From Faith to Faith: God's Faithfulness in Week 2

I can't believe that as of tomorrow I will have been in Texas for 2 weeks already!!!! There are so many moments that throughout this past week God has shown His self faithful, and I will do my best to cover every single one!! I've never known God like how I know Him now. He is truly everything to me in a whole new way!!!! I'll share some of the statuses, in this post that  I made on Facebook this week that captured just how God is revealing Himself to me.

My days, since I have been here, have pretty much consisted of me waking up at 9am and spending 2-3 hours praying, listening, studying God's Word, listening to sermons, or reading Christian books. It was a bit awkward in the beginning, because I kept trying to rush through my quiet time. Then one day The Lord reminded that I had nowhere to be and could spend the whole day, if I wanted to, in His presence. He literally told me that my job for the week was to pray and not to worry about a formal job for right now. After that I began to ENJOY my time with Him a lot more. It took a few days, but I'm thankful that God broke me out of that habit fast. When I say The Lord is stripping me of everything not like Him, I mean it. He's pointing out so many bad habits and sin that I didn't know were in my heart or life, particularly when it comes to idols. His conviction is so much clearer and I find myself repenting of the littlest things. It's crazy how a few days alone with The Lord can change your entire heart and mindset. I have no one else to influence me, but Him. So I have no choice but to change and be transformed more into the image of Christ. Since I do not have a set schedule or responsibilities right now I can truly rest and keep Him first, without any distractions. The downside of not having a set schedule or responsibilities is that it is easy to be tempted to sleep or watch movies all day long, instead of spending time with Him. I really, really have to be disciplined with my time and be intentional about waking up and going straight to pray or worship. I am literally praying that my flesh would die and my spirit man would rise up, because to be honest some days when 9am comes it's a struggle to get out of the bed. I really have gotten into the practice of letting The Lord guide my day and it's been cool to see some of the places and things that He leads me to do (date nights, walks, trips to museums, etc.). Even when it comes to who I hang out with, I have really been asking The Lord to give me discernment and wisdom. I want to make sure I build a community with the people that He wants me to and not just whoever I want to.

If you read my last blog From Faith to Faith: My Transition to Texas  you know that I was pretty excited for what the weekend had in store. Friday night I met up with a Pinky Promise sister from NYC that actually moved to Texas in September! I had not seen her in almost 3 years and it was such a God-ordained re-connection!!! I contemplated going, because I was enjoying spending time with The Lord, but I am so glad that He told me to go. We went to a vegan restaurant called, Loving Hut Vegan Cuisine, which was great. It's an Asian restaurant where everything is plant-based and they apparently have locations all over the the world. But anyway, back to the story... My friend also dances and I truly cannot wait to see what The Lord will do between the two of us. Just sitting there talking to her confirmed so many things that The Lord had shown me, even before I moved to Texas. I left

A beautiful welcome gift from a beautiful friend <3

even further assured that I am exactly where God desires me to be and that I truly need to enjoy this season of rest, because it's definitely not going to last forever. Plus she knows a lot of dance ministers that I prayerfully will be getting connected with soon!!! After that I went to the church of a friend, who actually used to lead worship at The Gathering Oasis back in Atlanta.  Their singles ministry was having an event that night and his band was going to be playing. My favorite part was the worship and I wish it had lasted longer!!! If you ever get the chance to hear Jonathan Traylor sing and/or his band One1Way play, you will truly be blessed. Afterwards I got to meet a few new people and talk to some of the band members that I had met at the Pinky Promise Conference, 2 years ago.  The event didn't end until after midnight and I had to drive almost an hour to get home, but I was happy I got to see more familiar faces. The next afternoon, while I was driving to meet up with someone for lunch, the check engine light came on in my car and my first thought was I don't have the money to pay for this. Before I could really get upset though, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me that everything was going to be okay. I was so thankful for that reassurance, because otherwise I know I would have been worried. If you read my previous blogs, you know that I had already spent money on getting my car fixed right before I had moved, so in my eyes it was a major blow. It's crazy how later in the week showed Himself faithful even in that situation. He truly does work on our behalf and give us solutions to our problems, when we seek Him first and wait patiently for Him. Also that night another lady reached out to me, because she felt led to donate money, further fulfilling God's promise to me that He would send people to help me.

