2006 in Review

There’s this minister from the Bahamas who comes to our church every now and then, Bishop Neil C. Ellis. Let’s just say, he’s not your average preacher man. He has this unusual boldness about him. He also has a great sense of humor, which is ten times funnier because he delivers it with a straight and serious face. Through all this you can see his devoted love for God. He’s one of those ministers who carries God on him so much that you’re afraid to get too close to him because you just know he’ll tell all your business.

Whenever Bishop Ellis comes to our church everyone gets very excited. Not only because he’s a fun and amusing minister, but, most importantly, he always has an “I’m all up in your business” word from God. So early last year, he came to our church and said, “2006 will be a year of reference for you. Years from now you will look back and say, ‘I remember what God did in 2006.’”

Now in 2004, I was at a point of desperation. Everything I touched was going wrong, and I was at my whit’s end. It was during that time I stopped questioning God and His workmen. Not to say I believe everything a preacher says just because he’s a “man of God” because all of them are not. But I took the effort to read Bible, learn what it said, and then and only then was I able to recognize which ministers truly spoke His Word. Because of this, I was able to trust and believe what Bishop Ellis was saying, and I went with it.

Everything I did during that year I would say, “It’s the year of reference. God’s going to do something big. He’s going to do something He’s never done before.” And things just began to happen. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a cake walk. In fact, 2006 was probably the hardest year of my life. Everything that I truly loved and cared about was tested. Every time I looked around something bad was happening in my life. I cried more in 2006 than I did in my entire life. But I came through every situation ON TOP. Situations that would’ve killed me the year before, dreams I would have given up on because of the trouble that accompanied them…I was able to walk away from everything in victory because I believed what some crazy preacher from the Bahamas said about me.

In the end, 2006 turned out to be the greatest year of my life…despite the troubles, heartache, and heartbreak. It was truly a year of reference in my life, and I will definitely be telling my great-grandkids about how God showed me His face in 2006.

Kia’s 2006 Year in Review

 My business signed its first major contract that brought in the big bucks
 Got my first passport and left the country for the first time
 Lived completely alone in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language and survived
 Worked an internship oversees
 Met and interviewed an U.S. Ambassador
 Built a personal relationship with an Embassy consulate
 Got a free trip to Paris, France
 Brought my son to live with me full-time
 Got a promising position with a growing magazine
 Bought a house
 Paid off 1/3 of my credit card debit (Y’all who truly know me, know that that’s a miracle in itself, LOL)
 Doubled my yearly income
 Had a huge “growth” (for lack of a better word) removed from my body only to have pathologist say they couldn’t even begin to fathom what it was or why it was there. And then survived losing way too much blood after the surgical procedure.
 Got offered another free trip to Africa
 Helped someone else cancel their debt (What you make happen for others God will make happen for you.)
 Made all A’s in my grad school courses
 Gave blood for the first time (Another minor miracle. I don’t do needles, and they use a BIG needle to take that blood.)
 Won a free cruise to the Bahamas and Grand Cayman Island from Coco Brother, The Spirit of Hip Hop, and Hot 107.9 (Some of y’all may remember Coco from 6-10pm on 107.9. He now hosts The Spirit of Hip Hop weekdays from 5-6 am and Sunday from 6am-noon. It’s an awesome show that just got syndicated nationwide last Sunday, so if you get it in your area, please check it out. I know it’s in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, and Dallas. You can also listen on the web (www.hot1079atl.com). It’s not your grandma’s Gospel. Well, it is. It’s just wrapped in a package you can dig. I mean everything you can think of, from Rick Ross to Kirk Franklin, you can catch it on his show.
 Started writing my first book
 Got a 2-pack. (Only four more to go, LOL.)
 And became a person I like, love, and am proud of.

Now, I don’t say all this to brag because not one of these things could I have done on my own. (Not even got all A’s. Yes, I’m smart, but everyone who knows me knows I’m not a good student.). To me, this is just proof of what will happen when you believe what God says. And since God only exceeds Himself, I’m super excited about 2007. Happy New Year, everyone. I’m sure your year will be blessed, prosperous, and everything you believe and imagine it will be.