Jan 30th

 Happy Sabbath

I am enjoying a nice afternoon with my son and was able to attend a good service.  The speaker pointed us to the book of Daniel where Daniel had been praying and at one point, an angel came to him and told him that the Lord heard his prayer but the prince of Persia had prevented him from coming right away.  The prince of persia could be the enemy trying to get in the way of us receiving our blessing.  It could be external. It could be internal.  It could be us rejecting that blessing.  The angel had to fight with the prince of Persia for 21 days.  We have to keep on praying, we should not just say one prayer, get up and walk away and let that be the end of it.  We must be persistent.  It's a good reminder as I think of things I prayed for, stopped and went on about my business.  The Lord is always near and wants to connect with us and we should not waste opportunity.  Continue praying until you hear from the Lord.  It may be an immediate yes.  It might be, "wait a bit". Or it might be an outright "NO".  God will answer and no what His answer is, it is the best answer for your life.  

I am coughing.  The tuesday following MLK day, I had chills, sweats, and was sneezing a lot.  I also lost my sense of taste and smell.  I took a leave of absence (third one to date) from work and was tested this week on Wednesday.  My results came back Thursday but I didn't realize it until Friday night and my results said, I was negative.  

I don't trust the results.  I had the symptoms of COVID and my son was not feeling well either.  I have been extra careful with what I touch, where I go, and when I breathe so for me to be sick with anything makes no sense to me.  I took some advice from a sis of mine who was positive for COVID and I am going to see if I can get a blood test from an urgent care if possible next week.  I cannot keep going in and out of work because of one random symptom.  

I have been employed at my part time job for a year now and I praise the Lord for that.  Today, Jan 30th is my anniversary date.  I had to sing a lot today and was able to do so while dealing with this cough.  

Please pray that I get the results once and for all.  I am not fearful if it is COVID.  I am more concerned about my parents getting sick if it is.  

NO matter what, God is good and I want His plan for me to be fulfilled.  Everything may seem bleak, but the Lord has a plan for you and for me.

Press On

Happy Sabbath,

It's been a good week even with the challenges. I'm in a strange place right now and I know it's the plan of the enemy to make me feel like I don't belong. But I know that my God has a plan for me and a place He wants me to be. Despite what is happening and how other people move around me (I'm talking about church now), I intend to keep going forward and keeping my eyes on Jesus. God will work it out. He did not bring me this far and put me here or any of my fellow family in Christ to give up on us. Pray for the youth in the church worldwide. Pray for parents who are struggling and want to serve the Lord. Pray for those who act indifferent, ignore others, and do other such things. I know it's not just my church, its happening everywhere.

I thank the Lord for the ways He is changing my son and helping him to grow more in Him. I thank the Lord for bringing me out of my shell and giving me the guts to face challenges I never imagined I'd ever have to face. I say I'm not a this or a that but the Lord can equip us if we are willing to do the work. May we continue and not lose heart.

Please also pray for me. I slept on my sofa with a light blanket on Monday or Tuesday...Tuesday I'll say and I started having some issues with a cough, chills and sweats. I feel better today but I need to go to work. I hope I do not have COVID. I have not changed my routine and continue double masking up, keeping those masks on when out in public and wearing gloves. I have been careful and am not certain if this is tied to my tooth issue (I do need to get two repaired so it might be an infection) or if it is a cold which it definitely shouldn't be since I head out like a ninja and no one but my family, church people on zoom, and people I started working with up until April have seen my face. No one else knows what I look like. I don't share food with people. I have my breaks in my car and avoid people as much as possible. Twice I've been tested and results came back negative. My part time didn't want to pay me the second go round when they required that I stay home and get tested. I don't have time for that the third go round.

Please pray for me and my family. My Aunt B was funeralized on Thursday and my cousins are heart broken. She was a believer and good Christian and though of a different denomination, I am hopeful to see her on that great day and for her to remain with those who Jesus fathers to Himself.

Thank you and may you have a blessed day and new week to come. 💗💗💗

Birthday

 Happy Sabbath,

Today is my son's 8th birthday and it has been a wonderful day.  My internet has been malfunctioning but God is still good.  My tooth hurts but God is still good.  No matter what happens, God is still good. 

I am thankful to be able to see my son reach another year of life and pray that the Lord will be with him and continue to bless him as he grows into the man that one day, he should be.  I have a gift for him that is not Sabbath appropriate so I plan to give it to him tomorrow when I return from work.  I am involved in a bunch of things at church and am becoming braver and more comfortable stepping up.  I can only thank the Lord for that because He as well as others know I don't like speaking out and choose to work in the background.  The sermon today was such a good reminder for us to trust in the Lord. There is no reason for us to fear since the Lord is here and He is here for us. The speaker had some great acronymns for fear such as False Evidence Appearing Real  and Forget Everything And Run.  He also said FAITH is Fully Anticipating It To Happen.  I googled some more and found: Forsaking All I Trust Him as well as Forwarding All Issues to Heaven.

Everyone has a fear of something; I have my fears but I need to remember that the Lord has not given me a spirit of fear.  We must reject fear.  Trust in the Lord.  I never expected to be here at this point, to have come so far. If I allowed fear to take over, I would not have finished school. I would not be driving any more. I would have run away and not faced my family. I might be homeless and my son might not be with me.  If I allowed fear, I would not do the work that I do. I would not have embraced my natural self. I would have given up.  I have come this far by faith and cannot allow myself to give up now.  The Lord has brought you too this far whether you realize it or not.  Give your time to Him and attention.  Put your trust in Him and watch all the miraculous things He will do and bring you through.  

May the Lord bless and keep you and God willing, I will be on here next week. 

