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Hello, hello, hellooooo

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Larricka and I’m born and raised in Pensacola, FL. I’m 27 years old and starting a journey for my life. This blog has been in my spirit loading since 2016.

I was driving down the street and out of nowhere I just went in the presence of God. I began to speak the words to my first blog post. At the time I was very much out in the world. I was amazed but I knew it was important that I started this journey. Have you ever gone before God and He put your body in some sort of auto pilot while He spoke to your spirit? It was something I had never experienced. As I think about it now, the words that came out were my testimony. I knew then that my testimony and growth had to be shared. I didn’t understand why but I was ready to be transparent.

You know the phrase, what’s in you will come out? I was a believer in Christ at that point in my life but I didn’t have a real relationship with Him so those few post I wrote….whew. Let’s just say I keep them as a growth trackers. The more I read them, the more I knew I needed to grow up. Reading back now, the concept was there but the foundation wasn’t. I ran from that growth for quite some time. It still amazes me how patient God was with me. Full of so much disbelief and spread out demanding prayers for things I wasn’t ready for. I thank God for STILL being patient with me. So much has happened in my short 27 years of life but I was built to take it all. It’s time to GROW OUT LOUD!

I announced August 3rd about this blog being released in late August, looking back in my notepad I seen that the day of that first blog was August 14, 2016. I was thinking like August 31 but God has such a sense of humor lol

That first blog post had a prayer at the beginning, it read:

Father God, I come to You now to ask that You lead me to say the things You need me to say to YOUR people. Give me the strength to tell my story and testimony the way You see fit. May this post reach who it needs to reach and touch who it needs to touch.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

As sincerely as I know how, I want to truly thank you and welcome you on this unfolding journey. Every good blog has to have a name for their subscribers, I’ll call ya’ll The Exceeders! 💜

ExceedingTV

I don’t really share the podcast sector of Exceeding Abundantly on here enough so here are all the ways to watch AND listen to the extension that God gave me to the blog!

YouTube: ExceedingTV

For your listening pleasure, pick your platform, type “ExceedingTV” in the search bar!

Spotify, Pandora, iHeart Radio, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Samsung Podcasts, Anchor, Tunein radio, Stitcher, Podcast Index, Listen Notes and Deezer

This link will take you to a feed that will take you directly to a few of the more popular platforms!

https://rss.com/podcasts/exceedingtv/?listen-on=true

I am so appreciative of all the love and support that this vision that God gave me is receiving. I’m overjoyed at the doors He’s opening and I can’t wait to share the process with every single one of you!

I love interaction so talk to me!

Tell me if any of the topics resonate with you!
What are some of your favorite!?

A moment I had with God today!

God has truly been dealing with me lately. About trust and worry and all of these lingering things still trying to hold on. The recent thing I’ve been trying to cypher through is stepping out on faith and waiting on God to speak. It’s been this whole thing and today I just asked God how I needed to look at this. The one person that came to mind was Abram(Before he was Abraham)!

I’m sitting here and I’m like God for some reason, my brain isn’t processing this. Do I step out on faith or do I wait to hear You say “GO”? Abram got both, He walked with faith to a place he didn’t know but he heard God tell him to do that. I’m like Lord, help me out lol

Recently God told me, “I’m big enough to correct you!”. I was so intrigued by that because I spent a lot of life striving for perfection before Christ. Like really trying not to make a mistake and really beating myself up if I actually did make a mistake. God has been having me renew my mind in that area but as we have been learning in our ministry, the soul remembers it ALL. So that statement that may seem like common sense to some people, really comforts me when I get into a certain place.

So back to today, I’m praying and I think about Abram and I hear the Holy Spirit say “Genesis 16”. So in my mind I think I’m going to study when God told Abram the command to go. Nope, turn to it and it’s about Hagar conceiving Ishmael and I’m like, “God…..huh?” He says “Keep reading and slow down”.

I get to verse 10 and it says, “And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.”. The revelation HIT ME. Romans 8:28. What God has been trying to get me to understand all this time. God’s so gracious that no matter what, He’s going to turn it for your good.

The plan was for Sarai to have Issac, that was the promise. Sarai decided to take matters into her own hands. The covenant was with Issac but Ishmael was also blessed(v19-21). Ishmael may not have been in the original plan but the promise was still extended to him. All things work together towards God’s perfect Will.

I was sitting there smiling ear to ear when I CAUGHT that. “I’m big enough to correct you” made a little more sense to me today. God told Abram that He would have more children than the stars in the sky. He heard that and still ended up off script BUT God blessed his detour and still His Will was done. Don’t let fear make you stagnant because it might not be some grand gesture. It might not come in the confirmation that you expected but just know, even if you go off script, God is BIG enough to correct you.

All things work together ❤️

Deliverance.

Hello Exceeders,

I haven’t wrote in a while but God gave me something that I have to share.

I was talking to my sister and she was expressing how tired she was and how she didn’t know what to do. God is so good, He used me to help us both.

The Holy Spirit had me tell her that it’s time to LET IT GO! God allowed it in that season because He knew you could handle it but He never intended for you to keep it. It’s time to give it back to Him. He never wanted it to torment you. Search yourself, find the ROOT, and let it go!

When I went back and actually read what I sent her, I was bent over in a full worship. God recently warned me in a dream that my past was coming back around. At first I thought it was an attack but He revealed to me that it’s coming back around so I can address it WITH HIM this time. All the pain and anguish I went through before has just been sitting with me. I didn’t have a relationship with God so I didn’t know how it worked.

Learn the lesson then let it go. Let it process you then let it go. Get knocked down, get back up, then let it go! There are some things that have a stronghold over me and I haven’t been able to figure out why I couldn’t shake them. My pastor preached a message recently about going to God for the instructions. Sometimes, even your divine connections can’t help you. God is the only one with all the answers. I’ve been asking Him and every day He’s giving me a different revelation and a different answer.

If you grew up in church or had a grandmother in church lol You were probably told that you can’t question God. I think the content was there but the context is missing. God desires us to lean on Him, to need Him, to SEEK Him. That includes seek Him for answers, you can’t get answers without asking questions.

Get in the habit of asking God questions. Ask for revelation, ask Him to reveal, ask Him for instructions. Talk to Him. My next blog will be about questions that I thought I couldn’t ask God until the Holy Spirit loved me enough to correct me ❤️

Jonah.

Hello Exceeders,

What are you running from? Everybody is running from something. Most people assume that the only running that you do is from the calling but that’s not necessarily true, its just most common. Dates are going to be very important to this blog because it going to assist in me showing you how God moves when and how He wants to move.

On April 27th, The Holy Spirit had me read Jonah (because I’m a runner, lol) and I was writing all over my bible. I heard the story of Jonah many times but I can admit that I had NEVER read the story of Jonah for myself. When HEARING about the story of Jonah, its about the prophet Jonah that got an assignment from God, he fled and ended up in the belly of a “whale”. As far as me hearing the story, that’s where it usually ends, in the belly of a whale. After reading it and God giving me my own revelation, its so much more than that to me now.

I have been a runner from many things. My hometown, responsibilities, the spotlight, my name, myself in general; The list can get quite lengthy. I have spent a lot of quality time running in one way or another and now I have come to the realization, as Jonah did, you can’t run from God. One of the first things that I wrote in my Bible was, “There are things that God will put you through to make others believe. You’re built to take it.” Whew, that alone had me ready to just fall out. I don’t know about anybody else, but I OFTEN forget that. I often forget that it comes with the walk. There are things that God trusts us to GET through, not go through. He trusts us to GROW through these many tasks to show how mighty HE is. Jonah was the only one on that boat still sleeping peacefully when the waters got rough because he was the only one on there that was built to take it. He wasn’t supposed to be on that boat but we serve a God that said He will work all things together for good. He even already had the answer, “throw me off”. You ever been in a situation where you were the only one that knew what to really do……..and you RAN?? Imagine if he was still on the run, if there was more hesitation. Essentially he thought that he was going to choose death over the assignment. Some of us be that extreme with whatever we’re running from, I know I have.

