How ugly can you get...my story!

I asked a question last week for Mastering YOU Monday…are you willing to be “ugly” for one day in order to be “beautiful”  in Him for a lifetime?  You can read that post HERE. This week I’m bringing to you Part 2!

 My post from last week dealt with us giving of ourselves to help others. This week I’ll deal with us giving of ourselves, to help ourselves. How you ask do we help ourselves by giving of ourselves…so He can use us for His glory! I know, totally opposite from last week, huh?  In essence though, this still applies to the question…how many of us are willing to die to our flesh to be in a position to be used greatly by Him? I promise, I’m going somewhere with this y’all!
You see, not only does God want us to use ourselves to help others, but I dare to think that He just might like it sometimes if we’d push ourselves to the end of ourselves, so He could use us as it pleases Him! 

Let me give you my story of just how true this is! We’ll have to go back to the early part of 1996. Our youngest son Blake was barely two months old. My husband had been visiting a small town(Pigeon) in the Thumb of Michigan (for all you Midwesterners…you know exactly what I’m talking about).  Anyway, he, along with his best friend Gary had been driving three hours north ~ for eight months straight~ to Pigeon, MI, preaching and teaching the Word of God.  To give you a back story…we were living in Detroit at the time (where my husband was born and raised). After the eight month revival, my husband was called(by God) to pioneer a church there. You see, it wasn’t just any church and he wasn’t just any pastor. We were the ONLY minorities to EVER live in the entire county of Huron! I'm.not.exaggerating! Coming from Detroit, this was quite a contrast…you get the picture right? Lol! Our family and friends thought we were crazy! Here we were, an African-American couple pastoring and all-white congregation, in an all-white county. But we just knew this was what God called us to do! Was it scary…yes it was! No stores sold hair products for our hair, no barber or hairdresser knew how to cut or “fix” our hair! Smile. So, we had to travel 3 hours south to Detroit if we wanted anything pertaining to “our” hair. Our daughter was the first African American student at her elementary school. She was definitely a pioneer like her great-aunt Sarah Mae Flemming. She braved the curious stares and little innocent children who came up to her to touch her hair. She was a trooper and made some lifelong friendships! A sweet and sad, but true story was the 95 year old woman who made us a quilt as a gift, because she had NEVER in her life seen an African American in person. We were surely on the mission field y’all! We also had a neighbor who made it his point to let us know he didn’t take too kindly to “our kind”. He actually held the bi-laws of the neighborhood association, which stated that no one of “color” could or would be allowed to reside in the neighborhood…IKR! Imagine his chagrin when he looked up and saw it was US across the street he had to welcome in as the "new" neighbors! The stares we received as we shopped in stores were humiliating and demeaning at best. You would think this made our lives miserable...I won't lie, at times it did! And at times it had me questioning...was this really worth it all.

This was definitely my “ugly part” for sure! 

But for every disheartening story, our God wrote us an encouraging one! Like the over 300 souls that came through our church and were blessed by God and the many miracles He performed! And the beautiful Believers God brought into our lives(some of them moving down to South Carolina with us 3 years later to help us pioneer again).  Or the awesome friendships my husband and I, and our children made with friends we are still close with to this day! Or the sweet old ladies from the Pigeon IGA, who made the finger licking fried chicken and potato salad that made even my soul-food cookin’ momma and daddy rave with accolades! Or the desperate souls who stopped us in that same IGA, who asked us to pray for them because they had a sick momma or had an addiction or just needed some encouragement. But most of all, the love He put in our hearts for ALL of His people! I think...NO, I know God put us through those situations to give us His heart! I can tell you ~ whatever prejudices we had in our hearts were quickly removed, for we never wanted anyone to feel what we felt. During that season, God gave us a love for His people and for His work, that still remains as passionate as it was way back then! You see, we planted a seed those many years ago that has netted and is still netting us a harvest…diversity in His Kingdom! 

And this, my friends, was my “beautiful part”!

What seemed like ages ago, God taught us through those circumstances, how He wanted His Body to be…unified AND diverse!  And if we, as a family, had to go through what we had to in order to get it done…then so be it! Remember, we are not our own, we’re His! It’s sad that Sunday morning really is the most segregated time of the week…so NOT like Heaven y’all! We, as churches, are suppose to promote diversity. Through Godly wisdom are we able to strategically bring this to past. But guess what, sad to say, many of us don’t!  I’m not knocking anyone, but I don’t want to go(to a Heaven) where all I’m going to find are people.who.look.just.like.me!  My God has assured me, that there won't be! Like my husband always says, if we don’t know how to worship with one another here on earth, then what the heck are we going to do when we get to Heaven…stand around and stare? Yeah right! Great advice, wouldn't you say? So I challenge ALL of us(including myself) to get out of our comfort zones and our “pretty little” places of security, to make EVERYONE feel welcomed and loved in His Kingdom! Oh yes it's so much easier to go the route of the "status quo", but that's the problem...it's EASY!  I'm willing to be ugly for a moment, just so that I can be beautiful in Him for an entire lifetime...how about you? Psalm 133:1, Luke 11:17, John 17:20-23

This is MY story…what is yours?!

All Rights Reserved copyright© 2012-2013 Michell Pulliam “Prowess and Pearls” by Michell Pulliam

 

 

*Enter your email below to receive notifications of new posts*
Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner