Daily Bread: Prosperity

The children of Israel, all 70 of them, came to Egypt to escape the famine in the land of
Canaan. (Exodus 1:5). Joseph, as you’ll recall was already there. (Exodus 1:5). In any
event, as time went on the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and
multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was full of them. (Exodus 1:7).

Pharaoh, this king which knew not Joseph, was uncomfortable with their number. (Exodus
1:8). He worried that if there was a war; that the children of Israel might side with the
enemy against Egypt. (Exodus 1:10). So he says, “Come on, let us deal wisely with them.”
(Exodus 1:10).

You know what happens next. The Egyptians set up taskmasters over the children of Israel
to afflict them with their burdens. (Exodus 1:11). But still the children of Israel continued
to multiply. (Exodus 1:12). So Pharaoh recruited the midwives to get rid of the male
children when they were born (Exodus 1:15-16). But the midwives, because they feared
God, would not cooperate. (Exodus 1:17). And the children of Israel continued to multiply
and waxed mighty. (Exodus 1:20).

A few thoughts about this:

1. The children of Israel, who were basically refugees, were prospering in the land of
Egypt. When you prosper people start to notice. Not everyone who notices your
prosperity will have your best interest at heart. They will try to devise schemes to
bring you down. They will try to deal wisely with you to make themselves feel more
comfortable with your success.

2. Multiplying was a blessing given to the children of Israel by God. God tells Abraham in
Genesis 12:3, “I will make of thee a great nation” and in Genesis 17:2 “And I will make
my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” God tells Isaac
in Genesis 26:24, “fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed
for my servant Abraham’s sake”. God tells Jacob in Genesis 28:14, “And thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east,
and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the
earth be blessed”. The point is that the children of Israel were fulfilling their blessing.
No wise dealings can stop, block, or undo a blessing that God intends for you. It doesn’t
matter who is uncomfortable with your prosperity. It doesn’t matter how they try
to limit your success. If God has promised it to you and you hold up your end of the
bargain, you will inherit your blessing.

3. When I read Exodus 1:10 “Come on, let us deal wisely with them…”, I could help but
think of Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together saith the Lord of Hosts..”.
The ability to think wisely and reason well is a powerful tool and can be used to achieve
both good and bad results. Pharaoh reasoned with bad intentions and the end result
was that, in spite of his “wise thinking” he could not overcome the blessing God had
bestowed upon the children of Israel. Compare that with what happens when you
reason together with God. When you use your rational mind with the intention of being
who and what God called you to be, when you infuse His word, His commandments, the
guidance He has given us for daily living, the result is salvific: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Final Thought: Don’t be ashamed of your prosperity. Be determined and confident in
the blessings you have been given. Adversity will only serve to test and strengthen your
determination. So it doesn’t matter who is trying to deal wisely with you, as long as you are
reasoning together with God.

--Lady S.

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: Self-Concept Thursday

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: Self-Concept Thursday: Affirmations for Letting it Go by GG of PeaceLovenadPrettyThings It doesn't seem fair when he cheated on you and now he's happily marrie...

Daily Bread: World AIDS Day

2 Corinthians 13:11 "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you."

My father died from complications related to AIDS.  So on World AIDS Day, just like my father's birthday, father's day, and the anniversary of his death, I think about him and all the things that he is missing.  He never got a chance to meet his grandchildren.  What a lively bunch they are!  He would have gotten such a huge kick out of them.  I also think about how much I miss him being around.  He had such a great sense of humor and he could make anything and everything fun.  In fact, at his funeral, my sisters and I joked through most of it in his honor.  Sounds weird, but that is exactly how he would have wanted it to be.  My father was also an eloquent public speaker.  He could talk about anything and make you believe it.  I never got to say goodbye to him, but I imagine that his farewell advice to me would be something along the lines of the scripture above.  He'd want me to be perfect, well he'd want me to aim for perfection in all areas of my life:  with my husband, with my kids, with my mom and my sisters, with my friends, with my church family, on my job.  That's because he wanted the best for me.  He'd want me to be of good comfort, knowing that even though my earthly father was going away that I still serve a Heavenly Father that is just and true, who blesses and heals and redeems and saves.  He'd want me to be of one mind, be like-minded and on the same page with my sisters about what is important in this life.  And mostly he'd want me to live in peace.  He wouldn't want me walking around stressed out, anxious and frustrated.  He wouldn't want to see me living a life full of anger.  Neither do I want any of those things for myself.  I desire to live in peace so that the God of love and peace will be with me.  And I desire the same thing for each of you.  Live in peace so that the God of love and peace will be with you.  --Lady S.

Visit www.worldaidsday.org for more information.

Domestic Diva Corner: Bedtime

OK... its confession time.  Bedtime in my house is... an experience.  My daughter is, in her own words, "never tired".  And in her 3 years of life, she has proven that she can easily stay up until midnight if given the opportunity.  Bedtime makes me want to pull my hair out, mostly because I'm so tired, and I can't understand how or why my beautiful girl doesn't angelically float to her bed, lay down, and drift peacefully off to sleep.  I started to think it was only me.  Especially after my cousin recently disclosed that his daughter is in the bed at 7:30 every night with no exceptions.  And then I read this post over at Inspired to Action and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  I'm not the only one.  And what was even more beautiful was that it lead me to this post from I Take Joy.  In a nutshell, the writer talks about how she prioritized bedtime with her children, made it a special time, and closed every day with a blessing.  The post is so beautiful and inspiring.  It just really moved me, and I hope it will move you too.  --Lady S.

