Tuesday, October 20, 2015

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:



Xoxo,

Jennifer Annor

Visit my online store at: mkt.com/jdarlingcreations
            

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

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 5:16b]

  • 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

Sunday, January 11, 2015

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)

Saturday, January 3, 2015

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 24th 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:


XOXO,
Jennifer Darlington


Miscellaneous 
* I own an accessories shop online. Visit and shop.
* IG: @jdarlingcreations

* My personal IG & Twitter: @jay_lington

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

My Denial…My Blessing

This morning (Wednesday November 5th 2014), the Holy Spirit had me repeat to myself this statement “God is going to blow your mind.” As I tossed and turned half asleep in my bed, I kept repeating the phrase over and over again.

Lets back track to some background information. This academic year, I was barely given any financial aid because according to the receptionist at the financial aid office, I’ve reached the limit I could be offered for student loans. So I haven’t been able to pay my tuition for this Fall semester. This has been my battle with the Lord way before the semester even began. Bottom line is “Jennifer, do you trust me enough to know I’m bigger than all your problems?” says God. Prior to this, I had had a dream in which God basically showed me that my trust in Him was not total. So I said ok God I want to trust you completely so help me do so. Haha! I pictured him with a sinister side lip grin on His faces saying “okay, if you say so” lol. So I began this journey of radical faith in Christ. At the same time, my academic advisors were and are still being jerks to me about helping me graduate in May 2015. School was sucking for me this semester. Satan was hitting me real hard with doubt and fear and thoughts of failure and all sorts of stuff. So I found myself in a fetal position before the Lord all the time crying and telling Him, Lord I trust you despite the look of things. I trust you. I trust you. I trust you. So during my worship session on the day that I wrote the blog post titled “Everything Else Can Wait” I said Lord, I give this situation over to you and until you tell me what to do, I won’t make any move. I will wait on you. A couple days later, I got antsy and began to think about applying to Sallie Mae and even private loans (the devil is a LIAR!) lol. But I felt deep within my spirit that God didn’t want me to do that so I stopped that whole process and kept praying and trusting and reading and waiting and guarding my heart from Satan.

[Fast forward to Wednesday, November 5th 2014]
Earlier on during the week, God had laid on my heart to go speak to my financial aid advisor. So I just walked in this morning and the receptionist asked for my information and asked why I wanted to see the advisor. She pulled up my account and then proceeded to tell me why I wasn’t able to get more financial aid and that she recommends I take out private loans, blah blah blah. A year ago, I would have been satisfied with that info and just walk away. But I felt deep within my spirit to politely say thank you BUT I still need to see my advisor. She was able to get me an appointment with the advisor immediately. Now my balance left to pay for this semester was $3095 (including late payment fee) which would also be the same amount I would owe next semester. This balance placed a hold on my account meaning until I paid that money off, I could not register for classes, I could not request an official transcript, and certainly could not apply to graduate. Every important privilege was withheld from me due to this balance. Within 2 minutes of sitting with my advisor, he was able to reduce my balance to $1575. Bless God! And then he told me the next step was to let my mother apply for the Parent PLUS Loan which will have two outcomes:
One: Get approved and pay for the $1575 with that loan which my mother had to pay back. [This same amount will also be paid for the spring semester and summer school will have to be paid out of pocket]
Two: Get denied and then get more financial aid meaning….DENIAL IS GOOD, WHAT?!?!? [PRAISE BREAK FOR DAYS] So my mum went ahead and applied for it. Lo and behold, she got denied. I have never been so excited about a denial before lol. I sent an email to the advisor and told him my mom got denied and as he told me, it would take a day or two before he can see it in the system. He emailed me back immediately and in his own exact words he said, “I actually see that the plus denial is already up online (this is a first, I have never seen it processed this quickly)”  God is too faithful. My mind is absolutely blown away! So now here’s what happens; I get additional financial aid for EACH SEMESTER! Enough to get refund checks with which I can save to pay for summer school! And will have some extra left from both semesters so hello summer shopping lol jk jk! Oh and even more interesting, the next day Thursday November 6th, registration for classes opens for the next semester. Talk about God’s timing!

