Welcome back, family!
When I started writing this, I was on a plane, embarking on my latest adventure. But first, let me give you a little backstory. For the past week, I’ve been home, lying in bed, ruminating over everything I’m doing wrong. After a week and a half filled with loved ones, good food, money, and vices, this was supposed to be my last hoorah before turning my life around.
Desiring a complete 180-degree shift in my reality, I planned to start the new year as a new woman. While something did click for me mentally, it didn’t immediately make me change any behaviors and habits. I still wake up and start doom-scrolling instead of reading or meditating. I’m still waking up baking when this is supposed to be the year I quit my gardening habit. I still drained my emergency savings account from my impulsive spending habits after saving $1,000 for the first time.
Of course, these are just a few examples of many, but the sentiment stands—I was disappointing myself. I was letting myself down again, and because of it, I lowered my trust in myself. How can I expect loyalty and devotion from my spouse when I’m not showing it to myself? Better yet, how can I expect others to respect and value my word when I don’t even give myself that courtesy?
It’s hypocrisy at its best, even self-harm at its worst. But why do I keep doing what I said I wouldn’t do? This wasn’t even supposed to be the topic I wanted to write about at first, but the conviction I felt while listening to an audiobook on the flight made me pull out my iPad and write. That brings me to the topic of today’s post—what is faith without works?
You know the verse: Faith without works is DEAD! Have you ever thought about what this truly means? Essentially, this verse gives us the key to manifesting our desires. Don’t believe me? Let’s consider what faith means. By definition, faith is the belief in things not seen. Without consciously exercising your faith, you expect an outcome that has not happened yet. You expect your paycheck on time bi-weekly or your car to start Monday morning. These are mundane examples of faith at work. Ones that you don’t even realize are a test of your faith. They are just parts of your daily routine, and your human mind has conditioned you to believe in the practicality of things as mandatory.
But what if payroll skipped your name when processing checks this cycle, or what if your car battery died from an unknown reason? What if you didn’t get to live out the routine you expected to?
Pause.
Let’s rewind to the idea of expectation; other names including the Law of Assumption. What would happen if you started expecting the best outcome for yourself? If you expected God to show up miraculously for you and through you? Would you be obedient to his blessing? Or have you conditioned yourself to be in disbelief when your prayers are actually answered?
Let’s put a pin in that for a second. Just to be clear, I’m not here to preach or scold. I’m here to teach. That’s what y’all know me as, a teacher for some and a student of much more.
I want to jump back to the concept of work. Everything is work, y’all. All the steps that add up to your outcome make up the work He requires. Even writing these words for you is a part of my work. Do you know I’ve been writing this same post for about three weeks now? Tell me why I finished it once but was writing offline on the plane, so none of my updates were saved! I ended up writing and publishing a brand new post, even referencing this half-written one in my intro.
But I knew I had to finish this one. I had to get these words out, even if I had to rip them from my mind. This one had to be completed, its been riding me for days. Just more confirmation that this is my work.
I want to tell another story – By the way, I know this post is longer than usual, so let me know in the comments if you want to hear the audio of today’s post.
A few years ago, back in college, I had the idea to write a dramatized series about my life. Really, not much embellishment was needed. I’ve lived through three different Lifetime movies already, if you know what I mean. I started writing the outline and planning out the character names and the storylines I would include. I even created an ebook cover art in Canva with the series title, Damaged Goods. I never did write the first book of that series, even though I already knew what happened. I lived it.
In early 2024, I posted on Instagram that I would self-publish an abridged version of my journal and release it on my birthday. I set a countdown and re-posted it every so often. My journal, written circa 2018-2024, contained many raw emotional and spiritual battles I faced during those years. But re-reading it always blessed me in my times of need and moments of most respite. I knew those words could help someone else, and even better than last time, these words were already written. All I had to do was type them up. My birthday came and went, and I never made it past typing the first entry.
Why do I include these stories? I wanted to show the outcome of faith without work. My direct experience with this topic first-hand. Was my faith in the right place? It couldn’t have been.
Why not?
I did not operate from a place of expectation. My work didn’t equate to the amount necessary for God to intercede and for my faith to be tested true. I had not, not because I didn’t ask, but because I didn’t get up to go see for myself if it had arrived. My faith and my actions did not align, so I didn’t receive. Simple.
Where am I going with all this family?
You have not because you have not put the work in. Prayers are not times for begging but rather a means of communication. God hears you, honey. He heard you the first fifty-eleven times, too. The difference between the haves and the have-nots right now are those who put themselves out there to get them some.
Come get you some, cousin!
Love you to life,
Cousin Lex
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