The next thing that I wrote down was, “God will put you in a place. He doesn’t cast you out to kill you. He casts you out to save you.” I have been in plenty of places THANKS to God. Like looking back, I truly thank Him for saving me from myself. I’m currently being delivered from being so self destructive and self sabotaging. Always getting myself in places and God uses that place to save me from myself. My Apostle always says, “You can make this shorter or you can make it longer.” I never understood at first and then God told me last year, “This season you’re in doesn’t have to last all year”. I was one of those people, my seasons would be year-long and I was bold about saying that. “Well, I definitely didn’t pass that test so this is year ‘fill in the blank’ of my season of ‘fill in the blank’”. Life and death, that’s all I’m going to say.

This is the part that’ll preach right here! Lol I was reading where Jonah was praying and confessing and the Lord spoke to the fish, anybody need God to speak to the walls of the place you’re in right now? Mannnnn, the Lord spoke to the fish and it spit him out on dry land. I heard the Holy Spirit say, “To come out, you have to give in” MY, MY, MYYYY, I tell you what, I began to repent IMMEDIATELY. You have to surrender. The reason that dates are so important to this blog is because I began writing this blog on 5/3. It was supposed to be my 2nd blog back and when I went to go post it, Alignment was done but this one wasn’t. This past sunday, I found out why. I had an encounter with God. One that I have never had before, ever. God used my Apostle to show me the power that was laying dormant in me. He called it forth and as soon as I heard him say the word ‘power’, it literally came FLYING OUT of my mouth and I couldn’t stop it. I had to surrender. My Godmom kept saying that in my ear and I went through so many emotions. I’m still processing the whole day and God is still depositing. The only testimony that I could give was that I have been bound by my own design for so long and at that moment I came into a realization that I was more powerful than I would allow myself to believe. Me? I dealt HEAVY in the Jeremiah syndrome but on Sunday, I was somebody else. By somebody else I mean who I actually am and not who I’ve convinced myself I was and it was a full blown outer body experience. My Apostle said something so good to me before I left. He said “You need that sometimes. You can’t run from it, sometimes you have to run to it” That was my confirmation that it was time to finish this blog and release it.

The back part of the book of Jonah is the part that I never heard about and it taught me so much. After he gets out of the “place” and as soon as I read Jonah 3:4-5, the revelation that I got was that the assignment doesn’t have to last forever, just be obedient. All that running to get the job done in one swoop. How many things have you truly ran from that you could have easily done if you believed God hand picked you? The part that truly blessed me was the fact that I found myself in every part of Jonah, especially when he let his emotions take over. I have been found there so many times. Everybody had their lesson to learn when the pandemic started, mine was to get out my feelings. There were literally times where I wanted to just break down and I couldn’t pay myself to drop a tear. Times where I have been MAD but God used those moments to show me what He really wanted me to see. It was so odd to me because it wasn’t my natural disposition. I was a VERY emotional person and I often led with my emotions and God was like NO MA’AM lol

We don’t understand what all God is doing and we never will. God calls us to worship Him above all else, trust and OBEY! Nothing more, no extra feelings. Believe Him, in every situation. Believe Him when it don’t make sense but it makes God-sense. Jonah taught me about believing God knows what He’s doing. Believing that God has me placed where I am and designed me to walk my particular walk to fit into His masterful plan that works for my good on every end. Don’t let your emotions make God put you in a place. If you just so happen to find yourself in one, know that we serve a GOOD God, all you have to remember is that the only way out is to give in!

Alignment.

Hello Exceeders,

Before I had a real relationship with God, I didn’t understand why my friend would sit in her room for hours reading her bible. She would have notebooks everywhere and I would always wonder, what is she writing in all these notebooks? All this highlighting. God is so funny, I would be JEALOUS of her relationship. I was MAD that I didn’t understand and my Apostle always says, you’re not going to do anything until you get mad. I got so “MAD” that I had the thought that I would just go buy myself a bible too. It was like reverse psychology lol but that’s not what this blog post is about, this blog post is about a conversation we had about a scripture I read after getting said bible.

That one conversation we had taught me so many things and the Holy Sprit just brought it back to me so I know its on time for somebody including me. It was this particular scripture that I had read but of course I didn’t have the revelation on it. We were talking about something and I confidently said, “Well didn’t God say that He would give you the desires of your heart?” She quickly shut that down and I was so confused. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. That’s what it said! It wasn’t until I started my own relationship with God that I realized it was about alignment.

Such a simple concept but it is the most important posture that you can have with God. The personal revelation that I got when I really thought about it was that when you align yourself with God, your desires become His desires. He’s able to pour out more because He can trust you. He can trust your intentions. He can trust that when He speaks, you’ll listen. God can use anything to bless His people. It may be the very thing that your heart desires that He needs to use to show somebody that God can do it…….are you willing to let go knowing that God is able to do something bigger for your obedience?

Our whole relationship with God is contingent on a full blown heart surgery. There are so many scriptures concerning the heart of man.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23

“for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: But the LORD pondereth the hearts.” Proverbs 21:2

The list can go on and on but the one major theme is that God values where your heart is when it comes to things concerning Him. What is your Heart Posture? Are you aligned with God? Does your fruit show that? Are the desires you have in the right season of your life? Alignment with God saves so many emotions. I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I’m fully aligned but the more that I become aligned with Him, the more my ‘nos’ excite me. “God, this is what I THINK I want and You mean to tell me that You have BIGGER and BETTER waiting?!” Whew. Get aligned with what God wants so you can walk into the abundance He promised us since the foundation of the world!

Hiding.

Hello Exceeders!

I know it has been quite some time since we grew out loud together and there is no excuse. I have just not been intentional about sitting down and hearing what God has wanted me to say. I found myself very busy and that’s nowhere to be concerning the things of God. My ministry recently did a Women’s retreat and God revealed a lot to me. The retreat theme was “Embracing The Pause” Though the pause from August when I last wrote to now was not an intentional one, we serve an intentional God. He has been depositing some things and I’m ready to share if you’ll have me!

First post back I want to talk about the pink, fuzzy pillow.

During our first session at the Women’s Retreat, our pastor presented us with 2 items and told us to write a story about the item and let the Holy Spirit guide us on what to say. The two items were a fuzzy pillow and a lantern. As soon as she held up the pillow, I began hearing what I was going to write about. We had our first break and I wrote an entire poem and the Holy Spirit gave me the whole thing. I know for sure that He gave it to me because I wrote it on Friday and between Friday and Saturday, each speaker had said something that was written in the poem. It was like they were sitting with me writing it so I know that it will bless you like it blessed me.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Beautiful to look at, soft to the touch. Fun and vibrant, but filled with fluff.

Sometime its easier to look better than you feel inside. To be bright and beautiful but to battle with the ordinary feeling of extraordinary assignment.

Beautiful to look at, soft to the touch. Fun and vibrant, but filled with fluff.

To embrace the softness that everybody expects of you is a full time job. Working overtime to reverse the hardness of life while finding yourself met with constant strife but still…..you love on.

Beautiful to look at, soft to the touch. Fun and vibrant, but filled with fluff.

Life of the party, filled to the brim with smiles and laughs. A gift and a curse. It leaves little room for other emotions to be had.

Beautiful to look at, soft to the touch. Fun and vibrant, but filled with fluff.

Smile. Laugh. Cry. Yell. Scream. Feel.

Don’t be filled with the feeling of feeling like you can’t feel what you’re feeling.

Smile often. Laugh uncontrollably. Cry when it hurts. Yell when it gets to be too much. Scream for the release.

Stop hiding beautiful and just be!

You’re Not Qualified

Hello Exceeders 💜

There has been some roots that needed to be plucked in order for my growth to continue. I have felt so stagnant lately, its been something that has tried to take me backwards. God told me to be transparent in these blogs so being honest, I went through another depression recently this year. It didn’t have anything to do with the pandemic, it wasn’t because I didn’t know and remember the promises of God, it wasn’t even because I didn’t have the spiritual food available and in front of me often. It was simply because I felt like I was qualified enough to say what I could and couldn’t do. What I was worthy and not worthy to have.  I was sitting there one day and I heard the Holy Spirit say “You’re not qualified to say what you CAN’T do when only I know everything you’re called to do.” I couldn’t do anything but repent at that point lol I was stuck in a moment of “you’ve been here too long”. He had to check me REAL QUICK because I was in the mindset of hopelessness when I serve a God that is the God of Hope. Romans 15:13 says “Now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Abound means to have or possess in great quantity. A mindset of hopelessness can’t exist in a vessel that is supposed to be abound with hope…don’t stay there too long.

