Never Too Early

This particular post was inspired by a conversation I had with someone yesterday. Before I begin, I must say that the conversation was a divine appointment in the bathroom (a lot of things happen in the bathroom), because I just went to charge my phone for a bit then get back to the event, and in the process a young lady I knew came in, that I had interacted with earlier. Long story short, I missed the rest of the event, but you know what? I didn’t care, God had set that bathroom forum up. He works in mysterious ways, which means we always have to be prepared.

Anyhow, as we were talking, one thing that stood out to me was toward the end of our conversation when she said that it was hard for her to let go of control and in one way or another said it was easier for me because I was older. It got me thinking. That is a mindset of a lot of people, specifically those of a younger generation. However, I find it disheartening that people have that mindset because there is no better time then the present to really pursue God and let Him guide your purpose. It makes sense though, because when you are young you feel that you have your whole life ahead of you before deciding to do one thing or another, particularly live a Christ-driven life. However, just hearing all the stories that are out in this crazy society, just in this country alone, life is precious and not promised to anyone, and there is no good reason to wait to get it together. Furthermore, there are so many others that are in fact pursuing their dreams and are doing it all in and they are being a shining light in this dark world. Therefore, if you don’t pursue and go after what God has special for you, someone else will get the task and your life will be empty, to be quite frank. The longer you wait the longer it will take for God to release on you all He has and wants to do by, through, and for you. Many times God is just waiting for us to come to Him and give Him the keys, which I found out to be the best decision I ever made.

As I remind myself and others, when I get to heaven I don’t want God to look at me and say “if only you had done this the first time I asked you” or “if only you would have let me love you” or “if only you had remained faithful” or “if only you didn’t give up.” How sad would that be?! Don’t wait to do what you know you have absolutely no good reason to not do now. God is waiting for you.Your purpose depends on it. It’s never too early to put into practice what you learned, because, those that did will tell you it’s not worth it. On the flip side, it’s never too late. God is awesome and can develop and bring out of you things you never knew to exist.

It’s never too early; you are never too young to start letting God transform your world by giving Him your all. It’s never too late; you are never to old to start letting God restore all that was lost.

Cost vs. Value

This weekend was amazing. I went to Chicago for the very first time. I flew into O’Hare and from that point to getting settled into the hotel, it was quite an experience. Nonetheless, I flew in to attend the Team 50K Summer Conference of Amway. To say the least, it was an amazing time, being in a positive atmosphere with an awesome people. Just with the speakers alone, there was so much information, so many words spoken that were rather profound, and two that spoke the most to me.

The first was the phrase “design your life.” There is so much that is wrapped into those three words. Living a life of purpose, it’s imperative to have a goal in mind, because it is near impossible to live a life that counts for something without having a plan or a vision as to where you are trying to go. Thus, it’s about a choice. What choices have you made and which will you make that will lead to and or get you closer to living the life you design under God’s will? So many times we get complacent and allow ourselves to settle, and  complacency is a dangerous place to be. That does not mean contentment is wrong, but the idea of not doing more and existing rather than living a life of purpose is. All in all, at some point we all have to ask ourselves “what kind of life do I want to live?” Once we develop and answer, our immediate task is then to do what is necessary to see that life come to fruition. And you know what? The beautiful thing about it is that whatever vision God has given us as our design, He will do more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20) if we follow Him.

The other thing that stood probably the most, came from a speaker named Mark. The whole premise of His message, I guess you could call it, was the difference between cost and value. At first glance it means the same thing, but the difference is so far greater. I know myself I can be rather cheap, I usually go to the straight to the clearance rack first and I take pride in making a dollar stretch. Needless to say, there are some things I don’t want to pay for at all or feel they should be cheaper. Now I know, life is more times than none not free, even when something says “free” someone is paying for it somewhere in one way or another. Nevertheless, even over the last year specifically, I can think of several things that I did not want to pay for and I actually passed up the first time around, but then the Lord had to do a work in me. If I wanted my life to be a certain way, designing it will cost. Then you think about what you spend on a general basis in life, many things that aren’t worth 2 cents to improving your future. So for me, it’s about 4 specific times this past year alone where I realized that the cost or the sacrifice, if I may, was nothing compared to the value of what happened as a result. Those investments made such an amazing difference and brought me closer to the design that I have for my life.

So I encourage you, as you plan your life and determine how it is you want to live and influence the people around you and the world, and how you want that to affect your family, if it’s anything of purpose and eternal significance, I guarantee it will cost a lot, more than you anticipate and or would want to pay, whether it be money, time, resources, people, relationships, or fun time. Nevertheless, the cost of what you give up is absolutely nothing compared to the value of what you will gain when your dream is you reality. What investments are you making?

Withdrawal & Sacrifice

So, this will be rather short, but I still feel like I need to say it fully. So lately I’ve been feeling so far from God, and I began to realize the truth of working for Jesus, without really spending time with Him just for the sake of our relationship. Many times those lines are blurred and with all the other day-to-day activities it’s easy to fall asleep. As  a result, it was like I have been through a withdrawal, I just felt bad and at times I wasn’t sure which what to do to get back. Jesus, as cliché as it sounds, is my drug and when I was low as I was, my whole being changed, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually concerning several different things. In the midst, I became sensitive to certain things that I was watching. Meaning, I have Netflix and one of my favorite shows from growing up that I was faithfully attending was “Xena: Warrior Princess.” However, that show was full of non-Christian deities and philosophies that was just not cool, so much in so, one of the last episodes I watched, my spirit was telling me to turn it off because it was very very ritualistic and demonic and just not healthy…and I could feel it. I felt weird but I have to admit I wanted to watch it, because like I said, it’s a favorite of mine. However, I was feeling so detached that I had to turn it off and not long after, I wasn’t feeling as nearly as bad and I don’t plan to watch it again.

Furthermore, I am a huuuuuuuge fan of  “Law & Order: SVU” and again, Netflix has the first 12 seasons and I am halfway through season 11. Long story short, after Xena, I picked back up on “SVU.” It was cool, but the show is dark, to be completely honest and some of the principles aren’t necessarily Biblical, and almost every “Christian” character is bonafide psycho which bothers me, but that’s another story. Anyway, still going through my withdrawal, as of yesterday I think, I decided to take a break from watching it. It was so much negativity that was pouring into my spirit and I needed to release. So I’ve been on my Amazon Cloud Player listening to my Worship 2.0 playlist, 7 of my all time favorite worship songs. The list has been on repeat. When I say I feel so much better, feeding that into my spirit and making and effort get back in tune via other measures, may I say the sacrifice was so worth it. Not saying that I would’ve expected different, but when we are living a life of purpose, we have to be mindful and conscious of the things we watch and listen to, because it can put us in  a weird place and we can lose focus like I did. Withdrawal is no joke, but I love it because you can never get too much Jesus, who is the ultimate high, and without my fix, I am no good.

So I encourage you, every bit of whatever you may feel the Lord is pushing you to sacrifice (music, tv show, relationship, shopping habits, etc.), listen. The reward is far far far greater, no matter how big or small. Even if it is small, if you let it fester, it can become a bigger issue than you wanted. Feed your spirit and not your flesh. Fulfilling your purpose depends on it.