New Year, New Life, New Opportunities

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (KJV)     2 Corinthians 5: 17

God wants to remove our old to replace it with new, but He will not fight us to do it.  We either want His blessings or not.

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Hello one and all, it is me, Stephanie. And before we start to set our soul free, I want to remind you to don't forget to subscribe to the channel, click the like, and leave a comment. Also, don't forget to hit the little notification bell so you know when new videos post. As always, I know we won't always agree, and that's okay. Man wasn't meant to always agree with one another. That's what makes our world that God created unique because everyone has a difference of opinion and I'm okay with that. Leave your comments so we can keep the conversation going. Remember, it's not about me, it's about you. It's about our youth. It's about setting our souls free with me. Stephanie. So let's get into it. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. Wherever you are, in whatever part of the country you may live in, I greet you and say thank you for blessing me with your presence. It is time to set your soul free with me, Stephanie. So let's see what we can be blessed with today. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, good night. Wherever you are, whatever part of the country you are in, I greet you and I say welcome to set your soul free with me, Stephanie. This time we are going to talk about new year, new life, new opportunities. Every time right about this time of year, I talk about new year and new opportunities. Well, this time I added new life. So this time we're gonna talk about a new year, a new life, and new opportunities. Why? Because every year brings something new. Whether we want it or not, every year brings something new. So our scripture is coming from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. That means whatever was old in the past was new at some point. And the things that we try to do now that is new are gonna eventually become old. 2022 brought death, depression, despair, uncertainty, and fear. But the question is, are you going to bring that with you into 2023? 2023 is a time of new beginnings, new adventures, new challenges, and especially new blessings. A lot of us go into the new year bringing baggage from last year. And then you wonder why your year doesn't kick off like it should. Well, because you brought in baggage from last year. When you go from one year to the next, it should be new. New things. The only reason you should bring something old is that if it's still blessing you, if it's still positive, if it's still nurturing, if it's still teaching you something. If it is not, you need to let that go and pick up something new. This verse is telling us that anyone that being Christ is a new creature, which means we are revived anew and not being the old version of ourselves. Tell the truth, if we were still the same when we were growing up, some of us would not be here. If we were still the same when we were in our 20s, some of us would not be here. Or some of us would have taken a different path that may have been for our good, but it may have made it worse. If some of us took a different career path than where we are now, it could have been better, it could have been worse. But that means that we're all being revived anew. You know, we're not being the older versions of ourselves because the older versions of ourselves didn't know anything. We were young, we thought we were invincible, we could do this, we could do that. We got away with so much, we thought we can get away with more. But now that we're older, we know that okay, that's that's not gonna work. You know, there are consequences for your actions. You may not get it right then, but eventually it's gonna come back around. All things are gone and the old will become new. This means the old things are gone and are placed with new things. The problem is, some people do not want to let go of the old things. This is true when it comes to the church house. We have the old school, the seasoned saints who are so used to the way church has always been ran, they do not want to let that go. When corona hit, OMG, much of an up-to-do because churches still had to keep running. You know, the lights still had to be turned on, you know, electricity still just because corona hit and people couldn't physically get to the church did not mean the church could stop blessing souls. So when we had to go to the Zooms and we had to do the different kinds of ways of getting people into church, some of the seasoned saints were okay with it, some of them were not. Most were not because they didn't understand how all that works. Why what do you mean I gotta use my cell phone? Well, how come I just can't be in the house? There's new things now when you got younger preachers coming in, younger musicians, younger choir directors, younger choirs, younger members that are coming in with different ideas that they know would bring others in. Our seasoned saints are like, no, we ain't supposed to do all that whoop the whoop whoop that y'all be doing. We're not doing all that. And then you wonder why you have no youth in the church. Or you have them, but they don't stay. Because you're sticking with the old when you need to come to the new. Some rather