I have been at God’s feet trying get some clarity on some things. I have been trying to pluck what needs to be plucked and sow what needs to be sown. I have had conversations recently that led straight to a root that DEFINITELY needed to be plucked that directly led to the Holy Spirit having to get me all the way together. I am too hard on myself. Nothing is ever enough, even me. I was going from night season to night season in my mind when really I just wasn’t taking time to celebrate my wins. I grew up always striving for more, where there was always more to be done. The expectation was its always something better that could be achieved. I adapted the wrong mindset of a Spirit of Excellence. I wasn’t saying it with my mouth because I’m wise enough to know that only Jesus is perfect, but I was struggling with being human. If I made ONE mistake, took too long to get it, took too long to hear God’s voice, didn’t hear God’s voice at all, I was an instant failure.  The Holy Spirit was like nah baby girl, you’re not qualified to make that decision, to think that thought, to change what I have for you.

I have been trying to embrace all of me while leaving room for the me that I haven’t become yet. One day at time. Leaving room for not knowing. Leaving room for not doing it right the first time. Leaving room for needing God. Operating in a spirit of excellence without forgetting that if God called me to it, He will prepare me for it and His word will not return to Him void. I can’t speak for anybody else but I have literally tried to talk myself out of a blessing, talk myself out of my gifts. I would find myself rationalizing why I wasn’t good at something that I felt like God told me to do. I must have heard Him wrong, I must not be doing it right. It wasn’t until this week when I finally sat down with God and really got to the root. I was talking to my sister and she said you need to DENOUNCE that spirit. You don’t just need to bind that, its time to demolish that! I just think too much. Everything is a thought and sometimes that is a faith destroyer. If I could help anybody like me, combat your constant need to THINK with the RIGHT mindset. Combat your facts with the TRUTH. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee! Isaiah 26:3

Be encouraged that you’re not qualified enough to cancel what God said about you before you were formed in your mother’s belly. Be encouraged that God made you who you are long before you decided who you weren’t. Yesterday at church it seemed like I was having a breakdown but I had a BREAKTHROUGH! Its time to GROW! Seek God on what to sow and what to pluck so your harvest doesn’t have a delay at your hand.

Redefine Winning Season

Hello Exceeders 💜

Hello to any newcomers and welcome back to any faithful readers. I want to start by first thanking God for never leaving me even when I leave Him. I have been in a weird place these last few months but no matter what I was going through, God always found a way to honor His Word that He would never leave me nor forsake me and I’m so undeserving and so grateful.

okay Today’s blog was a process but came from a Word from on High that hit my spirit while talking to my sister.

Redefine winning season.

Everybody always talks about seasons. “It’s my season”, and “Walk into your season”. It says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” I love this passage in particular because it lets me know that where there is lack, there will also be gain. Where there is sorrow, there will also be joy. Where there is pain, there will also be comfort.

It’s quite the process and the biggest thing that I have received revelation on is “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 I have been working on this post for a while now and a few weeks ago my Pastor talked about that scripture and I could have ran around the church lol It was my confirmation!

That scripture correlates directly with the title. I was thinking about how…active my last few years have been. I have been through some hard things in the last few years, in life really but the Word of God says that He will use those things and turn them for my good. Even the things I put myself in. Even the things that He didn’t want me to have to go though but I went through because I was hard headed. All these bad things that the enemy have thrown my way, they will all be wins.

So wouldn’t that mean that every season is a winning season? Wouldn’t that mean that every season of waiting, growing, pruning is all lining up to the victory we were preordained for? If every single obstacle, every single trial and tribulation works together for my good, everything is a win. When I began to really think about it, I was put in such a good mind frame. It took the pressure off of everything that I was seeing in front of me as bad. No matter how hard it seems, it is going to work out for my good. No matter how tired I am, it is going to work out for my good. No matter how long I’ve been in it, it is going to work out for my good!

I come here today to encourage somebody that may have forgotten but victory is yours. Before you were formed in your mother’s belly, God knew the plans He had for you. Plans to PROSPER, to give you an EXPECTED end. Not by your own strength but by His Grace. Train your mind to see God in everything. See your world through God’s eyes. He wants to do EXCEEDING ABUNDANT in our lives. More than we can ask or even think. My pastor always says, get the facts and take it to the truth. Let God’s truth change how you see your facts!

Redefine your winning season!

Do you trust God’s timing?

Hello Exceeders 💜

I was writing a little bit of this and went to bible study last night and my Pastor was confirming EVERYTHING I heard in my spirit to write so this is right on time.

I have been finding out a lot of things about myself in the last year but definitely in the last few weeks. Things I have been praying for constantly to be revealed to me. It got to a point that I was SURE that I could not hear the voice of the Lord because there was no way that I didn’t get ANY answers.

As I continued my walk with God, and became more focused, I realized that I wanted God to answer me in MY timing. I wanted to know thinking that it would give my life more purpose and meaning only to start to realize that it was in me the whole time either way. Whatever your purpose is in this world was well thought out and planned before any of us ever got here. It says in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

God knows what He is doing and He doesn’t need any help from us. He knows when to do what and why He wants it done that way. He’s on my side but yet I found myself fighting against Him every corner I turned. It wasn’t even always a “I WANT IT NOW” spirit. Sometimes its a “I can’t do that” spirit, or a “I could never get that” spirit. It was defeat before I even tried to fight but it all stemmed back to not trusting God’s timing. That was the root. I didn’t see it so I didn’t believe it and so I actually LESSENED my chance of actually achieving it before I even tried.

Sometimes we’re bad enough. Sometimes the enemy doesn’t even need to plot and scheme because we will do all the sabotaging ourselves. I know I have sabotaged PLENTY! I don’t think I’ve really fully stopped yet, I’m working on it, pray for me. If you read my last post and my testimony then you know I told the Lord yes and doors opened up. The enemy tried to creep in there but the doors to my mind were ready to receive all the information to fight my battle at the time. I was listening to my Pastor last night and she had the verse that I didn’t even know I needed to pair with this.

Matthew 13:12 in the Message bible says: Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely.

When I set in my heart that I wanted to be obedient, God trusted me with an assignment that was connected to my purpose that was obvious enough for me to connect the dots. All those times I prayed before, I wasn’t even ready for what I was asking for. I know for sure that I would have said no because even when the moment came I wanted to say no lol I should say my flesh wanted to say no but I couldn’t turn back. I wouldn’t.

After getting out of the hospital and truly going over the events with God, it was revealed to me fully that one of my gifts was a teacher. I said yes to one of my gifts that Sunday and didn’t even know it at the time. I have truly shed tears yall, about not knowing who I am and not being able to identify my gifts. My pastor was pulling on us about our gifts and I felt incomplete. I thought I was broken or something lol As I began to truly process the information, I started to think about what I really like to do. I love to get information and share it. I will give you a fun fact in a hot second. I love to figure things out and BREAK IT DOWN so somebody that doesn’t understand, can understand. All this time I was doing these things absent-mindedly, not even considering what that could be in the Kingdom of God. Whew, I cringe at how I been acting these past 27 years of life sometimes and I’m only 27 lol Not even THINKING about what God needed from me and then asking Him to reveal something I wasn’t going to allow myself to do.

My bible study teacher P Roz said one time that God reveals in what seems like a puzzle. He gives you one puzzle piece at a time until eventually you get all the pieces. If He gives you all the pieces at one time, you may not be able to handle it. You may not be ready and you’ll miss the bigger picture. I have the perfect example.

