Teach Me

Yesterday I was sitting around thinking about some things and I got really upset. I got upset because there were certain things I really really wanted, but I knew good and well I couldn't have. I didn't want to talk to anyone at all and went into "hibernation" for a couple hours. During those hours, I prayed that God would teach me how to truly be patient and love others the way He loves me. I think that was a turning point in my life.

I was watching a video Jessica Reedy did the other day and she was saying how she was thinking about herself and how she was wrong, she was being selfish. That's how I felt yesterday. I felt like I was only thinking about myself and not worrying about why I had to wait. I never paid attention to the fact that I had to be prepared to get what I wanted but that was going to take some time.

Sometimes we get so caught up in ourselves and what we want that we forget the important things. Getting caught up in our desires can sometimes cause us to stray away from the will of God.

Wow...I love the way God works...I wasn't even going to bring this up but something was revealed to me.

While writing that, I was thinking about yesterday's sermon. Our Youth Minister, Jason Ford spoke about Jonah and how he, instead of going to Nineveh, fled to Tarshish. He was saying how we often ask ourselves, "How did I get here?" For those of you who really have no clue, you put yourself in a compromising situation where God couldn't protect you.

For Jonah, that compromising situation was fleeing to Tarshish. He ended up on a ferry and the Bible says that "the Lord sent out a great wind." All of the men on the ship started calling out to their gods to lighten up the storm but it never lightened up and they went to Jonah who was fast asleep. They said wake up and call on your God so that He may spare our lives. They asked him many questions like, what is your job? Where are you coming from? Where are you from? Who is your people?

Jonah told them he was a Hebrew, his God was the God of heaven who made the sea and dry land and what he had done. They became afraid and asked why did you do this? What should we do to you so the storm would calm down? Then it says that they cried out to the Lord. [Funny they cried out to their gods at first and nothing happened so they ended up crying out to the Almighty God.] They begged God to spare their lives and not punish them for Jonah's wrong doing and sent forth an offering and made vows unto God. They threw Jonah off the boat and the storm calmed.

As you can see, while Jonah was only thinking of himself and not what God wanted, others were suffering. It made me think about how trying to get what I wanted caused me to hurt some people. I didn't want to wait and I walked out of the will of God, so people were hurt, I was hurt and I had to wait even longer. Jonah's punishment was being swallowed by a "great fish" for three days and three nights.

While in the belly of that great fish, Jonah had some time to think; while at home, Jessica had some time to think; while in "hibernation", I had some time to think. We all prayed and cried out to God, we all came to a similar conclusion. Even though we all were being selfish and thinking about ourselves, God STILL showed us mercy. Minister Ford said "you should not get to a point where your depending on God's mercy." I said "wow...I was there...I was at a point where I had completely stepped out of the will and did as I pleased, then I came crying back for God to show mercy, and He did."

My prayer in "hibernation," or as I like to call it sometimes, "isolation," was for God to teach me how to be patient, walk in the purpose He has for me. Like God told Jeremiah (Jer. 1:5), before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you and ordained you." God teach me how to love like You love me. God teach me how to truly trust you like James Fortune mentioned, when I'm in my lowest of lows, in my deepest valley, God teach me... Save me from myself, my flesh wants certain things but my soul wants to please you. God teach me...God save me

This should be the prayer of all Christians. We all have things that we need to learn and I read something by Kirk Franklin in his latest book "The Blueprint", where he said that we try to learn from others and not from the Creator. We should not be looking for others to teach us how to live for Christ, we should be asking God to teach us. The only way for us to learn is by communication. We have to stay in prayer and in the Word. We have to truly love God. Jessica Reedy said it best, "how can you love a God you don't know?" Read your Word...

That's all I have to say

Later Loves!!!

Sista T

P.S. While reading this over, I was reminded of a blog my sis Nicole had written called "Have Patience While You're FAITHFULLY Waiting For God To Move" She mentioned a scripture where God said "sit still." I encourage you to stop for a moment, sit there, sit still, pray, read your Word, and sit there, sit still, wait for God to tell you to move. See where He takes you and continue to do that in your daily walk. You can't go wrong following God :-)