Fight For You

Hello loves! I know its been a while since I blogged but I’m back. It has been such a life-changing break. I’m sure its no news to most of you that I became Mrs. Annor this past August. Yay for marrying Gods best for me. I can’t wait to share that testimony with you all but until then, I’ll keep blogging as I’m led.

Todays blog post is inspired by Mali Musics song “Fight For You”. Mali is such a genius and his music just breathes life and wisdom. I encourage you all to listen to this very song and pay close attention to the lyrics. The first few lines grab me whenever I listen to the song. It says “i know they see you and they want you, I know they see you and they want to make you who they want you to be”. Ain’t it crazy how certain people in your life plan and map out YOUR life for you and expect you to follow that plan and if you don’t seem to want that for yourself then you become a horrible and rebellious person? There is no doubt that certain people in your life want the best for you and want to see you succeed in life. That is totally understandable. However, if you get so caught up in your plans for my life that you forget that Gods plan is the ultimate plan, then there’s a problem. ““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord”. [Isaiah 55:8] Gods ways are not our ways so while we would like for Person A to become a doctor, God actually wants Person A to become a child care worker. God made Person A and knows what He placed in him/her so why do people get so caught up in their plans?

Mali goes on to say “Situations will approach you
and opportunities to faith shade and downgrade will provoke you. And those you trust will start to turn too so never pay too much attention to the things they say they won’t do”. Don’t be shocked when people you thought were your buddies begin to act funny and slowly exit themselves from your life. Its good for you because the last thing you need is fake friends who will not help you stay obedient to God. Don’t be surprised when its your bible study buddy, or your work buddy or even blood related. God deletes the weeds that will choke your growth and places the right people in your life to see His vision with you and help you towards the finish line. Someones life depends on your obedience so don’t deprive them of it. Some times it helps to realize that when God was leading you to do something, He told it to YOU. Not you and them. Not you and cousin Frank or grandma Sally. He told it to YOU! So He requires the obedience from you not them. And He requires you to listen to Him not them either because He created you…for His purpose.

See who God has made you to be is not for the taking, not for the changing, not for remixing or remaking. Who God has made you is not up for debating. We can’t possibly have a better plan than God. Sometimes the people who have your best interest at heart end up looking like the enemies in your life because in their eyes, you’re headed in the wrong direction or in their eyes, God could never have told you to do what you said He told you. They don’t even believe you can hear from God. Ayanna Thomas of NoRingNoSheets and Karolyne Roberts, the author of “The One Revealed”, have such amazing testimonies of following through with what God instructed them to do despite the difficult reception they received from people close to them. And its amazing how God has been so faithful to these people. And even in my own life…I can’t share too much just yet because the testimony is still cooking but gosh – God is super faithful! 

If there are people in your life that are feeling some type of way because you followed in the path God has for you instead of theirs, don’t be mad at them. All the rumors they spread about you, slandering you to any and everyone, don’t feel the need to go around defending yourself. “The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still”. [Exodus 14:14] Don’t hide bitterness in your heart because it only destroys you. Rather, love on them and pray for them that in due time, God will give them a change of heart and allow them to realize you’ve been in His will all along. Your fruits will show for themselves. You don’t have to force anything. You honestly don’t owe anyone an explanation. Let God lead your every action. He heals all wounds and mends every broken heart. He will fight for you. He will never allow for your enemies to rejoice over you. Never! Those who have grown bitter over you, they’ll get over it. If they don’t, then oh well your life of obedience to God still goes on. You simply cannot afford to please people because the reality is, you can never please people. So chose to chase after God and please Him instead of wasting time to please man.

I pray this blog encourages someone today because I believe this is a struggle that we all face or have faced and it’s not easy. People bondage is so real. When you feel bound and trapped by peoples expectation of you and cannot really do what God is laying on your heart to do due to fear of rejection from people closest to you who might not understand. Its ok! They don’t have to understand. Most times, even you won’t understand. Your obedience to Christ will be so worth it when you look back at the end of the season.

Stay blessed and encouraged. God loves you so much.

