Walking in Victory

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity of celebrating my cousin Michael’s college graduation from my alma mater, La Sierra University in Riverside, California! Shout out to him and his sisters for all of their continued accomplishments! I am so proud of them!

When I got off the plane at Ontario Airport I was greeted with warm sunshine and palm trees. I must confess that my first stop after proceeding to get my rental car was my old faithful Del Taco who never fails to make the best bean burritos and quesadillas lol.

Returning to California, brought back so many memories. I can’t believe it has been about nine years since I graduated from La Sierra University. While the buildings and the paths were mostly the same, the people and circumstances had changed.

My soul was smiling as I reconnected with professors and lifelong friends, visited my old stomping grounds, my old dorm building and familiar walking paths.

It’s amazing how returning back to perhaps more challenging seasons of our lives fills us with gratitude, strengthens our faith and reminds us of how good God is to see us through to victory.

By returning and remembering early seasons of my life, I see how those were in reality seasons of preparation for the next levels of assignment God was calling me and continues to call me to.

On mother’s day weekend, my mom and I attended Generations Live with CeCe Winans. If you have the opportunity to go next year, I strongly encourage you to go. It was an amazing experience filled with worship and empowered speakers bringing people together from all over the world.

Although she wasn’t able to come in person, the special guest speaker was Oprah Winfrey! The audience went crazy as we welcomed her presence to the conference!

Oprah said something powerful that I will never forget.

Early in her career she was invited to a wealthy news broadcaster’s home where she saw all of these expensive fancy cars in their driveway. When she entered the home and looked out the kitchen window there were six large trees. She made up her mind that one day she would too own six trees in her yard. She began to cry as she shared that one early morning many years later, she was making tea in her now beautiful home that she refers to as the “Promise Land.”

She looked out her kitchen window in awe and said, “There are the six trees!!!” Not only that there were many trees beyond the six. There were so many trees that she had to call a tree counter to confirm the total amount. There turned out to be not only the six but MORE THAN 3,000 trees beyond the six!! Oprah went on to say that she never had a set vision for her life, instead she decided to lean into the “God dream” for her life. She followed God’s leading, walking through each door of opportunity as it presented itself.

What would it look like today if right where we are, in our current situations, we made a conscious decision to walk right through it from a place of victory.

Confident in God who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

I don’t know about you, but like Oprah I not only want the six trees, I want the thousands beyond the six. I want to take the limits off of God and lean into His dream for my life.

I encourage you today to continue walking “onward and upward” as one of my wise mentors once said.

As long as God is on your side, you can stand tall and walk in victory.

See you at the Promise Land!

Check out this beautiful song! https://youtu.be/FF0xZufKX-8

Love,

Chloe J