keep holding on to old things, sentimental value, I guess. Who knows? But we cannot be blessed with the new God wants to put in our life due to not having no room for it because the old things we still carry around like trophies. God wants to bless us with so much stuff, but he can't because there's no room. There's no room in our soul, there's no room in our hearts, there's no room in our house, there's no room because everybody wants to keep with their old stuff. They don't want to get rid of it, it has sentimental value. Well, what God's supposed to bless you with is gonna have better sentimental value, but I guess you'll never know because you don't have room. We have got to learn that we have got to make way for new things. The world is changing, the world is not the same, the world is every day, it's something different, it's something new. You cannot hold on to the old things when there are so many new things coming on that the old things don't even apply anymore. Old things are majority of the times not even relevant anymore. And you can't keep up with the times because you want to keep on to the old things because you don't want to embrace what's going on now. We wonder why our situations don't change or get worse. It's because we hold on to things God told us to get rid of many times over and over again. You know, that job. You want the job because it's easy peasy. You can come in when you want, you can leave when you want, you can do whatever you want, the money's okay. But God's wanting to bless you with a better job, with better opportunities, faster advancement. But you don't want to do that because that means you'd have to climb up the ladder all over again and you're comfortable where you are. But then you wonder why you're not getting further in your career. Well, because you chose to stay there. God wanted to move you to something different, you chose to stay where you were. So that's why nothing has changed. I mentioned last time that, you know, I had a job, but because of the decisions they they did they left into the hands of somebody who was not medical profession, I left. Did I want to? No. Because it was that time of you know, corona's over and people are letting up. Well, I've been three years in this one company. And I was blessed to get that job. But at the same time, I knew God was telling me it's time to move. You're where I need you to be, but now I need to move you to somewhere new. So my new year started off with a new life, new job, new opportunities, and it's been a blessing ever since. All because my actions, as you always hear me say, my actions matched my words. He said it's time to move. I moved. I asked God if he was to do this and this and this. I promise I would do this. God came through for me. I kept my word to him, and I have never been so happy at a job as to where I am. I no longer have to worry about pain because I'm sitting for too long. And then have to worry about getting permission to get up, to move for my own health and for my own safety. I have diabetes. I know if you saw me, you wouldn't be able to tell because of the I still eat my zebra cakes and my diet Dr. Peppers. But I have diabetes. But this particular job, we had to sit seven and a half hours. Well, my doctor was not happy with that because there's no way a diabetic can sit still for seven and a half hours and it caused lower back problems, it caused my legs to swell, it caused my feet to swell. I was in pain. But it was that kind of job that if I got up and moved, they would know it. Because we had to do so much per day, whatever, to the point where, like I said, I had to get a doctor's note that says I had to move for 10 minutes every single hour. This job I got now, I don't need that doctor's note. Because now, if I get to hurting, if I'm sitting there too long because I'm working and I'm not paying attention to how long I've been sitting, the minute a pain kicks in, I don't got to ask nobody for permission. I get up, I go take a stroll. I come back, I sit down. That's what God does to you. When you do what you're supposed to do, He blesses you. So not only did I get blessed with a job where I'm making more money. And like I said, I work for the state again, and I got all that stuff that I, when I left five years ago, I got all that back. So I came back with vacation time. I came back with sick time. But the biggest thing that I love is that I don't have to ask permission if my body starts to hurt. Like my body's telling me you're sitting too long. We've been in one position too long. We need to get up and we need to move. We need to let the blood circulate. I don't have to ask nobody's permission for that. I don't have to worry about if I get up and stroll, if I won't be asked about that later in a in a monthly meeting about my my my kin time was this and this and that and the other. I don't have to worry about that no more. The stress, I guess, is the biggest part. The stress of it all is gone, which is why I'm happy. I'll gladly get up and go to work now. I don't care. I'll go. And that's what happens when you let go of old things to welcome in something new. Yes, it's terrifying. Yes, it's scary, but that's what you have to do. One of the things, um, one of the mugs that I make um has on there, change is not always needed, but is sometimes wanted. Sometimes we have to make a change, and we don't know how