A Broken Pot

While talking to God about the things that had happened recently in my life, He planted something deep down in my spirit. We all have to be broken pots in order for Him to form us into the beautiful pots that He wants us to be. In my conversation with Him, I asked him why did everything feel so messed up and broken at times? Why don't things ever go as planned? That's when He spoke to me about being a broken pot.

During 'Green Corn'(Mvskoke New Year) everything old is done away with and new is made. I've taken pottery classes before and know how much work and detail can go into each piece. That's why I couldn't imagine breaking all of that beautiful and useful pottery just to make new. 

We are all broken pottery. We have to trust God with all of the broken pieces so he can make us new again. Yeah, we were good and useful before, had a few cracks here and there, but somehow held ourselves together. But a broken pot can't hold water. While in our broken state, we can't hold everything that God is trying to give us and things slip through our hands. We have to have courage and faith for Him to break the old worn out pots that we are and make us new.

"As the clay is in the potters hand to fashion it at his pleasure: so man is in the hand of him that made him, to render to them as liketh him best."-Ecclesiasticus 33:13 

While standing in front of the bathroom mirror, I felt myself getting lightheaded. Thinking it may be my blood sugar, I told myself that I would quickly finish what I was doing any get some sweet tea. That's when God spoke to me and said not to ever be too proud or independent to ask for help. As soon as I asked my sister to bring me something to drink, I couldn't hear anything but the buzzing in my head. My vision blurred and I stared at my sister as she handed me the tea and tried to talk to me. I couldn't hear her.

After a few minutes of sitting on the bathroom floor I felt myself slowly coming around and weakly laughed at myself. I thought, "God, you are trying to break me aren't you? You're trying to make me new and I'm being a stubborn old pot.". He also showed me how I needed to trust His plans for my life more.

Imagine that you have spent a lot of time planning something wonderful, then all of the sudden someone swoops in and thinks that their plans are better and completely squashes any plan and idea you had. That's what God showed me. He has wonderful plans for our lives and knows what is best. But because we can't see what is ahead, we make our our own plans and never even think to ask Him.

"There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand." - Proverbs 19:21

Sometimes we find ourselves broken in silence on the bathroom floor, learning to ask for help and trust God with all of the broken pieces. His plans are greater than mine and His work of art is far more beautiful than anything that I could ever create.

Fruit of the Spirit

The past few days God has shown me that instead of getting upset over stones thrown at me, I should use them to build my relationship with Him.

Currently I am researching what it means to be a Christian. What about me shows that I am a follower of God? God tells us that we are to know each other by our fruits. What fruit is God talking about? The fruit of the Spirit. So I looked it up to see what they were.

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."- Galatians 5:22-23

After reading over that scripture a few times, I knew that I needed to get the definition of each word to get a better understanding of what God means.

This is what I found.

Love: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 tells us the definition of love.

"4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."- 1Corinthians 13:4-7

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Joy: Great happiness. Joy is a delight of the mind from the consideration of the present or assured approaching possession of a good.

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Peace: To be, become, or keep silent or quiet. A state of security. Freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts and emotions.

Peace of God: Peace of which is the gift of God.

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Long-suffering: Suffering for a long time without complaining. Very patient during difficult times.

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Gentleness: The quality or state of being gentle: especially: mildness of manners or disposition.

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Goodness: The quality or state of being good.

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Faith: Strong belief or trust in someone or something. Believing in something you can't see. Complete trust.

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Meekness: Showing a quiet and gentle nature. Enduring injury with patience and without resentment.

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Temperance: The practice of always controlling your actions, thoughts or feelings.

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It really was any eye opener for me. These are the fruit that we are to bear according to His word. I know that I fall short in many ways.

I pray that God helps me work on my fruit this Summer and every day for the rest of my life.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit."

- Matthew 7:16-17

Gather in Jesus' name

Not too long ago I had an older man ask me where I went to church. When I replied that I didn't go to a church building, he frowned at me and said I needed to get into church and get my life right. He then invited me to his church. 

I will admit, that it was disappointing for him to automatically assume that by me not going to a "church building" like he did, that I wasn't living my life right. He didn't know the relationship I have with God or allow me to explain what I meant before he disapproved.

When I was younger I went to a church building every Sunday and in recent years, I have visited a few church buildings. What the man didn't allow me to explain is that the modern definition of church emphasizes the organization, the building, and large group worship. The biblical definition of church is the body of Christ. Wherever two or more, gather in Jesus’ name, that is the church.

God and I have conversations all throughout the day. Most times I talk, but here lately I have been listening. I have conversations about God and His word, with friends, family and sometimes strangers. I take God's word scripture by scripture and try and figure out how to apply it to my life and put it to action. I ask God every day to show me things that I wouldn't normally see and to guide my steps.

For awhile, I worried what people thought of me because I didn't go to a church building. Then I realized that as long as God knows my heart and knows that I meet with Him every day, that is all that matters. Going to a church building is great! But what really counts is us allowing God to be in our everyday lives and us meeting with Him daily. Not us just acknowledging Him on Sunday, Wednesday or Thursday. But us allowing Him to be a part of our daily lives and allowing Him to work through us.

