Tag: God

Categories
Faith Jesus Obedience Uncategorized

Obedience: The Faith-Filled Yes

HI Faith Travelers!

Today I want to provide some encouragement to those who have a desire to walk out God’s will for their lives. Those who have been in a faith fight with their flesh between doing what God said and walking away from it all because doing that would be much easier. Well it may be easier to walk away for you, but think about the people who don’t even get a chance to choose Jesus because they never ran into you doing the very thing that God asked you to do, with them in mind. Think about the countless lives assigned to you that are waiting on that one act of obedience that can change their lives for the better, forever. Just think about it…

“Obedience is the Fruit of Faith”

Quote by Christina Rossetti

As Believers, we all make up one Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Meaning we all have our role in the Kingdom of God. Those roles won’t always look the same nor will they be of the same magnitude, require the same level of commitment, or include a platform or stage, dependent on the assignment and calling. One thing that is the same is the obedience that we must walk in to put ourselves aside and yield to a greater purpose bigger than ourselves. That purpose to go into all the world and share the Good News of Jesus Christ until all have heard (Matthew 24:14). 

The reality of the call is that life gets in the way, distractions happen, and the devil doesn’t lay down without a fight even though we know how this story ends. This is why obedience to God’s call is so important. If we knew the lives that were attached to our “Yes” we wouldn’t drag our feet when it comes to staying the course. We wouldn’t allow the naysayers to paralyze us into not moving forward. We wouldn’t ignore doing the very thing that someone did for us to hear and know the truth. So for those running from God and their purpose, turn around and run back towards Him because walking with Him is the best place to be. To those running their God given race (Hebrews 12:1) and those who are just beginning, I have a message for you: 

To the Intercessors and prayer warriors, keep getting up in the wee hours of the night to pray for the nations because your faith and prayers are moving God’s hand. 

To the Evangelist, keep ministering to the loss, performing miracles in Jesus name and sharing the Good News to all who have ears to hear. 

To the Prophet, keep warning the people of God and calling out that which is not of God, even when the world tells you otherwise.

To the Teacher, keep breaking down the Word to those who are hungry for understanding God’s word. 

To the Pastors, continue to nurture and shepard your God given flock, raising them up to be disciples. 

To the Apostle, keep planting and establishing churches where God leads.

To the Missionary, keep going to the nations to share the Good News.

To the Street preacher, keep sharing the truth on every street corner God leads you to. 

To the family with the servants’ heart, keep feeding and clothing the poor and homeless. 

To the Content creator, keep creating on all platforms for God’s glory.

To the Writer, keep writing blogs and books for the Kingdom.

To the Investor, keep funding the God projects and businesses.

To the Inventor, keep taking those God ideas and making them an innovative reality.

To the Person who loves people, keep serving, encouraging and loving on others, even when it’s not reciprocated.

To the Person texting devotionals everyday, keep doing what you are doing, even when you don’t get a response, because you are planting seeds that God can water and grow.

To the Person working on their 9 to 5, keep working in excellence, so when they ask you how you do it, you can credit the True and Living God.

To the Person who thinks the thing that God is leading them to do is insignificant, remain faithful and don’t despise small beginnings (Luke 16:10).

And To the Person who doesn’t know their purpose yet; keep seeking God until the appointed time, when He points you in a direction.

See we all have our part to play in the Body of Christ, much like my part of sharing this blog with you today, but it’s up to us whether we choose to fulfill it or not. God won’t force it on us, but when we choose to give Him our faith-filled “Yes”, He will make sure that He finishes what He started in and through us.

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”

Philippians 1:6 NLT

Until next time, Faith Travelers…

Categories
Faith Miracle Miracle Prayer Testimony Uncategorized

Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice: Prevention Through Prayer Pt.1

Hi Faith Travelers!

Happy Faith Friday! 

So let’s to talk about obedience and the power of prayer. If it’s one thing that I’ve learned over the years of truly serving God with my life, it’s that prayer is our greatest weapon. Prayer fights the seen and unseen battles. It prevents what seems unpreventable, hinders the unpredictable and binds up the hands of the devil(the real enemy). The moment you think prayer doesn’t work is the moment you put down your greatest weapon. Our prayers can accomplish more in a situation than us physically being in the midst of that situation. How do I know this you may ask…well I’ve lived it on more than one occasion but today I’ll share one story with you. 

In 2018, the house I grew up in, the home my late grandfather renovated with his own hands, and the home my grandmother and family had lived in since the 70s went up in flames. The fire started in my old room where my mom had been staying to help look out for my grandmother after recent medical issues. Around 3am that same morning I felt the strong unction to pray. I didn’t know why or for what I was praying for, but I was praying, trusting God to handle whatever He needed through me praying in tongues, a gift available to everyone who receives (Read about Praying in tongues in 1 Corinthians 14:2 and Acts 2:4,2:38). As I prayed I could feel things shifting but little did I know the shifting was impacting lives and situations connected to me. 

