My Journey to the Double Portion

As a member of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden, the theme for the year is “Moving Forward with a Double Portion” .  We are using the mentorship of Elisha and Elijah as our foundation. 

A few Sundays ago Pastor John K. Jenkins preached about the “Journey to a Double Portion.”  In short he said to get to the double portion or the Promised Land there are a few places we must go….Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan.  He went on to explain the significance of each place.

That sermon has been with me for weeks, as I examined where I am in my journey to the double portion.  There are times when I really feel like I am wondering around in the wilderness and I will never make it to my Promised Land nor receive the double portion.  Other times I believe I am well on my way and in the will of God. 

Anyho, here is my journey thus far.

Gilgal was described as a place of circumcision, where we lose something; we are separated from our past.  As I have blogged about on many occasions, I lost a lot in 2011.  My fiancé and I broke up; I lost my home (he resides there), my dog and my purpose.  At that time I was soooo wrapped up me and what I wanted and the way I thought things should go that God got my attention by separating me from the person I thought I was going to be with for the rest of my life.  He removed me from what I am guessing to be a bad situation (there were several issues in the relationship) before I actually took that walk down the aisle.  At some point, I let it go…I moved out of our shared house and started moving forward.  It was hard, but I had no choice.  

My next stop was Bethel.  Bethel is described as a place where we have an encounter with God.  We fall to our knees and communicate with him.  After the break-up and my deep bout with depression, I got into the Word of God.  I joined a prayer group, started fasting, studying…..doing everything I could to communicate with God and tell Him the matters of my heart as well as listen for His voice.   There was a time when I was fasting from a different thing each week.  I just really wanted to be as close to God as possible as I tried to heal my heart and start life again.  I started walking toward my Jericho.

Jericho is the place where as a believer I am to walk by faith and follow God’s commands, even when I don’t want too.  In the Bible, God told Joshua to tell the people to march around the city each day, for six days.  On the seventh day they were to walk around the city seven times and shout after the priest had blown the horn.  This is where I am….I’m walking by faith and not by sight.  There are some things that don’t look like they are turning out in my favor; however, I have to believe God is working out those things.  I am doing my march around the city.  Once the walls of Jericho come crashing down, I’m going to burn everything down and move on to Jordan!

In Jordan, this is where we enter the Promised Land, follow God and leave people/things behind.  Oh Lord, please get me there.  I cannot wait!

Where are you on your journey?

Check out this awesome drawing of Pastor’s sermon by @seeincolors.

 

A Slight Nudge to Get Going...........

Yesterday morning I opened my work email to find a message about risk mitigation fiscal planning and a possible furlough for civilian employees.  In a nutshell, my organization decided to suspend all travel that command leadership does not deem mission essential.  Welp, there goes my annual trip to Hawaii *insert puppy dog eyes and a sad face* There is also a hiring freeze in place and some contractors maybe let go. 

This morning I received an email in reference to a mandatory All Hands call in reference to the budget.  Honestly, I'm not for it!  I don't feel like talking about being furloughed 2 days a pay period starting in April.  I did the math, which would cut $1200 from my income, before taxes, a month.  Like really!?!?!?

I'm not sure if Congress has noticed, but the cost of ere'thang is going up!  Gas, rent, food, movie tickets, etc.  Not to mention the increased payroll tax.  I'm angry!!! I work hard for my money!!!!  I want to be able to have fun and do things. I'm blessed to not have to live check to check, but that might be me if this fiscal cliff business is not solved!

Being the planner that I am, I cannot wait until the furlough to start looking for additional income.  I'm taking this as God nudging me to finish studying for my group fitness certification and register for a 3-day personal trainer certification course in early Feb.  According to a friend, I have a fitness gift and I need to use it. 

Blessed Body Fitness needs to be more than a FB page.....more than a dream.  It needs to become my reality.  But once I pass the exam and actually open up the required accounts to start the business, what do I do? 

Guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there....until then it's time to study and pray something happens. 

Just for giggles :-)

2013 Is Here......

Happy 2013 readers!!!!  We made it!!! The world did NOT end as predicted.....lol.

This post is so OVERDUE!!! My original goal was to post about 2012 and my goals for 2013, however, my crazy schedule did not allow for that....and I am thankful!!!  No need to post about the past (2012) when I'm focused on my future (2013)....not to mention, I did pretty good with keeping up the blog last year, so I already recorded my successes and failures.

I will say my holiday season was WONDERFUL.  I spent time with those who mean the world to me.  It did my heart great joy to get in quality time with both family and friends.  The hands down best part of the holiday season was having both brothers and my niece/nephew in the same house for the first time in over 6 years!

I brought in 2013 with my two right hands, Pook and Angel, along with my biological father/step-mom at a family bar party.  Earlier in the day I attended a noonday service to receive my spiritual instructions for the year, got in a good workout and then headed out with my loves!!!  It's been a while since I had that much fun and it was worth me going against my "I never want to go out on NYE" stance.

My goals for 2013 are pretty simple...Love God, myself and others.  Each year I want to get stronger in my Christian walk as I try to live the will He created for me.  I know I've made some wrong turns while on the journey, but I am determined to finish.

As far as loving myself, that's been a hard thing for me to do.  I do have some level of love for myself, but I'm talking REAL love...unconditional love...accepting my flaws and working every day to be better.  I can't wait for someone to love me the way I want them too if I fail to love myself that way.  This year I am going to love myself a little harder and protect myself.  I find myself in situations were I end up hurt :-(

Loving others is easy, but there are some people I have been avoiding....family members who have caused me harm, so I stay away from them.  In 2013 I want to forgive them and in the process heal. 

Like others, I want to make healthier decisions, get rid of toxic people, buy a house, and progress in my field.  I also want to start this fitness business :-)

Pastor Jenkins said 2013 was about moving forward with a double portion and that is exactly what I plan on doing!!!!  Happy 2013!!!!