Life is crazy. Learn to deal.

With November now officially in full swing I now can look back at the quick blur that was October. It brings to mind all of  the things that happened that month. Although no event in particular was anything for the history books even so, it was a “busy” month. Longs weeks filled with packing our house into boxes, preparing for finals, birthdays, working on projects, catching up with friends, organizing events for church - a basic jambalaya of sorts.

Although, it wasn’t all bad though, in the cray of it all I learned this: 

Life is crazy. It always has been and it always will be. Learn to deal. 

It took me quite a bit of time to realize there is no reason to miss the days when Saturday morning cartoons and nap time were our way of life when we can have that today. Well, not necessarily but at least we can have something similar. 

Whether you are 5, 10, 24, or 59+ all that is needed is a bit of grace and patience. Grace in the sense that we must know it is possible to do anything with God - small or grand. 

And patience to deal with the changes that come your way. In order to have a different life away from stress and fuss you’re gonna have to do things differently - a godly type of different.  Some days you’re going to think that your way is best and want to continue on that path but don’t. Stop and let God direct your steps no matter how crazy they seem. 

Which, if you ask me is the greatest news I’ve heard in a while. We don’t have to think for ourselves, that burden is now up to Him. 

So, while October flew in with a bevy of overwhelming plans, God reminded me that the same peace He gave me as a child is the same peace I can have now if I only believe in Him. Just because my circumstances and settings have now changed does not mean God has done the same.  

Think of it this way, the “little” amount of faith it takes you to trust in God to deliver the sun the next day is the same amount of faith it should take to trust in Him for deliverance of your student loans, the baby your hoping for, the job position you’ve been eying for the last few months. 

So stop stressing.  Stop making plans to do this on your own. Stop thinking that because you didn’t get what you want you never will. Stop fussing over the things God has already covered. Just stop. 

Life is crazy. It always had been and it always will be. The only way we can deal is to let God.

God Wants Me To Be Unclean

I’ve been sitting here in my bed for the last half hour or so as I just continue to stare out into my room. My clothes are strewn about. Socks lay next to my boots instead of the hamper that’s only a few inches away. The bag of paper trash is more than full. Jackets are falling off hangers and I lay in a bed that still remains to be unmade. If I can say so myself, I’ve come a long way since high school.

I am no longer that girl who could not have people in her room for too long without the fear of it becoming messy or the person in the house who hated the sight of food left out on the table. I still take pleasure in being early to events and meetings but arriving ridiculously so is an old habit to me now. And among many other things, having a few unplanned extra things in my day doesn’t leave me at my wit’s end.

It’s amazing the things God does to you and for you when you take the time to pray about it.

It was about a year ago that I noticed how a bit overly dramatic I was when it came to having things done my way. If I didn’t complain about it, I sure was silently stressing about it. It was never a real problem to me though because I found joy in the sense of control I had. Unfortunately that bubble burst after I realized how little the amount I actually had after my sister got married (In the Nigerian culture, as well as probably hundreds of others, after the older sibling settles down everyone in and outside of your family turns to you to find out when your wedding will be. I’m sure they meant well but it still left me with a lot to think about). When the time eventually comes for me to get married what if my husband is great in all areas except cleanliness? What if he leaves the cereal bag inside the box unraveled? What if he he’s the type to leave his clean clothes in the dryer for days after they’re done. What if he leaves the toilet paper roll facing up not down? (Okay my need for clean wasn’t as cray as the direction of toilet paper but still) My head was processing a thousand What ifs per second?

Using all the faith I had, I prayed that God would start working on him now. That he would go through a series of life events that would make him turn into the clean man I needed. However, like most things in life, God always has a different plan. Maybe it was the fact that I was so intent on what I wanted that I failed to realize until a few months later that God said:

"You need to allow room for more dirt in your life."

And to that I replied, “God say whaaaat?!” I mean isn’t there an old saying that goes cleanliness is next to Godliness?