little that change is, how big it affects in the long run. Like I said, me going from one job to the next released a whole lot of stress, released a whole lot of frustration. My health is getting better because I can get up and move more. I can go take a stroll, I can go walk, I can go exercise, I can do a lot more just for one new action. Going from one job to the next. And that's normally all that we have to do. But by continuing to hold on to the old, we cannot make room to receive the new. Ask yourself, what about my old things makes me want to keep them? Again, sometimes things are sentimental. We ain't gonna get rid of something sentimental, that's regardless. Whether if it reminds us of a good thing, a bad thing, a confusing thing, something we did that was ignorant, whatever it is, some of the old things that we keep are sentimental values. That's understandable. But not everything in your shed is sentimental, not everything is not sentimental, something can go. So, what is it about your old things that makes you want to keep them? What are you afraid would happen if you let the old things go? You know, some people don't want to let things go because they feel the minute they let it go, I don't know, the world may come to an end. I don't know what they think. But some people will not let go of old things because of fear of something happening. Now, it could be something that happened in their past that gave them that idea, it could have been something that happened in the present. Whatever the thing is, something happened to where people do not want to let go of the old things because they fear something is going to happen. But God wants to remove our old and replace it with the new, but he's not gonna fight us for it. We either want his blessing or we don't. That's what I love about my father. You know, your earthly father, like, you keep playing with me, little girl. But your heavenly father will be like, you know what? I'm gonna give her a little bit more time because this means this is a different attachment to her. I'm gonna give her a little bit more time. But what they what he's not gonna do is he's not gonna fight you for it. I'm sorry. Either you want his blessing or you don't. If you don't, that's okay. He's just gonna keep it on the shelf for a minute until you're ready, and he's just gonna move on. He's not gonna sit up there and argue with you. He ain't gonna sit up there and keep talking to you. He ain't gonna sit up there and try to negotiate why you should let the he's not finished to do that. He's not. Because you know what he wants you to do. You know the blessing that's gonna come with it, you know the positive that's gonna come out of it, but for some reason you don't want to let go of the oh, well, that's okay. He's just gonna put your blessing back on the shelf, swing back around again later when he thinks that you're ready, and he may try again. Other than that, it's just gonna sit there. He's not fanced to argue with you. And he shouldn't have to. Because he's God. You know what he can do. He's done it before you before. But for something like this, it's more, I guess it's a more personal kind of thing where we hold on to old things. But like I said, he's not gonna fight you for it. Either you want his blessing or not, and if you don't, his feelings is not hurt because he knows eventually you're gonna get it. It's gonna be later than he wanted you to, but you know, sometimes you know, we're we're hard-headed. We have to learn the hard way. This year is a year of strength, endurance, resilience, determination, and healing. We will have to let old things go to be able to move in the direction God wants to go. When this year started, God already had our lives already lined up. He knew it was coming down the pike. He's trying to get us prepared for it, but some of us are still holding on to the to the old stuff. Like, I don't want to go. Like a baby that don't want to get rid of the pacifier, or the or the child that don't want to get rid of the blanket now that they're old enough and they don't need it anymore. Or the kid who still wants a night light, but you like, okay, you old enough now to get a lamp, but they don't want to, they don't want that. They want to keep on to the old. It's just like that. Getting rid of the old to get to the new is maturity. That means we have outgrown what we've done and we're now ready to move on to the next level. But some of us still want to stay in the old, and then you're wondering why such and such is being blessed. I know what they do. Why are they getting blessed, and I'm not, because they let something old go, something you may not have even known about. But they let something go to make way for what God gave them that was new. Sometimes you just gotta let one thing go, and it opens the door to so many different things. One thing. You just have to let one thing go. You know, when people tell you to let go of the old, we're thinking they're talking about everything we've ever done, all our past. No, we're not talking about all of that because your past and your mistakes is what got you to where you are now because you learn from them. So we're not saying let go of everything, but there's like at least one thing you need to let go to let the new thing come in. In my case, it was letting go of that old job. That old job, letting that go to get blessed with this