Good Morning Friend!
Is Your Grip Firm?
In our developmental stages in life most of us are taught to be bold, courageous, full of hope and faith. We are taught to be optimistic and to work hard towards our dreams and goals. But what do you do when the experiences and the hell of life knocks the wind out of you? As I drove through the inner city of Detroit the other day I was for some reason very observant of the people I saw; and it saddens me to even report this but many people have just lost hope. They have just simply let go of their grip on life, on society, their families, jobs and some even God. And I bet if we took the time to listen to these people's stories and maybe even some of our own stories we probably would be apt to have the same outlook on life. But how we look at, process and handle what we go through in life is totally up to us. We can endure the storms of life as a good soldier, giving God the glory all the way. Thus, allowing our tribulations to work in us more patience, this will in return give us a wealth of experiences that we wouldn't have gotten without the trial, moreover giving us more hope. Or we can just simply lay there and die. Friend, I want to inspire you to go higher this week. I want you to pick up your dream(s) and begin to do your first work over! Whatever you let go of without God telling you to, its time to pick it up and get a firm grip onto that dream, that vision, that business idea. Yeah, get a sure grip on it because God is about to breath into the nostrils of your dreams and bring them back to life! Glory to God!
As I drove I couldn't help but thank God because if it were not for Him keeping me I would be just like a lot of the people I saw—aimlessly walking through life without any hope. The Lord spoke to me at that time and said "the difference between you and them is that they let go and you didn't!" But to be honest with you, I almost let go as well. There have been times in my life where I forged ahead with my faith in full force—only to get knocked flat on my back by what I experienced. I thought about how devastation after devastation latched hold of my life, which caused me to literally want to (on several occasions) abort my own destiny and just flat out give up on myself and life. After all, if this was all that life was cracked up to be—I didn't think I would be able to handle it.
A few years ago the Lord gave me the opportunity to open an after-school performing arts program. Housed within one of the community centers in Detroit , after much prayer, preparation, a lot of hard work and the generous donations of our ministry partners we opened the doors of our program to some of the best and brightest young performing artists in the city (all without any grant funding). During the tenure of the program we worked hard to build our program and to secure grant funding in order to grow our program and ultimately purchase our own location to hold our classes and administrative offices. As I went about carrying out this vision which had placed a great burden on me to see it through for several years by this point, I couldn't help but notice the great opposition that I received from my own community of people. I was called to sit in several meetings with some of Detroit 's "greatest" Pastors, Bishops, Business people even the Mayor of our city contacted my offices to meet with me. All of these people had the power to write one check or make one phone call in order to assist us in keeping our doors open. Sadly, none of their intentions were to do so, but rather most of them only contacted me in order to profit off of my idea. Many tried to get me to bring my program under their management before they would help me or they were trying to see how it would benefit them to have my program listed on their roster all without offering any assistance in the longevity of the program. I had one Bishop who has a community center that was not (and is still not) being used at all try to change the curriculum of our program to exclude the dance program (because of their personal doctrinal convictions) and when I refused to do so they refused their help. Even my own pastor (at the time) was sitting back and waiting for me and my venture to fall and fail as well as many that I had supported and encouraged through the years (honestly…it was the craziest thing to experience!). And if all that wasn't enough, the community center where we housed our administrative offices and program evicted us from the building because our program's success and potential posed a potential threat to their summer program (so they thought).
After meeting with my board of directors at the time and having to make the decision to close our doors I can remember feeling the lowest I had ever felt in my life. And to add insult to injury I had to deliver this news to my staff, students, parents and supporters. Luckily, none of our financial supporters asked for their money back because of my reputation of integrity (I have to give special thanks to Bishop Gregory Foster and the Kadesh Baptist Church of Detroit who allowed us to use their facilities to wrap up the end of our program). I remember packing up my office at the community center and carrying out our furniture, supplies, equiptment, etc., with my brother Kevin (with tears building up in my eyes) seeing 5 years of hard work, sleepless nights, countless hours of meetings, working on grant proposals, etc., even the tens of thousands of dollars that I had personally given to make this all a reality all lost in the matter of moments. All this disappointment, stress and pain and all I was trying to do was keep some kids off the street while instilling quality academic and arts education as well as vital social and mental impartations to help enrich their lives. At this point I felt like "I've lost everything anyway—I might as well let go," but friend there was something in me (and still is) that wouldn't allow me (and still wont allow me) to let go. That something is the strength, power and love of God that activates especially during times like these. Moreover, because of these experiences I can stand today and say I'm stronger! I'm wiser! I'm better (not bitter)! Because of what I endured.
My friend, even in the midst of adversity, mental and physical fatigue and anguish you have to have a dog-like determination that no matter what others may do to detour me, or how hard they push or pull me and try to knock me down, I'm not going to loose my grip—ESPECIALLY when you know what you are doing is God ordained. I remember telling Kevin that I felt like I had failed. I felt like I had failed my students & parents, my faithful supporters & staff (even though they still got their paychecks…see you still have to remain integral even through your storms) and I even felt like I had failed myself. Kevin began to speak words of life into me that I will be ever grateful for (like he always does even when I don't want to hear it…I call him the African-American "Dr. Phil"..LOL!). Now I speak life into you! No matter what you are facing in life I guarantee if you hold on just a little while longer and don't give up—things will turn around for you.
As I look back at that experience I can acknowledge how what I thought was a tragedy really ended up empowering my future. It gave me great statistical data that I needed in order to construct a stronger grant proposal. It set the pace as a great pilot program so that I could build an even stronger program the next go-around. It even showed me that if I can withstand that situation with most of the odds stacked against me, then I could go through and withstand ANYTHIING life threw my way (and believe me, I've had to draw from that strength a few times since)! Moreover, because I didn't let go, God sent someone from a totally opposite direction in which I was looking who came to me and said, "look I want to help you get some major funding for your program." First thing I thought when they ran down their resume of all the millions of dollars they had gotten granted to so many organizations is "oh Lord, I wonder what she is going to charge me for all this". Lo and behold the next words that came out of her mouth is "I believe in what you are doing and am going to give you my services free of charge." Glory to God!
You see, because I gloried in my tribulations or chose to have a positive outlook on my situation God worked greater patience or endurance within me. The patience eventually allowed me to have some experiences which caused me to have hope within my future that if He [Christ] did it before He will do it again. The same goes for you! Now, I'm not saying that it's always been this easy to choose to have this type of outlook on misfortune. It comes as your faith increases and the more you decide that I'm going to keep going no matter what. I wish I could take credit that I didn't give up because I just didn't want to…that would be so untrue. But what is true is that I thank God because He wouldn't let me let go. So what do you do when the experiences and the hell of life knocks the wind out of you? You take another breath, get up, dust yourself off and never let go of your grip. What do I hold onto when it seems like all hope is gone you may ask? The Lord's hand, His Word and the promises He gave to us! Expect God to make things better!
Much Love,
Clyde L. Webster
No comments:
Post a Comment