Walls Must Fall: Day 6: Endure the Process: Faithfulness in the Middle

0:00 Music. Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent. Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed. Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought was possible. Enlarge her territory. Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment. Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

0:49 This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen. Hello, and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman Podcast. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we're still on the series, and we're going to be on it for about maybe to 12 episodes. So brace for an impact because we're going to break through the Walls Must Fall series And I hope that you are being blessed and you are learning so much how to be consecrated and dedicated and also how to circle the promise, carry the presence, sound the trumpets. And for day six, we're going to endure the process, faithfulness in the middle.

1:33 We're going to start out with our foundational scripture found in Joshua chapter six, verse 14. it says, so on the second day, they marched around the city once and returned to camp. They did this for six days. Think about that. It says, endure the process. Whenever someone says, endure the process, we already know that it's going to be hard, right? We already know. We know for one that the Israelites, they like to talk. And so God told them to be quiet, do not say a word. And so they're enduring the process of not saying a word, of complaining and whining. They're enduring the process of not knowing what the end result would be.

2:15 They had to follow instructions. I mean, have trouble with that. Endure the process. I know this is going to work. And I share some stories in the other episodes prior to this one, but I have another one about enduring the process that you may enjoy. I know. Finished my master's degree. And instead of doing what you call comp test, I wanted to write a master thesis. I thought that would be fun because there was a topic I really wanted to research. And plus, I'd rather do research and do a lot of memorization. If you ever finish any type of high degree, they always have these tests at the end where you have to take these long tests and write a whole, it's like writing a master thesis, I would say, but memorize a lot of the terms and terminology that you would use in that field and be a master of that field.

3:09 But I decided I wanted to be a master of this topic. And the topic that I chose was about, it was about an implicit bias. And I was wanting to study out, study out, you know, change implicit bias. Now, like you said, I'm on a Diary of Black Women podcast. I have another podcast that's titled The Morris Perspective, where I talk a lot about implicit bias and a lot of different topics about race and just a lot of fun topics that we cover that's totally opposite from what I cover on my Diary of Black Women podcast, needless to say. And so during the process, I'll make it really short, is I finished my master thesis and little did I know that this master thesis was going to take a year.

3:52 I wanted to write it up and get it done in a semester, like a class. I believe that I wrote it up in the first couple of weeks and I thought I was done. But when you have different advisors having different ideas of how that process to take and what should be added, it takes a little bit longer, as you can see. And so by the 30th rewrite, I had had enough. I was like, this process is ridiculous. Why would I got to rewrite it, the same thing over and over? Just how we get, we get a little so enduring the process. And so I finally finished it after rewriting it to fit the advisor's perspective because they are the experts. I was not the expert. Understand that.

4:41 Remember, God whispers in your ear, he is the expert. We think that we know everything. Come on, keep it real. But we don't know everything. We don't know everything. And so I want to keep it real. We don't know everything. And so we want to have our own process. We want to shorten our process. And so by the time I rewrote that thing about 20 times, I was like, okay, this is wrong. You start to get a little attitude. And I said, I'm not going to get an attitude. I'm going to keep doing it. And everything I learned about myself is that I can be a little spoiled. Brad, how many can raise their hand for that?

5:23 Right? And so I realized I endured the process. I finished the course. I passed the course. I ended up getting a job at a university in Nebraska. University of Omaha, Nebraska, one of the top criminal justice universities. And I think about it. I endured the process. I ended up getting hired as a criminal justice instructor at the university that really is the best in its field. How cool is that? That's one what happens when you endure the process and not be the one who seemed to know more than the professor, right? The Bible says you'll know more than your teacher, smarter than your teachers. But guess what? You learn it because they teach it to you, okay?

6:06 And so I finished that process. But the best part of enduring the process is that master thesis became a book. Let me share how that became a book. Out of obedience to writing a master thesis, the Lord began to tell me through prophets that this was going to be a book. And. I am not an author. That's what you say, right? But the Lord whispered in my ear and says, Connie, this is going to be a book. And lo and behold, one morning I woke up and he just says, Connie, it's time to write the book. And I said, okay. So what I did is I organized my master thesis, how this book would look, right?

6:48 Endure the process. I was able to write a book. Why? Because I endured the process of writing a master thesis. If you ever wrote a master thesis and rewrite it about 23 different times and then had to go back and find the one they really like, it's a process. So writing that process of writing a master thesis helped me organize my thoughts to how to write a book. So I ended up organizing my master thesis on how this book would be formatted. And it wasn't enough information to write a book, don't get me wrong, but it was an outline for a book. And so after the Lord had said that, and that happened in 2022 as I moved here to Nebraska, I began to have dreams on each chapter on what will be covered in each chapter.

7:38 I know. I'm just saying God began to move with me. First, he says master thesis. Then he says, you'll get hired at the university. Then he began to speak to me on how to write a book. Okay, so I outlined this, my master thesis, with about four or five chapters of a book. And I say, okay, Lord, who's going to be my publisher? Then he connected me with a publisher. Not just a book that you can get on Amazon for sure, But it was a textbook I wrote for the Lord, but also from my master thesis.

8:19 And so I want to leave that with you because when you endure the process, great things come out of it, but there's a learning curve in it when you just kind of endure the process of what it takes to do that part. So check this out. And so wrote the book. Each chapter became part. He gave it to me in a dream or a word or phrase or whatever, how God speaks to me in a dream. I will research that word or phrase, and then I'll write a chapter on it. And then I'll have dreams. I says, and he'll maybe add a little bit more and tell me more about what he wanted to add to the book. And then I wake up and I'll go do that part. And it just continued on till the book was finished. Got a publisher.

9:02 Good, right? Think that was done. And then one chapter out of that first book I wrote, because I remember then I had to edit it, find pictures for it, and do all those great things to do that book. But let me tell you, because I was able to endure the process of writing the master thesis, I was able to endure the process of publishing. Publishing a book is not an easy task, especially with a professional publisher, because they edit every chapter. You had to go through and edit. Every word had to be right. Every research had to be dated. It was just very intense. It takes about six months or so to get the book ready.

9:45 Then you have to go through and find pictures and put the pictures on the right page. It was just a very intense job to publish your first book. But once it's done, once it was done, I was like, wow, that was a lot of work. That was intense. That was endurance. But guess what? Because I took the first step in writing the master thesis and all the edits that it required, the writing of the book wasn't as intense. Yes, it was intense, but not as intense. Out of that first book came a second book. Out of that second book came about, I got over 260 devotionals. You see what happens, right?

10:26 And then out of those devotionals, I wrote a couple manuals for my church regarding ministry of helps. So it's like pulling the string out of a garment. Once you pull it, it loosens the whole garment. And that's what happens when we endure the process. We don't know how far we can go until God just presses us to that end. Amen. And so let's continue with this. It says endurance, endure the process, faithfulness in the middle. Continue what God has called you to do. I don't care if it's walking around like I'm walking around. I told your neighborhood and my new neighborhood. I'm going to say that. Amen.

11:07 And then for whatever, he might be a student in school. You might be believing God for a relationship. I don't know what he's having you endure at this time, but trust and believe. I know people say that, that when you finish, no matter what else comes up, that's your foundation, your brick solid foundation. It won't be built on sand. It'll be built on the rock, the rock of Jesus, right? So that nothing else can move you. Everything else will be built from that. And that's what someone prophesied. Connie, the book that you write, other books are going to come from that book.

11:48 Isn't that interesting? So when you endure a process of, Other things come from that book. And out of the books and the devotionals came the podcast. So endure the process. Things are birthed out of obedience. So let's continue here. So we see here that the Israelites, they were enduring the process. They were enduring the process of marching around the city, marching around Jericho, blowing a trumpet. and on day six, let's be honest. This is our devotional, the excitement starts to wear off. So we set out on a 12-day Derico fast and consecration dedication.

12:31 I don't know if you have any excitement. I don't know if God has showed up in your life. I don't know. But by now, if he hasn't, the excitement is probably worn off. You've been fasting, you've been praying, you've been marching, believing, you've been worshiping, you've been shaking the heavens. But guess what? The wall still looks the same. There's no crack in the stone, no shift in the atmosphere, just another lap, another return to camp. This is where most people give up. They give up in the middle. But day six is not a failure. It's a formation. It's strengthening your consistency.

13:13 He's watching how you handle the silent seasons when your only instruction is to keep going. How many of you maybe have ran track or played a sport and you are so close to winning, but you're so tired, you just want to fall out right there, you know? And you just run it, you can't even feel your legs. But you know that if I can keep this lead, I will be in first place. That's what endurance is. Endurance is not giving up. Anybody can obey on day one. Anybody can obey on day two. But would you still be obedient on day six when it looks like nothing is working?