new job, opened the door to so many different things. And I'm still shouting about it just because I let go of that one thing, even though I could have stayed if I wanted to, I could have done a lot of things with that job to make my life a little bit better, but no, God said it was time to go, and He provided a way for me to leave, and I prayed on it, and I took that step out on faith, and I said, you know what? You lead, I follow. And I still, like I said, I'm still shouting out because I let go of that one thing, open the door to so many things. So I'm standing here, like I told you before, I have no problem using my life as a witness because, like I said before, I've done some ignorant things. So I don't have no problem telling people my mistakes, what I done, what I knew I shouldn't have done, what I could have done better. This is one of those cases where I'm saying, if you do what he asks you to do, if your actions go with your words, you don't say, Lord, I trust you, but then in the back of your head, you got a plan B. If you trust him and do what he asks you to do, the path is already laid out. He's just waiting for you to take that step and to be humble when you do it. That's all it is. Like I said, it doesn't, you don't have to take all uh get rid of a lot of stuff, just one or two. It just depends. It depends on how much you're hoarding, but you ain't got to get rid of everything, just one or two things to make new for what God is coming with. Because trust, everything that you have that is old was once new. So everything that He's given to you now that is new, we'll probably have his discussion again next year. Okay, time to get rid of that old stuff because now it is old, because it's time to replace it. But again, we either want it or not. You know, it it's it you just have to figure that out. Um, but we we have to let some things go to make room for what God is bringing. And for all I know, it's could be the same exact thing that you already got, it's just a newer version. You know how Microsoft is always updating the software, all the virus stuff always has to update the software every couple of months or every year. Same thing with God. You know, the blessing he gave you last year will probably not work in this year because it needs to be upgraded. Because you did something that you were supposed to do, which blessed you some more, which blessed you again, which blessed you again. Well, now he's got to give you a new blessing on top of that one. But you gotta let go of the old one to accept the new one. Fear will still be around, but it won't stop us. Anger will still be around, but it won't lead us. Doubt and confusion will still be around, but it won't defy us. This year we need to make way for new things because our old things will have to be replaced, and this includes people. Glory. Some of y'all already know. Some of your people had to go. Your elementary school friends didn't come with you to middle school, your middle school friends didn't come with you to high school, your high school friends didn't come with you to college, and your college friends probably didn't make it to which you till adulthood. Now I said some. Some people were lucky. Me, I've had a best friend for over 30 years. Met her my freshman year in high school. 30 years later, she's still my girl. Of course, we're gotten older, lives have been hectic, but she's the one person I can truly say. Again, using my life as a witness, she's that one person I can truly say. If you just got that one good friend, and you've heard me say that before too, if you just got that one good friend, that's all you need. You don't need a group of girls. It'd be nice to grow up with a group of girls every once in a while, but you don't need a group of girls, you know, to value yourself. If you got that one good friend, that one good friend who has nothing to lose, that's not your yes person, because you heard me mention that before too, about people having yes people around them. You got a horde of people around you that tell you yes for every ignorant, stupid thing that you've done. Because they're trying to get something out of it. But if you got that one good friend who ain't afraid to like, okay, now you're being stupid. I'm gonna need you to wheel that in just a little bit. I'm gonna need you to bring it back because now you're gonna look too far out. You get a little, you get a little ahead of yourself. That one true friend who ain't afraid to tell you that's dumb. And if you do it, I'm calling the cops on you. That one true friend that keeps you in that reality check. That that's all you need. That one true friend is gonna keep you in in reality, you know, that's gonna keep you here where you're supposed to be, and not somewhere off in the stratosphere because you done lost your mind and you think you invincible, and they had to bring you back. Like, no, that that's we're not fans to do that. That's that's not what we're gonna do today, you know, and that's what I mean by that one that one true friend. But again, things have to be replaced, and that especially means people. You know, your friends started out with you one way, but as you matured, as you Seen the world as you've gotten used to what's going on, they're not with you anymore. They're still stuck in the old school. You've moved on to something better because you've seen, okay, I'm I'm