It's His Grace -God Protects Babies and Fools

How is it that some of us are still alive? I mean, really think back over your life and some of the situations you found yourself in, people you were hanging out with, and the stuff you were doing!

I like to think, like most of us, that since we are grown and aged like fine wine, we make smarter, more sound decisions, but if I’m being even in my so-called grown years, I have made foolish and silly mistakes that could have cost me everything.

Psalm 139:2

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

This blog isn’t for the holy than thou ones, the ones who have never done anything, or the ones who, once they became saved, magically forgot what they used to do and what God brought you through! This blog is for those who overcame the enemy by Jesus’s blood and by the word of our testimony.

I was driving the other day, and a scene from my teenage years popped into my mind. I was around 16 years old at the time, and I had traveled with my father to Georgia to see his new house, and was introduced to his neighbor, who had a teenage daughter around my age as well. We instantly clicked and decided that on Saturday, we were going to hang out at the Underground Atlanta Mall. Now this is my first time in Atlanta, I don’t know anything about the neighborhoods because I'm from Brooklyn, and in our mind, everything down south is safe and so I let my guard down because I’m down south!

Well, this girl decides we are going to leave the mall and go see one of her friends in the neighborhood nearby. I'm thinking, ok, no problem, her friend must live in a nice neighborhood because she lives in a nice HOA community. Yall! We took a cab ride that was about 10 minutes or so, and as we were driving, I realized there are NO lights around this neighborhood.

The farther and farther we got from downtown, the rougher it looked.

Long story short, we got out of the cab and were in the middle of the hood. I mean hood and it was pure darkness. Abandoned lots, stores that looked abandoned, shadowy figures coming up to us as we walked to her friend's house, and when we arrived, this friend had no power in their house and was running an extension cord from their house to another house. The door was unlocked when we arrived, and people were walking in and out and buying drugs; this was the neighborhood trap house.

I'm not bougie, I’m from Brooklyn, but this was different. We got lights in Brooklyn, you will see an open store, and some sort of traffic will be nearby. It was nothing! Here my silly butt is in the middle of the hood in a trap house in Atlanta, at 10 pm, with ALL my jewelry on, no cell phone ( cause this was pre-cell phone time), no idea of the location we are at, and I got on a dress.

“Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.” – Proverbs 3:23

By the grace of God, we visited without incident, a few stares, a few questions about where I was from, but we got out of there safely. Years later, I thought about how I could have been robbed, raped, kidnapped, killed, and never seen again, thrown in one of those abandoned lots with the tall grass.

Psalm 116:6 The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.

I have so many of these stories that while they may be different, all point to the fact that God saves babies and fools, and I was most definitely a fool.

I wonder what made me a fool, and I came to the understanding that I was a fool because :

1.     I knew better, I had street smarts, and the Holy Spirit was speaking back then, I just

refused to listen

2.     I did not stand my ground in these situations; I was afraid to assert my boundaries

and be unliked or cause conflict, even if I was the one who suffered.

3.     Insanity , doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

4.     Empaths or gentle-spirited people always think higher of others than they should and naively believe that people are not capable of being so evil without cause.

Psalm 145:14

The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

Even in our foolishness, rebellion, lack of wisdom, or whatever state we are in, the Lord is so merciful and patient. How many times did that still voice say, “ Don’t do it. Don’t go that way .” “There is something wrong. “I have seen my life flash before my eyes, as they say, more times than I would like to remember, and most of these instances were because of one of the reasons above!

Psalms 103:10 “He does not give us according to our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities.

Just take a  minute to think about it and ask yourself :

What situations were you in that you might not have made it out of if it had not been for the Lord on your side?

The next time you feel like your prayer life is getting stale, you don’t feel the desire to pray, you feel unsure of what to pray, just think about how many times Jesus showed up to rescue you from the enemy and from yourself, cause some of us did it to ourselves over and over again.

While you're thanking God and praising him, forgive yourself and be thankful that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus! Throw your hands up and rejoice that now you know better and have kingdom knowledge and wisdom because you are an heir to the throne. God has shared the secret things of God with you!