GOD SHOWS UP AGAIN ON MY DRIVE TO WORK

The love and attention God shows me truly blow me away! I told you guys how Ceri speaks clearly to me from God, but this week I teamed up with another messenger from Him who asked me if I would share his messages with you guys (we will call him Ricard!). I said it would be my honor and pleasure because he has genuinely helped me improve – “He who walks with wise men will be wise.”

So, the day before yesterday, Richard said to me (I paraphrase here), “Nikki, I want you to go to the beach and baptize yourself. WHEN YOU COME UP FROM THAT WATER, I WANT YOU TO BE A NEW PERSON.” I told him I would do that because I needed a complete refresh and reboot. I would take that opportunity to recommit my life even more to God, asking His help in me being the person He would have me to be, leaving my old self behind.

Fast forward to today, I’m back stalking Ceri in the app where he has all these recorded messages where he shares Bible messages and his take on how they relate to our lives now. Today I freaked out again when Ceri said this:

“Forget about your past. Don’t keep dwelling on it. Your past is your past, and you can’t change, but the one thing you can change is your future. And the way you change your future is by the steps you make today… When I got baptized last year, the words the Pastor told me always stuck and will stick with me for the rest of my life: “WHEN YOU GO UNDERNEATH THIS WATER AND COME BACK UP, YOU’RE A NEW PERSON (Wink! Wink!).” And I’ve been living like that, and everyone deserves that chance. Everyone deserves that opportunity because God gave it to me.”

Wow! This was another one of my famous God winks where everything lined up extremely too perfectly to be some ordinary coincidence. I kept scrolling all the way back to almost a year ago, passing over a good number of them, to hear Ceri repeat those very words from Richard spoken to me two days ago. Let me tell ya, our God is pretty talkative and I can’t get over how He knows everything about us, even every word spoken by Ceri in those recordings. It was God Himself saying, ‘Nik, I need you to hear those words from Ceri today!!! Wow!

Honestly, though, that conversation with Richard was on a day when I was extremely overwhelmed by things I needed to do, but I felt God saying to me in my spirit, ‘Nik, take this time and talk to him.” Only to confirm to both of these people that I definitely hear God’s voice through both of them. I’m not crazy, y’all!

The message from Ceri was 11 months ago, but such an important message for us all today:

So I want to read from the book of Isaiah 43:18-19, and it says,

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

This verse are very impactful because God reminds us of a few things. Like forget the former things… basically forget about your past. He tells us to don’t dwell on it. Don’t keep reminding yourself of your past. Like your past is your past, and you can’t change but the one thing you can change in life is your future. And the way that you change your future is by the steps that you make today. The decisions that you make today is what can determine your tomorrow…

Everyone deserves a second chance but the reality is all of us have a past. There’s not one person sitting on the stage, there’s not one person walking this planet who has done everything in their life what’s right in God’s eyesight. None of us. Every single one of us falls short of the glory of God. So, who are we to go there and and comment on somebody for their past or things that they’ve done? Who are we to try to make a decision on how their futures is or what they will be in life? That decision don’t rest with us and don’t rest good with me when people try to do it.

Because imagine if I had sat back and allowed people to tell me who I would be. Imagine if I had sat back and accepted that I couldn’t forgive myself for the things that I did. It took me a long time – it took me meeting all of y’all in here and tell me boy get over it – forgive yourself. Move on. God has renewed you and restored you. When I got baptized last year, the words the Pastor told me always stuck and will stick with me for the rest of my life: “WHEN YOU GO UNDERNEATH THIS WATER AND COME BACK UP, YOU’RE A NEW PERSON. And I’ve been living like that. Everyone deserves that chance. Everyone deserves that opportunity because God gave it to me.”

God, help us all forgive ourselves and others for the past and to keep moving forward with You as our Life Partner and Guide, forgetting the former things and being excited about the NEW lives You have planned for us. Amen!

Fast forward to this morning, the song ‘Mercy’ played by Shawn Mendes, and I knew right away this was a message from God to us all today. God, who is extremely merciful, loving, and patient with us, asks us to do the same for others. Can we be God’s angels in the world? We all mess up, and no one ever gets it right all the time!

Don’t miss out on the best life with God! I was reminded of something very important from Ceri yesterday about EXPECTING God’s supernatural help and favor. We can show up in the physical realm doing the utmost of our abilities and then leave God to handle the rest by working in the spiritual realm on our behalf. Wink! Wink!

