Undefeated...

Not too long ago I was introduced to a Christian-contemporary song by The Planet Shakers called, "The Anthem." After listening for a few minutes the words begin to flow from out of my ears and resonate into my heart:

"Hallelujah, You have won the victory! Hallelujah, You have won it all for me! Death could not hold You down, You are the risen King! Seated in majesty, You are the risen King!"

I didn't understand it before, but now I totally get why that song is called the Anthem. It just gets me hype every time I hear those words!  Aside from the Bible being on the worlds best sellers list since the list was created, aside from Christ being referenced over 2,000 years ago....you know what really separates Christ from any other god? He beat death!!! He's the only God in history that is still alive! I'm sorry for all the exclamation points but when I think about how Christ conquered death, it brings tears to my eyes.
Wow. How powerful and great is our God!? "Death could not hold You down, You are the risen King!" I'm sure Allah, Buddha, Zeus (lol) were all great guys....but which one of them defeated death? ....I'll wait.

Whenever I think my circumstance or situation is too hard for God to handle, I'm reminded of how Christ committed the ultimate sacrifice and died on the cross for my sins...just so I could have the opportunity to come to know Him personally. But not only did He die for us, He got up for us!  Although many have tried to compete and win the title, Christ will forever be the undefeated champion. I don't know about y'all but that's extremely comforting to know. If Christ fought with death...and won, then how could we ever think our [difficult] problems are too hard for Him to handle???

We can rest and assure that no problem, job situation, bad day, passed-due bill, bad break-up, or even loss of a loved one is too hard for Him to handle. He's the undefeated champion....and if you're rolling with Him, you're on the winning team.

-Leah

*Check out this song, "The Anthem" by the Planet Shakers (warning it may get you hype lol)

Warning Signs...

So I was talking to a friend who had been confused by yet another dead-end relationship. It's something that all of us have experienced , but for others it may be a reoccurring misfortune.  We meet someone, we exchange numbers, go on a few dates......sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't.  Which is OKAY!  However, the problem begins to formulate when you repeatedly enter into the dating game completely overlooking the warning signs and red flags DIRECTLY in front of you!  So I asked some of my friends what were some of their biggest red flags when dating someone.  Again, I'm no expert, but based on my experiences and the experiences of those around me I think it's safe to say these are all universal signs that say: WARNING!

*Disclaimer: Sorry to my male followers, this is written from the female perspective, but no worries I'll have something for you soon ;-)


1. He's Indecisive...

Can't make up his mind if his life depended on it....especially when it comes to you and the relationship. We all know when we truly want something we HAVE to have it. And if we don't have the means of getting it right now, then we WORK towards getting it.  Same thing when you are interested in someone.  We have all experienced the "getting to know you stage" when people first meet, but eventually there should be a more concrete understanding  so that you both know where you stand on the future relationship, or lack thereof.  If you're always confused about what it is you're doing.....then let this be you first of many red flags to come.

2. He loves God but never goes to church.....

Now that's like saying you love a particular restaurant but never want to eat there, have a favorite song but never want to hear it, only rep a certain team but never want to go to a game....it just doesn't make sense! Now some may say whats the big deal with this? As long as he has a relationship with God than what does it matter if he goes to church? And if that's how you feel okay, but as for me, if a guy tells me he loves the Lord but never goes to church, I'm definitely giving him the extreme side-eye.  As a Christian woman, I'm looking for a man who has qualities of a spiritual leader.  No this does not mean we should be waiting for God to send us a preacher lol, but it does mean we should want to be with someone who makes God his priority.  Which includes, but is not limited to going to church.  Amen.

3. You're in a secret service relationship...

So basically what this means is only you, him and Jesus know about this thing lol.  Just so we're all clear....that is NOT okay!  It's okay to keep the matters of your relationship private, but if you're not allowed to tell anyone that you're with this person....then that's a serious problem.  If he wants to keep this relationship a secret you can only imagine how many other "secrets" he has been keeping!  Run, quickly.

4. You never hear from them...

In short, you should probably change his name in your phone to "Casper" because he has officially turned into a friendly ghost. He all the sudden becomes a presence as opposed to a person. If you find yourself ALWAYS reaching out to him first or he hits you with those "one" word responses...hate to sound cliche but "he's just not that into you." Don't be that girl who keeps beating a dead horse. It's not worth it. Leave him alone.

5. You only hear from him at night/weekends...

Do I really even need to say more? lol.  Last time I checked the phone worked not only on Friday and Saturday nights, but also Monday-Thursday mornings. Please don't fall into the "convenient" trap. If that person really has an interest in a future with you, then you won't have to confine all of your "dates" to a midnight movie night.  He can't meet your standards if you don't have any.

6. He never takes you out...

This is to piggy back off of #5.  Yes, it's cute to order take-out and just spend a nice, chill relaxing date in the house. But this should not be a privilege given on the 1st (4th or 5th in my opinion lol) date. (In fact, I'll even take it a step further to say if you're choosing to wait before you have sex, these one-on-one intimate encounters should be far and few. Temptation is REAL and you don't want to put yourself in a situation where you could easily fall)  If you're noticing that every time they want to meet up it's just kickin' it at their place or your place....run.  He obviously doesn't think you're worth taking out....so he should obviously not be worth your time.

