The Reason for the Season

Every year, about this time, people are getting all worked up because they are looking/hoping for the perfect gift. We'll years ago, God gave us the perfect gift. A gift that brought eternal and abundant life. He gave us his only Son, wrapped in majesty and clocked in light. He came as Deity clothed in humanity. Jesus was, is and will forever be the perfect gift. He is truly the reason for the season. So, if you don't get the gift you want, or your tree looks awful or your meal is over cooked; just remember that none of that matters when you consider that with Christ all things are perfect and made new. Let us remember to thank God for the amazing gift that He gives us everyday!

My sister and I really like the movie Merry Christmas Charlie Brown and thought to share this clip with you all. Linus has it right, there is so much more to Christmas than a tree and gifts. Please read Luke 1 - 2 and always remember why we celebrate this special time of year!

Merry Christmas to you all!

God will be Glorified

In the month of October, I called my cell phone company to set up a date for me to pay my bill. To my surprise the bill was over $1,100! I could not believe it. The customer service rep explained that there were roaming charges on another line that I had. I explained to the representative that the line had not been in use for 2 years. Apparently there were international roaming charges that occurred out of the country.
To make a long story short, my father and I have a family plan. The other line was for his use when he is in the states. Some how the phone was stolen and international calls were made on it for a month. I was so upset and scared about the situation.
I reported the phone stolen and spoke to a supervisor and a manager about the matter. It seemed like they did not want to adjust the charges. So, I started to pray and the manager took off $500 from the bill. I was thankful and grateful that the Lord stepped in and took care of the situation.
I received the bill for the following month and it was over $1600 because of the roaming charges from the previous month. I got so depressed and I started to wonder how I was going to deal with this situation. I don’t have a steady income and there was no way I could pay this bill. The manager that adjusted the bill the last time told me that because I reported the phone stolen very late that I would be held responsible. My sister could see I was stressed and told me that the letter was a lie and that I should laugh at it. She said God is going to show me how He will be glorified in this situation.
That night I prayed and asked the Lord for strength. I told Him that I trusted in Him and that He will deliver me from this problem. The next morning, I prayed again and read Isaiah 43:1-7. That scripture assured me that I belong to God and he will keep me through hard times. (I will go more in depth about Isaiah 43:1-7 in another post). Feeling confident and assured, I called my phone company. I spoke to a representative and explained the situation to her. Without asking me any questions, she told me that she would make a case for me about the charges. I could not believe it! It was easy and without any hassles. The rep told me that I most likely would not have to pay for any of the charges! I told her thank you and that is was a blessing. I went on to ask her if she needed prayer for anything. She told me just to lift her name up in prayer.
Three days went by and I received a text that there was an adjustment to my bill. I knew it was about the roaming charges. When I got back home from out of town, I checked my bill on line and all of the charges were gone. Hallelujah! All praise be to God! I could not believe it. God is so good and he gets all the glory! What I learned about all the situations that my sister and I have been through, while living in the city is that God always gets the glory. Nothing is to hard for God and He shows us this by delivering us from trails and tribulations. Something as small as a phone bill getting adjusted and God is glorified. He does not have to make fire come from the sky or part a red sea to reveal His glory to us. He does it everyday in our lives we just have to recognize.

Virtue is Alive and Well!

I came across this article yesterday and thought to post it! This is just beautiful!

Won't kiss on the first date? How about waiting until marriage?

Chicagoans Melody LaLuz and Claudaniel Fabien shared their first kiss Saturday at the altar. The two teach abstinence at the city's public schools and practiced what they preached to their teenage students.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the couple had never kissed and that they had never been alone together in a house. A friend of LaLuz says wedding guests cheered and stomped during the two-minute smooch between the 28-year-old bride and the 30-year-old groom.

LaLuz and Fabien say they have no worries about how they will spend their honeymoon in the Bahamas.

Check out the full story and more pictures here

Article Courtesy of the Associated Press.

Joanne Rosario Concert at The Gate

This past Friday, we were so blessed to experience an amazing concert by Joanne Rosario! I don’t even know if there are words to describe the feeling in the house of the Lord! The concert took place at The Gate, which is a Friday night service for youth (up to age 30) at Times Square Church in New York. The night started off like any other Friday night, with amazing praise and worship music performed by our youth choir. As we continued to praise and worship, the Spirit of the Lord filled the sanctuary. It was so apparent and we all knew that the Lord would be glorified that night. Once we had finished our praise and worship Joanne Rosario came out to start her concert.