CASE IN POINT: In trying to collect some monies owed from a customer, they didn’t answer our call. So we set a reminder to call again at 4 pm. As we go to call her again, I’m told that their representative is in our waiting room. I used it as an opportunity to bring up the balance politely. The gentleman is unbelievably taking complete charge of helping us get paid. That’s God’s favor in action – sending the people we need to assist us! We need to stay positive, KNOWING OUR HELP COMES FROM THE LORD, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH! NOTHING IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR GOD, PERIOD! Wink! Wink!

ANOTHER VOICE NOTE FROM KEVIN!!!

Yayy! Honestly, I didn’t get a chance to listen to it clearly until the day after he sent it. But when I really heard it clearly, this part has significantly changed me forever: Here’s what K had to say:

“Neeks, it really ain’t that serious. It’s an adage. It’s a cliché. But it’s the truth. It ain’t that damn serious. Don’t ask God for things not to happen to you; ask him for STRENGTH to deal with whatever comes your way because as sure as we are right here today, things are gonna come. Put on your boots. Grab a hold of that rope. Tuck yourself in the saddle and enjoy the ride. Smell the coffee. Admire the roses. Smile. Laugh at the movies. Laugh at the jokes. Compliment people. They are all pieces, links put together to make this world LIFE for all of us.”

I laughed at myself and all the silly things I’ve been taking too seriously! Especially when I add in the God factor and the fact that He is forever saying and showing me, ‘Neeks, I got you.’ I laugh at myself even more when I say I’m the God maniac here teaching everyone about having faith in God, but yet, I’m the very one taking life too seriously and stressing too much instead of trusting God.

Speaking of this strength, though, hubby and I had a great appointment with God yesterday morning, listening to Dr. Charles Stanley’s (may his beautiful soul rest in peace) sermon about having a strong life:

“A person who has a strong life consistently obeys God as a habit, and attempts and tries to leave all the consequences to Him. Sometimes we don’t. That’s why I said trying. If you have the habit of your life obeying God, for example, think about this. As a follower of Jesus Christ, to disobey God should be an exception in your life. To obey Him should be the norm for your life, why? Because that’s who we are. And a strong life is a life that is built on obeying the truth of the Word of God. Then, of course, one of the areas of a strong life is that we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the strength of our life.

Now, think about this for a moment. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” He’s in jail, beaten, chained, locked up, you name it, and you know what? His foundation was so solid that no matter what they did, they never discouraged him. They never made him quit. They tried their best to stop him, from attempted assassinations to everything else they did. Why? Because he was strong. He was strong in the Word of God. He was strong in his relationship to God. He was strong in his obedience to God. And he knew in his heart that the strength of his life was not in his body but was in his relationship to Jesus Christ. That’s where our strength lies: in relationship. And all these other things are part of that relationship.

So, ask yourself the question: How strong is your life? How much of your life– for example, you get up in the morning and you say, “Well, I’m gonna do this, that, and the other.” How often do you get up to say, “Father, I want to thank You that You’re my strength today”? And if you have a job that’s very difficult, do you ever say to Him, “Lord, I need Your strength today to get this done. I don’t even know how I’m going to be able to do what I’m supposed to do. You’re my strength.” Now what you’ve done is you have invited the Lord God into your life, so to speak, through His Holy Spirit, to enable you and strengthen you and encourage you and don’t–does not let you quit, because with Him, you can accomplish anything God has set before you to accomplish. Then, of course, expressing love and care for other people. If you can’t express love and care for other people, you’re not strong. If you can’t love, you’re not strong.

Love is one of the basic– listen, listen, when Paul describes the fruit of the Holy Spirit, where does he start? Love, joy, peace–love. Loving somebody else, you’re giving yourself away to someone else. You may give them things or you may give them yourself. In other words, but most of all, loving someone is making yourself available to them, cheering them up, encouraging them. A person who really loves is an encourager.

A person who really loves is a person who makes a difference in the people around them. So, ask yourself this question. The people who know you, do they think of you as a person who loves or a person who complains all the time? How many of you love being around a complainer?
None of us. People who are just complaining about everything. It doesn’t make any difference what happens; they find something to complain about. Godly people, strong people, find something good, something good, not something to complain about all the time. Loving is very important.”

