JaNina B.

When the prodigal son received his inheritance early(before he was mature enough to handle it), he no longer represented his father. He took off his identity because he never truly valued it or understood it. He had to learn the hard lesson of what happens when you are wasteful and ungrateful.       This son got so low that the food of pigs was better than what he could afford to eat. I’m sure his confidence was shattered, but he learned humility.       This son returned to his father and expected to be mistreated because he knew that his behavior was wrong, but his father ordered that the best coat be put on him. The coat, shoes, and ring that he was given was more than clothing, it was symbolic of him being given his identity back. He was a beloved son. He was valued and never forgotten. His return was celebrated because he now understood what he truly had and who he truly was. There was no way he would make the same mistake twice. He was celebrated becau...

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6) There I was, a senior in college looking forward to finally graduating until I got the dreaded email that I was lacking 3 semester hours. In that moment, I was upset with myself and wondered how, after working so hard, I managed to still be unsuccessful. Even though I was one class away from earning a degree, I was standing at the tail end of a 6- year journey that should have only taken 4 years.  I had to re-face the fact that I had failed many previous classes and I had also almost gotten myself placed on academic suspension due to bad grades, but by the grace of God, the computer somehow skipped my name, and I never received a notification that I would not be able to resume classes. God showed so much grace to me, but not being able to graduate made me angry with Him. I felt like a failure, and I thought that He w...

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7 KJV).        Sometimes what inconveniences you is purpose calling. David came  home from his job (training) to  check on the sheep that he loved (he loved what others considered to be insignificant). His father told him to  take some things to his brothers who were on the battlefield. Most of us would have wanted to argue that we need rest, but purpose  had placed a demand on David and he went.      David had training in everything that God planned for him. He was trained as a Shepard to seek God and to be brave. He didn’t go around telling people that he could fight wild animals. Some of you don’t go telling people about the demons that you have slayed through  the Hold Ghost in private.      David saw what Saul didn’t. David saw how a  kingd...

“Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice” ( 1 Kings 19: 11-12 NKJV). One the things that I love about a snippet of what Elijah encountered was that he was over it. Despite all that he was used to do for God, he got so overwhelmed that he wanted to hand over his well worn towel. God allowed us to see this part of purpose because He does not ignore it. He knows how we feel and what we battle through individually. God sees the tears and the sadness, but this does not mean that we are allowed to give up. For many of us, when we try to give God our purpose soaked towels, he throws  them back to us and tells us to put...

  The hardest job that I ever had was working with a room full of little boys between the ages of 6 through 8. At the time, I was a behavior specialist working on my masters. I had never worked primarily with little boys and I felt in over my head. The great thing about this experience was that I had an awesome co-worker who taught me everything that I needed to know and more. I had to get past learning how to do hair with teenage girls and get more comfortable with dodge ball, become way more artistically creative, learn the simplest knowledge possible about etch a sketch, and learn when to let them be boys who like to play war games. This was a hard task for me at first because I am a nurturer at heart, and I wanted to protect them.  I work at a mental health facility, so in addition to learning how to adjust to the character of what little boys like, I had to learn how to calm them down when they were highly upset. Many of the kids that I work with have issues with emotiona...

“ Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”(John 4:29 KJV). I don’t know the name of the Samaritan woman that the Lord meant at the well, but she is one of my favorite people in the Bible. I also don’t know what happened to her after her encounter with Jesus, but I do believe that she went home that day and told the man that she was with to leave because someone else had stolen her heart. Many times we judge people by their behavior instead of really taking a look at why they act the way that they do. The Samaritan woman must have heard some really awful things about herself to go to the well at a time when she knew that no one else would be there. Perhaps she didn’t want to be bothered with people and their options or perhaps she wanted to use that time to be alone. This woman was known, but perhaps she suffered from the shame of only wanting to fill a void in her heart. We don’t know how the woman at the well grew up or how she felt emotional...

  “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Phillip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” (John 14:9 KJV) I was hurt and angry to say the least. I asked God to give my family a break, but yet another death occurred. As I have grown older in Jesus, I have learned that it is safer to get closer to Him then farther away. My first instinct was to go see God, my next one was to tell Him how I felt even though I was afraid to say the words because I acknowledge who God is and has been to me.  Recently while I was washing clothes, my heart was grieving and I decided to pick up the Bible. I opened it randomly believing that I would turn to the place where God wanted me to be. I found myself in John 14. I was comforted by the beginning verses and then rebuked by the above verse. Imagine being in a relationship with someone who proves their love to you daily and then when things go wrong...

In the culture that we live in, bars have changed in that they are more refined now then they may have been in the past. By refined, I mean that you put on your business attire, get seated at a table, and a menu is then handed to you of every alcoholic beverage that you can think of, complete with a waiter who is dressed to impress who will serve you for the evening. The bars of 2020 have gone up- scale   in order to adopt to the changes within society.   I guess we can say “out with the old and in with the new” in this case.   That does not have to be a bad thing though, right? After all, Jesus also understood the importance of adjusting in order to suit to the culture that he was in. Let’s consider the wedding that he attended as an example. “ Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water”. When the jars had been filled, he said, “No...

