Gratefullness
A fork by any other name
Have you ever asked yourself "Why does God allow bad things to happen? Being Christian does not mean you will have the perfect life. God never promises that ;however, He does promise that whatever we go through He will always be there.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:27
A fork by any other name is the title I choose because that was the precise experience that moved me in a way that every year following that experience during thanksgiving I think about it. Thanksgiving is quite the reflective season for me. Where I sit a and think a little longer, and appreciate things a little more than usual, and take the time to express it to God, my family, and friends. So when I am asked what am I thankful for. I say Forks! Yes, I know that might seem like a very unusual answer but allow to explain and narrate the story.
The year was 2013-2014 I came to visit family in Illinois and my dad tells me, we are moving here. I just came to visit, but while visiting my dad decided to move here (Illinois) so he tells me to stay with an aunt in Illinois and that he would be back in a month with all our belongings. I was angry, frustruated, upset you name it! I was not looking forward to starting over in my last year of high school in a new school graduating with people I didn't even know. A month goes by and to my surprise when dad said "all our belongings" he meant what he could fit in a van which consisted of a microwave, the tv, our clothing, and a few pots and pans nothing else! Not Daisy (my dog) , not my furniture, not my entire belongings. So I was entering into crisis mode. I lived in a two story house, I had a car, great school, great friends, and one day to another I found myself living in a basement at an uncles house. My dad decided to leave everything behind to my older brother and sister since they lived in Alabama and they had no desire to move to Illinois. I thank the Lord Jesus for my dad because that man is a man of Faith he sees vision where I see nothing, seriously! Lol If I could insert an emoji here I would! God also made no mistake when he brought me into my dads life he knew that man would need a little bit of rationality in his life and he knew I would need a whole lot of Faith so I'm pretty sure the Lord knew what He was doing bringing me into the world with a dad like him. Which ofcourse I'm grateful! Thankfully living in a basement did not last very long and it wasen't that awful I think I am being a little bit to dramatic ha! We where able to move twice after that to new places until settling where we are now. But when we finally managed to be able to be in our own place without help from family it was still very hard. I remember clearly the day we moved into our own place. I was hungry, tired and exhausted from moving all the furniture and our belongings into our place. So I proceeded towards the kitchen. I unwrapped the clear wrapping around a cup soup added water unto it and put it in the microwave (I know, clearly not the safest way to eat a cup soup, the directions clearly say to boil the water not microwave, so don't do its been known that it leads to cancer.) So, here I am sitting on top of a water cooler, on a white plastic rectangular foldable table starring blankly at my soup having no silverware, no fork! I had completely forgot about buying silverware! It never crossed my mind because it was just something that was always there you know!? I never bothered to think about something that seemed so insignificant. So I cried not because of the circumstances I was under but because I realized how ungrateful I was. I had done nothing but constantly complain over and over and over. But when I had everything I never appreciated anything I was so arrogant and oblivious to how blessed I truly was. All along God was trying to teach me, convict me, and he needed me to respond, and sometimes we have to learn the hard way. But that day sitting on top of that water cooler having no fork I cried out to God and thank Him for my very life, my very breath, my health, my family, and I haven't been the same since. It was one of the most humbling experiences to this day. There are no words to express how grateful I am that God allowed those things to happen because its precious moments like that, that have shaped me and molded me into the woman I am today. Today my motto and mantra is to always be humble, to be kind and praise God in the good and in the bad. So if your asking yourself why does God allow bad things to happen. I believe He allows those things to happen because He uses those very things to shape us and mold us, for Him to be glorified greatly because its the work of the holy spirit to produce a change in us, and a change in our hearts somethings its the only way that will make us respond. The fork was my particular eye opening moment and your moment is perhaps by any other name and frankly I don't think we have just one moving experiences but several and of course by any other name. Sometimes ... well more often than not we don't understand what He is doing, but I've learned to trust Him because He is up to something believe me, He is! He is working on your behalf. He needs us to respond, to trust, to break, to yearn, to cry, and to rejoice! When times are at our worst we find out what we have in us to overcome. And against all odds we continue because the human spirit is a powerful force it is then that we can confidently say , " Not I, but God in me."
"You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."- John 13:7
Psalms 119 is so powerful! I encourage you to read it, meditate it, speak it and apply it. Because the psalmist acknowledges that without affliction he would have not learned the Lords statutes and the psalmist would have strayed.
"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." - Psalm 119:67
"It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes." Psalm 119:71
Because He is faithful to His promise to His word to perfect us until the day of His coming He corrects us, teaches, and molds us, and never gives up on us!
" I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75
"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:27
A fork by any other name is the title I choose because that was the precise experience that moved me in a way that every year following that experience during thanksgiving I think about it. Thanksgiving is quite the reflective season for me. Where I sit a and think a little longer, and appreciate things a little more than usual, and take the time to express it to God, my family, and friends. So when I am asked what am I thankful for. I say Forks! Yes, I know that might seem like a very unusual answer but allow to explain and narrate the story.