WELCOME BACK TO THE KEVIN, CERI, AND NIKKI SHOW! (HUGE SMILE)

God has put the three of us together to share this up to this very moment information about living our best lives with Him, baby! Kevin has all these real-life experiences and this extraordinary gift of wisdom from God. Ceri is the same, but he brings his God and Bible expertise. It blows my mind how deep he is with this knowledge of God. My strength is my closeness to God and how I experience His intimate and deep Presence. Ceri explained that God strategically places people in our lives out of His deep and unconditional love for us all. I do not doubt that now that God Himself has put us three together to hopefully inspire you not to miss out on a life close to Him.

Exactly August 10, 2022, your girl here was not in a good place, and I was weak and struggling, and I shamelessly formed a WhatsApp group with Kevin, Ceri, and my other brother, Jason thinking I needed to tap into their strength. Thank God I did that (never be embarrassed to ask for help!) The group is now up to 12 of us! All angels that God again has strategically and loving placed in my life! Thanks, my support team!

I honestly cried happy tears this morning thinking about Kevin and how he has lovingly held my hand and supported me for about four years now (God’s love in action!). Yesterday we had another one of our sacred conversations, and I was thanking him that I was exactly where I was supposed to be at that moment – at work with my husband, loving and supporting him. I told hubby yesterday, “Right or wrong, I’m sticking with you all the way, my boo!” Kevin’s advice got me here:

“Neeks, you’re like a boxer right now. You will take 10,000 punches, but eventually, you will become numb.” I told him today that I am as numb as steel! Nothing can hurt me at this point!

“Neeks, you’re going to have to be patient right now.” While being patient, God has lovingly changed my perspective as Ceri correctly explained that God does. He may not change our situations, but He would change our perspective on the situations so that we can still be happy despite what may be happening around us. I’m thanking and praising God now! Things may not be how I want them, but I’m thanking God because they could also be so much worse!!!

“Neeks, every day you can reinvent yourself!” I’ve changed that to every moment we can reinvent ourselves! Yesterday I wanted to do something silly, but God corrected me in my spirit – You will do no such thing, Ms. Nikki! God had one sticker on a car deliver a message to me: LET LOVE LEAD. I instantly reinvented myself in that moment, deciding not to let the devil and the crazy lady direct me but to always look to God and what would make Him happy.

Neeks, you focus too much on this husband to the point you neglect your kids (Ouch!). I needed the correction!

Neeks, make God your top priority! Honestly, the closeness I feel with God is off the charts. After telling a staff that he should name his son Emmanuel because it meant “God with us,” Fast forward about two hours later or so, I’m sitting having dinner with my husband and sons (all three of them are named Emmanuel), and I ran to get my phone so we could have an appointment with God. I asked Joshie for a date to read, but I ended up accidentally clicking on the wrong date next to it, and look what showed up in this 365-day devotional:

“They will call him Immanuel” – which means “God with us (Wink! Wink!).” – Matthew 1:23

That was another of my God winks with God Himself revealing His Presence with us at that table. No ordinary coincidence! Again, His deep love for me and my family! (ANOTHER SMILE)

I say all that to say don’t miss out on the best life with God! He is with us and for us and by our side. We can tap into His love, perspective, strength, wisdom, tact, approval, charisma, joy, and courage at every moment. Say the prayer I said about 15 years ago, ‘God, I want a closer walk with You!’

“CERI IS YOUR COPING MECHANISM!”

That was the surprising comment from my brother, Kevin, in another one of our sacred conversations yesterday. Honestly, when I thought about it, I realized that I ran to Ceri’s messages in some of my worst moments, and God speaks clearly to me through him. Ceri has wonderfully pointed me to THE ULTIMATE COPING MECHANISM: GOD HIMSELF, BABY!!!

But speaking of one of my worst moments when I ran to Ceri, it was the day before yesterday when I felt so wretched that I had to stop everything I was doing and ask God, ‘What is wrong with me! Help me out here!’ God showed up in a recording that Ceri did over a year ago but spoke directly where I was STILL getting it seriously wrong: I look too much to my husband for his love and approval. Look what Ceri said to me in that awful moment:

“… now that God knows you, why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world… It’s so easy to become slaves to different things. You could become a slave to a lot of worldly things, but you also could become slaves to different emotions. You could become a slave to anger. Any little thing ticks you off. That means that anger controls you. If every time you feel down or depressed, you run to the bottle for a drink; you’re a slave to that because that is your master. It’s EVEN DOWN TO OTHER PEOPLE. IF YOU BECOME SO DEPENDENT ON ANOTHER PERSON’S OPINION FOR YOU TO SURVIVE OR FOR YOU TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF, YOU HAVE NOW BECOME A SLAVE TO THEM (ME EXACTLY!!!!!) That isn’t how it’s supposed to be. The only thing you’re supposed to be a slave to is the word of God and His word. Nothing more and nothing less. Our faith is what we are always supposed to rely on. And that’s why he gave us this book (the Bible!), so whenever we need to run to something, we always have a reference point.”

