I’m Not Finished with You Yet!

Ten years ago while lying in a very quiet emergency room, I heard the words, “You’re going to be OK, I’m not finished with you yet.” Upon hearing these words I began to shed tears, and the fear that consumed me – melted away into peace.

As a woman who had been going through what I would describe as full-blown menopause, I had no idea what was taking place on the inside of my body, one main thing that many women experience are heart palpitations which can quickly be brought on by stress, and when that happens, one can think something is seriously wrong.  Following many tests, I began to learn through my own research that due to fluctuating and loss of hormones (mainly estrogen), the body may experience many types of symptoms, which are signs advising us to “dial it down.” What I mean is, as women age, we must realize that we’re not in our 20’s or 30’s anymore, we’re no longer chasing kids around the house, changing diapers and spending every waking moment parenting our small children. No, we’re at a place in life where things become much slower – not so rushed. But, what happens is we wake up to a long list of to-do’s that we no longer need to accomplish. There comes a time when our body says, no, you don’t need to do that any longer, you can relax and shorten your list. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we have to bring out the rocker and do nothing, but we do need to learn to slow it down.

Whenever I begin to feel anxious, as though I have a million things to do, I remind myself to stop, think, and calm myself down. It’s funny, if anyone else tells us to calm down, it never works, but when that little voice inside speaks to us, that’s a good time to listen and take heed.

Over the years, I have learned to speak to my body, tell it to be calm and stay in peace, and if and when I do experience any palpitations, I immediately tell them to cease, and say, “Thank you Father that my heart functions healthy and strong with a healthy heart rhythm,” all the while remembering what the Lord said to me that night.

It’s been ten years since my encounter, and to this day I continue to remind myself of His words, and take comfort in the fact that He has much more for me to do.

In the last few years my husband and I co-wrote our first two books, The Main Thing and The Right Thing, and I’m currently making final preparations for my upcoming book: Love Awakens – available soon.

Within the last year, before I began writing my book, The Lord led me to write a Screenplay, and I’m completely amazed at how, when I pick up my pen and paper, (I’m old school) the scenes and dialogue literally pour out of me, and that’s when I find myself saying out loud, “WOW! I WOULD HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT!” I sincerely, and completely give the Lord all the credit. He’s 100% my inspiration –  I honestly could never do it without Him.

What we must all understand is that we’re all still a work in progress and we’ve all been given gifts and talents, and unless we open ourselves up and give Him everything, we will never fulfill the call that is on our lives. We must come to a place where we say, (and mean it), “Not MY will, but YOUR will be done,” and when we do, we’ll have fresh inspiration to do things we never thought were possible.

The scriptures say, “My people perish for lack of vision.” I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, “I hate what I do!” If that’s you, stop, seek the Lord and ask Him what HIS will is for you, and listen. Listen very carefully. Because, many times the Lord will speak in a “still, small, voice.”

Although there are many different gifts and callings, We must keep in mind that there’s one thing we’re all called to do, and that is Love. In the scriptures we learn that because of Jesus, we are no longer required to live according to the law – except the Royal Law of Love, which is found in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. ‘This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

The Lord Himself showed my husband and our family exactly what this commandment entails nearly 20 years ago when He led my husband to open his Bible to Matthew 25:31-46, and when he did, Jesus said to him, “This is not a parable, this is not a story, this is going to happen one day.” And in these verses Jesus speaks of His return and what is going to take place on that day:

31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. 42 For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

45 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’

46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

This is a perfect example of what Jesus means when he says, Love one another as I have loved you. 

In our first book, The Main Thing, we list over 250 Bible verses that speak on the importance of giving to and caring for the poor, including the orphan and the widow.

When the Lord said, “…I am not finished with you yet” I had no idea what He had planned for our family to do: In 2003 He led us to the town of Ponce Inlet and told us to start Ponce Church, because there had never been a church of any kind in its history. In 2014 He opened a door  to provide meals for the homeless and poor families in the Daytona Beach area. He also led us to launch Legacy House, a home for aging-out foster girls, and soon a home for boys, visit LegacyHousingProject.com – and currently the Lord has led us to launch Ponce Village – Homeless Women Housing.
Why?
There are over 200 homeless women in the Daytona Beach area alone.
Over 32,000 Homeless in the state of Florida (2017),
565,000 Homeless in the USA on any given night – 40% are Women.

Statistics say, Domestic and Sexual Violence is the Leading Cause of Homelessness among Women and Families, and 20-50% of all Homeless Women and Children become Homeless as a direct result if fleeing domestic violence. (From the article: Health Care for Homeless Women – The National Center on Family Homelessness and National Coalition for the Homeless.)

As I said earlier, no matter what calling the Lord has on our individual lives, there is one calling that is universal, and that is: LOVE.

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
1John 4:7-12 NLT – BibleHub.com

Look for my New Book: LOVE AWAKENS – Coming soon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Main Thing and The Right Thing – by Rick Tidwell and Nina Tidwell.