The Key to your Hidden Treasures: A GIANT Heart

For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

On a random Monday night, right in the middle of Manhattan, Chelsea to be exact, I heard the most profound statement that echoed in a room filled with NFL football players, investors, lawyers, Wall Street bankers, artists, comedians, actors, reporters, photographers, beauty pageant queens, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and so many more:

“Every dollar raised on tonight will go directly to the kids I support through my foundation, and not one penny will be used to pay my staff’s salary…I pay that out of my own pocket” proclaimed Rashad Jennings #23, the starting running back for the New York Giants. Those words were truly unforgettable, and really took me by surprise!

That night was the 2nd annual Giant Night of Comedy, and it was remarkable at how well this event turned out. Don’t get me wrong, I have attended some very outstanding charity events and even worked with some of the most successful non-profit organizations. But there was something noticeably different about this one…Rashad’s heart bled out loud! And everyone in attendance could visibly see it! If you too have a foundation, a charity, a non-profit, or an organization that God has placed in your heart, I have some revelational insight I received from this event, that I must share with you, in hopes of helping you unlock all of your hidden treasures!

1. The Capacity of your Heart- When you have a very big heart, people can’t help but notice it and gravitate towards it! At Rashad’s event, the room was filled with a diverse group of people from all walks of life representing different demographics! This lets me know that in order to attract the level of support you need, to support your vision… the capacity of your heart to serve, must be just as great as your desireto see the vision fulfilled. When God sees how pure your heart is toward your purpose, He will give you favor with Himself and favor with man. So much so, that people you don’t even know will unexpectedly come out of nowhere offering to help you! But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve. Jeremiah 17:10

1. A Heart of Passion- When working towards fulfilling a need that is much bigger than your own, passion MUST rule over profit. There is just simply no other way! In the process of waiting to see the full manifestation of your efforts, the enemy will always come to kill, steal, and destroy your passion with impatience, greed, confusion, fear, and doubt! Therefore, you must protect your passion to serve, by hiding it deep within your heart. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23

1. A Wise Heart- Let’s be honest, starting a charity is no problem, but maintaining it is no easy task. Not only do you need the heart of Christ, but you really need the mind of Christ too! A wise mind makes a wise heart. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7 NKJV Most people start off really strong, but never last to see all the pieces of the puzzle become a masterpiece. There is a significant level of strength and patient endurance you must have to keep your vision going. And this can truly be accomplished if you have a wise heart. My child, if your heart is wise, my own heart will rejoice! Proverbs 23:15 NLT

So let me ask you: How big is your heart? Whoever you are aiming to serve, whether it is battered women, the youth, the homeless, underprivileged communities, or people suffering from hard to cure infirmities, please know that you are blessed to be a blessing, and I am praying fervently for you. I pray that you never experience weariness and exhaustion during the hard, dry seasons. I pray that every ounce of virtue that has been poured out of your heart be returned back unto you in increasing measures. I pray that you will find your provisions and all the hidden treasures to help you pursue your purpose. And I pray a special Luke 6:38 blessing over your life, that your gift will return to you in full- pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. Amen! Your treasures are surely waiting on you...go find them!!

Your GREATER is coming!

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. Luke 16:10 NLT I believe we are all entering into a season of our lives where God will truly show us just how much He can trust us, by giving us GREATER! I know you may be wondering, how do we know God can trust us with more? Well, its really simple actually if think back to where and what God has brought you from...those former seasons of waiting, praying, sowing, and not giving up! You see, during our seasons of waiting, God was testing. God was giving us little assignments to prepare us for the much bigger assignments.

Allow me to be transparent with you for just a second...

I started competing in pageants when I was seven years old, but I did not win my first pageant until I was 14 years old.

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MissLAUSA-Val

Year after year, I kept competing...I kept trying different dresses and new modeling techniques, but it took seven years of being told "no" before I finally got my "yes." Little did I know, God was building the tenacity, discipline, strength, and resilience that I needed for when the time came for me to compete on the big stage at Miss Louisiana! I competed for three years in the Miss America System but never made the top ten. Then, I went to the Miss USA system and made the top 15 on my first try! On my second try, I made the top 10! And in my last year, after 20 years of competing, I won First Runner Up to Miss Louisiana USA!!!But when I look back, I see that God allowed me to experience dry seasons in my life not to leave me and forsake me, but to prune me and prepare me. And He has allowed them in your life for that very same reason as well! God needed to know that He could trust us, but more so, He needed us to know that we could trust Him! So many of you may question how could preparation be birthed out of anything dry- how could any fruit grow in the desert, right? Well, God tells us in Isaiah 43:19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