And God didn’t stop there. The next morning, I asked Him what page to visit on our family’s website. I felt Him say page 22, and look what showed up, a post I wrote over three years about this very slavery issue:

“At one point, I was listening to Rob Bell’s podcast and his guest, Don Golden, talked about the slaves from Egypt being freed and how God is calling us ALL to be freed from anything that is holding us back from being the people He is calling us to be. I got so excited calling her back, saying we have to free ourselves from our personal mental slavery and start thinking the thoughts that God would have us thinking, not this JUNK we’ve been getting sad and depressed over. The words from Bob Marley’s song came to mind, “Free yourself from mental slavery.” After talking to her, I texted, “Google Bob Marley’s song. Wow, He is speaking directly to us.”

Minutes later, God reveals His intimate Presence with us. She walks past her nephew’s bedroom, and he is UNBELIEVABLY playing this very Bob Marley song, “EMANCIPATE YOURSELF FROM MENTAL SLAVERY.”

That conversation with Kevin’s wife, Verona, from so long ago, confirming Ceri’s message from God that I needed to free myself from being a slave to my wonderful hubby, was God Himself coming to wrap His loving arms around me and correcting me (God is so patient with us!!!). My decision to constantly seek hubby’s love and approval made me his slave. My choices should come from a place of , ‘God, what would please You here!’ And trust me, when we live from that perspective of seeking to always please God, He exceeds our expectations in every aspect of our lives. I now understand this verse:

“God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic (ME!!!!)—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.” – Matthew 13:44

For God, the Creator of the universe, to come down and speak so clearly to me through Ceri and that old post of where I’m going wrong, I feel like His favorite girl in the world! I jumped out of bed so happy! I found that treasure and what joy I have in knowing God’s deep, deep, deep love for me! Like God Himself said, “My Nik, why are you so troubled over whether your husband loves and approves of you! I love and approve of you!!!

That right there is the love, joy, and peace you cannot buy! What are you a slave to? Talk with God about what is holding you back from being all He is calling you to be.

“ARE YOU TAKING NOTES?!?”

That was me to my son, Emmie, today, as we spent some time with his dad getting ready to leave for work. I’ll never forget a day at the office when I felt completely overwhelmed by everything my husband had to take on, and a close family friend said, “Nikki, don’t even try to understand the pressures on a man. We were built to handle this; you were not.”

So, this post today is for everyone doing complex things on God’s and their family’s behalf to remind you that our God is a living God who is with us in every moment, supporting us, helping us, and giving us the strength and courage to keep going. Our support system is the Almighty God, and the joy of the Lord is our strength to take on HARD THINGS. It’s just for us to focus on Him in every moment, tapping into His strength, guidance, wisdom, favor, protection, tact, personality, joy, and help that is incredibly available to us in every moment. But enough from me today, our friend, Ceri, shared this recently:

“From the book of Haggai 2:4-5 that says:

“But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.’”

Today I’m just grateful for the spirit of God. I am grateful for our strength, something that I continuously pray for and I’m grateful for, like this verse says, God’s spirit lives amongst us. It’s so important for us to remember that the God that we serve is a living God…

Our faith is in alignment with our God. Our God lives amongst us. He’s a living God, and it’s just so refreshing to know that He’s here at all times. Even though we can’t see Him, our faith shows and tells us He is here. When it’s time when we need Him, and we call on Him, He shows up. Even though we don’t see him, but we know that he shows up because He shows up inside people, or He shows up through things, or like He still shows up. It’s hard for us to explain, but we know that He is here.

One of the things that stood out to me in this particular verse again was how Haggai was in this particular book in the Bible. They’re speaking about rebuilding the temple. He was speaking to some of the old Jews and just basically telling them to like be strong, keep pushing, we have a job to do.