Here’s a youtube link to the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj3pg0PdyAI

Xoxo,

Jennifer Annor

Visit my online store at: mkt.com/jdarlingcreations
            

When Your Faith Is Tested

It is easier to have faith in God with our mouths than with our actions and lifestyles. Bible makes it very clear that “faith without works is dead” [James 2:17]. We must show fruit of our professed faith. It is not easy keeping your faith when all seems to be spiraling down. How can you trust God when everyone around you is calling you crazy for wanting to be obedient to Him? When the very people close to you do not believe you could possibly have a relationship with God where you’re close enough to hear Him speak? When people tell you you’re actually hearing the devil when you tell them about what God has instructed you to do or the promises He’s given you? Like what? How dare you downplay someone’s relationship with Christ? {Insert annoyed emoji lol}  So how do you stay encouraged when you're getting hit from every angle with trials and you feel like nobody understands and the very people you expect to support you are too focused on your physical circumstance to realize what God is doing in your life? Giving up is definitely not an option.

• You must realize that this fight is NOT physical. “For our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” [Ephesians 6:12] So its not really your friends or your family or your boss that you have this battle against rather demons that do not rest until your life crumbles and falls into pieces.

• Know that before a great victory, there is a great battle. Jesus Christ won the victory for our lives when He battled in the grave with Satan. Satan will not allow you to have it easy obeying God…no no no. He’s not going down without a fight. He and his cohorts are constantly working things against you in the spiritual realm that’s why you HAVE to put on the full armor of God! Get in your word for it is your double-edged sword that will penetrate any and everything. Take up your shield of faith to block off all the fiery darts of the enemy. And don’t stop praying! Pray constantly because “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” [James 5:16^b]

• Don’t allow peoples opinion to downplay the relationship you have with God. Satan telling you to do something is NOT the same as God telling you. There is a huge difference and I’m sure you will know when you spend time with God daily and feed yourself with His word. I know when Satan tries to push ideas in my head. I never feel at peace with those decisions. And I know the voice of my Father and how He speaks to me. Just like Jesus said in the parable of the shepherd “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” [John 10:27] God spoke those promises to you and NOT your friends or family so don’t be discouraged when they don’t believe you. If God wants them to know, He will let them know. So keep trusting The One whom you have believed in and has brought you thus far.

• Lastly, God will never send you somewhere He has not made a provision for. HE IS GOD! Unlike us humans, He has His stuff together. He has planned your life even before you existed so don’t you think He’s already gone before you and made the necessary provisions for the command He has given you? He can turn things around in just a second. So your situation right now does not show any sign of His promises, so what? You’re like 6 months away from the promise date anyways so don’t you think that’s enough time? Even 1 second is enough time for God. Just stay with the process and be patient for the fulfillment of the promise. He will not lie.

In as much as I write my posts to encourage others in this Christian walk, it is actually a letter I’m writing to myself to help me through my current season. All that God is pouring into me, i'm pouring out so someone else can stay in the race and not give up on Him. Because if we had a glimpse of what lies ahead of our obedience past these struggles, i'm sure we will be sprinting to the finished line [yea i said finished because the battle has already been won]. But God needs our total trust and submission despite circumstances. So lets stay encouraged together. I’m not going to pretend its easy doing this because it is not. The struggle is real and hard and if you keep your focus on the struggle, it will only get harder for you; but if you fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, you will sail through this battle unshaken. So let people call you crazy, let people tease you saying you heard the devil. When you stand before God on that day, He will ask you why you listened to other people and not HIM. I wanna hear those beautiful words said to me “job well done good and faithful servant”...do you?

