Living 50

I just turned 50!!!!! I am truly surprised by the number of people that don't announce and/or embrace this age. When I started talking about being 50 last year, people looked at me like ... you're telling people your turning 50???!!!! I never thought to hide it. Why not???? It took a lot to get here.

Just last week, while sick, the devil started to play with my mind. "You're still single at 50. You'll never have real love. No one loves you now. You're all alone. Your making accomplishments but come home to an empty house". All these thoughts were trying to run on repeat through my mind. I kept fighting against them. Monday night, I had a check-in phone call with the Wailing Women ministry at my church. My God, today!!!!! Just when the devil thinks he has you, GOD raises a standard (Isa. 59:19). Four women, all ministers of the gospel, got on the phone and spoke of the same thing that I had been battling - fear and doubt, whispers in the ear that want you to isolate yourself from other people. Thoughts that make you think you are less than. And, it had nothing to do with age, marital status, parental status, etc. It had everything to do with four women that are in a season of manifestation. The fact that all of us are ordained ministers shows that the devil is trying to dismantle the church.

Here is the miraculous thing. We didn't get on the phone with a woe is me story. NO!!! We all told a fighter's story. How, the devil thought he had our minds. How he tried to derail us. But, because we serve a GOD that is true and faithful. Because we serve a God that will never leave nor forsake us, we all were able to cast down imaginations and everything that tried to exalt itself over God and what we knew of Him (2 Corinthians 10:5). We began to celebrate each other's victory over the week. How we all battled, how we all won. This is sisterhood, this is ministry, this is church!!!!

When you can call on the blood, the Word, God Himself and know that He'll answer. How your covenant relationship stands on the foundation of His love, grace and mercy. When you know that you know that God loves you. Not thinking He loves you, knowing He loves you. No doubt, no inkling of what if, maybe. Just standing on the foundation that He is the I Am that I Am. That He is the true and living God. This is the manifestation. Understanding that we take the Word and use it daily in our struggles. That when issues and problems arise, the God of creation (Genesis 1) is there.

When we realize that God is God. That He truly does have all the answers to all the questions. When we sit back and allow Him to have all power, all knowledge, all everything, our souls can rest in Him. Psalm 37:7 reads: "Quiet, your heart in His presence and wait patiently for YAHWEH. And don't think for a moment that the wicked, in their prosperity, are better off than you." Rest in God and trust that He sees, He knows, and He has it all under control.

So go and celebrate the you that rests in Him. Trust and believe that He is working it all out for your good. Yes, it is true that you may not be where you think you should be but you are where you need to be.

Be A Blessing and Not Just Blessed

• Nakya