Sunday, January 10th

Amanda & I after church on Sunday :)

I felt The Holy Spirit instruct me to attend Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, for the 2nd Sunday in a row, and was tremendously blessed. My friends Michael & Amanda attend there and I'm glad they invited me. Dr. Tony Evans really had me questioning whether I was a milk (spiritual baby) or meat (mature) Christian with His sermon!!  Afterwards I went out to lunch with Amanda, Michael and and his family to a barbecue place. I quickly discovered that the barbecue restaurants in Texas mean business when it comes to meat. Thankfully I am not new at being a vegetarian and was able to find a few side items and a salad to order. Most people don't know this, but I am super shy & quiet when I don't know people and tend to stick to myself. So it's been nice to be able to fellowship with the Pittman's for the past 2 Sunday's. Right now, The Lord hasn't really laid it on my heart to join that church and I'm actually going to visit another friend's church this weekend, but in the meantime I'm glad to have a solid place to fellowship and hear God's Word preached. Michael's mom mentioned to me about a dance program, at the school she works at, and we made plans for me to stop by before Bible Study on Wednesday. After lunch I went home to take a much needed after church nap and I came across a posting that Bethel Music was coming to the DFW area in 2 weeks. Read below to hear what happened:

Yesterday (Sunday) I was searching for upcoming Christian events in the DFW area and found out, through a Facebook event someone created, that Bethel Music will be here in 2 weeks. I immediately got excited and started to look up the information, but then told myself since I do not have a job yet, I'll be wise and wait to see what my finances are looking like closer to the date of the concert. A few hours later someone sent me a message asking me what my email address was and within minutes I had a ticket to the concert in my inbox!! They told me that The Holy Spirit prompted them to buy it for me. It's been almost 24 hours and I'm still in shock and complete awe!!! God does really care about the little things and I cannot wait until the 26th!!!! I felt The Lord nudging me to share this story, because He wants to remind us all that He is listening and He cares! Do not for one second think that He has forgotten about you, even in the driest and most confusing seasons of life. He may not fulfill every desire in our hearts, but He delights in giving us good and perfect gifts in His timing!!!!! What a faithful, mighty and loving God we serve!!!!

I plan to be on my face the entire concert, just worshiping and praising my God!!!! So excited!!!! 

Monday, January 11th

I really just spent most of this day in the house resting and re-reading a book by Leslie Ludy called "Set-Apart Femininity." If you are a single woman I highly recommend this book and "Sacred Singleness." In general, she is a great author and her books will convict and correct your life. She doesn't play games with The Gospel or sugarcoat anything. I believe that she has written books for married women and mothers as well. So check those out too!!! Later in the day I ended up just driving around Fort Worth, turning wherever The Lord led me to go, and found a Smoothie King!!! :) :)

When I got home I just had to write this status:

The level of God's faithfulness is truly overwhelming!!! The fact that He keeps on loving, keeping, covering, protecting, providing, leading, and correcting me makes no sense to my finite mind. No my life isn't "perfect" but there's so much I'm thankful for!!!! Just the simple fact that I serve the Almighty God whose love for me is unfailing is enough to make we want to praise, worship, and serve Him. At my darkest hours He is there, at my brightest moments He is there, and I couldn't be more thankful to have a constant companion like Him. We've been through so much together and I've truly come to realize, in the last few months, how much of a good good father He is. His ways are so perfect and when I sit down to think about His goodness I can't help but to smile. No matter where I am, no matter what life throws my way, there is one thing I know: God will ALWAYS be with me and that's what separates Him from anyone else that I know!!!! We are in this together for ETERNITY!!! 

