Do you ever hold back from asking someone for help and their thoughts about something that may be troubling to you? Have you ever been afraid to open up to someone when they might be able to offer a better perspective on a situation? Are there times when you know being silent is not your best choice? I ask these questions rhetorically, but I am sure your replies would be yes to each of the questions at some point in your life, the same as mine. Assuredly, in my life, there were times I needed to “Seek Counsel!”
Although, first and foremost, we should seek God before we make significant decisions in our lives, He does have “earthly angels” that we can go to for guidance. Hence we must never forget God has mouthpieces on earth to assist us along the way. Sometimes the fear of being transparent causes us to suffer in avoidable ways. When in doubt, it is alright to “Seek Counsel!” from Godly, spiritual individuals. After all, we are not born to be alone and act independently in every situation. Therefore, sometimes we must take a leap of faith and not be afraid to trust someone outside of ourselves.
As I end this post, I will take a leap of faith and be transparent, hoping that doing so will help someone else. Here it is. About five years ago, I decided to take a chance and marry my first love. I have known the individual since I was twelve years old. He declared before Heaven that his love for me was great, and this was his desire. How many of you, my sisters, know that words can be just vanity?
Nevertheless, I accepted the proposal. The engagement was three months. To make a long story short, the morning of the wedding I had a terrible feeling. I felt nervous and afraid. Brushing it off was a mistake. Later I told my Maid of Honor, a saved, Godly woman, that I should have asked her to pray and told her what I was feeling. By doing so, I believe, I would have ended up going to the church and saying the wedding was off. Oh, how I wish I would have at the last hour because it all ended in an annulment. That is a story for another day. You probably have a few questions concerning all of this. Feel free to ask.
I conclude with this. It doesn’t matter if it’s the last hour or the first hour of a situation because sometimes we overlook signals or are blinded early on, but God keeps trying to get our attention. He loves us that much.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to talk to someone. One day, I was sharing something with my First Lady, who I call Mom, and in the conversation, she said I should have had someone to talk to about the situation. I thought about it, and she was correct. It wasn’t anything drastic, but genuinely hearing another perspective wouldn’t have hurt. My sisters “Seek Counsel!” sometimes and know that one day someone may be coming to you for sweet counsel. It’s a cycle of giving and receiving. He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good. Proverbs 19:8. I’ll be back next week with a new post, “Is It You, God?”
Be encouraged, and God bless!
Sister Jackie
“…the morning of the wedding I had a terrible feeling. I felt nervous and afraid. Brushing it off was a mistake.” This said it all for me, for in many circumstances, I’ve had that gut feeling, but moved forward anyway, dismissing it, and only later to see it was a regrettable mistake.
I sincerely believe that there is some authenticity and legitimacy to our “gut” feelings. They should be an alert, a “stop, look, listen, and evaluate” moment, then, we may be able to proceed with caution. But, we are human, and our desires and our God-given emotions sometimes overrule our gut feelings.
Although the choices that turned out to be a mistake may be different for each of us, I believe that most have a “hindsight” moment of making not-the-best choices in our lives. But since we can’t change the past, I’m learning how to not beat myself up about it, but have an attitude of learning, reflecting, growing, living and prospering – to press my way through to keep moving forward, less it hinder me irreparably. Not only to spare myself the same agony and hurt in the future, but discerning what I can share to help someone else, for them to “consider” their “gut” feelings for present situations and the future. And although it was dis-heartening, I truly believe that your being so vulnerable here on this blog, is truly going to help someone going forward in their own lives. Thereby, something the enemy meant for bad, God is using for good, and your “hard” test is now a testimony that is helping others. Iron sharpening iron.
But such are the challenges of life. We make regrettable mistakes in our choices, but may only see them as mistakes through hindsight, and as they use to say, “hindsight is 20/20 vision”.
Truly it is a blessing to have someone that we can trust to “safely” confide our deepest hurts, sorrows and fears with, for that can be a challenge in itself. But we also have the same challenge in the choice of who to share our joys and triumphs with. We must be as sure as we can of them also, because it could cause more hurt if they don’t consider us in how they handle it, how they guard our hearts also. But prayerfully, our God can confirm who those persons are for us to share these experiences with. For truly, everybody needs somebody sometimes, and it is a blessing to have that special somebody to confide our joys and our difficult experiences of life with.
I sincerely want to take this opportunity to Thank you again Sister Jackie, for the love and care that you show in these blogs, to faithfully and selflessly share the hard things, the heart-breaking experiences, the broken pieces of life, that it may continue to be an enlightening, enriching encouragement, and blessing to all of us. That we may heal from broken pieces of life’s experiences. And I also glean from your Reader’s comments, for they encourage and enlighten me also.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and rich comments. You are always such an encouragement to me. I am learning daily to give thanks to God “in all things” regardless of how I may feel. I do know that God has purposed me to author this blog, so others may find that God is a healer of our hearts. Even through disappointments, I can count it as joy because through them I have grown and I know that my greater is coming with the desire of my heart fulfilled. May the joy of the Lord be your strength and may He bless you, in unimaginable ways!