Are You Blocking Your Blessings? 3 Steps to Help You Let Go of What's Been Holding You Back.

Have you been feeling like your life has been at a standstill lately?

Do you feel like every time you take one step forward, then life takes you two steps back?

Have you been asking God for a blessing or help with a situation and you just feel like he's not listening to you?

Trust me when I say... I've been there

Here is the thing, God is always right here with us and he always helps us in His perfect timing. It could be that He is listening to you, but you're blocking your own blessings. This happened to me a little while back, and I really wanted to come on here and do this episode because I know someone is struggling right now and they just feel like they're at a standstill, and it could be you reading this right now. You just feel like the blessing that you're so desperately looking for is not coming your way and you just don't understand what's going on. So today I'm going to go into my story of blocking my blessings, I'm going to pair it with some scripture, and then also give you three things to implement to help you let go of whatever's holding you back, to fully stay obedient, and to trust the Lord.

First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up our eyes to see the truth of your words and that you open up our hearts and our mind to you Lord. Please guide us through every aspect of our lives. Lord, I pray that we let you in completely, we trust you with our whole heart, we stay obedient to you, and we do whatever you ask of us. Lord I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Alright, so first I just want to go into my story of blocking my blessings. A few months ago I felt like I was at a standstill. I felt like I was kind of uninspired and I just ran out of ideas for this podcast. I was just starting to doubt and it's crazy because throughout the whole almost two years of doing this podcast, I haven't felt any type of doubt at all. But it wasn't really about the podcast, It was just the direction my life was going in and I just felt unhappy with my life in general. I kept asking God for clarity on exactly what he wanted me to do or what I needed to let go of. I kept asking him to help me with the situation that I already knew how to fix. He had already given me the knowledge, he had already shown me the way multiple times of how to fix it, and I was just trying to do everything on my own. Ultimately I was blocking my own blessings.

So a few months back I ended up getting in touch with an old friend. They were going through a lot in their life, so I wanted to be that light for them. I wanted to be able to help them with their situation and maybe through how my life has changed so dramatically from back whenever I was with them years ago, maybe they would see how Jesus has changed my life, and I would help them to get in the right direction and to have a close relationship with Christ. So I started spending time with this person, and every morning I do my daily devotionals and I spend time with the Lord so I would ask them to do devotionals with me, I would read the Bible to them, and just try to help them get closer to Christ. He had already known about Jesus, he was raised up in church his whole life, but he had strayed so far away. And I know exactly how that is because there was a point in my life where I had strayed so far away from God and for years I was doing so many things that I knew I shouldn't do. I just kept trying to hide from the Lord and just live life on my own instead of surrendering and staying obedient to the Lord, giving it all to him, and trusting in him.

So I was really trying to help this person get closer to Christ and change their life around. But the more I spent time with them, they were starting to affect me and tempt me in more ways than I even imagined. Whenever I first started hanging out with them I was thinking that I've gotten so close to Christ and I've strengthened my relationship with Him so much that there's no way I could be tempted by this person. The more I saw their lifestyle and how their lifestyle was just like how my lifestyle was back years ago, and they weren't budging with their lifestyle, they were still trying to do everything on their own and not surrendering to Christ, instead of me helping them get closer to Christ like I initially planned in the beginning, it just started being a very big temptation for me. It was something that I knew that I just needed to let go of spending time with that person and being in contact with that person and I just had to love them from afar. Keeping in contact with this person and hanging out with them was affecting my relationship with Christ and I didn't really realize it, but it slowly started affecting my relationship. I slowly started just feeling stagnant and all of the things that I said at the beginning of this episode.

I was feeling like there was something not right in my life and something I needed to let go of. I kept praying and asking for clarity on it and I felt like my life just wasn't getting any better. I didn't understand why I was still feeling that way and it was because I clearly knew exactly what I needed to do. I clearly knew that I needed to cut all ties with this person, pray for them, love them from afar, want the best for them, but not let them affect my relationship with Christ, my walk with the Lord, and my faithfulness. I was so stubbornly trying to hold on to keeping in contact with this person, thinking that I could change this person, and I could be a light in their life without affecting my mental, without affecting my relationship, and without tempting me. I was just blocking my own blessings because I already knew the answer. There was no reason for me to keep praying for clarity because I already knew the answer. I already knew exactly what to do, I just didn't do it. I was just stubbornly holding onto thinking I could do things on my own, and if I just kept trying harder that he would get it, he would get closer to Christ, and it wouldn't affect my relationship with Christ at all. I know someone reading this right now is in the same situation and it would be a disservice for me if I didn't come on here and tell you my story and how I was able to stop blocking my blessings.