Rosario was born in Chicago to parents of Puerto Rican background. Her father is a pastor and she sang in his church as a child. Her professional career began as a member of Fred Hammond's Radical for Christ. Hammond helped her launch a solo career in 2002 with her debut album More, More, More. In 2003, Rosario was diagnosed with nodules on her vocal folds, and took an extended hiatus to treat the condition. (Bio courtesy of wikipedia)

Rosario has an amazing voice. Her songs struck such a cord in my heart and spirit. I don’t know if there was a dry eye in the sanctuary. One paster described it as, “a shower, a constant flow of the Holy Spirit.” Throuhgout her singing Joanne stopped to talk about various subjects, like needing more of God, friendship and relationships.

The concert was followed by a great service and when it came time for the alter call, so many young people floaded the stage, reaching out to the Lord for salvation. It was such a wonderful sight!

Below are two clips from the concert. If you are in New York I would like to encourage you to come out to The Gate! You will truly be blessed. Also check out Joanne Rosario’s web site (http://www.joannrosario.com/) and music.

Walking among the Living Dead

I was talking to couple of my friends about the Body of Christ and how we are walking among the living dead. We were discussing how many Christians are concerned about their own comfort and life instead of reaching the lost. Many of us think that all we have to do is go to Church, pay our tithes and live our lives according to the Word of God. We should be doing these things but we have forgotten the one job Christ commission us to do before he ascended into heaven. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV

Now you might say, "but I am not called to be a preacher, missionary, prophet or teacher. I don't believe that is my calling. Besides, that's what pastors are for, right"? Wrong! Your pastor is your leader and he prepares you and trains you for the job/call. That is one of the reasons we go to church. The sermons are to encourage us to do the Lord's will. If you are a born again, bible reading, Holy Ghost filled Christian than you know that your body is an empty vessel for the Lord. The Holy Spirit possesses your body to bring glory to God and to do His will.

Well, you might say, "I am shy and what will people think of me? What will my peers say or do if I tell them about Jesus? They might laugh at me or stop being my friend." I have had those same feelings and still do. Then I remember what Jesus said at the end of verse 20, "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Christ knows the struggle and he understands persecution and ridicule. He tells us he will be there all the way. He will protect us and comfort us while we go through the storm for His name sake. I have been praying for the Lord to make me a mighty soldier in His army and to recruit others to join. We as Christians have to look at things with our spiritual eyes. There is a war going on between the Devil and us. Satan cannot battle against God because the Word tells us he has already been defeated, Genesis 3:14 and Revelations 12:7-9 (click to view verses). So his mission is to steal, kill and destroy us. Now since we know that we are on the winning side because of the Blood of the Lamb, wouldn't we want for others to be free and safe in our Lord's embrace?

We should understand that there are people walking around us dieing. Yes, they are breathing and look healthy but they are dieing a spiritual death that is far worse than the physical. The enemy is killing people slowly and softly without them knowing. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us to breathe life back into others. We cannot continue to stand back and watch people die in front of our very eyes and do nothing about it.

Please ask the Lord to give you strength to do what he has called for us to do, which is to preach the gospel. We have all been given many gifts and talents to use in the Body. You can spread the gospel at your job, school, neighborhood, community or organization by just living your life for Christ, praying for unsaved people around you, giving your testimony, helping those in need, lending your ear to someone who needs to let out their feelings or problems, donating to ministries, volunteering and obeying the Lord when he tells you to speak a Word to those who are in need. I hope that we all pray together and motivate one another to bring the living dead to the Light. It's dark out there and our light has to continue to shine bright to lead people to the Way, the Truth and the Life!

Can Anything Good Come from Nazareth?

A couple of weeks ago I was walking to the laundry mat and I passed this ugly fenced field. It was overrun with weeds and hundreds of vines hugging the diamond shaped rings of the fence surrounding it. I stopped to look at it for a moment. Wondering why no one cared enough to make something out of the space. It could be replaced with a playground for children, maybe another apartment building, or just anything that would do away with this eye sore. As I continued to pass by the fence the most beautiful purple flower caught my eye. I marveled at the beauty of that flower for several minutes and then looked back at the eye sore that it was a part of. I decided that I had to get a picture of that flower. As I continued my walk to the laundry mat, I thought about that flower and how it is a representation of so many people in the world. I decided to write a post about realizing that no matter what mess you are in, or how many problems you have, God can make you bare beautiful fruit and you become a light to people around you. Well I never wrote that post but I thought about that flower for days. One day, Jovita and I were heading to the grocery store and I stopped by the fence to show her the flower and take a picture of it. As we stopped I noticed more beautiful purple flowers that had developed from the time I originally stopped at the fence and the time I decided to take a picture. They were so vibrant and beautiful and I took several pictures. That night, I was thinking about what to write for the blog and the Holy Spirit gave me the following scripture.

