Never Give Up (The Almighty Will Never Give Up On You)

From time to time, I will have special guests writing columns for my blog. With that said, this post is written by my sister & fellow author Nedra M. White. What she has to say is dedicated to the ladies. Be blessed.

Gracie's Journey Out Of Darkness:

It's my testimony that I never gave up on finding my birth family, and God gave me the strength to keep living. Things didn't happen in my time, it was in His divine time. I can only speak of my journey to you that even in my darkest, darkest hour, only God could save me.

When you go through circumstances in life you have no control of at a young age and make decisions that you have no knowledge of the consequences, it's hard.

My life started out being taken from my birth mother and separation from my siblings, knowing this at the age of seven can be horrific. I was placed in a foster home that was a den of hell. If God hadn't been by my side, I would not have made it out of that den.

Every step from then on, he was by my side.  Having a child at the age of 15, and continuing to have 4 more children kept me from insanity. God's plan works and not my plan (and I can truly say, "in mysterious ways.") While feeling sorry for myself at times, drinking and thoughts of suicide, who do you think got me through my darkest hour?

Through the heartache of wondering where was my Mother, looking in the mirror for my identity, and searching for my siblings; it was more than any child or even a grown person should have to bare.  My message when it's all said and done is this: God will lift you up, give Him the glory and the praise, because without Him, it is then you will be lost to the point of no return.

Ladies, I ask you to believe no matter what mistakes you have made, other situations you have no control of, put the Almighty in control of your life, put Him first. I am living proof, to say He saved me from myself and He will and can do the same for you, and I am Thankful to him.....Amen

Freeloading (Part 2)

This will conclude my series on Freeloading. Now, I promised in Part 1 that I was going to discuss homeless people in this part, so here’s what I have to say on that. Most people who have signs out aren’t beggars, they’re really freeloaders. Some of them will actually work 5 days a week but some of them feel they shouldn’t have to work if they don’t want to. So, they’ll put a sign out and collect money from well-deserved people. Making a $100 a day for a beggar is really easy, and as I think about it, most beggars are just hustlers. Now let’s think about that for a moment, if you make $100 a day working 8 hours that equates to $23K a year.

I’ve heard it said, “Its better to give them something to eat versus giving them money.” Not to worry, God will deal with them even if you give them money and they go buy drugs and alcohol. Note that I’m not bashing all beggars, because some of them are really homeless and honest about it. But when it comes to the beggar who’s freeloading, they really don’t want a job and they feel they don’t need a job. That’s what you call a deep sense of entitlement. Most beggars say that the government should give more entitlements to them. A little side note: most freeloaders want a handout and their mentality is “what’s in it for me?”

I need to revisit a section in Part 1 for a moment: remember when I was referring to a woman who was being evicted (and that story), let me expound on that for a moment: it’s wrong when an 85-year-old woman gets evicted because of foreclosure but another woman who hasn’t paid on the mortgage since 1985 and owes $100k but she apparently knows the law (she’s a paralegal) and refuses to leave the house. And then we turn around and blame the banks (this causes people to trash their homes before the bank can take their homes). There are companies that allow people to walk away from their homes (such as www.youwalkaway.com) even though they signed a legal contract. Freeloading is walking away from responsibility. Some companies encourage people to live mortgage free for 8 months. Let’s take a real-life story. Someone in California buys a home for $400K, and the house is now underwater worth $300K. The website mentioned allows you to walk away without owing a penny. Is it legal? Unfortunately, yes. This is saying, “we encourage freeloading!” Most people don’t care about their moral contract when they freeload.

Corporations also freeload. General Electric restructures its company wherever the government goes to receive their handouts. In fact, the government gave them handouts to where they owed no taxes despite the profits earned. In the early days, companies made profits by investors or made profits by ideas. Microsoft (Bill Gates) is the best example, and of course the government got upset and sued Bill Gates for offering free software (interesting thought, huh).

The rich aren’t off the hook also. They freeload just like the poor. Example: flood insurance. Why is it that rich people buy a house on the beach, knowing well enough their house could be damaged by a flood, hurricane or a tide? The answer is simple, because the government requires people to purchase flood insurance (so their house is covered). If you buy a hybrid car, invest in solar power, you get a tax break from the government (or better yet, it’s paid for by the government). Farmers also get handouts from the government – example is Bon Jovi who owns acres after acres and only pays $100 in state property tax (because he raises honeybees which qualify for a honeybee subsidy). Is it unfair? Some would say yes, some would say no. Note that no laws were broken, but they qualified for a tax break. The way to stop this cycle is for Congress not to pass so many laws that encourage freeloading.

Can somebody answer this question: why is it when people receive handouts from the government, they’re worse off (and they want more handouts)? I said to some people in the beginning of 2011, because of the state of the economy, the number of panhandlers will increase for two reasons: 1-survival and 2-some just don’t want to work.

A way to stop freeloading in its tracks is simply, “stop enabling those who are capable of working!” And yes, this requires the discernment of God and knowing that we can’t judge their hearts. Some states have signs in downtown areas saying to give money to a shelter or a charity, and do NOT give money to panhandlers! What about holding people accountable and being responsible unless you’re disabled? Another way to stop freeloading is to empower people and if they don’t want it, move on! When I say empower people, I’m talking about using the Word of God and letting them know they have a purpose in this life.