Author: admin

With the introduction of the internet there seems to be more and more safety mechanisms enacted in order to make sure you are who you say you are. Many times I have called my bank and used the automated system to get a balance or transact business only to have that voice say, “The code that you entered is incorrect.”  I’m thinking to myself, “I know my own access code!”  But for some reason I must have hit a wrong key or I’m still using an old code.  They are always asking you to change the code periodically, and then once you make three attempts with the wrong code, they lock your access completely.  As much as I appreciate the safety nets in place to keep others out of my numerous on-line accounts, not just banking, it can be a serious inconvenience when you are trying to get something done in a hurry. Recently I was in the store preparing to make a purchase and wanted to check my account balance.  After punching in all the codes that familiar voice said, “Your account has been shut down.  Please call the bank.”  I forgot that I had received that same message a few days ago when I was at home, and I simply switched to my computer instead.  Luckily I was only locked out of my phone banking.  You can be hungry with a million dollars in the bank if you don’t have an access code!  It seems everything in life now requires some type of code system.  So let me ask you something.  Do you realize that the same thing holds true in our spiritual lives?  Do you know the access code to the Father?  Unless you use the code you will be spiritually bankrupt.  The good news is you will never hit the wrong key or use an old code.  And you will never be shut down completely.  What worked for your ancestors is still working today.  It didn’t just come on the scene a few decades ago like the internet.  It’s been around for centuries even though there is no big hoopla about it.  I’m talking about “prayer.” That’s the access code that you need!

 

When you look at your life and think about the many stories that you have heard, you must realize that they contributed to your success.  If so, then you owe it to the world to make this happen for someone else.  As an author, speaker, writer, entrepreneur, mother and grandmother, I find myself constantly looking for avenues where I can give back to society by sharing my stories.  We all have a story to tell.  No story is better than another, however, each story will touch people in a different way.  What may seem like a tragedy in your life, may very well turn out to be God’s way of having you experience something that will bless another.  I have found this to be true on many occasions.  Sometimes God is also working on you.

When it comes to making mistakes, we have all been there, done that and got the T-shirt!  I challenge you to look at your mistakes with new eyes.  It’s only a mistake if you make it twice.  The first time is a lesson.  Once you get this message you will stop beating yourself up for things that show up in your life to grow you.  Everything you go through is to help get you to where you’re going to.  The sooner you learn the lesson the sooner you can move on to the good stuff.  I’m reaping the benefits of all my mistakes, and the good stuff is here!  Some of the lessons took a while to learn, but I got it now.  I am ready to sit down at the table.  Yes!  What I mean by this is, a lot of times we feel that we have nothing to bring to the table.  We feel that our experiences are not legitimate enough to join in the conversation.  Often times we think we need more education, more intellect, more something!  Not so much.  You never know who is looking for what you have to offer.  So speak up and join the roundtable!

 

 

Each year I take vacation in Virginia (my hometown), and for the past two years I’ve driven alone. Every year is always interesting with family and not exactly what I anticipate.  So I make adjustments to try to avoid any unnecessary drama.  Never works!  But it does help to be in control of how I navigate my goings and comings, thus the reason for driving.  One year I rode the train and I ended up coming back early.  On each occasion I tell myself that I am not doing this again.  Somehow I keep going back in spite of the stress/mileage that it puts on my body/car.  This year when I told my longtime girlfriends during dinner one night, that maybe I’d come every two years, their response was, “You have to come every year because we love you and look forward to this time with you.”  They really blessed my heart because up until that moment, I was truly convinced there is no need to go through this every year for such little satisfaction.

With the miles ahead of me from Virginia to South Carolina I had plenty time to think. I am the type of person who sees God in all things.  What may seem like a chance encounter for others can be a divine appointment for me.  When I stopped at the Subway to get a sandwich before checking into my hotel for the evening in Fayetteville, I saw a gentleman sitting under a tree in the parking lot with food and a drink.  Because it was extremely hot I asked him if he was waiting for someone.  He said no.  While I was getting my food I kept thinking about him and wondered if he was homeless.  When I returned to my car I asked him if he was homeless.  I explained that I wanted to know but wasn’t sure how to ask.  He said he is homeless, and I replied, “My reason for asking is to give you something,” and I did. Maybe it’s not about me! The following morning after checking out of the hotel, I visited my usual Dollar Tree.  After browsing for a spell I get in line to pay for my items.  There is an older lady behind me and God presses upon my heart to pay for her stuff.  As I finished paying for my items I look around and the lady has disappeared, so I start to look for her.  Two registers down I walk up to her as she begin to pay and I tell her that God told me to pay for hers.  She was happy and thankful.  She said she is a Christian, and that happens to her all the time and she returns the favor to others.  We parted ways and she said, “Be blessed and have a safe trip.”  A lot of what we do and the encounters that we have are not about us.  Maybe my trip was about the homeless man.  I don’t know when the last time someone has spoken to him or treated him like a human being.  Maybe my trip was about the older lady at the Dollar Tree.  Although she had the money to pay for herself, I won’t ever know what that meant to her to have someone else pay.  That may have been the day that she needed to trust God a little more for her finances.  Who knows? Maybe it’s not about me! So I guess if the Lord willing and the creek don’t rise I will be in Richmond, Virginia again next year.

 

Most of us know about the pounding that a precious stone must endure in order to become a diamond. Although that holds true for the diamond, it can be hard to keep that thought in mind when we are going through our crisis.  No one enjoys being a diamond in the rough.

Recently I read an intriguing story in my Daily Bread, about a place in California called Glass Beach. It got its’ name because of trash and rubbish that people throw into the water.  It is said that the undercurrents and the waves break the glass and rubbish and wash it out to sea.  Then the surf pounds the glass fragments and creates gemlike “sea glass,” which eventually comes back onto the beach and creates a kaleidoscope of beauty.  Glass Beach is the result of a natural occurrence in nature caused by the pounding of the waves and undercurrents of the sea.  When looking at the pictures, I found it fascinating that rubbish and trash can be turned into something so beautiful without the touch of man’s hand.

