Make the Time

Yes, I’m still here. Thought to get that out of the way first. It has been a while, but such are the seasons of our lives, right? Over the past three months and counting, my life has involved a crescendo of activities at work, family, and ministry. I have sometimes thrived in the flurry of activities and responsibilities, and at other times honestly struggled to get through the weight of my many tangible deliverable's. Also thought to put that out there because one too many people have said to me recently that they don’t know how I ‘do it all so seamlessly’. It isn’t seamless, sis. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication. It’s a lot of pressure points and pain points. But, it’s also a lot of reward when the results speak so evidently on their own, and when God gets the glory. The apparent seamless-ness also means a lot of things take a bit of a back burner for a season, but therein lies the beauty of the passion-purpose intersection…..you always come back to the things you have acknowledged and are passionate about as part of your life’s assignments. You have to! I have to! I know for certain that the Lord will hold me accountable to how well I have deployed this platform for His glory. So yeah, I’m back sis. I’m oh so ‘back’…if that is grammatically correct, lol.

As I write this, I am waiting on a flight from New York back home. I should have been home today, but a decision to change my route a few days ago, coupled by weather challenges (I mean, who could have foreseen tornadoes while planning a trip?) collaborated to ensure all my connecting flights were delayed for hours on end and I eventually missed my international connection. Sigh! Sigh! Sigh! If that wasn’t bad enough, while I will spare you the details, it took me another near two hours to get my luggage and then make it to the hotel I had to book last minute when it became clear I would not make the connection. And again Sigh!

But you know sis, as I have travailed (for that is exactly what these two days have been for me) on this journey that I am literally still on, I adopted a certain spiritual stance about it and have continued to say, ‘Lord, please show me the lesson(s) You need for me to learn through this all’. I mean, this all couldn’t be for nothing. There are no wasted experiences with God. None whatsoever! And certainly, no wasted seasons either. Sis, can I assure you of a truth that all the challenges you have been dealing with in this season are not hidden from Him? And while it may not seem to make sense now, can I promise you that He has treasure He will bring out of your dark spaces?

I realized at some point before I went to bed yesterday that the Lord needed some major ‘alone time’ with me. And yeah, I will admit my first thought was why He needed to literally isolate me and through such a harrowing process, but He showed me, sis so please stay with me. You see, God has some really interesting ways of getting things done, and unless we keep the right spiritual perspectives and frame of heart in place, we will miss divine movements in our lives. I spent some time saturating the atmosphere around me with worship and a session of praying in the spirit, then sat at my desk preparatory to my study time. But sis, the Lord simply asked me to lay my Bible aside as He needed to have an intense one-on-one with me.

Sis, it was INTENSE!

I found myself siting and talking with God in a way that I do not recall having done in years. It was a no-holds-barred, come up higher, evolve or die conversation. He spoke, I listened! Many times, I cried, I contemplated, I deflected and then capitulated. But I listened with my heart, soul and spirit...and I understood. The Lord was transparently honest with me on another level, and in return I had to be brutally honest with myself to the fullest extent. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! But in the end, boy was there a release or what, sis? I had clarity more than ever before about my current season and my next season as God would have it unfold. I had clarity about where I was getting it wrong and why; where I was getting it right and how; where I was not even at the ‘getting’ stage yet but needed to be; and so on and so forth. I came to myself afresh in God, sis. I did! And can I tell you it was ultimately such a refreshing experience. I got past the ‘me’ that I was allowing myself to be, and got to the ‘ME that He needed me to be for the next phase of my assignment. I am sitting here with a clear head and fresh insight for how God will have me transact in various areas of my life in the season immediately ahead. I am also sitting here confident that He heard and will answer my petition for help from Him in the places where I know of a truth that I cannot do what He would have me do in my own strength.

I am lighter for this experience, sis. And yes, I still have this long flight ahead of me but I am completely at ease concerning that. I am grateful that the Lord had to take me through such an intense exercise in separation for my spirit to be open enough to know that I am not at all in control, and that unless I am doing life on His terms, I can never have peace and fulfillment. I honestly wish I could share details with you, sis. I really do. It would make it so much clearer wouldn’t it? But that’s not what this is about. This is about the fact that the Lord would have me tell you that you need to create time for a one-on-one with Him. He so desperately wants to speak with you, sis. He so desperately wants to show you ‘you’ through His eyes as He needs you to be in this season of your life. He said to tell you that you are trying to transact as an outdated version of you, but there are elements of your nature and things that He already has built into you that He needs you to cooperate with Him to bring into manifestation in this season. He so wants to walk with you and work in you to thrive in this season in ways that heaven applauds. He says you cannot continue to live on the echoes of the past applause sis. There is newness that He would birth in you in this season of your life if you would come closer and allow Him redefine you for His glory. He says He is allowing certain things in your life because He wants you to come to the place of emptying yourself afresh in Him so that He can fill you with ‘You’ afresh.

Will you yield sis? Will you? I know you are busy. I know there are many demands on your time. I know you might already be fruitful in His vineyard and think this does not apply to you…but remember the echoes sis. He does not want you to transact by echoes. Can you force the time? Will His instructions to you for this season carry enough weight for you to intentionally separate yourself enough to have the intense one-on-one with He who wants to birth a higher level of glory in and through your life? I pray you will sis. And I pray that as you do, you will hear His voice with clarity and that you will also receive divine instructions for your next seasons, as the Lord molds you into a more excellent ‘You’ for the glory of His name. Make the time, sis! I promise you it will be so well worth it.

Be blessed sis, for you surely are!