That was me to my daughter, Julie, after she jumped to fight for her sister’s rights to transfer from the university she is currently attending. I explained to her it was the same situation when everyone in the family turned against me when I wanted her to leave high school early and begin college. I’m so happy a customer, Richard, explained to both what’s going on with me:
“You guys may not understand your mom’s decisions now, but stick with her. Support her. Love her. Your mom is in a heavenly realm where she makes decisions with God. Just trust her and listen to her.”
And this is where I want us all, making decisions with God! Not always easy, like when Julie started the college-level classes, I went to her bedroom, and my baby was crying in front of her computer, having a meltdown because she didn’t fully understand what was required of her. She didn’t submit an assignment on time. I freaked out, thinking I had made a mistake by prematurely forcing her out of high school. Still, my baby girl needed that college experience to get her out of her comfort zone and step up to be the mature lady ready to tackle university far away from her parents in New York City, baby! Between college and coming to work at our family business a few times a week, our daughter is ready, by the grace of God. Amen!
I say that to you guys to explain that this is what God does to us. He knows the experiences we need to get us out of our comfort zones, tougher, stronger, braver, and more courageous. Still, at the same time, more loving, merciful, kinder, wiser, and most importantly, CLOSER TO HIM TO BE THE PEOPLE HE HAS DESIGNED US TO BE. God, I’m on to You! (HUGE SMILE)
Like your girl right now! I don’t like what God is always doing to me, but I can look back on some of the worst days and see God showing up for me and pulling me closer to His heart, where He wants all of us. I love my winks from Him yesterday when I looked to hear from Him in a difficult moment. I first randomly picked a post on Facebook to reread, and out of all of them, I ended up reading one entitled:
“MOMMY, YOU’RE THE ONE WHO PUTS THE RANGE IN THE ROVER!”
Still needing to hear more from God (No shame! Life gets rough!) I went to my old YouTube videos, and I literally closed my eyes, asking God to select the one He wanted me to watch. Incredibly it was me telling this same story of Joshie telling me that I was the one who put the Range in the Rover. Tell me, how could this line up so perfectly on its own. From the hundreds of videos on YouTube and the hundreds on Facebook, for me to read and watch myself tell the same story in both places within minutes of each other was all God reminding me that His Presence was there with me. No coincidence! The sweetness of God!
Then, I felt crazy telling you guys about Drake’s song Nonstop playing in the restaurant on Sunday and again the following day on a brief fifteen-minute run with God, out of my entire music library of over 800 songs. Can you believe that today on my run, the same thing happened where God had the song to play with these lyrics being rapped by Lil Kim:
“I’M THE ONE WHO PUTS THE RANGE IN THE ROVER!” – The Jump Off
See God’s fun personality? When I heard that song play, I just smiled, reminded that no matter what comes my way, God Himself stands with me. With you, too!! It’s just for us to learn His voice and what he is saying directly to us at every moment of the day. See how I took that time to seek God in that alone time with Him? That’s how you learn His voice, through spending alone times with Him. Let me tell ya, not one moment seeking Him is wasted. I want us to pray all day, every day and include God in all our decisions. Amen. This verse has been showing up a lot with Him reminding me that He was my peace no matter the troublesome situations:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]” – John 16:33