The Moment I Said Yes…
By Agatha Caballero
It's amazing how GOD can change your life and show you what it used to be like in glimpses. Oftentimes, I like to look around at all the things that I have and all the ways that I have grown spiritually and bask in the aww moments. As I sit here in a room dimmed with night lights on, candles lit, and a teardrop in my eye, I can't help but be full of gratitude that I am experiencing this very moment. This moment of silence. Have you ever just sat in silence and noticed that you can actually hear your own heartbeat? Yes, it's that very moment of stillness that GOD will show up. A lot of us are always caught up in the moment that we don't give time for GOD to speak to us; to refuel us for the demands of life.
We wake up, turn to our phones, emails, social media, etc. Now the mind is running on the to-do list, the bills that are due that you probably can't afford so you are wondering how you will pay them. Now the kids are up, the house is noisy and the day goes on. Do you notice at this point it's only 7:30 am and you're already exhausted? You felt like you ran a marathon and you’re ready for coffee cup number 2. Yeah, that was me for a very very long time. The worst part is that it becomes a normal routine so we dismiss the aches and pains in our bodies that are telling us something is wrong. The headaches that are more frequent because the stress has taken over. You see, life has its twists and turns. We have to learn to manipulate our day and not let our day manipulate us. What I mean is we know what our daily routine is. We know what we have to do and how we feel daily so why don't we prepare ourselves for it? Some of you will say, “I don't know how” and I get that completely because I didn't grow up knowing how either. I always responded with “I don't know how”, but when do the excuses stop? For me, they stopped when I said “yes” to living my life for Christ.
There are many things I didn't see displayed in my family or my surroundings so I made a lot of mistakes. Many of us become a product of our environment, but I'm here to say what I wish someone would have said to me a long time ago:
“You are not invisible.”
“It doesn't have to be that way.”
GOD knows where you are, and what you need and HE is always right on time. God is concerned with our wellbeing. He knows that we can be destructive to ourselves. I had to wear myself out to the point that I just surrendered. I remember my very first encounter with the Holy Spirit. I remember the first time I said “yes.” One day in September on a very early Saturday morning I was crying out to God. I said “ I don't know what to do, help me. I’m tired, I'm sad, I'm just done.” I remember thinking years ago in my darkest moment how I just didn't want to live anymore. I was so tired and burnt out emotionally and so alone. People would ask me how I could be lonely with 3 kids, but I was. I thought if I kill myself then what will happen with my kids? Do I take them with me? Who will watch them better than me? Yes, those were my thoughts and because I didn't know how to give my thoughts to GOD the enemy used my mind as his playground.
You see, worry is common in many but it's not normal. We allow this to control our lives and it destroys us. Trust GOD to carry it. Release it because we were not meant to carry it. His words say to cast our worries onto Him and pick up His yoke which is lighter. We are going to experience things that will hurt us, shoot, and even try to break us but GOD says He will never leave us or forsake us. He doesn't want us to be overwhelmed and while it seems like it's too much for us, it's nothing for Him. Only He can because He is the Almighty GOD. Our part is to step aside, release it and trust that the Creator of the beginning and the end is in control.
Matthew 6:27 Jesus said, “ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to GOD”.
Those are His promises. He’s got you! He’s got me! If you are trying to take on and handle everything yourself you will fall. We are not designed to do it on our own. We have to recognize he is here to walk us through every obstacle. GOD wants us to need him. To trust him, to rely on him to fix it because we know HE will, HE can. He (Jesus) told Moses “I AM That I AM” and that is enough. He is enough.
Paul wrote to the Romans,” if GOD is for us who can be against us.” Just like that, if you gave your life to a GOD who is so powerful, then think about it, who can really be against you? My whole point here is that if GOD took me, this poor abandoned orphan spirited woman filled with hopelessness, despair, pain- deep down emotional pain, shame, cluelessness to what peace really was, then HE can do it for anybody. That's a fact! That is the power of the GOD you said yes to.