Communicating Joy

Tag: spiritual

  • Untechnical, Jesus

    Previously published: Tuesday, January 11, 2011

    I really enjoy expressing myself through the art of written communication. My goal this year is to be consistent with my blogging entries. I am quite proud of myself for forging through this mountain of procrastination. However, it has occurred to me that blogging is not for the technically challenged. I would have written sooner, but we were having “technical difficulties” with the Internet service at home. Even though the Internet service was down, I was determined to get online to make an entry on my blog. I accidentally discovered that I have Internet access on my cell phone! My cell phone still has buttons and from what my children are telling me, buttons are old fashion. Yet, because of the smaller screen, I was not able to see the full screen for my email or Facebook. Before this year, I did not see the need to update my phone every time a new color or new style came out. Since this recent technical interruption, I have purposed to upgrade my cell phone and knowledge of the technology used today. So, many things are changing every day, the gas and milk prices are going up; birds, bees, and fish are dying without cause and who knows what will be unhealthy to eat tomorrow! Even though technology is changing rapidly, I know that Jesus is not. I am so thankful that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NIV) I need to have something that is stable in my life. I need more than a computer or an iPhone, I need Jesus. Thankfully, I do not have to rely on text messages, Internet services, or Facebook to communicate with him. He is within my every heartbeat. He is in each breath that I breathe, I love my Jesus.

  • God and The Chinese Take Out Menu

    Previously Published: Monday January 18, 2016

    Just as if Matthew Henson was starting out on his first expedition to the North Pole, my eyes slowly yet intently scanned over a Chinese Food take-out menu. Starting at the top left from appetizers to combination plates, carefully musing over each item as if I were studying for a college final exam. I gently turned to the back page where the Luncheon Specials were listed. I knew I needed to make a decision sometime this year, but what? What would I choose? Okay, okay…ummm. Oh, I will have….ummm. Oh, I know! I’ll take the Sweet and Sour Chicken with fried rice and an egg roll!

    If it were possible for scientists to track the DNA of the food I have consumed over the course of thirty years, they would discover my chromosomes are actually made up of Sweet and Sour Chicken with fried rice and an egg roll. So why do I have a hard time deciding which item will I select on a menu that has over eight choices of appetizers, six choices of soup, 30 combination plates, 42 luncheon specials and I won’t tell you how many Chef’s Specialties are listed. In fact, why is my choice always the same?

    There are a host of exotic dishes which I have not experienced as of yet, for instance; “Dragon meets Phoenix, Bean Sprout Egg Foo Young, Beef with Szechuan Style or Roast Pork with Oyster Sauce.” As is my relationship with God lately, I have come to a place where I only request of him the basic ‘keep my family and myself healthy, and safe and help us pay our bills blessings’. It’s working, we are happy and God is happy so why rock the boat?

    Although our God is the same God that we can trust in daily, “His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV. Our struggles and challenges may be the same, yet “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”Isaiah 43:19 Reluctantly, I recently visited the predominantly black Baptist church I grew up in over 20 years ago. I remember each Sunday service you could expect the same course of events. Two or three hymnals, women losing their wig piece during a Holy Ghost shout, a scripture reading, offering plate, and the hooping and groaning of the preacher’s sermon, that you could set a clock by indicating the end of the service. The outer core of the building was the same, yet the inside had expanded with the extension of an east and west wing, a basketball court with an additional kitchen. However, it was just not the inner physical appearance that had been updated. The landscape of people had changed. No longer was the totality of leadership, held by white-haired black men, growing slowly out of touch with how to apply scripture to the present-day realities. There were young black and white men leading the services, on the deacon board, on the usher board, and in the choir! As I glanced through the congregation I saw white and black couples, Asians, young, and old intertwined with black people, all worshiping the same God, within the same walls. The biblical messages were taught with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and with love as the speakers applied the scriptures to our present situations.

    I have been challenged to continue revisiting situations and places of my past with an open mind to discover things I have missed initially. Our God is doing a new thing, He wants us to pray with a refreshed mind and attitude, “However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him.”

    1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV I have even decided to try a different entrée at the Chinese restaurant, to discover what else I have been missing.

  • You Didn’t Ask

    Previously published: Tuesday, February 13, 2007

    One Sunday, while contemplating leaving church early because I had arrived too late to enter the sanctuary, which was full. A woman came to me and asked, ” What are you going to do?” After a few short explanations to each other, we both found we were too late to enter the services and neither of us was willing to go to the venue upstairs. She explained she was troubled and needed prayer.

