DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

Just because its hard doesn’t mean that it’s not God. – Sister Kathy

It’s a blessing to fellowship with other brothers and sisters who are striving to live for God and dedicate all of the actions of their lives to Him. I’m not a morning person, but on this particular Saturday, it was much easier to get up for the 6:00 a.m. prayer service at church. I had been wrestling quite disturbingly with God regarding a particular matter. I believed that He had showed me something that should come to pass. God is never like man, and He will never lie. I thank the Lord that I had known this from my relationship with Him. So I thankfully, by the grace of God, never doubted that. Nonetheless, something that I believe that He had shown me that should have come to pass, all of a sudden, looked as if it would not come to pass. Suddenly, it faced an arresting halt. It was a painful time. My spirit squirmed and squeaked and agonized in this moment. I looked at God with confusion and frustration. I asked Him, why is my spirit still holding on to this thing, when it does not seem as if it will happen? At the prayer meeting, after we all prayed for others and for our wills to be dedicated unto God, we stood around talking to each other. We were mainly discussing the trials of the world and encouraging each other in our own walks with Christ. Without me disclosing any information regarding my current personal spiritual battle, Sister Kathy said in a seemingly random manner, “Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean that it’s not God.” Yes, this should be common sense as some of you who are reading this may be saying. Sometimes we know things in our heads, yet they take a while to travel to our hearts and spirits. A delay from God is not a denial from God. Yes, He is a dynamic God and the things that we do will contribute or take away from His Perfect Will being done in our lives. However, we cannot assume that because we face an obstacle in our God given purpose that we have hit a permanent wall. In fact, quite the opposite is often true. God will use our defeated obstacles to bring glory to His name, and for others to see Him through us and find His love. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). We should not look at evidence of the flesh, things on this earth in order to decipher what the end will be or what God’s Will is in our lives. He is far greater and more powerful than that. We can be led and can live our lives according to the flesh and what we see in this earth; however, it will grossly limit what we will have. Our divine inheritance, we will not receive, because we will be focused on what’s in our eye’s length, never having the courage to look above and beyond to what God has for us.

The road less traveled, according to a poem by Robert Frost, always appears to be the hardest one to take. It is far more difficult to look for an alternative door than to simply walk through the door in front of us. My mom worked day and night to save money and move us out of the “projects.” For those who do not know, the projects, also known as the ghetto, is an area where subsidized housing exists. The government pays at least partially if not all of the housing costs for the family in a segregated area. What is grossly wrong with projects is that they are always projects set up to fail. In Networking 101, we learn that our networks are very indicative of the success that we will most likely have in this world. In the projects, the networks have no earthly power. It is a place that breeds pessimism, low achievement and subcultural segregation. My mom fought hard to get us out of there. I have to be honest, as her child picking up tremendous responsibility because of her dedication to work. I did not always understand and definitely did not appreciate her efforts at the time. I didn’t understand the “big” deal. I did not know why we needed to move and leave my “friends.” However, I thank God that she saw the bigger picture. I thank God that I got out of the norm that was designed for me—one of teenage pregnancy, welfare living and limiting myself to one or two occupations. When our lives run into situations that God did not create, often we have to fight ten times harder to get out of that situation. Whether God created the situation or not, does not mean that He is not in it because it’s difficult. Sometimes we have to plow through it anyhow. We have to see what the end will be. Others have to be inspired by us plowing through to see what the end will be. I pray that my mom’s courage was an inspiration for someone else; as I pray that our determination is always after God’s Will and ultimately results in His glorification.

Jonah was simply living his life as a prophet in God’s chosen land, Israel, when God called for him to go to Ninevah, an area known as a habitation for the spiritually lost. Jonah did not want to go there. He felt as if he was better than that, (2 Corinthians 10:4). We should not look at evidence of the flesh, things on this earth in order to decipher what the end will be or what God’s Will is in our lives. He is far greater and more powerful than that. We can be led and can live our lives according to the flesh and what we see in this earth; however, it will grossly limit what we will have. Our divine inheritance, we will not receive, because we will be focused on what’s in our eye’s length, never having the courage to look above and beyond to what God has for us.

