So... I went to visit family and friends in Omaha, NE for New Year's. I had a blast spending time with old and new friends. I realized that I am friends with some of the most talented musicians out there. No, really. These guys travel everywhere to play in concerts and on recordings. They're that talented... oh wait! They've been on some of the same recordings as I... I'm that talented too! lol
Anyway, I sang at two churches while I was there. I sang at Salem Baptist Church for their New Year's Night Watch service. That service was awesome; better than what I thought it would be. Sunday morning, I ended up singing at a cousin's church. The service started at 11, and ended at 2. Being a United Methodist, I ain't used to that anymore. That's right, I typed ain't. I can't really describe the service by typing; you have to hear me in order to get a full glimpse of what happened.
Tuesday morning, I flew from Omaha to Grand Rapids, Michigan to audition for a background singer position with Marvin Sapp. The audition went pretty well. It was for 30 seconds though. Anyway, I flew back to Omaha, and stayed there until Wednesday afternoon.
A few weeks later, I was talking to a friend of mine while preparing for a performance. He was feeling down because of issues at home. Unfortunately, the issues at home were spilling out to other entities in his life. Long story short, my MD had to stop being my MD, and he couldn't play for me anymore for anything. I was hurt, but I somewhat understood that he had to take care of home first. A couple of days later, we had a deep conversation. I found out that there were more issues going on besides the ones at home, and I was one of the issues. Honestly, I was shocked. What really shocked me is that someone whom I have known for over 30 years would assume that I would jeopardize someone else' marriage. I later found out that there were other people talking and assuming the same thing.
I was hurt! I was upset! I was pissed off! Why would people talk about me like this? What did I do to deserve this? I spent a few days talking to my true, best friends about the situation. While talking to one of them, I broke down and started crying because I couldn't believe that people would think so low of me to start talking about me like this. I would never dream of doing something so hurtful and shady to my friend, yet she started to believe it. It started affecting me physically. My back started hurting again; I got really sick Sunday morning before ministering at a visiting church; I couldn't think straight.
I prayed about it, and God answered me through His word. I opened my bible, and ended up at John 15:18 & 19. It states in the New International Version: "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
I then remembered that whenever something good is about to happen in my life, that is when I have to go through trials. I also remembered that the enemy uses his old tricks, with new people. He usually selects people that you would not ever expect. That way, you can get even more distracted from whatever it is God wants you to do to build His kingdom.
Later on Sunday evening after the Super Bowl, I went onto Facebook and Twitter and changed my status to this:
To the haters, naysayers, and others that want to spread lies about me... you're only making me stronger. Thanks. :-)
I'm not going to let the enemy and/or his village idiots distract me from the prize that God has for me. I've come too far, and I have a lot more work to do. I believe that as long as I keep myself prayed up... and my true prayer warriors keep praying for me... then the enemy's weapons will not prosper.
I'll write again soon. I promise. :-)
Be blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment