I must say this year alone I have been motivated, encouraged, and truly uplifted by really studying the life, test, trials, and legacy of Abraham. In march (the 18th to be very specific) my mentor pointed out the story where Abraham refused King Sodom's offer to keep the goods he got. Now don't get me wrong if I would have read this story at any other point in my life I would have nine times out of ten been like "Ummm sir..TAKE THE MONEY" but I tell you God has a way of showing himself strong right when you need it...
Genesis 14:21-24
21And the king of Sodom said to Abram,
Give me the persons and keep the goods for yourself.
22But Abram said to the king of Sodom,
I have lifted up my hand and sworn to the Lord,
God Most High, the Possessor and Maker of heaven and earth,
23That I would not take a thread or a shoelace or anything that is yours,
lest you should say, I have made Abram rich.
Now I have said and more than likely blogged at one point and time about how 2011 began with me promising God that no matter what I stood by the "whatever it takes YES" I gave him. So on Jan. 1st 2011 the beginning of my whatever it takes began to unfold. If I would have known that the 1st three days of this year I would be isolated and alone with just my thoughts and Gods voice I would have truly said from jump this walk is defiantly not for me. Come on tell me that if you walk into what was suppose to be a amazing year for you and the 1st three days was the beginning of you losing everything you wouldn't at least for a moment let the thought of jumping ship linger around a little to long as that thought developed into some well thought out plans to get your life going the way you wanted it to....
Within the 1st two months of 2011 I went from having a well paying job, a car and more friends and people who said they loved and supported me than I really needed. To losing my job because of staff cuts which was a major blow to my income so it resulted in me losing my car. Going from having a car, job, and things setting up to a great year just to be introduced to what now I look at as the greatest season of my life but in that moment looking at the bright side of having everything removed from your life didn't really make sense to me. In that very moment, I was hurt, mad, confused, frustrated, and ready to literally walk out on life. I will not sit here and tell you that even though now I totally appreciate what God was showing me at the beginning of this season that it was by any way easy. There were many..and I do mean MANY days I cried in my room for hours and hours. There were times when I didn't want to be bothered, I didn't want to talk, or hear any one's voice. There were days it took EVERYTHING in me not to make phone calls to people who I KNEW could fix my financial situation.
Now I will admit God allowed me to grieve and I did but there came a time where God asked me this simple question...
Do you trust me?
Do you trust me?
Now, of course I was all like "yes God I trust you. You have always been there and you will always be here for me". After I told God YES, dried my face off and began to really get it together he really challenged me...I then walked through a time in my life where God has provided for me, protected me, loved me in spite of me and simply reassured me everything was alright. It took me 2 whole months to get to the point where I could handle what God is currently showing me through all of this... God tested me on trusting him in 2 major ways. The first test although simple to some was very hard to me which was asking the people GOD placed in my life for help. Now, asking other people outside of my family and close CLOSE friends for help has ALWAYS been a pride issue for me. I would do any and everything in my power to fix a situation before I had to depend on someone else to. The difference in this season was that GOD HAD HAND PICKED and placed some AMAZING people in my life an although I didn't know them long I promise blood could not make us any closer. I will admit this was a test I failed a few times before I finally broke down.
Now that I passed that test after a while the BIG and I do mean BIG test came...Sigh...Help me Lord! Now the 2nd test came after much growth and understanding...I'm telling you God won't put more on you than you can handle. God always prepares you for the test before your faced with it...
When I began writing this blog my plan was to honestly share my personal testimony about this very situation BUT God has honestly redirected me totally to share what I learned. Often times we get caught up in what happen and we miss or in some cases minimize the whole reason God took you through something in the first place...
SO...rather than have it said that the king of Sodom had rewarded him, Abraham refused to take the recaptured goods that were offered to him for his service. He utterly refused to take anything—even a thread—from the king. This is an example of extreme righteousness that should make us think about our actions in our daily living. Do you ever stop and think about how much "THREAD" we accept in our lives. What is the level of compromise that we are willing to accept? Abraham was unwilling to compromise at all. If you take a moment and think of it not as money or something physical we accept and look at what we take...Immorality, Dishonesty, Foolishness, Drama...I could go on and on but for real this is a story that truly hit home for me. It not only showed me that even as I walked through a season when I was offered for all my needs to be met even though it was presented as an "i'm here and I care" offer there were things aka "THREADS" attached to that offer. I too, like Abraham walked away from an offer that looked great in the eyes of anyone who didn't see or understand that the vow/promise made to God was worth so much more. Now removing the physical part...I often think about how many other "threads" have I taken. In reflecting on it I think of a shirt. You know that one faviorte shirt you have had forever and you know that even though its got threads hanging or a button missing for some reason you can't let it go. Well me, I have pulled on a tread to remove it but the crazy things about threads is that even though you may only see one small part out of place once you pull on that small part you end you uncovering whats a LONNNNNNGGGGG big old mess. The hard part isn't really all the thread you now have all in a mess in front of you its how you respond to what you have uncovered. The thing I've learned about test is that you are not graded on the test but on your responce. How do you respond...Before if someone came at me with some crazy off the wall drama i'd snap 1st ask questions later. But now as i've grown and have a different view of who I am and who God created me to be my responce is different....So I've said all this to encourage you to pull on that thread and respond out of growth not based on the situation! :) God Bless
Now that I passed that test after a while the BIG and I do mean BIG test came...Sigh...Help me Lord! Now the 2nd test came after much growth and understanding...I'm telling you God won't put more on you than you can handle. God always prepares you for the test before your faced with it...
When I began writing this blog my plan was to honestly share my personal testimony about this very situation BUT God has honestly redirected me totally to share what I learned. Often times we get caught up in what happen and we miss or in some cases minimize the whole reason God took you through something in the first place...
SO...rather than have it said that the king of Sodom had rewarded him, Abraham refused to take the recaptured goods that were offered to him for his service. He utterly refused to take anything—even a thread—from the king. This is an example of extreme righteousness that should make us think about our actions in our daily living. Do you ever stop and think about how much "THREAD" we accept in our lives. What is the level of compromise that we are willing to accept? Abraham was unwilling to compromise at all. If you take a moment and think of it not as money or something physical we accept and look at what we take...Immorality, Dishonesty, Foolishness, Drama...I could go on and on but for real this is a story that truly hit home for me. It not only showed me that even as I walked through a season when I was offered for all my needs to be met even though it was presented as an "i'm here and I care" offer there were things aka "THREADS" attached to that offer. I too, like Abraham walked away from an offer that looked great in the eyes of anyone who didn't see or understand that the vow/promise made to God was worth so much more. Now removing the physical part...I often think about how many other "threads" have I taken. In reflecting on it I think of a shirt. You know that one faviorte shirt you have had forever and you know that even though its got threads hanging or a button missing for some reason you can't let it go. Well me, I have pulled on a tread to remove it but the crazy things about threads is that even though you may only see one small part out of place once you pull on that small part you end you uncovering whats a LONNNNNNGGGGG big old mess. The hard part isn't really all the thread you now have all in a mess in front of you its how you respond to what you have uncovered. The thing I've learned about test is that you are not graded on the test but on your responce. How do you respond...Before if someone came at me with some crazy off the wall drama i'd snap 1st ask questions later. But now as i've grown and have a different view of who I am and who God created me to be my responce is different....So I've said all this to encourage you to pull on that thread and respond out of growth not based on the situation! :) God Bless
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