Last week my church celebrated its second annual Holy Convocation. It was a four-day event. There were classes to be taught: preaching to be heard and fellowship with people some of which we have never met before, which was all scheduled for the first three days. The last day Saturday was to be an ordination ceremony and this was particularly special because for the first time, in the fifty-year history of my church, women were to be ordained into the office of Elders. Therefore, as you can probably imagine, we were all very excited for this occasion. On the second day during our lunch break, I discovered my car was not in the spot where I parked it: It was gone! I informed my Bishop, and was then escorted by church security, to the local precinct in order to file a complaint. Imagine my surprise when I was told my car was not stolen it was towed! Now at this point I am thinking “there absolutely must be some mistake, I have never gotten a ticket during the life of this car”. However, tickets on this car were not the issue. You see, back in 2005, un-be-known to me, my 18-year-old son thought he had Card Blanche to park wherever and whenever he choose. I was speechless when I was informed that in order to get my car back I needed to pay over $1300.00. Mind you, I had about $22.00 in my pocket and my husband who had to work this day and was 25 miles away, had about $15.00 in his. Neither one of us had any emergency resources in the bank to fall back on. We’ve been living paycheck to paycheck, not a good thing but that’s where we are! As for my son who lives on his own and struggles to pay his own rent, well it was his responsibility; and I could have made him pay it, but I did not want to wait the six months it would probably take for him to come up with the money.
Now at this point I had to make a choice, was I going to leave the convocation and go home as a defeated daughter of the Most High and give the enemy the victory or do I stay and praise my way thru?
Uhmm, I’m staying! I praised my way through the tears the hurt and the pain. I had to realize victory was mine and that God had already done what we needed HIM to do. We just needed to believe it and watch for the manifestation of it.
Let me let you know sistah’s that just one month prior to this happening, my husband and I made a promise to God that no matter what it took we were going to clear our names with all creditors, and get out of financial bondage. Because we understood that God could not use us while we were in slaved to our debtors. We were on our way to financial freedom. We had contacted them and made payment arrangements. I bought envelopes, stamps and had a determination like never before. However, because of this decision, we were seriously on a T-I-G-H-T budget! How do we deal with this new bill? This was not part of the plan, or was it? You see, when we seek the Lords guidance in something with our whole heart, remain obedient in following HIS direction and stand on HIS promise of being Jehovah-jireh, he will answer you and often in ways, you never would have expected. We had asked the Lord to help us clear our name, to become lenders and not borrowers. He showed us a debt we had but knew nothing about.
I stayed for the entire convocation and praised HIM with more fervency than ever before. I laid prostrate unto the Lord. There was even a time on Friday that I was the only one in church after the classes but before the evening service: I stayed for 8 hours meditating on HIS word and listening for HIM. I tell you my sistah’s God took me to a new level in HIM. He did a new thing and I will be forever grateful. By Sunday, God had opened up the window of heaven and on Monday, we picked up our car: clean, no scratches just the way we left it. He made a way out of no way, Yes HE did! So I’m here to tell you that, “ What ever you are up against keep the faith and Praise your Way through.
God was my Jehovah-shalom because the hour was dark and my situation desperate HE gave me reassurance through HIS peace.
God was my Jehovah-sabaoth I had no strength and there seemed no other recourse for deliverance from the pit of sadness that I was quickly falling into, he was my strong tower: He was my Lord of Hosts.
God was my Jehovah-jireh HE provided as only He could.
Deaconess Cheryl Braxton
Director, NY Chapter - The SISTAHS Ministry
http://www.thesistahsministry.com/p3110gro...
Posted By: The SISTAHS Ministry
Saturday, October 18th 2008 at 2:44PM
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