Category Archives: Prayer

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Mountain High…Valley Low (much respect to Yolanda Adams)

Hello World, 

Incredible. Riveting. Inspiring. These are some the words that I thought of as I watched Chilean miners being painstakingly rescued one at a time after being trapped in a mine for what had to be an excruciating 69 days. As I watched the rescue unfold, I could not help but think  of how everyone experiences dark periods from time to time…of course, we may not be physically submerged in a mine hundreds of feet below the earth’s surface but we are having a valley experience nonetheless…

I wonder what the miners used to sustain themselves during this dark period of their lives…And what do we do when we experience the valleys of our lives…how do we cope? how do we sustain ourselves? what do we do to push through?

As much as I detest pain in any form, I have realized that God uses painful experiences to draw us closer to Himself and to grow in character and faith…a necessary evil at its worst and a prelude to blessing at its best if you let it be…I’m not Job as I have not had everything taken from me all at once with no explanation but I have had some trying times for sure…

I recall a particularly painful time in the beginning of the 2003…I had not had a job in my field for about a year and although I had managed to find a retail job, I was left without steady income again when the retail company suddenly shut down…My roommate who I had depended on to pay half of my bills moved out…My car broke down, and I did not have the money to pay for it to be repaired…

I did know what to do – except to turn to God for comfort and an explanation…And He did…I believe…In January of that year, I had had a mountain high experience…God had confirmed to me that my writing was my ministry through a synchronistic experience at church that New Year’s Eve…I felt like I had received my “marching orders” and quickly began working on my first book…

But by the end of that January after I lost the retail job, my roommate moved out and my car broke down, I no longer felt inspired to write – or do much of anything else for that matter…Since I did not have money to pay my bills, I simply stopped opening the envelopes with the bills in them (I would not recommend this if  you have mortgage.) My world became very small since I had no transportation…I spent most of my time at my home although I did not clean it for a long time since I was feeling so down…I started dating this wildly inappropriate guy that if I had been in my right mind, I would have run from…Lord help me…

That dark period went on for about two months…I must say the Lord had my back because nothing was turned off although I had stopped paying my bills and although my mortgage got behind, I did not lose my home either…But as I continued to seek God, although halfheartedly, He finally revealed to me what the deal was…One day, as I was searching the Internet, I came across a sermon that basically said that just like Jesus, when we have been given a ministry, we must go through a period of temptation and testing as Jesus did…As mystical as that may seem, I knew it was true…When God gives us a revelation, I think we have to be prepared for the devil to come to take away what God has told us…And as Jesus did during his temptation, we have to stand on the word of God and believe what He told us…even if we have been trapped in a mine…

Once I realized what was going on, I knew that I could cope with what was happening to me…And within a few months, everything that had been taken away from me had been restored…I got a job in my field that enabled to pay all of my bills without a roommate and my car was fixed. I began opening my mail again, and I finally cleaned up my nasty house…As a I write this, I wonder if people will think I’m foolish but the “foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom.” (I Corinthians 1:25)

So how do I cope when feel like I have sunk into a mine and life has become dark and constricted…I petition God for an idea, a thought, a scripture – a glimpse of heaven when I am in hell – or what feels like hell…

I imagine the miners thought of their family and friends as the dark days ticked by…I imagine many of them prayed to God night and day to be rescued…I imagine that God revealed to them that although everything was dark around them, they would again see the light…

How do you cope during difficult times?

Any thoughts?

P.S. If you’re going through, the lyrics from “Open My Heart,” a song from Yolanda Adams’ “Mountain High…Valley Low” album maybe  just what you need…and the video of this beautiful song is also below…

Talk to me
Talk to me

Alone in a room, it’s just me and You
I feel so lost ’cause I don’t know what to do
Now what if I choose the wrong thing to do
I’m so afraid, afraid of disappointing You

So I need to talk to You and ask You for Your guidance
Especially today when my life is so cloudy
Guide me until I’m sure
I open up my heart, oh, yeah

My hopes and dreams are fading fast
I’m all burned out and I don’t think my strengths gonna last
So I’m crying out, crying out to You
Lord, I know that You’re the only one who is able to pull me through

So I know I need to talk to You and ask You for your guidance
Especially today, when my world seems so cloudy
Lord, guide me until I’m sure
I open up my heart, oh, yeah, yes I do

So show me how to do things Your way
Don’t let me make the same mistakes over and over again
Your will be done and I’ll be the one to make sure that it’s carried out
And in me, I don’t want any doubt, that’s why

I want to talk to You [Incomprehensible] and ask You for Your guidance
Especially today, when my world seems just a little bit cloudy
Lord, You guide me through that’s why I open up
I open up my heart, my heart, my heart, my heart

All I need to do is just hear a single word from You
I open, I open, open up my heart
Just one word could make a difference in what I do
Lord, guide me until I’m sure

I open, I open, I open, I open my heart
You just say one word, one word, one word, one word, one word
I open up, I open up, open up my heart to You, to You

You’re the lover of my soul
Captain of my sea
I need a word from You
That’s why I open up my heart

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Back in the day…

Hello World…

This show perfectly captured all of the triumphs, foibles & questions of childhood...

