Exhorting Faith Through Testimony

Exhorting Faith Through Testimony!

September 9, 2024

Hi there! I hope you all are doing well the day you read this message! I felt moved to share a testimony of faith!  “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear…” I Peter 3:15 (NKJV). It is a good thing to speak on the goodness of God. It’s one way to encourage others in their faith. By our testimonies, Jesus is magnified and glorified, and the enemy is condemned. So, without further ado, here is a one of many testimonies of my faith. My prayer is that you feel encouraged to praise God and seek out your own reasons why you believe in our Father. The evidence of your faith if you will.

Let’s start with a question. Have you ever reflected on everything God has done for you no matter how big or small? When you do this, what you find is that it’s a never-ending reflection! He is so merciful! Praise the Lord!  🙌🏾 I’m working on praising Him every chance I get about everything!

Story time: From exploring my website, you’ll find that I have been an RN since 2011 in the Labor and Delivery specialty. Well, when Covid-19 hit in 2020, no one knew what to expect. We all experienced it, so I won’t go into all of the changes that happened. Now, fast forward into 2021, it came down the pipeline that eventually healthcare workers would have to take the solution. Immediately, I began to pray and ask for God’s guidance on what I should do (meaning should I get it or not). Now, a lot of us who have been following after the Lord have learned how He communicates with us, right? So, I never got the urge to get the solution. {Disclaimer: Now, I’m not for it or against it, I just needed to know what He wanted me to do in this situation. This is the path that He has chosen for me.} They gave us options. We could either get it or fill out a medical or religious exemption. As soon as it was available, I filled out the religious exemption form. I prayed and asked God for His Will to be done. I flew home for a short visit with my family in August. It’s always a great time with them. I didn’t think much about the results because it was in God’s hands. So, I enjoyed the time I was given to be with family. The same day I returned back to California, I looked at the results of my exemption. They had approved it! I gave God His praise because for sure I knew that this was the final answer. I went on working as usual, and I didn’t think anything else of it. Well, about 3 weeks later, I received an email from my employer stating that they would like me to answer some additional questions about my exemption. I don’t remember being afraid because I was like, okay sure! I answered the questions and sent my response. I was thinking that this was just more exercise of my faith and patience. So, I sent scriptures to back up my beliefs. There were some odd questions like, “Did the leader of my religion take the “vaccine” and ” have you ever taken any medications”. I’m thinking what does what the leader of my “religion” have to do with my exemption. I was honestly annoyed because I don’t put my faith in man. I put my faith in God. I learned not to follow what a person would do over what my God is moving me to do. That is a sure-fire way to displease Him. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote, but I surely put that in my response! Again, I went back to work as usual. During the time of waiting for the employer’s response to my exemption, I had to take a Covid test 2-3x per week. I complied with this. ALL of my tests were negative. 

Now, about two weeks after answering the additional questions, I receive an email stating they had declined my exemption because in so many words, they didn’t believe that I held a sincere religious belief that prevented me from getting the vaccine. It was Human Resources sending me the emails. They gave me an ultimatum to get the vaccine before December 1, 2021, or get terminated. The first thing that came out of my mouth was, “Here we go, Lord!” In that moment, I still didn’t feel led to get the vaccine. This was a new level of surety for me because the last time I felt sure in a decision was when I walked away from a 7.5-year toxic relationship (that’s a story for another time lol). This time, it was concerning my career! A career God brought me to and placed in my heart. This is my livelihood. This is how I made money to sustain myself. So, to be willing to walk away again because God said so, unlocked something in me that I didn’t recognize before. Blind faith! Walking away from a relationship takes faith of course, but I didn’t lose anything, right? This time, I’m walking away from a career, a passion, finances. Everything that I built. Did you catch that? Everything that I built! Let’s look at some scriptures that explain what happens to houses built on sand and houses built on a rock.  Luke 6: 46-48: 46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” In this season, let’s do what the Lord tells us or urges us to do, so that we are building a foundation upon a rock because truth be told, what we build without Jesus as our foundation will eventually crumble. Little did I know, God had been rebuilding my foundation upon a rock since 2018 when He showed me that I was not living according to what He has written for me. Brick by brick, he has been dismantling and rebuilding me! Praise the Lord in the name of Jesus! Thank you! 