Happy Sabbath ;)

Teeth

Happy Sabbath

God is good. I thank Him another blessed Sabbath day. I thank Him for my church and the encouraging words they give. I thank Him for what I see and what I don't see.

I am praying to overcome my anxiety.

I told the church on one of the nights of prayer meeting this week (we are doing ten days but even then I have not joined when I should have). I mentioned I had an appointment and asked for prayer for Friday.

I actually came on the line right in time Thursday after a long day of difficulty and stress at work. My internet would not cooperate with me and this continued even through today. I worked well past the time I scheduled but decided not to count one hour of straight work because I felt my agency would not believe me and wouldn't accept it.

Thursday was filled with ridiculousness from not only the internet, demanding new team members and narcissistic members always on the attack behind the scenes, but to issues signing up for new shifts at my part time that had me miss work for since right after Christmas and I will be without a paycheck for the next round. Also to my son's school, my son's behavior and the speaker deciding not to work for me when I made it out the house for one thing but had to turn around...the speaker at McDonalds refused to work so I drove away with no meal.

So much I'm leaving out. satan hurled so many darts at me Thursday but praise the Lord, I'm here today. It could always be worse and even in that worse, we still have to thank Him.

I got on the prayer line and told them I had an appointment Friday.

Friday, the dentist office tried for yet a third time to say I didn't schedule but this time I had the text proof so they let me in. It was my first appointment in a year. I never even saw my PCP in 2020 and I need so many things. I sat in the chair expecting disaster and yes, it was pretty bad, but if not for God. I didn't realize the radio on in the place and when I was in the room in the middle of a long overdue cleaning, I heard on the radio the song Oh Happy Day. Not only that, as I listened and focused in on the words and away from the uncomfortable scraping of tartar off my teeth I heard someone else in the office singing along. I never hear that when I go a medical appointment. I'm sure it was played and done just for me.

I learned why my teeth were hurting me. I have a broken tooth and a bunch of cavities as expected. I learned that I grind my teeth in my sleep. That explains why my sometimes my teeth on the left would do that when I wake up. The tooth in pain is on my lower right and I broke it in the last month or so. But although it hurts, it's not debilitating. I do not have the $1000 now for the crowns I will need or the $400 for the teeth guard to fit over them. That money is allotted to other things. So I hope to save up now that tonight is my first night back to work at my part time. If I don't keep up with my flossing, I will have to do more...thousands of dollars more.

I was shocked that a youtuber I follow who has beautiful pearly white teeth said that she went to the dentist after having her first child and they found 16 cavities in her mouth. She cut out sugar and is extra careful with what goes in her mouth.

I talked to the hygienist and asked her about patients with ID who don't floss but they have no cavities. She said she noticed that in her line of work and thought it had something to do with genetics. I have 30 clients and two of them are endentulous, two had small cavities and one I think had a tooth pulled. Everyone else is cavity free and do not brush. They eat sugar, drink juices and many don't brush. I don't get it.

I'm praying about my teeth. The damage is done but only with the Lord's help, I can turn this around.

Please keep me in prayer and may you have a safe and blessed week.

2021 Joshua 1:9

Happy New Year

It is after midnight on Sunday morning. God is good. Sabbath was great yesterday and we had a wonderful service. The week before, I was not sure if the youth were going to join the zoom and do a song so I was primed and ready to go, but the youth jumped on and declared they were going to do a song. Turned out, it was the same song I had planned to do. That afternoon before AY, I came on with my son and dusted off my flute and clarinet. He grabbed a violin and we just played songs of praise while we waited for others to join. I had not played the clarinet like that in years. Clarinet and piano are my first instruments (piano being first). We have almost every instrument one would need to start a band from guitars, a trumpet, a viola, a saxophone, to harmonica, a new electronic drum set and four clarinets (because my dad wanted me to have the best). I tried flute in undergrad for a private class and played around with saxophone for a bit as well. I like how easy it is to get going with flute over clarinet as you have to prepare the reed first and with flute, you just don't have to do that.

This week, I asked a church sis to do special music and she said yes but she also said if she could not do it, she would find someone else and let me know. Sabbath evening, I find out through the church clerk that sis was not going to do special music and she suggested that I do something instead. I was peeved to say the least. I had sent three songs over for praise and worship and was going to do one but changed last minute on it. Sabbath morning, I wondered what song I would do for special music. I never replied to the clerk and was not sure what they were doing for the program. I went to the piano and thought the song the youth had done last week. I recorded my rendition of it and grabbed my flute thinking it would be something nice but I didn't like the low sound on the device I recorded on and I wasn't too satisfied with my flute playing. I decided to stick with just piano.

The service started and sis was on there. I didn't know if she would step up but...she didn't. The speaker came on and shared that he and his wife sing and he loves playing the flute and piano. It was just so funny to me because I never heard anyone say they play flute and I had on a whim decided to play flute for church the other week at AY. The song I picked was also very special to me. When I had come to the Adventist church, a Haitian sis noticed my interest in piano. I knew no hymns at that point and doubted my abilities to sight read despite years of musical training and music theory. She saw me at the piano ag church and asked me if I could play, When He Cometh as she wanted to sing it for church. I was painfully shy and turned down the request. She did find music for the song which she sang for church and I went on to visit another church and became the pianist for them for several years, learning When He Cometh and half of hymnal.

That was the song I played today. I sang several times today which is also something I avoid but seem to get stuck with.

I have a prayer journal that was really started during Bible class yesterday. One of my prayers is to understand what my gifts are and to use them for God. My theme is Be Bold and Courageous based off of Joshua 1:9. I want to stop being a wimp. I'm in my late 30's for crying out loud. I want to do more for God and not to be afraid. I know the Lord blessed me with several talents. I just don't want them to be a waste. Pray for me that I will stay on track, continue walking with Jesus and develop my talents for His use.