The Sweet Spot...

I woke up this morning with a line from Tamela Mann's new song playing on repeat in my spirit. "There's a place in God where we can all be free. A place where God can get the best out of me. There's a secret place in God where He covers me." I tried to move on but it was almost like I was caught in the middle of the Grand Canyon and the feeling of getting to that place was echoing all around me. You see, it's not the lyric that took my breath away as much as the idea of being in that place with God. I look back at the last 2 or 3 years of my life and I see a series of hills and mountains that I had to climb. I see battles that I had to fight and assignments that have come and gone. But today, God reminded me about the place that lies in knowing who God is and trusting Him instead of helping Him. It's that place where you know that you can't do it without Him so you stop trying. It's that place of being wrapped in security and peace, knowing that in spite of you and your insecurities and weaknesses, God both has you AND has use for you. It's your sweet spot.

I wish I didn't have to always talk about myself in these posts. It would be so much easier to shine the spotlight on someone else. But alas, that's not the way it's going to work today. When you write something like Rhema, people can be fooled into thinking that you have it all figured out. They expect you to have a word ready in all situations or that you are hiding your halo in your pocketbook. Ha! I wish that were true! The fact of the matter is, I can write Rhema because the opposite is true. I struggle with some of the same things that you do, but God has brought me to a place where no matter what I go through, I have to face it. A lot of my friends can attest to the fact that I would love to hide from those things but God doesn't let me. He brings them right to my face and I have to deal with them. Doesn't sound very sweet, does it? But, in actuality, it is! I've lived and seen how damaging avoidance can be. How about you? Are you an expert at not dealing with things? When you hide things so deep and pretend they don't bother or affect you, it builds walls that are hard to climb. It either hardens your heart or breaks it but what it doesn't do, is help. It's time to find your sweet spot.

The term "sweet spot" is generally used in sports for that place on a bat or on the court where everything is working in the athlete's favor. When God led me in this direction, I thought He was going to have me focus on Philippians 4:12 where Paul says that he has learned to be content regardless of his circumstances. I mean, that's pretty sweet when you are cool wherever you are. But nope! God sent me instead to James 1. "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2-4‬ MSG) Ummmm what?! God, how in the world is this anywhere near SWEET?! He responded with shifting my perspective. When you are in the middle of a test or struggle, that's when He is molding you. When the grief is overwhelming you, that's when He is stripping everything that shouldn't be there. When your marriage is shaky and you are looking for stability, that's when He is upholding you. And when you get to the end of all of that, you will find that He has made you complete and whole.  Suddenly, it all came together! It's in the fire where you learn to trust and when you trust, the shift comes and the favor becomes evident. It's the sweet spot.

Remember that in the presence of God, there is fullness of joy. There is peace that is hard to understand and there is freedom that cannot be contained. In your most difficult times, God is a present help. He is all that you need and more than you could ask for. I've found that the sweet spot isn't necessarily about where you are at your happiest but rather where you are most in tune with God. If God is shifting you, He's also preparing you. Sweet spot! If God is testing you, He's also healing you. Sweet spot! If God is challenging you, He's also elevating you. Sweet spot! Don't look at the pain, look at the process. I bet you will find that the end result is sweeter than you  ever expected.

Amen...

What's Coming is Better!

I woke up today to 12 degree weather and the news that it won’t even make it to 20 degrees. I asked myself what in the world I was supposed to do with that. Come on! This is North Carolina, the average temperature for mid-February is in the 50s. Why are we looking at weather in the teens?! I was not pleased at all. But then I scrolled down the screen on my weather app and saw something exciting! It’s going to be 55 on Sunday. It was in that moment that I heard a phrase echo in my spirit…what’s coming is better. There’s a song by Deon Kipping with this very title and I love the song but it’s something entirely different when you hear the Lord whisper that in your ear. There’s a level of comfort and peace that comes that is incomparable to any other voice. So, today, I want to remind you that what is coming for you is so much better than where you currently are.

Recently, I’ve seen some strong people struggling to find the strength to move forward after devastating life blows. Have you been there? The death of someone you love, the loss of a job, the breakup of a marriage, these are all things that you know are possibilities; but when it becomes a reality, it can upset your whole view of life. Perhaps you have asked yourself some tough questions. Why did this happen to me? What is the lesson that I am supposed to be learning? When will things change? I’ve been there. But eventually, the questions stop and you start looking for answers. God wants to remind you today that He is Jehovah Roi, the God who sees. But you know what else? He has plans for you. According to Jeremiah29:11, they are plans for a hope and a future. Last year, God encouraged me to read beyond that one verse and see what He told the people of Israel during their Babylonian captivity. Today, He sent me right back to that same spot in Jeremiah. Look at what God says in verses 12 -14.  “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.” Do you see what I see? God is promising restoration and peace after the struggle and bondage. He is promising better!

Sometimes, it is hard to see better when your circumstances are screaming WORSE! You are praying, fasting, serving but yet you can’t see breakthrough. You might even be asking God if you are worthy to serve in the midst of your tiredness, your frustration, or your humanness. Can He even use you like this? But let me tell you something, God is beyond faithful and He wants you to be at your best. He wants you to be whole! He wants you to see beyond your right now to what is coming. I love what Paul tells the Church at Corinth to encourage them when circumstances seem overwhelming in 2 Corinthians.  I believe God has this very same reminder for you today.

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.  We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.  Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.  So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.  But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.  That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Cor. 4: 8 – 18 NLT)

Be encouraged, saints! God is working on your behalf and the outcome that He has for you is great! So, I challenge you to take a stand and get a praise in your heart and mouth. Look at grief and tell it that joy is coming! Look at anger and tell it that happiness is coming! Look at frustration and tell it that peace is coming! Look at lack and tell it that provision is coming! You, sir, are on the brink of your better! You, mam, are on the edge of your breakthrough! Don’t let any of those heavy burdens weigh you down for one more day. What’s coming is better and you need to be ready!

 AMEN

Stand strong!

Today was not one of those days where God gave a long profound message. I asked for a relevant and Rhema word to help you in your right now. He told me simply to encourage you to stand strong.

Amazingly, we are almost through the 2^nd month of the year and for some of you these 6 weeks have been a roller coaster. You have faced challenges at home, at church, at work, with your health and the list can go on. At times, you may have wondered how you got where you are. You may have even wondered if your life would be easier if you just gave up or just stepped back from everything. But God wanted to remind you that you have purpose. You have something to offer this world that no one else has. I can pretty much hear your response to that echoing loudly in my ear. ‘Well then why do I have to deal with all of this “stuff”?!’ I know that because I have asked that very question this week! But you know what? Everything that you have faced has prepared you for the next thing. The struggle to get your husband to understand your point of view is preparing you to be able to clearly and directly minister to someone in a hard place. Having to bear the constant weight of your family’s issues and problems is teaching you how to counsel others and then release the weight. The seemingly never ending search for a job is building your compassion for those who struggle to make it and need to know that God will provide.  Stand strong!

God is faithful and He is present! I love to call him Jehovah Shammah for He is truly there in your situation. He kept reiterating to me that He wants you to know that you are not alone. 2 Corinthians 1: 3- 5 gives us a comforting word from the Apostle Paul. He says, “All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.” (MSG) Doesn’t that encourage your spirit? God knows that what you have dealt with has not been easy. He knows that you have had some hard times but in all of that, He is there. Not only that, but He gives a full measure of healing and comfort. Who better to lift you back up from a hard place than your God? Stand strong!

 I encourage you today to remember whose you are. Remember that you were not promised easy but you were promised forever. God said He would NEVER leave you or forsake you. That’s a powerful statement and it’s one that I have to remind myself of from time to time when the fight gets too hard. Stand strong in your faith! Stand strong in your waiting period! Stand strong in your assignment! Jehovah Shammah is right there holding you up with in His hands…

Be blessed…AMEN

Right here...

This was one of those days when any and everything got in between me and Rhema. I had an early meeting and multiple Skype interviews and my mind was just not where it needed to be. It can be a bit stressful but it’s not new so I simply waited it out. God has given me this assignment and despite what life throws at me, I know that I have been called to write this blog until my assignment changes. I believe the Lord had me to share that little testimony with you so that you could catch hold to what He wants to say next. Are you ready? Here goes! You are right where you are supposed to be. And there you have it. God has you in this moment, this season, this place for a reason and until the vision or promise or assignment has come to pass, you need to walk in it. Do not let stress, frustration, or distraction keep you from what God told you. He wants you to know that what He has showed you doesn’t change because the enemy rears his head. It’s not aborted because something didn’t go quite the way you envisioned. No! As a matter of fact, it just gives God more room to work.  You are right where you are supposed to be.

When I opened my online bible app today, the scripture of the day jumped out at me. It was confirmation to me that God wants you to keep pushing towards the promise that He gave you. “For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything He does. He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.” (Ps. 33: 4-5, NLT) God doesn’t lie and He doesn’t change so if He said it, you can count on it. He has a plan and a purpose for your life and His unfailing love is constantly surrounding you and carrying you towards your destiny.  You are right where you are supposed to be.

When I heard the call to ministry, I just knew that God had made a mistake. Surely, when He was handing out assignments, my name was mixed up with another Ebony Bryant. I mean, come on! I am nowhere near worthy of the responsibility or weight that comes with sharing His word with other people.  I struggled with the call and to be perfectly honest, I fought it tooth and nail. But what I found out was that all I was doing was delaying the purpose He had for my life. I was holding onto a word, a message, an encouragement that someone needed. And guess what? God has need of YOU! It may not fit into what your plan was for your life but He has brought you to this place of preparation, transition and for some you, manifestation so that you can do what only you were created to do. You are right where you are supposed to be.

So today, I am speaking to your spirit man! Rise up, Pastor! There are people that are waiting on you to lead them to their next level. Don’t let stress distract you. Rise up, Intercessor! There are people waiting on you to pray them through. Don’t let emotionalism distract you. Rise up, Prophetess! There are people waiting on you to speak the Word clearly and directly. Don’t let the journey distract you. Rise up, Volunteer! There are people waiting on you to help and support them in their hard place. Don’t let a title distract you. God has you right here for a reason and it’s time to stop letting battles, things and people that are not meant for you to handle, distract you from what God is doing in you. You are right where you are supposed to be and the good news is that God is right there with you.

Amen…