Who is helping you fight?

Although I've got another 2 years before I walk across the stage (graduation), my mind is already in create-work-opportunities mode.  Part of this is just my natural go-getter attitude, the other part is because I really never stopped "working" since I left to come to school. In any event, the wheels in my head are constantly churning and I am open to new and innovative ways to use the skill set and giftings that I have been blessed with.


At church over the weekend past, we read from Exodus 17 and even after coming home, I found myself revisiting the scripture for further personal study. What I have come away with is a template of sorts for one of my 'big dreams': Mercy House Bahamas. 


For those that are not aware, my plan is to establish one of the first residential treatment facilities in The Bahamas. This is not a boot camp, it is not a juvenile detention center, it is a place where adolescent girls can go for intense one-to-one attention to work through issues and learn coping skills so they can be equipped to face the challenges of life. There is too much to tell but hopefully within the next two months, I should have it legally established so that I can fill in the many empty spaces on the website.


So what did I learn: Well I learned that I need to have at least two people who understand and support my vision. My Aaron and Hur, as we see them functioning as Moses' left- and right-hand men during the war (v. 10-12). These two individuals will be able to physically support the development and day-to-day running of the organization but also will be able to support it (and me) spiritually and emotionally. These individuals will most likely work full time, in some capacity for The Mercy House, but I am not going to narrow their role(s) at this time. While I think I have an idea of who my Aaron and Hur are, I am specifically praying for God to bring confirmation or redirect as necessary.  


While the Bible gives us way more detail about Aaron and his exploits (not all good), little is said about Hur. What we can deduce is that Moses trusted him. In two of the occasions Hur is mentioned, he is in "the inner circle"...you know, like a bestie...one of the 3 people on the mountain during the big war (Exodus 17) and then one of the two people left in charge of the Israelites when Moses goes up to commune with God (Exodus 24:14).


Aaron was not only a 'bestie' but he was Moses' brother (by blood). He requires a post all of his own but what is relevant to my lesson, is that he was with Moses from the beginning. Even after they were separated at birth, when Moses goes back to take his role as "deliverer", it was Aaron that we see by his side through most of the early events when Moses has to face Pharaoh and the Egyptian Army (Exodus 4). God invited Aaron up on more than one occasion to commune with Him and Moses on the holy mountain and Aaron was one of the High Priests.  What I can deduce, definitely a man that Moses trusted.


While some endeavors may be "smaller" in size, this does not negate the need for an Aaron and Hur. We are built for community and there is strength in numbers. Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 states


"Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
¹⁰ If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
¹² Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."


If you don't already have an Aaron and/or Hur identified for your "missions" (i.e. business, ministry, organization)...go ahead and begin praying about who those individual(s) are. You don't want to just pick "friends"; these people must understand the fullness of the vision and be able to commit to supporting it (and you).


Grace, peace, and love...
Gia


stay tuned for the rest!

Prayer without expectancy = unbelief

I stumbled upon this quote in my journal this morning and smiled because over the weekend, I was faced with this reality...the reality that I sometimes pray, asking for various things and somehow still do not EXPECT God to answer the prayer.

As I am a big proponent for self-development, I consciously make an effort to identify areas of my life to work on. This is an ongoing thing...one of my personal values is that if I am living, I am growing (not just physically but in every aspect I can). Typically it is through various situations, that I am able to identify my "growth areas". One of the growth areas for this year, has been about being a good steward of my finances. I took it a bit further after reading a book, Living on the Third River, and asked God to literally stretch me in the area of giving so I can truly become a conduit as it relates to my finances.

This past weekend, while in Chicago, I visited an awesome ministry, All Nations Worship Assembly, and while there are literally about 4 blog posts from my experience there, the one for this post, had to do with giving. At one point in the service, toward the end (I think) the minister said (paraphrase): "I declare that we will be without lack, that we will stumble upon money, we will open wallets/drawers and find money that we didn't know we had...we would open our car doors and look down and find bills..." you get the point.

My response: an emphatic "Wooooo yes Lord, Amen!" in agreement with the declaration that the minister made. 

Fast forward about 3 hours later, I am at lunch with a fellow Bahamian who attends that church while my friend attended the wedding (reason for the road trip) and this is where the "object lesson" began. So even as I had come into agreement less than 5 hrs previously, I call shame on myself for literally being surprised when I stumbled upon $20 in my wallet! :gasp: This, unfortunately, was after I had already had to use my credit card to pay for my food, since the bill was slightly more than the cash I had. Nevertheless, I quickly thanked God for the blessing and left it in my wallet, smiling to myself about how amazing my God is. In line with my submission to being a conduit with my finances, this Third River living, God quickly provided me with an opportunity to bless someone else with my blessing.

