A Way Forward>

Many days have passed since my last blog post. However, I am never uninspired by my personal conversations with God. Today was a truly enlightening day in respect to a divine conversation. My morning worship doesn't really consist of me wildly throwing my hands up in the air and shouting my needs to God. While sometimes it can turn out that way, normally personal worship begins with me taking a moment to look at my reflection in the mirror and allowing my spirit engage with what I see inwardly. I know that sounds like a contradiction right; Here I am looking at a physical reflection yet I am looking inward. That's a whole talk for another day sis! Anyway, I often ask God to give me a mantra or affirmation to stand on for the day and/or I ask for insight about things that have been on my heart and mind. I listen to inspiring music- I avoid phone calls & messages to stay in a space of "it's just me and You God!" As I was moved to write a new affirmation on my mirror I began to seek answers about my business and the shift that we are currently experiencing within. I pondered as to why success feels so fleeting, vaporized even. What's the point of gaining a win if you can't maintain that euphoric feeling that it brings? Trust me, I know all too well about temporary things. Just in that moment I wanted clarity as to why we even have an audacious expectation for winning moments to last. Is there another way to decipher those winning moments? Many of us are hoping that the next level of success gets us out of an uncomfortable circumstance or situation. However, I clearly heard God say, "You thought of it as a way out but it was a way forward." Now at this point, I am all in my feelings like sooooo you mean to tell me that this wasn't meant to rescue me from my problems??? Nope, it wasn't at all. It was meant to push me through. Listen, I believe God can pull us out of any situation for sure, however, what if He is pushing us forward instead of out of some of our most dreadful situations? Follow me for a moment...If we are in the middle of the ocean onboard a sinking ship yet the ship has lifeboats that we can access to avoid going down with the ship, are we not still in the middle of the ocean on those life boats? We simply went from one boat to another yet we did not become a victim of the circumstance. Provision was made to sustain a way forward, not necessarily a way out of the water itself. In other words, a new opportunity doesn't always mean that you will escape the environment, it simply means that you will find ways to move forward. The way forward may continually reveal a path towards your intended destination. The water will rise, waves may crash and rock your boat but rest assured that the waves have a purpose too, they move us forward toward land.

What circumstance(s) do you expect to be able to escape as you reach new levels of success in your life? Do you expect that you will become instantly free from your current environment or will you come to realize that the waves of life are pushing you from one victory to the next adding more and more purpose with each move? Again I say, God can and will deliberately bring us out of certain situations but sometimes He allows us to simply move forward through the very thing that we want to escape. Maybe it's about building trust, strengthening our faith, helping us see Him clearly or all of those things. Maybe if He pulled us directly out of the water we would miss the beautiful sight of Him walking on it to rescue us. So, the next time we're asking God to give us a new level to get us out of something, let's try asking that He shows us the scenic route forward as we achieve new levels of success.

Love,

Coach Ella