When I first started my job, I worked in the contact center department and it was so much info to take in that I had to teach myself a lot of it. The beauty in that is I had a method to everything. It was so strategic and simplified that I could show anybody how to work there lol I’m a ‘work smarter, not harder’ kind of person. I love new information so I was constantly gaining more knowledge. After about a year, I was chosen to be what was called a navigator. We basically took people that were still in training and let them listen to us take calls and we listened to them take calls and answered questions and gave feedback, my favorite things to do lol I loved every second of it. There was one girl in particular that I remembered. I created some type of bond with all of the ones I helped but she stayed in contact via IM until she branched out. That was 2017, fast forward to 2020 at my best friend’s birthday dinner, that same girl is friends with my best friend and we are sitting at the same table. I didn’t remember her by face but she recognized me. I wasn’t ready yet. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago, me and my best friend were on the phone and I was sharing my new info with her and she says that triggered something she had to tell me. That same girl told her that weekend before that she graduated from a program that would qualify her for any job she wanted in the company and she thanked her experience with me in training as her navigator. I immediately starting crying because that was my confirmation from God. That next day, I went back to something she wrote me in 2017 and started crying again lol She said that she would like to take the time out to let me know that I was by far her best navigator and that the criticism I gave her has shaped the way she would move on in her career at our company. She also called me an outstanding teacher. August 8th, 2017. I never viewed myself that way, I was just being Larricka. Do you have anything you love to do that you think you’re just doing you?

If she would have come up to me at that birthday dinner and said that I was an outstanding teacher, it would have been flesh appreciation and that was it. It wouldn’t have meant as much. I wasn’t ready. She could have came up to me and said God told me to tell you that you have the gift of teaching, I would have outwardly thanked her and inwardly disregarded her. That’s the ugly truth. My heart wasn’t ready to receive any of the things I was begging God for. My Pastor taught a lesson called LET HIM DO IT! You don’t have to beg God. When God calls your gift forward, IT MUST COME FORWARD but don’t for a second think He hasn’t prepared you for that moment, if you’re willing. Don’t think that’s the moment that He’s going to leave you to figure it out. I honestly thought saying yes meant, BOOM I’M READY FOR A MAJOR ASSIGNMENT LORD, BRING IT ON. That was the OPPOSITE of what I was thinking, feeling, or wanted. So really I was begging God for something that I knew I wouldn’t do because I was scared. He knew that too lol I said yes and talked to my GPS bible study group like every other Tuesday but this time I read the Subject and Scripture from that Sunday. Physically nothing changed but mentally it was completely different. It was that simple.

Me to me: Slow down sometimes. Everything isn’t as difficult as you think. When you’re doing God’s work, He’s not only going to prepare you with everything He needs from you, He’ll also get you through it. God’s plan is the only plan that matters so just surrender, be obedient, and trust His timing!

Standing on God’s Promise: A Testimony

Hello Exceeders! 💜

Extremely long testimony ahead but God deserves all of His praise and glory! 

I have been on such an emotional rollercoaster and I had to be in tune with God to make it off. I have been working on this post for coming up on 3 weeks. I had to go to God about why it was taking so long and He had to remind me that this is important. To give Him His glory, to me, and to whoever needs to read this testimony of grabbing the supernatural and bringing it down to earth. Declaring and decreeing to LIVE and not die! As we all know, 2020 has been a complete transformation from whatever you THOUGHT was your norm. Things that you thought you needed or wanted didn’t matter anymore. Everything has changed and if you were doing it right, you changed as well. God has been revealing and healing things in me and its been quite the ride. I have grown in leaps and bounds since 2019 and I’m still not done but I’m not where I use to be. I have truly tried to tap into the God in me this year. I was intentional about my growth. I wanted my light to be set on a hill. Today I have a testimony to tell that wraps up my 2020 perfectly after all that growth . I spent the last 6 days of this year in the hospital with COVID being treated like the enemy himself was my nursing staff but God…

It all started when I said yes. I always knew that whatever my calling was that it would require me to talk to a lot of people and there was only one flesh problem with that…..I don’t like talking in front of people lol So to say I was running from God was an understatement so I guess I thought I was Jonah. That fear has truly stopped me from many blessings. I’m shy at first until you get to know me and to know me is to know that I’m not really shy lol It’s weird but I have been on this journey with God all 2020, getting closer to Him and trusting what He wants for me and I know that I can’t run forever so I decided to stop saying no. So here comes my bible study facilitator, P Roz, on assignment the same day I said that I was going to stop saying no, and she asked me to facilitate our bible study and I said….yes. Even she said that she thought that I would say no but I literally told God that day that I would stop telling Him no. It lined up perfectly though because the very sermon that I was to facilitate was something that I had been personally saying all year so I was really passionate about it. So I did it……and I loved it.  I mean its an open discussion so it wasn’t like I talked the whole time but just the position itself was so enjoyable. That’s when the enemy showed up. That same exact week I began to feel bad in my body. Body aches, headache, not able to eat, fatigue. That Friday I couldn’t even go to work so I decided to go get tested and I truly thought I had a sinus infection but surely enough it was COVID. At first it wasn’t that bad. They even told me that they thought I was over the hump. I really just slept a lot. My body felt like I was always carrying 3 people on my back. I would try to move around during the day and for the most part I was fine but during the night it got bad. Coughing, unable to catch my breath and I didn’t see anything below 102 as my temp but I was determined not to go to the hospital unless I absolutely had to! That continued until the day before Christmas Eve. I took a turn for bad because worse had yet to come. My parents thought it would be best that I come stay with them because at that point I had not eaten in 4 days. Christmas Eve is when I started to slowly slip into worse. I couldn’t go 3 steps without having to stop to catch my breath. It was such a struggle because staying active was such a challenge but staying active was what everybody said I needed. My family opens Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve and I tried my best to be normal. To be present but I barely remember anything that happened. Once I went in the room after the festivities, the slip into worse started.

Our church had 6 am early morning Christmas service and I was determined not to miss it. I set so many alarms to make sure I wouldn’t. I made up my mind and that’s when the enemy came full force. That was the worst night of my life. It was a point in the night that I was coughing so bad that I couldn’t even catch my breath long enough. NOTHING matters when you can’t breath. The only thing that comes out of you in that moment is what’s in you. I’m so glad that the God in me is what came out. The Holy Spirit was ringing in my head. 

Just breathe, you can breathe, you know how to breathe, calm down and just breathe. 

I was finally able to take a breath and I couldn’t do anything but thank God but the enemy wasn’t through bothering me yet. I tossed and turned all night long and I woke up every 10 minutes it felt like, not on purpose. I was so restless and it was so confusing. After being so fatigued, not being able to stay asleep didn’t make sense but my body was in so much pain that I understood why. Everything hurt. My chest being the main thing. Every time I woke up I thanked God. It was like I didn’t know if I would wake up again. That went on for hours and finally it was time for service. I made it. I was half conscious but I made it. Immediately after I got off the line it was like someone turned my lungs completely off. My mom rushed in the room and she was trying to get me to catch my breath any way she possibly could as I was humped over trying not to break. I could still hear the Holy Spirit telling me “you know how to breathe, calm down and breathe”. It was the scariest thing but my mind was made up that I still have a purpose I haven’t even fully started. I decided that I was going to live. I got through Christmas, on day 5 of not eating and I thought if I made it through that breathing scare, I must be coming out. I was wrong. 

That night was just as bad as the night before but this time I was stuck in place. I couldn’t breathe and my body was so weak, I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t yell, talk, move. All I could do was lay there. The next morning came and I knew I needed to get out of that bed. I heard my dad cleaning the kitchen but like I said, I was paralyzed. I knew I had to get out that room. I heard it, I heard “GET UP”. I took all the strength I had and climbed up the wall and I ran as fast I possible could to the living room. I was completely out of breath but I didn’t stop until I got there. It took me so long to actually calm down but something was wrong. Something was different. My chest felt weird. So I laid there for some time and then my mom came and sat with me. After a while, she looked at me strange and asked if I was okay because I was breathing weird and I knew that I wasn’t. She told me to get up and walk down the hallway and she put a oximeter on my finger and before I could take 2 steps, my oxygen was showing 81 out of 100. It was time to go to the hospital. We got in the car and my mom turned on War by Charles Jenkins and completely out of breath and half way out of my mind I sang as many words as I could. It was time to put my war clothes on. I knew that was the Holy Spirit that told me to get up. If I was in that room, the only person that would have heard my breathing getting faint would have been me. I was so out of it, lacking oxygen, that I thought I was talking out loud and I was actually only talking in my head. My mom said the only thing coming out of my mouth was, I can’t breathe. 