Daily Bread: Sacrifices of Joy

"And now mine head shall be lifted above, mine enemies round about me.  Therefore will offer in his tabernacle, sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord."  Psalm 27:6

How can you sacrifice joy?  A sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or lives as an act of worship.  It is the surrender or destruction of something prized, important, or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher value or greater importance.  So how do you sacrifice joy?  How do you offer joy as an act of worship? How can you surrender or give up joy for something higher?

Joy is an emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying.  It is a state of happiness or felicity.  Can you imagine anything higher than joy?  Joy is elation, bliss, delight, rapture, and wonder.  What could possibly be higher than that?

 Nehemiah 8:10 says "for the joy of the Lord is your strength."  Psalm 16:11, "Your presence is the fullness of joy."  Psalm 35:9, "And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in His salvation."

My joy is the joy that comes from doing well at work, or making my children smile, or passing a test, or making my mother happy.  Those things are great, but they can't compare to the joy of the Lord.  My joy comes from thinking about how good God has been to me, what He brought me through.  My testimony is my joy.  But the joy of the Lord is even higher than that.  I lay down my joy to enter into the joy of the Lord.

Does sacrificing my joy mean that I walk around with a frown on my face?  No, because my joy is replaced by the joy of the Lord.  The joy of the Lord is greater than elation, greater than delight, and greater than bliss.  The joy of the Lord is greater than being joyful because of what God has done .  The joy of the Lord is being joyful simply because God is, God was, and God always will be.  The joy of the Lord does not wax or wane, it does not change, it is a constant joy.  Once you have it, it never goes away.  I will sing, yea I will sing praises unto the Lord, not because of what He's done.  I've sacrificed that kind of joy.  I will sing praises unto the Lord, not because of what He's allowed me to accomplish.  I've sacrificed that kind of joy.  I will sing praises unto the Lord because of who He is.  --Lady S.  

Daily Bread: Nehemiah

I was cleaning up my house and uncovered a page that was torn out of a notebook and was dated July 30th.  Now, I'm guessing that because these were notes that I'd obviously taken in church, they must be from 2007 before I had kids!  Since having kids, the times that I've been able to actually take notes in church have been few and far between.  

Anyway, in these notes the preacher was talking about Nehemiah, the man given the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.  My notes say, "God wants us to use our lives for a specific purpose.  We are placed on this earth with gifts and talents that are waiting to be used for a divine purpose and until we accomplish that purpose we will find emptiness."  

Now what came next really hit me hard.  "Nothing can prevent you from doing the work that is required to fill your purpose.  But it won't necessarily be easy.  Struggle is necessary.  When you have to struggle you appreciate your purpose more.  Struggle gauges your level of commitment.  Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives because struggle qualifies you to help others.  When you've stood your ground and weathered the storm you are a help to others.  Thank God for the struggle.  There is not testimony without a test.  There is no victory without a battle."   

Given my last post of Dry Bones, I think maybe God is trying to tell me something.  --Lady S.  

Daily Bread: Dry Bones

"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest... Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD."  Ezekiel 37:1-3, 11-14

This parable of the valley of dry bones is a message of hope.  It reminds us that God has promised to restore His people to life.  It tells us that even if we are at a place where we are spiritually dead, that God can and will restore us to life.  It reminds us that no matter what valley we are in, that God will deliver us.  He's done it before so he will do it again, and again, and again.  

While the overall parable gives us a timeless message of hope about being delivered from the valley of dry bones, I think there is an important lesson to be learned about being in the valley of dry bones itself.  The valley of dry bones is a place of pain, suffering, and despair.  For most of us, the valley of dry bones is a place that we have visited on several occasions in our lives:  when we've lost a loved one, when we're battling some type of disease, when we've lost a house or a job.  We all have examples of a time when we looked around and suddenly found ourselves down in the midst of a valley that was full of bones.  I don't know about you, but when I find myself there, my first response is get me out of here, make this stop, deliver me from this spiritual pain, or emotional pain, or physical pain.

Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli.  It motivates withdrawal from damaging or potentially damaging situations, protection of a damaged body part while it heals, and avoidance of similar experiences in the future.  So while the sensation of pain is unpleasant, pain really has an awesome purpose. It causes us to pay attention to a particular situation that we may or may not be neglecting.  It causes us to protect ourselves while we go through the healing process or the process of deliverance.  It causes us to take note so that we can avoid experiencing the same pain again, or at least be better able to handle the pain the next time around.  


Perhaps we should change our perspective on pain.  Maybe we should be thankful for it, because it makes us who we are.  I am a clumbsy person.  And as such, I have fallen down stairs on several occassions (and even tripped and fell going up the stairs a couple of times).  Now that I'm a mom who is often either carrying a child or holding the hand of a child I always take extra special care on the stairs.  I don't want to fall and hurt myself.  And I really don't want my kids to get hurt.  The pain of falling down has made me this way.  


Similarly, the pain of going through these valleys of dry bones have made us who we are.  Our valley build strength and character.  So for those of you are, like me, in the midst of the valley of dry bones, remember that God heals, God provides, God delivers.  But remember that this test will soon be your testimony.  --Lady S.