“THE MOST PAINFUL THING I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED IN MY LIFE”

Those words from Meagan Good regarding her divorce helped me to understand what I’ve been going through for the past two years. It’s been painful, let me tell ya! From one low to the next lower moment. But can you believe now that I’m on the other side of all those hurts, I’m THANKING GOD? Yup, your girl here needed her heart broken a zillion times to look at my life from an entirely different viewpoint: A GOD PERSPECTIVE, BABY!!!

It was my brother, Kevin, who said to me under my God tree one day something like, “Neeks, you’re like a boxer right now. After getting hit in your head like 10,000 times, you eventually get numb to the pain.” That’s what has happened, the figurative (not real, guys!) blows don’t affect me the way they did in the past. The emotional, weak, and wreck of a person, needed to go! This was all God’s LOVING way to help me become the Neeks He would have me to be: courageous, tough, brave, strong, confident in Him woman, but at the same time, loving, gentle, loyal, faithful, enduring, kind, and going the extra mile wife, mother and person HE WOULD HAVE ME TO BE. Thanks to the pain!

I was at brunch with Kevin one Sunday, when an elderly server said, “You have to have a shield on so that nothing gets through to bother and upset you.” I wake up now and put on my shield. The disappointments still come, but with my shield on, I don’t let them get to me anymore the way they used to. I now live from a space of having one foot on earth with the hurts, disappointments, messiness, clutter, challenges, and brokenness exist, and the other foot in heaven FOCUSED ON GOD.

Last Sunday, when I didn’t go for my run, was a BIG lesson. These times under the tree are where I touch base with God to get His direction for my life and the decisions He would have me to make. Five minutes after telling a new friend that Dr.Charles Stanley explained that the Biblical principles that ring true to me are the guide I should use to make wise decisions. I gave her this specific example:

“Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.” – Proverbs 3:3

At 8:59, I decided to read page 85 of our family’s website, and this incredibly showed up within minutes:

“Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.” – Proverbs 3:3

No way this was some ordinary coincidence; it was God revealing His invisible Presence with me as if saying, “High five, my girl, you’re getting the lessons that I’m teaching you!” HEEHAW And this is what gives me the confidence to face my days confidently and joyfully knowing there is never a moment when God is not standing STRONG with me:

“He is the God who makes me strong, who makes my pathway safe.” – Psalm 18:32

That love and loyalty He had me go all the way to Nigeria to learn. Thank you to a great gentleman who personified this verse, Sir Lucky Omoluwa, who will live on forever in our hearts. It’s easy to love people when they are strong and doing what we want, but the real challenge is loving them despite their mistakes and failings. With God’s strength, may we love others the way God loves us. Amen.

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

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