That was me having some fun with my son, Joshie, today when he said he was hungry and wanted REAL food. Usually, my daughters handle the cooking, but today I had to step up and take charge. And can you believe even that is a God story? My sickness has taught me such a GIGANTIC lesson: I lean on God in my weaknesses. Cooking is definitely NOT my strong point, but I took on the challenge from Joshie, and I got God involved. ‘God, help Your girl out here!’ Then I listened to Him in my spirit as to the cooking technique, the seasoning to use, and what ingredients to add in. Like totally following God’s guidance in my spirit, and, surprise, surprise, my picky eating sons loved it! Heehaw!
So, this is another one of my silly stories with real deep meaning: PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!!! Get God involved in every aspect of your life. I loved this message I received this morning: “Thank you, sister Nikki. I have learned through your message to ask God to guide me through the situation I am in. I had forgotten that He is God Almighty, and although I prayed about it, I was dealing with it my way forgetting to ask for His guidance. Thank you so much.”
Sorry to sound like a broken record, but leaning on God in the 1,000 decisions we make every day is where I want us all. Doing our best with whatever He asks us to do and leaving the rest with Him. In this life, WE WILL have sorrows and trials, but we also have God’s guidance and direction to help us through anything that comes our way. Every circumstance. Every decision. Every relationship.
I want us waking up every day to an appointment with God, though. As we take time to be with Him, we learn His voice, and what He is saying directly to us regarding our unique situations and the people He is calling us to be in the world. Sometimes I wake up feeling overwhelmed and stressed out, but within 5 minutes of some quiet time with God, I’m back on track, reminded that GOD HIMSELF is with me and for me. MY help comes from the LORD! He is lovingly waiting in the background to help us. Even with cooking for some hard-to-please sons! (HUGE SMILE)
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“I LIKE YOU GAL IN PARTICULA!”
That was, believe it or not, God singing to me out on my morning run with Him! Notice the beautiful backdrop of where I go on my jogs. I’m living the dream, the best life with God, baby! That’s why I can confidently tell you that God loves me a bit more than He loves the rest of you guys (HUGE SMILE). The love He shows me is absolutely indescribable, and I want everyone here with me to feel that God loves you in particular, too. Wink! Wink!
That’s my special assignment from Him. To live my best life with Him to hopefully inspire you to do the same. Again, I’m agreeing with David, who wrote this 3,000 years ago:
“The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” – Psalm 32:8
God has been the guide of my fabulous adventure with Him as my Partner, Friend, Father, Counselor, Teacher, Protector, Adviser, Strategist, Planner, and Friend. And don’t get it twisted; it’s not that I have a perfect life. Like on that run, I jog through a patch of duck poop, but it’s my reminder about what God taught me through a Pit Bull song years ago, ‘Ain’t nothing perfect, girl.’
So, life is taking the duck poop (the negative and unpretty stuff we have to deal with) and make the best out of YOUR life with it. Like my brother, Kevin, perfectly advised me, ‘Neeks, I want you working on being wise.’ For me, that means LEANING even more on God than ever before, asking what He would have me to do, say, and even where to go. I consult with Him as the battles to choose and the ones to professionally ignore. I got HUGE, GIGANTIC goosebumps today opening the mail seeing a flyer from the university in New York that gave my daughter Ember a $30,000 scholarship now sending a special invitation to my other daughter Julie for a special tour. I’m so thrilled by the top-level US colleges sending brochures to my daughters. To God be the glory!
That’s what happens when you walk with God. He guides you on unimaginable paths where He exceeds your expectations. It’s just for us to learn His voice and obediently follow where He guides us. Don’t miss out. Say, this prayer with me, ‘God, I want an even closer walk with You! Amen!