Xoxo,

Jennifer Darlington

Beautiful Beautiful Cover

I love this song so much because it reminds me constantly of Gods grace. God looks at us and sees who He created us to be and the impact we are supposed to be making here on earth. Often we stray away from that purpose BUT His grace sets in and cleans us up and makes our lives so beautiful so we can live a life pleasing to Him. I hope it ministers to you like it does to me. :)

Title: Beautiful Beautiful
By: Francesca Battistelli

Lyrics

Don't know how it is you looked at me

And saw the person that I could be

Awakening my heart

Breaking through the dark

Suddenly your grace

Like sunlight burning at midnight

Making my life something so beautiful, beautiful

Mercy reaching to save me

All that I need you are so beautiful, beautiful

Now there's a joy inside I can't contain

But even perfect days can end in rain

And though it's pouring down

I see you through the clouds

Shining on my face

Like sunlight burning at midnight

Making my life something so beautiful, beautiful

Mercy reaching to save me

All that I need you are so beautiful, beautiful

I have come undone

But I have just begun

Changing by your grace

Like sunlight burning at midnight

Making my life something so beautiful, beautiful

Mercy reaching to save me

All that I need you are so beautiful.

Like sunlight burning at midnight

Making my life something so beautiful, beautiful

Mercy reaching to save me

All that I need you are so beautiful, beautiful (beautiful, beautiful)

I Will Trust

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is excited for the New Year. Todays post is inspired by Fred Hammonds new song I Will Trust. Now let me insert here how much this song GOES IN!!! Vocally, lyrically, musically, everything is on point – well, at least I think so. With that being said, let me tell y’all a funny story.

About 2 years ago, I vividly remember laying on my bed reading a book (sorry I forgot the title and author :/. I was basically cajoled into reading that book so yea lol) and one chapter of the book was talking about how every Christian will go through a period in their life which she (the author) calls the “desert period” where everything in your life seems very dry and difficult to survive in. When all the promises of God seem to be in the opposite direction of where your life looks like its heading. As she kept on speaking about how difficult that season was for her and how it was hard to trust God and keep her faith alive and how it would be basically tough for every Christian, I foolishly told myself “I don’t think I will doubt God during my desert season. If He has promised me something, He will do it; like come on, its not hard to do it. I will be totally fine”. Fast-forward two years, and I’m over hear failing miserably in my desert period! Haha! I honestly laugh so hard when I remember those childish words I said to my self while reading that book. I realized that when I said those words to myself, I thought the desert period would last a couple days maximum a couple weeks, so excuse my naïve thinking and cut me some slack lol. I didn’t know any better.

Late summer of 2013 when I moved from Alexandria to Herndon was when my desert period started. I will admit, I was a complete disaster. I can literally count all the times I totally failed in trusting God and panicked every single time something would come up. But all the while, God remained faithful and came through for me. It wasn’t until October/November of this past year that I actually made progress and learned what it really meant and felt to completely trust God. Yup! It took me over a year to make progress and I still have a mighty long way to go. See God had to grab my attention and strip certain things from me and allow certain situations to come my way to teach me and show me to trust in Him and not anything or anyone else.

In the afore mentioned song, the chorus says “I will trust in the name of The Lord. Lord I will trust in You for I know You will see me through”. I encourage you all to give the song a listen and pay attention to the words and it might just end up being your prayer song for the next couple of weeks. This song and its words really keep me going through this season in my life. Some of you may know that I just lost my dad on November 24^th 2014 and it has not been easy. Right now what is toughest is not his loss because God has given me closure on that, but rather, the hearts of family and friends that are being revealed. It’s shocking! I’ve come to realize there is another synonym for enemy – family. Its really sad how pitiful humans are and I thank God always for having mercy on us and being patient with our human nature. When people you thought would be there with you and for you act completely opposite, you have no option but to trust in God even though He’s supposed to be our first and only option anyways.

Trusting in the name of The Lord for me means trusting in the nature of God. When Moses was interacting with the burning bush, He asked God “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” [Exodus 3:13-14]  Meaning God is His name! What is God’s name? Lord, Yaweh, Jehovah, El Shaddai, and so on! So if you trust in the name of The Lord, you trust in His very being because He is who His name says He is.

As we are in a New Year, I encourage us all to trust in the name of the Lord. He is super faithful and does not let down. I’m so thankful that God is nothing like us humans because that would be a disaster. Never put your trust in humans. They will let you down BIG TIME! Seriously, they will. God is who has called you. “Faithful is the one who has called you and He will do it” [1 Thessalonians 5:24]

Have a fruitful 2015.

Here's a link to the youtube video of the song:

I Will Trust - Fred Hammond

XOXO,

Jennifer Darlington

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