That was me to my two fantastic daughters, Julie and Ember, this morning. We had planned to go shopping, but our fav store closed on us early, and we ended up eating the best French fries ever at I Heart Fries. I asked our conversation questions as we laughed and enjoyed each other, and I was reminded of how blessed I am not just to have two daughters, but two awesome friends (HUGE SMILE). Our fierce babes’ alliance remains strong where we not only take away strengths from each other (iron sharpens iron, baby!), but we continuously work on our weaknesses as well. Like Julie told me this week that I’m very inconsiderate sometimes (ouch!) and when I thought about it, she was right, I can be gentler and more loving in my speech and actions. Thanks, boo! Constant improvement!
Right before that, though, I had the sweetest God wink! Yesterday, I went to my old Facebook page to select a photo to reshare. Of all the pics, I selected one that said, “You are NOT ALONE; You have God.” Fast forward to that evening, we were in a parking lot waiting on someone, and I said let me have a quick appointment with God,and of all my meditation books, and of all pages, look what showed up as if He was speaking directly to me:
“Never alone; you know that.” – He and I
Once again that His sweet way of reminding me that HE IS ALWAYS WITH ME. The book continued:
“Then let it be a source of strength to you. Strength to speak to Me, since I am there. Strength to act, since I can help you, particularly when you speak to others. Ask Me to speak through you. Never alone! What a joy for you! Could you ever thank Me enough?” – He and I
Never! Every night, I get on my knees to say, “God, Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!” Through the good, bad and ugly, I see everything is all from the hands of an extremely LOVING God who knows exactly the experiences we need to become our best selves.
HOW DO I TELL MY HUSBAND THAT HIS VICE-PRESIDENT WIFE LOST A CAR?
That was me recently after a customer took off with a vehicle, moved from the address she gave us, and hid our car! But no problem, we have God on our side. I woke up one morning with this heavy burden on my head and immediately went to an appointment with God. The word from Him was at the end of a post I read from my own book: ‘Keep Calm, You’re Rolling With God.’ Wink! Wink!
It was a thought that came to mind to call an investigator who helped us with a similar situation some years ago. Thank God, our assistant, Martha, kept his business card, and within less than 48 hours of calling him, we had the car located and back with us. See how God brought to memory that gentleman and had Martha to keep his business car from so many years ago – Don’t play with God! His Spirit is with us, for us, and He is on our side, baby!
But when I got a call from my office asking how much we would charge her to get her stuff out of the car, I replied, “Zero. Give her her things.” When they asked me why, I shared the message we sent out by text to our customers yesterday in Nigeria:
“Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink.” – Romans 12:19-20
Do not seek revenge, leave everyone with God. As we stand still, doing our best in the physical realm, God is at work in the spiritual realm on our behalf. Wink! Wink! See how quickly he found that car for His girl here!
This gives me the confidence to tell you, “You are not alone, you have God.” I’m taking so many lessons from this whole car disappearing situation:
– Have constant, constant, constant conversations with God about everything, listening and paying attention to His communications with us. The feelings of doubt I felt before releasing this vehicle to her was God saying, ‘Nik, don’t.’ I ignored those feelings and paid the price.
– KEEP CALM, YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD. We’ll still have problems and challenges like everyone else, but God is available to help guide us through any troublesome situation when we invite Him to be a part of our lives
– Pray, do your best, and let God worry about how everything will be handled
– Don’t repay evil with evil; overcome evil with good. EVERYTHING IS BETWEEN US AND GOD!
This was my hubby SCREAMING at his FAT wife from across the room at a party some years ago. Can you believe this was one of those life-changing moments when I decided to work on myself seriously? The then overweight, insecure, overly emotional, unhappy, and unhealthy Nik, used this HUMILIATION as fuel to become BETTER. And that’s precisely what God seems to do with all my darkness. He shines His BRIGHT light, revealing areas where I can improve.
Another EMBARRASSING AND HURTFUL experience happened some weeks ago when I showed up at an office barbecue. At a certain point, my heart fell to the floor. But again, God used this as an opportunity to replace my heart with a stronger, tougher and a MORE LOVING AND FORGIVING ONE. This HUMILIATION taught me about loving others God’s way.
His love is unfailing and constant. No matter how many times I mess up, God seems to say, ‘It’s cool, let’s begin again. No matter how many times you mess up, you can begin again. I’m with you and for you!’ I loved this message in an appointment with Him one day:
“When you try to speak to Me of the past, I’ll place my hand over your mouth and you will hear words of tenderness and mercy that will melt your heart.” – He and I
And that’s the kind of love He is teaching me to show others. That no matter the past we can show them God’s kind of love and mercy:
“When you learn how to sit at the table with your Judas (someone who has betrayed you), you’ll understand the love of Jesus Christ (God).” – Unknown
So, an extremely dark moment was God’s way of bringing lots of LIGHT and LOVE into my heart for EVERYONE. Nobody’s perfect. But the way I’ve found to get closer to God is through LOVING others MORE.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love…Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:7, 8, 11, 12
I’m living my BEST life with God where I seem to constantly ask, “God, what have I done to deserve such love and kindness from You?” Love is the way, baby. Anything anyone else does is between them and God. I’ve stopped seeking the approval of people; God and Heaven are my audience (Wink! Wink!) where the blessings from Him chase me down. Heehaw!
Let me tell ya, these alone times with God are what keep your girl here at peace, calm, relaxed, and happy KNOWING I’M NOT GOING THROUGH LIFE ALONE. I go and touch the last of the 47 trees God had perfectly lined up for me after my 47th birthday, and I but both of my palms on them and say, ‘God, we’re together! We’re together! We’re together!’ No matter how crazy that may look or sound, I need these crucial reminders because this life gets HARD. I love how my brother, Kevin, described what these runs do for me:
“I don’t know if it gives you strength. I think it gives you wisdom. It gives you time to think, to plan, to focus. You are in a war, you realize that right. Any problem that you have is a war. So, you need to strategize, and I think your runs give you clarity in everything. Keep running. Trust me when I tell you this, I think that is the key.”
He is so right! Like yesterday before going on that run, I was deeply feeling the pain of rejection, and I had to stop what I was doing to have an appointment with God. It was 31 minutes past the hour, so I went to page 31 of my website, and at the very top post there, God, unbelievably, had this to say to me:
“It’s hard to comprehend how much God loves us because we are all used to human love, we had to behave properly, and we had to do certain things to keep our relationships with people going. People blow you off when you don’t do things to please them as we know that conditional love, it lets you down…With God’s kind of love, it’s totally different, it’s awe inspiring….May I be lifted above the pain of rejection, as I remember that who I really am cannot be rejected. May God’s acceptance mean more to me than the acceptance of any person, for it is based on my true worth.” So, there I was, feeling so hurt, down and depressed like this person didn’t want me in their life again, and God’s invisible Presence shows up with this crucial message from Him to me: Nik, the real you, my child, can never be rejected. He picks me up when I’m down.”
Going on that run, after reading this, was exactly what my brother said. It was time to strategize with God as to what He would have me to do. He said, ‘Nik, vent anything to me, but to others keep silent. Be patient. When others are weak, you be the strong one. Don’t repay evil with evil. Keep shining bright for Me, doing everything for Me. I got you. I love and approve of you, and that’s all that matters.” God’s school of hard lessons continues. Put God First in your life, guys! We need His perspective!
