Every day she woke up with an expectation on her life she didn't ask for. And every day she woke up with one less day to fulfill it. Oh, this woman had a seven-year sentence on her life. And by the time Jacob completed her sister's bridal price, she too was supposed to be at a certain place in her life. Something was supposed to have happened for her. And every day it didn't happen, the pressure to meet the expectation of other people mounted on her shoulders. She knew she had seven years to get a ring on it. And those seven years went by with no offer for Leah's hand.
[00:06:55]
She had to stand in the mirror every day, beloved, and see a woman who was powerless to affect her own situation. She looked in the mirror every day of those seven years to see a sister who was powerless to affect her own circumstance. She was peering at a person who had no power to escape the expectation of other people. And I believe there's some Leah's and some Leon's in the building early today who know what it's like to live under the pressure of the unwanted, unfair, unrealistic expectations.
[00:07:43]
Expectations of other people, expectations that bring us under others' judgment, that cause us to be talked about and to make us compare ourselves to other people when the truth is the only person we ought to ever compare ourselves to is the person we saw in the same mirror on yesterday. Look at somebody and tell them I may not be where you think I ought to be, but you don't know how far the Lord has brought me. I may not be where you think I ought to be, but you have no idea who I used to be.
[00:08:27]
Your testimony is, if you only knew what I've been through, instead of talking about what I'm not, you'd be praising God for who I now am because I may not be what I ought to be, but I've come a long way from the day Jesus came and found me. That's why I don't care who stares at me when I lift my hands in worship. I don't care who rolls their eyes at me when I lift my voice in prayer because you weren't there when he saved my soul. You weren't there when he stepped into the mess of my life, put me back together, and made me whole.
[00:09:11]
We get up every morning, we put our veils on, don't we? We cover our scars, we hide our wounds, we protect our pain, we put on our veils to photo filter out our flaws, to conceal our weaknesses so that we can fit the image. People want us to fit so we can look the way people want us to look so we can be who people want us to be. I can't get an amen right here.
[00:11:06]
When the truth is every woman is Rachel and...Leah, and the truth is our true beauty is revealed to the one who will learn to love all that we are. Somebody throw your head back and holler. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
[00:12:15]
He says, you know what? Leah may not have been my dream, but if God gave her to me, maybe she's supposed to be part of my destiny. And in exchange now for another seven years of labor to Laban, Jacob is now giving Rachel in marriage too.
[00:12:48]
I wonder, am I talking to anybody who's ever overcome one thing only to find yourself stuck in an even worse thing? Anybody ever get one problem straight only for an even bigger problem to then emerge? Am I talking to anybody? How do you finally get caught up on this? How do you finally get caught up on this? And...And now you're behind on that. You finally get this thing back on track. And then something else has a complete wreck. Have you ever overcome one thing only to find yourself now drowning in something else?
[00:13:57]
But then it says something else. It says that God steps in. On the next verse, I wish somebody would just grab that and run with it right there. God steps in. On the very next verse, touch your neighbor and tell him just wait one more verse. Just wait. Just wait one more verse. God is about to lift his foot and step right into your situation.
[00:14:36]
What do you do when the hand you've been dealt looks like it's a powerless hand? Beloved, you've got to recognize your hand may be out of moves, but God's got the whole world in his hand. Beloved, Leah is out of options, but God...is not and when he looks upon her and sees that she's not loved he opens her womb and she begins to give birth why because god needs us to understand that god is a god who will increase us in an uncomfortable place.
[00:15:32]
Leah is in a bad situation and yet in the midst of the bad situation that's when god begins birthing things in her life he doesn't wait until her life is picture perfect to start pulling things out of her that she's never brought forth before because god also needs us to understand that you can be productive in a painful place you can be purposeful in a painful place you can be powerful in a painful place you just got to start where you are and work whatever you've got.
[00:16:43]
That's why we cannot shut down when life lets us down because god will use your pain to birth his divine plan but watch this god won't get what he needs out of us if he brings us out of a painful place too soon i'm in the text because see if leah had been in a good situation she never would have brought forth everything god needed her to birth.
[00:18:11]
Now, beloved, if you wait for everything in your life to be all right before you start moving into your destiny, you will never get there. You will never birth what God has put in you if you let your emotions about your predicament pull you out of divine position.
[00:19:21]
Leah does not let who doesn't love her keep her from being productive. She says, I'm not going to allow who will not affirm me, keep me from yet bearing fruit. She says, I'm not going to let who does not want me keep me from being a blessing to the rest of the world. Observe everything that comes out of this woman is a vital part of the plan of God.
[00:20:01]
Oh, I wish I had a witness right here who understands that our God is a God who does incredible things with imperfect people. I wish you would find one imperfect person. Maybe it's somebody in front of you. Tap them and tell them, God told me to tell you that your beauty is in your imperfection.
[00:20:35]
She burps a praise on it. She finds her power in it because she comes to realize if God isn't changing the situation for the better, then God must be using the situation to change us for the better. She burps a praise right here because she realizes she can't change the situation. But what she can change is herself.
[00:24:29]
She says, I will bless the Lord at all times. Even if things don't get better, I will bless the Lord at all times. Because I didn't ask for this, but I'm going to lift my hand and praise my God in the midst of this. I didn't ask for this, but I'm going to work it. I'm going to work it with all I got. I will not let discouragement keep me from dancing. I refuse to let people hijack my prayers. I refuse to let problems drain.my holy ghost power i know what it looks like but i still got a reason to give my god the praise i didn't ask for this but i thank god that i'm alive to experience this i didn't ask for this but god is giving me the strength to deal with this.
[00:25:20]
Your praise is going to bring Jesus into the situation. Your praise is going to break a curse of depression. Your praise is going to break a curse of debt. Your praise is going to break a curse of low self -esteem. Your praise is going to destroy some of yours.
[00:29:00]
God did not put us here for our pleasure. He put us here for his pleasure. And how does he take pleasure in us? He takes pleasure in us through birthing of purpose. Our power is in connecting pain to purpose.
[00:30:50]
I don't know who I'm talking to today. But you have no idea what's behind your neighbor's smile. Because smiling faces cover a whole lot of issues. We look real good. But there's some stuff going on on the inside that don't feel good. I can look good, but that don't mean I feel good.
[00:31:13]
Use these imperfect hands these imperfect feet this imperfect mouth use these imperfect people for your glory for we have this treasure in earthen vessels that it may be evident that the surpassing glory is not of us but it is of you so be glorified god with every tear be glorified through every scar be glorified through these your wounded healers and we will be careful to give you the glory.
[00:32:31]