I was in CONSTANT prayer. I needed God to tell me why I was going to the hospital because I was not going there to die. I was going there to bring something out of me. I had all my teachings on my mind. I had my own personal studies on my mind. I was ready. I knew it was a mind thing overall. COVID attacks your body but the enemy wants your mind. Like I said, nothing matters when you can’t breathe so that’s the perfect time to attack. The enemy didn’t anticipate me to remember that in my weakness, God is made strong. My body was weak but my spirit man was strong. My mind was weak and lacking oxygen physically but it was not weak spiritually. I knew exactly what was going on and I knew exactly what time it was.  

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” Psalms 34:19 KJV

God was walking into that hospital with me, HE WAS THERE BEFORE I GOT THERE.

We get to the hospital and they test my oxygen and immediately say that I will be getting admitted. We go through the process and they do a EKG and she tells me that she can’t even see my lungs because it’s covered with blood clots. Even then I had already made up my mind so the only emotion that I felt was calm. I just wanted to lay down. So my mom asks can she go back with me and BY THE GRACE OF GOD, the rules had just changed in that hospital that a family member could go back until I was put in a room and then only she could visit for 2 hours a day. I was overjoyed. So we get back to a holding room and…..its hot. I have never experienced a hot hospital but it was like the heat was on in there. So now I have heat mixed with pain and still I was calm. Every room I went in had a cross on the wall directly in front of me. The day before my mom picked me up I was studying Jeremiah and I read Jeremiah 17:14  “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.” It was engraved on my heart that God was going to heal me and save me. So they come in to do my IV and the woman was poking me everywhere but in a vein. I couldn’t even react fast enough, I just sat there, smiling at the cross above the door and then she said she was going to get another nurse who was good at finding veins. The other nurse comes in and smiles at me and I’m thinking that she is about to put the IV in but she tells the lady something and then says “In the Name of Jesus”. I immediately perk up and look at her. The lady tries again and gets the IV right and the other lady repeats “In the Name of Jesus” then looked at me again and said “see, all you have to do is call His name” and then left. That lady was probably an angel but that’s when I knew I was going to LIVE. That was my confirmation. All you have to do is call His name. 

Here is when the problems wanted to start back up. So there were a few doctors that came in to explain that the blood clots were why I couldn’t breathe and it was good that I got there when I did. Me and my mom were in agreeance that no matter what, I was not to be incubated and put on a ventilator. I told that to the last doctor that came in. He was confused but he stated that was a thing I could request and he would get me the paperwork to sign. Well it didn’t go over well with the other 4 or the nurses because they all came back in the room at separate times trying to explain it’s importance and how they felt I was foolish for not wanting that. They got more and more agitated as we continued to decline. Finally they stopped pleading their case and stopped coming in there. About an hour later a nurse came in and I asked how long I would be in this area because I was soaked with sweat, she stated “Until a COVID patient checks out”. I was so confused but she walked out without saying anything more. 12 hours we sat in that room. I woke up to me being transferred to a room. A beautiful room with a beautiful view and my cross right in front of me. I was optimistic.

My nursing staff was kind for the most part but not attentive. I was waiting almost an hour to go to the bathroom and that was just the first day. The machine was going off and it would just beep and beep and beep and I was too weak at first to even try to cut it off. It wasn’t until the first night I stayed there, when my mother left for the night, that I found out that the assignment the enemy put on my life was bigger than I thought. That night I was having a coughing fit and needed to use the bathroom. I waited about 45 minutes for a nurse to come in the room to get my oxygen and all the machines to the bathroom with me, when I finally got to the bathroom it was like I couldn’t catch enough air to breathe again. I was coughing and wheezing and out of breath. The nurse left the room and came back in the bathroom and said to me, “let me just put this on you”, as she proceeded to put a Do Not Resuscitate wrist band on my arm. God quickened my spirit SO FAST. I knew it was God because everything stopped, the coughing, the wheezing, EVERYTHING. I looked at her and said “what?” and all she could say was “oh”. She helped me back to my bed and I never saw her again. I kept replaying the event in my mind. In that moment it would have looked like I was not in my right mind and I was never going to catch my breath. Also in that same moment, my nurse tried to make it so I would not be resuscitated even though I never signed a DNR, or the Do Not Incubate that I requested. That is when I knew that I needed to be not only in my right mind but in constant contact with God. 

After I told my mom about the event, she barely went 2 minutes without talking to me. Also by the grace of God, whenever she came up there to visit, she would be there for hours with no rebuttal. I was grateful for that the most because I know that there are family members that couldn’t see their family members at all so I’m still thanking God for favor in her being there with me. There were days that on a 12 hour shift I saw my nurse at the beginning of her shift and at the end of her shift. It was true neglect for the most of my stay and I was so righteously angry. All I could think about was the people that have died in the hospital from COVID. Was this why? Because they were afraid of us? I later found out that the floor that I was on wasn’t just for COVID patients, they had us mixed in. Was that why my nurses ignored me most of the day? Was it because they had to put on their protective gear every time they came in my room? My nurse tried to teach me how to silence my own machines. So many questions, so many tears for the lives lost that I think could have been saved, so many prayers to God for wisdom and strength to know how to handle the treatment I was getting. I held my bladder one day so long that I thought it would bust open. I was told they didn’t have underwear to fit me so my mom had to run and buy some. I was told they didn’t have leg cuffs big enough to prevent the blood clots from spreading to my legs. I knew then that was the enemy’s attempt to play on my previous insecurities. There was a time that a statement like that would send me straight into a depression and thinking, am I the biggest patient y’all have ever serviced but God has made me an iron pillar in 2020. It was a nice attempt but it wasn’t strong enough. 

There were 2 nurses that went above and beyond their duties to take care of me. One came back because she was taken off my floor and she stopped by the window just to check on me. The other noticed that my bed was filthy. I went 4 out of 6 days with the same gown on laying on the same pillow and blankets. She helped me in the bathroom and refused to let me lay back down until she changed the whole bed. Out of a combined 12 nurses, 2 showed me true compassion. That made me emotional again. Is that the statistics that we are working with? Is that what this pandemic has come to? I’m sure they weren’t bad people but I didn’t feel safe with 10 out of 12 nurses. 

It was such a surreal experience but God got me through. My parents and family got me through. My interceding prayer warriors got me through. Just hearing Pastor B and Apostle’s voice got me through. Constant contact with P Roz and Bishop got me through. My friends got me through. I want to buy my mom just anything she wants for all the time she sacrificed for me. I’m so thankful for the team God has connected me with. On January 1st from 12am to 1am, I sang and praised the Lord with everything in me. I didn’t care who heard me, I didn’t care if they tried to stop me, I gave God His glory for bringing me out. For opening my eyes. For showing me the gift of compassion I posses. For letting me know what to do and how to compose myself when the earthly help isn’t really there to help. I learned so much about myself. I would hear that I was growing so much and you could see it all over me. Internally and in private I knew what God had changed about me but not outwardly.. I felt like I was growing but I would always tell my sister, I don’t really see what people see in particular. Well, I saw it. I saw me choose God and His promise above everything. He said that He would never leave me nor forsake me. That He would deliver me out of my troubles. I wasn’t letting go until He healed me. I sit here today, writing this extremely long blog that I thank you for taking the time to read, with blood clots still diminishing in my lungs, walking FULLY in my healing. God did it.

How do you study?

Hello exceeders💜

This is going to be a crowd participation post as we come to the end of this Year of Learning. Learning ourselves. Learning God. Learning ourselves in God. This year has taught me so many new things. Some are good qualities about myself. Some of them are bad things that I need to challenge with the Word of God. It has just been a year of shift. One of the things that I didn’t bring in the year doing was reading my bible and truly studying God’s Word. Honestly, I didn’t even know what “study the Word of God” meant. I wasn’t really someone who put time aside to read the Word. I knew its importance but the flesh told me that I didn’t have time to sit down and read. I used to be someone that would read all the time, not the Bible, but in general . I thought that when I actually got the revelation that this Bible is my instruction manual, its where all my answers come from, that I was going to pick it up and read it like a book……..that got old really quick! It got to a point that I was so excited about the stuff that I was reading that I would lose track of time but I couldn’t tell you what I read, why I read it, or what it meant to me personally, I didn’t ask God to reveal anything. I was just reading and reading and reading and then there came a time where I couldn’t read 4 and 5 chapters at a time. Then I got to a point where I could only read a few lines and would fall right asleep. That was a gateway for the enemy because he made sure to remind me that I wasn’t learning anything, that I went to sleep, and that I wasn’t reading as much so after a while I just stopped all together.