    Only moments before we met, I had been questioning the Lord about what I should do, and here was this dear woman, standing in the need of prayer. She had been walking around the foyer praying and asking God specifically for someone who could pray with her about an issue that had been troubling her, and that the person could relate with her and could understand what she was going through. As she began to share her story, I was amazed at how much we were alike, same spiritual gifts, the same desire to help others similar struggles and even divorced twice! By the time the service was over she had poured her heart out, and even though we never really prayed, God ministered to her very needs while she was sharing with me. Her face was beaming with joy as she finished. Knowing that God would answer her desires, even if it was having just the right person to talk with. I myself was amazed, with how specifically and quickly God worked as she gave Him praises while walking off, for answering her prayers. I quickly turned to God, puzzled because I had some needs, that I wanted Him to address also, yet they remained unanswered. So, I asked God, because at that moment it seemed that not only was He listening, but we were in a place where we could hear His response. So I asked him, What about me, why didn’t you answer my prayers? In His still small voice, I clearly heard Him say, “You didn’t ask….. “

    How many times have we worried about situations, because we didn’t do as the old spiritual song said to “Carry everything to God in prayer? ” Thinking that our situation is too small, or that God has so many other people to worry about, why should he waste his time answering your prayer? He truly is a loving God, who is concerned with every aspect of our lives. If it’s important enough for you to consider it, debate about it, wonder even wish about it. It concerns him. He wants us to share our every thought with him, so that can display his loving kindness in every aspect of our lives. Does this mean every prayer will be answered right away? By no means, no. Allowing God the opportunity to participate in our trials and struggles, draws us closer to Him as we learn how loving, gentle, and kind He is. When we learn to see Him as the warrior who fights for us then we can also see Him as our provider as resources open up to us. There are so many aspects of the God we serve, that each time we “ask” him to be involved, we gain a greater understanding of who he is in our lives. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to learn of Him… just ask.

  • Remembering His Mercies for Me

    Previously published: Friday, March 23, 2012

    This morning I am reminded of “The Lord’s mercies, He doesn’t allow financial concerns, job stress, life’s frustration, or injuries to consume me. My shortcomings and weakness are overshadowed by His love for me. His compassion doesn’t fail me. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness to me. (Lamentations 3:22-23) my translation.

  • Just do me, reinventing myself?

    Previously published: January, 3, 2011

    After I listened to a webcast on Yahoo’s ‘Shine’ about how some women reinvented their lives, their testimonies inspired me to, “Just get busy”. I realized, yet again that I needed to do something different for myself. Throughout the years, I have seen many people’s dreams come to pass. The young girl that I babysat as a teenager, now has a successful business selling popcorn, of all things! She went to the BET awards and placed pictures of herself and her famous people purchasing her popcorn on her Facebook page. I attended college with Larry Bird, who has retired from his basketball career already. For the last, few years my two oldest children have discovered and are cultivating their individual talents and passions. In my position of four years, as an educational recruiter, I had become successful at encouraging people to face their fears and seek their dreams all the while, like an unattended garden my dreams were slowly dying. As much as I wanted to, I could no longer hide behind the excuse that success is for famous people in the news and not really for everyday ordinary people like myself.

    Early last year, like a mirage in the desert, I saw a dream formulating in the future with my new husband. For 16 long relentless years my friend patiently waited for me. One day, I quit playing dodgeball with Cupid and was smitten by a very sharp arrow. It was his dream to marry me. “Janice you are my wife.” During those 16 years, I spent more time telling him to go find someone else than I did Photoshopping my own dream. I had resolved within myself that after experiencing two failed marriages. Surely, it was time for this lady to enjoy a blissful marriage, for a change. My idea for my future was to continue enjoying my children, go back to school develop a unique trade. Yet, marriage was not a requirement, not a necessity for me. After careful reconsideration about marriage, I thought to myself, “I will have a purpose, something we can strive for together, our marriage.”

    Three months later, I took the marriage receipt back to Cupid, he pointed out the “lemon law disclosure” which was inscribed with .16th font on the rod of the arrow. No exchanges no returns, even if he walks away. Music begins to fill the air around me, “Alone Again, Naturally” Was that Simon and Garfunkel? No! Naturally, I was wrong again, it was actually sung by, Gilbert O’ Sullivan. The only relief I received at that moment was that according to an Internet search, I wasn’t the only person who was confused about the actual singer. Are you familiar with the strange sensation that comes over you after you lock your car door on a cold wintery night and then you realize your car keys are sitting in the driver’s seat? That is the exact feeling I had when I realized how I had helped yet another person realize their dreams, while mine were overgrown with weeds.