Without going into detail of that story, let’s just say that I was obedient.....and then it happened again (twice). This is how the scenario unfolded- I checked my wallet, accounted for the bill(s) inside, only to open it again at a later point (the same wallet) and find another bill added to what I had previously seen. Woah!!! It could be that I can't count or I am careless but I honestly think this an object lesson that God has allowed as it relates to asking with expectancy, particularly since there are a couple of big ticket requests (well big ticket to me) that I have made and have been struggling with the how and if "it" will come.  Nonetheless, by the second incident, I began praying (and continue to do so), that my faith would increase, and with it, my sense of expectancy as I pray, so that I will not be surprised when God answers but just grateful for His provision and faithfulness.

I encourage you to take inventory of your expectancy level toward the prayers you have surrendered. Have you asked and forgotten to look out for the answer/response/blessing? Have you asked as the "thing to do" as a Christian but do not truly believe? In the spirit of transparency, I had to revisit my request (you can find the story here) and assess what my expectancy level is. Am I really waiting to receive the blessing of the funds needed to get Mercy House a formally established non-profit organization in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas? Not sure what my answer was last week…but now it is a  "Wooooo yes Lord, Amen!"

There is so much more to be said as it relates to financial stewardship and the like as I continue to trust God and grow in this specific area but this is it for now...

Grace, peace and love,

Gia

Wordless Wednesday (A Father's Love)

A Father's love-part 2

This story began yesterday, so you will need to read that to follow this. 

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...So we are both inside the store, and we are deliberating over the types, grades and brands of oil available to us; we pick one up and go to the counter. You should know that there isn’t much grounded rationale that went into the selection of the oil other than it wasn’t the lowest grade (which I had offered off the top of my head previously). We are at the counter and the clerk, a seemingly middle aged white guy with nothing memorable except a simple chain/necklace with a cross around his neck.  He kindly suggests that we look at other brands that may be less expensive and walks us back over to the section and helps us pick one out. We thank him and pay for our items. Of course there is light conversation but nothing exciting...yet.

I walk out the store, with a funnel and poured the oil in the engine. At that moment, it dawns on me, if the engine was empty, then it will need way more than just 1 quart of oil. In the past, when changing oil, I usually had to buy at least 7-8 quarts of oil for my V-6 engine vehicle. Side note: shout out to my daddy-Keith for requiring that I became familiar with under-the-hood of a car and that I knew how to do basic car maintenance. This was one of his conditions for driving alone. I hated that “rule” but have been grateful for it as my first car was a true clunker!

It was at this point I went back inside and found that the clerk was making the same recommendation to my friend- we needed at least 2-3 quarts.  Without going into every detail, let me just say, that we suddenly had a personal helper! The clerk would leave his store and register unattended to monitor the process, check the oil and make further recommendations. After about 15 minutes he suggests we turn the car on, pull to the side and let it idle for the oil to work its way through the engine. Another surprise, 5 minutes later, he walks to where we were parked (leaving store and register unattended AGAIN) to come and listen to the car and give us further instructions. Another 10 minutes later, he comes out with a bottle of “treatment” which he purchased with his own money, pours it in the engine and then we just chat for a bit while the car did its thing.

What I missed while I was pouring the first quart of oil was that, apparently we reminded him of his daughter, who apparently is living alone in Florida. He was moved to help us, as he thought about his inability to help his own daughter should she be stuck in a similar situation. It was a father’s love that brought an aloof stranger to somewhat abandon his own work responsibilities and provide support and practical assistance to two young women whom he never met before.  

My eyes got cloudy as he shared at another point about his daughter and I thought of my own earthly fathers (and mother), who, if they knew,  that I was stranded in the middle of nowhere (literally), in the middle of the night, more than 3hrs away from “home”, with less than $10 cash on me, would be very worried. I then thought of my heavenly Father, who loves me so much that He allowed us to stop at this particular exit, with Mr. Bill Joseph George, his angel for this time. My heavenly Father who has set his angels to encamp about me so that I would be safe. My heavenly Father who may seem really far away and removed from my life, but is right there...always. My heavenly Father who loves me even more than Bill loved his daughter...My heavenly Father who loves me even more than my own dads love me. My heavenly Father, whose love is eternal, unconditional and abounding toward me.

