Black Page Turners

Pastor Michael’s Sermon ‘Repositioning Your Mirror‘

Fast-forward to this day, as I was back at my church. It was unlike me to have missed the past four Sundays. Being that I grew up in church, I knew better. A couple of times over the past month I had watched the church’s live stream on my iPad, but not since Carson and I broke up.

It was toward the end of the first service, and my minister, Pastor Michael, was nearly done with his sermon, speaking on the topic, Repositioning Your Mirror.

My pastor was a big man, tall and heavy, and he always had a white handkerchief in hand as he would sweat along his forehead. He spoke as though he meant it, half-yelling, sometimes screaming, always passionate, and always right on time.

He had a sanctified kind of rhythm going. Soulful. “Trust God to help us to become what we need to be. God sends you a rock-bottom experience, only to be a place where you come to realize that Jesus is the rock. He brings you adventures and experiences you would never see or want on your own, because nothing gives us a better wake-up call than running out of resources and seeking Him. We want to be accepted, not based on what we have or don’t have, but on who we are.

“Just like a mother knows her child, God points out the good and bad in you. A mother might say to someone about her kids, ‘Don’t make this one mad. Don’t give this one money. But that’s my baby. You can’t do nothin’ with them but love them.’”

Some of the women near me giggled.

“Mothers accept us with our issues, both good and bad traits. That’s called an authentic relationship. Acceptance is when someone takes every bit of us without condemnation. It’s not perfection. Where would we be if we had to be perfect in God’s eyes? There is no perfection. He loves us anyway. He’s our Father. Touch yourself and say, ‘He loves me, in spite of me.’”

The congregation and I did.

“There’s something God wants to release out of your life in a brand new way. The gift of God will come from your belly, your being, spirit, heart, and out of the experiences you’ve been through in your life. You need to know that God’s about to bless you.”

I held my right hand high.

“There’s a flow, and you will have an anointing for it. There’s something you already have, the divine spirit of the Holy Ghost, and it’s about to turn the light on you and show you what’s in your house. Your miracle is in the house. God shows us what was meant to be, and what was not.”

I thought of Carson and said, “Amen.”

“Reposition your mirror. It’s like when a bird keeps ramming itself into the side of your house, up against your sliding glass door. While the bird thought he was attacking the enemy, turns out it was his own reflection in the window. He thought he was another bird. Most animals cannot recognize themselves in a mirror. Have you ever noticed that? And just like us, we are attacking what we see in our own mirror. We become conflicted when what we feel, and who we are, don’t match up. Don’t alter something that was already fine. Don’t focus every little thing on you, otherwise you’ll discover the enemy within. The word enemy breaks down to In-A-Me. In-A-You. It’s in you. It’s you. Did you know that the moon has no light of its own? Its only reflector is the light that comes from the sun. It shines because its surface reflects light. In the darkness, God will set us up like the moon to reflect light. This little light of mine, do you hear me?” He dabbed his forehead with his handkerchief.

Folks said, “Yes. Amen. Alright now! Preach!”

“Instead of positioning the light to where it catches the rays of the sun, we’re taking selfies, making it all about our own faces, worshiping the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. But it’s time to turn our mirrors and reposition them to where they catch rays from the true light. Let it shine, let it shine. Make adjustments in your life. Sometimes some people might need to be put out, and you need to thank God that some have walked out.” Again, he wiped his forehead.
I raised my hand again.

He continued, “God has not forsaken you. He is shining a light on the situation. He is your sun, as this is the work of the Lord who is spirit. Your words, attitudes, and actions ought to reflect that you have been with God. Will others recognize that you have been with Jesus? You reflect what you behold. Readjust your mirror and stop looking in your rear-view. Your future is ahead of you, and you’d best believe it’s bright. There are far better things ahead of you than anything we leave behind.”

I put my hands together and said to myself, Yes.

After Pastor Michael closed down his sermon in prayer, the choir sang and fellow churchgoers made their way to the lobby areas, and then outside, smiling, hugging and laughing.
Excerpted from The Practice Wife by:Marissa Monteilh Copyright © 2016 by Marissa Monteilh. Excerpted by permission of 4D Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Release: 10/11/16
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