My testimony is not in the fact that my account got paid in excess but rather lies in me passing my test of faith. I am glad to say, I passed the test!! Hurray! Le struggle was real folks. So now I’m at a point where I’m going with Gods flow. I’m trusting Him to fix my school schedules. When He tells me to move, then I move. I don’t do anything without seeking his direction. Choosing classes, planning my schedule, when I will graduate, its all in His hands for I know He has not brought me this far just to leave me. So the journey continues. My encouragement to you all is to keep the faith. It is hard as heck – I’m not gonna lie to y’all – but there’s a reward after you pass. “Without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God…” [Hebrews 6:11] Stay tuned for Part II. Be blessed and encouraged folks and remember, the devil is a deceitful conniving LIAR!! Guard your heart against him.

XOXO,
Jennifer Darlington


Miscellaneous 
* I own an accessories shop online. Visit and shop.

*I will be at University of Virginia (UVA) on Saturday November 15th 2014 as a designer in their annual Fashion for a cause Fashion Show which starts at 7pm at the Main Street Arena

*I will be a designer for GMU Red Alert: HIV/AIDS Awareness Fashion Show on Friday, November 21st 2014. I will be vending from 6:30pm till 8pm when the show starts. I will be offering discounts based on HIV/AIDS trivia so come filled up with knowledge about the disease.

*I will be at UMCP Annual Fall Ball on Saturday, November 22nd 2014 as a designer in their infused fashion show. It starts at 7pm.

IG: @jdarlingcreations

* My personal IG & Twitter: @jay_lington

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Everything Else Can Wait

“Give me You, everything else can wait” is the first sentence to a song by Shana Wilson called Give Me You. The first time I heard this song was at a Tye Tribbett concert 2 years ago right before his new album Greater Than was released. The host church sang this song for worship and I immediately fell in love with it because I’m all about slow solemn worship songs. The song has been on my heart this whole week so this morning I went into worship with this song just telling God what I truly want. All I want and need is Him and that he should give me Him and let everything wait. So basically in his discretion whatever that needs to wait in my life He should make wait BUT giving me Him needs no wait because I WANT HIM. I DESIRE HIM. I THIRST AND I HUNGER FOR HIM. Then He began to drop things in my heart.

1. Telling Him to let everything wait meant that I was telling God I trust in your timing and so whenever you’re ready to give me other things, I’ll be ready but right now let me be so focused on you that I won’t worry about other things. [Matthew 6:33] says “but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you” and when you read the verses before 33 you’ll find out that “all these things” was referring to food, water, clothing, shelter so basically things we need in life. And since the abundance of these will cause us to lose focus on Him, He gives us just enough and in His time, causes us to have in abundance in order to bless others.

2. It also meant that everything I’m going through right now He sees fit for my growth. So that test I’m going through right now or that situation which I don’t understand right now, he deems it timely in my life. And so I realized that He’s trying to do something in me right now so instead of fighting with God about it, I rather chose to trust Him and say God I surrender to You and I know You know what You’re doing and so I hope to pass the test and gain the character growth You’re trying to achieve in me.

3. Thirdly, He took my mind back to a verse I proclaim to be my favorite scripture in the entire Bible; [Psalm 37:4] “Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall grant you the desires of your heart”. This serves as a referral for me to God when I have a desire. I always tell Him God I delight myself in you always and you said you shall grant me the desires of my heart. Now a friend of mine in my band gave an insight on that scripture that astounded me due to its truth and depth. He said as you delight yourself in the Lord, He becomes what your heart truly desires and so basically you’re asking God to give you Him when you ask him to give you your hearts desire [insert praise break emoji here lol]. That spoke so much to me and I realized how true that is, at least for my life.

So I challenge you today to go before God with this prayer and see the realizations you make. Maybe you’re confused as to why you’re in your current situation. Ask God to give you Him and let everything else wait and see if that situation is trying to show you what you need to wait on. God is for you and so know that everything He does is perfect. It might not be good TO you but its good FOR you. Stay blessed and encouraged. His love for you is absolutely relentless!

Here’s a link to the song if you want to listen to it.


