("God's Unfolding Message" Series 1, Post 6)
When something happens to me several times, I know God must be speaking. This is just how He works in my life. He uses repetition to get my attention. The other day I had to change my t-shirt four times because I kept spilling things on it, things like spaghetti sauce that make you want to take your shirt off right away and put stain remover on it. It was strange and by the fourth time I had to do this, I couldn’t help but think that God was trying to show me something. I eventually went around without a shirt for a while because I was tired of this process. It made me feel vulnerable and exposed, even though I was in my own house, so it didn’t take long for me to grab yet another t-shirt and put it on.
The same day, I felt like God wanted me to create a TikTok account, which was a little scary for me, a fear that escalated that night when two different family members reacted strongly against it, talking about privacy dangers. So, I canceled my account. However, a stir remained inside of me and so I prayed about it one more time and felt that God wanted me to keep the account, so I reactivated it. As I did, what kept coming to my mind is how I needed to fear God more than man. That I didn’t want to miss out on a great way to reach people because of my personal fear of safety. Life is short! And God did tell me to testify by any means possible and this was just yet another free means for me to honor that calling. After all, FEAR = Fantasy Eating At Reality, a lesson God has also already taught me.
Along with this, my husband had brought home something from his work for my daughter. It was an egg that you soak in water for about 24 hours, during which the egg cracks open to reveal a toy. I noticed that my husband had grabbed one of the big vases from our wedding to use for this process which of course caught my attention since God uses wedding themes highly in my life. For several days I watched this egg slowly open for it ended up taking longer than 24 hours. But on this day, my husband finally got to help my daughter open it completely. I wasn’t in the room when they did this but could still overhear their conversation and my ears perked up when I realized fully that the toy inside was a mermaid that resembled Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” even though this was not a Disney toy. In that moment I heard, “Susan, it is time to come out of your shell.”
God has often used Disney princesses to symbolize different points in my journey with Him, and although I am not going to go into the why right now, He has specifically linked me and my calling with Ariel. This is why I knew God was speaking, especially since I also struggle with the fact that my coming out, or my calling, has taken longer than I originally expected. God was speaking to me. We are all the Bride of Christ, and although His callings on all of our lives may have taken longer than we expected, God is pointing out that it is finally time to come out of our shells. It is time to take steps of faith. It is time to let go of our fear, to be vulnerable and put ourselves out there for the world to see, in Jesus’ Name. He is clearly saying that IT IS TIME TO TESTIFY!
When I got to church, God spoke, and although the first part is directed at me, I hope that you will see that we serve the same God and that these words apply to you as well. We are all the Bride of Christ. God said:
Write these words down: I am always with you, even in the silence. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted in the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Susan, I know what I am doing and My ways are beyond you. You will accomplish My will for you, I promise. The details and timing are up to Me, not you. All I ask of you is to continue to reach out in faith and testify by ANY means possible. Any means Susan. Any means available to you and that does mean TikTok. I know these things are out of your comfort zone, but such are steps of faith. You cannot reach your desired destination without faith, without steps of faith. Each step of faith softens the ground that lies ahead of you. I am at work Susan, greatly at work. My Spirit is being poured out all around this earth. You are a part of this and I won’t let you down. Susan, I know you are waiting for a flood of response but focus instead on the mighty flood of My Spirit that I am and continue to desire to pour out upon you. Keep your eyes on Me Susan. This is a lesson that you must master now My love, for it will only get harder. Do you think it will be easier to please Me when the numbers flood in? No. It will be harder for you. The more people take notice of you and the busier you become, the easier it will be for you to take your eyes off of Me. Fulfillment does this. Susan, these avenues are just a means to an end, My end. Susan, everything will end in My end, everything! Everything comes to My end Susan, My end. Your life will come to My end, your physical life and your calling. I have your life in My hands. You do not have the control you think you do. And I am a good God. I will never call you down a path of danger or one where I won’t go with you. Remember My fragrance follows you wherever you go. I know you think you “stink” but this is only your fear. You shine brighter than you know Susan. Brighter than you know. I am at work Susan, look up. Look up ambassador. Look up My love. You have no reason to hide, to hang your head down. No more hiding. It is time to come out of your shell Susan - OUT OF YOUR SHELL. COME OUT! OUT!! Rise and shine daughter of the Most High, ambassador of Christ. You are My own, my beloved, and I have called you out. Yes, out of your shell. Though it has taken longer than you expected, it is time indeed. Your season has come. Hear Me child. Don’t listen to the world. Instead listen to Me, the One of all TRUE validation. I validate you. I have commissioned you. I have called you out to testify, to testify by ANY means possible, all ways available to you. I will use it all. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what it is or what it looks like for I WILL USE IT ALL. All roads in your life will lead to Me. Every step of faith you take will be anointed by Me for I have promised this to you. Believe My child. Rise and shine! SHINE! Shine bright. The world will listen Susan. Maybe not in your desired timing but they will listen, for My Spirit goes out. My Spirit rides on the wind and the wind is about to howl. The wind is about to howl Susan. With a mighty roar this world will hear. Susan, My Spirit lives within you and through you He will cry out. People will take notice Susan, for My Spirit does nothing that isn’t noticed. Step out in faith. That’s all I ask. STEP-OUT-IN-FAITH. Pray and I will direct you. Susan, hold nothing back. I command you to speak out. SPEAK OUT! Don’t worry what you will say for am I not your words, your voice? I will guide you, Susan. You will not share anything I have not called you to share. Believe I control your tongue.
I said: “Lord, I don’t want to go anywhere if You don’t go with me."