Clearly this is problematic but I lived in the world long enough to remember days when I didn’t even own a bible so I was slipping into autopilot and began to “function” without reading……or so I thought. I heard testimony after testimony, sermon after sermon about how reading the Word daily is mandatory. The one that hit me the hardest is when a minister at my church said “Your next move of God will be found in the Word of God”. That completely changed my life because I was seeking God for who I am, what my gifts are, and what my next move was….I had all these questions for God and she just plainly said….its in the Word of God. So I had a dilemma…..how was I supposed to find it? I know just reading it wasn’t going to work so the next step I knew was to study it.

It was like trying to get water from a rock. I didn’t know where to start, how to start, what to write down until one day I just stopped and sat still and let it come to me. No two people have the same walk with Christ. No two people pray the same or communicate with God the same so there was no right or wrong way, just communicate with God. Be in the space to hear Him. Don’t take chaos in your time with God.

I began to bring down the amount I was reading and began to focus in on what exactly I was reading. As I read, when something sticks out to me and I get the revelation on what it means, I write it down in a notebook. I pray before I read and after I get done. I leave time to meditate on what revelation I just got and let God work on me. I pray, I cry, I confess, I repent…I let God bring the Word to my right now state and that’s how I study the Word.

I know I’m not the only that struggled with where to start so I would like everybody that reads this to comment some of the ways you study the Word of God. You may inspire and encourage someone to open their communication with God!

Thank you 💜

How are you handling your emotions?

Hello Exceeders 💜

This has been a trying year to say the least but I’ve truly decided to tap into the God in me. God has been dealing with me on my emotions and how I react to things. I’m normally a very emotional person but in silence. Silent suffering is like the expressway to depression. I’m 27 years old and I have spent more that half of those years teetering between depression and suicide. The enemy was really trying to take me out from a young child but GOD. My pastor has been teaching on the attack of the mind and it’s been putting me in constant thought. One of the things that I’ve been meditating on is when she said, “one of the enemy’s tactics is to make you feel like you’re the only one”.

I thought acknowledging certain things gave it power but not acknowledging those things gave it power to roam in my mind free of charge. As taxing as it was to my day to day interactions, the last thing I wanted to do was truly address these things. My emotions overtook me so it was easy for the enemy to take a confused, emotional girl that didn’t know her worth and make her no longer want to live. Emotions are what got me the point of suicide. My emotions were louder than God. Pain. Anguish. Anger. Sorrow. Helplessness. Jealousy. I was filled with so many things that God got His corner of awareness and that was it. Being emotion-led drained me. My time wasn’t my own because I did what people expected of me. If I was expected to drop what I was doing at any given time, that’s what I would do. Loneliness and fear of rejection made me unavailable to focus on me. To focus in general because though I was aware of other’s personal struggles, it was black or white in my eyes. Either I was all alone in these thoughts or I felt my problems were smaller than the next person. That was just my life.

Clearly God had to break that in me. It was as toxic as it sounds if not more. The challenge from my teachings were to submit everything to God. Every thought, every emotion, every feeling. That was the next hiccup I encountered, thinking that God meant I couldn’t have any emotions. That came from simply not being in my Word like I should. Emotions aren’t bad, God has made a season and time for everything!

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 KJV

There were times that I would get angry and the enemy would make me feel bad about it but Ephesians 4:26 says “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” There are times where I’ve felt like crying and I’ve told myself that was a sign of me giving up. Jesus wept even though He knew that He was going to bring Lazarus back to life. It’s about how you use those emotions. It’s about how you view those emotions. Are those emotions attached to negative thoughts? Are those emotions misplaced? Are they being used in the wrong season? More importantly, were they submitted to God? The Word of God is not a justification for wrong thoughts and wrong reactions, it is however 66 books of people just like you and me. People that made mistakes, people that let emotions drive them off a cliff God never designed for them. He’s such a good God though that He still uses the bad to turn it around for our good!

Submit every thought, every action, every emotion to the Word of God. My pastor once said “Everything that’s a fact, isn’t the truth” 💜

What are you doing in your wait?

Hello Exceeders 💜

I have been sort of missing but it was definitely time needed. God has been revealing and healing some things in me and I have just been along for the ride. One constant theme that kept coming in all of this time was “wait”. It came in many different ways. It came in sermons, conversations, TV shows, you name it, the subject of WAIT was there. It made me realize that I was in that season, the season of wait on the Lord.

I began to think about the state of mind that I was in when I realized how long it had been since I wrote down my thoughts. I was in a place of slight frustration. I wouldn’t let it become my everyday mood but it was definitely something to take notice of. I had to be honest with myself that I was not patiently waiting on the Lord. I was irritable, agitated, annoyed. I was all these things that could very well be for any reason but I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. I’m going through the same season this year that I went through last year but I’m DETERMINED to have a different outcome. I’m determined to trust God no matter what. That is my set goal for 2020. Trust God. That is my answer to everybody about everything! Need help with a problem? TRUST GOD! Things not going right? TRUST GOD. Trust God was all I could give anybody, including myself. 

I began to transform but there was one thing that I still wasn’t handling well…..the wait. I know, it sounds weird, “Ricka, how could you not be handling the wait well when all your answers were trust God?” I’m going to tell you how…..in small every day actions. 

I had to ask myself, 
“What are you doing in your wait?” 
“Are you trying to “help” God?” 
“Are you still trying to figure it out?” 
“Are you still making plans and plots?” 

I had to come to terms with the fact that the things I thought were harmless were telling God exactly what I think He can do. I began to notice that I was forcing myself to be patient. I was forcing myself to think positive. I was forcing myself to see that God had a plan way bigger than who I am now. Yes, sometimes we have to take back control of our minds but I had to realize that if I have to force myself every single day to trust God…do I really trust God? All we need is faith the size of a mustard seed but how long does it stay the size of a mustard seed? I put restraints on God just by letting my impatience take over.

In this season of wait, I had to be okay with God saying no, not yet. Not only did I have to be okay with it, I had to put myself in a position to hear Him say it. I had to form the habit of asking God for permission. I lost so many physical things this year, things I know were taken to break the spirit of pride, but God is still providing for me. I’m coming out of this season of lack and there are things I feel like I could replace but I hear God saying not yet. Don’t let the loses, the storms, the people around you, the things you think you want, the things you didn’t want to lose keep you from the promises of God. Anything you get out of the will of God you have to stay out of the will of God to keep.

“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:29-31‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Are you in a place for your heart to be opened?

Hello Exceeders! I kept ya’ll waiting so long I decided to release two!

As I was reading my Word the other night, something caught my attention and it drew me in. I am currently reading Acts and I have the study bible so at the bottom it tries to go into a more layman’s terms explanation into what you’re reading. So I read to a certain point and then I go back and read the study notes. The study notes have some gems in there, so I highlight down there too lol There was a lady mentioned by the name of Lydia in Acts 16:14 and she was already worshipping God when Paul, Luke, and Silas came around her and began to preach the Word of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The study part that went with that was “She worshipped God to the extent that she knew Him, but her understanding increased as Paul speaks and God opened her heart”.

WOWWWWWW!  It made me think about all my brushes with God in my life. The places where I didn’t really learn much and my heart didn’t really receive God like I felt like I should. Then the enemy KEPT coming so then I began to harden and I began to be clammed up about God. I still knew that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and He died for my sins and rose again but that was it. I worshipped God to the extent I knew Him. I knew He sent His only begotten son, I had to memorize John 3:16 but that wasn’t the end of the steps. I loved Him for it but I didn’t understand it. My breakthrough moment was when I got to my church home now and God opened my heart to His truth. I learned about truth, gifts, callings, accountability, about the every day renewing of my mind. I got around the right people and God allowed my heart to be open to receive what He needed me to hear to move forward. When I got to Living Word, I wasn’t new to Christ, I was just in a standstill. There were a lot of different influences that could have swayed me down the wrong walk with God, or not with God at all, but it was like I was suspended in time until I heard exactly what I needed to hear from who I needed to hear it from.

