A few years ago, I was blessed with the wonderful opportunity to review a story board, soundtrack and rough clips for a major animation project. The directors and producers wanted to be sure that the script portrayed accurate and positive cultural representations of the characters. It was an enjoyable assignment and also one that reminded me of the importance of understanding context and capacity in crafting our personal and collective stories. In scripting your story for 2013, and as 2012 has faded to black, you have the power to release negative thoughts and feelings, re-write your story and represent to win.

“Day unto day utterth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:2-3, KJV)

“There is nothing that God has planned and purposed that He will not do and there is nothing He has purposed that He cannot accomplish” –Victor Adeyemi (2000, pg. 73).

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound of a call from God!

After forty years in the wilderness, good things cometh, my sister and my brother, if we actively wait. Waiting in an active mode means, trusting, obeying, hoping, praying and believing that God will do exactly what He revealed in His Word. Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7, KJV).  In order to wait with active anticipation of the good, an attitude check is required. Are you expecting His promises to manifest, releasing all that is negative and toxic from your life, and moving on with a spirit of acceptance as well as forgiveness in your heart?

“Sisteren” and “Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14, KJV) If you are actively waiting, though the vision may tarry, you are closer to your dreams than you were last year. As a positive attitude moves you from the marginal wings to center stage, you are able to co-arrange with God your life story board to Win.

As we approach the season of Thanks-living, I pause to reflect on the processes in motion that have challenged me to grow, especially the times when God has said “not yet” or “no”. Process is messy, yet we must press through the mess to get to the other side and truly become the woman or man of God we were called to be.

However, in order to successfully move to the next level of flourishing and thriving, Noel Jones reminds us that “…you have to have a deep awareness of the value of your calling if you are going to be able to survive the process of bringing you into that calling” (2007, pg. 78). When we are in the “going through” phase of life’s transitions that propel us to answer that call, our hearts can get heavy placing us in need of some form of refueling and healing. You may be wondering, right now, how does one mend a broken heart and can the Lord really help me?

Well my friend, please keep in mind, there are balms in the Psalms; for examples, see Psalm 121, 122 and 123 (these scriptures are also aligned with Jones (2007,  pp. 121-123)! In the book of James, we also find healing strategies for the heavy heart that help to lighten the loads we may attempt to carry alone. Furthermore, as Jones states: “God will go to great lengths to prove Himself strong and mighty in your eyes. He has done it countless times before, and He will do it again when given the proper atmosphere conducive to miracles” (2007, pg. 121).

Word Water Healing for the Heavy Heart: How to Lighten the Load