7. They tell you they are not interested in a relationship/and or marriage...

One word: RUN! This is not code for "I really want to be with you but don't know how to say it" this in fact means I don't want a relationship. Sticking around to when they might be open to the idea is extremely risky and more than likely when they are ready it won't be with you. So like I said, run. NEVER convince someone to be with you. You're setting yourself and the future relationship up for failure.

8. He does too much too early...

Now everyone is different.  Some people are more affectionate than others.  However, if it's the first date and he's already trying to find any excuse to touch you....especially those areas that aren't visible...this my friend is a red flag.  It doesn't take a mind reader to figure out what's on his mind.  Even the terms of endearment too early should make you raise an eyebrow.  If he's calling you "baby" after a day....imagine who else he's calling that too. 

9. He has no short term, long term, or any term goals....

He's a man with no plan.  RUN!!! It's perfectly normal to not know exactly where you're going to be in the next 5 years.....or even 5 months for that matter, but you have to at least have a plan.  It's okay if it doesn't unfold exactly the way you mapped it out, but if you don't at least have a direction as to where you want to go....how can I be sure I fit in it?  The bible also says a man without wisdom is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:8) I don't know about you, but I'm definitely not trying to enter an unstable relationship.

10. He doesn't bring out the best in you...

So after a period of time you realize you're more stressed, angry, confused and disappointed than you are relaxed, happy, certain and satisfied with the relationship.  You realize that you both have the same weaknesses and neither one of you is making the other one a better person...it's definitely not a good sign.  This is like trying to make a dead plant grow.  It's just not working.   Pray and ask God for wisdom and learn when to let a dead relationship go.  It's hard, but there is someone better out there who will naturally bring all of the great qualities out of you...even the ones you didn't know existed.

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My real advice to these warning signs is: WAIT ON GOD.  If you truly want God to send the right person you have to trust in His timing.  You will keep getting frustrated playing the dating game, trust me I know! lol  Allow him to prepare you AND him....even if that means kickin' it solo for awhile, you will be alright :)

I'm sure there are plenty more warning signs out there so feel free to comment and add your own.  You never know, you might have just helped someone else save their time :)

Walking on Water...

"And when you look down, there will be no more ground....you'll be standing on water"  -Mali Music

So hopefully we're all familiar with the story of Jesus enabling Peter to walk on water.  If not, here's a brief run down.   One day after "The Team" (Jesus and His disciples lol) were done feeding 5,000+ people with just 5 loaves of bread, and 2 fish (yes, Jesus and His team were something serious lol).  Jesus instructed the disciples to get back on their boat while He went up to the mountain to pray. However, by evening the boat had drifted a considerable distance away from shore.  But this didn't phase Jesus, instead He just started walking ON the water to get to the boat.  Now you can only imagine how the disciples felt looking out the boat and seeing a man walking on water! lol  You'd think they'd be like "that's dope!" considering  releasing demons out of people were apart of their everyday routine, but no....they were terrified!!! lol.  One main reason being they didn't recognize nor did they believe it was really Jesus. 

Peter was the one bold enough to say, "well Lord if that's really you then allow me to walk to You on the water."  Jesus could have easily said, "No, you'll just have to wait until I get back to the boat" or "oh so my word's not good enough for you?"  But instead He said, "Come."  That's it.  No other special instructions.  Just "come."  I believe it was at that point that Peter believed that it was really Jesus leading Him, because He had enough confidence to hop out the boat and begin walking on the water.  Now the Bible doesn't go into extreme detail of how long Peter was successfully walking on the water, we just know that as he got closer to Jesus he begin to look down and realize that what he was doing was completely supernatural. He got distracted by the raging winds and suddenly questioned himself, like "what am I really doing trying to walk on water!?"   See the focus isn't so much that Peter was walking on water, but the fact that he looked down.  When Peter looked down that meant he literally took his eyes off of Jesus.....the one who was giving him the ability to walk on water. 

Often times in our life God has called us off the boat to do some incredible things that we can only do through Him, but once we start walking in that direction...we get scared.  We no longer focus on the One who has called us, but the surrounding conditions and how unrealistic it seems.  We're just like Peter.  We finally get bold enough to walk, but because we don't understand the how we begin to take our eyes off of Christ and look at the circumstance.  When Peter looked down at his feet on top of the water and focused on the condition and not Christ, the Bible says he began to sink.  You know what that tells me?  As long as Peter focused on Christ, he was able to do the impossible, but the moment he focused on anything else he began to fail. 

Christ must ALWAYS be our focus.  Before our job, our money, our relationship, friends and even family....we should always be looking at Him.  When we make Christ our focus He enables us to start doing things like walking on water. Something that defies all logic, but then again it's so amazing to know that we don't serve a "logical" God. 

*I encourage you to read the full story of Jesus Walking On Water in Matthew 14:22-33 

Also, check out this video from one of my favorite artist, Mali Music called "Walk on Water."  His message/song was so timely for me and where I am right now, and hopefully it will be the same for you. Enjoy :)

"Walk on Water" by Mali Music

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