The story isn’t over just yet, so if you have been hanging on thus far, thank you! There are more nuggets here! Back to the story. This decision was made by HR. What was mind boggling for me was the fact that I never spoke to anyone neither was I interviewed. They based a decision about my life from e-mails. I was already on administrative leave, but I resigned on November 3, 2021, because I said that I will not allow them to make a decision for me. I’m making the choice to follow God on this matter. I wanted to show God my loyalty to Him. Now, let’s be honest. My first reaction was, “Okay Jesus, Let’s gooooooooooo!!!” *Insert your fave gif* LOL. After the dust settled from the decision, I’m like Okay Jesus, what’s next??? Of course, the fears, the worries, the doubts came flooding in. “Did I hear Jesus right? Did I move too soon? What am I going to do for finances? What are friends and family going to think? How am I going to pay these bills?” so on and so forth. Have you ever experienced this before; Making a decision that is between you and God, and then second guessing or worrying what others may think? or even worrying how things will work out? I will say from experience, work on not doing this because what it does is decreases your faith, and it gives the enemy room to come in and plant tares in your mind to destroy your faith completely. It’s not always a swift destruction either. The enemy is as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. Now, if you have ever looked at how lions or even domestic cats hunt, you’ll notice they are very patient creatures. They think and watch fervently, they strategize, they study their opponent, and at the right time they attack. So, as I was coming down from the excitement of what God was moving me to do, the enemy stepped in to plant fear, doubt, worries, hesitancy. Now, I won’t put all of that on him because I had to give him space to work. I showed in my conversations and actions that I was becoming fearful and doubtful, and the enemy magnified it. He can only enter in when you open a door for him to walk through. Another thing, don’t give place to the devil. Here is an example of how you can give place to him using anger. 26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27 (NKJV) God tells us that we can be angry, but do not allow this anger to cause you to sin because in this example that’s how you would give place to the devil to magnify himself. So, when you are experiencing a new thing in God, you can ask questions, you can seek and you can knock, but don’t allow this to cause you to lose faith in God’s ability to finish what He started in you because that gives the enemy a foothold in your mind. Whew! Run on sentence there, but you understand what I’m saying, right? At the beginning of this journey, I really had to dig my heels in and stay committed to Him. This scripture was my foundation.  5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6. (NKJV) This is actually my favorite scripture, but it resonated so deeply for me during this purge, stretch and growth phase of my walk with God. He pressed on me the fact that I do acknowledge Him in all my ways, but I needed to learn how to trust Him alone without leaning on my own understanding. My God, this was hard for me! I don’t know about you all out there, but sistah had some control issues that I had to let go of to become a new creature in Christ. A lot of crying, praying, fasting, and changing had to take place. Some disobedience took place too. Let’s be real; we are working on full obedience, but we are not 100% obedient all the time. PATIENCE! Whew, that was another one! If anyone tells you it is easy to follow Christ, run, because it is not! We are not perfect, but He is. It takes us a lot of focus, drive and commitment to change. There are new and old challenges every day. Let me get back to the story before I go deeper into a tangent. I remember seeing a post on Instagram about becoming a Christian Doula. It was fascinating to me because I could build my own business, I could be who I am in a spiritual sense without anyone telling me I couldn’t, I could encourage families to seek God in all things, and I would work for God full time! I wasn’t sure though if this is the way He wanted me to go. I also remember fasting and praying about it. I asked two questions. One question had to do with a road I thought He presented me where I would be operating as a faith coach. The other question was about the Doula work. Now, when you go before the Lord with a question in prayer and in fasting, you cannot go to the throne with the answer in your mind because guess what? You will gravitate to the answer you want rather than the answer God gives. This is exactly what I did. It was an elder sister in Christ who told me this. Our elders who follow Christ are so important because that was wisdom for me. I almost took the wrong road because my mind was focused completely on moving to another state to be a faith coach. That’s what I thought I wanted. That’s what I thought Jesus was moving me to do. Once those plans of mine were distorted and fell apart, I knew that my answer was to go down the Doula/Entrepreneur Road. Guess what? In my Doula work, I get to provide faith coaching to my clients. Look at how I would’ve sold the gifts God put in me short. I was focused on one gift when God had many gifts waiting for me in my entrepreneurial journey! The Lord knows what He is doing! We just have to trust Him every step of the way!  11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11. (NKJV). 

The work He has called me to do has given me peace. I enjoy connecting with people and getting to know them deeply during the time I’m serving them. We don’t do this anymore nowadays. Everyone is so caught up in themselves (selfie this and selfie that; self-made this and self-made that) A lot of things are about self and not others. There’s something about getting to know someone and hearing their stories. It’s so primitive. I’ll take the simple life any day! We have forgotten the basics of communication. Now, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with its challenges, but I know this is where He wants me. He constantly confirms it. Take a moment to think about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and even Moses. God consistently reminded them of His promises to them and their lineage. He will reassure us because He knows we are flesh, and most times, we don’t see things the way He sees things. His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. God knows what He is doing and a lot of times, we don’t immediately get it, but he reassures us of His guidance and His presence. He so loving and merciful that way! I love it! For me, I had the opportunity to speak to the woman who’s IG post I saw about Christian Doula work. It was a powerful conversation and all about fighting for the Kingdom of God in the midst of this evil world. From that point on, God just kept equipping me with what I needed to move forward. He gave me my business name (Kingdom Business Daily). He gave me my DBA name for the Doula services (Shiloah Doula). He even gave me my logo! As soon as I saw it in my mind, I sketched it out and found an artist to bring it together! Not to mention before the ink dried on my LLC application in California, He already had clients lined up for me! Trust and believe, we each have a work to do! He will provide everything you need! You have to have faith that He is the God He says He is! Then, you have to put in the work! He will create the space for you to grow! I am still working, and He is not finished with KBD yet! All glory goes to the King, Jesus! I’m so grateful for this journey!

Wheeew! Did you make it to the end? That was a long one, huh? Lol a little reading never hurt anybody! My hope and prayer is that you have been encouraged to praise God first, but to also take this testimony and the lessons and apply it to your own walk with Christ! I encourage you to take heed to the calling that is on you from our Lord, Jesus! Become chosen for this great work He has called you to because the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few! If He tells you to walk away from a person, place, thing, or idea, I implore you to do it! I pray the Lord will send you into this great vineyard to help return His children to Him! I pray that you develop more strength, wisdom and understanding according to His Word. I pray that your discernment and discretion increase in this season. I pray that you will open your ears to hear His voice even if it goes against your own voice or the voice of others you listen to. Be a follower of Christ and not of people. I pray that no weapon formed against you will prosper as His Word reminds us! Be full of His Holy Spirit and go forward, soldier! Let the light of God shine forth family, peace!