NOT HOW WE THOUGHT 2020 WOULD GO.

2020 has been quite a questionable year and we still have two months left! Can you believe that?! Where is God in this? Why would God allow 2020 to go like this? This has been an essential dialogue throughout the year. Due to the Pestilence (pandemic), we have seen countless deaths, job loss, hopelessness, heightened anxiety, uncertainty, break ups, divorces, fear of covid-19, and loss of purpose. 2020 has been the year of Uncovering our World’s make up and viewing its mental breakdown. I am no longer concerned about the WHY’s of this world anymore. My 20/20 vision could not be more clearer on the state we are in, it’s lack of leadership and the need for resources for mental health. I’ve always had this ongoing laugh with God for years now about HOW He chooses to fix a situation, because it always differs on how I thought He would work things out.  Naaman is a character in the Bible who could share the same laughter with me as he was a man inflicted with Leprosy. In his request for healing, Elisha sent a servant to tell him that all he had to do to be healed was wash himself seven times in the Jordan River. Can you imagine? All you have to do to be healed from your hurt, disappointment, suffering, anxiety or trauma is to wash yourself? In hindsight, isn’t that God’s goal anyway? To wash and cleanse (sanctify) us from our old way of being and thinking? But for Naaman, his expectations of HOW he thought he should be healed differed from God. His first reaction was anger.  “But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!” 2 Kings 5:13 NLT. 

Crisis reveals where Christ-Is. – Pastor Jerry Flowers Jr.

Naaman was so fixated in his anger and disappointment within his own crisis, that he missed his opportunity to rejoice that all he simply had to do was be “inconvenienced” by just washing himself. Yet, It was easier for him to complain because in our flesh we are conditioned to complain first and pray second. Just like it is easy for us to see failed expectations first then ask for a miracle later. The thing about divine provision is, it is a call to action for us to relinquish control in order to activate our supernatural eyesight. Take Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6 for instance. When they were being trapped by an army, impulsively the servant panicked first but Elisha immediately told him do not be afraid and prayed for him, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” God, in real time, was already protecting them with His own army of angels! Man! Think about how different our initial responses to our circumstances in 2020 would have been, had we opened our spiritual eyesight to see that God was right next to us the entire time. Think about how you had divine access to fearlessness, confidence, healing and peace the entire time you were crying and trying to manipulate your situation to go Your way. I believe sometimes we get this sense of entitlement of a syndrome I like to call, “the least You could do”. When we have been through so many trials and tests over and over the syndrome becomes activated. We tell God, “I have been hurt in so many particular areas in my life for so long, Lord, “the least You could do” is give me _______ (fill in the blank). Or Lord, I have been faithful to you in so many areas of my life, “the least You could do” is _______ (fill in the blank). But what I am learning about God is…He will humble you. Fast!

   Strength is not how much pain you can endure. It is how much you can surrender. – Pastor Jerry Flowers Jr.

We can either can choose to be prideful and resist God’s path or be grateful that God is even willing to give us healing in areas that we could not even imagine. At times, we may feel “inconvenienced” by doing the inner work needed to heal by going to a therapist. Be given the daunting task of filling out numerous applications in order to get that job you prayed for. To forgive that person who offended you in order to repair that relationship. To let go of distractions or things that no longer serves you, in order for you to focus on your purpose. But Gods got you!  I am grateful for 2020. I have friends who will be bringing in new additions to their family, He has kept my husband and I from having any financial challenges, has given me time to uncover rooted issues within myself that I would have been too distracted to deal with. I now view my strength in a different way. What has always been such a foreign practice to me is being grounded in gratitude despite adversity– this has now become my new normal. Gratitude is just as necessary to me as wearing a face mask. I pray that as you relinquish your expectations, that He gives you supernatural eyesight to see him fighting your battles on your behalf. And rejoice!