Every Sunday is a good  day, and this Sunday was no different. Having a day to myself was good, being able to go to my church (hadn’t been there in a couple of months due to caring for my mother) and chat with people I hadn’t seen in a while was good. I was also reminded of some things through the message of the service, hearing words like purpose and going to others who can be a buffer and lend a listening ear to our struggles, concerns, and excitement, like Elizabeth was to Mary in the first chapter of Luke in the New Testament. Elizabeth was a support to Mary, sharing in the births of their sons, and praising God for his faithfulness. My support today was through a young man who rendered his poem Aimless.

A compelling word collection of creative writing, the poem described the angst of  not feeling good enough coupled feelings of letting supporting friends down in the process. He spoke of his struggles, his fears and lack of determination to move forward and trust in himself through the talent of his writing gift. His words struck a chord deep within my soul, to the point I fought back tears (the tears won). At the same time I felt a need to send him a message of how touched I was at his gifting of thought while attempting to encourage him that he was not aimless at all, that his words meant something. I reached out to him, and he was appreciative of my response.

Later, after I got home, there was a message from a preacher on the television that spoke of having a support system: “do not do life alone.” I know this has been my issue. Not feeling like I fit in and feeling alone in a crowd has always been a bone of contention…with myself. Yet I know I need to have such a support system and stop being a loner, a community of one.

God is community, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all supporting each other, all functioning differently yet complimenting one another. If God has a support system within Himself, surely I must have the same: mind, body and spirit. But God did not do things all alone, as he had persons like Moses and Joshua, Deborah and Barak, the disciples, and let us not forget Mary who gave birth to Jesus, enabling him to enter the world. All were instrumental in supporting God’s plan and purpose. But what about the rest of us? What about me?

A new year is about to be ushered in with year 2016 just around the corner. I feel God is saying to get a support system in place, which will be needed in accomplishing what he has in store for me. And if what I am hearing is correct, then something is about to be born, and I have to be ready for it.

How about you? What has God been saying to you more than once during this present year that you need to put in place? What have you known for a while that God has been nudging you about that needs to get done before the “big thing” presents itself? Is fear preventing you from doing it? If fear is false evidence appearing real, then it must be acknowledged that fear is not of God, and there is no fear in him. If the nudging has continued, know that God has not giving up on you, and you are the person for the purposeful task he has in store for you to accomplish, as no one else can do it but you.

 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? Isaiah 43:19 (italics mine)

Be strengthenized…

A few months ago, I felt overwhelmed at work. I was very, very behind in everything, and did not know how I was going to be successful. If you read my blog called lucidity2015.wordpress.com, you will understand why. Add to that my own health issues and by the time October rolled around, I was getting close to feeling helpless. But I remembered a prayer a couple of pastors prayed over me in September. They told me God would meet the need and I would get caught up. No one knew the health issue my mother would have in next month, but one thing I can say: God is being faithful in meeting the need.

Life does not always go as we plan it, and while I wanted to quickly get work done, it has not happened at that pace. But it has been getting done, just at a much slower pace than I imagined. I noticed that during the summer I had attempted to put some goals in place, and now months later, I discovered they actually have worked for my good. Something I thought I misplaced was found. Work I thought was not completed actually was done, I just needed to do a couple of things and the work was finished.

So here is the is the challenge for everyone who reads this. If there is a request you ask  God to solve, trust that he will meet that need, regardless of how the situation looks. Your job is to keep trusting as you keep doing. Don’t give up on yourself, and don’t give up on God. I read somewhere to allow your faith to be stronger than the situation. The elements that make up those frustrating situations cause us to think there is no solution;  but  there is One who, if we ask, can provide the answer. As the song goes, “if you trust and never doubt, he will surely bring you out.”  May not be a quick fix, and may take some time, but it will happen…if we will only trust in a God who does not fail in his faithfulness towards us.

Be strengthenized…

With Lucidity2015, the main idea was to write about being a caregiver.

Strengthenize will attempt to encourage all that read it, and the themes will be on anything and everything, but with a hope that is biblically based.

First post is forthcoming…