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“I JUST WANT TO BE WITH YOU”
That was me to my great friend, Marcela. Life gets so hectic, and we’re planning some time together. Relationships are what make life sweet. We need each other because life is too hard to do on our own. And I STRONGLY believe God is behind the scenes connecting us with the people He knows would be good. Like Marcela and her husband Carlos. No doubt whatsoever, they were hand-picked by God for us.
I’ll never forget a dinner with Marcela at The Cheesecake Factory where she pinpointed precisely where I was going wrong with my weight issues. I had reached a low state with my weight frustrations, feeling as if I was losing my mind where I was so miserable, and it’s like God Himself planned that dinner date with Marcela. She correctly explained that I was going to extremes from starvation/deprivation diets one minute to eating whatever I wanted the next. She said I needed to become more balanced, make healthy living a lifestyle, and stop all the yo-yo dieting. I did. Let me tell you, God is the ultimate game changer! A Nikki so fiercer left that restaurant with new ammunition to live my best life. Thanks, Marcela!
There are two ways of looking at your life: 1. As if nothing is a miracle. 2. As if everything is a miracle. I see through door number two as if everything is a miracle, all arranged by God personally for me on my behalf. That dinner date with Marcela was all God. That’s the love I feel from Him. That was truly God coming to my rescue so many years ago with my weight dilemmas through Marcela.
“I have proof that God Himself connected us!” That was me to Marcela’s husband, Carlos, yesterday. They’ve been helping us with an essential aspect of our business for so many years now. I always write how when I see 11 and 7 together, it’s a sign from God that His invisible Presence is with me. Can you believe the address of their business begins 11700? The thing is, we met them at when they were at another location, and they ended up moving to our zip code, minutes away from us, perfectly positioned to wonderfully assist us. Again, all orchestrated by God. “Thanks for helping us feed our family,” I said to Carlos yesterday.
Really great people God has connected us with. Loyalty and faithfulness people don’t believe in much these days, but these values taught to us by God are working for our family. We stay loyal and committed to our relationship with Carlos and Marcela. Like any relationship, though, we may have our issues, but we always seem to come through them with even more love and respect for them. Then, when we look at the big picture and all the good, we can easily overlook the minor hiccups here and there. God Himself repays our loyalty.
But most importantly, I want us all to stay loyal to God. Making Him the center of our lives. We don’t go wrong with Him! I was telling Carlos how I’m thankful for this time I’ve been sick. It has really taught me to lean even more on God. This morning, I woke up early to review some vehicles I considered purchasing as inventory for our business. It was God doing it together and me. Doubt meant don’t from Him. I was left with only one, but that sense of peace and excitement is what I felt from Him about it. I want us to invite God into everything we do. Not rushing, but taking our time to ask what He would have us to do, acknowledging and honoring Him in all our ways. My prayer for us all:
“Oh how much fear we’d overcome, enemies we’d defeat, brokenness we’d restore, wounds we’d heal, peace we’d find, and battles we’d win if only we started our day with prayer, and did not stop until the day was through.” – Tumblr.com via lovechangeseverythang
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“I WAS CALLING TO SEE IF YOU WERE STILL ALIVE!”
That was Madam Faithful Junior, my daughter, Julie, calling to check on me yesterday after she and my Ember left me alone with my sons for the entire day. The horror! We had special guests, my nephew, Taurel, and his wonderful sons from the Bahamas (them in the pic!). I enjoyed every moment! And I have no doubt that it was a day planned out by God Himself to get me out of the awful, wretched state I’ve been in lately. That’s life, we go up, we go down! But God stands with me and gives me strength that even at my lowest, I’m praising Him.
So, to give my nephew and his wife some alone time together, I agreed to keep the boys and make it a day to bond with their cousins. My sons (game addicts!), of course, didn’t want to leave the house, but when I saw my nephews coming in with faces already glued to their gadgets, I immediately asked them if we can take a vote as to whether to stay home and play games or have an adventure day outside leaving all gadgets at the house. We outvoted my sons, and off we went on a day just going with the flow, without anything special planned. My youngest nephew, Drew, AKA “The Boss”, only four years old, ending up setting the plan saying, ‘Let’s go to the pizza shop next to the barbershop.” After getting our food, he then says, “Let’s eat at the clubhouse.” And we did exactly that! He was a real little boss!!
