I miss you..........

There is someone that I miss so much. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of you. Sometimes, I miss you so much that it hurts. At other times, I miss you and become excited about seeing your smiling face. Why does God make us wait so long for some things? I'm not just talking about for a little while; I mean REALLY wait. When it seems it has been to long. No matter what it looks like, I'm holding on to the promise of our Father. I know full well that He is faithful. I thought for sure I would have seen you by now, heck I may have and not even known it.
I asked Him to tell you how much I miss you today and everyday. I trust that He delivered the message. I guess it's normal to miss someone you love when they are not right by your side. I smile sometimes and even laugh, just from the thought of you. I'm praying for you and that makes me feel closer to you. Awaiting that blessed day, when I will see you!

Your gifts make room for you... Part 2 of how have I put my singleness to work for Christ.

I marvel at the goodness of God! If we ask Him to order our steps, He will. It is amazing to me, that if we take a small step of faith, what He will do in our lives.

In 2008, I took a step of faith not knowing what was ahead of me. I started the ministry God laid on my heart; Gift of Grace School of Etiquette. I remember it so clear like it was yesterday, going to the office of taxation and assessment and opening this school by licensing it. For years, I said that I wanted to open up a school and teach Etiquette to youth. I had no idea what God had in store for me in the upcoming months and I still don't know everything for the upcoming years. He gives me piece by piece, because I believe if He were to show me all of it, I would probably be somewhat intimidated.

Similar with the ministry of dance. I must admit, it is a bit awkward with a room full of people just looking at me. However, I always had a heart to dance. When I gave my life to Christ, I had a desire to do it for Him. I remember taking that first step of faith, although nervous, to minister through dance at a women's shelter. God surrounded me by encouraging women and men of God to encourage me in pursuing my desires/dreams, because they were indeed His purpose for my life.

Through these acts of faith, God has and continues to open doors that amaze me! I am seeing Proverbs 18:16 manifest right before my eyes and it's only the beginning!

"A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great."

In this challenging, but blessed season of singleness, God has taught me what my gifts are. So now, that when my future husband and I come together; I will not only know what my purpose is, but I am walking in it. He (my future husband) is in my purpose!

My next post will be on, "He is in your purpose".

God Bless you. I love you, but Jesus loves you so much more!!

I want my rewards from the Lord!

The enemy has always tried to distract me by looking at what others have been blessed with. He thinks he is so slick; let me tell you I can't stand the devil!!

Anyway, what I love about the Lord so much is that through every storm, every trial; if we pay attention there is a lesson in it that is so much bigger than the storm. One of my dearest sisters in Christ and I often say to each other; "I don't want what God has for you, I want what He has for me". What this simply means is that it's a waste of time looking jealously at what God has blessed with others, since God has promised He himself has good plans for you and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him!

Today, I was thinking about in Matthew when Jesus was teaching about prayer:

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full." Matthew 6:5

Jesus made it clear that although the hypocrites/pharisees were praying to be heard by their many words and babbling on; they received their reward in full. The reward they received was the one they gave themselves, by thinking so high of themselves and wanting to be heard, they were indeed heard and I'm sure many that heard them praised them for their eloquent prayers. This was their reward.

Now, I don't know about you, but I desire my rewards from the Lord; I pray that you do to! Yes it does feel great when others celebrate our success, encourage us, and share with us how they have seen the Lord working in and through us. However, we have to be careful to not steal the Lord's glory or to look at what others have and covet it. I think that this is nothing but a trick from that ole' devil, to once again distract us from what really matters. We are here on this earth but for a moment compared to eternity. Let's receive the Lords reward and not this world.

I'm convinced that if God were to show us from the jump, all that He wants to do through us and how He will bless us, not only would we be overwhelmed but we may not even be able to conceive it all! That's how amazing God is! He will reward those, who diligently seek Him.

The greatest reward ANY of us could ever receive is Jesus Christ, for He laid down His life for our sins, so that if we believe in him and repent of our sins; we could have eternal life. My brother, my sister, I pray that you have received this great reward. If you have not, now is a greater time than ever.

God bless you!

I love you, but Jesus loves you so much more!!

How have I put my singleness to work for Christ?

Marriage is beautiful and a gift from God, it is a ministry and I look forward to walking in it one day. With that being said, I have a question for you and myself?

How have you put your singleness to work? How have you served the Lord and dedicated your time, treasure, and talent to Him? He gave it to us, it's not for us to keep! It's for the body!

1 Corinthians 7:32-35 says that (paraphrased) an unmarried man or woman is concerned about the Lord's affairs- how he or she can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about how he can please his wife and a married woman how she can please her husband.