    As of 2011, I have deleted my ‘supportubutnotme.com’ website. I have received enough hits on it to create a new word for a Google search. I was doing something right, even if it was for someone else. I have been the pillar for new churches, the new leg for everyone’s start-up business. I have encouraged students to pursue their passion and to develop a successful career through education. I encouraged my oldest son to pursue his career in music despite the odds, and my oldest daughter to be sold out for Jesus and now she is in full-time ministry. So, what difference does it make if my ex-husband dies lonely? I’m not mad at him, hope you are not. He was able to fulfill his dreams, of course, with my help. What else were you expecting? Come on! In 2010 or before, if you had a dream … I would direct you to my website supportubutnotme.com. If you were a member, please unsubscribe.

    For those women on the Yahoo site, for them, there was a stellar event setting in motion another career much more fulfilling than the one they had left. Me, I just needed to ‘ just do me’. There is no reinvention to initiate here. How could there be when I had not invented the first career yet? It’s time that I develop my quintessential skills and my talents for the purpose God had originally designed for my life. It’s time for me to; support myself, fight for me, and fight for my goals. Just do me! “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Matthew 25:29 NIV

  • Don’t Forget About Joy…

    Previously published: Sunday, June 13, 2010

    I work in a sales environment and having a positive attitude and strong numbers are very critical for me to maintain my position as the top sales representative. In 2008, my father went through surgery to remove one of his kidneys. Instead of my father staying in for five days, it turned into a five-month stay instead. A month later, two young women attempted to jump my youngest daughter, she left them scrambling to get away from her, they were unaware that she was a bodybuilder. The very next weekend, my middle daughter broke her ankle while skating. The night after her surgery a glass screen door shattered over my son’s head. During that same month, we also discovered my niece had a broken kneecap and that my youngest daughter had a hernia from bodybuilding.

    By the time my father was released from rehab, my niece and two daughters all had surgery within 3 weeks of each other. In that particular quarter, I only achieved 98% of my goal. People tried to comfort me by saying, it’s going to be alright, things will get better. What if they don’t, well that’s when I need the strength purpose, and peace of God that joy can bring.

    Having the strength to get up and go to work every day, to encourage strangers to pursue their dreams. Strength to take care of the healthy children as well as the sick ones, I needed strength that can only come from God. How many of you have heard the phrase “rejoice through the hard times”? How many of you would be able to remain happy and positive through the season I just described? When all hell was breaking loose in my life, I had to ask myself how I was to keep going. I focused on the bible’s promises to me in Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord gives me strength”. NIV I focused on thanking the Lord for the healthy children, for having medical insurance, for my mother who stands faithfully by my father’s side, and for maintaining a job through the recession. As I meditate on the Bible, God gives me direction and comfort. Focusing on joy also gives me a purpose. The joy that brings purpose. “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 NIV

    There was a reason why Jesus suffered the pain of the cross, not for glory, not to be a sensational movie hit. He understood that by dying as he did, he was representing all of our sins, sicknesses diseases, shortcomings, and faults and forever putting them to death. Jesus is my example. What is my purpose, and why have I suffered? I knew that after my father’s surgery, if he didn’t make it, he would be out of pain forever, and if he did make it through the surgery the doctors were removing his kidneys so that he could live longer. I knew the situations my daughters and niece were going through were stressful but in a year’s time, they are all happy and healthier. Like Jesus I was able to focus on the end results, knowing that things would get better, brought me joy and peace. Joy that maintains the peace of God,

    When my employer told me they were going bankrupt and we would lose our jobs, I was not worried. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NIV. I knew that God had another plan for my children and me. I remembered that God promised to take care of us. I was able to walk to work every day head held high. I had a smile for everyone because I knew no matter what, God was going to take care of me and open the doors that I needed to have open and he did. People are always wondering, ‘Janice I don’t know how you do it’ or they will say ‘It’s always something isn’t it? Those questions can be a hook to remind me to worry and stress, especially when I have made up my mind to focus on peace and joy.

    Recently all hell started breaking loose again; one child was vomiting blood, I had to rush another child to the emergency room for abdominal pains, and another child to the doctors because he was having numerous headaches, while I was seeking treatment for a damaged rotor cup. I had to leave work often to take care of my sick children, and my numbers at work were starting to suffer. When things became overwhelming and stressful again I sat down not knowing what to do. I asked myself how did I ever make it through before. Then I remembered by focusing on another level of joy…joy that gives strength, and purpose and maintains the peace of God. Through the darkest of hours, I don’t forget about joy.