Are you wearing your own shoes?

Most people sing in the shower, I usually practice my acting skills, create some dramatic scenes here and there or talk to Jesus. Yes, I spend time in prayer in the shower. The bible tells us to pray without ceasing, so that means I'll pray any and anywhere when needed :) Now let me get back to why I decided to write this. So yes, I was in the shower and I just found myself thinking about role models and mentors. I read a blog written by my sister in Christ earlier this week (such a great blog! She is awesome) and I began to think about my role models, mentors and overall people I looked up to and admired for several reasons. I admire older women who are professionals working hard at their careers, a career that I see myself doing for the rest of my life, God's willing. I admire women who experienced hurt, loss, pain, disappointments and are now living a life filled with love and purpose. I admire women who might have made some mistakes in the past, but have learned from them and applied the lessons learned.  Most of all, I admire women who are have totally and completely surrendered their life to Christ, who clearly have a heart for God and are walking in his purpose. They do things God's way, not the world's way anymore and others can clearly see the fruit in their lives. I admire and respect these type of women wholeheartedly. However, sometimes we take our admiration for our role models are bit too far and miss out on what it's really supposed to be about. I'll explain.

There is nothing wrong with having a mentor, a role model or admiring someone. As, I mentioned before I have a few. I also enjoy mentoring others and I hope to be the type of woman someone looks up to one day. However, as I took my shower I truly believe God placed a message in my heart because I was not even thinking about this, it just suddenly came to me outta nowhere. A message for you reading this, but for me as well. He said: " Yes, having mentors and looking up to other people (everyone should NOT be your role model/mentor. )is good, valuable and necessary, but I want you to observe their steps and take away the overall guideline, NOT walk in their steps and become like them. You are to become more like me." 

There is a difference between learning from someone and our attempt to walk in their steps identically. God has a specific story line for your life. Your story should be different from Susan, Jane's and Mary's. I truly believe God places mentors in our lives not so we can copy them and do everything they do, but so we can see that:
1. God is still working in the lives of his children. He did it for them, he'll do it for you. 
2. So you can ask questions and gain encouragement when you feel discouraged. 
3. To help inspire you

You sell yourself short if you expect, want or purposely try to force your steps and life story to look like someone else's. There were times when I became discouraged when I looked at the lives of others, either professionally, relationship wise and especially their relationship with God and I felt like I was failing. I felt like I was not doing enough, that I should have a committed relationship by now, that I was not as close to God as I should be because this person's relationship seems like it's on point etc.! It was crazy. I slowly began to realize that hey, I can only be me. These people did what God called them to do and he gave them the steps to do it with an overall guideline. I also should follow the overall guideline (for eg. spending alone time with God, getting an education etc.) BUT my steps may look completely different from theirs. My situations, my setbacks, my success stories may look completely different from theirs and that's okay. At the end of the day we both will accomplish what God called us to do, but we will each have our own unique story. Our story may have some similarities, but they will never be identical, nor should it be. How boring is that?

Mentoring can be great! Looking up to people who are doing what you want to do is wonderful, but don't ruin the experience and what it can be by working so hard to emulate what they already have by pressuring yourself to take their steps. Let it flow. Do your part and allow God do the rest. It's between you and him anyway...not them. I'd love to hear your thoughts on role models, mentoring, etc. Do you think it serves more good than bad? Do you have a mentor/role model? How have they helped you grow? Feel free to share in the comment box below!

xoxo

http:/jessieljay.blogspot.com 

Brooklyn Tabernacle!

Last Sunday I visited The Brooklyn Tabernacle for the very first time. I had this strong feeling in my gut that I was supposed to visit and I couldn't quite explain why it was that church, but I decided to go for certain the night before. I went on to their website to look up the service times and the directions, saved the information in my phone, charged my phone and my portable charger (android battery life sucks) and went to bed pretty early!

The next morning I woke up to snow on the ground and I thought, "seriously!!!ughh". The news said that it would probably snow some more later that day and I began to tell myself, "Just stay home, don't go, you can always go next week etc." Not to mention that once I was dressed it began snowing lightly again. Despite that I was determined to shut down my thoughts (and the devil, im convinced he didnt want me there 1:nto 0:satan) and head to Brooklyn by myself. I said a prayer before leaving that sounded something like this, "God, I don't know why you want me attending, but I will obey you, protect me, guide me and let me get there safely please. amen"

I honestly thought I would end up lost but, to my surprise I found the church with ease (GO ME! :) ) I stepped in and thought "Wow, this is pretty big!" as I looked for a seat. The ushers were nice and everyone seemed excited and anxious to be there which only increased my excitement. I was so ready to pour my heart out to Jesus during praise and worship. I will admit, I was looking forward to hearing the choir sing and yes they killed it as usual! The entire atmosphere was filled with God's holy presence. I truly felt it. I never felt anything like it. Hands raised, glorifying God, I felt the Holy Spirit in my body. I thought maybe God wanted me here to hear the choir, give my offering here or something.

That was before Pastor Cymbala preached. Yes, the praise and worship experience was amazing and it gave me an opportunity to worship with a church community, but the sermon was for me. God wanted me to hear that. He preached on Ephesians 6:10-12. Now Ephesians 6 is special to me because when I first began walking with Christ intentionally and decided that I needed to experience God's love on my own, I had a dream that I was bound in chains on a chair, monsters and demons all around me and all I kept screaming was ephesians 6, ephesians 6. I had no clue what it was about, so the next morning I woke up and read it and I was in tears. Paul instructs us to put on the full, FULL armor of God to withstand the devil's attacks and to live here on earth until Christ's return. It was an answer to my question the night before because that night I got fed up of how I was feeling I cried out to God, "How do I do this?" I cant do this! Show me!

Fast forward to recently again. Recently I've had questions about spiritual warfare and why does God even allow his people to go through it. You know I posted earlier "Lord do you care?" As much as I had a smile on my face and I was encouraging others through tweets etc. a part of me began questioning lately if God really loved me. This christian walk is not easy. Temptations fly at you a mile a minute!! It's easy to fall back into sin. I have my dark moments too, I just never talk about it...to anyone, including my friends. The sermon spoke about this and the reasons behind it and how we can conquer etc. When he began preaching, most importantly when he said what he would be preaching on, my eyes began watering. It all made sense. He wanted me there for this very purpose. I had been asking him and I was expecting the answer to come in the form of a dream because that's what happened the first time.

I won't go into details about the sermon because I do not want this to be too long, but I am pretty sure they post sermons on their website and I encourage you to check it out and listen to it. It may speak to you and be just what you need as well. However, my point in sharing all this is to tell you don't limit God to your expectations. He works in mysterious ways and he works in different, unusual ways. You know we get so caught up with how things worked in the past that we are afraid to try something new. We get so used to God handling our problems in one way that when he is trying to use a different, better way; we lose our blessing because we miss it or simply don't want to believe it. I expected to get my answers and peace through a dream, God wanted to use someone and my experience at Brooklyn Tabernacle to speak to me instead. Don't doubt the way he speaks and the people in your life, strangers included, that he can use to get to you. What a mighty God we serve. I just love him! He is awesome!! I am in awe when I think about how powerful he really is. Do you guys realize he created the universe by speaking?!!! Who does that?! Insane! There is nothing he can't do. Nothing is impossible for him. As i say all the time, You might not think it's best for you, but God always knows best. And as BIG as he is, as POWERFUL as God is, sometimes he speaks to us in the most simplest ways. He was a gentle whisper to Elijah...and to me he was that indescribable gut feeling that told me to go to church in Brooklyn that day and he spoke through Pastor Cymbala as well. How is he speaking to you?