Just Follow the Red Brick Road

Who has NOT experienced any trouble in your life, or has NEVER been in a difficult situation that YOU can't seem to shake or figure out?  If this is you, raise your hand and tell your neighbor....  Ok, so since we're not in church and I really can't see you, I'm just going to make a high assumption that none of you reading this actually raised your hand because this certainly didn't apply to you.  Even if you are fresh out of the womb, just one nanosecond old, you really can't raise your hand because the Bible teaches us that we are all born into sin.  And sin ain't nothing but what?  Trouble!  Am I right?  If so, keep reading...

I have never watched "The Wiz" before.  I came across it on Thanksgiving Day searching for something to watch so I paused there and watched it for a little while (though I did not watch the entire movie).  I turned to it at the point where Dorothy (played by Diana Ross) encountered the Scarecrow (played by Michael Jackson) for the first time.  She and her dog ToTo had been displaced from their home by way of some windstorm....you know the storyline.  So, she's in search of the wizard in hopes that he will be able to get her back home.  Well, it just so happens that the Scarecrow is missing a brain and could also benefit from visiting the wizard.  He joins her and they begin their journey, "off to see the wizard....the wonderful wizard of oz".  But how do they get there?  In this particular story, their only instruction is to "follow the yellow brick road".  And, of course, (as I'm sure you are aware), they encounter others along the way who are missing this and that and join their journey in hopes of getting from the wizard what's missing in their lives.  Hmmm...  I think it would be fitting to say that these individuals were in places of trouble and difficulties in their lives.....places where they were faced with situations that they couldn't see how to fix.  So, off to the wizard they all went.

What are you missing?  Who do you feel is missing from your life?  Where are you looking to find that which is missing?  Are you on a yellow brick road looking for some magical medicine to change your situation?  Wow!  There's sooo much to be said about what all we feel is missing from our lives and how we go about searching for those missing parts, but for the purposes of this blog I'm trying to keep it as short as possible :).  We really do all need to step back sometimes and examine the journey that we are on and answer these questions I have posed.  I'm thinking deeply and answering them where Tasha is concerned even as I type this.  One thing that is for sure....I definitely can't say that I've always looked in the right places or taken the right roads to get to the person/place holding my missing parts.  I'll go even further and tell you that I have felt myself to be missing some things (from childhood on up) that I have not totally healed from yet and am just now, with God's help, coming to grips with the fact that I was on the wrong road and looking to false things/false people to find them.  *Big Sigh*  And I'm not saying "false" in the sense that these things and/or people were fake.  They are tangible, they actually exist, but "I" was trying to make them exist for the wrong purposes in "MY" life.  Who feels me on that?  A songwriter sings that he "searched all over, couldn't find nobody....looked high and low, still couldn't find nobody".  He found NO ONE or NOTHING to be greater than God!  And I bet, without you having to think too hard about it, you can honestly report that in all your searching and in all your looking here, there and everywhere, there was not one person nor one thing to be found greater than our God.  Now, that brings me to this...  What road should we be on?  If you've been on a yellow brick road that has led you even greater misunderstandings of who you are, what you're searching for, who's gonna give it to you, I challenge you to flip it and step onto the Red Brick Road.  I won't lie and say it's an easy road to travel.  You will encounter many difficult situations and trouble along the way, BUT it has its advantages.  For one, it's the road less traveled so if you have road rage like me....sometimes....(work on me Jesus!), you will find the ease of traveling fairly decent.  It's red, vibrant color is easy to spot, so in the event that you kind of veer off of the road and lose your way, the bold color will easily attract you back to it.  Another advantage is that Jesus traveled this road already and has left directions (the Bible) on how to follow along it.  I hear that's why the road is red.  Because see, He shed a lot of blood for us.  As He traveled this road, He wanted to leave evidence that everything you would face on your journey; though it may not seem favorable to you at the time.....IT'S ALL COVERED UNDER HIS BLOOD!  Someone may be thinking, "Well I'm IN trouble, and you're saying to get on a road that I may face even more trouble on?".  To that I say this....it is better to face your troubles WITH Jesus than WITHOUT Him.  So much more happens on this Red Brick Road than meets the eye.  Yea, your troubles may be very visible, but there is also a work of faith and perseverance being performed in you that you may not readily see...but you will.  The encounters with trouble and difficult situations really are making you stronger.  Answer this...and be real...  Do you find yourself praying MORE when in a troubled or hectic place in your life?  If your answer is yes, then you are most definitely benefiting from the trouble.  If we draw nearer to Him, He will draw nearer to us.  The more we call on God, the closer He is to us.

Whatever it is in your life that you feel is missing, just follow the Red Brick Road to God.  Jesus knows the way; in fact, He is the only way and He'll get you there.  Just get on the road and refuse to get off.  You may have to go through hell and high waters, but you won't be consumed in it.  You will make it through!  And whatever it is.....God has it.

Be blessed...

A Cup of This, A Teaspoon of That

It seemed tears had become my common language. I could barely go a few hours without thinking about everything God had done, is doing, and is going to do in my life. Yea, sometimes life is painful....not so much physically, but mentally considering situations we must go through. Relationships with people....they were once alive and well, now they are fainting and dying. Yep, you've probably cried over that too, asking God for understanding when you used to be so cool. Trying to get ahead two steps while being knocked back three. Problem after problem....issue after issue....storm after storm. Geesh! When will it all end?

Pain, tears, setbacks, cutting away, loneliness, persecutions, suffering, trials...
These are the ingredients (though this list is not all inclusive) of your testimony that God adds to your life to try you, prove you, and to bless you. They are not to paralyze you but to propel you into your purpose. "Think it not strange", the apostle Peter records in 1 Peter 4:12. The trials and the sufferings we face should cause us to rejoice because there is a greater glory to be revealed in us when we pass the testing phase.

No one but God knows whether you need a cup of tears and a teaspoon of pain or a pinch of suffering with a cup of persecution. He has the master recipe for the perfect mix of our testimonies where He will get the most glory. So after God takes our cup of this and teaspoon of that, He stirs it all up, pours it on us, puts the mixture in oven, and the heat is on. This is the part we really hate....things really start to get hot and uncomfortable, ALMOST unbearable. BUT at this point we are closer than we've ever been to coming out of it. It is extremely important to discern the season of life that you are in. If you didn't know that when the heat is turned up, you're almost at the finish line, you might would just give up and quit....not discerning that your coming out was just 5 minutes away when the oven timer went off. Please, please....if you know you are being prepared and are in a season of waiting on account of God, don't give up on Him. He is coming! If He told you that He was, He will. If He said you could, you shall. If He's telling you to hold on today, do not let go! I'm sure it has gotten very heated, actually I know it has. While cooking, impurities arise and are being taken out of us. The more unbearable, the closer you are. When He takes you out, you look like a glorious creation. You will have folks admire how well you look now, but they don't know the hell and heat you had to go through to come out looking like you are looking. Now that you are out, it's time to cool. God is putting His finishing touches on you preparing the Word He placed in you to be feasted on by the recipients of your testimony. You were tried through the fire, and look at you now. Pure gold baby! Go through it! God has your back. He won't let you come out undone, but rest assured He won't let you overcook either. These are the ingredients of your testimony.

Be blessed...