Our days on this earth are numbered and instead of sitting around and waiting for a woman (brothers) or a man (sisters) to come around; God desires us to serve, volunteer, witness, help others with joy (Ecclesiastes 3)! Remember there is a season and a time for every activity under the sun.

While in this season of singleness, I want to encourage you as I encourage to myself to major on being a servant; God's got everything else covered (Matthew 6:33 and Psalm 37:4). Our part of these two passages are what I like to call the "What Lynnea Should be Doing (WLSD) part" lol. Your can replace your first initial with the L.

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." The WLSD part is to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, HE will do the rest.

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your rightousness shine lie the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. " The WLSD part is to Delight in HIM and to COMMIT your way to HIM, trust HIM!

Joshua 1:8 " Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." The WLSD part is to Meditate on that word; the word of God day and night! Aint it sweeter than maple syruuuup! lol (inside joke).

I don't know about you, but I don't want to have regrets from my season of singleness. I don't want to say; "oh I wish I would have done this more, wish I would have served more". Be encouraged and live your life for God both in your season of singleness and then marriage. Focus and appreciate what God is doing now. And have faith for Him to grant you your heart's desire, while you are a servant for Him!!

God is Love,

Lynnea

A love letter

God,

I love you so much! I was supposed to write this letter to you a few weeks ago, but here I am writing it on Valentines Day! Father, it is not possible for me to write a letter to you and one setting and be able to tell you all that is on my heart and how thankful I am to you and for you!! But here goes part one:

You never cease to amaze me. Just when I think you have done something for me and it cannot be topped, you do something even greater. I don't know what I would do or be if you were not in my life. To be honest, I don't want to know! I think about how you were there for me when I did not want you to be and how when I even acted like I did not know you, you waited for ME! An all powerful, loving, mighty God waited for me. wow. Lord, how could I ever thank you? I pray that every day you wake me up is a day that I serve you. It is only because of you that I am who I am today and you have only just begun to work and massage me into who you desire me to be.

I just want to thank you for being you. For loving me enough to wait for me and to be patient and understanding with me as I wait in you. Throughout this journey with you, I pray that at the end of my days I have a life that was poured out for you. I know that every gift, every blessing, every answered prayer is all for you to get the glory and to be a blessing to others.

I love you so much and am so thankful to be your daughter and the apple of your eye!!

Love always,

Naya

Trust Him

I want to share with you what I am learning in my single and actively waiting season:

We must TRUST HIM. God has spoken so clear to me what I must do right now; to Trust Him, to Clean House (spiritually), and to Help Others. Although these past few months have been the most difficult for me ever, I have experienced God’s love and His faithfulness like never before. No matter what things look OR feel like to me, He is God, Great God, and Wonderful God! It is my prayer that I am an example of God’s faithfulness and love to someone. I pray that during this season, for whatever time remains, that God gets the glory (I know He will). Trust is something we may use lightly with our words, but to really trust God is to surrender to Him completely all of your heart, mind and soul; all of your desires, hopes and dreams. Now there is a difference between surrendering these to God and giving them up. God does not want us to give up on our hopes, desires and dreams, but to trust in Him and not in those things because we never want to put those things before Him.

I think about Abraham, Moses, even Jesus. Abraham was already old when God promised Him a son and had to wait years after God promised Him (I believe 10), Moses was 80 years old when God raised Him up. Jesus lived for 30 years for a 3 year ministry (the most powerful ministry). I’m sure there were times that were hard for them and they wondered when and how will God bring His promises to past. However, they did what they were told to do. And even when Abraham and Sarah tried to "help" God when He did not even need help and had a son through Hagar, God still blessed them with the promise HE gave them.

And what about Joseph, Job and Hannah; Joseph had been given a dream from God that He was very excited about. That dream came to pass AFTER he was betrayed by his brothers, kidnapped, sold into slavery and worked as a slave for years, Job- enough said! And dear sweet Hannah prayed so hard and so much, that she was accused of being drunk!

They trusted in GOD not in the promise or the dreams. They knew that only He could do it and they trusted Him and stayed with Him. They could have easily said "Forget this, this is not the life I wanted, I’m outta here". But, they did things His way, and because of that they were blessed.
Everyone is waiting on something and its easy to become anxious or weary, but the word of God says to do neither. God really cares for the things that burden us or that we are concerned about; what a privilege to cast all our cares upon Him.
No matter what it looks like or feels like, I am making a decision to trust Him.