While the older kids played basketball, Drew and I ended up going to the kids’ playground, and God figured out a sweet way to let me know that His invisible Presence was there with us. It was two days before that when I was at a store, and the person helping me was named “Bella.” I remember thinking to myself how much I love the name because it means beautiful. It was a reminder that life is beautiful. I thought if I were to have a daughter, in a next life or something, I would love for her name to be Bella. Can you believe some other kids showed up at the playground with a little girl, of all the names in the world, named “Bella?” I got goosebumps all over, feeling I was exactly where God had planned for me to be at that very moment. No way this Bella just showed up by accident! It was God saying to me, ‘Life is beautiful, Nik! You should enjoy yourself and stop being so sad.’ His love is too much!
I know this sounds crazy to say that God arranged for Bella to show up there, but it was His way of letting me and, hopefully, you know that His Presence is always with us. Like He was saying, ‘Nik, I knew you were thinking about that name Bella the other day!’ That never one moment we are alone. Again, one of my God winks when, out of the blue, everything lines up extremely too perfectly to be considered an ordinary coincidence. But don’t take my word for it, David described God’s intimate involvement in our lives in the Bible:
“Lord, you know everything there is to know about me. You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, AND YOU UNDERSTAND MY EVERY THOUGHT BEFORE IT EVEN ENTERS MY MIND. YOU ARE SO INTIMATELY AWARE OF ME, LORD. You read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence! You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past. You have laid your hand on me! This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible! Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength.” – Psalms 139:1-6 TPT
And this knowing that God is so intimately involved in my life down to every thought I think, just gives me the courage and strength to face my days confidently knowing that never for a moment I’m alone. God is there with His wisdom, guidance, help, support, love, and approval. Are you feeling His Presence with you? We can lean on Him as much as we want, not expecting encouragement, love or acceptance from anyone else. GOD IS ALL WE NEED. Forget coincidence; think instead, God wink! These perfect alignments are just His bella/beautiful way of letting us know that His invisible Presence is always with us. WE ARE NEVER ALONE. WE CAN BE HAPPY AT EVERY MOMENT!
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“EVEN AT MY LOWEST, I’M PRAISING GOD”
That was me yesterday in one of my YouTube videos, and where I want us all, praising and thanking God no matter what is going on in our lives. Yesterday, I was home alone feeling all sorry for myself, and I didn’t want to call my kids to let them know I was missing them. I was having one of my pity parties feeling down physically, mentally, and emotionally. I thought to instead have an appointment with God reading from my book that I’m currently NOT working on. This showed up:
“I cried yesterday listening to a freshman in high school, Madison, pray this prayer at Bel Air’s church in California:
“Dear Lord, thank You for this day. Thank You for waking us up this morning. And thank You for everything You give us. I pray for us to help know Your BOLDNESS. That we will be able to move forward in our faith, in our prayer life, and in everything that we are doing. That you will be at the center of every move we make and KNOW THAT MISTAKES ARE OK. To know that we can move forward and that YOU ARE BY OUR SIDE THROUGH ALL OF IT. And that we will be able to prosper and have abundance and growth and help other people to grow as well through knowing you and knowing your faith and boldness… Amen.”
I smiled with God, feeling reminded that He was by my side through everything I go through, even the low moments. I see His loving hands in every aspect of my life. Yes, sometimes He asks some difficult stuff of me, but when I put them against all He is doing, I just have to say, ‘God, anything for You.’ In fact, I’ve made this my personal challenge from Him and phone’s screensaver:
“I’m challenging you to resist ALL evil with an even STRONGER commitment to love, goodness, and faithfulness.”
