It’s never a good idea to compare your life to
someone else’s or what they’ve got going on. See, I recognize that I serve a
“suddenly” God. Just because it took someone else this or that amount of time
to get where they are, be with who they’re with, or accomplish what they’ve
done, doesn’t mean it’ll take the same amount of time for me. And this is true
for us all. I can remember being frustrated during different seasons of my life
when my self-imposed “timelines” weren’t flowing as I hoped. I’d map out all these
different plans for myself and ask God to bless them, instead of praying
first and then getting some direction. Psalm 46:10 reads, “Be still, and know
that I am God.” I used to think that standing still was unproductive. I felt if I wasn’t constantly moving, things wouldn’t happen, until I finally slowed down and stood still. Since I’ve
gotten into the posture of doing this, I’ve watched as God put things together
in a way that required nothing of me except the obedience of stillness. When I
did this, he spoke clearly to me. The clarity that came with stillness was
amazing. Suddenly, a series of incredible blessings started coming my way, in
ways that blew my mind. While things like success, relationships, and
accomplishments don’t usually happen overnight, I’m recognizing that a lot of
what I thought would take awhile, won’t, with a “suddenly” God behind the
scenes. God orchestrates things in such a way that our human minds will never be able to figure out. He does
things on an entirely different level that always reminds me, he’s in charge. I
love that I serve a “suddenly” God. He‘s dope.
About a year ago, I had a dream my dad wanted to talk to our family about something serious. I wasn’t sure what he wanted to discuss, but I knew it was something I needed to prepare myself for. Around the time after I had this dream, I remember stopping by my parents place and sensing something was going on that they weren’t telling me. I tried to dismiss what I’d been feeling, but I couldn’t shake it. Something serious was happening. As I returned to my home after visiting them one day, I was in my kitchen washing dishes when a heaviness hit my heart like nothing I’d ever felt before. Something’s wrong with dad. That’s what that dream was about. God, what’s going on? As I continued washing dishes, I started crying and praying. Then in mid-spring, my dad held an unexpected family meeting that would change all our lives forever. He hesitated at first, and as his voice started cracking and he started crying, he said, “Well, I wanted to talk to ya’ll to tell you that I have kidney disea...