When I looked back on that day, I realized God was orchestrating for good what the enemy meant for evil. My mom never stays up late and when I say never, I mean she faithfully went to bed at 6:30/7pm everyday to be up at 4:30/5am ish to prepare for work. This day was different. We were both up texting at 1am for some reason talking about God’s faithfulness. This led me to still be up when the prompting to pray came around 3am because I was wide awake after texting with my mom. Around 5am my mom got up to get ready for work and saw smoke and fire in the very area she was laying her head. The smoke detectors never went off but she was able to alert my grandmother to get up and get out of the house. Of course my grandmother took her sweet time knowing that God had her covered while she was grabbing her purse and cash that she had hidden in the house. You gotta love the elderly. 

News Report of the Fire that displaced my mother and grandmother and destroyed my childhood home in May of 2018.
News Report of the fire that displaced my mother and grandmother and destroyed my childhood home in May of 2018.

I received back to back calls from my aunt that morning and when I answered with a pounding heart because I had a feeling something was wrong, she told me she had bad news and the house nearly burned down from a fire. She told me the house and items in it were pretty much destroyed and non salvageable but thank you Jesus my mom and grandmother were able to get out completely UNSCATHED! 

In my God time later that night, I thanked God for His faithfulness and protection over my family. God told me clearly that it was my prayers that prevented an even worse tragedy from happening that the devil had planned with my mom and grandmother. In that moment, I realized had I not been obedient when the prompting to pray came, there could’ve been a much different outcome. This is why obedience is better than sacrifice. 

“But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”1 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭22‬ ‭NLT‬‬‬‬

Until the next Faith testimony… 

Categories
Faith Healed Jesus Miracle Testimony Unknown Illness

Unknown Illness Miraculously Healed Pt.1

If its one thing in this world that I love, it’s seeing God be glorified. I absolutely love hearing testimonies from people on how God brought them out of the impossible. This passion stems from some of my own life experiences. While I have quite a few testimonies that I will share at some point, the one I will share today is the one that took my Faith to another level in my journey with Jesus.

One day in 2015, I woke up tingling and numb on the left side of my body. I couldn’t sit upright without pressure and pain rising in my neck and head. My back had spasmed inward to the point where I couldn’t lay flat on any surface. I was in and out of the ER with no clue as to what was wrong with me. I couldn’t sleep in any position without pain. I had sporadic muscle weakness in certain parts of my body on the left side and shooting jolts of pain that came and went sporadically. There were days when my left leg would stop functioning and I’d have to drag it just to get to the bathroom in my own home. I couldn’t sit up or sit long in any chair without pressure rising in my head to the point I would get dizzy and have to lie down. I had random pain, swelling, inflammation and pulling in my face. I had days where my temples felt like they were going to explode unrelated to a headache or migraine. There were days where I woke up and my entire body felt like it was on fire. There were lots of days when my vision was extremely blurry. I even had days where I couldn’t even move and was home bound for weeks at a time.

I averaged 5 doctor appointments a week and sometimes up to 3 in one day. I had so many other unexplainable symptoms that ER, primary and specialty doctors all looked at me perplexed every visit, while making arbitrary guesses of what they thought it might be; Multiple Sclerosis being among the assumptions. This all resulted in a couple of ER visits, a team of 7 different doctors and specialists, 5 X-rays, 2 CT scans, 4 MRIs, 2 ultrasounds, and an EMG where they stuck needles in different parts of my body and made me flex to check for muscle weakness. Alongside all of that, I was given a nerve conduction study where they electric shocked me in different parts of my body to check for nerve damage, that was the worse pain of my life. I had a couple of blood work panels, 2 incorrect prescriptions of meds that led to side effects of insomnia, anxiety and emotional hysteria for a couple of weeks, a reaction to the meds that I was pumped with in the ER that caused my face to burn and throat to close to the point where I could barely talk for a few days. This all ended with several months of being unable to go to work or work period due to all of my restrictions. The several doctors appointments all concluded with no diagnosis and no clue as to what was wrong.

In and out of the ER for months but smiling because I knew God was bigger than what I was going through

The doctors couldn’t help me…But God!

All of this was going on and I still had peace God would work it out as He’d done so many times before. In these moments I didn’t just wait around for things to change, I prayed with expectation and went to God’s word that showed me all of His promises already proclaimed over my life. My favorite scripture, Jeremiah 29:11 showed me, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” I knew God had a plan for me and it was not my current situation. My cousin, Sylvia Grant, who was miraculously healed from Dystonia (See previous blog post for her story) showed me the stories in the Bible where Jesus healed the sick and shared with me that healing is still available in present day when we are open to receiving what’s already been given to us through the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross.

God put the right people in place to help me through all of this even when I wanted to act prideful and handle it on my own. God sent friends, strangers, co-workers, church family and people I didn’t even know had my phone number from high school to cross my path in the moments I needed it the most.