How other people view you isn't as important as how God views you. So many times I have seen people hide who they are and what they do from their parents, family and church family, for fear of letting them down or hurting them. But the most important thing that they forget is that God sees all and His opinion trumps all others. He knows every single breath we take. And most important of all, He knows the intentions of our heart.

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." - Matthew 18:20

And well, I just like talking to everybody! :) 

16 facts about Mvskoke People.

Now that Thanksgiving has come to a close, I would like to share some things that you may not know about Mvskoke (Creek Indians).

1. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians started off as 7 family's that migrated from the Wetumpka area to what is now Baldwin county. From there, some migrated and settled into what is now Poarch.

2. Traditionally, our Tribal Council when making decisions are to keep in mind the 7 generations past and the 7 generations to come.

3. We did not live in tipi's. We lived in homes made of logs and clay.

4. The finger-woven belts that are worn were traditionally worn to hold up our wrap skirts.

5. The China berries that we use for our jewelry is something that is only native to Poarch Creek Indians.

6. Mvskoke women only wore their hair down in time of mourning or during a wedding. Traditionally it was always kept in a bun to keep it out of their face and their work. When I see a woman in traditional clothing wearing her hair down, I automatically think that she must be in morning.

7. We were not beading people. Our jewelry pieces consisted of copper, pearls, few beads, China berries, German silver, shell carved gorgets, and trade beads.

8. When one person was done with their work, they helped others in the community to get their work done. Because helping each other out is who we are and it was beneficial to the community as a whole.

9. Three of the main important crops to our people were "The Three Sisters". Corn, beans and squash.

10. Green Corn our peoples New Years. It is called "Posketv", which means "to fast". It is where old things are done away with, new things are made, medicine is taken, prayers are said, dancing, celebration and a time of forgiveness.

11. Clan membership was determined by the child's mother. The fathers clan was respected but he had little role in his child's upbringing. It was the men of the mothers clan that saw to the child's development.

12. Before marriage, a man had to prove himself to be an able provider. Such as planting and harvesting a crop, bringing her a supply of game and providing her with a house. 

13. All of which is now know as Georgia and Alabama, used to belong to the Mvskoke people.

14. We survived and depended on 'community' and the cooperation of all of our people working together for the better of us as a whole.

15. Mvskoke people were deeply respectful of the natural environment.

16. Our language is sadly a dying language. There are very few fluent speakers left and it is up to each individual Mvskoke person to be proactive in learning the language of their people and teaching their children and so on so it will still be around for generations to come.

Day #21 If I had a reality show

21)   How would you pitch a reality show about yourself? To what network?

For awhile there, I was pretty clumsy and my life was very dramatic. A friend once suggested that a tv crew should follow me around.

I would pitch it to Hallmark. It would be about a young woman that is trying to find out who she is and where her place is in this world. A young woman who tries to make a difference everywhere she goes. Someone who's made her fair share of mistakes but is learning the lessons from those mistakes. She took the long way around to get to where she was going, but she uses it as part of her testimony. She's living and learning. Her mission in life is to make people smile.

Day #20 Worst heart break

20)   Describe your most difficult breakup and what you learned from it.

To have a breakup, you would have technically had to date someone. I've never dated anyone. But I've had my heart broken twice. The first break hurt. I cried, got angry, lived in denial, then I accepted it for what it was and what it wasn't.

The second heart break was the worst. I think that it hurt worst because he was my best friend. He helped me through the first heart break and was constant in my life. I relied on him and he relied on me. We talked about our dreams, our fears, the scars that made us who we are. I didn't realize what he meant to me until he wasn't there anymore. When I realized what he meant to me, that's when it hurt the worst. It took me 7 years to realize what he meant to me. And three to see it for what it was and what it wasn't.

I know now that those people aren't who God has meant for me. They were a chapter in my life that taught me many things. I thank God for the friendships, that laughter, the lessons and the heart breaks. They all served a purpose in my life. And for that, I'm thankful.

Day #19 You'd be surprised to know that...

19)   What is something about you that people would be surprised to learn?

I'm not sure if there is anything that I haven't shared with people. 

But, one thing would be that when I was younger, I was ashamed to be Native American. I would over hear people talking about tribal people that were on drugs, drank all of the time, didn't take care of their children. Anything negative, I overheard it in public. It was never positive.

In my mind as a child, I thought that if people knew I was Native American, that they would think I would be just like those people that they described and gossiped about. And I believed that for a short while. Then God showed me that the reason that those people believed that was who we were as Native Americans, was because that was all they saw and heard. He showed me that I had to help be part of the change. I should be proud of who I was as a Native American and put myself out there and be a positive representation of my people. I had to change their minds.

That next year, I ran for princess for my Tribe and the rest is history. It taught me how to be a positive representative of my people and a role model. I strive to change the stereotype that people have in their mind of Native Americans. I am proud of my heritage! Never again, will I be ashamed.