Monthly Archives: August 2012

Things will look up!

August 24, 2012

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end- Eccl 3:11

As I was driving back home from work yesterday, I began to thank God for all that He has done. Somehow, I knew He was smiling at me, saying “I told you I would make everything beautiful in my time”.

At the start of this year, things just seemed so down for me. Even before the year began, it was like that. It was like even though I prayed for things to look up, things just got worse. It started out when I lost my car at the beginning of the year, I found out that the year of research that I had done on my thesis had to be scrapped, stalker people were bothering me, my job contract ended, I ran out of money, found out that people that I had loaned my car to racked up almost $1000 in tickets, had to move out of my place, and my emotions were just a mess because of past relationships…There is so much more that I can talk about. So much. And yes these are personal things, but I just wanted to get a message across.

During the commute, I thought about how God had turned things around…It wasn’t suddenly. I remember crying my heart out almost every day, singing Israel Houghton’s “You hold my world in your hands” and ” Oh how He loves us”. But in His time, He had made all things beautiful for me. And I also had to hold on to a word that He gave me and confirmed by a friend that He will restore the years that the locust and cankerworms took away.

So this weekend is my birthday! I am going to be the big 3-0. lol. God made provision for another car. I got a job in my field. He has given me new friends that really truly have my back, He’s given me a beautiful apartment which I will be moving into tomorrow, with an amazing landlady who has already adopted me as a daughter. He has also restored my vision and my passion for Him. And next week, I’m going to give birth to the first “baby” (my project) that He has given me.

More than anything… He has restored and shown me how to keep my joy. The person I was last year, two years, three years ago… I am not that person anymore. And even though I may look the same, I am totally transformed on the inside.

I remember asking God a couple years ago if I would always feel the pain of a broken heart. If things would ever just work out for me. Well…He showed me…

This was my season for these things. I know that more stuff will happen that will be trying. And there are other areas that surely need to be fixed. But I believe that He will always make things beautiful for me in His right time.

So this morning I want to take a few minutes to encourage you that things will look up for you too. I know it may seem as if God is taking forever, but don’t take your focus off of Him. Don’t be mad at Him because He’s not doing what you want, when you want it. Just keep trusting Him. Keep believing that He will make all things beautiful in His time. God does not want to hurt you…He wants to heal, restore, and make all things new for you. Don’t pull away from Him. He will make it right.

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized

Spinach

August 23, 2012

This morning I woke up, really, really tired. Yesterday was a long day. Not difficult, just long. And I anticipate that the next few days will be like that as well. When I woke up this morning, my mind wandered between getting those extra z’s and Popeye. For those who are in my generation, you probably remember Popeye, the sailorman. I remember that big goofy guy would beat up Popeye to the point of weariness, until Popeye discovered some spinach somewhere. It didn’t matter what form that spinach was in, could be some leftover from a garbage can, or a jar, or some spinach soup, once Popeye got a hold of some spinach, the fight was on.

When periods of dryness, tiredness, or weakness come, I encourage you to go to His Word.

It’s not really a super spiritual concept. Although there are supernatural benefits. But the Word of God, is our spinach. We need our spinach every day. If you don’t take it, you’ll find yourself drying up, living in a lukewarm phase, not saying yay or nay about anything. Without your Spinach, you don’t want to fight for what God says, and you don’t want to talk too much to God. You just want to stay in a hole.

The ‘spinach’ of God is available in so many forms…You have the bible in audio, written, on your smartphone… It’s important to get a fill of it everyday. It doesn’t have to be an hour long. But ask God what is the Word that will strengthen you for the day, and just focus on it. You can also get your spinach from many of the ministers online. There’s Joyce Meyers, TD Jakes, and Kenneth Copeland, and so many others, that you can just tune into for half an hour while you work. And if you don’t know who to listen to, you can go to the TBN network and find one.

The word of God is our main source of energy. We might say that we fellowship with Him all the time, that we pray. But I’ve found that we could do a whole lot of those things, and still feel dry, empty. But just one word from Him for the day, and we are fully charged.

I encourage you today to spend at least 5 mins in His word. Doesn’t matter as much, what the medium is, just spend time in His word. You will be fully charged to deal with your day.

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized

God’s business

August 22, 2012

Today I want to talk about something totally out of left field. …sort of…It has nothing to do with you.

When I say that, I mean it has to do with you, just that it’s not about you.

As I continue to read the book of Nehemiah, I am at the part where Sanballat and Tobias are continuing to harass Nehemiah so that they could beat him up (I am not sure…they might be trying to kill him too). If you don’t know the story, Sanballat and Co were not too happy that Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. But Nehemiah had heard from God about what he was supposed to do and he was determined to do just that.

