The Love to Stay but the Grace to Leave:Transitions

By Elois Sharpe

It is worth repeating, some junctures in your life only have the capacity to contain one person but the power to sustain multitudes. You are that one person. Many of your delegated missions from God do not have replacements, backups or fill-ins. That is how valuable your life and assignment is to God. There is no “Plan B”, you are it. Life is not an act and it is not a Hollywood stage play. Life is real and your script is the Holy Bible.
God did not create actors He created performers, people who would carry out an action or accomplish a task with care and skill. Nobody else can write the books you are gifted to write. Nobody else can pastor the church you are ordained to pastor. Nobody else can produce the CD’s you are created to produce. Nobody else can defend the people you are created to defend. Nobody else can sing the way you are created to sing. Nobody else can dance the way you are created to dance. Nobody else has been anointed to do what you are anointed to do.
In essence, nobody else can do what you are specifically created to do for God. You were born for an entrance into the world but you were created to accomplish an assignment in the world. Your birth gives you access but your assignment gives you dominion and authority in a specific area or areas. When God delegates assignments, He endorses the assignee with His power and authority to execute that assignment in the earth for Him. So, say it out loud with confidence, “Nobody else but me.”
Whether you are a pastor, a lawyer, a street cleaner, a janitor, a receptionist, a cashier or a stay at home mom there is only one you. Everything you need is already in you to be a “good” you. It is good because God saw everything that He made and it was very good. It is not your job or lack of a job that defines you. Your education or lack thereof does not define you. Nobody else in this earth has your DNA that is just how valuable you are to God. God loaded you with gifts, talents, passions and abilities to accomplish your assignment and finish it with joy. You were created for this moment in time and nobody else can take your place.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elois Sharpe
• Release date: Jul 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310685828

Elois Sharpe

Elois Sharpe is an ambassador in the kingdom of God with a deep passion to see lives restored back to their original mandate according to Genesis 1:28. An intricate part of that restoration is to love people but stand as a pillar of integrity and truth.Elois is a member of Living Word Christian Center. She is the principal of Meditated Moments, a greeting card/life card company. Elois resides in the Chicago area with her family.

Book preview

The Love to Stay but the Grace to Leave:

Transitions

By Elois Sharpe

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Elois Sharpe

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

~~~~~

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible (KJV).

Some dictionary definitions are taken from Webster’s New Dictionary, Webster’s New World College Dictionary or Encarta Dictionary, English (North America), grace, transition, and wilderness.

Some definitions of Hebrew and Greek words are taken from The Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible by James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D., John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson. Copyright © 2001 by Zondervan. Used by permission of Zondervan, www.zondervan.com.

satan’s name is deliberately in lower case despite the grammatical rule of using upper case for a proper noun. He is under my feet.

The Love to Stay but the Grace to Leave:

Transitions

Elois Sharpe

© 2011 by Elois Sharpe

All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical-including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author.

~~~~~

Acknowledgment

I love and honor God, my Father in heaven who makes me feel like I am the only daughter He has. I gratefully bow to my elder brother, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who shed His blood for me and makes everything beautiful in His time. He died so that I could live. He truly is my perfect example. And I submit to and cherish my best friend, the Holy Ghost, who inspires me, convicts me, comforts me, guides me, and most of all keeps me. I love and need all three of them. I owe them my life. It is because of these three irreplaceable Persons in my life I was graced to write this book.

Truly in my patience, Jesus Christ has taught me to possess my soul. I thank God He did not allow this book to pass through the birth canal prematurely. I desperately needed the Holy Ghost to do a work in me, on me and for me before He could allow this work to be written and delivered through me. To all the people whom I have encountered in my journey through life thus far, whether you were an assignment from God or an assignment from satan: you assisted in my transitions through life, my growth, my progress, my courage, my character and my blessings.

If you hurt me, I had to learn how to forgive you. If you helped me, I had to humbly learn how to receive your assistance. If you needed me, I had to learn the importance of dependability. If you challenged me, I had to learn how to be sharpened. If you loved me, I had to learn the depths of its strength. If you deceived me, I had to learn the power of discernment. If you trusted me, I had to learn the authority of discretion. If you were an enemy, I had to learn to love you. If you cursed me, I had to learn to bless you. If you hated me, I had to learn to do good to you. If you despitefully used me and persecuted me, I had to pray for you that I may be a child of my Father in heaven. (See Matthew 5:43-48)