And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1:46

I meditated on this scripture for a while and was so inspired. Often times we have preconceptions of people and places. We assume that we know all that we need to know without ever really knowing a person. This may be true for you. I am sure there have been times in your life where you have been judged without people knowing you. Sometimes people may have thought that you were a hopeless cause based on where you come from. Other times it is what you say about yourself, that causes you to diminish your greatness as proclaimed by the Lord. Nathanael knew nothing of Jesus, only that He came from Nazareth. Based on this knowledge, Nathanael didn’t see what the big deal would be concerning a Nazareen. He already had his mind made up about Jesus, without even speaking to Him. The rest of the passage says:

47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
48Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
49Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.

In that moment, Nathanael knew that nothing else mattered and that he had met the Messiah. Often times in life, people judge us by outlying factors. However when they meet us they see the light of God within us. Please remember that no matter where you are from, no matter what you have done in your life, God makes all things new. When you ask Jesus to be your savior, to come into your life and to change you, He will. You may still look like a mess, but slowly God is making beautiful flowers appear in your life. Out of all your bad attributes, God makes beautiful things arise. So don’t worry about what your life looks like now. God is working on you, making you a new beautiful creation. Take the time to recognize and glorify the Lord for all the beautiful flowers (or fruit) he is adding to your life.

The 44th President of the United States of America: Barack Obama

We watched last night as a nation filled with hopes and dreams of a brighter future! A future that now includes a new president, Barack Obama. In his victory speech last night, President Obama stressed the point that he will need all of our help. As Christians, we understand that we have no personal power. We are granted power by our Father in Heaven and he has given us a mighty power called prayer. Let us pray for our leader. We will not be privy to his executive conversations with other heads of states and nations nor will we be privy to his decision making. It is therefore our jobs to now help him by offering sincere prayers to our Lord. We know that life and death rest in the tongue. So let us speak life over the Obama family. We should pray for him to hear the voice of God and more importantly that God's will be done. Let us also pray that he selects the best and the brightest cabinet members, chief of staff, advisers etc. Let us not make the same mistakes we made with our previous president. I think we spent too much time criticizing, mocking and bad mouthing him, when we should have been praying for him. Now, more than ever, we need to pray for the advancement of this nation and that God's will be done. President Elect, Barack Obama, is still a man. He will make mistakes, but let us pray that he recovers quickly, learns from his mistakes and seeks the Lord's guidance. Please do not put all your faith in this man; rather, put your faith in the Almighty God, that he will do a marvelous work through President Obama.

To all my black American friends, please realize now that you will be held to a higher regard. There are no more room for excuses; no more blaming the "white" man for why you fail to get ahead. Stop looking at what the world says about you and the limitations you believe that they have placed over you and realize that you were created by God and he knows you and calls you by your name. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven! Learn what the Lord says about you for that is what's most important. Realize now that Obama is the President for all Americans, not just black people. Barack Obama should be commended for his achievements, but should not be heralded as a hero. He is not our savior and you should not set him as the benchmark for what all black people should be, because he is not perfect. Let the Lord define you and not man.

Our next steps should be praying for our leader, not focusing on the fact that he is a black man, and recognizing that we need to ask the Lord for patience. President Obama's job is going to be a long hard road and he needs our prayers. Change does not come over night. Pray for patience, pray for your nation, pray for the Obama family and pray that God's will be done.

Election Day! Who are you voting for?

Tomorrow is Election Day, as most of you know. We have not addressed politics on our blog because it has not been a major topics of ours. But we wanted to give you some food for thought. Make sure you are voting as a Christian and not because of your race or sex . I have heard comments from many friends and strangers that say “don’t you want to see history made?” “Why would you not vote for a black man?” You see this is the problem:

1) No one should be voting for someone because of race and history. Dr. Martin Luther King said that, “he dreamed of the day when people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.” So urging people to “vote black” is a racist statement. We as Christians should know that we do not make decisions by our emotions because it is flesh. We base our decisions on truth, which is the Word of God.

2) Why do you care about making history? Isn’t our primary goal as Christians is to live our life holy and righteous for the Lord and to spread the gospel to everyone? We are supposed to be concern about God’s Kingdom and the Church. All these things will pass. We will not even remember this world when Christ comes for His people (us). So let us be concern about preparing ourselves for our Lord instead of focusing on having a black president of the United States of America.