You see, what I have now come to realize is that it was never about being clean but an extreme way to control things. A way to make myself feel better about myself. A way to make myself feel better than others. When God told me to “get dirty” He didn’t actually mean become a slob. He was trying to show me that things were not in my power to control because that was and still is His job. He also wanted to show me just how much I needed Him to make me even better than the standards I had for myself. Additionally, while all that was going on, getting rid of these overly zealous ideals allowed more room for new and older relationships to grow. Just because some people were not as organized as I would like them to be didn’t mean they were bad friends, co-workers, or family members. Who was I to judge? I was a clean freak and look how I terribly I thought of other people.

Anyway, long story short, I began to understand what God was doing, who He was trying to turn me into. After that I then began to pray for the opposite. Instead of making my husband cleaner, I asked Him to allow me to accept things that do not go my way. Allow my heart to be content with situations, people, and yes, happily welcome “dirt” into my life.

It’s such a relieving feeling to relinquish control because I know something greater than me has my best interest at hand and also has the power to do far more than I ever thought possible.

PS. I’m not going to leave my room in the current state I just described - I will clean it up...eventually ;)

God is such a groupie (and other things I learned from #HillsongConf 2013)

To say last night was amazing is… well, I don’t know. All I know is that amazing just would not cut it. To better describe the last night of Hillsong's 2013 Conference one would have to use words like inspiring; revelation; mind-opening; surprising; emotional; humorous; love-filled; spirit-filled; infinite; you know, something along those lines.

However, because it is physically impossible for me to rewind time and bring you with me, I suppose I could just give you the key points I received from Pastor Judah Smith's all-those-above-words-and-a-bit-more message.

1. John 3:16 + Romans 5:6-8 are alive and real because God is love. (1 John 4:8). It is literally impossible for Him not to love us and everyone including the bad people because He knows no other way. He is love and He will always be love

2. God is a groupie. For example, look at Justin Beiber and his groupies. A bunch of people willing to do anything to meet, see, and hear Justin Beiber no matter the cost. They follow him to all - if not, most - of his shows; they dream of the day that he will be theirs; and every thing he does they hope it’s for them even though they know that there’s a strong possibility that won’t ever happen. Hence, God is our groupie. He longs to be with us, to hear us, to speak to us, and to see us even though He knows some will reject Him. God longs for our praises and will never stop looking for them.

3. He’s got a bad case of the so-loves. I mean just look at John 3:16 for example. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have everlasting life.” With that then comes so many other things: 

For God so loves us that…

• He continues to forgive us EVERY time we stuff up (1 John 1:9)
• He helps us find our way when we find ourselves lost. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
• He wants nothing but an awesome life for us. (Jeremiah 29:11)
• makeup, muscles, clothes, and looks don’t matter to Him. (1 Samuel 16:7)
• He will NEVER forget you - even though it feels as though He has. (Isaiah 49: 15-16)
• His loving ways will remain the same forever - (Hebrews 13:8)
  

There are so many other cases where His love is evident. It’s not only the Bible that will show you them, just look back at your life ad see the proof! It’s unbelievable to think such a great being can work on such a microscopic level too.

4. He is the Hosea to our Gomer. If you flip through the book of Hosea, you will find a story of a wealthy and prominent man in society who was told by God to marry a woman of lesser value, a prostitute (Mind you, back then that had got to be one of the most embarrassing and awkward things you could do). So Hosea married her and they were living  a pretty good life with their 3 kids until one day she ran out on him. Hosea looked everywhere for her only to finally find her back in the slums selling herself again. It was after he had seen his own wife in her demoralizing position that God told Hosea, take her back (Hosea 3:1). God wanted Hosea to forgive her and have her come back with him. (Just hold on, it gets crazier). Not only did he have to take her back, he then found out that he had to buy her back - his own wife! Being the man he was, Hosea bought her from another and then proclaimed his love with a new set of vows (Hosea 3:3).

    Imagine that, having to buy something that you didn’t lose, that you cherished, that you loved, something that was already yours. That is what God did with us. We were His until sin took us away. He then had to send His only son to die for us as a wage to get us back. If that is not real love I do not know what is.

The message given by Pastor Judah went a bit deeper than what you just read but the whole point of it still remains. We are loved so much by God that it’s too crazy to wrap our heads or hearts around it. In short, we are loved by God.

I just want to end this post with some of the last words Pastor Judah said:

          This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  - 1 John 4:10-11