As a journo and a resident of the A, you know I’ve heard the news, but I won’t analyze  it here because it’s being analyzed everywhere…On every social network, blog and online publication,  someone is posting a link to an article, a video, a picture, a commentary, this that and the other…and frankly, I’m just burdened by it all…One thing is for sure, prayer is in order…and with that, I will move on to my topic of the day…

Sometimes, when I ponder the state of affairs from politics to current events to the economy and beyond, I get, in a visceral way, why Michael Jackson was obsessed with childhood…The world can be a very scary place…And sometimes, so that I won’t get mired in the woes of the world, I have to make a sincere effort to focus my attention elsewhere…And sometimes, I just have to go “back in the day” when my world was no bigger than my upstairs bedroom at Charlestown Apartments where I could spend the entire day lounging on my bed, tracing images of Cinderella, Snow White and other characters from my Disney encyclopedia. The major problem I grappled with at that age was cajoling the neighborhood kids into letting me play kickball with them. I must admit that sometimes my penchant for “joning” (playing the dozens) got me into fights but overall it was an idyllic time where everything made sense…

So in the interest of counteracting all of the analysis, link posting and discussion, I thought I would post positive links and hopefully make the world wide web a happier place today…Yeah, yeah, maybe I’m simplistic, but at least I don’t use current events as a means to unleash the vitriol  that was already simmering within me…Uh oh, let me rein myself back in…I’m supposed to be sending out peace, love & light today…

So here are my positive or least funny links of the day…

1. Have you heard the latest news about Tyler Perry, Atlanta’s most famous movie mogul?…He just up and gave 10 stacks to some local Boy Scouts…Read the news here…Now, run and tell that lol!

2. Remember back in the day when we (the girls that is) used to do chants like, “My name is Jackie…” And the girls would holla, “Uh, she think she bad.” And I would reply with something like, ” Uh, I’m know I’m bad” and I would roll my neck, switch my hips and curl my lips for emphasis. Well Beyonce did something similar with a group of young girls. Check out the video…You gotta respect a woman who can wear heels at all times…I just can’t…

3. And last but not least, have you seen Wayne Brady and Mike Tyson spoof Bobby Brown’s video for “Every Little Step?” It is soo funny…And Bobby even makes a cameo appearance with his big ole gut and all…Incidentally, Bobby Brown is performing at a free concert for the grand opening of the new Riverdale City Hall on October 9…I will be in the house!

Any positive thoughts?

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Dear Pat…

Dear Pat Robertson,

As you well know, last Tuesday, thousands of Haitians were forced to reckon with what is likely the trial of their lives, an earthquake that decimated tens of thousands in a matter of seconds. All around the globe, acts and words of compassion have flowed like a river and will hopefully help restore and replenish what is left on this dusty isle.  But your words, Sir, do not seem to be compassionate or healing.

According to stories I have read, you have accused the Haitian people of bringing this disaster on themselves by “making a pact with the devil.”  Since you claim to be such a Biblical scholar, I know you are familiar with the words of Ecclesiastes 3. In this poignant chapter, God points out that there is a time for everything. There is a “time to weep and a time to laugh.” There is a “time to love and a time to hate.” “There is a time to be a silent and a time to speak.” Given that is a time to weep for Haitians, would it not be the time for us as Christians (or ones who profess to know Jesus Christ) to speak words of love and if we have none, to keep silent?

As a Christian, I do believe that our actions have consquences, but as we Christians also know that Jesus “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous.” (Matthew  5:45) But no where in that verse does God say that we human beings can determine who God believes is good and evil or righteous or unrighteous. But apparently, Sir, you have been afforded the unique ability to connect some supposed pact with the devil made hundreds of years ago to what happened last Tuesday. I wonder if you have read Matthew 7 in a while. In its opening verse, we are cautioned not to judge others and that what we use to judges others will be used to judge us.  Because of that verse, I know I cannot judge you. But I do ask to that you look at verses 21-22. According to those verses, everyone that says “Lord, Lord” and professes to speak on His behalf and prophesy in His name does not necessarily know the Lord.

Finally, I want to point out Luke 14 to you. In this chapter, the religious leaders of the day, named Pharisees, asked Jesus if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. In fact, they brought a sick man before him. We Christians know that Jesus in His lovingkindness commands us to rest on the Sabbath to replenish ourselves after six days of work. And so the Pharisees who were known to love the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law expected Jesus to say that not even healing could be done on the Sabbath. Jesus did not even respond in words then. Instead, he healed the man and sent him on his way. And then he spoke. “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” The Pharisees did not have anything to say.

Pact with the devil or not Pat, I wonder if you had family members who lived in Haiti, would you have uttered those words. Somehow, I doubt it…Again, I don’t want to judge you as that is not my right, but I do hope that you consider the words of the Bible as you speak in the future. And let us not forget that while we are not commanded to judge, we are commanded to pray. Let’s pray for the Haitians and help in their healing.

Sincerely-

Jacqueline J. Holness