Believing beyond circumstance

The word of God states "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path." That sounds easy but living in this flesh sometimes can be hard to stand on. When you are believing God for the miraculous, but in your mind you want to know the source of where it is coming from and yet in your heart you know that the source is God. "Believing beyond circumstance" of course is the title of this blog but knowing how to believe is another. When God is telling you to "Get out of the boat" as he told Peter but the blow of the winds are telling you other wise, what do you do? You trust God and get out such as Peter did. Jesus said come and Peter did just that. But let's look at it even more, when Peter got out and in his mind he may have said, "Jesus I am going to trust you, here I come!" Then, Peter felt wind and panicked such as we do when God tells us to move beyond circumstance. With shallow waters under his feet and winds blowing against his flesh, nothing seemed solid. Jesus extended his hand and said "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Let me ask this, was the wind at test of his faith? I believe so. Think about it when Peter got back into the boat the wind immediately died down. God commanded the wind to blow just to see how much Peter would trust him. How many times has God told you to go forth in something or things in your life and you got out and said okay God and literally crazy stuff started to happen. Can i tell you that it was the wind to test to see how much you will trust him. Being in Peters position and God asking me to step out on the water. Knowing me, I have to be honest, I would have done what Peter did "PANIC!" Saying, " God okay you are asking me to step out on shallow water and you are going to send the wind too!!!" Knowing how God always responds to me, would've been "Daughter, Just Trust Me Please." And as always I say,"Okay?" So I am currently at this "Okay?" moment. To bring all of this to an end, if the wind is blowing and the water is shallow under your feet, just trust him because when it is all said and done, MY GOD has the final word and it is "It is finished." To close this out, "Proverbs 10:22 says, The blessings of the Lord are rich and addeth no sorrow with it. KJV. Amen.
Sincerely,
Abundant in God and his Gracefulness. "AKA" Tenea DeBerry.

Learning to say "I'm sorry".

Learning how to say you are sorry is sometimes hard to do. It is really hard when you were the one to do wrong. Sometimes we can let emotions cause us to blow up on people and be a meannie(sp). I have to say I was a meannie(sp) today to a particular family member. I have alot of anger issues with this person and to be honest i pray daily that I can be a better person to them (not talking about my hubby). Growing up I have always felt as if this person was more for themselves than me, there was alot of things that were mandatory for them to do but emotionally, not there. To get to the point, I blew up on them today and it was not good. I had not done that in a long time. I mean a real long time. I don't know if it was a build up of emotions and holding back my feelings or just the fact that the person was being stubborn. To continue on, I struggled with calling back and apologizing all day and I did about an hour ago. I feel releaved. They did accept my apologies and hopefully I can control my temp the next time. Well I am learning that sometimes you just have to walk away or hang up the phone(not in thier ear. :0) I don't get angry that often but that was a doozie. Hopefully, I don't get that angry again.:0( Next time I will just get off the phone and talk later. I don't lke anger and rage to consume me. Soooooooooooooo, thanks for reading and good bye. Tenea.

I have to talk about the past couple of days. The first being punishing my son for lying to me. The second being having a great day at church and coming home and sleeping for 3 or 4 hours. And last but not least having lunch with a great friend, today. First things first, I had to punish my son for telling me a lie. As much as I hate punishing him I have to do it. But what I have found is if I take all of his stuff away he has a really hard time and begs for it back. I don't give it back to him unless I feel he has learned his lesson. What if God took everything from us when we sin against him and his word. Thank you Lord for being more gracious on me than I am on others. Secondly, at church we had the UNC Gospel Choir there at the church and I have to say it took me back to the days when I lived at home and went to Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. The energy we had and when the song got really good we would sing in worship until the Spirit of the Lord lifted. I took me back to the days when worship had no time limit and if we were there until 11:00 pm singing it was alright. I have to say those were the days. I am not saying I don't love what I am doing now but I have to say I would love to worship until I am worn out. I remember being in Africa last year and singing on the praise team and how we sang until the spirit of God flooded the room it was probably the most awesome worship experience i ever had. Last but definitely not least. I love when God sends you real friends. i thank God for the one I had lunch with today. You know its awesome to be transparent before someone and its okay with them. When someone has your heart and they that you have theirs and you are keeping it safe as friends. Thank you Lord for lunch with a great person today. I thank you Lord for people that add to your life and not take away. Well I am falling asleep as I am typing so I better go to bed. Sincerely, Abundant in God and his righteousness. :0)

and so it has begun.

As we sat and watched this inauguration, the overwhelming emotion we had as Rick Warren did the prayer. As we bowed our heads even in our home, to be in agreement of great purpose. As tears fell from our eyes with the compassion of hope, justice and finality we thank our God for what he has done. Let me just say it is not about a white thing or a black thing but an everybody thing. This was about something Martin Luther King called forth many years ago. The dream that he saw and has yet come to pass. Do I feel liberated? Yes is the answer. I feel finally the good of a country has come forth. The good of unity, the good of compassion and the good of returning a nation to the heart of God. Will it be easy? The answer is No. But will it be worth it. The Answer is yes. As i sat held the hand of my husband and watch my son run around and play with his K-NEX toys and watched Obama give the speach of a lifetime. I smile in great honor to be who I am as an African American and as an American." Finally", some may say, "Justice for pain of the past." But now in a new era and new time must remember Isaiah 43:19(in the first few words of the verse)"Behold, I will do a new thing............" This is not just in the lives of Obama's but in the the lives of the people of God. Our God is an awesome God. If you don't know I know that he will forever reign in the heavens and in the earth. Proverbs 10:22 "The blessings of the Lord are rich and addeth no sorrow with it." I thank you Lord that your blessings add no sorrow. Amen.

Blessings to all,
Tenea DeBerry ( As Rachel can call me Tenatious D-because honestly I never give up).

something so amazing

You know yesterday I did my first day of service on Martin Luther King Holiday and as I told one of the women(Sheri) that I should be ashamed for not working on this important holiday before, but as we discussed "We have to start at some point, why not today." Sheri told me that this was her first time too. So I guess we both stood ashamed. But I have to say, it was quite invigorating and empowering. I did some service work with the DYP(Durham Young Professionals) in conjuction with Grace Missions Church. I enjoyed my time there helping and making a difference in my community. Grace Missions is a prodominently asian community who were awesomely welcoming and I could sense the love for God from them. Not saying that asian communities are different but to feel welcome in a different place. I felt a peace as I hung out with this community. As I sit now and watch this inauguration of the first African American President it seems so surreal and I see history in the making. Never in history has this ever happened as we know but it is a time when all people have come together or want to come together for a common cause of what is yet to come. Would all our trust be in Obama, NO, but our trust must remain in the God who allowed this man to go this far in history. I see that this was God's hand alone. All the African American men that tried before him and did not make it. Why is that, because God purposed it just for Obama. A man who was not born out of slave trade but born into purpose. God purposed him for such a time as this. Many are called but the chosen are few, Yet to be chosen for a purpose and a time. We must keep Obama in prayer because his journey has just begun. Will the road be easy for him, by no means. But yet he is purposed for a time. I thank God for how he has allowed history to take place.

Blessing to all,
Tenea DeBerry