Nikki Lavette

I started a new job this month after being unemployed for 8 years. Yes you read that right, 8 years of online applications, closed doors, no replies, and doing what I could to stay sane and make ends meet. With every tear filled and sleepless night I remembered this: "Do not get weary in well doing, for in due time you will reap a harvest (Galatians 6:9). I did not give up the fight. I launched online magazines, learned to build websites, do photography, volunteered, networked...I was fighting. Freelanced my gifts, worked odd jobs and sometimes got shifted on payment: fighting. Was talked about, laughed at and judged: fighting. I kept fighting because believed I had a right to the harvest I was promised. I see some of you out there fighting and you don't think you can go another round. "Get up, stand up, stand up for your right, get up, stand up...don't give up the fight" (Bob Marley). Hang in there, I'm a living witness, your harvest is coming! Stay up...-Nikki

UP & UP WEDNESDAYS: I've been on GO mode lately. After years of waiting on the right timing, right finances, right team, right man, right whatever, I decided to just GO when I read this: "As you travel, tell them the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." ( Matthew 10:7) I began to consider what was "at hand" in my life; the goals that I've been waiting to achieve, that are now within reach. Goals that might stretch me outside my comfort zone, but that I could actually get done. So I decided to GO. Even without all the stuff I thought I needed, GO. Even without all the answers, GO. It has become the only thing I know. And in going, God has met EVERY need. Yes there are seasons when we should be still, and wait for God's direction, but once you have that, stop putting stuff off, consider what is "at hand" and GO. This week, no matter how small, do something to get you one step closer to achieving one of your scariest, but attainable goals. Stay up....-Nikki