Month: January 2019

The Grace Place

January 24, 2019

One of the first things that really attracted me to God was the opportunity to bring my life to him while I stood in a state of hopelessness and in a condition that others would not accept me in. It attracted me to him because even though I had sung all my life about amazing grace it isn’t until you really need it and try it that you realize wow, this grace of God’s really is amazing.

When I gave my life to God sixteen years ago, I was broken, hurt, broken-hearted, failed everything I’d tried at life so far. I had just lost my job, my license, car broke down, with drugs parading around in my system and the first three things all happened in one day. I was in a hard place, a place of depression, desperation and decision.

I needed something, someone or both. Honestly, I had no friend that was able to deal with the weight of my heart, thoughts or emotions. Even If they did understand, people don’t really have what you need when your life seems to be a walking tragedy. I’ve always found it to be a true statement that it is difficult to find mercy with people. Whether it be the mercy that will urge giving or the mercy that allow forgiving. Truly, what’s needed when waves are crashing into our ship while sailing in deep waters is God and His grace.

Ah, Grace, unmerited favor, mercy, compassion and acceptance that can be shown but not even noticed. I wonder if you’ve ever missed the opportunity to thank God for grace because you didn’t see it. Many of us think that grace is just for the saints, covering us as we make mistakes. But listen, grace is so much more. God uses grace as a means to influence, lead, change and alter the condition and direction of our hearts. Grace is a heart influencer that chases us down and finds us when we are lost. The Word of God says that grace “bounds towards me.” Yes, it finds us in times of need, justifies us and “through grace we are saved” by faith. Ephesians 2:8

I’ve found during my walk with Christ there are 3 places God’s grace meets us. Not the only 3 places but the ones I’d like to share with you today.

The First place we meet God’s grace is in A Place of Sacrifice. A place where we make it no longer about us but like David in Psalm 51:10 simply desire a clean heart. The sacrifice where we realize our desires may be of flesh and not spirit, so we then seek after God’s righteousness and abandon our own selfish agendas. Oswald chambers wrote “purity in God’s children is not the outcome of obedience to His law but the result of the spiritual work of His grace.” We become righteous by giving God full permission to work in us and work those things out of us that are not like him, without resistance to his leading. We render our whole man to God’s hand

The Second place we meet God’s grace is in A Place of Humility. A place where we recognize we’re willing to go but we must openly admit to God that we are just not brave enough or strong enough. It’s the place in the process where we love God and want to do his will, but we fail at holiness because we cannot obtain the mark without His supernatural strength working inside of us. We openly admit that it is not us but Him and that His Holy Spirit is not only the prerequisite but the absolute necessity to obtain any true level of relevant success in this life. This is where grace doesn’t just cover our sins and cleanse our heart, but grace works as an element of force, as much as we will allow it, to turn our hearts back to God or fully towards Him.

The Third place we meet God’s grace Is in A Place of Victory. 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all suffiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Suffiency literally means a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed. This is not to say you don’t need help but to say that here is the grace and with this grace comes all of the help you need!

In times of need, desperation, loneliness, confusion, despair, brokenness, grace abounding moves mountains, tares down walls, lights up darkness and crushes every enemy just to get to where you are.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. How did it find me in all of this mess? It does not matter what stands between you and God when you have decided to accept Jesus into your life then God sends Grace abounding towards like a train without brakes just to deliver you right where you stand.

Know today that God has a meeting room for you. It is called A Grace Place. And this Grace Place could be your living room, your dorm room or your workplace restroom. It is the place that you make the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

There is Hope,God Bless You!
Aquila T Carmon

The Making of Moments

January 22, 2019

The word moment is defined as a very brief period of time or an opportunity.

Over Sunday Dinner I engaged in a conversation discussing with Father in law and my sister in law’s boyfriend regarding things we remember from our past. Ironically this post refers to how we only remember certain things concerning our yesterdays and needless to say, I can’t remember exactly how the conversation began.  What I do know is that we were in agreement.  We are unable to go back in our minds, press rewind and again see the clips we missed.  Nope, everything’s spotty and we only remember moments. Have you ever tried to go back to your childhood and remember a whole situation play by play.  If you can then I commend you for tapping into a part of your memory muscles that many of us cannot.

