THE VOICE

MIRACLES Pt.1

Talking with my brother the other day, we looked back on “close calls” we’ve experienced. I started to think about past situations that occurred in my life, and recalled stories other people have told me and it led me to this format.

According to the Webster dictionary, Miracles mean; an unusual or wonderful event that is believed to be caused by the power of God.

 In the first part of the series, I will be talking about what some people have called, “the little voice” or even, “something told me”. Others are calling it “your inner voice (an internal monologue or speech)” and also “intuition (comes from the Latin verb; intueri or to contemplate, a phenomenon of the mind, the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or use of reason.)”. Whatever title you have placed on it, you can reasonably say that this has happened to everyone at least once in their life. I want to share with you some of the times this “voice” has saved my life, and I’ll leave it to you to decide if its intuition or your inner voice. Personally, I believe in the power of God and I know no matter how good you think you are, you cannot predict an unforeseen event that is about to take place without the help of the Holy Spirit. Most of the time, we can predict the actions of people or animals because of past behavior, habits, routines and information that was told of them. We can also determine what could take place with objects i.e.; side effects, warning labels. These are common notifications you are told to expect to happen. What about the unexpected?

I was driving home from work one day and the road I was using was a two lane street. I had to pick my kids up from my Grandmother’s house who lived quite a bit away and I wanted to be home before the sun set. The traffic was moving at a good pace when I heard a voice say, “Be still”. Now it wasn’t audible but I could hear it in my head. At first I didn’t really pay attention to it until further down the road I heard it again, “Be still”. I pondered on why I was thinking this and kept driving until I heard it again. By this time I knew it wasn’t me and started asking myself what does that mean? As I got to a 4-way stop sign, an old beat-up truck turned in front of me and it seemed his top speed was 20 miles per hour. Every time I attempted to go around him the traffic on the opposite side wasn’t clear. I was getting frustrated and just wanted to get away from him. Again, I hear the voice, “Be still”. Earlier it was soft, and this time it was a little more amplified, not loud, just stern. Already agitated by the slow driver in front of me, now I can’t stop hearing this voice and I didn’t know what it was talking about! I knew that up ahead at the next intersection the lane would spilt into 2 on both sides and I decided I’m going to punch the gas and go around him using the right hand lane. As I was approaching the light I looked in my rear view mirror and no one was behind me so I thought, nice this will be over in a minute. I placed both my hands on the steering wheel so I could swing to the right and I heard the voice repeat, “Be still” again, but sharp like a command, and then I heard a different loud voice say, “GO NOW!” As I went to turn the wheel it kind of froze for a second and in that split second I felt the car rock hard along with a gust of wind. A huge rig flew past in the right lane, the speed he was going caused my little car to rock. That was the same lane I intended to use. My heart was beating hard and my hands were shaking badly. I was still in disbelief when I arrived at my Grandmother’s house. I told her what happened and she replied, you know that was the voice of God warning you the whole time. And what about that other voice, the loud one? I know that wasn’t God, if I had listened to the loud voice I wouldn’t be here writing this now.

My brother had a similar experience while he was driving. He said it was late at night and he was taking a friend home. He was going at a good speed as they were approaching a signal light when he said, “Something told him” to take his foot off the gas pedal and pump his brake a bit. The light had changed to green before he reached it and as he was entering the intersection an old Cadillac ran through the red light on the stopped traffic. My brother said if he had not slowed down and pumped his brakes a bit, they would have been t-boned. When they got to his friend’s house the friend asked, “How did you know to pump your brakes?”

How many times have that “voice” told you not to change lanes just as a car flies by in the lane you were going to change to? Or you are sitting back relaxing watching tv or reading a book when it tells you to go check on a child, and you just happen to catch them doing something they didn’t have any business doing or going somewhere they thought you would never find out about. What about when a friend or family member you haven’t talked to in a while comes to your mind and the “voice” tells you to give them a call or stop by, and it happens that they were sick or depressed and were glad to see or hear from you?

Let’s talk about if we didn’t listen to the “voice”. Where would you be? How different would things have turned out if we hadn’t acted on that “voice”? I would love to hear your stories of how a “voice” changed your life. –L.G.

THE MIRROR

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Facing the truth

MIRROR:  a.) something that shows what another thing is like in

                      a very clear and accurate way.

                  b.) something that gives a TRUE representation.

The cares of this world tends to keep us busy, and our daily chores and work continuously are before us. On top of that, we are dealing with issues our family or friends may be going through. Maybe it’s church or marital issues. Problems with our co-workers or bosses, whatever the situation is, unknowingly attach itself to us and many times we aren’t aware that it is affecting us more than we think. Years go by and you think you are the same person with the same beliefs, morals and convictions.