And God was telling them that like even though it seemed like such a hard task, that He was there with them. God told them in this particular verse, ‘For I am with you. Be strong for I Am With You.’ And that’s something that always replays in my mind, and every day and every moment that I pray, that’s one of the first things that always comes out on my lips is that I pray for strength. I know that God is with me, but I also know that I can’t do it alone, but I need the strength so that I can keep pushing forward. I can keep doing my best. I could keep growing. I could keep being strong for other people who are close to me. A lot of times, my strength isn’t just for me. A lot of times, I pray for my strength; it honestly isn’t for me. It is to hold up the house so the roof doesn’t collapse around everyone else.

I pray for strength over anyone that needs it. And I want to remind anyone who needs to hear it that they close this verse by saying, “Do not be afraid.” Fear is of the devil, and it’s easy for it to encapsulate us and for us to get worried and anxious about things. And you must be reminded that God we serve is a living God, and He’s amongst us and lives with us. He told us not to be afraid. I’m gonna listen to him.”

Let’s keep it pushing! God Himself is with and for us!!! Heehaw!!!

ANOTHER SACRED CONVERSATION WITH MY BROTHER, KEVIN

I began telling him how my daughter, Ember, went a little crazy on her dad, which surprised me. After we chatted about it for a bit, I told Kevin that the real point of our conversation, though, was that we really have to take this work for God more seriously. It was not only to teach Ember all that he has taught me, but it was really about us teaching the entire world these crucial lessons about having a God perspective for life.

I’m so grateful to Kevin who always said, “Neeks, you have a husband who respects you and takes great care of his family. You can’t ask for anything more than that. Enjoy your gorgeous life!” Honestly, just like Ember, I had lost it with hubby for about 15 seconds one evening, and he came and sat with me and said, “Nik, I’m here with you every night. All day I’m at work doing my best for you guys. What more do you want from me?” Honestly, there is nothing else I can ask of this man! Only to ask God to give me the strength and ability to be an even better wife, mom, and person.

God even got in on our conversation when the next day, a song by Babyface played as I was getting dressed to go out:

“I give good love…
I’ll cook your dinner too
Soon as I get home from work’

Can you believe after calling hubs all day to ask what he wanted for dinner, I got back from my outing and meet hubby in the kitchen, still in his work clothes, cooking dinner for us? That song playing was God Himself saying, ‘Nik, Nik, Nik, Nik!!! Look at this beautiful husband I’ve blessed you with! Don’t take him for granted!’ Hubs prepared that food with such love, and I ended up cleaning my plate and hubby sharing some of his with me.

Ember was upset that her dad didn’t take me out for our anniversary, and I told her that I was the one saying that we didn’t need to go anywhere because every evening, the restaurant comes to us. We have a date night every night with our cook preparing us better than restaurant food! We shower, come down in our pajamas, and enjoy the best food. Like Uncle Kevin says, “Your mom has a gorgeous life!”

The moral of this story is that there is enough anger, hate, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, and evil in the world. May we be God’s representatives out there reflecting His love, mercy (forgiveness without punishment and learning to KEEP SILENT and venting our frustrations to God), kindness, faithfulness, loyalty, gentleness, and patience with the world.

We are really too hard on each other! I told Ember to open her eyes to where she was, at this gorgeous country club university in New York – Your dad’s hard work did that for you! Overwhelm him with your love, respect, and appreciation! He has gone above and beyond his responsibility as a husband and dad. May more men show up for their families the way your dad does for us. Anyone can find the dirt in others (that’s easy!); may we be the ones to find gold! We must keep forgiving, keep forgiving and keep forgiving because none of us are perfect! The same love God shows us, we’re to reflect to others!

Thank you, Kevin, for being my guard rails and keeping me from making bad decisions! May we share your gift of wisdom with the world! A message from Ceri yesterday was about how God is strategic in the people He brings into our lives. I have no doubt that God Himself planned for us to be on this adventure together for the past four years of you holding my hands and supporting me through my rough patch. Every conversation has been sacred, and I’m more motivated than ever to finish our book! Everyone needs a Kevin in their life!!!!

“NEEKS, I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY IT TOOK YOU SO LONG TO GET THE MESSAGE I TOLD YOU ABOUT YEARS AGO!”