older now. I can't play like this anymore. I got more responsibilities. They don't want to go there. They're still stuck in, you know, let's hang out, let's do this, let's do that. I gotta go to work in the morning. I can't be playing with y'all. You know, I was in my 20s. I can go party hardy, harder, hardy, hardy. And at 5 o'clock in the morning, come home, lay down. I feel like at Jeff Foxworthy joke where you lay down, suck a foot in the bed, alarm clock go off. Oh, that was short. Back in the back in the day, we could do that. Party till the early morning, may get an hour's sleep, and then get up by and get to work by 8 o'clock on time and be wired for sound all day. Bitch, you can't do that now. Not without an energy shot or something. It's because you've gotten older. Responsibilities. You can't do the things you used to do anymore. Well, you can, but in moderation. But you can't stay out all night anymore. You know, you got things to do, you got responsibilities, you got a life, you got bills to pay. You can't do that anymore. That's getting rid of the old to make way for the new, because the new is why you got the job that you got. Where you're able to do things that you need to do when you need to do it. But you had to get rid of the old you to make way for the new you to be able to do it. But again, sometimes we got to replace people. People that's been with us for so long, but once we move on, you know, to something different, they're not with us anymore. They start to change. Because they liked it when we could hang out all the time, they liked it when we could do this and we could do that all the time. They're not liking the new you where it's more about business. You know, I got to keep my lights on, I got to eat, you know, I want to go on vacation. To go on vacation, I need a job. For me to keep the job, I need to get to work on time and do my job. Sometimes you gotta replace people. And also means spiritually too. You know, you may start on this path and you may have been this hell you're in back in the day, but now you've seen, you know, you've been through some trials, you've been through some tribulations, like me. And when I got older, I understood what the pastor was talking about. About if you ain't, if you don't understand, live a little. I've lived a little, I've seen those trials where I had nobody to call on but the Lord. I understand that now. But you got some people who are not willing to hear all of that. They don't know. They don't want, they'll let you talk about God to a certain extent. But once you keep going on and on because you can testify to what he's done, okay. Now they got to now they're trying to bring you back to the old you. You know, come on, let's go out and party. Let's leave that God's stuff at home. Let's go out and party. Well, you can't you can't do that no more. So slowly they start to move away. That's okay, let them go. Because God's gonna place you with somebody else that's gonna be more positive, that's gonna be right there to keep you on the path. Like you heard me say, your guardian angel, because he knows what's coming down the pike, but you gotta get rid of this old person who's trying to keep you where you used to be, so you can make way for this new person who's gonna take you where you need to be. Look at that. I'm a poet and didn't even know it. He's gonna get rid of the old from where you used to be to give you a new person to take you where you need to be. And that person that's gonna take you where you need to be is gonna make sure that you stay on the path. You know, so whenever you feel negative, whenever you feel like the world is doing that, that person's gonna be right there to lift you right back up again. So don't be afraid if some of the friends you had are gone. It was time for them to go. What they say, it was that was their season. When you were younger, didn't know no better, you weren't listening to God, that was all fine and good. But now that you're older, you've been through some things, you know who you are, you know who got you through, it's time to bring some new people in. That's gonna help continue on that path. It's gonna keep you positive when the world wants to give you nothing but negative. So, like I said, don't be afraid. Some of the things that need to be replaced, including people. For some of us, they may be the only thing that needs to be replaced is the people. It ain't the things that we're holding on to, it's the people that we're holding on to that keeps us miserable all day or keeps us thinking that we can't do no better than we are. So you gotta be mindful. You know, I had to make a way for new things that God placed in my path. That means a new network of connections, new business adventures, new ways to reach souls. I would not have been able to accomplish anything I've done up until this point if I hung on to old things. I am not a social media guru by any sense of the word. I do Facebook, but I'm not on it religiously. You know, I'm on every once in a blue moon. Well, at least three times a week to post positive things. But other than that, I'm not on it much. You know, family may send me something, but I'm not on it religiously like the young people. Facebook, I was good with Facebook. Good. Didn't need nothing else. But then my babies got Instagram. What the heck is an Instagram? So now, because like I said, with my