Do You Know Him?

Hi ya'll! I'm back to fill everyone in on the last three weeks of my journey and I wanted you to know that God is faithful and just. Not because He does stuff or gives stuff but because He is and He loves me like crazy. I'm God's Girl (thank you, Watered Soul for sharing that word with me) and His princess. I get that and I believe that. Two weeks ago or so, I had the privilege of attending my sister's choir anniversary concert. I don't think I can find the right words for it. It may not have gone the way anyone expected it to go, but it definitely went the way it needed to go. God in all His wisdom knew the words that were needed for my breakthrough and I appreciate the fact that He took the time to network my blessing all the way up to Decatur, IL through people I had never met. That's God, you know. It doesn't stop at the concert of course. My visit with my sissy ended beautifully and the REAL fun began at the airport. First, seat was not assigned for my flight. Second, my son vomited all over his nice clothes just before boarding the plane. Third, my plane got delayed for two hours before takeoff in IL and was running into the time for my connecting flight back home. All of that didn't really bother me until I got stranded in the Atlanta, GA airport. My flight got changed to the next day. I have my luggage with my not quite two year old and limited human resources. My phone was dying, funds were low, and all I could do was say, "Lord, this is not normal behavior for me, and I am very used to trying to make things happen when stuff goes wrong, but I trust you. I would really like to freak out right now but I'm asking you to calm the sea and me. Thank you, Lord." God directed me not to get into the long and exasperating customer service lines. He had me call my baby sister back in IL and tell her what I needed. "Sis," I said. "My flight was cancelled for tonight and my new flight doesn't leave until the next evening. What can you do?" My sister then took over as the vehicle God was going to use to get all the glory. "I'll call you back." was what she said and the race for God to keep me was on. Five minutes later, I'm on a three way call with a good friend that lives almost 60 minutes away from Atlanta and my sister in IL. "Alright Nisha, what do you need?" my friend said. My baby brother is in the airport right now and he said he will put you up in a hotel tonight but the only problem is that he can't get you back to the airport." Firstly, I can't even fathom the fact that we're talking about her baby brother. Secondly, I'm in shock that her baby brother is old enough to have a job. Thirdly,that he is driving now and fourthly, that he is in the airport at the very moment I need him preparing to take care of me! I knew this child when he was a diapered baby!I'm sure I babysat him at some time in my life. So obviously you can imagine my surprise. My sister got off the phone and called another friend because God was instructing her to find a different accommodation for the night. She got another friend's number from the same sis whose brother was in the airport. My sis called the other friend and her husband about my staying with them instead. Here is another shocker: I know I babysat this child and her little sister when they were knee high to grasshoppers and now she and her husband are gladly opening their home to me! It was really overwhelming at the time but I couldn't process it all until like just now. You know I have to say something about God at this point. Over thirty minutes had passed in this episode in my life and I had a prepaid phone with like no minutes left. How did I keep calling and keep getting called by all these people when I didn't have thirty minutes or more worth of minutes on my phone? And another thing: what is the baby doing during this time? I get the feeling he had a lot of fun. He didn't cry, and he didn't sit down either but I am sure that he enjoyed that time with his mommy who was in low frequency panic mode. God understood that my feelings didn't equal my faith and he really had me in his hand. Here's how the who scenario played out: My sister told our one friend that she wasn't comfortable with me staying in a hotel and not having a way back. She told the friend and brother instead to give me money for my phone. The other friend's her husband came to pick me up (they only lived 15 minutes from the airport by the way). Now, I am truly convinced that God is the God of coordination and master planning. I couldn't find the little brother for like almost an hour. We played tag for a good twenty minutes. Calling and trying to locate one another. My transportation was coming and I didn't know how this was going to end. Five minutes before my ride arrives, I make one last attempt to locate the brother. We finally pinned down each other's location by landmarks in the baggage claim and the first thing he said when we saw each other was "Bless God." He hugged me and handed me way more money than I needed for my phone. He didn't stay because he had other passengers in his car, but he did what God had him do and I am so grateful for it. Not even five minutes after that moment did my transportation arrive and I was standing right where I needed to be for my other friend to find me. If I hadn't found my friend's brother I wouldn't have known where to be in order to be picked up! I was inside the airport baggage claim on the wrong side the whole time! Look at God, ya'll. The story isn't over yet. I get to my friend's home and she says "You mean you had to get stranded in the ATL airport just so we could see each other?" I laughed because I understood what she meant. I hadn't seen her in several years since she was like a freshman in college. We used to see each other every week at church but as we got older and moved on we just didn't have the opportunity. We reminisced that night for a while and then retired to bed. It was so wonderful to talk to her and allow God to use her and her spouse to be a blessing to me and my baby. She was just thankful that she had a place where I could sleep! Can you believe that? This was the second example of God using people I was used to taking care of and being the "big sister" for who now took care of me when I needed them. In order for you to understand the significance, you have to know my usual M.O. I am Martha sister of Mary and Lazarus in every way. I was the one who was usually the most responsible. The one who rolled up her sleeves and got it done for Jesus. I was always the one who people called on at church when things needed fixing and doing and babysitting was my forte. Under normal duress and "Martha-dom", I would have been the one working out the kinks and growing more gray hair to get the situation worked out. It could never have been as elaborate or well put together as God's plan but it would have been a good showing. I am not accustomed to asking for help from anyone not even family but God showed me that he wanted and has been wanting to do a "new thing" within me. "Yes, Martha. You are careful for many things, but Mary has chosen the better thing." God told me that I needed to have a "Mary moment" and sit as His feet so that I could learn a thing or two. I used to assume that "ain't nobody saved but me" and God had to take me out of that paradigm. I had been allowed to get to a point where I didn't have anything by which to manipulate the situation. God put it before me to trust Him implicitly and I believe that I passed the test. I passed because I got through the process and learned a little more about who God is. It made me more aware of just how much the Marys of this world are blessed and the Marthas of this world miss out. Of course I got to my flight in more than enough time. My phone had minutes and I had my ticket in hand (which was upgraded to first class by the way). Along the way I reconnected with old friends and realized who my true friends are. The sea was calmed and I survived, but one thing that will never be the same is the way I see the Son of Man. What manner of Man is this Who can calm the winds and sea? How well do I really know Him? Can I really let go and let God? I now believe I can. If God can orchestrate beautifully this "little thing" in His eyes, why should my life be any different? He knows the plans that He has for me. He speaks peace and hope and a full expectation of His plans for my life. He promised to give me my life for a prey as I seek after Him. I believe that.