The road less traveled, according to a poem by Robert Frost, always appears to be the hardest one to take. It is far more difficult to look for an alternative door than to simply walk through the door in front of us. My mom worked day and night to save money and move us out of the “projects.” For those who do not know, the projects, also known as the ghetto, is an area where subsidized housing exists. The government pays at least partially if not all of the housing costs for the family in a segregated area. What is grossly wrong with projects is that they are always projects set up to fail. In Networking 101, we learn that our networks are very indicative of the success that we will most likely have in this world. In the projects, the networks have no earthly power. It is a place that breeds pessimism, low achievement and subcultural segregation. My mom fought hard to get us out of there. I have to be honest, as her child picking up tremendous responsibility because of her dedication to work. I did not always understand and definitely did not appreciate her efforts at the time. I didn’t understand the “big” deal. I did not know why we needed to move and leave my “friends.” However, I thank God that she saw the bigger picture. I thank God that I got out of the norm that was designed for me—one of teenage pregnancy, welfare living and limiting myself to one or two occupations. When our lives run into situations that God did not create, often we have to fight ten times harder to get out of that situation. Whether God created the situation or not, does not mean that He is not in it because it’s difficult. Sometimes we have to plow through it anyhow. We have to see what the end will be. Others have to be inspired by us plowing through to see what the end will be. I pray that my mom’s courage was an inspiration for someone else; as I pray that our determination is always after God’s Will and ultimately results in His glorification.

Jonah was simply living his life as a prophet in God’s chosen land, Israel, when God called for him to go to Ninevah, an area known as a habitation for the spiritually lost. Jonah did not want to go there. He felt as if he was better than that, (2 Corinthians 10:4). We should not look at evidence of the flesh, things on this earth in order to decipher what the end will be or what God’s Will is in our lives. He is far greater and more powerful than that. We can be led and can live our lives according to the flesh and what we see in this earth; however, it will grossly limit what we will have. Our divine inheritance, we will not receive, because we will be focused on what’s in our eye’s length, never having the courage to look above and beyond to what God has for us.

The road less traveled, according to a poem by Robert Frost, always appears to be the hardest one to take. It is far more difficult to look for an alternative door than to simply walk through the door in front of us. My mom worked day and night to save money and move us out of the “projects.” For those who do not know, the projects, also known as the ghetto, is an area where subsidized housing exists. The government pays at least partially if not all of the housing costs for the family in a segregated area. What is grossly wrong with projects is that they are always projects set up to fail. In Networking 101, we learn that our networks are very indicative of the success that we will most likely have in this world. In the projects, the networks have no earthly power. It is a place that breeds pessimism, low achievement and subcultural segregation. My mom fought hard to get us out of there. I have to be honest, as her child picking up tremendous responsibility because of her dedication to work. I did not always understand and definitely did not appreciate her efforts at the time. I didn’t understand the “big” deal. I did not know why we needed to move and leave my “friends.” However, I thank God that she saw the bigger picture. I thank God that I got out of the norm that was designed for me—one of teenage pregnancy, welfare living and limiting myself to one or two occupations. When our lives run into situations that God did not create, often we have to fight ten times harder to get out of that situation. Whether God created the situation or not, does not mean that He is not in it because it’s difficult. Sometimes we have to plow through it anyhow. We have to see what the end will be. Others have to be inspired by us plowing through to see what the end will be. I pray that my mom’s courage was an inspiration for someone else; as I pray that our determination is always after God’s Will and ultimately results in His glorification.

Jonah was simply living his life as a prophet in God’s chosen land, Israel, when God called for him to go to Ninevah, an area known as a habitation for the spiritually lost. Jonah did not want to go there. He felt as if he was better than that,