Can we all do that for God? Going the extra mile, all for His glory. Someone had really inspired me this week when He said that He sees God reflected in me by how I live my life. I mess up constantly, so that was a nice compliment. He also encouraged me to do a better job in my work for God because He sees how God shows up for us. The more beautiful we are, the more beautiful God looks! Let’s all be His angels in the world. He is increasing my capacity to forgive, overlook, and to be gentler in my interactions with others. Life is hard enough. We don’t need to make it harder for others or ourselves. Wink! Wink!
“Total. God. Maniac.” That was Ember and I having fun out eating at our I Heart Fries yesterday and asking each other conversations questions. It was a day of celebration for us, with Ember officially working with us full time before she leaves to go off to college. You guys should have seen me at the office dancing to the song Who Dat by JT Money: “Aiy ya ya ya ya ya ya (who ‘dat?).” So, I can’t blame Ember for saying that three words to describe me were “Crazy. Ass. Mother.” I get that. (HUGE SMILE)
But I’m giving all the glory to God, who has beautifully guided our family. Staying close to him has been the game-changer, baby. In every decision, every relationship, every circumstance, I’m looking to Him for direction. Ember is constantly questioning my decisions, and yesterday I got to ask her, “See why I stick with God even when He asks difficult things of me? He gives me more than I can ever ask or imagine!” So when he asks me to continue carrying the cross from Jesus, I say, ‘God, may Your will be done in my life? Anything for You!’ To be honest, there are lots of hurts in that cross that I carry, but like my friend, Chris, reminded me yesterday, “That’s your cross which will bring you crowns.” What is the cross God asks you to carry? Let’s carry them joyfully for God’s glory! He will be our strength as we carry them.
This is where I want us all, sticking close to God in the 1,000 decisions we make every day asking what He would have us to do. I was talking to my friend in Nigeria yesterday next to the vehicle I crashed on a major highway recently. God wonderfully protected me! Not one scratch on my body when I could’ve easily lost my life when my car skids and turned in the complete opposite direction of incoming, speeding traffic. It was the perfect reminder that God is my protection no matter the challenges, stresses, and trials that come my way. It’s only for me to acknowledge Him IN ALL MY WAYS, seeking to do what pleases Him (even the hard stuff), knowing He is the guard rails of my life keeping me on track, despite all my failings, weaknesses, and mistakes. His UNCONDITIONAL love is just too much! (BIGGER SMILE!)
Are you staying close to Him? I pray you join me in saying this prayer, ‘God, I want to get closer to You!’ AMEN!!!
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TODAY, I RAN SIX MILES IN TWO HOURS UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS OF OUR HOUSE!!! (REPOST)
I’m working on a better me, baby! The goal was to get rid of the old Nik and my constant sad and hurtful thoughts, and for a happier and more focused person to emerge. And so far, I think it did the trick! I’ve learned that if I don’t control my thoughts, they will take control of me. Let me tell you, the quality of our thoughts WILL determine the quality of your life!
The run was fantastic! I did another one of my Coach Andy Nike Run Club runs and heard the incredible story of his guest athlete, Lopez Lomong, from being kidnapped in Sudan as a six-year-old kid by rebel soldiers to being an Olympic athlete representing the United States years later.
But, in between listening to his story, I pretty much played one song repeatedly, ‘Let Me Be The One To Love You,’ (William Singe’s version) imagining God singing these lyrics to me:
“You should let Me love you
Let me be the One to
Give you everything you want and need
Ooh baby good love and protection
Make Me your selection
Show you the way love’s supposed to be
Baby love you”
After hearing that one song so many times I said, “God, You got it! I will let You be the One to love me!” Phew! So when the depressing thoughts and reminders come up again about some hurts and disappointments from the past, I can now say, “Go away!!! God’s girl here!” and I can instead focus on God’s love and be happy, keeping no more records of wrongs.
