Strengthened Through The Stretch!!

This has been a season of stretchingggggggggg! (Make sure you carry them G’s all the way out😂) I had no idea that when I told God, “YES,” to coming to CHOSEN, YES to New Friendships, YES TO LIFE, YES to Walking in His Calling, that God would be moving like this! It has been a journey for sure…I can finally say A PHENOMENAL JOURNEY! 🙌🏾💛

At first I wanted off this ride! I can only be totally transparent in my writings! 🤷🏾‍♀️ I Asked God can I change my YES to a NO! 🤦🏾‍♀️ I did with confidence! 😂 He didn’t allow it though, as you can see! PRAISE GOD! 🙌🏾

As with any NEW ENDEAVORS in our lives, TRANSITIONS, SHIFTS and/or TRANSFORMATIONS, there is going to be a lot of in-between moments where we have a wide range of emotions and thoughts! There will be excitement and feel good moments! There will be moments where you wonder whether you even made the right decisions as you walk into the NEW! There will be moments within just ONE DAY where you’ll cry, you’ll laugh, you’ll smile and you’ll cry AGAIN…you may even add a few screams in there!

BUT….

🌟Don’t Give Upppppp in the In-Between! Please Don’t!!🌟

Being one who didn’t care too much for change, I was doing everything in my power not to be stretched in this season of my life. I was CONTENT and COMFORTABLE with everything that was going on around me! It made sense! I made sense!

But of course, God plans were totally different! I began to realize that I was too comfortable! In fact my level of comfortability gave the enemy a huge advantage over my life! It allowed him to taunt my mind in ways that I was honestly okay with! I say okay with it because I wasn’t trying to change! I was allowing it to happen! I always say ,”People will do to you, what you allow.” I was allowing the enemy total control!

It wasn’t until April, that I began to feel the pressure! The pressure of the stretch! I was getting uncomfortable in my mess! Which was a great thing! I wanted out! I wanted to feel free! God had began some serious work in my life and in order to make me flexible to His Movements, He began to shake some things up! Since I was considered strong due to how life was handed to me at a young age, God had to shake things up where I could no longer rely on my own strength! He made sure it was His Strength that drove me!

I tend to have these real life conversations with God, where, if you were around when we had these conversations, you’ll wonder why I’m talking to God like He is one of the homies! 😂 LISTEN…That’s because He is y’all! That’s the Homie! 🤞🏾💛 We are truly Bonded through the BLOOD! 😉 So when He started talking to me in this season of STRETCHING, I just knew He was going to let me go about my business and allow me to go about my merry way! I mean that’s how I pictured it in my mind anyway!

WRONG!!!!! He said NOT TODAY CHIC!

God shook up everything around me! He made sure I was going to have to rely on Him, whether I liked it or not! I wasn’t trying to at first! He ended a friendship that needed to end, but because of the space I was in, I wasn’t able to see it!! That’s when everything broke for me! I was now left with only my thoughts! I didn’t have anybody to agree with my negativity anymore. I didn’t have anybody to help me walk off the ledge! The only PERSON I had to cry to was GOD!

I understood, that’s WHO I really needed anyway! 🤞🏾🙌🏾💛 He was over my stubbornness just as much as I was! I stayed wanting to tussle with God! This time He made sure I felt every hit! I felt it where it mattered the most!

The most amazing thing about God is that because He knows your heart and knows what you’re capable of, He’s not going to be okay with just allowing you to sit on the sidelines of your life!

I know I spoke in another blog that God isn’t going to force Himself on you! Him giving you a little push and applying a little pressure on you isn’t forcing Himself on you!

He was giving me just enough pressure to get me moving closer to Him! The closeness of Him, where my desire to go back to the old ways would seem extremely impossible! That’s where He set y’all girl up at! (Makes me think of the book by Yvonne Orji: Bamboozled by God…How God tricked me into the Life of My Dreams) As soon as He had me where He wanted me…HE APPLIED SOME MAJOR PRESSURE!

God knew my desire for ministry! God knew my desire for Life! God knew my desire for every possible thing I could ever desire! He created me and knew me before conception so of course He would know how to get me moving back in the right direction!

He started stretching me so much that I had wondered who this new woman was! I wondered what He was thinking in His Mind to stretch me! What made Him think I wanted this NEW LIFE!

I DID! I surely did! When I said, “YES!” (Go back and read the first blog)! Saying YES, sets you in position for God to purge out of you what’s not like Him and manifest something powerful within you!

The other day I was sitting and writing and I literally wondered what God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s conversations were like when THEY decided to pull me back into THEM! I thought about, THE SHACK MOVIE, (go watch it if you haven’t) and how PAPA, JESUS and SARAYU  got Mack to return back to the Shack! The very thing that was destroying Mac’s mental space and his family’s life was the very thing and place THEY used to bring Healing to his life!

My sister ministered to my heart a few weeks back on how My Ministry and walking fully into what God has called me too, is going to take healing in different areas! Mannnnnn was she RIGHT! The healing that has happened in just a short few weeks has been nothing but God and nothing short of AMAZING!

The healing of my PAST needed to start! More than anything I needed to start walking like I was already healed! God literally took me back to different times where I was victimized so that I could see how HE worked and moved on my behalf! He had to take me back to the people that hurt me so that I can forgive them and begin that healing journey!

That was a major stretch for me! I didn’t want to feel like I was reliving the nightmare all over again! This time as I allowed God into my heart to revamp everything inside of it, He made sure I felt the love, He made sure the right people were around to hold me up when I wanted to crumble! He made sure I was connected to a Ministry that would cover me in prayer and cover me in the Word! He made sure to send a FRIEND who wasn’t about seeing my pain as much as she wanted to see the beauty of ME when I pushed through the PAIN!

That mattered! All of that mattered! I didn’t know how much it mattered until that MOMENT of stretching was OVER!

Through the stretch, God assured me that even through the PAIN, He’s right here with me! Through the Stretch, I’m able to Trust Him more! Through the Stretch, I’m able to see the Beauty of Life! Through the Stretch, I’m able to Hope Again!

Stretching makes us flexible and bendable to be used in the Hands of God! God has placed us in the Palm of His Hands, so as He stretches us, He knows just how much pressure is needed to be applied in this season! Each season will be different! The level of stretching that is applied, may be determined by what God has in store! The stretching prepares us for what is to come! Preparation is Key! We never want to be caught off guard! The enemy would love to catch us slipping!

In this season of your life, EMBRACE the STRETCH and all that comes with it! On the other side of the stretch, there will be a New Godly Man or Woman just waiting to walk into the Newness of Christ! That New Person is YOU! The only way to move past the uncomfortable state of your life is to allow the stretch and to be strengthened through the stretch!

Go in Peace TODAY, knowing that as you surrender all to Christ, you’ll be able to thank Him for the Stretching! Allow the Stretch to Strengthen YOU! You’ll be so proud of yourself once you’re able to feel the release of the Stretch!

Love you all 💛

Singing off,
YOLO ✌🏾