ministry, youth and young adults, those are my babies, I have to reach them where they are. And if Instagram is where they are, well, guess who got an Instagram account? That's the way I can reach them. They see what I do, I can DM them and they talk to. I don't still understand why you can't text me, why you got to send me a message on Instagram. Texting does the same thing. But that's how that's how I get a hold of all my babies, and I can get a hold of them to them all at one time. You know, I got a group where I send out mass texts, you know, keeping them uplifted, checking on them to see how they're doing. But I'm not a social media person, but I had to let go of the old, which I still got Facebook, because like I said, unless it's Facebook is a negative for me, so I still got it. But I had to make way for the new, which was the Instagram, then there's the LinkedIn, then there's the Pinterest. I'm like, good, Googling, Muggling. But it's what you have to do. You have to make way, you know, the old for the new. But like I said, in this case, when I say sometimes the old is okay if it's positive, if it's going to help, if it's gonna educate, Facebook does. Because it's part of that networking thing. You got, you know, I've learned to network while I'm on Facebook, which keeps me up to date with what's going on, you know, the new things I can do. So it's still you can keep the old as long as it's helpful, but you still got to make way for the new. Because even though Facebook is still considered the giant, the Instagrams, the Pinterest, they're coming up behind to pick up what where Facebook can't do. So you have to include the new. But Lord have mercy on me. That is so much. It's to the point I told my you if you want an immediate answer for me, you better text me. Here we go, going back to the old. You better text me. I don't live on Instagram like y'all do. So I'm not gonna see what you want. And if it's an immediate answer, you're not gonna get it if you don't text me. But again, you gotta. I guess in my case, I have to balance the old with the new. You know, some of the old things I had, I got rid of. I wouldn't be where I was today if I didn't. But then again, some of the old things I kept because it's educational. Facebook, networking, connections, people, blah, blah, blah. But then I added the new, didn't want to, but reaching my babies and and and other people, and I say my babies because that's my genre, is youth and young adults. But my older people, my seniors, well, that's that's different. But my older people, they're into the Instagram. Okay, fine. Wherever you are, wherever I gotta go, that's where that's where I'll go. Now, here's the other new part. YouTube. Oh Lord. I had to learn YouTube. I'm like, what the heck is a YouTube? I mean, I looked at it because I looked at the videos, and I but that was my extent of that was my knowledge of YouTube. Here we go with the new. That was my extent with the YouTube. Didn't I know you can do videos? Didn't I know you could? I was just looking at like the old school videos, you know, that are probably in archives and in the kids' mind. But I did the YouTube. So now I have a YouTube channel. Why? Because some of my older, my seniors, know how to work a YouTube better than they can download in a podcast. Or if I send it to them in Facebook Messenger, it I do it through YouTube because they know how to they know how to navigate through YouTube. You know, some of this stuff, you know, they just like, no, I'm gonna stick with what works for me, which is YouTube. Fine. So I had to come up with a YouTube channel. So everything I do on Wisdom, everything I do on my podcast, everything I do on the blog is in YouTube, except it's got like the little slides, you know, that brings up the verses and certain points I put out. But it's for my seniors who that's what they're used to. Again, reaching people where they are, which means I had to learn something else new. Gracious, there's so much stuff around here. It's amazing. But it goes back to learning something new, new year, new opportunities, new things. That was something new for me. Did not know nothing about no YouTube until one of my seniors mentioned it. You know, I can do YouTube. I don't know nothing about downloading podcasts or getting on the internet, looking up a uh a website. They didn't know nothing about that. So I had to do a YouTube because it was for them. Now, anybody else look at it? That's fine. Does it have a lot of subscribers? No, but then again, it wasn't, I'm not in this to get all these millions of followers. That's not what God called me to do. You know, I'll get what I need to get when it's time to get it. The YouTube channel doesn't have that many subscribers, but it wasn't made for a whole lot of people. It was made for a certain group of people so they can hear the word. If more want to join when they see it, God bless them. But I'm not, I'm not one of those people that do things to get all these millions of followers. That's not me. That means I'm not doing it for the right reason. I'm doing it to reach as many souls as I need to, but God's gonna give them to me. I don't have to sit up and try to reword stuff or cause drama to get no, I'm not supposed to do all of that. I'm I'm that's that's not me. I'm not I'm not all about the drama. So again, it goes back to making, you know, doing the old but