Lydia was minding her business, not knowing that her entire world was about to be elevated to another level in her walk. She wasn’t even aware that she was missing something. Have you ever sat back and thought about the things you thought you were doing full out until you were exposed to greater? To more understanding? I’m so intrigued by her because I have  been her for many years. Not knowing there is more. I experienced the surreal moment of God opening my heart and this whole new world flowing in unexpectedly. She wasn’t by that river to meet them. She was just at the right place at the right time because God is intentional. They were just going to the river because they thought it would be a good place to pray and she was among the woman there. Her and her households’ lives were forever changed that day.

Are you in a space where God is able to truly open your heart for you to receive Him? I mean a physical place where your spirit is being fed? I know everybody isn’t assigned to one place but if you are reading this  and you have nowhere like that, no matter where you are in this world, I want to share my place with you!

Early Morning Prayer Monday-Friday at 5 AM CST “On The Line” (339)209-4957

Sunday Church Service is at 10:30 AM CST “On The Line” (339)209-4957

Corporate Bible Study is Every Wednesday at 7 PM CST  “On The Line” (339)209-4957

We also have many different bible study groups that are split up on many different platforms from small children, to young adults, unmarried and married groups and you’re all welcome to join! You can drop a comment with your email for specific group information!

 All these recourses are for such a time as this. 2020 has been quite a year but God is still in the blessing business! Don’t miss what He has specifically for YOU!

Until Next Time 💜

What are you working on? Pt2

Hello Exceeders!

To read part 1 go to https://exceeding-abundantly.com/2020/09/11/what-are-you-working-on/

Let’s get back to our definitions!

Patience:

1. A person’s ability to wait something out or endure something tedious

2. The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

Me to me in the mirror: When it comes to denying yourself, practice being accepting of the fact that things don’t happen overnight. God is a way maker, a miracle worker true enough but the full deliverance and growth in your relationship with God is in the process. The trust, the reliance, the obedience, it’s a process. God processes us all the time with things He’s trying to either get into us or get out of us. No matter what or WHO you think you are, God is processing you to something else. Something better. Have patience and know that time is only a concept that we abide by. God has no timeline so patience is REQUIRED. In the meantime, walk in deliverance. Walk in wholeness. Stop praying about it and start praising about it.

Godliness:

1. Conforming to the laws and wishes of God

2. Devout, dedicated, reverent in the things concerning God

Me to me in the mirror: in your journey of understanding patience, be devoted to what God is truly teaching you while He is processing you. In your wait, gird yourself with the Word of God. Grow your reverence for the laws of God. What is God asking of you?

Brotherly kindness:

This is better described by John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Jesus said that. To love your neighbor as you do yourself, MORE than yourself. Romans 12:10 says “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”. This is something that has been at great debate for a long time. Everybody doesn’t seem to get along for many different reasons but it’s commanded by Jesus to do just that. There is no respect of persons with God. We are to love each other no matter what has transpired. Sometimes it’s hard but where in the Bible does it say that any of our walk will be easy?

Last but certainly not least,

Charity:

Again, the best definition is found in The Word, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Me to me in the mirror: Don’t let your love for others be conditional. Love people with the same love that God loves you with NO MATTER WHAT!

It’s not a overnight process, becoming who you need to be in your walk with Christ. Just know that’s it’s as simple as breaking it apart and processing it. Let the Holy Spirit talk to you. Open yourself to receive whatever God needs the scripture to be to you at that time. We serve a living God and the Word is alive. The Holy Spirit is always revealing just what we need from the Word. I pray that breaking down this scripture helped you as much as it did me 💜

What are you working on?

Hello Exceeders! 💜

Scripture Breakdown!

I have been on the spiritual search of having more faith and possessing more temperance. The fruits of the Holy Spirit have been something I’ve been interested in since I first began my spiritual journey.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 KJV

I was drawn to that passage often thinking, “Lord, do I have any of those qualities?”. I went to my handy dandy Bible app and searched the word ‘TEMPERANCE’. Quite a few verses came up but this is the one that stopped me in my tracks:

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-8 KJV

There it was, right in front of me, my answer on how to be fruitful in the eyes of God. My Pastor is the break it down queen so I learn from the best. Let’s start with definitions in true Pastor B fashion ✨

I first thought I would start with Faith but the Holy Spirit made diligence pop out to me

Diligence:

  1. Careful and persistent work or effort.
  2. Prudent (plan ahead, forecast, project, anticipate, provision)
  3. Be wise (learn from experience)
  4. Do consistently (every time, all the time)

On the journey of getting up close and personal with God’s Word, I’ve developed a love for the artistry of God. Aren’t you happy that God not only tells you what to do but He tells you HOW to do it too? Whew!

Faith:

  1. It’s deep-rooted in the expectation of good things to come.
  2. Not a mere intellectual stance, but a belief that leads to action
  3. Strong belief in God

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” As believers of Christ, we have to have faith in God and also have faith in the fact that He has our absolute best interest at heart. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” There goes that word DILIGENT again. All things stem from having faith in God. Growing up, I just believed in God’s existence. Walking around in all my sinful bliss praying for things to happen that I didn’t believe would happen. I understood the structure of Christianity without understanding the faith of Kingdom Minded people. People after God’s own heart. I knew people were shouting and praising and passing out because HE’S ABLE, they would yell, but I had no clue there were more steps to it.

Virtue:

  1. Behavior showing high moral standards
  2. A trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being
  3. The attitudes and habits adopted in obedience to those principles

Me to me in the mirror: Be obedient in your faith. Have faith that matches the standard of your God! You serve a BIG God and He deserves BIG faith! Seek Him for directions and instructions to live up to His standard that He has set for His children.

Knowledge:

  1. Facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education
  2. Theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
  3.  Clear and certain perception of that which exists, or of truth and fact

Me to me in the mirror: Know what is expected of you. Know the standard that God has for His children so that your faith can be perfected. Knowledge of God creates perfect faith. Those nine fruits of the Holy Spirit are pleasing in the eyes of God. Know them and understand them through studying your Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Temperance:

  1. Moderation in action, thought, or feeling
  2. Restraint

Me to me in the mirror: Deny yourself. Deny your flesh the things that you THINK you want and get more in tune with who God NEEDS you to become. It is important that you deny the lusts of this world so that you can be who God predestined you to be. God gave us freewill so that we can chose Him. Chose to be more than of this world.

Come back next week for part 2!

Are you on track?

Hello Exceeders 💜

Recently I’ve been being taught on sitting down and looking myself in the mirror. Talk to me about me. It’s been a journey of accountability and self awareness. The process of looking yourself in the mirror and being honest so we can get to fully operating in the Will of God. God has been revealing traits and spirits that I’ve been petting and housing and all I could think about was, “I need to get on track”.

Exodus 13:21-22 “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”

God goes before each and every one of us every single day. He’s guiding us and leading us and we like to often pray for, “Ordering our steps”. We love to say that. I know it’s not just me. If I’m picturing this, especially at night, especially in dark times, especially in scary situations, especially in unknown territory, He was a PILLAR OF FIRE. To give them light. To give them guidance, to let them know that even in those dark times, even in that scary situation, even in that unknown territory, I will STILL show you the Goodness of God. The Mercy and Grace of God as a lighted path.

I have diverted from my lighted path so often that I thought God was just going to turn the lights off lol You get all sad thinking He’s gonna say it’s the LAST time and He’s just up there like one more time….. Alright one more time! Okay, one more time! Anybody happy for one more time? Happy that it’s never too late to turn to Him as long as there is breath in your body? Whole time, going my own way in the darkness and I thought GOD turned the lights off. There were no lights on my street and not one time did I think, maybe the lights are gone because you over here doing stuff God didn’t tell you to do. Maybe that job is giving you so much pain and anxiety because God never told you to do it. It’s a dark road.

