Canaan's Journey

Many readers will find it interesting that this ole’ Baptist girl could be, at any certain day or time, praying in tongues, the Heavenly Language from God.

But at the age of 20, I started attending an Assembly of God church which as most know, have a very strong style of pentecostal worship.   It was there I learned a deeper way to praise God, to communicate to Him, thus to deepen my walk with God.

Many songs have come since that time, and were birthed from the time I became filled with the Holy Spirit with the utterance and witness of speaking in tongues.

WHAT???? ARE YOU CRAZY MEL?  Thinking I must be kind of “out there” now, right?

Well, you probably will never hear me shout in tongues in a church service, nor hear me pray in tongues in front of a crowd, or even around my band members as we pray before our concerts.

Nevertheless, when I pray like this, in my prayer closet… I find such power and such anointing like no one will ever know unless you’ve done it.

The other day, as I was experiencing a very dark and disappointing moment of my life, I felt hopeless, helpless and my whole being was just waning from the weight of it all.  Discouragement had overtaken me and consumed my every thought.

I began to pray in tongues, and as I did, I heard such strong words from God. Tears poured out of me that I thought had dried up, and were to never come again.

Allow me to share those words from GOD with my friends:

MEL, It is WELL with your soul. You have done good things and I have seen them all.

You say you’re broken like the leg of a horse that is primed to run a race.

But I tell you that I will HEAL you, and you WILL be able to run the race to completion.

You will run and not be weary…
you will walk and will not faint…

You say that your foundation is crumbling underneath you from the burden of it all…

I tell you that My yoke is easy and my burden is light. I AM the CORNERSTONE and will supply all your needs.

I will REPAIR, RESTORE AND REBUILD.  Thus you will see a powerful turn in ministry like you’ve never seen before. 

I’m not finished with you yet… More lives to touch, more souls to heal.

Wait on me Mel… Wait on the Lord.  It IS WELL with your soul.

Hey everyone!  Maybe the answer is not for today, but we must wait on the Lord, and HE WILL RENEW our strength.

May God richly bless you and overtake you with love.  HIS love.

hugs,
mel

Don’t you think it’s a wee-bit strange that we keep going through the same old thing?
We keep making the same old mistakes, we lose our faith then we lose our way and it goes on and on and on and on….

I am working with an account in Orlando that is in addition to my the responsibilities of the current client account in Tampa.   Therefore, Interstate 4 is my stomping grounds and I have each exit almost memorized…how many gas stations, where’s McDonalds? is there a Walmart, etc.

This account has kept me so occupied and my whole life has been engaged as we’ve rolled out this new account. I find my brain never turning off, even in the wee hours of the morning.  Sometimes my brain is working so fast that i find myself never being able to think about anything else.

So, in my little yellow super-charged sports car, I drive back and forth each week from St Pete to Orlando. Of course, those who are first-hand witnesses of my aggressive and intense driving on the road can attest to how scarey it can be with me behind the wheel.

but… I HAVE TO GET TO WHERE I’M GOING and need to get there quicker than everyone else on the road who have destinations, don’t I?

Within 2 weeks, my Van was broken into which cost me $600.  My other car needed $1000 worth of tires, brakes and maintenance.  If that wasn’t enough,  I was stopped for speeding and ticketed twice in one week.  

I was devastated!   These traffic tickets are very expensive and can wreak havor with the insurance premiums.

So, I came to God asking WHY WHY WHY?   Am I not a good person God? I’m faithful to church and give to my local church and community. And you know God,  I AM the Praise & Worship leader at our church AND i might add that I’m in a Christian band. (spoken with true humility, right?)

So, why didn’t I get a break on this God? I know I was speeding but a lot of people speed and never get caught. So, why me?

As I petitioned God for the answer, I found myself asking, “What’s the lesson to be learned in all this?”

So clearly, the voice from God spoke and here’s what I heard:

YOU ARE AVOIDING ALL THE SIGNS IN YOUR LIFE
NOT JUST THE SPEED LIMIT SIGNS
BUT YOU’RE IGNORING YOUR HEALTH
YOUR RELATIONSHIP, YOUR CHURCH, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR HOME…
YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN AND SPEND TIME WITH ME TO HEAR GOOD THINGS
TO LEARN GOOD THINGS AND TO BE AT PEACE WITH YOURSELF AND OTHERS.

I encourage us all not to ignore the signs in our lives that tell us to be balanced and learn to manage our time spent in life.

So many times I’ve heard people tell me, “I never hear from God…I can’t hear him speaking to me…”   But God IS speaking! God speaks to us in unconventional ways and we need to be patient and listen.

So, now…as I drive down the road, I utilize the cruise-control function of my car and keep it at the speed limit all the time.  And as others pass my by, whizzing crazily around me… I just wave to the students…the students that still have a lesson to be learned.

Love & hugs,
Mel

My job as Program Manager for Managed Service Provider services to client companies has proven to be very successful and I thank God every day for being employed.

I’ve been in staffing for almost 14 years now and have recruited many people for jobs. I’ve always enjoyed dealing with the diversity of people from a large spectrum of skills, background and experience. 

I think most people in staffing arenas could write a compilation of stories of their own experiences in dealing with candidates and perhaps even publish an entire book on those experiences.  In fact, I know of a particular HR Manager who is currently writing her own novel and modeling it after stories and xperiences in the HR field.

Recently I acquired a new client account and am dealing with the Finance and Procurement departments as we implement a new program.  It’s such a different dynamic to work with these folks as they are far more analytical, data-detailed.  They can run circles around me in Excel spreadsheets with pivot tables, v-lookup, etc.

You see, most client accounts are driven from the Human Resources group for our program, so this is definitely different for me. 

The challenge I have is dealing with numbers and data instead of people.  I can certainly run cost savings analysis, and market rate reports, but my math is simple in logic compared to their formulas. 

Just recently we had a conf call where the VP responded to my report as being “simplistic” and not very detailed.  YIKES!  Honestly, I’ve found myself questioning my intelligence and education since dealing with these people.

You see, I didn’t get a college degree.  I chose as a single mom, to stay in the trenches and work LONG hours and climb a most tedious path to my current position.  Was it the best route to take?  Absolutely not!  Had I made the choice to get my education, perhaps the climb would not have been so difficult.  

Nevertheless, here I sit, wondering if maybe I’m never going anywhere further in my career because of my education is less than my 20+ years experience in management? 

A good friend of mine, Sheryl, came by my house last week and I was sharing my concern.  I love it as she stated, “Hey Mel, just live your life one day at a time. ”  She went on to say, “ The way I see it, I’m living Sheryl’s Big Adventure and that’s what gets me up every morning.”  

Ha! I laughed at her but found myself smiling as I walked back into the house. 

I am livng an MBA (Mel’s Big Adventure) so that makes me an MBA qualified person!  

yay for Me…