TIRED OF BEING TIRED

Haven't been motivated to write anything. The year 2024 has been crazy so far. As I'm writing this, the list of people who have died has been body numbing. I remember 2016 was a banger year for deaths. Lest we forget the pandemic. Thoughts and prayers seems to sound cliche now. How many times have we actually thought about and prayed for those who are grieving?

Seems like everyday I scroll on social media, somebody is posting that somebody else has passed. From the entertainment industry to the church community. I heard a saying one time that went like this, "Appreciate what you have today, because it may not be there tomorrow." James 4:14 says, "...For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

My dad passed in January of 2022. There's not a night that goes by where he doesn't appear in my dreams. It's like my dreams can't comprehend that he's no longer alive. In my dreams, he's alive and well. It's like nothing has happened. I guess there's regret on my part for not saying anything during his home going service. As I'm typing this I haven't been to his gravesite. Little stuff like that bothers me. 

It's still hard for me to open up like I should. Like most people when asked how I'm doing, I say, "I'm fine." just to keep the conversation going. With the all the death going on, not to mention the election, asking people how they're doing is a deeper question than one might think. How am I doing? I'm tired of being tired, if that makes sense. You know how people say, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired?" As the younger generation used to say, that part. 

Romans 8:18, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Song writer said, "Trials form the tears in your eyes

Don't stop

I'm telling you

There's a blessing on the other side of through."

Ephesians 6:13-14a, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore..."

Another song writer said, "I know that there's so much more for me. My heart is ready--ready to receive. I'm standing on His promise for He said He'll see me through it and I know He'll do it"

Here's another phrase that's been thrown around a lot lately, but it still holds true. "Don't give up." I'm not going to pretend like I got all the answers. Nor am I going to pretend I know how to tell anyone how to go through what they're going through. I'm just saying don't live in the valley. Walk through it. It's written, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." 

That's all I got for this one. I hope something was said to encourage. I hope that if you made it this far that you will share this with your friends and family. Don't forget to comment as well. Grace. Peace. Love.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

IT'S NOT TOO LATE

 I was waiting to post something new, but something my little sister told me, "Don't stop being creative." Through this pandemic, it hasn't been all bad. A lot of people worked on making their dreams come true. A lot of people started new businesses. Some people actually used this time of quarantine wisely. Now if you're like me, time got away from you during this time. I can speak for myself, my anxiety went from 50 to 100 real quick. I would have ideas to go back on YouTube, to start a book, to put a group of blogs together for a possible book, and yet here we are. I've always had anxiety issues, but like America did with racism, I swept it under a rug and thought I had it under control.

As I'm typing this we're going on 8 months of nobody really knowing what to do. People want things to go back to normal, but at the same time we got to define what is normal. Do we continue to sweep the issues we have as a nation under a rug and continue to go on day by day without acknowledging said issues. I know from personal experience if you continue to try to contain the issues without talking about them, you are going to blow up. This is exactly what happened in America. America swept racism under a rug and tried to keep that part of its history concealed. Then George Floyd happened. Breonna Taylor happened. Elijah McClain happened. Countless other incidents happened reported or not. And boom went the dynamite. Point is, we can't heal what we can't reveal. Kirk Franklin once said, "A doctor can only heal what we reveal." 

So what's next? Unfortunately we can't go back in time and fix what we did or didn't do to fix the timeline. So what do we do? I was sitting down one night and I heard this as clear as day,
"As long as you're breathing, it's not too late to make your dreams come true." The same God that did it for others the last 7 months, can do it for you this month. The question then comes that I've asked before in a previous blog, what do you want to do? What is that dream that you can't let go of? What is that thing that you can do? Then comes the effort. Then comes where the Bible says, "Faith without works is dead." Then comes where I heard it said, "You got to put feet on them prayers." We've been sitting down on it too long. We've been letting it fester too long. Let's get up and get it. Three words that I've seen from a lot of posts on social media, including some of my blog posts, simply "Don't give up." 

The Bible says, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to younger place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." The Good News Bible says it like this, "I assure you that if you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this hill, 'Go from here to there!' and it will go. You could do anything!" Luke 1:37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Ephesians 3:20 "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..." 

A  song that I've had on repeat, He'll Do It by Fred Hammond, goes, "My faith will carry me right to my destiny. I am sure and there's no doubt in my mind He'll do It." I suggest listening to that song it's been very motivational for me to keep going. 

So let's stop sitting around doing nothing but being jealous of those who went and got it. The Bible says, God has no respect of persons. God shows no partiality. Let's stop letting fear stop us from making moves. If a little bit of faith can move a mountain, imagine what a little bit of faith can do with your dreams and aspirations? If you're reading this, that means you're breathing. That means you still have shot. That means we still have a shot to make our dreams come true. James Fortune said it like this, "Dream again." 

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson