herlucidlife

Hello Naje here…leaning into Jesus, He took me from my flesh, eternally my praise is about You. 

I have leaned on You from birth; You took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always about You (Psalms 71:6).

I have leaned on You from birth. God is my Father. He used His breath to create me. He uses his hands to mold me. Never breaking me, handling me gently like a Shepherd to His sheep. Walking with me, leading, directing, coaching, willing me. There’s an awe encompassing comfort that I feel when I hear His name, think His name, see His name. I’ve leaned on Him since birth, there is no mountain of life that I could have done without Him. My first breath, till now, and eternally will be because of His love. To lean on God is to align my thoughts with His thoughts, to seek what He seeks. With every breath in my body, I shall be filled with gratefulness, thanksgiving. 

I can recall God’s fingerprint over my life, the goodness that hovered over me that I did nothing to earn and can never loose, the favor, the covering under His umbrella. My mother was a single parent, my father passed when I was one and half years old. We never went hungry. Mom didn’t always have steady employment in her field, as her Master’s degree was barely relevant enough to be taken into consideration when being hired. But we never lived in the dark, in the cold, in the heat, in the element. Grateful that God looked upon us with goodness, love unmatched. 

Protecting my spirit from the evils of this world. He allowed me to be tarnished to shine me back up, He allowed me to be bruised but not broken. I’ve leaned on Him since birth, He is the constant force in my life. I’ve leaned on Him through spiritual and biblical discussion with my mother, surrounding myself with people who believe, consuming God’s word being in His presence. 

You took me from my mother’s womb. My mother dedicated herself to making sure I knew Jesus, that I had a heart for Jesus.She always said, “you’ll come back to His teachings when you get tired, until then He will protect you because I asked Him too”.She gave me back to Him, He gladly accepted my being. She was the moral compass that lead me to Jesus, feeding me milk and honey from His words. He breath life into me through her. 

Then came the appointed time for me to live life totally dependent on God. I was a mamas girl, we did mostly everything together, she helped me make decisions and not feel so lost. When she left I could feel God saying, “it’s time for you to hold on to Me, only”. I had always held onto God through my mother, but it wasn’t till her last year on this earth that I began a personal bond with God.

Life showed that God can take you away from your mother’s womb in many different ways. Perhaps, the womb isn’t just your mother but its anything that’s holding you from God, it’s anything  that keeps you bond to the things of this world. My mother is of flesh, she needed God’s love just as I do, she is my sister in God, we are both His daughters. He needed me to feel this; I can’t live this life attached to my mother, to the flesh but attached to the source, Him.

My praise is always about You. Satan don’t like thanksgiving and gratitude. Satan don’t like that God takes us, to keep and to hold. Satan don’t like that God is working over time to protect. Satan definitely doesn’t like when my life is spent doing God’s work. Gratefulness aligns my spirit with my Father. In order for me to see God, I must first want to see Him, He is in plan view to see in every measure. Gratitude leaves no room for Satan, no room for negativity, only breeding positivity. 

Praise is personal, it’s intimacy with God. Praise can be done both privately and publicly. Praise is a way of life, it’s how I live in honor to God. That doesn’t mean I behave perfectly in every situation but it means that in every situation I put my best foot forward to praise God, and when I fall short He catches me. There is no reason my praise should belong to any other being. 

I praise God for the breath in my body. I praise for bringing me closer to Him. I praise for the blessings that He bestows upon me that I don’t deserve, grace. Praise has nothing to do with me or what I’ve done because I can only do through God. I praise for conviction that changes my ways. I praise for the times when He could’ve walked away and didn’t. I praise for how God redirects my steps so I may walk in every good way. I praise for sustaining my health, even in the midst of me not doing everything I can for my own health. I praise for the consequences both good and bad because they show me God’s character, He is parenting me. I praise for Him removing people, circumstances, and situations out of my life, into my good. He allowed me to have His umbrella for safe keeping, though I may have gotten wet I was never saturated always under His umbrella. Ultimately, I praise because He wants me near, He knows my name, and He’s put love in my heart to want to know Him too, to know His name. 

My prayer is that your praise is for God, about God. He truly loves you, He wants you to know Him because He knows you. He works around the clock never taking a break, on our behalf. Most importantly He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus, a perfect being willingly took our sins, laid down His life, and rose on the third day. Taking victory over death, taking His place at the right hand of the Father. We have grace and salvation through Him.

A relationship with Him is the most valuable relationship to behold. 

*The questions below are for your personal journaling. I pray God leads you to His heart.

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe a time in your life when you relied on God. What were the results ? How did it make you feel ? Describe a time in your life when you DID NOT rely on God. What kept you from trusting Him ?

2. Describe how it felt when God removed something or someone from your life. What have you learned from the absence ?

3. How has praise and gratitude changed how you rely on God ? How has praise and gratitude changed how you view God removing and rearranging in your life ?