XOXO,
Jennifer Darlington

Miscellaneous 
* I own an accessories shop online. Visit and shop.

*I will be a designer for GMU Red Alert: HIV/AIDS Awareness Fashion Show on Friday, November 21st. I will be vending from 5:30pm till 7pm when the show starts. I will be offering discounts based on HIV/AIDS trivia so come filled up with knowledge about the disease.

IG: @jdarlingcreations

* My personal IG & Twitter: @jay_lington

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

What God Originates, He Orchestrates


 When the idea of me having a fashion show as a designer came about, I completely rejected it. My boyfriend made that suggestion and I replied quiet rudely “No. I don’t think I’m ready”. And by that answer I meant, I don’t have money to buy all I need, where will it be held at, its too much to do and I’m already taking 17 credits in school as a biochemistry major. I simply cannot do it. A couple weeks later, I found myself sitting in Human Anatomy lecture 9 am in the morning and all I could think about was having a fashion show and imagining how I see everything happening. It wasn’t until then that I realized it was an idea coming from God because I literally could not stop thinking about it. The confirmation and encouragement to go ahead with the idea came one Wednesday evening at bible studies when we had a guest speaker talk with us and at the end of the night she prayed and asked who needed prayer. I said I did because debts were high and income was low so I needed prayers. After she prayed for me, she asked “what business idea has God placed on your heart?” Bare in mind this lady knew me from nowhere so she had no idea I had a small business on my own. I told her about it and she encouraged me and said to not focus on my resources; what I have and don’t have. If God has said it, just do it. So I called up some friends in faith and we all began to pray and plan for my fashion show. Long story short, God provided all my resources and more. Through the help of some church members and friends who acted as sponsors, I was able to get everything ready for my show and the event was a huge success.

Now let me explain to you all what I mean by my show was a success because looking at the photos that were taken, one can tell there were a whole bunch of empty seats. I had about 20-30 people show up and my stage curtain was only leaning by faith lol the least push and it would come crumbling down. But my success and pride that I have for my show was in the fact that I learned to OBEY God. Obedience to God is a very important trait to have as a Christian because it shows how much you really trust God. Do you trust Him enough to know that He is God and even though things look nowhere near possible, He will make a way? Bible says to be obedient is better than sacrifice [1 Samuel 15:22]. Second reason is that I DIDN’T COMPROMISE MY IDENTITY AS A CHRISTIAN. Now when we all hear the words fashion show, we automatically categorize it as something of the world so secular music, skimpy clothes, etc., so there was a whole debate and skepticism from people about whether to allow me to hold the event in my church sanctuary or its reception hall. So I told God, I don’t only want to show myself to the world as just a designer but a Christian designer and I wanted that to reflect in every part of my show. So coming up with a playlist of hype music for models to walk to was very difficult. Then God reminded me that he has given me a music genius for a boyfriend so why not have him create some beats from garage band and that’s exactly what we did. We also began the entire show with a prayer, which felt so great to do! At the end of the show, my uncle said to me “wow Jennifer, I never knew you would be bold enough to do something like this” and he was absolutely right! I shocked my own self at how bold I had become knowing very well how much of a “chicken” I was. But in Christ alone do I find my boldness and strength. One lady came up to me and expressed how amazed and happy she was that I did not compromise my identity as a Christian and how much she loved that we began with a prayer. I found so much joy and encouragement in what she told me and I was so thankful to God for the outcome of my fashion show.

Also, with this little that God gave me, I believe I have been faithful and “who ever is faithful with little will also be faithful with much…” [Luke 16:10] and so I believe God was actually preparing me for the greater works He has in store for me. What the Lord originates, He orchestrates so do not worry about the how and do not think about the resources you think you don’t have because God has already given us everything we need to do what He needs us to do at a particular time. If you feel God is asking you to do something or tugging at your heart to initiate something, just exercise obedience for He will show you how to get there. Stay blessed and encouraged!

Here’s a link to view pictures of my fashion show:

XOXO
Jennifer Darlington

Miscellaneous 
* I own an accessories shop online. Visit and shop.


IG: @jdarlingcreations

* My personal IG & Twitter: @jay_lington