Alright y'all.. SING WITH ME!
"This song's dedicated to
Everyone who made it.
Through MANY test and trials
Hopeless situations,
Now you have a story that the Angels can't sing in Glory
You're redeemed from the hand of the enemy!" - Testimony by Anthony Brown
If there is one thing you should know about me, it is that I LOVE GOSPEL MUSIC y'all! Brings back many memories from my childhood. Although I was raised in a Haitian Baptist Church, where the worship songs were mainly in creole, I was also fully engaged in the Gospel Music culture.
I chose this song by Anthony Brown to introduce my FIRST blog post (woot, woot!) because I will be speaking a bit about MY TESTIMONY.
As I have mentioned before, I was raised in a Haitian Baptist Church. I had a mild understanding of who God was, which also affected the way that I seen myself as a Child of God. I simply knew that I was not suppose to say God's name in vain, I was suppose to worship Him alone, believe in Him so I could avoid Hell, respect my parents, and go to church every Sunday--Epi Dats It! (Translate: And That's It!).
My foundation in my faith in God was very weak. I grew up in this church environment, and it was the only thing that I knew of. It is evident that I did not have a complete intimate relationship with the LORD--this took place between elementary to middle school. I believed in Him, but did not fully understood WHY. I only prayed when I needed the LORD to help me pass a big test, I read Psalm 25 every night simply because my mother told me it would be beneficial to me, and I would memorize verses, such as John 3:16, solely for Sunday school. Because of my lack of understanding of who God was, and my lack of understanding of who I was IN HIM, I did not completely walk in obedience to His word. I was not a bad kid, but my heart was not fully yielded and submitted to God. I respected my parents, I was nice to the people around me, and always had a heart to help people. Sounds great and all, but I was very flawed in each of those areas in my life because of the unsteady foundation my character was built on. I would sometimes respect my parents with an ungrateful heart and would constantly become defensive when I was corrected or when things did not go MY way, I was nice to others because I wanted people to ACCEPT me, and I wanted to HELP others because I felt as my aid would lead others to respect me as a person. The LORD did not leave me here though, He purified my "good" works with His perfect grace.
Entering my freshman year in High School, ya girl got her foundation SHAKEN! It was my first time encountering people who had different beliefs than me. I had conversations with agnostics, atheists, Buddhist, Muslims, etc. Hearing and listening to their perspectives grew doubt and confusion within me. I began to question if my existence mattered--"Do I have a purpose if God isn't real?", "Is there even a real reason to live?", "What's the point of life?''. Questions after questions arose in my heart, and I fell into a phase of depression. The thought of God not being real meant to me that I did not have a reason to live. It was tempting for me to stay in this place of depression and confusion, but I was led to SEEK God for myself. Not because my parents told me so, but because I was desperate to find meaning to the life I was living. The fact that I was still led to SEEK God, despite opposition, proves that the Holy Spirit was already at work within me.
I began to study the word of God for myself. I reached out to my pastor, Sunday school teacher, friends in the faith, and spiritual leaders for answers. "Who is this God that I am suppose to serve?", "How do I truly walk in obedience to His word?", and "Why is JESUS so important?". The Holy Spirit truly led me in my time of seeking the LORD for myself--day and night. As I read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, JESUS fully magnified in me--I began to understand Him, most importantly, HIS LOVE. God's greatest expression of His love for US was through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus, the Son of God, lived a life that we were suppose to live, and He died a death that we were suppose to die. He went on that cross, taking in our sorrows, our pain, our failures, our imperfections, our disobedience, our pride, our selfishness, our impurities, ALL of our SINS, just so we can be unified with the FATHER and walk in complete VICTORY over all of our sins! Our sins have NO power over us anymore because of JESUS. His perfect, perfect, PERFECT GRACE has given us freedom in HIM alone. We deserve the GRAVE, we deserve DEATH, but JESUS rose up from the GRAVE and gave us grace and mercy--no shame, no condemnation, just LOVE. This is the GOSPEL (The Good News of Jesus Christ).
Wow, this GOD who is perfect, holy, righteous, and the CREATOR of the universe step down from His throne in Heaven to come down and live in this flawed earth just so He could die for me and raise up from the dead, so I could be FREE and have complete ACCESS to Him. WHOA.. that. is. LOVE. I am still trying to understand this love that is so great and so VAST. But because of the DEPTH of this love, I couldn't HELP but to SUBMIT to HIS love.
As I was battling with so many questions and fell deep into confusion, the LOVE of God humbled me. It gave me security. Seriously, there is NOT another LOVE like HIS--it is only God Himself who can carry a LOVE that is THIS great! No other religion compares to this redemption! God's TRANSFORMING LOVE became my stable and steadfast foundation! Because of this love, It is now that I can live a life, along side the Holy Spirit, that honors and glorifies God, I now recognize how my sins separate me from having an intimate relationship with the LORD, and I NOW recognize that His GRACE is so much more powerful than my sins, and I can walk in obedience by resting in His great grace and love.
August 1, 2015. The day I got baptized. I was ALL IN with Jesus because I realized HE was ALL IN with ME. He did not look back on the cross, so there was no reason for me to second guess this decision to completely walk in obedience to the Father's will. I was TRANSFORMED. I did not walk the same, I did not talk the same, I did not think the same, I did not see God the same, I did not see myself the same, and I did not see others the same. The LORD REDEEMED ME. HE DELIVERED ME.
I pray that my testimony encourages you to go DEEP with God. The LORD is constantly perfecting me more and more into HIS image every single day. It is an HONOR to be a Child of God because He walks hand in hand with us through the low and high moments. He gives us an identity in HIM that is nonperishable.
If you would like to give your life to JESUS, I encourage you to read the Bible (God's Holy and most Living Word). UNDERSTAND the GOSPEL. You do not have to read the whole bible in order to understand it all, but it is essential for you to know the Living God you are willing to serve in order to completely submit to His will. Starting with the New Testament will help you to know JESUS, whom helps you know the FATHER.
Meditate on these two verses:
John 5:32 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."
Romans 10:9-10 "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
It starts with your HEART. Declare with your mouth that Jesus is LORD, that you are a sinner and repent from your sins. Proclaim that He is good, He has forgiven your sins, He has given you His perfect love and grace, and you CHOOSE to fully believe in HIM with your whole being. Today and forever, declare that you will walk and submit to the LORD forevermore. Ask for the Holy Spirit to consume you and help you walk in this! AMEN!
HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH. Before you can walk in the fullness of God's great and beautiful plans for your life, you must have faith in Him. If you need more guidance in this journey, PLEASE feel free to reach out to me!
I LOVE every single one of you who reads this BLOG post! My brother, my sister, you are fully loved by me, and the one and only GOD. You are worthy, you are honored, you are a light, you have purpose, and you are perfected in JESUS. Use all that He has placed in you to glorify Him!
Revelation 12:11 "And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."
And that's a WRAP for this very first BLOG post!
Comments