A Girl Who Loves Christ

I just want to thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to visit my blog. The positive feedback and encouragement that I have received has been so awesome and I am truly grateful. And to think, I was afraid to blog because I thought that no one would read it LOL. God is good! For those of you who have been asking, I try to blog at least once a week with two entries per post. From now on, you can expect a new post every Tuesday (at the very latest) of each week. So stay tuned because your presence is requested Also, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions feel free to e-mail me at acrystalbyrd@gmail.com. Once again, thank you sooooo much and I’ll be back to you all on my next post!

Since we are are in the season of college graduations and seeing as though today marks the two-year anniversary of my own, I thought it only fitting to share my bittersweet experience of the after-grad life. I stumbled upon this testimony of mine that I had posted on an old blog and felt that it may provide some encouragement for those in similar situations. This was from May 2011:

“Even though I can’t see the answers now, I know God will supply all of my needs.”

I believe I saw this quote in one of Joyce Meyer’s devotionals a year ago and it has stuck with me ever since. Around this time last year, I graduated from Old Dominion University (whoop, whoop…GO MONARCHS!) with a degree in English and had big plans. Like many college Seniors anticipating the step into the real world, I had in my mind that I was going to graduate, look for a job, and be on my way to a career in my field in no time! EEEEEENT! WRONG x 3!

It was all so sweet at first. Me and a few of my friends were all in the same place; fresh off the boat college graduates living the life! None of us had found jobs yet so we’d hang out late into the summer nights, playing video games, watching movies, and just enjoying one another’s company while milking the after-grad life for as loooong as we could. Then, slowly but surely, our easy days of just kickin’ it, began to dwindle. One by one, another person would find employment which threw a dent in our routine. Finally, it got to the point where everyone had a job, except me. *sad face* Now, it wasn’t like I wasn’t applying for jobsbecause I was, but I just never heard back from anyone. And if I did receive a reply, they would say in what I imagine was their most sincere voice, “Thank you for you application but you are just not what we want.” I could handle the occasional let down here and there but as time progressed, it started to wear on me mentally.

“It’s been this long and I still don’t have anything! All of my other friends are working but me! People keep asking me if I have a job yet, Lord when am I going to have something?”

Weeks went by and even months went by. And as much as I was believing God would make a way, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t doubt or worry about when that way would be made (hey, I’m only human). So, I continued to pray and seek God and in the meantime, I just got involved more in church and spent my free time reading my Bible and just spending time with God. It had been spoken into my life months before that God would provide me with more than enough so I just had to remember that promise.

It got really hard at times though and some people were so insensitive to my situation. They were always asking me, “Do you have a job yet? You got a job yet? Man, you STILL don’t have a job?” It was so embarrassing not only for them to ask me that but to have to reply with a, “Nooo, not yet,” without holding my head down and feeling like crap. There was so much pressure; the pressure to get a job at all, the pressure of fitting the societal norm of being employed, the pressure to provide for myself, and the pressure to get those stupid student loans paid off! There were times when I would cry to God and ask Him when my time was coming. But despite all that I experienced, I know that was strengthening me and testing my faith in Him.

Monday May 7, 2012 marked the year anniversary of my college graduation.

I still had no job. I even decided to point out to God that I was STILL unemployed (because you know we like to point things out to Him as if He doesn’t already know). So in the meantime, while still looking for jobs, I had purposed to start working on a business venture that the Lord placed in my heart to do and began doing so. A few days later, a family friend of mine tells me that she knows a lady who is hiring where she works. So she told me to send my resume to her. I’m thinking to myself, “I don’t know much about the place or position, but what do I have to lose?” I sent my resume and thought nothing else of it.

For the days to follow, the lady and I were playing phone tag. Finally, we scheduled an interview for Friday, May 11. I had my interview and she said she loved my answers and she seemed to like me as well. Then, Tuesday of the following week, I get a phone call saying that I got the job! Now mind you, I did not deliberately seek after this job and apply for it, I technically was not even qualified for the job, AND here’s the kicker…it was only FIVE minutes away from my house! You cannot tell me that was not God working my situation out for my good! God’s timing is PERFECT! Even when we feel like He’s not doing anything, He is working it out!

So for anyone who may be growing weary of waiting on the Lord or is becoming impatient for things to come to pass, continue to trust in Him and believe He will come through. I know that can be difficult at times but you have got to learn to trust Him even when you can’t trace Him. Psalms 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Remember what God has said (He will never leave you or forsake you; Deuteronomy 31:6) and believe that He will come through! He did for me

Sooo, this past Sunday (or recently) you gave your life to Christ. You accepted Him into your heart and you’ve made up your mind to make a change. You leave church feeling energized and ready for this next step. The only problem is, you don’t know what that next step is. Monday morning comes around and you’re back in the real world. You’re still in that bad relationship or you still have those co-workers at your job that you want to curse out or you still have the desire to hit up happy hour and get drunk after work.  You think to yourself, “Wait a minute, I gave my life to God yesterday. All of this stuff should be gone! I’m a Christian now.” Yes, this is true. However, this does not mean that problems and situations magically disappear because of your choice to follow God. This is where the true work comes in. I think this is how a lot of people may feel after they get saved or rededicate their lives. Acceptance of the invitation is always great but what do you do after you’ve made that decision?

1. Stay connected 

Your salvation does not end once you accept Jesus into your heart. Continue to go to Sunday worship services and bible studies. Consider joining a local church and once you become a member, look for opportunities to become a part of a ministry. If you are in school, find an on-campus Christian organization to become a part of. Groups like that are very beneficial since they will have people just like you who are trying to live the same way that you are.

