Lady AEA

Today I had the honor of singing at the funeral of a great Man of God. When I was younger we attended the same Church. He specifically requested that I sing before he left this side. That was awesome in and of itself. I went back there today to pay my final respects and sing per his request. I sang “My Tribute: To God Be The Glory”. It was a wonderful service. One moment stood out to me and challenged me. During remarks, a family member got up and said how he had taught her how to change her oil and shared that awesome smile, but also how he stopped her one day to ask was she baptized. She said no.

A little while later he showed up to her house with his preacher. She said they went over the scriptures and they broke them down for her and helped her understand salvation. She also was baptized. As she thanked him in her remarks, she ultimately thanked him for making sure she knew about salvation and getting baptized. She went on to say because he took the time to care…now she knows she will see him again in heaven.

That was so beautiful to me. Isn’t that what all of our journeys on this side should entail? Shouldn’t we more earnestly seek to share the love of Christ we have received with others? I know we invite folks to Church and we may tell them how great and awesome God is, but do we really, really take the time to make sure they know this Christ we worship and love? At that moment in the service I knew I had to do more. In the midst of my God assignments…singing, writing, volunteering, etc…I need to make sure witnessing doesn’t fall through the cracks. We’ve got to share Christ more. We’ve got to make sure the people we work with and play with and laugh with know our God and make sure we see them in heaven.

Just wanted to remind you of what I was reminded of today. If you can help someone along the way and point them in the direction of our Savior…then…really then, our living will not be in vain.

Yesterday, I was reading through some material I had written.   I was checking a scripture reference and was led to 2 Kings 4.  I began to read again, refreshing my memory of all that was packed into this one chapter.  When I read verse 26, a wow came to my mouth.  I posted as my facebook status “I say to you what the Shunamite woman said to Elisha in 2 Kings 4:26…it is well. No matter what it looks or feels like…it is well. It is well with your life…with your dreams…with your finances…with your visions…with your sleep…with your body…with your family….with you! It is well!”

As I thought about that thing all day, I kept feeling that there was more.  There is a story within “it is well” that I believe God wants to share with us if we will grasp it.

So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.” And so she departed, and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.  So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’”

And she answered, “It is well.”

2 Kings 4:23, 25-26 NKJV

At first glance reading this, one might think, it is well.  But I urge you to look a little closer.  The Shunammite woman who has served God by caring for the Man of God is now in some kind of state.  She boldly declares to her husband and the servant of the man of God, it is well.  She has just had her one and only son die in her arms.  The son she never thought she would have, the one that the man of God spoke into her life, the one she had with her husband who was very old…yes that son…is now dead.  But with such power and a declarative spirit with a dead child, this woman says “it is well”.  First lesson in this, which I stated in my status is it doesn’t matter what it looks like or feels like, with God as the head and center of your life you too can declare “it is well”.  When folks are dying and bills are due and spouses not acting right and kids rebelling and things in what seems to be disarray…you too can declare “it is well”.  It’s almost like when Jesus was on the ship in the storm and He woke up and said peace be still.  We can declare to every situation in our life, it is well.  We can boldly declare this because Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.  So dearly beloved…it is well!

What I love about the Shunammite woman is that she is real.  She is wise.  She is a woman of action.  She could have accepted the death of this child, and from her words…I do believe she could have eventually made peace with the situation.  But, she didn’t.  She didn’t go run and tell her husband balling and crying her eyes out…she went to the vessel of the Source (God).  She called for her Bentley on four paws – a donkey, and a young man and said to her husband, I’m going to the house of God to see the man of God and I’ll be back.  How many of us when things hit the fan and life is out of control go to God?  Go to the house of God?   Instead of crying in the midst of what is going on, how many of us get up from the situation, declare it is well, and then go to the one who can really cause our declarative word to manifest?  That’s what the Shunammite woman did.  It wasn’t a Sunday morning, it wasn’t Christmas or Resurrection Sunday, yet she headed to see the man of God.  I love that she spoke no life to the death situation, she just declared, it is well. Maybe she didn’t have the strength to say you shall live and not die.  Maybe she didn’t have her favorite scripture ready and available to quote.  Maybe all she could say…yet all she needed to say was…it is well.

She didn’t tell her husband, she didn’t tell the servant of the Man of God…to them she just said “it is well”.  But when she got to the man of God, she let it all out.  She was real.  With her soul in distress, she poured out her heart.  Did I ask you for a son?  Didn’t I say, don’t play with me about such a thing? She didn’t even say what had happened to the boy, but upon hearing that, the Man of God knew.  He then sent his servant to go with her.  She said I’m not leaving you.  Pause.  I believe the Man of God represents God here.  Just think about it dearly beloved.  What if we ran to God with our problems, you don’t even have to tell him everything – He already knows, but just go to Him for the solution.  And then stay in his presence until you get your answer, your solution, your response.  The Shunammite woman didn’t panic, didn’t fall out in the floor having a pity party…she went to the source, the one who could do something about the situations in her life.