Romans 8:24-25
We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don't yet have - for a man who already has something doesn't need to hope and trust that he will get it. But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn't happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.

Hebrews 10:35-38
Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! You need to keep on patiently doing God's will if you want Him to do for you all that He has promised. His coming will not be delayed much longer. And those whose faith has made them good in God's sight must live by faith, trusting Him in everything. Otherwise, if they shrink back, God will have no pleasure in them.

What are you learning while God has you waiting?

My dear friend/sister e-mailed me this question from a TD Jakes sermon: "What are you learning, while God has you waiting". I found this question interesting, because everyone is waiting for something.

One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 27. Psalm 27:13-14 says, "I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living". "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord". Notice Wait for the Lord is said twice in the same verse; not wait for the promise or wait on that prayer to be answered, but Wait on the Lord.

Sometimes, I have only had to wait seconds, minutes, or weeks. However, it is the prayers and promises of God that I have had to wait on Him months and even years to see the manifestation of Gods promises and am still waiting. It is NOT always easy and sometimes I get very weary and even frustrated. However, I become frustrated when I take my eyes off God and put them on the thing I am waiting to come to past.

I am learning, when it comes to waiting on the Lord for His promises to manifest in our lives; TRUST is the key. Throughout scripture we are told to trust the Lord, but so often our actions show that we don't. It is a process and I thank God that even when we mess up or strike out, He gives us another chance to trust Him!

I'm thankful that He does not just give our promise to us away to someone else because we became weary or tried to bring the promise to past ourself. He is faithful and He cares about the circumstances and things that burden our heart (Psalm 55:22).

When we are waiting for God's promises to manifest, God has to lead us (Proverbs 3:5,6). Abraham, in my opionion the greatest example of faith in God's promises, trusted God. We could learn a lot from Him. God gave Abraham a promise to bless him and his offspring forever(Genesis 13:15-16). God told Abraham that as many stars were in the sky, so his descedants would be (Genesis 15:5). Now, Abraham was over 75 years old when this promise was given to him and he did not know how God was going to do it or even when; what He did know is that He had a promise from God.

I'm sure Abraham would think to himself that this did not make sense in his natural mind, I'm sure sometimes he felt weary in his waiting. But what did he do? He TRUSTED God and I know this is the very same thing that God wants us to do. To the natural eye, the promise God gave seemed impossible, but we know that nothing is impossible for God (except failing).

I want to encourage you to stand on Matthew 6:33, always seek the Lord, He is right there with open arms wanting you to look to Him, He has not forgotten you. Trust Him, He knows what's best. He has promised never to leave you or forsake you, never to put more on you that you can bear, He has promised to never withhold anything that is good for you from you.

Pastor Dale O'shields teaches from the word of God that; "Trust is proof of faith in God, trust enables us to obey Him, trust will make our prayer life more effective, trust frees us from anxiety and fear, trust changes our attitudes, trust is a pre-requosite of worship, trust is a sign of wisdom.

I have learned and am learning more each day that we must Trust Him, because He has told us to, but also because we can. Our God does not lie. His promises will not return to us void. He will give us the strength!!

I want to pray with you:

"Father God, I praise you for being God and God alone. I thank you for your love and everything that you are to me. What an honor, what a priveledge it is to know you and to learn more about your wonderful ways. You are indeed a great God and I love you so. Lord, I lift up in pryaer all those who are waiting for something today, no matter how long they have waited. I pray that you strengthen them and that they seek you first at all times, and you have promised that all these things shall be added unto them. Help us Father, not to look to things or circumstances and look for them to change, but to look to you and know that you are able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we ask or think. Lord, we cry out to you because sometimes it just seems unbearable and we do not understand. But Lord, help us to trust in you with all of our heart and to not lean unto our understanding. Help us to acknowlede you first, so that you can direct our paths. Oh Lord, let our delight be in you and not in man or things and you have promised when we do this, that you will give us the desires of our heart. We want to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven and not on this earth. Father, we thank you that we will see your goodness even in this land of the living and that the appropriate time we will reap a harvest if we faint not. Have your way Lord, we want to trust you and take you at your word! Thank you for all that you have done and are doing in and around our lives. Let us serve you and help others, while we are waiting and to give to others, as you have so freely given to us. We love you, we worship you and we adore you. We give every burden, every desire and every promise to you and will wait on you and trust you to do exactly what you said you would do for us. We are excited about your plans to prosper us and not harm us plans to give us a hope and a future! To you be all the glory for the great things you have done. We love you, we need you and we praise your Holy name! In Jesus precious name we pray, Amen".