More Than a Conqueror!

I'm sitting here staring at my current facebook profile pic - not for vanity's sake, but for the sole purpose of giving God praise! I praise Him that I don't look like what I've been through. I praise Him that this pic was taken at a time when I was forcing myself to get out of bed each day and make the conscious choice to continue. I'd recently lost my angel Shamara Christian, and I was taking one step at a time to pick up the shattered pieces of my broken heart and go on. I praise God that I'd chosen to keep trusting Him and to love Him again, despite what I felt He took from me. I look at this pic and I see a strong, brave chocolate woman...with a GORGEOUS smile! And I love her!!! I haven't always been able to say that...especially the chocolate part! It's sad how many years I wasted seeing my brown skin as ugly, shameful, dirty, inferior. Now, I finally see the me that God fearfully and wonderfully made, and I'm proud of her. She has endured pain, hurt, betrayal, disappointment, fear, loss, abuse, abandonment, rejection, sadness, anger, self-hatred, low self-esteem and more, but she is STILL HERE!!! With God's help, I've endured all that! I've gained victory over it all! It doesn't matter that some of them ALMOST took me out. It doesn't matter that I just barely won some of those battles. A win is a win whether it's by 1 final shot at the last second of the game or by a 20 point lead! Not every game is a blowout, but I know that with Christ, I win EVERY time!!! ‪
#‎GAMEON‬ ‪#‎VictoryInJesus‬ ‪#‎Undefeated‬ ‪#‎MoreThanAConqueror‬!!!

Sharon C.
1/30/14

If you keep crying and grieving over your past, you'll miss your future

 

Yesterday was a momentous occasion. My pastor, Elder Carol Elyzabeth Harris, officially became my pastor yesterday. She was installed and honored by prelates and great dignitaries in the Kingdom of God under United Covenant Churches of Christ. The homolist for the installation service, Bishop James Chambers, made several comparison statements regarding our pasts and our futures. His message was brief yet powerful and has the ability to alter the remaining course of our lives ... if we let it.

Sometimes, we are our own worse enemies. There are some issues that we face that are spiritual. Ephesians 6:12 states "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Some things that we battle are generational. Generational curses are real, and so too are the patterns and pathology that we build and replicate for our children and our children's children to repeat. Success in overcoming these issues and winning these battles is contingent upon our ability to 1) identify which type of issue we're dealing with and 2) be strategic in developing a plan of attack. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the plan must be activated and put into place. Faith without works is dead! James 2:26

The devil is afraid of our future and where God is trying to take us. He views us as threats to his imps and his kingdom. He does know our past, and every chance he gets, he brings it back to our remembrance - the things we've done, the people who have hurt us, the many times we've been rejected, abandoned, left alone. These remembrances can be so strong that they trigger the same emotional and even physical response that we endured when we first went through the experience. These triggers or flashbacks can cause us to react inappropriately to the wrong people, people who had nothing to do with the incidents of the past. They can cause us to lash out at people we love. They can cause us to isolate ourselves, further feeding the feelings of rejection, abandonment and loneliness. They can cause us to stay stuck in the past.

In yesterday's homily, Bishop Chambers said "If you keep crying and grieving over your past, you'll miss your future." That resonated with me, because for years, I stayed stuck and fixated on things that had happened to me, promises that had been made to me, lies that had been told about me, secrets that had been revealed about me. I was stuck! And think about what it looks like when a vehicle is stuck in snow or mud. The tires are spinning fiercely, snow, grass and mud are being thrown wildly. Movement is happening, but progression is not! You just end up dirty and out of gas. 

Holding on to all that hurt and anger and bitterness and disappointment from the past is just like you spinning your tires. You're dirty, exhausted and out of gas at the end of the day, but you've made no progress. Let it go! Give it over to God. Cast your cares on Jesus, for he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7)! The burdens that we carry become too much for us to bear. Carrying all that extra weight around makes you see things in a distorted way. People aren't really rejecting you - you've been rejected in the past and it looks slightly familiar (because the devil is tricking you to make it look like the same thing), so you lash out or retreat, just as you did in the past. Dare to do something different - dare to give up the memories and move to imagination. 

The following nuggets of wisdom came from Bishop Chambers' message yesterday:

• If you keep crying and grieving over your past, you'll miss your future. 
• Memory is not a place to rest in, but a place for you to be creative and thrust you forward. 
• People who live in memory don't move. People who live in yesterday don't walk toward tomorrow.
• We MUST move from memory to imagination!