So now I want to go into some scriptures:

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream."

-Jeremiah 17:7-8

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."

-Psalm 34:8

"For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess."

-Deuteronomy 30:16

"Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD." -Proverbs 16:20

So in all of these verses here we see that we have to trust in the Lord, stay obedient to him, and follow him. We can't try to do things on our own. We have to put all of our trust in the Lord. I was trying so hard to control the situation that I was in. I was trying so hard to hold on to the idea in my head that I could help this person become a better person, instead of me trusting in the Lord and knowing that I could have been a stepping stone into this person getting on the right path and in the right direction. Just by them seeing how I was it could have been a stepping stone to them getting closer to Christ, but I also knew that in order for me to stay faithful to my God led calling, to prosper, and to truly be able to help other people, I had to step away from this person. I had to just love them from afar, pray for them, want the best for them from afar, and just trust that the Lord has got this and whatever his will is, it'll be done. I don't have to be the one to try and fix other people or be in control and try to fix the situation.

The most important thing for me to do is trust in the Lord, stay obedient to what he's telling me and the calling that he's placed on my heart, and not worry about things that are out of my control. The Lord's got us, He's got me, He's got you, and whatever we ask from Him in prayer with all of our hearts, He will provide in His perfect timing. We just have to trust that he's got us, and whenever we have that feeling that it's time to let go of something, or we just have this tug in our heart and we know it's the Lord speaking to us, we have to stay obedient to that. No matter how hard it may be, no matter how much we want to try to control the situation or fix it on our own, we have to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, stay obedient to him, and he will take care of it.

Here are 3 steps that I started implementing to stop blocking my blessings and to trust in the Lord:

I want you guys to write these down and make sure you're implementing these 3 steps because I know they will help you also.

1. Pray

- Instead of me praying and asking for God to reveal what he wanted me to do because I already clearly knew what he wanted me to do, I prayed for strength to be able to let go of the situation and to be able to trust in him completely.

- We get our strength from the Lord and whenever we feel weak he will give us that strength. We just have to pray and ask for it.

2. I started being obedient to what he asked me to do

- So in my case, I had to completely cut ties with this person that I was trying to help and this person that I wanted in my life that I knew wasn't a good influence on me.

- This one right here is not easy. That's why praying and asking for that strength is so important because you're going to have to have the strength to be able to be obedient and do whatever God's asking you to do.

3. Let God guide you daily

- Every single day I ask God for guidance. I do my daily devotionals, I study the Bible, I pray, and I do everything that I can to have as close of a relationship with God as possible, and that helps me to let him guide me.

- We have to put all of our trust in Him and just let Him guide us every single day.

I promise you guys if you do these 3 steps and you really do let Him guide you every day, no matter how hard it is, this will help you tremendously with not blocking your blessings and with fulfilling the calling that God has placed on your heart. Implementing these 3 steps will also help you to have a full and abundant life, spiritual abundance, not abundance in materialistic things or worldly things, but spiritual abundance.

Once I started doing these 3 things, and I'm still doing them every single day, it's crazy what's been going on in my life. I've been having these Holy Spirit moments lately and I have been having just flows of ideas for this podcast. I have been working so much more on my journal lately, which if you guys know I've been working on doing this 90-day journal for the transformation of the heart, mind, and spirit of the Christian woman. I literally am putting my whole heart into this and I just have so many new creative juices flowing now that I have completely let go of what was blocking my blessings. I have been trusting in the Lord every day, letting Him guide me, and it's crazy how much the Holy Spirit has been working in me and it's all because I've been obedient to the Lord. I have stopped trying to do things on my own, and I'm not saying that it's easy, I'm not saying that I don't struggle because I do, but the important thing is learning from our mistakes, trusting in the Lord, and making a conscious decision every day to follow him and to not be conformed to this world and not let temptation overcome us.

So I hope this episode helped you guys to be able to stop blocking your blessings, to completely let go, and to trust in the Lord. Whatever situation you're going through right now just know that the Lord has got you and everything will be okay. There could be a blessing right on the other side, all you have to do is just listen to what God has been telling you, trust in Him, completely be obedient to Him, and let Him guide you.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, mindset, spiritual growth, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.

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