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Hello fam!

I just returned from a trip to Jackson, MS. My alma mater, Belhaven University, hosted a Christian dance conference/festival called Project Dance. I thought, Great, this is a perfect way for me to participate in the conference and see my Jackson fam. During my 9 days, I taught 3 dance classes for the department and taught 2 sessions in the festival. I also sat on 2 panels.
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Some backstory...

You know that I spend a confession-worthy amount of time on YouTube, with occasional check-ins on IG. (I'm getting help for it.) I have been very interested in stories and conversations about the church and society--like how the church is navigating the political climate, how the church is handling racial tensions, where the church stands and responds to how immigrants are being handled, what the church is saying in the wake of incidents like Charlie Kirk's murder and who that affects and what it unearths about work we still need to do, and how Christians are navigating relationships with other Christians who think, live, believe, and act differently than they do.
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I increasingly found my feed filled with videos by atheists, former Christians-turned-atheists, and people calling themselves Christians who were just outright twisting and misrepresenting God's word.
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​By the way, don't worry. This is not a political essay. I'm just sharing a little backstory.
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​In the midst of all this, I have felt really compelled to get back into my word, like a regular daily time of reading my Bible: one, because it's just something I should be doing as a believer, and two, because I need to know what is in that book for myself. So I've been going through a chronological reading of the Word (although I'm starting in the New Testament because of all the crazy things I hear people trying to claim about Jesus).
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During my time in Jackson, I had three encounters that reinforced this feeling I've been having.

1 I was watching a YouTube video called, Why are Black people still Christian? Being a black woman myself, and understanding the struggles some black people are having with the church, I was interested. In the video, the creator featured interviews and excerpts from different academics, former pastors who had left the faith, etc. explaining why they and other black people are leaving the church. At the end of all this, the creator reveals that he is still a Christian, despite being a black man and knowing why other blacks understandably feel they no longer have a place in the church and need to leave. He reveals why he stays. He said, "Because I read the book for myself."

2 At Project Dance, I taught a choreography workshop and did a session on our faith and art working together. Both were a wonderful time. After the faith and art session, a young lady came to me and asked if we could get together and continue talking. I said of course and gave her my notebook to get her information. In my notebook, she wrote her number with a note that read, "I would love to sit with a Bible with you tonight." We met up later that day but didn't have time to sit with a Bible and dig in. We talked about many things. She shared how she was feeling about some things that echoed much of what I have been feeling. Then she said something that just lit me up. She said, "Being in there with you, listening to you and the conversation we were having makes me want to dig into my Bible."

3 I was sitting on a panel with the creator of Project Dance, Cheryl Cutlip, and two other dance leaders. Cheryl was responding to a question. Within her response, she said at the end of the day, she just wanted people to know Jesus. I have heard people say this so many times over the years. But in the midst of everything that has been going on, thinking about my prayers for you and other artists in KAI, that short statement just rang all through me.

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That is my desire for you! And it is what I'm pursuing for myself in a deeper way.
I want you to know your God for yourself, and for God to help you know who you are in Him as His child, and as a result, as His artist.

I want you to know who He has made you and what has been made available to you through Christ's finished work--and what that means for your creative life and journey. And from that knowing, I want to see you walk in freedom and wholeness because you know that He has made you free, and that He has made you whole. I want you to know who He is and whose you are, and what it means for your life to be in Him.

I want you to have that unshakeable confidence that comes from direct contact---where you know who He's made you to be because He's constantly showing you more about yourself, about the capacities and ideas and giftings and anointings He's put in you.

I took us a long way around but each of those instances have reinforced this calling back that I've been feeling for myself, for the direction of this work, and for those the Lord is calling to it.
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There is a lot going on in this world.
There is a lot of stuff being said of all stripes.
It is imperative that you know FOR YOURSELF whose you are, who you serve, and what it means to walk with Him.
You need to know for the health and endurance of your faith and your creative vision.
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I hope that you buy, read, and share my books, essays, and podcasts because I genuinely believe the Lord gave them to me to encourage you. But at the end of the day, all those things are just to build up your confidence and courage to go to your Father for yourself and allow Him to become Lord of your creative gifts and path. Not just Christ who gave them to you, but Lord, whom you submit to and follow in how you use what He's given you.
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A Prayer​
I want to share my prayer with you that I pray every time before I read my Bible.
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Lord, I come to Your word today and in coming to Your word, I come to You, for You and Your word are one. I come to look upon the resurrected Jesus because that's who I am in His resurrection. Whatever is true about Him in His resurrection is true about me.
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As I look at Him today, I thank you Holy Spirit that You are helping me understand what He's done for me, what it means for my life, and what I've been given so that I understand and increasingly walk out the life (and quality of life) I'm supposed to be living. I thank You that as I eat of this Word, Christ is being fully formed in me, is filling me out, and is extending beyond me.
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Lord, as I look into the life I have in Christ, I thank you Holy Spirit that you open my understanding so that I can see clearly. Help me connect the dots in different parts of Your word. Show me the parts of Your truth that go together in the revelation of Jesus and His resurrection. Root me in sound doctrine, show me how to use Your word lawfully and rightly divide the word of truth.
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And I thank you for Your Author's insight---what You were thinking when you wrote what You wrote. And as I read today, I thank you that I am being transformed and conformed more into His image, that my mind is being renewed, and that my life is bearing more and more fruit of His resurrection and that transformation. Amen!
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Be blessed and I'll see you next month!
Marlita
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