That was my angel/brother, Kevin, yesterday! Honestly, God makes everything beautiful in His time. Not a minute early or a minute late! I had called him to say that we must ignore our 90-year-old mom, who keeps saying we should replace the lady who so wonderfully takes care of her, Shelley. After my mom went as far as locking Shelley out of the house one day, even after all my preaching to her to please be on chill mode (not taking anything so seriously!) and enjoy her gorgeous life like Kevin has been teaching me, yet the crazy lady STILL came out. Turns out that I needed to speak to my mom the next day, and Shelley became MY messenger from God. Here’s what Shelley explained (I paraphrase here!):

“Nik, I have friends that take care of elderly people, and they tell me that if the person were to hit them, they would hit them back, but I explain to them what the Bible says, “Revenge is Mines, says the Lord. And Don’t repay evil with evil; repay evil with good. The fruits of the spirit are love, kindness, gentleness, patience… This is where God wants me to be with your mom!!!”

So back to this lesson that Kevin is saying I took so long to get, it was God trying to teach me these very items Shelley perfectly addressed! It was like God Himself was saying through Shelley:

‘Nik, revenge is Mines! I don’t want you showing up anything other than your most loving self in the world on my behalf. Anything you do is between you and Me. What anyone else does is between them and Me. You keep showing up as My Fav Girl/Rockstar and let the world see Me through you! Let Me be the One to deal with anyone who does anything to you! I know what I’m doing with every one of my children. Your commandment from Me is to love Me and love others! Spread love, My Nik! Finish!

Nik, I want you to be even more committed to spreading good worldwide. Use whatever evil comes your way as motivation to spread even more goodness in the world on my behalf. No more hate for hate or tit for tat! No! Use all the evil news stories as your reminder to be even more focused on doing my will in the world. Step up your game in making the world a happier, more loving, and closer to Me place!

Nik, teach the world the values I’ve been demonstrating and teaching you:

“But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong.” – Galatians 5:22-23

Exactly how I treat you, I want you to reflect that to others!’

Got that, my peeps?!? With the intimate love God shows me, like sending people like my mom, Kevin, and Shelley into my life, I want to ask these questions continually:

“Jesus (God), what is your perspective on every moment of my life? Every relationship. Every decision. Every circumstance. And how can I enter into it to glorify you?” – Bel Air Church

BOTTOM LINE: LOVE! LET’S BEGIN IN OUR HOMES AND SPREAD OUT FROM THERE!!!

I had fun with my husband and a top police official/great customer and friend at our office yesterday. We ended up talking about the Catholic church, and I shared how Pope Francis has been my incredible marriage counselor who has importantly taught me that even if hubby and I were going through our darkest times, we must remember GOD’S LIGHT IS STILL SHINING BEYOND THE DARKNESS.

Fast forward to this morning, it was 7:03, and I decided to go to page 73 of our family’s website for an alone time with God, and a huge smile went on my face when I read the caption on one of the pics there:

“GOD’S LIGHT IS SHINING BEYOND THE DARKNESS (Wink! Wink!)”

That was no coincidence! Of 146 web pages, for me to go specifically to this post about Pope Francis from over three years ago was all God orchestrated to remind me that His Presence is forever with me. Every conversation. Every thought I think. Everywhere I go. He goes before me, ahead of me, and beside me. And He is with you, too!!!

God also showed up through my God influencer, Ceri, today with this same message that even in our darkest times, we can still have HOPE that better things are still ahead of us despite how things may seem. This God wink began with me discussing with my husband how inspired I was listening to Michelle and former President Barack Obama talk about the importance of having hope. We also had an appointment with God reading a daily devotional, and the message was again about hope. I left hubby to go and do my run, and instead of listening to music, I just shuffled Ceri’s playlist on our We Roll With God YouTube channel, and out of 117 videos there, YouTube incredibly picked the very one entitled “Our Hope is in God (Wink! Wink!).”

Again, this was no coincidence, but God again revealed another glimmer of His Presence with this crucial message of having hope. Ceri defined hope as believing that good things will happen with faith in a higher power (God!). If I am really honest with you guys, the first time I heard that message from Ceri, I was out running literally and figuratively in the dark (your girl was not in a good place!), but the message from Ceri just reminded me that my hope was in God despite how awful the situation seemed.

Fast forward five months later, God has shown up BIG TIMEl! As Ceri explains, God is working behind closed doors on our behalf. I do not doubt that now! How God brought me from that dark place to last night, sitting in our dining room having the best dinner ever with my hubby and sons, is just another testimony of the greatness of God. NO SITUATION IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR HIM! God has never left my side! Moment by moment, while I showed up doing the best of my ability, God was doing His part behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. DON’T PLAY AROUND WITH YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!!! It’s just for us to learn God’s voice and obey what He asks us. What time are your appointments with God?