When they arrive to her home, the boy is still dead, but remember she had already declared it is well and now she had the one who knew the One who could make it well.  Then Elisha went in the room and shut the door behind him.  Dearly beloved, when you pray about something, you have to trust God with the answer.  You have to trust Him enough to lay the problem down before Him and let him shut the door while it’s just Him and the problem.  You have to trust him enough to not peek in or wonder if He’s going to work it out and how he’s going to work it out.  I imagine if the Shunammite woman would have saw how the man of God got her son to come back to life, she would have really been afraid.  If she knew the first try didn’t complete the process, she might have given up.  But she didn’t.  She trusted God.  So to do we dearly beloved.  If we are bold enough to declare it is well, we’ve got to have faith enough in God to make that statement true – in whatever way he decides. The God who gave her the son is the only one who can bring him back to life and she trusted in Him alone to do it….and he did it!

My long, but simple message to you today is this…if a woman who loves God and believes in Him can boldly declare with a dead son at home that it is well…so can we.  We can declare it to hurt feelings, questionable health, weird finances, love relationships, our minds, our hearts, our bodies, and whatever else we face in life…It is well.  It is well.  It is well.

Declare it is well…and believe it!

Be proactive in your faith…go after God!

Go talk to and see the one who can make it well.

Give no life or voice to dead situations in your life.

Trust God alone with the things you face in life.

Receive His answers with a grateful heart.

Again I say to you what the Shunammite woman said in 2 Kings 4…”It is well” dearly beloved…indeed it is!

Recently I had the pleasure of taking a short flight. I thought this flight just may be cancelled because of all of the rain we were getting that morning. But as I talked with a fellow passenger who was familiar with this jet, she told me, “no worries, we fly above the rain.” It was there in that moment that I knew this would be a Holy Ghost guided ride.

You see, it’s more than a housewives of Atlanta song, more than a saying for your haters…it’s a perspective when you know Jesus!

As we took off into dreary rainy skies, it looked quite gloomy.

Then there came a moment when I saw nothing but white right outside my window. I couldn’t see a thing.

But then there came the moment when the plane leveled off and I looked out my window to see this…
Anyone who really knows me knows that I love, love, love clouds. I can’t wait to touch them one day :0) But it was there in that moment as I looked out and all I could see was peaceful clouds for days. The same clouds that were delivering tumultuous rains from the underside looked like puffy white cotton floating in midair when you flew above them.

No my friend, this isn’t just a picture story of me and the lovely clouds, it’s a heavenly perspective I want to share with you.

I don’y know what you are facing day to day in your life. It may be clear and blue skies for you, but for others it may be the storm of a lifetime. Storms of doubt, fear, financial lack, relationship droughts, it could be any kind of storm. And the rain of the situation may be beating against you something fierce. If so, I want you to take a journey with me. Let’s go for a flight. For what I want to show you can’t be seen from the ground, but only in the air.

From the ground, all you can see is one side. The side that hurts, that’s storming, that’s in total disarray. Seeing from this view can hurt you, sadden you and ultimately depress you. But God’s got a different perspective for you today. One closer to what He sees, and less of what you see.

He sees the view from above and He invites you to join Him for that view. It’s one where you see what really is, not just how it feels. You see blue skies, even though you hear a storm. You see sunshine even when you hear thunder and lightning. This heavenly view to your earthly situation lets you know what really is…beyond how it feels.

I just encourage you my friend to change your perspective. Be bold enough, brave enough and strong enough to hold your head up and stick your chest out and stretch out your arms and fly above. Fly above all the hurt, pain and even disdain…you dearly beloved, yes you…it’s time to fly above!

From time to time I will post a video.  I’ve been blessed to see some really great ones.  A FB friend posted this one tonight and I thought it was too great not to share.  The title is awesome, the song is fabulous.  But I think what gets me most is the fact that they are singing it on an airplane…priceless :0)  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/1Ynyt7fshIY

Wow!  It’s been so long since my last post.  SO much to share, so much to talk about…just so very much.

Stay tuned…so much coming I can’t even begin to tell you what all we’re going to talk about.  I just guarantee…it will be interesting :0)

See you real soon!!!

Hello dear ones!  This is the beginning of something fabulous!  It’s been on my mind to do for a while now… and here goes.  I can’t tell you exactly what all I will be posting, but it will be whatever is on my mind…which is alot.

Let’s do life together.  Check back in often to see what’s new or even join my mailing list, once I figure out how to set it up.  :0)

I’m looking forward to the journey.  SO let’s go…