Tuesday, January 12th

Tuesday's have become my official date day with The Lord and this week it was 65 degrees that day!!! After spending time with God, I got dressed and headed to the movies! The Cinemark Theaters here have a $5.25 special all day on Tuesday's, and I love an inexpensive outing! Pretty much every day The Lord will give me a budget and tell me what my spending limit for that day is. It's really helped me to be wise and good steward over the little I do have. After the movie, I was really craving Thai food, so I went to eat at a local spot. I put away my phone and jut sat there with The Lord.  He felt so close, like as if He were sitting across the table from me. We discussed my dreams, His plans, my mistakes, our victories, and He really assured me all over again that I am exactly where He wants and needs me to be, in this season.

Here's what flowed from my heart:

This is such a sweet season of rest and intimacy with The Lord for me. I honestly think it's been years since I felt this overwhelmed by His presence every single day. I have such peace and clarity of His voice that leaves me standing in complete awe of who He is. Instead of this being a lonely or confusing season, it's been a season of renewal and revival in my heart. All I have is The Lord and I've truly discovered, in a whole new way, that He is all that I need. Everyday isn't perfect and life happens, but I feel and sense the presence of my Heavenly Father so close reminding me that "Our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a GLORY that vastly outweighs them and will last FOREVER" - 2 Corinthians 4:17 It's been amazing to have the opportunity to get to know The Lord in a deeper way over the past 1.5 weeks. I must admit it was weird and uncomfortable, at first, to have Him expose so many areas of my heart that weren't like Him. I had nothing to hide behind; no job, no ministry responsibilities, no social outings, nothing. Only me and Him in that secret place together. Ironically as He constantly is shaping, molding, and correcting me, my love for Him grows more and more. I wish this season of rest could last forever, but I know God has a mission for me to complete. I just pray that I'm able to keep this same level of intimacy with The Lord, no matter what season I am in. || the unknown only is scary when you take your eyes off of the Father. As long as you are focused on Him, you can do anything He asks of you!!! Not by your power, but by His Spirit!

Wednesday, January 13th

During my quiet time The Lord really placed it on my heart that I needed to get my car checked out. I went to the shop and after they inspected it, decided that I needed to replace my thermostat, which would be at least $130. That was pretty much all of the money that I had left and that needed to go to other bills. I was so tempted to hit the roof and get upset, because that is the same part that the mechanics were supposed to have fixed in Atlanta, before I left. I looked up the shop that I got it done at and they don't have locations here, so in my mind I'm like Lord what is going on. I decided though that I wasn't going to panic or let it ruin my day and instead was going to worship my way through. I literally played this song over and over called "Be Still" by Steffany Gretzinger & Bethel Music. The lyrics really spoke to me in that moment and brought such a calming peace!

Be still my heart and know
You are God alone
Stop thinking so much
and just let go

Be still my soul and rest
Humbly I confess,
in my weakness your strength is perfect

For You alone are God, there will be no other
And You have won my heart more than any other

