Welcome back to SHIFT.
I'm so glad to have you here today leaning in and listening and hopefully looking forward to the fourth letter of our acronym for SHIFT.
As I mentioned before,
I'm presenting SHIFT in the form of an acronym so that it will stick with you.
So as you're going through life's challenges,
You'll think of what each word means and you will apply it to your own life.
We've already covered S for seeing.
Seeing that the shift is coming.
And H hearing.
Hearing God's voice in the middle of the shift.
And I influencing.
Our life preaches and it tells a story of how we overcome.
How we get back up time and time again.
We are always influencing someone else around us as they're watching and learning how we go through our shifts in life.
Today we will cover the letter F which stands for fighting.
Not fighting with our fist but fighting with our faith.
Back when I was that teenager driving that straight shift in school,
I hated the red lights on hills.
Learning to drive in the hills of northeast Tennessee was not easy.
Anyone who has ever driven a straight shift knows that it takes great finesse to gradually lift off of the clutch and press on the gas simultaneously.
And if you get that wrong,
Your vehicle's going to stall out and you could possibly roll into the car behind you which was one of my biggest fears.
Rolling back and kissing the bumper behind me.
I would breathe and whisper and sometimes plead but definitely pray and lean in on my favorite scripture.
My life verse Isaiah 41 10.
Fear thou not for I am with thee.
That verse by the way has got me through a lot in my life.
Many shifts.
In those moments I would try to avoid those hills,
Go the long way to school,
Whatever I had to do until I eventually got the courage to go ahead and tackle and face my fears.
I would feel the tremble in my legs when I got caught at a red light that was on a hill and then I would move.
Not fancy,
Just honest.
And life feels like that hill sometimes.
You hear the honk behind you,
Your heart is racing,
Someone's trying to press you into moving before your time.
Fear sometimes tries to overcome your faith.
It's in those moments that we can choose to let our fear ignite our faith.
I come from a long line of fighters.
My grandmother,
My mama,
My aunties,
And now my own daughter.
As I mentioned before,
She's walked through multiple transplants and ongoing health battles.
Her fight hasn't been pretty,
But it's been powered by faith.
And through this journey,
Through watching her,
Through watching all of the women in my family and in my community,
I've learned that faith isn't a feeling,
It's a function.
Sometimes we don't feel like fighting.
Sometimes we don't even feel like getting back up again,
But we act anyway.
Last year,
Our daughter's body grew weak.
After years on dialysis,
We could see the life draining out of her.
And I made the decision prayerfully to test to see if I was a donor match for her.
I learned that I was,
And we were so happy.
We had the date set for her transplant,
We had family coming in from three states.
We were excited,
And we thanked God for what he had done and what he was about to do.
Then at the midnight hour,
Just a few days before the surgery,
We got a call that they re-ran her labs,
And this time her antibodies had changed,
And we were no longer a match.
In fact,
The coordinator took it a step further to say that her antibodies were so high that it would take a miracle for there to be a match at all.
My daughter was heartbroken at the news,
And I was heartbroken as well.
It was a devastating blow after we had put so much hope into this.
She had already been removed from the organ donor list because we were a match.
There was no need for her to be on it anymore.
And now here we were at this place where we thought we were so close to the finish line just to find out that we had more laps to go.
And in looking at her,
We didn't know if her health would carry her there.
It hit like a freight train.
She was weary,
I was weary,
I was angry,
I was confused because I had prayed for God to shut this door if it wasn't the one that He wanted me to walk through,
But I couldn't understand why He would let me get so far in the journey.
And yet still there was a part of me that got a little excited because the coordinator used the words,
It would take a miracle,
Because God has shown us miracles.
They haven't been easy,
But we know and we have seen His work,
And we know He's able.
If He will,
We know He can.
We lean in on that.
In these moments though,
We were tired.
She was weary.
Her body,
Physically,
Mentally,
Spiritually,
We were tired.
And I was angry.
I was angry to watch my daughter go through so much.
It broke my heart.
So angry that I threw my armor everywhere.
I feel like my neighbor,
I feel like my neighbor woke up and there was a breastplate of righteousness laying in the yard.
My shield of faith was out in the road.
My sandals of peace were over in the driveway.
My armor was everywhere.
And for a few moments,
It knocked us down.
It knocked the wind out of us.