If we look around, we will see that there are numerous ways in which something beautiful can come out of our rubbish. Sometimes all we need to do is move aside and let nature take its course.  We spend so much time trying to navigate our lives, when God has already set up the universe to come to our defense.  The more you learn to let go the easier it becomes.  The desire to control will still hover above, but you will not allow it take over.  You will find yourself gently letting go of the reins as you rest in the peace of knowing, that “Gods got this.”  No matter how troubling the outcome may seem in your imagination, you can always replace that visual with one known to be true in your time of need.  It’s called falling back on your faith.  I do it all the time.  This is when you remember where God has brought you from.  Release your desire to be in control of the outcome and never underestimate His power.  There can be excitement in the unknown if you allow yourself to go with the flow and watch God at work.  The greatest part of all is His outcome will always trump what you had in mind.  He never ceases to amaze me when I allow Him to pound me into perfection.  (Image courtesty of Yongkiet at freedigitalphotos.net)

 

God has me on lockdown!  My cable went out the day before I went on vacation, and the earliest I could get someone out for service was four days after my return, so I’ve been home with no television. Not even the local channels can be picked up. To add insult to injury, the client that I was taking care of decided not to use our services anymore, so I came home to no job assignment.  Oh it didn’t stop there!  I also lost control of my vehicle when it hydroplaned upon my return home.  Thank God I was not hurt and no other vehicles were involved.

Sometime God needs to shut you down to draw you closer to Him. Needless to say, I have been doing a lot of reading, writing, meditating, and watching DVD movies.  Talk about Reframing Your Picture, the title of my latest book, and turning negatives into positives, I have done a complete about- face as to what my week was supposed to look like.  I am not pressed or depressed about anything that has transpired.  I drove over 600 miles and was within ten minutes of home when I had the accident.  The average person would be upset.  As I look back over the miles and the way things happened, all I can say is, Jesus took the wheel!   It rained sheets of rain, with minimum visibility, about a hundred miles of the trip from Fayetteville, NC to Summerville, SC.  I crossed a number of bridges while it was not raining, and the sky was clear when I crossed all of them.  (Anyone who knows me knows that I am petrified of water!)  Also, because I was coming off a ramp, there was no traffic except the people behind me, and they saw me and were able to stop.  Once again, God has kept me.

 

 

Thrifting while jogging!  We have all heard the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  As I sat outside to have my morning coffee and do a little reading, it dawned on me that everything I was using had come from someone else who no longer found the need for it.  The chair that I was sitting in was given to me by a private duty client.  The glass-top end table came from a jogging session around my neighborhood one morning, when I stumbled upon a lady who was moving out-of-state and was downsizing her load.  When I politely asked if I could have the table, she replied I have another match that goes with it.  Since I didn’t need both in my house, I decided to create an outdoor setting with one of them.  And lastly, the black table that I have my feet on just  arrived this morning from another jogging session.  I had driven pass my friend’s house across the street a couple of days ago, and saw the table, but decided I really don’t have need for another piece of furniture.  But this morning as I begin to cross my legs and wish that I had a foot stool, my thoughts returned to the little black table across the street, and off I went to retrieve it.  My morning coffee and reading now became a lot more comfortable, thanks to thrifting while jogging.

Food is such a powerful part of our lives.  Most meetings are planned around some type of food.  I remember when my biggest goal in life as an adult was to go into a restaurant and purchase whatever I wanted off the menu without any consideration for the price.  As a child, the idea of lack was prevalent in our home and it stayed with me even into adulthood, so much so, that it almost felt weird to expect that the circumstances would ever change.  No matter how hard I worked it was never enough.  So can you imagine what it was like to finish high school and college, yet still believe in scarcity?  I lived practically my whole life waiting for the other shoe to drop.  It seemed that nothing I did was ever enough to remove me from the poverty mentality.  Sure I was able to pay my bills every month, but there was never any splurging.  Although I lived in nice apartments and houses, I was always one paycheck away from eviction.  Even up until about four years ago, there was this running joke whenever the family went out to lunch or dinner as a group.  Basically, someone always asked the question, “Who’s got Geri?”, meaning who’s going to pay for my meal.  I thank God for the day that I was able to say, “Geri’s got Geri!”

 

When setting goals we normally do so based on what we think our capabilities are for getting the job done. We orchestrate our moves with hopes of landing on our feet at every turn and coming out smelling like a rose.  Most of the time we do ok and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.  Then there are the days when we wonder why we even tried to accomplish so much knowing that our resources are limited.  The things we expected to fall in place a month ago has totally sidetracked us into a crisis of epic proportion.  Every move you make creates another situation that was unexpected.  You find yourself digging deeper and deeper into what seems like a bottomless pit of mishaps.  You feel your faith falter and your hopes steadily dwindling.  Where did you wrong you ask yourself?  How did I forget that part of the equation?  I started this project way ahead of time so that none of this crisis should be coming my way.  But here I sit waiting on a miracle to happen so I can move forward, and manifest the dream that I envisioned so clearly six months ago.  Is it truly God’s will or just me wanting to do this?  Is He testing my faith?  Will the miracle show up at the last minute?  If it does, technically it will still be on time.  Because God’s timing is not like ours.  So what do you do?  Do you continue to take steps even though you don’t know how all the ends will meet?  Of course you do!  All it takes is a recollection of a similar place that God has brought you out of.  And before you know it, you will trust Him once again.  Only difference is this time you stretched your faith a little bit further.  With God, last minute is still on time!