13:55 Spiritual maturity is forced in the middle. not as a shout, but in the silence. God isn't just preparing your breakthrough. He is preparing you. The wall will fall, but today your assignment is this. Stay faithful in the cycle. Amen. Let's pray. Father, give me endurance in the middle. When my flesh grows weary, when my faith is tested, Help me remember your faithfulness. I will not quit. I will not complain. I trust that you are working behind the wall. Strengthen me to keep walking until you tell me to shout.

14:37 In Jesus' name, amen. Let's decree this. I decree that I will not grow weary in well-doing. I am steady, focused, and faithful in the unseen process. I may not see the results yet, but I know God is at work. My breakthrough is not denied, just in the process. Galatians 6, 9 tells us, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. So today, fast from impatient and discouragement. Refuse to entertain the thought that nothing is happening. and remind yourself obedience is working.

15:21 Even when it's invisible. Make it your point today to drink extra water, rest in its presence, and stay grounded. This is a point where people give up. They give up in the middle. You know why? Because we can go, you don't feel like cooking a dinner and unthawing and prepping the food and getting ready to cook and preparing the meal. You can go grab a quick meal through a drive-thru these days or go sit at a restaurant. But to go ahead and go through the process of preparing that meal, it takes time. And to go ahead and prepare yourself for consecration and a dedication and for major walls to fall, it takes time.

16:05 So here goes some journal prompts for you. Where in my life am I tempted to give up because I don't see change? Or you can ask yourself, where have I given up? Why have I just stopped and not allowed even change to occur? You know, you know, here goes, I always got a story. I know one of my friends at work said, Connie, we should carry, you should carry a camera around your life. So we keep an eye, have a camera because you always have something exciting going on. I really don't think I have anything exciting going on. But how about this part? You ever try to grow out your hair and that process seemed like it takes forever until a certain point and then it just start growing really fast. But during that growing process, you go through a lot of different changes.

16:49 You're like, oh, my God, I'm growing out. My hair was short, like a short, really short brush cut. I mean, really short. And I remember, and, you know, I always say I started to grow my hair. Laura said, I want you to grow your hair out. I said, oh, man, because I like my hair short. I'd rather get up, do a wash and go. I don't need to be dealing with hair, you know. But Laura said, go ahead and grow your hair out. I said, ah, okay, I'll do it. And now I'm in the process. It's been a year and a half. Yeah, literally a year and a half for the top. And then the size I wore really short, now they're growing out. And so we know if you've ever been in that process of growing out your hair, you know what that feels like. It's always different stages.

17:36 We call it the ugly stages, right? And so I've been going through the ugly stages of this hair for the last two years. People love it. I'm looking at it like, I can't wait till it gets super long. But how many know that each part of your hair is growing regardless, whether you see it grow or not grow? You don't wake up one day, unless you probably wig, with hair down your back. It's a process. But because you don't see it growing, it don't mean it's not growing. So during day six, in the middle of our fast and our dedication. Just because you don't see nothing happening, I want you to know that there's some things happening if you don't give up.

18:18 You will reap. What has God already done to show me that he's working, even if the wall hasn't fallen? Wow. Let's just do some basics. When you wake up, you're breathing in the morning. Your mind is right. You can see your eyes are right. Your ears are right. You have a job. A job is right. You have a relationship. Your relationship is right. Your children are healthy. You can just kind of go through your checklist of those things. If you pray, his presence is there. He's still speaking to you daily. So just because you haven't seen the walls fall doesn't mean that they won't fall. Remember, it's all in the process. It's endured the process.

19:00 Why? Because he's building a solid foundation for you to build on forever and ever. If you want something quick and fast, go through a drive-thru, right? And then you eat that food. It tastes good going down, but how many know sometime on the other end, we could have just left that at the garbage can, right? It's just not good coming out, literally. Our body is like, what was that? Why did you even eat that, right? But then when you eat a nice, warm cooked meal that you prepared. Your body even gives you a hug on the inside because it knows it was prepared with love and it knows it was good for your body. And you know that you're not running to the bathroom immediately because it can use every bit of that food that you need to eat. So do you understand?

19:48 And so what you don't see with your eyes, remember God is always at work behind the scenes. He's always at work behind the scenes. And so if you haven't shared any of these episodes and you know someone who needs some walls that must fall and they just, I just need, they need to be encouraged. You know, are reminded that their obedience is working even when they can't see it, please just share. But that wraps it up for day six, and I'll see you on day seven. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to this episode. And before we close out, I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14.

20:34 Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. So today we receive that truth. You said when we call on you, you will listen. So we pray. You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found. So we pursue. You said you will restore us from captivity. So we declare freedom over every place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small. Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen. Music.