When Sanballat and Co called for him to come away from the work, Nehemiah said

“I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”- Nehemiah 6.

I found this interesting. Nehemiah could have gone down and allow himself to caught up in Sanballat’s nonsense. But he didn’t.

I tried to relate this to our everyday lives. You know, there are so many issues that get us down on a regular basis. But I wonder if we were to get caught up in doing ‘a great work’ for God if those problems would have the same effect on us?

I found that when I busy myself with the things of God, a lot of things don’t bother me. It doesn’t mean that the problems aren’t there. Just that I am too busy to notice them. By busying myself I don’t mean going to church or reading the bible. Of course I do that. While those are important, I mean doing something that takes the focus off of us and putting it on something other than us. Like trying to make someone else smile. Making dinner for some people who are not as well off as we are. Something like that. Last Saturday, I had someone offer to buy 25 pairs of flip flops for the kids that we’re going to support in Guyana. It was such a great opportunity to not think about all the other things going on in her life. Have you encouraged anyone lately, or are you always looking for someone to encourage you? Have you prayed for anyone lately, or are you always looking for someone to pray for you?

I think that’s what Jesus meant when He told us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added to you“. He probably meant “stop thinking about you. Think about me and what my Kingdom needs and I will take care of your needs”.

I encourage you to just busy yourself with the things of God for a while. You’ll realize that the things of God are so much bigger than the small problems that are going on. That’s not to ‘downsize’ anyone’s problems. But I can guarantee you that there’s someone else hurting just as much or more than you. So what can you do to help them? You don’t have to go preach to someone. You can just invite a few people over to share your testimonies together. You could take some one that is feeling down, out for coffee. You could go through your ridiculously filled closet and prepare a clothes hamper for someone. The whole world is not about you or me or us. Our problems are there, and yes they do affect us, but talking about them all the time won’t change them. God knows what we need and He will provide those things at the right time. If we busy ourselves with His great work, our breakthroughs will happen so suddenly, that we won’t even know when they do.

Have a good day!

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized Tags: depression, encouragement, hope, peace, prayer, relationships

Fight while you work

August 21, 2012

I’ve been diggin’ the book of Nehemiah these last few mornings. I don’t know if I’ve ever read this book…Maybe in Sunday school or something. But it’s a book that I have not heard any messages on in a long time. But I’ve discovered some tidbits in the book of Nehemiah that I thought could be of some encouragement to us all.

One of the things that I’ve learned from the book ( in Chapter 4) is that not everybody will be happy that you’re making progress. It could be in a relationship, on the job, at the gym (really, there are people that will be upset with you because you’re losing weight and they are not). Whatever the case, I think it’s important for us not to get discouraged by them. When God has given us victory or is beginning to give us victory in an area, we should bask in that.

Unfortunately, the devil does not like it when you’re smiling. And so he’ll use anyone that’s open to trouble your spirit. In the case of Nehemiah, there was Sanballat and Tobiah who was mad because he was leading the Jews in the rebuilding of the wall, and succeeding…Can you believe that? You would think people would be happy about this mission, but nope!

When Sanballat and Tobiah started mocking the Jews, they started to get despondent (the Jews). All of a sudden, they felt tired, they started to complain about the work that they were doing so well before. They started to wain even though God had begun to give them victory.

But I love Nehemiah’s response to this situation:

¹⁶So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaderswere behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. ¹⁸Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built (Nehemiah 4: 16-18).

Who are your Sanballot and Tobias? Who are the ones telling you that your dream is impossible, that you’re never going to get there, that you’ll never lose weight?

When they come (and they will) you need to be armed fully with the weapons of positive confession and refute what they are saying.

You know God never told us anywhere that we should be weak and feeble Christians. I mean that may be the way some artists painted it in the past, but does it make sense that at every corner, His people are being pressed, and He wants them to get beat up? NO!!!!!!!!! We are called to FIGHT the good fight of faith. At all times. So even while God is giving us victory, when he has already given us victory, we don’t sit down and take a vacation. The Jews in Nehemiah’s account worked…. and fought. I think then that the two go hand in hand. Live life, be happy, work, play, sleep… but do all that with the Sword of the Word in your hand and on your tongue. Be ready to ‘draw’ at any point, when someone or something tells you that you won’t make it, that you’re not going to live, that your relationship/marriage will not work.

So c’mon friends!! Chop Chop. As you go out today, be ready to fight while you work! Don’t accept defeat! Don’t let Sanballot decide how your day will go!