On Saturday, I was asking Him to help me wrap my head around a situation and He answered me. As I was in one part of our bedroom reading my meditation book, my son, Joshie, was asking my husband a question and at the very same time I read the word “SUPPORT,” my husband was responding to our son with the exact word. LIKE PERFECTLY TIMED!!! Of course, I took this as another one of my God winks when out of the blue, everything lines up STRANGELY TOO PERFECTLY, with an important message from God for all of us:
“Of Bearing the Defects of Others
But now God has disposed things that we may learn to bear one another’s burdens; for there is no one without defects, no one without burdens, no one sufficient for himself, no one wise enough for himself, but we must SUPPORT one another, comfort one another, assist, instruct and admonish one another.” – Imitation of Christ
Can we do that for Him? Honestly, that’s what I took from that conversation from Lopez today, how everywhere he went, he considered everyone family the way he was SUPPORTED through his horrific journey. My fav were the boys who helped him to escape the rebel camp who he called his angels. They knew his older brother and immediately when he was brought there, they met him and said something like, “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you. We’re family.” And they did.
I believe we’re not the human race; we’re the human family! Let’s go the extra mile in loving, supporting, assisting, instructing, and admonishing one another. God is our BOSS, and our reward is with Him. And let Him be the one to love us! His love is more than enough! Wink! Wink!
That’s the question from my spiritual son, Joshie, that freaked me out a few minutes ago. I had just started typing my blog for today, telling you guys about my fav YouTube PSYCHIC, Stargirl. Still, I hesitated about mentioning that she’s a “psychic” after some negative feedback I got the last time I wrote about her. So, for Joshie to ask me if I was a PSYCHIC as I typed about her was another one of my God winks, when things line up a little bit too perfect to be some ordinary coincidence. It was all orchestrated by God to let me know that His invisible Presence is ALWAYS WITH ME. Like He was personally saying, ‘Nik, I never leave you alone. I know everything about you.”
I know this may sound all crazy, but that’s the sweet loving I receive from God, that there are glimmers of His Presence all around me confirming what David wrote some three thousand years ago in the Bible:
“Where can I go to get away from your Spirit?
Where can I run from you?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
If I lie down in the grave, you are there.
If I rise with the sun in the east
and settle in the west beyond the sea,
even there you would guide me.
With your right hand you would hold me.” – Psalm 139:7-10
I want the whole world here with me, picking up on God’s loving Presence with you, too. Like saying to my manager so many times yesterday that we have divine assistance with getting our business back on track, Stargirl confirms it in her latest video saying, “RIGHT NOW YOU ARE BEING SUPPORTED HEAVILY BY YOUR SPIRIT GUIDES.” This manager and I both strongly feel God’s Presence with us. I always write about how God reveals His Presence when I see the numbers seven and eleven showing up together. Can you believe when we sold our last car, the customer’s credit score was 711? Then another recent sale, the customer’s date of birth was 7/11? Looking at another document yesterday, from another customer, “117” surprisingly showed up in a very tiny print at the top with God again confirming that He is supporting us.
Then this morning, in debating if I should write about these sevens and elevens, a YouTube video shows up in the suggested videos with timing of exactly 1:17:11. Tell me, how could all of this be a coincidence? It’s just God sweetly letting us know that He is behind the scenes of our lives HELPING US. This was also one of the messages Stargirl confirmed in one of her recent videos that these repeating numbers are a sign that I’m getting a lot of angelic support. Even as I replay what she said, she mentioned 11:11 as another sign of God’s help as I get a text message on my phone highlighting the time of precisely 11:11. This was God again saying, ‘Nik, I never leave you.’
“‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” – Zechariah 4:6. God is intimately involved in our lives. It’s just for us to show up every day, giving our best to whatever He would have us to do, being our most loving, forgiving, brave, and courageous selves. Then we can confidently leave the rest with Him to take care of on our behalf in the spiritual realm. Wink! Wink! He is excellent at that!