Needless to say, Bill saw us “off” with a number of instructions and contact information for any number of worse case scenarios. I saw his heart in his eyes as he said good bye and I will always remember the very kind gentleman who “adopted” us, treated us as he would his daughter and set us off to arrive home safely. Yes, the trip ended up taking about an hour longer than planned; we arrived in Windsor at about 3 or 4am (sleep deprived) but we were safe, no hiccups or stops or problems along the way. The car on the other hand, is still waiting for a diagnosis, and I am hoping it is nothing too costly, but even if it is, I know there is no need to worry; our heavenly Father will bring another angel to “provide”.

Grace, peace and love

Gia

10 signs you should pull over

A Father's love

This weekend, I took a roadtrip with a friend to a nearby major city. I thought it was a 4ish hour drive but apparently it was more a 5ish hour drive. In any event, the drive up was smooth and event-less; I barely even felt the time pass even when I drove! I absolutely hate driving and I usually feel the tension from this dislike in my shoulders and neck etc...so I tend to feel every minute of most long drives.


The events of the trip was nice enough. Nothing super exciting until our ride back home. We got a very late start due to a a number of events but nothing to get upset about. So as is typical of this relationship, I started out the drive back (my friend hates driving even more than I do) and we are doing our thing. Cruise control, music and chatter. The conversation was just as good going back as it was coming. But for whatever reason, my throat was just dry and my water was not helping.at.all. So after fighting it for about 1/2 hr, I decide to stop on an exit with a McDonalds so I could get a $1 soft serve. We figured we'd change drivers and stretch while we were at it. We were a little under the half way mark from our destination and while I was fine driving another couple hundred miles, we were really trying to push it to get home in as little time as we could, i.e. not too many stops.

As we pull into the McDonalds, I lower the windows and of course slow down, preparing to park but this loud grating and knocking sound pierced our ears. We both look at each other frantically with the same question in our eyes..."what the hec is that?" A bit freaked out, I opt to not stop and park but push through the empty drive-through since there was a gas station on the next side of the parking lot and we quickly decided to not actually turn the car off until we were at the gas station. Side note: I feel gas stations should either just hire mechanics with an internal GPS as clerks or train their staff on basic car knowledge and have a GPS somewhere behind the counter. It is without a doubt the most common place to stop to ask questions, directions or of course, in this case, troubleshoot a car problem. Throughout the seemingly VERY long wait at the empty drive through window, the noise continues to assault our senses...and I say senses not ears because my desire for that ice cream cone went out the window when the windows were opened and we were greeted with the sound. I offered up a quick prayer out loud asking for favor with finding someone who could assist us with troubleshooting and we began throwing around ideas of what it could possibly be. My friend began and ended with oil. Interesting that she knows nothing about cars, so this wasn't a logical conclusion but more of a I-had-a-feeling conclusion. Not to mention, she mentioned oil/oil changes before we left home and looking back, this should have been sufficient "warning" for me to ensure she followed up with this idea before embarking on such a journey.

Nevertheless, a couple minutes later, we have our slushies and are parked in the gas station. The hood is popped and I leave for a second to go inside and use the restroom. While I am finding the restroom, I make light conversation with the store clerk asking about checking the oil while the car is hot. I get a noncommittal response but I remained light and somewhat engaging and he finally clarifies that I am probably thinking of the radiator but the oil would be fine. He then gives me a heads up to be careful inside the hood to not get burned since, in fact, the engine is hot. I use the restroom and go outside, giving him smile and a thanks. I check the oil, it is non-existant. The light blue hand towel that we used to wipe the 'thingy' barely had two brown spots so at that point, I was like "Ok, lets buy oil". I call off some random number for oil, which turns out to be accurate but a very low grade- no clue where that number came from but anyhoo, we go inside to purchase oil and gas and something to snack on. It is at this point, where we, well I begin to see more changes from the store clerk....

Considering the background took so long to develop, I'll finish the story in The Father's love, Part 2...

mic check

testing, testing 1, 2, 3 ....and I'm back! As if I don't have enough to do, I've decided to come back to the blogging world for the specific purpose of documenting my "baby steps" as I push forward to make my dreams and ideas a reality! So many things jingling about in my brain and hopefully, here I can begin to make sense of them.

I decided to keep the name of my previous blog and similarly, I'll pick up with some of the 'themes' that I had going. I will post some of the things that are on my heart and then just some randomness because, what kind of life would one live, without the random factors!

 I'll tell you a little bit about me and my current endeavors in the next posts to come.