Posted by schadah in High, Healed, Delivered, Uncategorized

Smile!

August 20, 2012

Last weekend at church, this woman sitting in front of me kept looking back at me. I wasn’t sure why at first, but then I guess when she couldn’t bear it any longer, she turned around and said “you have a great smile!”

Lately I get that a lot. People walking up to me and just saying how great my smile is. I am tickled by that because for a very long time, I wasn’t smiling. Life seemed to be so stressful, so many fuzzballs in my life that were upsetting me… and so many issues that just made me sad. But I find that now I am always laughing, always cheerful. There’s nothing that really gets to me. Is my life stressful? YES!!!! But I won’t get back the time I spent today. So I am going to laugh and smile as much as I can with the time I have left.

So, today as I was getting ready to pray, I thought about how many of us are so grouchy these days.

You know, I find it sad that many Christians are so frustrated and grouchy all the time. I am not condemning anyone, because I have been there. And yes we all have bad days where we may feel down. But the word of God says that we should sing unto the Lord (Psalm 96). Our entire lives are songs unto the world. Can you imagine that? You are a song to the world! That’s because the whole world is hurting. They are angry. They are complaining. What makes you different? Do you stand out as a light of God, or do you join their bandwagon?

We need to be set a part as believers. Our whole lives are testimonies…songs! Now, if you were a song created to bless people, what kind of song would you be? Blues or Rock and Roll, Sad or Happy??

I am saying all this because today is Monday. And with Mondays come this down, depressed, “oh God I hate Monday grouchy feeling. But I encourage you to greet today with joy! The joy of the Lord is your strength! God loves happy people. And He doesn’t want His kids to be all grumpy. And yes, Christians CAN be happy. Religious beliefs tell us that God is a strict God, pouting, and angry, waiting to strike us down. And because we so desire to be like God, we imitate this falsity. But God is actually a decent, happy Person. He’s loving, and kind and forgiving. And I am sure He laughs. So…how about we imitate the real God!

So I encourage you today to pack up your gloomies. Begin to laugh a little. Even if there are things to make you upset, laugh it off.

Remember, God is in control of everything! So smile!

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized

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Packing up yesterday

August 17, 2012

I am in the process of packing to move out of my apartment… Yay. As I am packing. I realize there’s a lot of stuff… let’s call it what it is…JUNK, that is in my possession that should have been dumped a long time ago.

I mean.. . I have jeans that don’t fit anymore, papers from grade 11, textbooks from first year undergrad, pots that I don’t even use!!! I am getting frustrated… because as I think about it, all this clutter is going to make me have to rent a bigger UHaul!!!

But really, why is it that we hoard so much stuff…???!!

And while we’re at that, why do we hoard so much stuff…in our minds?

You know, when God created the heaven and earth…this was not the first time… (really, it wasn’t. If you want to talk theology about that, meet me after class). But I find it interesting that when God wants to do a new work in his children, He wipes the slate clean. For instance, when He created the heavens and the earth, he started from scratch. He started with nothingness. And with Sodom and Gomorrah, He wiped out the whole place and told Lot and his wife, to not look back.

God loves yesterday, today and tomorrow. But he often tells us to not focus on yesterday. Why is that? I think it’s because He wants us to know that He is well able to make a better ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow’.

There are some things in our possession that we keep holding on to because we keep thinking that they will have meaning in the future. And no i am not talking about the photo frame that you’re keeping for your unborn child. I am talking about the sweater from your ex, the photo of the two of you in the Twin towers…

Maybe God will miraculously bring you guys back together. But maybe He has something new and better for you. Either way, you will never know unless you release what was in the past.

Do you realize how different you are now? I mean you and ? are two different people. Your likes and dislikes are not the same. And if God did something for you… you will never go back to the good old times. It will be the good new futures.

Even in our minds…sometimes we are so afraid to let go of memories, because we’re afraid that we’d forget the person… So we hold on to memories of them…

Please don’t get me wrong… But we can’t move on to tomorrow if we’re still holding on to yesterday. It doesn’t matter who tomorrow is going to be with… there will be newness. It’s so easy to hold on to yesterday. But you know what? God’s got tomorrow in store. Each day after today is a NEW day. A NEW DAY!!! With NEW things!!! Oooo I am so excited for the new things that are coming!

There is a bright and beautiful future in store for you. Don’t pack your baggage of yesterday with the intention of taking it into your tomorrow. Make a decision to not hoard your past! Make new memories in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Posted by schadah in High, Healed, Delivered, How He Loves Me, Tidbits for Love, Hope and Joy, Tidbits for Trusting God Tags: Christian, Christianity, encouragement, hope, hurt, relationships, trusting god

Wait a little bit!

