My Spiritual Aunties

God always plants people in your life before they are needed. They can be an acquaintance, cousin, ex partner, or even a stranger on the street. Remember the old saying, some people are in your life for a season and some are for a lifetime. God’s love for us is far beyond our understanding or even thinking (Isaiah 55:8-9). He has responsibilities to us as His children and one of them being preparation for those things to come. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (NIV). Oh Lord, this sounds like your love. With these plans that God has for us, he has to place others in our lives to help us along our journey. Because of this plan, His constant love may have to be shown through people especially when we are lacking in areas where we need to be strong. He will use them so you can feel His love. He will use people so you can be taught. He will also use people to prepare you for what is to come. Lamentations 3:22-23 explains his love very clearly. The scripture states, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Because of Jesus, God’s love never fails and we are renewed every morning with His love. In my sophomore and senior years in college, I lost my aunt and grandmother in that order. These two women touched my life and helped build my strong faith in God. I love and miss you both. So of course, their passing left a void in my life and it was also during the time I was asking God for deliverance from the damage my natural father caused. As close as I am to my mother, it is something about speaking to someone else and having them pray for you in times of trouble. I met my spiritual aunties at different ages in my life. Two were before birth, another was at the age 5, the next at the age of 9, two at the age of 16 and the last one at the age 18. At first, they were my mother’s friends who I would occasionally spend time with but after my aunt and grandmother died, they were the women I depended on to help me in my walk. 1 Kings 17 shares the story of Elijah. There was a famine in the land but Elijah receives exact instructions from God to go to Zarephath and he would meet a woman to help feed him during this time. Of course, God’s word is true (Numbers 23:19). So when Elijah got there, the woman was already in place. So she fed Elijah but during his visit, the woman’s son became ill and he was going to die. Elijah carried the young son into the loft and prayed for him there. After the prayer, the young boy lived. However, if Elijah was not there for the young boy then he would of died. So God sent Elijah for two things…. to receive food and shelter and to allow a child to live. See Elijah was already in place, so he was able to spring into action when the child needed him the most. This is true for my spiritual aunties. God already had them in place in my life so when I was in lack, they were there to pick up where grandmother and aunt left off. These women helped me to stay a virgin until marriage. They prayed me through my period of depression, spoke truth to my being when I would not listen to my mother, and even loved on me during the times I felt like I was not good enough to be loved. They were there because of God’s love for me and the life he wanted me to live. They have been there through my good times and bad times and have seen every milestone in my life. They helped to teach me how to pray, listen to God’s voice and even made God cool to me. One of spiritual aunties even brought me my first pair of leggings (lol). My spiritual aunties remind me of God’s love every time I pick up the phone and they answer with excitement in their voice. They helped me get down the aisle. So it was a pleasure when I got the opportunity to honor them at my wedding. Thank you spiritual aunties! Without you, who I am in God would not be possible. Because of your good labor, I was able to reap a reward. Because of God’s promise, he placed these women in my life so I had more than enough love. Because of them, I did not stay sad when a breakup would happen, they would pray for me and take me on dates. I was saturated in love so I did not chase men but chased God instead. Who has God placed in your life to show you His love on Earth? What have you done to spread God’s love to others? See, my spiritual aunties showed me God’s love because they gave me love regardless of what was happening in their lives. God I pray this week that you enlarge our territories and you allow people to enter into our lives that need to be there especially in seasons where love may be absent, In Jesus name! God I thank you for your goodness and mercy that follows us all the days of our lives. Tune in next week for the blog, “Jireh,” where I give all the details in what this name of God means to me. Love you guys and see you next week.