“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me in your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13
When I was growing up, going to school during the week, getting up early on Saturday to do a deep clean, and then Sunday school and worship service every Sunday was a normal routine. On Fridays we would go to Brown’s Fish Market in Monticello Road and get bone-in fish and sunbeam bread, on Saturday’s we would eat Hardee’s chicken, mashed potatoes, and peach cobbler. Do you remember when Hardee’s has their fried chicken? It was out of this world! Then Saturday night mom or dad would let the food slow cook and supper was ready shortly after we got settled in for church.
That routine was all my brother and I knew. It’s like I looked forward to the next day because I knew it was deck tennis with Faith, cheerleading with Regina, goofing off with Shacara, watching A Babysitters Club with Brittany, or climbing trees with Elizabeth, Janet or Michael.
And then as years went by we welcomed young adulthood, got jobs, went off to college, and welcomed adulthood. The routine didn’t change much until daddy died. We had to find our way again, I admit I lost myself for a while. I didn’t want to go on, a part of me had died with him. But it hit me, I must live and allow his legacy to breathe within me. Marriage came, kids came, life happened.
So here we are present day and being married, having kids, working full time; my routine hasn’t changed much. God, family, creating memories, doing for others is still apart of my normal routine. Everything we did, momma and daddy were preparing me for this very moment.
They taught us who God is. They taught us our values, our morals, our beliefs, they taught us the way of the life. Oh how I thank God for my mom and dad. Daddy is resting in Heaven but he is still here in my heart and he is here in room 791 with mom and I.
Momma taught me how to care for people even when I felt like I was being mistreated. She is the perfect example of the golden rule. Growing up people would roll their eyes when I would say, “So unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But it all made sense and even when I want to mean, I just can’t. It’s not in my nature. So when I had a little issue with one of the PCN’s because her “southern hospitality” was not very hospitable, momma looked at me and those eyebrows said it all. Oh momma! As the nurse sticks her arm now and keeps repeating “sorry” for sticking her trying to draw labs momma is still calm although those little feet are moving a mile a minute.
I’m so thankful I can stand tall and bold and tell you this morning to know God is to love Him. He has been preparing and grooming us for what we are facing. If it weren’t for our belief in God, when “bad things” happen, I would just be shattered. So you look at the current climate of the world and some folks wonder “where is God” when black unarmed men are being gunned down by the police, when moms are being left to raise their children alone, when the coronavirus is killing daily. He provides us with so much comfort and peace. It’s the difference of knowing God and believing in God.
Because I know God intimately I am not dwelling on the now because I know He has great plans for our future. God is here with my mom and I just as He is with you and others who may be experiencing a lost, a rough time, pain or discomfort.
Experiencing God’s love and His presence in this place is so calming. It’s like home! We are surrounded around so many caring people and come to find out last there is a nurse here who lives in my moms hometown of Vance. Who would have known? That brought that my mom joy last night as she wrote on the dry erase board and built a family tree. Her dad is related to my maternal grandmothers side of the family.
So God I thank you for being the Healer, the Provider, the source of strength, the Comforter, and the loving God that You are. Thank you for being ever so present. You are a promise keeper, a way maker, you are my light in the darkness, you are my strength, you are my love, you are my mine. I thank You for Your Word and I just thank You for being God.
Thank you for preparing me from the very beginning for this moment and this time in my life. Because you have been a part of my routine from the start, I am in perfect peace. Shout out to your parents this morning for loving you and helping you develop into the fantastic men and women you are today.
Leave your shoutouts below. This one is for the parents.