I called my mom and she said I should have a warranty still, since I got it done 2 weeks ago. I checked my receipt and sure enough there was a 1 year/12,000 mile warranty so she said to see if they could honor it in Texas somehow. I talked to the manager of the store and he told me that  Firestone was their sister store and should be able to take care of it for me. Thankfully there is a location about 10 minutes from where I stay in Fort Worth. After getting that out of the way, I went ahead to my meeting at the school, Michael's mom works at, to learn more about their dance program. Unfortunately the dancers had been released early and their instructor had already left for the day. She felt so bad since that's why I came, but ended up introducing me to a lot of the faculty & staff there and telling them that I had just moved here. Afterwards, I got back in my car slightly confused, because I know that God had told me to go to that meeting and it seemed like a lost cause. I was like Lord I don't understand what you are doing, because that didn't go as I planned I was.  He reassured me that I was exactly where He wanted me to be. So I drove over to Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship for Bible study, which He had also instructed me to do. During worship, I felt The Holy Spirit press upon my heart that if they had prayer I needed to go up. At first, I was like they probably won't have prayer, but if they did I didn't want to go.  The thought of being vulnerable with someone I didn't even know, was not what I wanted to do. Low and behold right after worship, the pastor called for the prayer counselors to come to the front for intercessory prayer and I heard God say go! So I went up to an older woman and shared that I just moved here and didn't have a job. I wanted to ask for God to give me clarity of direction in that are and have the faith and ability to stay in God's will as my finances get low (not trying to make stuff happen on my own, because I don't trust Him to provide). Well the lady that prayed for me happened to be the principal at the school I had just visited.  She immediately remembered me and was like I just met you with Mrs. Pittman earlier today. She asked me where I lived and if could come tomorrow to HR and bring my resume. Apparently they are hiring after school teachers and she was going to see what she could do. The whole time I was like ummm what?? She gave me a hug and said can you make it tomorrow? Of course I could make it tomorrow!!!! I left still trying to comprehend what exactly just happened. When people say that God is not real, I'm like yes He is!!! It's more than a coincidence that all that occurred; it was a divine act of God. The even crazier part was that if I hadn't been obedient, none of it would have happened and I would have missed out on God showing me how Sovereign He truly is!!!

 Thursday, January 14th

Yesterday I woke up early, had my quiet time with The Lord, and then prepared to take my car to the shop and get it fixed. The Lord led me to take my laptop and everything else I might need later in the afternoon. I didn't understand, because in my mind I was going to take my car to the shop and hopefully be done by noon so I could head home, before I dropped my resume off at the school Well I'm so glad that I listened to Him, because I ended up being there from about 10am-2:30pm! I was able to update my resume, send emails, and even talk to a few of my friends in Atlanta, during all of that time (I'm thankful for their free Wifi and water). Initially they were going to charge me a $95 diagnostics fee, but because the issue was related to the part that was just fixed, exactly 2 weeks ago, they honored my warranty and everything was FREE!!!! *insert praise dance* I was so thankful to have overcome that test and learn to trust God all over again. I went ahead to meet with the principal of the school and talk about some career opportunities. Once again the dancers weren't there and the instructor was nowhere to be found, but I got to link up with the principal who I can tell is an amazing woman of God. She took me into her office to hear some of my story, look up possible job opportunities, gave me some godly wisdom, introduced me to more of her staff, and treated me with so much love. Everyone that we passed she acknowledged and the students and parents really respect her. I was amazed at how she truly embodies Christ. Whether or not, I end up working there, I'm glad that God was able to love on me through her. I don't know exactly what God has in store, but I do know that I was obedient and He will take care of the rest! Even though my funds are low, The Lord reminded that I had a $20 gift card so I tried a Vegan restaurant here in Fort Worth, called Spiral Diner, and oh my goodness it was AMAZING!!!! If I could I would eat there every single day I would. I'm used to going into eateries and only being able to pick from a small selection, but at this place there were 5 pages packed with food that I could eat. They have a location in both Dallas and Fort Worth, so if you are vegetarian or vegan and ever in the area, you have to visit!!!!

Well when I got home from my dinner I opened a package from my mom, which included a few dollars for a Christmas gift from my aunt and dad's co-worker. As well as a brand new NKJV study Bible, which I have been wanting for awhile, so I can cross-reference it with my NLT Bible!!! I really can't believe how faithful God has been this past week. I have more bills due within the coming weeks, but I know & trust that whether or not God blesses me with a job soon, He will provide for ALL of my needs. He may not meet them how we think He should, but I'm reminded of Isaiah 55:8-9, which states:

 

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Until next time,

Cierra 

xoxoxo

Me at The Dallas Museum of Art earlier today :)
They have free admission!!! 

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