I am fully with you Susan. Fully with you, My love. I go with you. My Spirit goes with you, fully with you.
TikTok , TikTok, TikTok, TikTok. The clock is ticking, ticking away. TikTok, TikTok, hear the clock Susan. It never stops ticking yet how little My children focus on the sound, the physical sound of proof that life is short. What will you do with it? What will you do with it? This world belongs to the enemy and he uses it mightily but I have overcome him and the world, therefore know that I can and will use it to glorify Me, even things Satan created for evil, for distraction, and mainly as a time waster. Oh, how Satan wants My children to WASTE their time because he knows that time is short, that time is limited. TikTok, TikTok. How will you use your time My children? How will you use your time? It is your choice to give it to Me. It is your choice as to whether you use social media for Me.
Come out of your shell My child. I know it is scary for a shell is a protective layer. Without it you feel vulnerable and a victim, but know that I have overcome the world. I created you and your life is in My hands. I am the God of all your days.
My pastor then brought up Revelation 12:11, a key verse in my life, but this time my spirit focused in on the last part of that verse, a part that is often overlooked. Revelation 12:11b NIV says, “They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” The verse talks about how God has already overcome Satan by the blood of Jesus and that He desires to continue to conquer him through the word of our testimony, but I often fail to finish that verse. 11b spoke once again to my fear over using TikTok, or to simply putting myself out there for the world to see. Am I fearing God more than man? Am I willing to say of myself that I don’t love my life so much as the shrink from death? Am I willing to deny using a means that can reach a whole new group of people out of fear?
As my pastor pointed out God has already promised us victory, that we will overcome, which is why all God requires is the first step of faith. This first step proves our belief in this truth - God’s promise that He has already overcome, already won.
My pastor then shared a story that confirmed to me that God was speaking and truly had set the stage through my t-shirt changing scenario. He told a story about when he and his wife were young and newly married. He needed something from his car and asked his wife to go and get it since she was dressed and he was not. She told him to put on his clothes and get it himself. In order to “show her” he decided to go out in his underwear. She however locked the door and turned on all the lights to which he said he was then “vulnerable and exposed.” I knew God was speaking through that story and what He then brought to my mind was that this is truly what happens when you come out of your shell, or that protective layer. You feel vulnerable and exposed.
When I got home from church that day, knowing that God was speaking to me, I decided to make a new TikTok video. When I had reactivated my account I created a video without my face, thinking that this would be good enough while still protecting my identity somewhat. But this wasn’t good enough for God for He was calling me to be truly vulnerable and to put myself out there in order to testify fully. So, I made a new video with my face for as He also once told me: “Eyes on you mean eyes on Me.” Eyes on us and our testimonies mean eyes on Jesus, the true power behind the Word of our testimony.
So, I made a video with my face, putting on a nice blouse and pretty, dangling earrings like I do when I make my YouTube videos, but shortly after posting, I took it down. I realized that it didn’t match other TikTok videos. It isn’t that God is opposed to pretty blouses and cute dangling earrings, but He revealed to me that this outlet was for a different people group, a different generation, one that would respond to me more if I wore one of those t-shirts that I love to wear, that are actually more me. So, I put on one of my beloved t-shirts and did it again. I was truly vulnerable and exposed because they got the “real” me.
What God then brought to my mind was something the Apostle Paul said. In 1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul says, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” God then opened my eyes to see that all the social media platforms that He has now called me too – Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok (along with Twitter and YouTube), represents all age groups. Whether you like TikTok or not, you cannot argue that it reaches the young generation, the emerging generation. God doesn’t want me to just testify to people like me, to people my own age. He wants me, like the apostle Paul, to reach all people. God told me to testify by any means possible. And He even called me to put on that t-shirt in order to reach the youth. That sure sounds like Paul saying that he has “become all things to all people so that by all possible means (or by any means possible) I might save some.”
The revelation that God has called me to do the same thing that He called the apostle Paul to do, but in a modern way, blows my mind. But why should it? For we serve the same God who never changes and His heart remains the same. He still longs to reach all people, and like He used the apostle Paul, He longs to use us. God’s words to Paul are also for us. Likewise, God’s words to me are also to you. For whether you feel led to use TikTok or social media, doesn’t matter. What does matter is that God still wants all of us to testify by any means possible. ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. Like God said, time is ticking away. Therefore, it is time to get busy.
I had to pause writing this to take my daughter somewhere and while in the car she for some reason (for God’s reason) said “Time is running out.” When I asked her why she said that, she had no clue. She almost didn’t even remember that she just said it. She then “randomly” said, “Mommy, you are the turbo button.” The other day we went to an arcade where she loved playing a car racing game. When time is running out and the race is about to end, that turbo button sure can come in handy. Anyway, I assumed she was referring to having played this game, but who knows, she is only 4. However, I knew God was speaking, and in that moment, I heard, “Susan, you are My turbo button.”
This button has indeed been pushed. I have been activated. Although you do not know my full story, I have been lying in wait for over 14 years now, waiting on God to bring me out and unfold the ministry He promised me long ago. It is here. It is time. As He said, it may not happen as fast as I want, or come about in the ways I expected, but it has happened and is happening. He has called me out, out of my shell, and this is also His desire for you. As the Bride of Christ, God wants to activate us. He longs for us all to awaken out of Satan’s deception and time-wasting tactics and start testifying by ANY means possible. For friends, it is turbo time. It is turbo time because the finish line is fast approaching and therefore it is time to get Christ’s Bride ready for her wedding day.