having to pick up something new. Because as you get further along in here, the more people you pick up, it's something different. Now I refuse to do the TikTok thing. I tried it once and I'm like, or I looked at it once. I'm like, no, that's that's too much. I gotta draw the line at the TikTok. But I got enough that I'm reaching enough people in different genres, in different countries to get the point across. So it's making way for the new things. And Lord knows I'm like, I like my old, I'm used to it, that's my comfort zone. But because he called me to do something specific, I have to keep up with what's going on. However, technology gives me, or whatever technology gives me to reach souls is what I have to try. It may work, it may not, but we have to try. I have to reach people where they are. So no matter how much I despise social media because it's just so much, it's what I will do to get God's message out to as many people as I can. Because if you think about it, the things that you do new, the one thing that is old when it comes to everything that's going around, word of mouth. It can either make you or break you. So even though I may be trying all this other stuff, it's people talking. Let me tell you about this crazy minister. She's a motivational speaker. She's half off plum, and she ain't admit, she ain't ashamed to admit it either. But she gives you things in a different perspective. That's the other part I like. Once upon a time, my parents and their preachers were old. Here I come around, I'm the new. And yes, I still have people that go against me now because I'm not conforming myself to my mom's preacher or the grandmama's preacher. I'm new. I'm they consider me young school. I'm in my mid-40s. Am I mid-40s? Late 40s? I'm somewhere in them 40s. That's considered new to them. They they consider me a young thing. What does she know? You don't know the life I live. You, and I would probably blow your mind if you did. But I'm considered new. But then I'm also considered because I've been there, I've I've seen, I've heard. So I give you things from a different perspective because what you're saying to me makes sense to you, but it's not quite jiving with me. So I think of it in a different perspective to what people are really thinking about, what people will really want to talk about that they don't. But it all goes with the new you, the new opportunities, the networking. You know, you have to do that because we cannot keep living in our grandparents and our parents that that's that's their past. We have to pave the way for our stuff. But in order to do that, we've got to get rid of some stuff, including people. Like I said, for some of us, it's especially people. You get rid of a couple of people, you did you you'll see what you're missing. The blinders will come off because they was keeping you in their zone in the negative, in the party, and uh keeping your mind occupied. But once you get rid of some of them people and you know who those people are, you know who you need to get rid of. Once you get rid of them, the blinders start to come off. The world starts to seem a little bit brighter. Things that you knew you should have been doing, now you're free to do because there's nobody holding you back, giving you reasons why you need to stay where you are. Why are you always trying to be bouche? Honey, if if praising God and giving him thanks for what he's done for me makes you but makes me book with and call me a holy bouche. Because I'm not fenced to give up what he gave me just to stay down here with chip. I'm sorry. You may like that life. I it's time for me to move on. I got things to do. So it means networking, doing new things, meeting new people. You know, I let some old things go, and God replaced them with new things, and those new things opened up doors I would not have known was there at all. A lot of us are going through life with these doors closed that we just keep walking by because of the life that we're living, the stuff that we don't want to give up, the people that are that are standing in the way, so we can't see that door that is standing there cracked, just waiting for us to go through it. You gotta let some things go. Some of you have had prayers that you're still waiting on answers to. Well, he's waiting on you. Because what's holding you up isn't him, it's you. So you need to search within yourself to figure out what it is that I'm doing that I'm missing what God is trying to tell me. And like I said, it could be the lifestyle, it could be the job, it could be the people it could be anything, but only you know what that is, and only you can make that change. You know, he's answered your prayer probably four or five times over, but for some reason you keep missing it because something keeps distracting you. Something of the old is keeping you held down when he's trying to lift you up. So you need to let that go so it can be replaced, so some of these doors can be opened and you can see the world a whole new way. Letting go of things is scary. We have gotten comfortable in our old things that it has become our security blanket. But once upon a time, those old things was once new. That goes back to that comfort zone. We're so used to, you know, I know people who are in jobs, can't stand the job, they wish they could make more money, but the only reason why they're there is because it's a comfort