Broken is the new fragile!

If everyone could package themselves, we would mark our box with a large red label that had these exact words on them.

Whenever we move from one place to another, we expect the transition to be heavily cushioned with lots of newspaper and padded with packing peanuts. No one desires to be broken, rather we prefer to be handled with care.

What I've come to learn is that God is not so much concerned with our comfort as He is with our character. If brokenness is what He must use to perfect our character, then its His tool of choice and honor! Quite frankly, He glories in brokenness...

...in those who are 'shattered, maimed, devoid of arrogance, wounded, injured, grieved, stressed, crippled, wrecked, fractured, handicapped, disabled, demolished' and weak.

God loves us enough to call us out. This process leads to brokenness and is the 'spiritual state by which one is disarmed of ones self-dependence & pride, leaving one a realistic conduit for the glory of Christ.'

Truth be told, we don't want to be opened up, and because of that, it prevents us from being teachable in the handiwork of God. Unless we remove the newspaper as a buffer and throw away the packing peanuts that protect our emotions and hearts, we won't allow brokenness to cause us to be desperate enough to chase after the heart of God.

How do I take myself out of the FRAGILE labeled box, shake off the packing foam and prepare myself for brokenness? By being open to the possibilities of failure of our own personal pursuits in efforts to produce God's (and sometimes our) desired end.

No worries, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 sympathizes with this apprehension we may have when it says, "We are troubled and oppressed in every way, but not crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair; We are pursued (persecuted and hard driven), but not deserted [to stand alone]; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed. Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!" [Amplified and NLT version combined].

Brokenness is the new fragile!

Accidentally...on Purpose!

My supervisor has this phrase "Accidentally teaching on purpose" and when I first heard it, I must admit it sounded rather foreign to me.

She believes that, in the teaching profession, when you have a thorough curriculum and for the most part, don't deviate from it, you end up meeting the needs of the majority of your students, closing gaps for those students who have modified needs and satisfying the minimum of state requirements. Rather than having to teach the curriculum, research ways to differentiate it, implement enrichment strategies all while trying to speak the language of students with language barriers; a good curriculum will do all of that and the wise educator will cover all those bases by simply doing what the curriculum asks (at the least).

Recently a few friends of mine have shared with me some of their personal internal struggles and coincidentally I've been able to empathize with them as I've found myself having faced similar obstacles in my own spiritual life. The common thread we all shared was our desire to please God in the midst of what we faced. Though the questions that we all faced were "why":

"Why wasn't that person who I wanted them to be?"
"Why am I beginning to realize this isn't what I thought it was?"
"Why can't I be who you want me to be in the midst of this situation?"
"Why is this happening to me?"

...the resolve we all faced was the same. When you seek to please the Lord in your personal life, everything around you seems to fall into place. And by 'fall into place' that doesn't mean "feel good" or "work the way we think it should"...it simply means that whatever happens, happens for our ultimate, eternal good!

Matthew puts it this way, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added..." [6:33]

Its the principal of "accidentally doing something on purpose"! When our desire is simplistically to spend time with the Lord, learn His thoughts and His heart, and please Him, He tends to take over our lives by removing things (and people) that we once thought were necessary or 'good' and replace them with His own agenda! It's a cause and effect reaction...we end up walking with Him 'accidentally, on purpose'!

We walk into our purpose, 'accidentally, on purpose'.
We bring Him glory, 'accidentally, on purpose'.
We affect the lives of others 'accidentally, on purpose'.

The "accident" is in simply seeking Him, praying for His heart. The "on purpose" are the things He ends up working out in us and the glory we bring Him in the process. So many times as Believers, we want to 'get our life right'. Its' not possible...HE gets us right, once we surrender our fight to get right and let Him flex His purpose in our lives.

Friend Zone-d

Ever had that not-so-bad looking friend ask you out? Or even been on a date with someone and at some part during the evening, realize that this is someone you just want to be friends with?
Hollywood would coin that relationship as "They're just not that into you".

I'm not sure if you've ever been Friend Zone-d by someone you wanted 'more' with. It's an humbling feeling. Well, let me back up a bit. When you're used to friend zoning potential significant others, the feeling of making that decision seems quite numb. All you know it you just don't feel about them, the way they feel about you.