3) My last problem is Christians putting aside their faith for so call “change”, not another 4 years of Bush or religion should not play a part. Let me tell you what actions could come about:

Homosexuals will be allowed to get married, abortion of all types of procedure will be legal, our core Christian beliefs and values will no longer be accepted by the world and soon we will become a Socialist Country! So regardless of who is the next president, let's make sure we pray for them and ask the Lord to give them guidance. Also I hope that we know not to depend on Men or Government to dictate how are lives are going to end up. Remember God provides and takes care of his people.

I have listed some listening and reading material from exministries website that will give you facts on both candidates. Please pray first before you decide whether to vote or not and ask the Lord to give you a conviction on who you are to vote for.

http://gcraige.blogspot.com/2008/10/vote-black.html

http://www.exministries.com/debate08.html

Praying for Jennifer Hudson

We normally do not post information about popular culture, but we felt the need to make a post about Jennifer Hudson. We can hardly imagine what Jennifer must be feeling at this moment. Could you imagine losing more than half of your immediate family? Let us remember that the Lord rewards the evil and that whomever committed this crime will be judged by the Lord. We are praying that Jennifer will not harden her heart to the Lord. We also pray that the Lord will pour out His peace upon her and her family. Above all else, we pray that she will take this time to press into the Lord, His Word and His promises. Please keep the Hudson's in your prayers.

For my Fashionable Sisters: Is appearance everything?

I was reading this article on the crosswalk website called "Are you High Maintenance?" by Tammy Bennett. I found it to be very interesting and a good article about Christian women today. Do we put to much into our appearances that it distracts people from getting to know the Christ-like person that we should be? Do we care to much about what people are going to say or think about what we wear or look like, instead of caring about what we say or do?

I am a fashion guru, if you will, as many of you all know. I believe it is important to keep up your appearance. I always say, "God gave me this body and this is the only one I have, so I will preserve it and maintain it. My body is my temple for the Lord to dwell in, so why should I let it run down?" I have to watch what I eat, maintain my face , skin and be mindful of what I wear. It also shows people what type of woman you are, when you present yourself in a groomed, modest and well-dressed manner. Everyone loves to look at a beautiful, well put together woman.

I believe your appearance should never be a distraction but a way for people to be attracted to you and what you are all about. No one likes to talk to someone who is stuck on themselves or who looks homely and trashy. That might sound harsh, but it is true! When Joshua, In Zechariah 3:1-5, was standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing on his right side accusing him, the Lord rebuked Satan. The passage goes on to say: verse 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. Verse 4 And he answered and spoke to those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And to him he said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment. Verse 5 And I said, Let them set a fair turban on his head. So they set a fair turban on his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. (New King James Version)

This passage shows us that the Lord dressed up his prophet in front of his enemy; displaying how wonderful his servant was on the inside and out. True beauty is from within but no one would get to know that if you look like a materialistic queen or a hot mess.

In the article, "Are You High Maintenance" it explains the story of Esther and how she had to undergo an extreme makeover to look like a Queen:

"Esther was the original Queen of High Maintenance. An orphaned Jewish woman, she was one of those selected to go to the palace of King Xerxes of Persia and be groomed as [a] potential queen. For 12 months, Esther was given the prescribed royal beauty treatment for all of the queen hopefuls. At the end of the beauty regimen, she was brought before the king, who favored her and made her his new queen. "

The article goes on to explain if Esther had not had that make over and been apart of that "world", the Lord would not have been able to use her to save His people from genocide. With that said, is your appearance everything? I believe so, in some cases. Me, being in fashion, I never go outside looking frumpy because I never know who the Lord will allow me to meet. In the fashion world, you must carry yourself in a presentable manner. Now, I don't go out with a "too hot of TV" look. As a Christian, modestly must come first. I am learning all these things in my walk; and slowly but surely I am making changes in my wardrobe. I don't want people paying attention to my body and not me as a person. I am a Christian first, before my profession and social life. I would hope many of you believe the same thing. Remember. if you are telling people that you are a Christian, believe me they are looking not only at what you do but also at the way you dress. I am not saying to put all your energy in your appearance but be mindful of the fact that how your look can affect others.

So my advice to my sisters is this: Maintain your looks, treat yourself to something nice every now and then, but do not let it be a distraction or keep you from being a light to others.

For the full article of " Are You High Maintenance" click here