          Today as I was reading the Bible, I thought about my spiritual mother and a story that she once shared about her mother concerning how she heard God in the midst of loudness. I was then reminded of a time that my spiritual mother talked to me about allowing people to get so close to you that they can hurt you. As I was listening to what she was saying, I took note of it, but I silently rejected it as soon as she said it. I understood it, but I wasn’t ready to hear it. I wasn’t ready to allow people to get close to me even if it was for the sake of allowing people to see Jesus through me.      As I look around me today, I find that it’s hard for me to truly connect to people because I have to let them in. I can be cool with people, but they are not allowed near my heart. Over time, I’ve built a fortified house for myself mentally and I physically live within fortified gates to protect me from “outsiders”.      This mor...

“Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land”.  (Genesis 12:7 NKJV) . In Genesis 12, the Lord told Abram to leave what was familiar to him ( his land and father’s house) in order to go to a land that He would show him. In other words, God told Abram to leave his comfort zone. Everything that Abram knew was in the land that his family was settled in, but God had other plans for him. All Abram had to do was be available. When God tells us to do something, my belief is that something special is attached to what He telling us to do. In Abram’s case, God wanted to bless the earth through him. Abram had a choice to make. We know that he choose faith, but what about you? What have you chosen? What are you choosing; comfortability or availability?  Living in a state of comfortability can be safe and predictable. Comfortability can also be a hinderance to your destiny and a clog in heaven’s drain pertaining to how and when you will rece...

The crazy thing about traveling is that it can be really expensive, but price is only a minor technicality to people who really want to go to where it is that their heart desires to go. For the budget conscious person, high price tags can be discouraging, especially after you see 4 digit numbers with a comma attached to the place that you desire to travel to the most. For those who are not afraid to take a leap of faith, consider for a second where it is that you desire to travel. • Now, consider the cheapest city for you to fly out of? • What airline do you desire to fly on? • How long will you be at your destination ? • Where will you stay when you land? • Are you traveling alone? • How much will it cost? • Is there a lay over? The price for a plan ticket from Atlanta, Georgia to Abuja, Nigeria on a Delta flight is $5797.55. The lay over for this flight is 23 hours spent in beautiful Paris,France. All of this information seems exciting and perhaps ideal if you ha...

Everyone wants to create multiple steams of income, but what has God already given you? You are afraid to take a leap of faith by going forward with the business plan or writing the book, but yet you are still praying for more money and money making opportunities. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells His disciples about 3 men, their master, and the talents (money) that he gave them to be a steward over while he went on a journey. One servant got 5 talents, the second servant got 4 talents, and the third servant got 1 talent. While the master was gone, two of the servants were wise with what they were given and doubled their master’s money. The third servant operated in fear and buried his talent. As it was, the master came back unexpectedly and asked the servants about the talents that they were given. Two of the servants, who were good stewards over the talents that they had, were given even more talents, but the third steward was called lazy because he hid the talent that he had been giv...

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, He   rescues those whose spirits are crushed”(Psalm 34:18 NLT). I recently called my father to tell him that I loved him, and he didn’t say it back. I felt led to call him and choose to not take his response personally, although I wanted to. I deserved to; but God is doing a work in me concerning this area. I try to make things pretty, but hurt is never pretty and forgiveness is rarely easy. I’m challenged to forgive and to not be offended, even when I deserve to be. People do things that I don’t like, but because I want all that God has, I have to be intentional about dealing with both my heart and my hurt. It may seem crazy, but the best thing that anyone can do for you is to count you out and hurt you. Hurt can either damage you or it can create a passion in you that God can use for His glory. I am the definition of a foolish thing that God has chosen to use. All that He requires from me is that I submit to Him, even when I don’t ...

“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32 KJV). I have traveled through some tough moments, especially the ones that I experienced as a teenager. Those moments felt as if they would last a life time. To be honest, I had no idea that I would ever make it to a place where I could be able to look back on all of them and be able to see that I was being processed. I remember the times when God showed up at the right moments in my life to remind me that I was His. I didn’t see it that way back then, but those moments were like life lines. I lived in the dark and I had no notion of what it would be like to function in the light. I was being processed. The devil is funny. He will take you through hell on earth in order to destroy the hope that God has something different for you. I was so mentally ...

Everyone wants to fulfill your purpose until they realize what it costs you to say yes to God. People judge struggles and trials that they have not had to survive in. They want what you have, but lack the understanding of the number of tears that you have shed in order to continue to bend when the applause of man says that you should stand- up and be honored when you do something great. Your greatness is attributed to God, but people who merely seek applause from others have no idea what that really means. “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8). Walking in your purpose is beautiful. Walking in your purpose with a holy anointing will cost you something. God is not looking for people who want to be seen. He is looking for people who want to submit. Seeking to be seen out of season will set you up for attacks that you may not be ready for. It will cause you to be identified by enemies when your jo...

I am in a place that I don’t quite understand, but it’s a place that I need to be in. I am in a place in which I feel as if I have to go backwards in order to move forward. Most people say, “I never go backward, I only look ahead”, but in some cases, it is necessary in order for you to survive in the land that God wants to place you in. That land is a place of healthy relationships and emotional stability. Most of us have a tendency to operate in dysfunction and not even know it. It’s not healthy to want to avoid men and not understand why. It’s not healthy to always be in conflict with other people. It’s not healthy to hate correction. It’s not healthy to hate your family members and to walk in offense. It’s not healthy to avoid intimate relationships with the people that God sends to be builders in the repairing of you. Let me ask you something; who tainted you? Who touched you the wrong way? Who broke your heart, insulted you, and left you in a spiritually dead place? Who st...