zone for them. They can do things, them and their supervisors tight. The supervisor lets them come and go as they please as long as the work gets done. There's so many reasons why they stay there, but they're miserable. But they don't want to go nowhere because they've got to that point where they're comfortable, where they can do what they need to do. If they need to leave, they can leave. You know, if they can finish the time at the house, they can't. You know, it's there's reasons why they want to stay there, but then they wonder why a friend of theirs who started when they did has now been promoted three or four times over because they let go of the old to try something new and they got blessed for it. Whereas you wanting to stay in that comfort zone. But you got to remember before you got to where you were, that was once new. And you tried it to get to where you are. So, what makes you think that if you don't try it again, you won't get to somewhere better, that you won't get to a higher plateau? It is time to go, it's time to let go and move on. Put your trust in God and let Him show you what is waiting for you when you let go of the old and pick up something new. If you're not happy where you are, first we need to regroup. Find out what the problem is exactly. Is it the job? Is it the people at the job? Is it what you're doing? Find out what it is that's making you unhappy, and then from there figure out what you can do to change it. If that means you may need to go to another job, pay attention. Because God probably already sent you that job that you just missed. Like in my case, the job I am at now, I had sitting on there for at least a week. I saw it, I knew where it was, I knew it was part of the department I was used to be with. I saw it sitting there. And I left it there. I left it in my little inbox, my little job search inbox. I left it there. Looked at it every other day, looked at it, like, okay, I could, but then I don't know. I've been here for so long, and blah, blah, blah. And then at the last second, right before they close the job, I applied. And right there, that crack in the door. Because it was me that was holding it up. That crack in the door I told you about that. You walking by and your friends are keeping you from paying attention to that door that's cracked. All you gotta do is push it open and walk through. That crack in the door was right there. When I saw that opportunity, right before they cut it, shut it off, you know, because they only have jobs up there for so long. Before they shut it off, I applied for it. I walk through that door. And like, just like fire, like Shirley Caesar, just like five, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. One after another, because I made the first step and all those blessings that were sitting behind it happen so quickly. Well, I say I applied probably at the end of October, because I went back to work on the 31st. By the end of November, I got the job. And by December 16th, I started my first my I started back, my first day, and it's been a blessing ever since. It's like I'm walking on Cloud9, so happy, so stress-free. But what I say, because I made one change, but that one change opened the door to so many different opportunities. So you know what you have to do, but nobody can make you do it. We can encourage you, we can just like with me, can give you testimony all day long that this is, but until you do it for yourself, we cannot make you do it. It's something that you have to be willing to do. So, again, put your trust in God and let Him show you what is waiting for you when you let go of the old and pick up the new. Amen. Let us pray. Father God, we come here today to say thank you. Father, we thank you for letting us see yet another day because, Father, someone did not. Father, I pray that the people under my voice learn something new today, Father, that they are motivated, that they're inspired to do what they know they need to do. Father God, sometimes we just need a comforting word for us to get off of our six and sevens, to do what we need to do, to help us conquer that fear, because going into the unknown after what we've been used to is a scary thing. But Father God, we thank you for the guardian angels that you put in our path to help us along the way. Father, I thank you for letting me be that vessel to show people that even though he can help me, he can help them too. That Father, that you use me in my life to help those to see that if it can be done for me, that it can be done for them. Father, I pray that you wrap your arms of comfort around those who are feeling nervous, that are feeling doubtful. Father, I cast out that demon of confusion of those who know what they need to do, but for some reason something keeps holding them back. Father, I ask you to bless them, for them to step out on faith and watch you work. Father, we thank you for everything that you've done. The world may still go crazy, but Father, we know within you there is peace. Father, we thank you for everything you've done. Father, we thank you for the things that are coming down the pike. Father, we thank you for forgiveness, even though we know we are not worthy. Father, we give you all the praise, the honor, the glory in your Son Jesus' name. Amen. Stay blessed and always, always remember to be that light in someone else's darkness until we meet again.