This is a call to walk by faith (imagination) and not by sight (memory / what we've already seen). Your miracle, your destiny, your deliverance is not in your past, it's in your future. Go forth! 

 

Sharon C.

1/19/14

Happy Birthday to two important people in my life, my two cousins...

Pastor Joniqua Cooper Combs (Jan 18) 

Gerene Burton Briddell (Jan 19) 
And Happy Installation to my Pastor Carol Harris (1/18/14)

Together!

This morning's post will be brief, as I'm trying to make it to Sunday School! Lol! :-)

Hebrews 10:25a reads "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another…"

Many people use that scripture to tell us why we need to go to church. And that is totally true! But dare I say that that scripture means even more than that? We need each other, not just in church, but in the body of Christ at large! Pastor Hezekiah Walker wrote a song some years ago that my father-in-law used to love to hear my daughter sing. "I need you, you need me, we're all a part of God's body…You are important to me. I need you to survive."

Being an introvert, I get the desire to be alone. I understand that a perfect day for some of us means staying in bed with the covers pulled up close and a good book or a good movie on TV. But we cannot forsake to assemble ourselves among the saints! For that is where we gain strength!

I had the pleasure of having brunch with 3 awesome and amazing women yesterday. It was a warm day, but it was raining and I was lazy and I came up with about 12 reasons to just stay in bed. But I'm sooooo grateful that God gave me the unction to press!!! We sat and talked and laughed and cried in that restaurant for two and a half hours. And I enjoyed every second! We drew strength and encouragement from each other. Pastor Hezekiah was right - we really do need each other to survive! 

Our brunch ended on a rather serious note, something that further drives home the notion that we need each other. One of my girlfriends shared that she and her sister were abandonded by their birth mother when they were young. They were raised by their grandparents and then by their father and stepmother. Although they met the structure and discipline of their new homes with some defiance and opposition, she admits that she's now grateful for it and she's thankful to her grandparents for being there. Imagine how different their lives would have been if no one stepped up to the plate and took them in. 

So remember, we need each other! Although we sometimes feel more comfortable alone, reach out to others. Learn to lean and depend on each other. For we are so much better together!

Sharon C.
1/12/14

God Gives His Hardest Battles to His Toughest Soldiers

God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers.

- Unknown 

 

 

Isn't it awesome to look back over your life and see growth? People would often recite the above quote to me in an attempt to comfort me during difficult times. Instead of feeling soothed and reassured, I would be left questioning God, wondering if He chose the right soldier!

 

The great commission is found in various locations of the Bible. Our mandate is to "Go ye therefore,  and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 28:19) Pastor Rick Warren explain it like this "He wants us to help get other people into his family." Jesus said it like this: “In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world” (John 17:18 MSG). So we are ALL missionaries with the assignment to "Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in" (Luke 14:23).

But did you know that there are specific people assigned to us? There are some souls that are required of us. It is our duty to win some specific souls to the Kingdom. Oh you thought it was happenstance that you're friends with the girl who LOVES to party and is running from the church right now? Oh you thought it was just a coincidence that you work with that guy who doesn't really believe all this Christian mumbo jumbo? Oh you thought you chose that spouse who just wants to put God in a box and pull Him out on occasion? No, no no!!! These people, stubborn as they may be, are your assignment! 

Why me Lord? Why do I have to get the hard-headed ones who don't like to listen? Why did you assign me to the ones who fight the hardest and are the most argumentative? God's response..."Why not you? If not you, then who?" Can God depend on you to stay the course, to grow and stretch and do the work that is required to win these souls for the kingdom? 

Although sometimes, it feels that progress is not being made and that you're literally talking to a brick wall, keep pressing. Keep trying. Keep living. Sometimes your walk before them may be the most powerful evangelism tool. Continue to plant seeds. Someone else may water them, but God will give the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). God will present opportunities for you to minister and plant seeds. Don't go in forcing holiness on them. Just live it in front of them, and live it joyfully! Don't make them think that living right is a struggle and is hard and tedious and no fun. Show them that yes, they will have to sacrifice and give up some things (Jesus sacrificed his life so we could live ABUNDANTLY [John 10:10]), but they can replace the things they give up with things of the kingdom that are even more fulfilling than things of the world! Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world! (1 John 4:4)

Yes it's hard, but no, it's not impossible. No it's not easy, but yes it's worth it! Stay in the fight, for the prize is eternal life! Not just for us, but for those assigned to us! Don't give up, for great will be our reward!

Sharon C.

1/5/14