Trouble in My Way

I had to travel this past week to Florida for a ministry event (I’m outside but I’m literally just at church 🥴). The morning I flew home, I got a call from someone I love dearly, checking on my return trip details. I let her know that I wasn’t flying out until later in the evening. She advised me that I should check with the airline and see if I could take an earlier flight because of the storm. When she said it, I thought, wait what storm? I knew there was a storm in Louisiana and I believe Mississippi was affected as well (now other states are being affected including both my hometowns so please keep them in your prayers 🙏🏾) but I was in Florida. I immediately checked Florida and Dallas weather and both were clear so I told her it was fine. She told me to try to leave sooner anyway because the affected areas could affect our flight. I changed my flight because when wisdom speaks, it’s good to listen. I’m so glad I did because my original flight ended up getting delayed several times. While on my flight home, I thought back to that conversation and got this revelation about this new season of my life: storms in other places can affect your trip (I told y’all I will literally find a word in anything lol). I’ll just tell y’all about one of my storms for now because the others are just to ghetto to talk about right now 🥴. People may know about this but some don’t but three weeks after I moved to Dallas, my mother became extremely ill. There was fear that my mother wouldn’t make it. It’s a fear I still struggle with DAILY as we continue to walk this journey of healing for her because she’s getting to the other side of this..on THIS SIDE (please keep her and us lifted as we navigate this new normal, I miss my momma so much 😭). My mother is a STRONG voice of reason, wisdom and guidance in my life (it hasn’t always been that way but God is a restorer) that I knew I could depend on in making this huge leap of faith. I came here believing that even if things didn’t work out the way I thought they would, (and they have NOT but God has been faithful) I could just call my mom. She would give me the wisdom, encouragement and strength I needed to keep going or the okay to come home if I felt like it was too much (at least two of my friends just read that and said, you ain’t going home, be quiet a girl can dream🙄😂). Her becoming ill rained on my little parade(don’t get me wrong I have some amazing friends, sisters and people-shout out to y’all, who have been getting me through this time) and I have had to navigate one of the most difficult seasons of my life without the wisdom of my mother (and before you get too deep, yes I’m still praying and hearing from God). When I decided to move, it was pure obedience (I DID NOT want to come despite popular belief and I have to fight everyday to stay because I just want to go home 🥴). I had never lived anywhere but PA except when I was younger (I was born in Jersey and stayed there til I was 6). I had no idea what to expect with moving, but I knew I had to be obedient so I came. What I didn’t account for (well I didn’t really account for much of anything TBH, I just came) was the storms that could affect me on the way to this place of purpose. Similar to what I did with the weather, I checked PA, knew it was time to go, checked Dallas, knew that it was God sending me there for purpose, and decided it would be fine. I didn’t account for the “storms” that may affect my obedience AT ALL. The truth is, a lot of us do that, we only check where we are and where we’re going. We don’t always check the in between. When we don’t account for the “storms”, we can become weary, frustrated and downright indignant (that was me 🥴 but thanks be to God and good praying friends) with our purpose. When I say account for the storms, I want to be clear that I’m not saying calculate your way out of obedience because NAH, we ain’t doing that. What I am saying though is that in your pursuit of purpose (whether spiritual or otherwise), make some preparation for turbulence on the way. How do you do that? I surely don’t have all of the answers but here are the things that have and are getting me through! A prayer life, like a real one (for real if you don’t have one at this point with everything going on, I don’t even know how you’re making it). A solid support system that can transcend distance (in my case, I don’t know the people well enough in Dallas so I pull on my support system who all live thousands of miles away but show up for me as if they’re right here). Stay connected (or if you’ve moved like me, get connected) to a SOLID local assembly (your favorite Facebook preacher is cool and all, but you’re going to need someone to fly with you in real life). Also, don’t be afraid to accept wisdom from new (or old) and unexpected voices (try the Spirit by the Spirit because everybody ain’t wise, some people are just popular). Take your time getting to know and forming relationships in this new season (in the words of my fave preacher, “the interview goes both ways”). And last but certainly not least, by all means, strengthen your ability to fly through turbulence (because you may encounter it on the way).