God, Get Me in the Groove!

Have you ever wanted something that you could not have, yet you rarely wanted it when it was readily accessible? It is ironic how we have no immediate desire for the things that we have access to, but the minute it's restricted we yearn for it. I feel like the same is true with the devil's ploy against me. He was not concerned about me when I was of the world because he knew that he had open access. He knew that I was depressed, full of anxiety, stressed out, broken etc., and he didn't have to work hard to destroy me because I was held captive mentally. However, I have made the decision to turn to God and establish a true relationship with him, divert from my old ways and take up the mind of Christ. Over the past few weeks, I have been intentionally putting God first, listening to him and being obedient by fulfilling my assignment in this season. I have come to find that the devil comes after me more as a follower of Christ than he ever did before.

In my last blog, Strength During the Struggle, I talked about the devil trying to attack me mentally. During this same time, God was leading me to teach during the midst of a pandemic, tutor, act on faith to make critical life decisions, write my book, and so much more. There were times where I felt overwhelmed and I just wanted to slip back into my comfort zone; I even considered taking a year off from teaching. Despite that, I still decided to be obedient and continue to do God's will. This motivated the devil to come after me even harder, so I had to decide to be defeated or square up, even though I had no energy left to exert. Then I was reminded of the scripture, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still" (Exodus 14:14 ). So, I cried out to God and recited the promises that he left in his Word. I acknowledged my struggle and was transparent about my feelings. God fulfilled his promise and began to fight the enemy for me, meanwhile I thought I could "be still" by sitting and watching from the sidelines. However, that is not what God intended. God kept me in the ring because I needed to watch the fight in high definition (HD). That experience was unique because God was revealing vision in the midst of defeating the enemy and if I was sitting on the sidelines the vision would not have been clear.

Every time I trust God and prove the devil wrong, the Lord releases another vision, opportunity or blessing. In the past, I sat on potential and purpose because I chose to believe what the devil had to say about me versus who God created me to be. I don't know about you, but I refuse to go back to discrediting my creator by falling victim to the deceit of the enemy. Of course that sounds good, but the alternative is to trust God wholeheartedly about everything. Honestly, that was a challenge in itself because God has been revealing a lot within the past year. To the point where I began to question if I was capable of accomplishing everything God intended. Turns out, He was getting me in the groove (habit or routine) of some things all along. Just before the enemy came, I had gotten in the groove of praying and listening to God. That routine allowed me to become in sync with Him and inevitably led to high levels of discernment. I like to think of it like WiFi, the transfer of the information online cannot be received if the signal is not strong. Well, God speaks to all of His children, but we must have a strong spiritual connection in order to hear Him clearly. I found that this ensued a ton of responsibility because I could no longer feel comfortable operating in my own way using the excuse of not being able to hear God.

The enemy came after me because he saw that I was getting in the reach of vision which meant that he was loosing access to me. So, the devil came to attack my mind to prevent me from continuing my walk with Christ. The devil knew that if he could convince me that I'm not good enough, then he could hire me to finish the job for him and transfer over to the next victim with a broken soul. However, in the midst of that battle, I realized that I possessed more strength than I originally accounted for. The devil told me that I would not be able to go back to school and here I am finishing up my first class for my master's degree in Educational Leadership. Since then, God has been opening countless doors for me. The attack of the enemy only validated that God is my strength, my redeemer, my fortress, my way maker, my provider; he is my ultimate source for everything. The same fight that could have taken me out and led me back into depression brought me a whole new level of peace, wisdom, and comfort. I knew that I could continue this journey of following Christ because he truly does have everything in control. It's amazing how the Lord took what the devil meant to be an attack and turned it into an epiphany of my potential and overall purpose in life. I'm just glad that I am finally getting in the groove of relying solely on God because he is the only source that will NEVER fail me!

Advice: Don't discredit your creator by falling victim to the deceit of the enemy. Get in the groove of relying on God and trusting that he has the FINAL say!