August 16, 2012

Jeremiah 29:11 -For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This is one of my favourite scriptures….because it reminds me that I have to always put my trust in God. Even when we don’t understand certain things, we have to trust Him because He wants what is BEST for us.

So on the topic of being lonely again…

When the enemy comes to spend Friday night with you, how do you react? Because it’s how you react that really determines whether he wins or loses.

It really pains me when I see or hear about young women who can’t go a week without being with a guy…

My hormones are quite imbalanced right now, but I am not hard. I have feelings and I can be very emotional. But why are we so afraid of being alone?

My Pastor said to me one day, “you’ll know when you’re ready for marriage! When you can enjoy being with yourself, you’d be happy to share yourself with someone else! That’s when!”.

I find those words to be so true. God does not want us alone…i.e. without companionship. But the timing of that companionship, for the most part, is determined by Him. He doesn’t want us clingy, and volatile, hurting other people. Nor does he want other people hurting us because we’re vulnerable. He knows what’s BEST. And He wants what is BEST for you.

You know when I think back on all the hurt that I have dealt with in relationships, I tell God “I don’t mind waiting”. And then I laugh. I don’t want to go through that again. Nuh uh! Guy cheating, lying, stealing, dumping you on the side of the road cuz he had enough, calling you when he wants you, but never there when you need him??? Nope! I don’t mind waiting.

So what am I saying…?

If you’re in a season of “non-companionship-ness”, don’t let the enemy put a spirit of loneliness on you. Enjoy where you are. Enjoy your time with God, because when you get married, you won’t be able to spend as much time with Him (which is scripturally endorsed). And to my young sisters out there, crying out that you want to get married….Do you realize that you have approximately 50-80 years of your life to spend with someone? What’s the rush?? Wait a little bit!

God’s plan will be perfected in His time. Rebuke the spirit of loneliness put on by the devil… and enjoy your alone time with God…

Peace out!

Posted by schadah in How He Loves Me, Uncategorized

1 comment

Feeling lonely…

August 15, 2012

I am back to my 6 am devotion schedule now. It’s funny, because I think I always hear the voice of the Holy Spirit a lot clearer when I awake at these times.

As I was worshipping, I heard him say this morning “Being alone does not mean being lonely”. I laughed out loud, because I couldn’t remember the last time I actually felt alone…or lonely.

We are all built to want companionship. God never created us to be alone, either spiritually or naturally. But somehow the enemy likes to throw it in your face that you’re alone. He plants a lie in your heart, that because there’s no special one in your life, you’re alone. I guess I am talking to all the single women out there (maybe some guys too), who feel the heaviness because everyone else around them has someone and they don’t. But the Word of God says that you’re NEVER alone. Even as you sit here right now, there are angels round about you, and the Holy Spirit Himself is WITH you. So you’re never alone. And yet, you feel lonely…

Maybe I should use an example. Not too long ago, I struggled with loneliness. I constantly felt depressed, and I compared myself to all my married friends. I kept asking God when it would happen for me. When would i find the right person? Or he find me. That went on for most of the winter. But then one day at one of my empowerment classes, my mentor prayed for me at random and she said “I break the spirit of loneliness”. I began to think about that afterwards. A new thing began to happen in me. At the Encounter weekend during the deliverance service, the spirit of loneliness was addressed, and believe it or not, I have never felt lonely since. Of course I am single. That’s a fact. But I am not alone, no matter how it looks in the physical. And I refuse to feel lonely because of what the circumstances look like.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think the spirit of loneliness is of God. And it’s not the same as being alone, though the enemy will tell us that it is. God’s word already promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. So we’re never alone. Loneliness on the other hand, is what happens when you look around in the natural and realize that there’s no one there to hold you or kiss you in the morning. It’s what you feel because you think you’re alone. Loneliness leads to depression, drinking, sexual immorality. It’s the feeling of unhappiness that lets us do stupid things.

Now, if God’s will for his people is joy, why would He want you feeling lonely and miserable?

I can boldly say that I have been delivered from the spirit of loneliness. I wake up every morning fully charged and not worried about when I will get married, when the guy will come, if I am cursed. No. God is with me. And realizing that fact, I could never feel lonely. I laugh and smile now more than ever, knowing this fact.

So this morning I want to encourage all the single people out there who are struggling with feeling lonely. Know that you are never alone. No matter how it looks in the natural, you’re not alone. Don’t let the enemy put the spirit of loneliness on you.

I will finish this up tomorrow. Have a good one.