One day you’re praying and telling him that I just want to make it into your kingdom and I need to know if I am pleasing to you? I would put off every business I own, every book I’ve written just to put you first in my life, what do you need me to do Lord?

I got my answer when I got up from my knees and began to read the bible. I opened up Galatians and began to read from the fifth chapter. Now I’ve read the bible over and over many times but it’s funny how sometimes we need a little reminder of HIS instructions. I was sorry to say that I’m guilty of a few of them and I would like to say a couple but I don’t want to add lying to the list. Some of the words I had to look up just to make sure I understood what they meant. It is my desire and goal to put God first in my life and to obey his commandments. I wanted to share this reminder and their definitions according to the Merriam-Webster version. I knew what most of them meant like: Adultery, fornication, Idolatry, wrath, witchcraft, hatred, envyings, murders, and drunkenness. But these words I wanted to look up:

Lasciviousness:  filled with or showing sexual desire.

Uncleanness: not innocent and good: morally impure

Variance: the fact or state of being in disagreement

Emulations: ambition or endeavor to equal or excel others (as in achievement)

Strife: very angry or violent disagreement between two or more people or groups

Seditions: the crime of saying, writing, or doing something that encourages people to disobey their government

Heresies: a belief or opinion that does not agree with the official belief or opinion of a particular religion

The last two, seditions and heresies I needed a clearer interpretation of, so I researched and found this:

Heresies:  This word also denotes divisions or schisms in the church ( 1 Corinthians 11:19 ). In Titus 3:10 a "heretical person" is one who follows his own self-willed "questions," and who is to be avoided. Heresies thus came to signify self-chosen doctrines not emanating from God ( 2 Peter 2:1 ).

Seditions:  An uproar; insurrection; dissension.

Source: biblestudytools

And what really got me was the last verse I read that said: Gal. 5:21 that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven

. The fruit of the Spirit is what we need to strive to obtain from the Lord. No, it is not easy when he puts us through the fire to burn off things that are not like him, but the end result is priceless.

So faced with this revelation and looking in the mirror I see things I need to work on and asking the Lord for help in areas of my life that I hadn’t confronted or acknowledged. I thought about many times if my time came to meet him would I be ready? I’m not willing to take that chance that I was. I saw something on Facebook a clip where a preacher was at the pulpit speaking to the congregation about if the Lord took him right now, that he was ready. He took a drink of water and dropped down dead on the spot. I pray that he was ready. I can almost guarantee that he didn’t know that at that moment would be his last. We are not promised tomorrow and you never know when your appointed time will happen. Look in the mirror. Are you really ready? Pray and ask God to show you what you cannot see. Below I will leave the link to the Pastor who died at the pulpit. Let’s keep his family in prayer.   –L.G.
 This pastor said he was ready if it was his time to go to Heaven. Mere moments later, he was at the pulpit giving his sermon when something happened that...

godvine.com

CHANGE-passing to the next phase

photo by socialbusinessnews.com

CHANGE!

We all come to a point in our lives where we began to question our existence and the purpose of it. Many times I’ve heard people say; why was I born? Or why am I here? Or, “Is this all there is to my life?” I’ve even made the statement,” There’s gotta be more to life than this.” At times we even feel like something’s missing or wrong. A void that reminds us that we are not completed. We could have the family we always wanted, or enough money in the bank, or even a million friends but we can still feel lonely in a room full of people. We could be married and still feel single. We could even have a great paying job, but driving the same route and performing the same habitual rites is enough to send you over the edge!! It’s leading to …CHANGE!

: To become different

: To make (someone or something) different

: To become something else

photo by businessgross.com

Another description of change according to Merriam-Webster is:

To pass from one phase to another

So when I asked God to change my life, he really challenged me to see what he sees in me. I used to be a hermit who just worked and came home. As I got older I didn’t socialize as much and spent most of my free time with my family. My life was empty even though people were always around me. I could not believe this was how I was going to die! Work, go home, go to sleep, wake up and repeat it all over again. No! I will not die this way and when I cried out to God he heard me. I am an author of 3 published books, and I am currently working on 2 more. I started a clothing company and currently am waiting on a second license for a  company. I never thought I could accomplish these feats and it never crossed my mind to do these things. My life has certainly picked up and I don’t have time to wallow in self-pity or foolishness. I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for answering my prayers. I challenge you to seek a CHANGE if you are not happy with your life. I am truly passing from one phase to another, ARE YOU?

Tell me your story. –L.G.

photo by wanderingintherain.pressword.com