The year was 2013-2014 I came to visit family in Illinois and my dad tells me, we are moving here. I just came to visit, but while visiting my dad decided to move here (Illinois) so he tells me to stay with an aunt in Illinois and that he would be back in a month with all our belongings. I was angry, frustruated, upset you name it! I was not looking forward to starting over in my last year of high school in a new school graduating with people I didn't even know. A month goes by and to my surprise when dad said "all our belongings" he meant what he could fit in a van which consisted of a microwave, the tv, our clothing, and a few pots and pans nothing else! Not Daisy (my dog) , not my furniture, not my entire belongings. So I was entering into crisis mode. I lived in a two story house, I had a car, great school, great friends, and one day to another I found myself living in a basement at an uncles house. My dad decided to leave everything behind to my older brother and sister since they lived in Alabama and they had no desire to move to Illinois. I thank the Lord Jesus for my dad because that man is a man of Faith he sees vision where I see nothing, seriously! Lol If I could insert an emoji here I would! God also made no mistake when he brought me into my dads life he knew that man would need a little bit of rationality in his life and he knew I would need a whole lot of Faith so I'm pretty sure the Lord knew what He was doing bringing me into the world with a dad like him. Which ofcourse I'm grateful! Thankfully living in a basement did not last very long and it wasen't that awful I think I am being a little bit to dramatic ha! We where able to move twice after that to new places until settling where we are now. But when we finally managed to be able to be in our own place without help from family it was still very hard. I remember clearly the day we moved into our own place. I was hungry, tired and exhausted from moving all the furniture and our belongings into our place. So I proceeded towards the kitchen. I unwrapped the clear wrapping around a cup soup added water unto it and put it in the microwave (I know, clearly not the safest way to eat a cup soup, the directions clearly say to boil the water not microwave, so don't do its been known that it leads to cancer.) So, here I am sitting on top of a water cooler, on a white plastic rectangular foldable table starring blankly at my soup having no silverware, no fork! I had completely forgot about buying silverware! It never crossed my mind because it was just something that was always there you know!? I never bothered to think about something that seemed so insignificant. So I cried not because of the circumstances I was under but because I realized how ungrateful I was. I had done nothing but constantly complain over and over and over. But when I had everything I never appreciated anything I was so arrogant and oblivious to how blessed I truly was. All along God was trying to teach me, convict me, and he needed me to respond, and sometimes we have to learn the hard way. But that day sitting on top of that water cooler having no fork I cried out to God and thank Him for my very life, my very breath, my health, my family, and I haven't been the same since. It was one of the most humbling experiences to this day. There are no words to express how grateful I am that God allowed those things to happen because its precious moments like that, that have shaped me and molded me into the woman I am today. Today my motto and mantra is to always be humble, to be kind and praise God in the good and in the bad. So if your asking yourself why does God allow bad things to happen. I believe He allows those things to happen because He uses those very things to shape us and mold us, for Him to be glorified greatly because its the work of the holy spirit to produce a change in us, and a change in our hearts somethings its the only way that will make us respond. The fork was my particular eye opening moment and your moment is perhaps by any other name and frankly I don't think we have just one moving experiences but several and of course by any other name. Sometimes ... well more often than not we don't understand what He is doing, but I've learned to trust Him because He is up to something believe me, He is! He is working on your behalf. He needs us to respond, to trust, to break, to yearn, to cry, and to rejoice! When times are at our worst we find out what we have in us to overcome. And against all odds we continue because the human spirit is a powerful force it is then that we can confidently say , " Not I, but God in me."
"You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."- John 13:7
Psalms 119 is so powerful! I encourage you to read it, meditate it, speak it and apply it. Because the psalmist acknowledges that without affliction he would have not learned the Lords statutes and the psalmist would have strayed.
"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." - Psalm 119:67
"It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes." Psalm 119:71
Because He is faithful to His promise to His word to perfect us until the day of His coming He corrects us, teaches, and molds us, and never gives up on us!
" I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75
So yes, I hope this post makes you laugh and smile at my expense in appreciation for the forks of this world! Oh ,You better believe that I thank the Lord for those cold, solid pieces of metal! Know that God is good, and I pray He is able to speak to you through this story and I hope you can reflect the fork was my unique situation that prompt a heart change. And for others it's something different I'm sure if you ask anybody else, they too have unique situations but its the experience that is universal. I would like to thank my mentor City of Waukegans 4th ward alderman David Villalobos. In my spiritual life my mentors are exceptional woman and men of God in my natural life its people like David that mentor us younger peeps and put effort to make us great leaders of the world tomorrow. More than anyone and anything I thank God for all the good times and the bad. I truly don't have to words to express how good He is! In awe and in fear I give God the glory and pray that this post is able to speak volumes of Gods love for you in Jesus name I pray, Amen! Alrighty to the Almighty!
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