For example, I can remember acting out the role of a Lion in a 3rd grade play in the library at Grifton Elementary School. I recall the sun shining through the blinds and my mother showing up to support me.  I had one line the entire play which was “I don’t care” until at the very end something caused me to finally say “I care.” What I can’t remember is other classmate who was in that short play with me. I remember the time while in high school we performed a play for the elementary school kids. I played the lead role as a King who allowed someone to sale him a royal outfit persuading him that it was of the most well-designed and extravagant outfit people would ever lay eyes on. But my friends, the kicker was the outfit was invisible. I remember not one line from that play 20 years ago, but I recall walking out on that wide wooden stage in my loud underwear covered in big yellow smiley faces and watching those kids go wild!! Oh, What an incredible memory.  I played baseball for fifteen years, but I can only remember certain moments of certain games.  I travailed through boot came for thirteen weeks but the moments I can remember are very few and in between. The only vivid recollection is when the Eagle, Globe and Anchor was placed in my hand and in that moment, I had achieved my greatest accomplishment ever.  I wish I could remember more moments with some of the loved one’s I’ve lost or some of the people I grew up, but I can’t.  You see I understand that all of my experiences in some way has helped shape me into who I am today, but they all didn’t make the cut to the memorable moments team.

I think the value of memory is neglected by our own desire to make tomorrow more valuable than yesterday.  I hear some many people say, “the past is in the past” or “you can’t change the past”. True!! All True! But remember that every day we are present, we are creating a past. So, it is vital my friends, to recognize that your future and your past are impacted by your present.

It is in The NOW, where you must make moments for your family that will become positive and powerful memories.  When both of my grandmothers were buried, the moments I recalled during their funerals were full of warmth, love, wisdom and peacefulness. Their homes were a safe-shaven for everyone.  What moments are you leaving for your family to remember you? What moments will your family have to Cherish? Are you teaching those around you to create good moments? Your destiny, your fulfillment of purpose and your legacy is built by the way you manage the moments.

Recollections of great moments remember the emotion and overwhelming love when you held your first child for the first time. It is when you understood the pressure to be an amazing parent when wiping your child’s tears and lifting their head up. It is when you feel purpose fueling when leading a lost soul to salvation. It’s like seeing your father stand again after doctors said he would die. It is the hearing someone tell you simply that you have helped them become better.  These moments keep us grounded. Seeing impossible things become possible are monumental reminders, in the moments we forget that everything really is going to be ok.

Today, Moments are ready to be made. Which means it is important for us to make our decisions count. Whether big or small make them count.  Because when someone stands over our casket it will be good for them to lose us knowing that we gave them the best of who we are.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. ~ Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

God Bless you,

Aquila T Carmon

 

The Other Side of the Door: Credit Tips

January 17, 2019

So, what happens on the other side of the door? You know, while you’ve went to a car dealership, applied for a loan online or anytime you are waiting for someone to run your credit and make the approval decision for your loan.

First your personal information will be pulled and placed into a system that will scan and analyze your credit report. Then it will provide the creditor some feedback based on your score and general items on whether you should be approved.  This system will analyze items such as credit scores from Equifax, Transunion and Experian, the number or accounts, how many are delinquent accounts, how long have you had the accounts open, how many late payments and your debt to income ratio based on the income information you decided.

Depending on where you apply would determine if an automated decision will be the final factor for you.  However, some creditors will take the next step, put human eyes on your credit report and begin to discuss with the finance manager if there are things that must be considered. You wondered while the salesman was probing? he was trying to get to know a few things about you to include in that “credit conversation.” Quick insert: If you have bad credit, please don’t be nasty and rude to the salesman. His opinion of you might play a part in whether the lender wants to work with you or not if your credit is already bad.

So, on the other side of the door they take a deeper look into the credit report with human eyes to determine, did it all go bad at the same time? Did a life event bring about this problem such as job loss or relocation?  Someone may even come sit with you to ask additional questions about your credit report. Trust me, I know because I am the guy that has sat across on both sides of the table. Once with bad credit and later to ask the questions.

Here are some tips before applying.

Know your credit situation:

  1. Know where you stand: Pull your credit report, know your scores and what is helping or hurting on your report and be ready to talk about it. Hopefully you are working on a plan to resolve any issues.
  2. Prepare mentally: If you have bad credit, prepare yourself for the result and remember that NO could mean, Not until a few things are fixed on your credit report. Meaning negative items removed or paid.
  3. Decrease some Debt: Pay down all credit card balances to less than 30% of use and wait for this to reflect on your report before applying for any credit.
  4. Understand that it may be best to struggle a little while longer and commit to getting your credit improved before even walking into to submit an application.

No matter where you stand in the credit world, know that you have or can take control of your credit situation. It may take some time and it is a process but by educating yourself, understanding how credit works and develop certain financial disciplines you can change how you experience as you sit on the consumer’s side of this process.

If you or someone you know has less than perfect credit. Let’s talk. Give me a call at (919)904-6960 or email me at aquilacarmon06@gmail.com. Go to www.myfes.net\acarmon1.  I am connected with a team that can help.

Aquila T Carmon