Posted by schadah in Tidbits for Love, Hope and Joy, Tidbits for Relationships Tags: encouragement, God, happiness, Heart, loneliness, love, prayer, relationships

1 comment

The devil you know.

August 14, 2012

I am not one to talk about the devil too much. I find sometimes that as Christians we give him too much power.

But one of the things that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is how the devil operates.

I think it’s important that we understand how this dude works, otherwise we could easily fall prey to his devices.

The word of God says that “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices”. That means if we don’t know how He strikes then he can take advantage of us!

One of the enemy’s most powerful weapon is ‘suggestion’. I know it sounds so simple, but how many times have we fallen prey to things that were not even actually said? Things that we just conjured up in our head?

For example, ever had a time when you had an argument with someone, and then you went home and rethought that argument over and over? For some reason in your head that argument was a lot longer in your head, because you added some stuff. Stuff that never took place. Before you know it, you have made up a lot of stuff that never happened. Like the person calling you ‘stupid’ or ‘fat’. Those didn’t happen. They were ‘suggested’ to you.

One of my friends told me recently that she didn’t want to call me because she thought she was bothering me. I asked her who told her that. It certainly wasn’t me. So where’d she get that information? She had randomly come up with that on her own.

The enemy can suggest all sorts of things to you.

He can ‘suggest’ you’re not pretty.

He can ‘suggest’ you’re not good enough

He can ‘suggest’ that your husband is cheating on you.

He can ‘suggest’ that people are talking about you.

The devil will make suggestions to anyone that is a threat to him. Anyone who has a great testimony coming, or who carries a promise. He did it with Eve in the garden when he ‘suggested’ that she ate the fruit because she won’t ‘surely’ die. He didn’t tell her to do it, just suggested it. He also did it with Jesus, suggesting that He “jump off a cliff”. Whatt makes you think he won’t do it to you?

In my own life, the devil has tried to ‘suggest’ me to defeat. “Maybe you should kill yourself”. “How about you cuss him out?”. You have no idea. But once I made the decision to not succumb to his suggestions, I gained the upper hand.

When the devil makes suggestions in your life, how do you handle it? We need to be so careful, because his suggestions are subtle. Nonetheless, we have to renounce them. Sometimes it’s not even an ‘outloud’ suggestion. It’s in your mind that he will talk. Sometimes he will use your husband, your best friend, your boss, to suggest things to you. But you need to answer him (the devil) back with the word.

Refute his lies. Tell him the reverse. Tell him what God’s word says. Otherwise that suggestion will take root in your heart and it will continue to bother you until you do it.

So I guess my encouragement for today is this: Beware of the devil you know. Don’t sit down and let him destroy you, because that’s his plan. Instead rise up and revolt against every suggestion he throws your way.

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized Tags: Christianity, confidence, devil, fight, God, lies

2 comments

Down but not out.

August 13, 2012

It’s Monday.

And for some of you, you really don’t want to get out of bed. Reality sucks. But you know you have to.

There’s this numbness on you. You don’t know how it got there, but it’s probably because you’ve been kicked so hard, so many times, that you don’t even feel the pain anymore. But once again, you’ve been kicked and you were already down.

I remember a time in my life when the devil had power over me in that way. I was like a lightweight boxer in the ring, and even though I was down, he kept kicking me…so that I wouldn’t get up. I stayed down for a long time. And it was like my trainer was out the door.

It wasn’t until much later that I heard my Trainer, the Holy Ghost speak up, saying that the fight was already fixed. I may have been down, but I was not out. And that God had given me all the training I needed to get up again.

With every bit of ounce of strength in me, I got up, and I fought back.

What was I fighting? The depression, the pain, the fear, the numbness that the enemy had caused. God did not call me to live a defeatist life.

We need to understand that when the devil attacks us, it is not from God. God does not want us hurt, and broken and in pain. He doesn’t want us to be taken advantage of. But the enemy is a thief and a destroyer, and his goal is to take you down, so that he can take you out.

But there’s an army inside of you…a Mighty Army. That even if you’re bruised, hurt, despondent, it’s still there. This is not the time to stay down. You’ve got to fight for your life. God is there with you every step of the way, but you’ve got to use all the things He’s taught you and fight back.

Remember, you may be down, but you’re not out. You still have the chance to rise up like Rocky, and take control of the ring.

Psalm 34: 18-20. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;

he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

The righteous person faces many troubles,

but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.

For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!

Posted by schadah in Uncategorized

Monthly Archives: August 2012

Things will look up!

Spinach

God’s business

Fight while you work

Smile!

Packing up yesterday

Wait a little bit!

Feeling lonely…

The devil you know.

Down but not out.

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