you and loves you with a special love that only He can provide. Even in the times that come and cause us to suffer loss, God is there to comfort us, His creation, in those times we need Him most. 

God will not slumber or sleep (vs. 3-4) - The Word reminds us that the One who keeps us, will not slumber. Since God does not slumber or sleep, this means that we can! Those things that keep us up at night worrying, God lets us know that we can indeed go to sleep and rest, because He’s got it. 

God is our keeper and our preserver (vs 5-8) - God keeps us and covers us from things we see and things we don’t see. He preserves us in every moment. We can find comfort in this fact as we go about our daily lives. Oh to be kept by Jesus! When you think you may crumble or fall apart because of grief, sadness, heartache, or whatever, God is right there to let us know that He’s got us, even when it doesn’t feel like it. God preserves us in our going out and coming in, He is always there. 

God will do these things for us and provide comfort like no other but we have to ‘look to Him’ (vs 1). The psalmist declares, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills - from where does my help come from?” If you ever feel like you can’t see your help, just look to the Lord! Your help comes from the Lord! Help to make it through the day, help to rest at night, help to just be. 

Although I miss my brother, I’m comforted in knowing that his soul is at sweet rest with Jesus. 

Remember to rest in who God is and let it be a comfort to your heart and to your soul.

Yeezy Said What?

So I’ve been watching the Kanye West documentary and the first two episodes (Vision & Purpose respectively) are phenomenal! Now, we all know Mr. West has some issues today, mainly as a result of losing his Mom (in my opinion), but when you see the beginning of his journey leading up to the release of his debut CD ‘High School Dropout’ it really provides some nuggets that we all can apply to our own personal journey. 

Don’t Let Others Redefine the Vision God Gave You. 

Kanye started out in the industry as a producer but he always knew he was a rapper also. Damon Dash and Rocafella Records only viewed him as a producer and tried to just keep him in that box. Through many closed doors Kanye kept pushing because he knew the vision he had for himself and what God gave him. 

Likewise, you know what God told you and you know the vision God gave to you, so, it is a must that you walk in it. No matter what the naysayers say, or the box people will try to put you in (i.e. small boxes, boxes of your past, etc.) you have to move the way that God told you to move. Everybody is not going to see your vision and that’s okay, but, you have to remain clear on it and stand firm in it. 

When You Move in Purpose, God Dispenses His Favor!

Doors closed and opportunities seemed to disappear around Kanye but he continued to move in his purpose. As he did that, God began to dispense His favor! Rocafella closed the studio off to Kanye to record so he borrowed studio time from other artists, Jamie Foxx opened up his home studio, and even a connect he had at MTV let him come in after business hours and use their equipment. 

When you move full speed ahead in your purpose God will dispense His favor and open doors no man can shut! God is always right there even when circumstances look grim, God never leaves or forsakes us. Whenever God tells you to do something or move in a particular direction, He will always send provision. God will fund His vision. It may not be in the way you envisioned it to be but God rarely does what we think He will do; He specializes in the supernatural! 

You MUST be a Faith Walker!

The very fact that this documentary exists is evidence of a true faith walk. Kanye had his friend film his journey long before we even knew his name. This is faith in its purest sense! He left Chicago and came to New York to pursue his dream. Simultaneously his friend who filmed much of the documentary I have watched so far, up and left his career as a comedian to follow Kanye and document this journey - a faith walk! As a result, it opened many doors and film opportunities for him and a business partner. 

You must walk by faith and not by sight. If you strictly go by what you see, you will never realize your full potential! What you see may indicate that the finances are not there but your faith tells you that ‘with God all things are possible’. Your sight may tell you that you don’t have enough experience to start that business but your faith tells you that ‘you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you’. This doesn’t cancel out training and development for whatever it is you may want to do but it does say that you can put your full confidence in Christ to lead you through to the next level! 

Extra Nugget

As an extra note, his first single from his debut CD was “Through the Wire” which sampled Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire”. Things were looking up for his career and then he was in a near fatal car accident that broke his jaw and and caused his mouth to be wired shut. Instead of getting down and giving up, he kept pushing, determined to continue his rapping career: Through the Wire! 

Remember, you can learn things from anyone, even Yeezy! Don’t let judgment block you from receiving the nugget you need to propel you into your next!