You, Do You

Ok, This is cool. I have a best friend in CA who is learning how to release the inner Diva or whatever. I absolutely love this chick. We plan to be friends for, like, the rest of our lives! I also love how she has been discovering discovery. Every week there is either an epiphany or a paradigm shift or something. I look forward to her phone calls just so I can hear about her new adventure (or two) for the week. Her life plays like one of those soap operas that get you hooked because they are so surreal to be true, yet the things that happen are true and you just want to write a book about her life so that it would be a bestseller and make you and her loads of money,no really! Anyway, the point of this post is something that she has been telling me that really is starting to make sense and I hope this isn't something she told me not to mention because I would really be screwed. She recently had an epiphany about her life and spirituality: you, do you. I have to give a little background before I move on: She just recently divorced her spouse of 7 years and divorced her church of 29 years. She felt spiritually abused by both of her former partners. It has been uphill for her quite a bit, but as of now I am watching her blossom into this person that has been struggling to bloom for years. I have no doubt in my mind that she is a follower of Jesus Christ. She loves Him though the heavens fall and Hell, Missouri's high waters rise! I also have no doubt that she loves her ex-husband, and that she would try again if he were willing, but I also know what she went through because I was there to listen and pray her through it. Her divorce is not what I want to dwell on though. My best friend has turned "doing her" into a science. She has chosen to become the person that she is destined to be and not what people want to make her. She admits now that it was always people that she used as her barometer to decide what she should do. She married because of what she thought people would think of her. She stayed in a congregation that only used her for their purposes because she was afraid of what people (who didn't really care about her) would say if she left. She held on to pseudo-friends and allowed them to use her because she thought she had to keep people around. She struggled with conforming to a set of social norms she didn't agree with (none of which had anything to do with being a Christian actually) and settling for mediocre relationships in her Faith life, social life and her marriage. She wrestled with the social consequences of leaving both her marriage and her church she attended faithfully her entire life. But now that she has made her choice and actually stepped out on faith she is finding a richness and fullness to her life that she has never had before. She admitted to me that for the first time in years she has had a solid night's sleep every night since she left. She had not been at peace and had real rest in her spirit for all those years. Now that she is following the you do you principle she has found out many things about herself that contributed to her problems: like she tended to choose friends for the sake of having friends, she was in the wrong church for her because it was all she knew, and that she settled for being with a body so that she wouldn't be alone. We both readily admit that being human is messy, but it is so much better than denying our humanness and striving for self made perfection. Now she allows God his proper place in her heart and is more open to His leading. Now that she is "doing her" in Jesus: she has had to cut some of those ties that choke her loose, she is choosing to be alone but not lonely in order to let God choose with whom to share her life, and that she really, really likes clothes and accessories. No seriously, it's chronic. It's almost serial. This is the same girl who recently went shopping for a white blouse to wear to an interview and somehow a dress, shoes, clutch purse, and matching jewelry followed her out of the mall in addition to the white shirt. This is also the girl that after finding the church home she wants to join needed a new outfit for the moment she goes up to the front to sit in the chair. You didn't hear me: She needs an outfit for the chair! She's a "hot mess" I tell you. But I admire her for finding her way. Yes, I was startled for a moment because many of her changes seemed so drastic and I wasn't so sure where they were going to lead her (Actually,I was pretty sure it was hell in a hand-basket), but all in all both she and I know she's in good hands. . .