The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy but God has come to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). I received my full healing and restoration back in March of 2016! I went from barely being able to move to dancing before the Lord at my church. How, you ask? Well you will just have to stick around for Part 2 to find out.

Until the next faith testimony…

Categories
Dystonia Faith Jesus Miracle Testimony

Miraculously Cured from Dystonia

When I was praying about who should be the first faith story feature on the blog, I heard God say, “Start from where it began”. After I heard that, I immediately thought about the first person I called after I had encountered countless doctors who had no idea what was wrong with me, after one day waking up with the left side of my body tingling and numb with jolting sharp pain, among other severe issues.

It was a particular Facebook post written just months prior to my issue, talking about being healed from Dystonia (autoimmune disorder said to have no cure), that I recalled from Sylvia Johnson Grant that led me to call her and ask her…“How did this happen? How did God heal you?” She told me how she read the stories in the Bible where Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood, raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, healed the blind and the lepers, and the sick among Him. She shared with me that same healing is still available to me today. She told me how she meditated on Hebrews 10: 35-36 and the book of Job who in this Bible story, went through a series of tumultuous events but never cursed God for what was happening to him. Job ended up receiving twice as much as he had before.

You see on that day, she gave me so much more than conversation and is part of the reason that I am alive today. She gave me Faith in Jesus to believe and keep trusting God because His plan for me was not my current situation, it is so much greater and so much bigger than me.

The testimony below is that of Sylvia Grant and is such a reflection of the healing power of Jesus and a testament of receiving twice as much as she had before.

 “I grew up knowing about God and I’ve spent my life trying to please him. But in March 2009, I came into relationship with Jesus Christ. I was a lonely college student whose fervent prayer of death consumed the night. I wished anything would take my life because I believed that direct suicide would cast me into the pits of hell. But in March, my final months of college as I cried in my dorm room I felt the presence of the Lord and heard a voice say “I’m your friend, talk to me.” Jesus Christ was now not only the God I knew about but I knew him as my comforter. Years later I’d know he was the God who heals. Which brings me to 2014. I am a Bible believing Christian who spends their days teaching middle school science and ministering to children and their families. I thoroughly enjoy it, but now I can feel the toll that life has taken on my body. Year after year I have visited the doctor trying to figure out what was going wrong with me. My energy is drained, my body tremors, and now I feel the most excruciating pain day after day. And finally after years of test my health issues have a name: Dystonia. “Dystonia is a neurological disorder that causes excessive, involuntary muscle contractions.” And it had progressed in the worst way. I couldn’t even walk anymore let alone stand in front of my class. By noon I had zero energy. But God I’m serving you I thought day in and day out. The doctor prescribed a medicine and if I use the medicine every 3 hours I would have some control over my movement. The medicine I was prescribed was the same medicine given to Parkinson’s disease patients. But if I take this medicine I could walk, I wouldn’t be dizzy, and as long as I go to bed every night I could get rest. I was thankful to God that he had given my physician team the answers to help me. It took months, but I could live a better life with the medicine. My heart was broken. I had already lost my teaching position. I had to step away from all of my assignments in ministry. But yet, I knew that God was good. But what I didn’t know was that he wasn’t finished yet. Every day I read Hebrews 10:36 “Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” I could feel The enemy wanted me badly. He wanted me hurt, lonely, and most of all he wanted me offended. Separated from the very God that gave me a free gift of salvation. But God had given me strength to stand on his Word. On Sunday, June 28, 2015, before going home to Savannah, GA forever, I felt the healing power of God go through my body. But I was still sick when the pastor who prayed for me released his hand. I went back to my seat thinking this is it. My journey in New Orleans is over. I’m going back home where I can serve God but be surrounded by family. My time here is up. I didn’t allow my thought to consume me. I sat there in the service and believed for others breakthrough. Then I heard “you’re being healed.” 7 days later, I was back home with my mother running on the park and it didn’t occur to me how awesome I felt immediately. But when I got back home I remembered that I forgot to take my dystonia medicine. Wait, I forgot to take my medicine. God help me. I ran upstairs to my room to grab the bottle of pills and I heard a voice again. “You don’t need those.” Ok, but I read that you’re suppose to take of the medicine slowly by a physician or you could die. “You don’t need those.” So I put the bottle away and here I am today. Healed, delivered and no one can tell me that God doesn’t heal. I was not only healed physically that day but emotionally. No one can reject one whom God has already accepted. God isn’t finished with me yet.”

Sylvia is now married to her loving husband and a mother of a handsome 1-year-old baby boy. I witnessed both her wedding and the birth of her first child and her life has always been a constant reminder to me of just how faithful God is. Slyvia continues to walk in purpose and shares her faith in Jesus at every opportunity. I’m so thankful she chose to witness the Good News of Jesus Christ to me that day because it literally saved my life.

Stay tuned for more Faith Traveler testimonies…