But oh when the tables are turned, and you finally see what it feels like to be Friend Zone-d, then a wave of humility floods over you. Feelings of rejection, hurt and maybe even pride swell up within. I'm ashamed to say I'm guilty of Friend-zoning some great guys! And though I can't help but feel bad that I couldn't conjure up romantic feelings for them, I must admit I didn't like the way I felt when it first happened to me. After daydreaming about that person, seeing yourself with them, developing feelings for them and engaging in conversations, its quite a severing that occurs to your heart strings. A sobering of your feelings at best.

This video sums up the idea that Jesus is often "Friend Zone-d" by Believers...yes...His own children. Despite the price He paid to transform our status from enemy to friend, and how that should drive us to desire quite the Lover's status and promote an intimate relationship, we have found ways to keep Him at (an unhealthy) distance for our 'benefit'.

Jesus isn't losing anything, unlike those apathetic relationships described above, WE ARE! By friend zoning someone who cares so much for us, we cut ourselves off from the lifelong benefits He's longing to lavish upon us, the floodgates of Heaven He's waiting to open up for us, the riches and glory He's prepared for us!

Get to know Him, spend time with Him, consult Him, adore Him, obey Him...these things will woo Him, cultivate intimacy and thus promote Him to Spouse status! Get Jesus out of the Friend Zone!

Modern day slavery

In honor of Black History month and the celebration of the abolishing of slavery, it might be a good time to turn our attention to other forms of slavery that need to end. 

A close friend of mine is so passionate about trafficking and is totally involved in the efforts against sex trafficking in Houston (in particular). As she involves herself with volunteering at safe houses and increasing awareness, I've learned much about the insides of this form of slavery. 

Human trafficking is compelling a person (by force or deception) into forced labor, domestic servitude or sexual commerce. Or simply enlisting someone (particularly a minor) into trade. 

It's exploitation, a violation of rights, having control over a vulnerable person by way of coercion. In short, its recruitment through deception for exploitation. 

I heard a pastor say "the enemy is trafficking us". If you think about it, it sounds a lot like his game plan: recruitment of vulnerable persons, through deception by way of their weaknesses to exploit them and lead them towards spiritual and eventually physical death. Our lusts lead us astray, but he provides the temptation (lure), deceiving us into believing we need something to satisfy our longings. Something better than, or quicker in satisfaction than what God provides. He plans to enlist us in his servitude, trading our virtue for destruction. What he's doing to God's creation is exploiting us in efforts to make God look bad; he's violating our rights to the freedom bought for us by the blood of Jesus; he seeks to have control over us by way of coercion. 

Don't allow yourself to be recruited, deceived and eventually exploited. Trust the God who desires to pursue, woo and win over your heart; who desires a personal relationship with you for eternity; and who wants to empower you to live free until He returns to redeem you. 

In love...

I can't help but write, I'm living in overflow. And no, I'm not talking about monetary blessing, I'm talking about love.

Yes, this is February and though love is prevalent in every season, it is most celebrated this month. The worship of the secular version of love has almost become pagan-like as stores turn various shades of red almost right after the new year, ladies anticipate expensive gifts and dreamy proposals while men seek to figure out which one of their "special lady friends" they should shower with attention and which ones they should conveniently dump.

It's so commercialized that more often than not, females are left in a comatose state of near depression if no one is knocking on their door with flowers, shoving candy down their mouths, comforting them with large cuddly teddy bears or simply blowing up their phone with gooey love emojiis. It's that bad!

Restaurants are packed on this special night and weekend, playlists are created and played for that special someone, romantic rendezvous are frequented and babies are made...all in the name of "love".

Well, I was shown true love tonight. While at one of the lowest points in my life, some friends (who may have been placed in my life for a season, reason or lifetime) unexpectedly arrived at my house tonight to help me with a quite daunting project that I have been entrusted with. Of their own initiative, they offered their time, energy and resources all while taking my well-being into consideration. Setting their own comforts and lives aside, they expended the last few hours of their hard working day on my behalf.

Earlier today, I was asking God how I could lavish love on someone or just others, this 'holiday season' in honor of Valentine's day. Not loathing in self-pity over the lack of a 'significant other', not hanging out with my closest girlfriends as we laughed over appetizers and talked about our crushes, not even caking with perspective boo's over text. How could I sacrificially offer my time and energy for someone in need. How could I be a conduit of God's love to someone who was on the brink of giving up and throwing in the towel. And before I got my answer, there was a knock at my door, and the precedent was set.

This is Love: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters....not that we loved God, but that He loved us. (1 John)

I'm grateful for these friends and the way they modeled love. They both exemplified & personified these truths of 1 John- the fact that we don't physically "see" God but when people give of themselves for others, as He gave His Son for us, people ARE ABLE TO, "SEE" God and know what His love is like.

~In love...

Silver Lining Playbook

What do you see? Young lady or old hag?

What about now? A vase or two faces?

Okay, one more...silver lining or dark cloud?

Our eyes don't always play tricks on us. Sometimes, our mind is just programmed to see things a certain way based upon our experiences.

Things in this life we face, either fall into the category of negative or positive. Curse or blessing. Good or bad. Of course this is only true in the physical realm. When we spend time basking in the presence of our Lord (time in His word, understanding His ways, worshipping His greatness), we end up adopting His mindset about the things we face in our lives.

I find it ironic that the Lord asked us to "only believe", to "have faith" and to not depend on our sight. Perhaps He knew that our perceptual vision can often be blurred, not quite "20/20" (if you will) and ultimately THAT vision will fail us.

Let's take for example the men in Numbers 13. God had promised His children would live in Canaan. He literally told them, He was giving them that land (vs 2)! Only 26 verses later (some 40 days later) those men came back to report on what the land was like. Yes, there was bountiful land, flowing with milk and honey & luscious fruits (vs 27) but all they could see were the "giants" living there (vs 28, 31) and immediately they felt defeated. What they didn't "see" was that their faith should have been on the promise because then instead of seeing a dark cloud (the giants), they would see the silver lining (that God would give them victory).

Maybe all you can see in your life is failure after failure, valleys come quicker and longer than mountain tops, and constant defeat. Go back and visit God's promises towards you. Perception in our lives as believers is everything. Jesus challenges us with these words, "Blessed is He who doesn't see and yet still believes." (John 20:29)

Let's not forget that 'whatever the enemy means for evil, God intends for good' (Gen 50:20). God is able to use your failures, defeats and valleys to accomplish His victorious purpose in your life! View your failures, valleys and defeats from a silver lining vantage point knowing & believing that God has purpose in everything He both does & allows in our lives. That purpose is for good, a future & hope (Jeremiah 29:11)!

~Be Refreshed

Perfume won't cover a musty odor

The summer of 2013 brought about a series of events that led me to purchase a used 2011 White Toyota Corolla. Much to my dismay, the car had only been used as a rental car but although there was a "no smoking" sign on the windows as clear as day, it was very obvious renters had lit up quite a few times.




What annoyed me the most, was that the dealers tried to convince me that the gas stained interior problem could be solved with something as simple as a Febreeze car odor device.

What frustrated me more, was my own foolish act of buying not one, not two, but three of those silly car vents AND a floor deodorizer in hopes that maybe they were right (when in the back of my mind, I knew it couldn't be true).

A week of Lavender scented trips went by and all I could think about was a saying my momma used to say to my siblings and I. Whenever we tried to put on deodorant or perfume/cologne without taking a bath, she would wisely say "Deodorant and Perfume won't cover up must". What she meant was that deodorant and perfume were meant to compliment cleanliness. Their purpose is not to take away the odor that comes with filth.

If you're anything like me, you can write a list of sins I'm in need of forgiveness for in a span of an hour (60 minutes of my day). We talking about things I knew I should have done but didn't, things I thought, attitudes I felt and words I've said. Although I'm a believer, my flesh still exists and often gets the best of me. No amount of good deeds I do in a day's time can alleviate the wrong that is exudes from my life on a daily basis. I'd toil in vain and run myself crazy even trying. Good deeds only cover up our filth, they aren't able to take away the odor and stain of our sins.

To rid my car of that cigarette odor, I had to take my car to a car wash that specialized in full interior detail. I couldn't run through one of those drive-through car washes or even one where I cleaned it myself. I had to drop my car off, go sit inside for an hour and let them go to work on cleaning the vents, shampooing the carpet and airing out the car.

I had to take my car to people who were experts in doing what it took to remove the stains from the inside of my vehicle. Jesus Christ's payment on the cross is our "Full Service" detail. His service was not only the payment needed to wash away the final penalty for our sin-sick hearts, but also the complete work needed to forgive us and cleanse us daily (down to each minute) and repeatedly for the things our flesh still lures us into. We must take our habits, faults, and failures to Him so He can remove the guilty stains of our sins.



A friend of mine would put it like this "keep short accounts with God"...which simply put means, ask for forgiveness frequently and consistently. This way our good deeds will be Him working in us to compliment, like the sweet aroma of perfume, the bath He's already given to our hearts.

~Be Refreshed