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Dry place

Looking back in your own lives...can you see it now? The business you launched or will launch, the foundation you started or will start, the ministry you have or will have, the book that’s waiting to be written, the school you need to open, the youth or women's organization you founded--whatever it may be, it had to start somewhere! It started as an idea, a thought, a VISION and God has entrusted ONLY YOU with it! If not, He wouldn't have placed it on the inside of you. Even when no one was looking, God saw our faithfulness and it is after being faithful, not despising our small beginnings, that the Lord rejoices over us. Zechariah 4:10 NLT

Greater is truly COMING!!!! I am overwhelmingly excited to see all of the amazing things He will birth through our faithfulness.  As it all unfolds and your territory begins to increase, please share your testimony  because I know your sisters will be blessed!

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Greater

God has NO limitations…

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Expecting

If you are anything like me (a hopeful and expectant person), then you have more than likely arrived to a place in your life where you are truly believing God to manifest some things for you in the natural. Now, these are not just any little things...NO they are the things that we have been asking and praying and hoping for, for quite some time now. They are the things that we really can’t share with everyone, because we might actually sound crazy if we said them out loud. They are the things that appear in the natural to be absolutely impossible, so much so, that they keep us up at night. You know...those things that we have tried to accomplish over and over again, but we have yet to achieve. I am even speaking about those things that have isolated us and separated us from other people. Simply put, they are the things that we have held near and dear to our hearts…

…and yet, they are the very things that we have allowed to LIMIT God and all that He can and wants do in our lives…

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Limitations

I am so remorsefully guilty for doing this…I start out believing with great expectations, and when life happens, I allow my expectations to transform into limitations. Limiting God in my mind by letting my thoughts go wild and crazy. Limiting God in my heart by settling for what comes fast and easy. Limiting God in my prayers by accepting the notion that “the sky is the limit." I begin to set unrealistic timeframes out of impatience and desperation, as if God is not the author of time. I make suggestions to God on whom He should use, how He should use them, and why he should use them, as if He is not the creator of the earth. I start to doubt the reason why I even began to expect some things from God in the very first place, as if He didn’t give me those desires and placed them in my heart. Listen, God has NO limits! He is not limited to the things we see, the way we feel, or even the life we’ve lived!

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Isaiah 40:28-29 NLT

Reading this scripture speaks directly to my heart, and it lets me know that we can not possibly fathom the things God can do and will use to answer our prayers, to exceed our expectations, to bring healing to our bodies, to deliver a loved one, to make a barren womb fruitful, or to even fight for us. God is such a good good father! He cares about the things we care about. He is interested in the things we are interested in. He knows our limitations but He is not moved by them….He sees what we are up against but He will never let it overcome us!!! Look, I don’t know what you have been waiting on God to do in your life, but I want to encourage you to never give up on God. He knows exactly what He is doing. God has been God a very long time, you can trust Him with your most ridiculous prayers! He is crazy faithful and watches over every word to perform it! If He said it in His word, He will do it!

In closing, I want to encourage you right where you are….with everything you are believing or at one point in your life once believed. God is more than able! He does not give the way this world gives, so get into a posture of renewing your mind about your limitations. And if you have been waiting for what seems like such a long time, let me assure you that God can, and He will make up for all of your lost time. He knows how to get you to where you need to be, in the time that you need to be there…His timing is so perfect. Be inspired my lady, to pray prayers that scare the things that are scaring you, to pray prayers that overcome the things that appear to be overcoming you, to pray prayers that stop the things that are stopping you, to pray prayers that attack the very things that are attacking you and your family, and to pray prayers that limit the things that are limiting you!!! I dare you, no I double dare you to go beyond the sky in your prayer life!!! Pray like you have never prayed before and just let God be God!!

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No Limits

Stay encouraged!! Keep your eyes on where your help comes from….the good Lord! He will strengthen you and help you! The enemy’s weapons will never prosper. Even when the enemy comes in like a flood in your life, trying to wash away all your hope, all your joy, all your trust, all of your patience, and all your faith….Our God will build a mighty mighty standard against him, he shall never prevail!!!! Until next time, I want to leave you with two scriptures to hide in your hearts when you feel your expectations are becoming limitations…

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. Psalm 27:14 AMP

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe in him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also the world to come. Ephesians 1:19-21 NLT

Keep on believing and never stop until you receive it!!! The sky is NOT your limit...I will be praying for you!!!