Then I did what I encourage all of you to do.
I went to neutral.
I paused.
I poured my heart out to God.
He already knew my anger.
He already knew my frustration.
He knew my questions.
He knew my hope.
And I encouraged my daughter to do the same.
We cried.
We sat there with our pieces of armor all around us.
We caught our breath.
Then we praised God for giving us that hope.
And we put our trust back in Him.
And we stood up.
It wasn't easy.
And we started to gather our armor,
Piece by piece.
Then we did what we needed to do.
We put our faith into action.
We began to complete the paperwork and the steps needed to get back on the living donor list and the deceased donor list.
We began again,
One step at a time.
Neutral,
Then next,
Means motion over emotion.
Family,
There will be times in life that you get knocked down.
And when you do,
It hurts.
And it's okay to be there for a minute.
Breathe.
Catch your breath.
Wipe your face.
But then get back up.
The fight is choosing stability again.
Fight means standing.
You are not fighting change.
You are fighting defeat inside the change.
Resilience is worship.
Standing again says,
My God can bring renewal after breaking.
And it's obedience first.
Then the faith will meet you on the way.
Find the friction point,
One tiny action,
So that you don't roll back in fear.
Now let's talk about some real-life connections.
At work,
Situations can shake your confidence.
Missed deadlines,
Tough feedback,
Or feeling overwhelmed or overlooked.
Or even relationships,
Whether it's with your leader or with a peer.
But don't shrink back.
Whatever it is,
Put your faith into action by owning your work.
Remembering who you work for.
Ask questions.
Sharpen your skills.
No matter what,
Bring excellence every day.
Even when no one's clapping.
Respect follows consistency.
In your health,
Fight back one choice at a time.
Most of us have received bad labs from time to time.
Tough news or heavy journeys like dialysis or cancer.
And it can feel crushing.
But you fight back by taking the walk,
Making the call,
Drinking the water,
Showing up for your care.
Healing is a battle.
And you win step by step.
In your relationships,
Shifting is bouncing back,
Not bowing out.
Family drama or friendship fallout can knock the wind out of you.
Get back up by reaching out,
Forgiving,
Moving on,
Realizing that the season has ended but there are other wonderful seasons ahead of you.
Having the hard talks and making space for love again is important.
Taking the time to heal is critical.
Relationships can bend you,
But they don't have to break you.
In your faith,
Focus on consistency over hype.
There are times for all of us that prayer feels a little dry and worship feels routine and God's voice can feel distant.
Show up anyway.
It's not about the hype,
It's about the heart.
Consistency is critical.
A sacrifice of praise isn't fake.
It's real strength that chooses gratitude over groaning.
So let me give you a few practical steps this week.
Name the fight.
Write down the fight or the battle that you're going through right now and surrender it to God through prayer.
Then stand and step.
Choose one action,
One step in the direction that God is telling you to go.
And don't forget your neutral appointments.
When you're going through and you're feeling that things are difficult or not clear or you just need a moment to pause,
Go to neutral.
That is your time to realign.
Grab your scripture.
Sit in silence.
Pray.
Take that obedient step.
Let it become a rhythm.
In those moments,
Those difficult moments,
Go to neutral.
And I want you to add one thing this week.
Text someone who's trusted in your life and send this message.
Hold me accountable to this one step.
It will make all the difference in the world.
There's so many times when we fall down that we're saying,
God,
I'll get back up when you fix it.
I'll move when you fix it.
And God's saying,
I'll fix it when you move.
Remember,
Faith is not a feeling,
It's a function.
Our anchor scripture this week is from Micah 7 verse 8.
Here's the truth.
All of us are going to get knocked down from time to time.
And it hurts.
The goal is not to live on the floor.
It's to breathe.
It's to catch our breath.
Cry.
Do whatever we need to do,
Then rise.
And it's important for us to stop asking God to speak into our chaos while we stay frozen.
Go to neutral.
Align your heart.
Then move.
He meets motion.
Where do you need to stand this week?
And what concrete action will you take to put your faith in motion?
As we close,
I just want to remind you,
In those times where we fall down,
Where we throw our armor and we have pieces all over the neighborhood,
Remember,
Catch your breath,
Get up,
Fight,
And put your faith in action.
All right y'all,
Stay ready.
Shift higher.
This is the Shift Podcast.