2. Read your Bible

This may seem like the most daunting task but it is the most vital; it is your life’s instruction manual. Do not be afraid or hesitate to use it. And don’t think that you have to spend 20 hours reading it. Even if it begins as five minutes a day…just read. Pick a time of the day where you can devote a few minutes to reading and then, after you’ve read, take a few moments to meditate on it. If you have difficulty choosing a passage or book to read, buy a devotional that will help guide your reading for each day. There are plenty of them that are geared towards youth, college students and young adults, women, and men. Find one that works for you and will meet your needs. Also, if you are technologically savvy, you can download the Bible app YouVersion which has an option for you to choose a specific reading plan.

3. Realize it is a process

I’ve said this before but you must understand that things are not going to change overnight. You are not going to be super-saved as soon as you accept Christ into your heart. Try to make little changes over time: if you like to listen to secular music in the car, try changing it to a gospel station instead. If you find that you have quite the potty mouth,  try substituting words. Instead of the S-word say “Shoot” instead of saying, “What the ‘you know what’” you can say, “What the ham sandwich?” LOL I know it sounds silly but you’re trying to make changes right? You have to start somewhere.

These are just some starter suggestions to keep you plugged in. Over time, you should see that you will begin to master these areas and move on to different levels in your faith. The important thing, though, is that you stay committed to the growth process. Your relationship with Christ doesn’t stop after your acceptance of Him…that is only the beginning.

I was listening to Mali Music’s song “The Job Experience” which is a modern day twist on the story of Job. The man in the song was dealing with unfortunate issues in his life and he prayed to God to help his situation and instead of it getting better, it only got worse. At the end of his prayer he says,

                            “I’m really wanting to believe in You, 

                     but I need a reason to trust You after this one, 

                                  because You let me down.”

It made me think about how oftentimes when things go wrong in our lives we talk about how God let us down or didn’t come through for us. Depending on the severity of our situations, for some, it could be reason enough to turn away from God completely.

It caused me to reverse the situation and ask myself, “What if God told me that I had let Him down because I didn’t do what I said I was going to do or I didn’t live up to what He called me to be? What if He strayed away from me because He thought I had let Him down? Ideally, that should make us become slow to our anger or disappointment towards God when things may not go our way. Remember, just because God didn’t come through the way that you wanted Him to it doesn’t mean that He won’t come through at all. Just because your lights got cut off, your car broke down, the rent is due, AND you got fired from your job…it doesn’t mean that He won’t come through; continue to trust and believe in God.

Job 13:15 (KJV) says, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: but I will maintain my mine own ways before Him.”

So remember even though things may get hard and it seems like God isn’t around, just know that He will never let you down because He’s in control despite your situation. Furthermore, continue to remain faithful to Him and trust in Him no matter what, and just as Job was rewarded for his faithfulness, so will you.

In a discipleship class that I took at my church, one of the assignments was to list your talents and state how you planned to utilize them. I made a list but the only talent that I felt was the strongest was writing. I asked my family and friends what they thought and they all said writing. In my head I was thinking, “Just writing?” I was looking for multiple things to be talented at…not just one. It’s not that I was disappointed in my talent I just wanted more than that.

The following week during my prayer time, God gave me a revelation. I was in my closet looking at my hamper (I know that sounds weird, but I’m going somewhere with this) I was looking at the holes in it that air out the clothes. There were about four columns with nine holes each for a total of 36 holes. So I looked at the very first hole and God said, “This is your talent of writing.” Then I looked at the rest of the holes and He said, “This could be all the things that the writing could produce.”

(here’s the hamper I was looking at)

As basic, and quite possibly as dumb, as it may sound it was a MAJOR revelation. Here I was looking at the fact that I am a good writer as a one dimensional talent where, in reality, God has the capability to use that and multiply it into much more. My talent of writing could go from writing blogs to writing books, to writing songs, poetry, plays, movie scripts, sermons (mmm, I take that one back…LOL) but do you see where I’m going with this? I had to repent to God for thinking that what He placed in me wasn’t good enough and even thinking that I needed more.

So don’t be discouraged if you see someone who has a gift or talent that you think is better than yours and don’t think that what you have is not good enough. First Corinthians 12:14-20 (NIV) talks about the importance of having different parts (spiritual gifts) working together in the body (of Christ) which can be applied to talents as well. But to emphasize verses 18-20 it says:

18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

So God gave YOU your gifts and talents for a specific reason and He gave your friends, family members, classmates, etc. THEIR gifts and talents for a specific reason. Don’t focus on what they have, what you don’t have, or seemingly how little you have. Use what you’ve got to bring glory to God and He can multiply it more than you can imagine! Let the Lord use you.

So…here I am, once again, for the 7,458,648th time starting a blog. *le sigh* I’ve gone from tumblr to blogspot back to tumblr (on a new account) and now to this domain. I’ve started and stopped for almost about two years now (I know, TRAGIC) and have nothing to show for it. People have asked me about it and I would always say, “…Yeah, I’m working on it,” or “Yeah, it’s coming along…” knowing deep down, that I had not given it the attention it deserved. SMH. Shame on me. Well, finally, I have mustered up the courage to make it happen and be consistent with it. You don’t know how many times I have talked myself out of doing not only this, but also other things for fear of failing or not being accepted. (that could and will be a whole other post) I refuse to let that be something that holds me back any longer. I just want to inspire, help, and encourage. I have too much to say to keep it to myself.

With that being said, that brings me to you…I need your help. If you’re reading this, I am talking to you…SERIOUSLY. This is more than just a collection of thoughts (and possible ranting). It is intended to help people and I can’t do that without your help. Keep me accountable. Share your thoughts. If I know you personally, ask me when the next post is coming and if I don’t know you, do the same.

No more fear, no more doubt.