He has the blueprint, He has the plan, He knows the road will get bumpy, He even knows that you’re going to get off but He’s such a good God that it said in Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” You may get off track and that job may be stressing you out and that car may keep breaking down but God is still going to use THAT as part of your story and turn it around and He will STILL get the Glory. He’s going to bring you out of that low place because you have a purpose here. You have a greatness inside of you that somebody needs to see. That somebody needs to hear. The lights aren’t off, you’re just off track. Sometimes people will go far enough out that they are completely out the will of God. In my mind to personify the “Will of God”, I think of it as that pillar of a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. That’s the light. The Word is the light. God is the light. John 1:4-5 says “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

When you’re in that low place and you start to look UP. Up there from which your help comes, not your bff, not your boyfriend or girlfriend, not your spouse, not your parents, not your boss, YOUR REAL HELP. Once you start to look up and see your pillar of fire is over there and you start to not walk but RUN to it. You start to get encouraged, you start to read your bible more, and you start to praise God whether a song come on or not, whether the person next to you is praising Him or not. When you start to walk in that job with a smile on your face and a praise in your mouth, those demons will comprehend it NOT. How are you smiling? How are you still standing? You even got some bold enough to bring God in the questions: How are you still praying? How are you still going to church and bible study? Look at your life, it’s crumbling! I know some of us have heard those very words. I challenge those of you who have people that you sit around and talk to everyday trying to figure it out, make sure you tell them, When God is all I have, God is all I need.

It’s time to ask God to show you YOU. Are you on track?

SHAMELESS PLUG FOR LWHC!

I love my ministry and I’m extremely thankful that God lead me to Living Word Holy Church. I tried to run from Pensacola NUMEROUS times but once I found them, I was really grateful that I did!

During this time of uncertainty, the church building may be closed but there is still a Word from the Lord and here at Living Word we invite you to meet us on the line!

Monday through Friday we have a prayer line call at 5 am CST! Anyone can join, just call the number on the picture above!

We have our corporate Bible Study every Wednesday night on the same conference line number at 7 pm CST and again anybody is welcome to tap in! We also have bible study broken down by age so you can connect with people in a more personal setting!

For any additional information please use the contact form I have listed below

Contact Me

Are you the go-to person?

Hello Exceeders!
Today I want to talk about a conversation I had the other day with my sister. We were talking about the go to person, who do they go to?

We haven’t touched on my testimony yet, but I have spent more than half of my life in a dark place. Depression has been something I have battled with since a young child. After just starting my relationship with God and realizing the anointing on my life, it all began to make since why the enemy was trying to snuff out my light. My favorite thing to do in those times was talk about everything but me. People would ask me about me and I would find a way to flip it right back onto them.

When I got to my current church home, my Pastor would always talk about gifts and assignments and I was never fully educated on that previously. As I began to seek God about my gifts, I began to think about those times. In most cases, I would say something that I was completely unaware of knowing and I wasn’t spiritual enough to know I was being used as a vessel. I was right where I was needed. I was the go to person. People love talking to me and I love listening to them.

Now I’m becoming more aware of gifts and assignments. I’m more in tune with God than I have ever been in my life. I’ll go somewhere and talk to somebody and I’ll arrive not understanding why I was there but leave with clarity. I’m more aware that the go to person may just be on assignment. So when I began to think like that, some of my frustration with it seeming like I’m always the listener and not the talker were made clear to me. God is who the go to person goes to. Everything we go through in this life is for somebody else. I was depressed, suicidal, you name it. God brought me out of that to talk to somebody else that feels like they can’t make it. To give them hope. To send them to the same God that brought me out. Have you ever randomly talked to somebody dealing with something you’ve been delivered from? It’s almost surreal, the very moment that you realize that THIS is why you had to make it through what you’ve been through. You begin to feel the presence of God in the room. When I get to that moment, I just lift my hands in the air (so now everybody that I’ve done it around can understand because I never explain lol). There is nothing left to do but to give God glory. I would always pray that I didn’t become unusable by God. That was something that was truly placed in my head by the enemy, that I’ve done so much bad in my short 27 years, that I’ve ran for so long that God couldn’t use me anymore. It truly broke my heart to think about. It took me getting to my fertile ground and HEARING the Word of God say in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. I am surrounded by people that have fallen short at some point in life and God was able to use them and their shortcomings to pour into ME.

So now I take it for what it truly is, an assignment to help someone with my testimony. I go to God and let Him fill me with what I need to talk to His people that He’s going to place in my path. I was never supposed to use my own words and my own strength. Sometimes when the enemy is attacking from every corner and it seems you have nobody to vent to or go to, take it to God. That’s another opportunity for Him to get the Glory. 2 Corinthians 2:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” You may not have another person to talk to but God is always there. He’s more than excited to talk to you in those moments when you need somebody to go to.

From one go to person to another: Stay Encouraged. My best friend recently reminded me that God conditions you for the race you’re running. Never get weary in well doing. You’re built to take everything the enemy throws at you because God is going to fight the battle for you. Just stay focused. Let’s be realistic, sometimes you may get knocked down but the key is to not STAY down. When you feel yourself getting down and out and there is no one physically around to BE THERE, just know God never left 💜

What’s up with that name?

Hello Exceeders 💜

I was sooooo skeptical about the naming of this blog from the BEGINNING! It was first called The Struggling Christian. I was sitting there thinking to myself “Ricka you’re really struggling with this walk with Christ”…a few weeks later ‘The Struggling Christian’ name was decided. It was so….uninformed to say the least. Like I said before, reading back on it now is definitely a little nugget to my growth meter.

In November of last year, I was sitting at my desk at work and the new name hit my spirit. Exceeding Abundantly. I remember at first being perplexed by the name. I didn’t really understand so I prayed about it and then the rest of it came; What God wants to give you, what you need to give Him. I immediately went to God and said “With all I got going on, I don’t think I’m in a position to be telling anybody what to give You”

Guess what? He said nothing back lol

So there I was creating the visual for this blog that I hadn’t thought fully about since 2016. It would come to my mind sometimes but never enough to sit down and truly delve into it, I needed to grow some more.

So as I grew more in my relationship with God, I began to think more about the components of all this. What will I say? Will anybody even read this? What platform will I put it on? WHAT’S UP WITH THAT NAME!? I guess it was the right time because I finally got my revelation. Let’s break it down!

|Exceeding Abundantly|

Exceeding: To a very great degree; in a degree beyond what is usual; greatly; very much

Abundantly: Superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above

|What God wants to give you|

That part I got naturally, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” Ephesians 3:20

God wants to give us everything He has had for us since the foundation of the world. He wants to give us MORE than we even think we want, He wants His people to have it ALL. Simple enough right?

Now this second part took some time but when I got it, I GOT IT!

|What you need to give Him|

God wants to give us everything and all He wants is for us to give Him everything in return!

I almost ran again! Lol I was sitting at my desk and ‘The Battle Is The Lord’s’ by Yolanda Adams came on and it truly ministered to me. God never wanted us to bear the burdens of this world by our own strength. He wants EVERYTHING in return for EVERYTHING. No matter what it is, you’re angry with God about something? Who better to talk to about that than Him? The cares of this world bogging you down? Who better to give those worries to when in 1 Peter 5:7 it says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

Who wouldn’t serve a God like this?

God wants all of our faith, all of our heart, all of our loyalty, all of our mind, and all of our time to be His vessel, His messenger. My Apostle always says this, “Handle the Father’s business, and He will handle yours”. The exceeding part on our side of this deal is the most profound part to me personally. We need to give God EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY of ourselves. My question was how? I always thought I had nothing more to give Him than all that I am right now. The Holy Spirit quickly corrected me.

Where you are right now, is not your final destination. God wants the present you AND the future you. He wants the you only He knows you can be too. He wants MORE than ALOT of you.

This blog is me giving God His glory. This is me talking to me in the mirror, being honest with God AND myself out loud! Sharing my many testimonies with you, encouraging you to share with me. Grow with me. Give Glory to God with me because He’s MORE THAN WORTHY to be praised.

Will you #GrowOutLoud with me?