Don't Take It Personal

So, last week I shared with you all that I was in a season of solitary confinement. Depending on where you are mentally and spiritually, this season can be a bit trying sometimes and you’re not always going to find yourself in the most pleasant of circumstances. NEVERTHELESS, if you want to go higher in God and you want to recognize your power, impact, and your assignment in Him, this season will be a vital part of that discovery.

Now if you can recall, I named a few situations that will help you figure out if you’re in a season of solitary confinement. With that being said, these situations will require that you take off those little tighty whities you’ve been wearing during your walk and GURD UP YOUR LOINS to put on some BIG BOY AND BIG GIRL DRAWLS! Ha! Say what? YES! You will be required to square your shoulders and suck up some things real quick. Like seriously take your emotions off your sleeve and try your hardest to NOT get OFFENDED! At some point of this walk, God will tell you this, “DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL.”

During, my five years with God (our anniversary is in October! Woop woop!), I can’t even count how many times I have been embarrassed, humiliated, TREATED, talked about, compared against, and criticized. I have held a few bathrooms hostage to host my teary consultations between my inner man and God. Pointing my finger at Him like, “Why would you allow them to hurt me like that?” But all I would hear is, “DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL.”

So after awhile of enduring this kind of abuse, I started to lift weights in my spirit, by reading the word on a consistent basis and going before God regularly until I was BEEFED UP and READY YO! My confidence skyrocketed and I would literally wait for someone to say something out the side of their neck so that I could go OOPS UPSIDE THEY HEAD with a mean response. Guess what though? I had turned into a militant hard-knocker. I trusted no one and I was very paranoid, expecting the worst from any and everybody. My mouth was slick and I didn’t really care who didn’t like me because in my warped mind,  EVERYBODY was out to hurt me or take advantage of me.

Somebody say, “Where is the LOVE Tanzy?” I didn’t have any and I didn’t care. A lot of people thought I was some sort of mute or social retard but that wasn’t the case. I was silently calculating my next move and response like, “If they say something reckless, I’m going to curse they HE WHO out!” OOOOOHHHH!!! Man, I was a very tense and rigid woman for a nice little period. God was NOT feeling that yo! He continued to allow people to come at me and I continued to fight back.

Then one day, He told me to cut off all my hair and throw away all my makeup. 0_0! YOU LYING? Nope! I went ahead and cut off all my luxurious hair and threw away all of my makeup. Oh and I died my hair BLONDE! And boooooyyy did I get it. Mainly while at work, I would get stares and comments. It was like déjà vu all over again because it'd got so bad I retreated to my old sanctuary, THE BATHROOM and cried my little heart out. This time as I cried though, the hard shell that covered my heart melted away. Once again, God said, “DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL.”

This had to happen because I lacked HUMILITY….AGAIN and I lacked the ability to LOVE freely. But, what I didn’t know is that this event would prepare me for the season that I am in now. I shared in my last post Somebody Gotta Die, that God told me I was immature and that I needed to let that thing die. Welp, the only way I could allow that thing to die was to be put in yet another embarrassing situation. This time, God let me know the deal beforehand.

One day, I received a letter from someone whom I greatly admire and look up to, stating that I wasn’t needed in a particular area where I was happily volunteering my services. Let’s rewind that scene back to a few moments before I actually read the letter. I was about to read the letter but God told me to come near him. He said, “This is going to hurt a little bit but DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL.” 

And then… I read the letter. (Dramatic music plays) That initial blow to the gut was like DEATH! I tried to hold it together but the spoiled BRAT came out of me and I ripped the letter up, ran into my castle (my home), and cried. Hardheaded right? God had just told me NOT to take it personal, but I DID! I cried myself into an angry slumber. The next few days after, I did talk to God and I read my word. Then, I stumbled upon this video by Joyce Meyer about how to handle being offended. I got my whole LIFE after that. Basically she said that CHAMPIONS don’t get OFFENDED and that selfish saints get offended when they want everything to be about them. Somebody say, “You a selfish saint Tanzy.” Lol it’s ok, I took that.

Matthew 26:33

Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.

Notice in that scripture Peter said ALL MEN would be offended because of God but he said, that HE WOULD NOT BE. You see, at the end of day my dear friends, YOU ARE A REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD. You work for HIM! You get benefits and everything, but you have a job to do that has NOTHING to do with you but EVERYTHING TO DO WITH HIM! I likened it to a regular nine to five where you are expected to produce with a high level of professionalism. At least in the area where I work and since I work with people I can’t really take nothing that they say or do internally. Why? BECAUSE I HAVE A JOB TO DO. I mentioned in another one of my posts that people will TRY IT with you and in this walk you will be TRIED a lot! But just like God told me, chile BOOM,  “DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL.”