Last, but not least, I want to thank my family, both natural and spiritual, and my friends who have proved to be the best grooming tools on earth to help mold me into the image of Jesus Christ.

~~~~~

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

What Is Transition?

CHAPTER 2

Is This God?

CHAPTER 3

Do You Need to Leave Like an Israelite?

CHAPTER 4

Why Die in the Wilderness?

CHAPTER 5

Before You Conquer

CHAPTER 6

Don’t Shop at the First Stop

CHAPTER 7

Courage to Go On

CHAPTER 8

Connected to Conquer Canaan

CHAPTER 9

The God of Another Chance

THE GREATEST TRANSITION ON EARTH

END NOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

~~~~~

Introduction

The title of this book was conceived as I was sitting, at that time, in the passenger seat of my best friend’s car on my way to a church conference. This was rare, as I am not one for going to conferences. However, a month after I had permanently left my local church where I had been a member for over eleven years, I was quietly meditating on the state of my present emotions and the activities of my previous environment. I wanted and needed to know why I stayed so long and why was I then able to leave. It may sound like a trivial and perhaps a silly inquiry, but the answer was profound to me as I heard in my spirit, You had the love to stay but the grace to leave.

As individuals, many times we stay in places and even in relationships as a result of being in a comfort zone or out of a sense of obligation. And unfortunately, sometimes we stay because of unhealthy fear. However, when the grace departs or lifts, we are no longer able to bear what we did in the past. Our spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical abilities begin to diminish for the tolerance of certain people, certain places, and certain things. Although love bears all things, it is not always, for all people, at all times.

This book is not an attempt to provide solutions and answers for all transitional situations. This book is intended to enlighten, challenge, provoke, guide, and inform those who are or who will soon be struggling with church transition or transitioning to another place. The transition may be to another place of employment or another residence.

Nevertheless, one of the most difficult decisions you may have to make is when God commands you to exit your current local church when you have been planted there for years. Whether it is to bring you out of bondage or to bring you out of a comfort zone to catapult you into another dispensation and dimension of His glory, your obedience to God will be crucial. I must forewarn you, regardless of the transition, you may lose some friends, be misunderstood, feel stuck, experience some pain and feel alone but eventually you will be re-positioned, solidified, healed, fortified and able to freely move forward in the next phase or portion of God’s plan for your life.

Transitions are never easy, but they are necessary. We were born for transitions. Even with our natural bodies, God graces us to go through physical and emotional transitions. We go from infants to toddlers/children, then to adolescents/teens, and on to young adults, then to middle-aged adults and senior citizens. All these phases of life carry their set of challenges, their unique identifying marks and their special moments, and each phase should be cherished.

In our infant phases of life, we gain. The umbilical cord is cut and for the first time, we grow outside of our mothers’ wombs. We transition from being dependent from the inside to being dependent on the outside. We grow hair. We get our first set of teeth. We crawl, and we start being nourished outside of the belly. Our vision and hearing start their acclimation stages to the outside world. We say our first syllables and on we go. God helps us through our parents to start our faith working for transitions even as infants.

As toddlers, we become a bit more independent. Our appetites start growing, our taste buds start getting more defined and we move more. We take our first steps and fear tries to creep in, but God uses the arms of our parents to assure us that we will be alright even if we fall. What valuable lessons God teaches us about faith at such an early age. Let us not forget those priceless lessons.

As children, we lose to gain. We lose our first set of teeth to grow the next set of teeth. We lose some attention because now we can tie our own shoes and brush our own teeth, so we become a bit more independent to a small degree. We get to exercise and experience a little freedom. Sometimes because of our sinful natures, we put the pedal to the floor a little bit, to see how far we can go with our freedom; like pouting and putting the candy bar in the shopping cart anyway despite having heard an adamant no from our parents. Healthy discipline is vital at this stage. Unchecked temper tantrums as children can lead to emotionally wrecked adults.

As adolescents/teens, we are trying to find our true identities. For young males, their voices start to change and so do their interests. They begin to worry about how they appear to their peers. They think about manhood and their hearts yearn for a father. For young girls, their bodies begin to take on curves and they question their beauty based upon what they see on the outside instead of the beauty on the inside. They begin to search for authentic validation. Let me pause right here, these are paramount years that require a mountain of love, affirmation, and confirmation from parents to children.

If you are a parent reading this book, you have a God ordained assignment and responsibility to see to it that your sons’ and daughters’ identities are defined based upon the principles of God and His word. Do whatever is necessary in this time to cultivate, nurture, understand, help, and assist your children so they can grow up to be wholesome, God-fearing, confident men and women in society. If godly guidance was not given to you in parenting, seek out godly elder men and women to help you.

Contrary to what some may say or think, there are still some godly elder men and women out there willing to help. Do not allow shame, pride, or fear to prohibit you from reaching out to get the assistance you need to build your family on a solid foundation. It does not matter if you are a married couple or a single mother or father, passing the responsibility on to the government is not the answer neither is child abandonment a solution. You