Running In Circles

Every once in a while I come across a book that changes my entire mindset. There is of course the Bible – our living, breathing, guidebook to life. My favorite by Bruce Wilkerson’s, The Dream Giver, which inspired me to move out of the land of familiar, push past being ordinary and live the Big Dream that the Giver of Dreams gave me. Walking on Water by Madeline E’Lengle is another favorite, it inspired me to look for God in every place, in every moment, and in every person, and to capture these glimpses of glory in the songs I write. 

Currently, I’m reading, The Circle Maker by Pastor Mark Batterson.  Batterson has challenged me to draw circles around my prayers like the first century Jewish Sage, Honi.  During a devastating drought in Israel, Honi, drew a circle in the sand, stepped inside and made his intentions known, he would not leave the circle until the Lord answered his bold request for rain.  Now that must have taken some faith, to determine that you were not going to give up until you heard from God!  And as Honi prayed, the rain began to fall.

I don’t think you can get that kind of response from the Lord without being truly intimate with Him. I mean it hadn’t rained in over a year when Honi started to beseech the Father. He had to be praying before he stepped into the circle.

We need diligent prayer like that in our lives. You have to pray long and pray hard and never give up as Batterson tells us in his book.  Drawing a circle is about trusting that the God of the Universe will answer your prayers and your responsibility is to keep praying, keep believing, keep seeking, keep thanking, keep praising until the manifestation of the prayer stands before you.  .

I am now daily drawing prayer circles around my marriage, this ministry, my family, prayer requests others have given me, this nation, the world, Israel, salvation, healings, big dreams that are being birthed in my heart to serve the Lord and His people.  With Godly intention and faith filled purpose I am running in circles because I am determined to hear well done good and faithful servant! No more limp prayers that go over the same ground… nope, I want to stand in the circle and see the rain!

Go Climb A Tree

I can’t see much right now.  It’s one of those times in my life where it seems like I can’t see what the Lord is doing and my only choices are to trust and to worship.  And it can be a challenge to trust and to worship when you feel isolated and shrouded in darkness.  We are always taught to press through these times, forget about what’s going on and focus on the Lord and what He has done in the past.  We pull out those platitudes that while true are quoted to placate us in times of trouble.  The ones like, “God is never late, He’s always on time!” or “He did it before, He will do it again!”  Like I said, true, but not always what you want to hear when you’re so crowded by troubles and issues that you can’t even see a glimpse of the hope that you know can and will deliver you.

At times like these, you gotta just climb a tree.  I loved to climb trees when I was younger although I didn’t climb to many growing up in the Bronx.  And I never went very high when I did because I was always afraid of heights.  But when I did get a chance, I would clamber up as far as I dared to get a different perspective of the world below.  So that’s what I’m going to do now, climb a tree.

In Luke 19, Verse 1-10 Zacchaeus the tax collector climbed a tree because he was too short to see Jesus through the crowd.  Zacchaeus was so determined to see the Lord that he even ran ahead of the crowd and climbed the tree.  And Jesus saw him in the tree, called him down by name and came to his home blessing him with salvation. Zacchaeus’s entire life was changed because he climbed the tree. He changed his outlook on life and changed his actual behavior because he met Jesus when he climbed a tree.

Well, I can’t literally climb a tree and wait for Jesus to pass by.  But what I can do is go higher and change my perspective about what is going on. I can believe that Jesus will see me when he passes by.  Going higher simply means that no matter how I feel, I should worship more, I should trust more, I should read my word more, I should serve Him even more.  I have to change my perspective and trust that at the end of this trial I will be changed.  I am going to hang out up high so I can see Jesus when He passes by and most importantly because I’m hanging in a tree up ahead I believe He will look up, call my name and my life will be changed forever.

Kicking It Will Get You Kicked and Other News from the Homefront!

The Calling, January 2014 The Official Newsletter of Broken Box Ministries and the Ministry of Naima

Did You Know!?
Happy New Year! I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas. I am looking forward to 2014, I believe that there are great things in store for the people of the Lord. Would you pray for us, that the Lord would use us to evangelize, encourage, uplift and educate all those we come into contact with this year? It is our desire to impact the world with the truth of who Christ is and see many people inspired to a worshipful relationship with Christ. We love you all and we are thankful for your continued support in 2014. There are lots of exciting things going on and we want to encourage and meet your needs! Hang out at www.facebook.com/ministryofnaima and www.twitter.com/NaimaJohnston.

Dr. Nay’s Random Life Lesson for January
Have you ever heard or used the term kicking it? It means to be hanging out, messing around, having a good time, just chilling. We all need to kick it once in a while, rest is good for the soul and spending quality time with loves ones always is a blessing. But sometimes when we know we’ve been called to do a great work for the Lord we find ourselves kicking it to much and not working on the things that we have always dreamed of achieving. So if you want to achieve your God given dreams in 2014 and not be kicked off your assignment remember, “Too much kicking it, will get you kicked!”

Report of the Ministry
This year we are on a mission build this ministry and employ new programs and projects that meet the needs of the people we are called to encourage and uplift. Through much prayer and wise council we have revamped our ministry tagline and mission statement. We are also recording new music, having a new logo designed, launching our T-shirt line and putting together a new website! Please let us know what you think about our new mission statement and tagline – do you feel it accurately describes who I am and what Jon and I do with Broken Box Ministries? Our new tagline is: The Ministry of Naima, Worshipping God, Encouraging People. Our new mission statement: Inspiring the world to a lifestyle of worship through music and ministry.

Did You Miss?
I know Christmas has passed, but if you missed the last Worship Note or the Broken Box Ministries end of the year please take a peek!

Are you in the Year in Review Christmas Video!? http://youtu.be/7xHL4zFG3Ds  

Check out the Worship Note, Christmas Everyday for a worship reflection on the true meaning of Christmas. http://youtu.be/e1GjpVzy5iU

Don’t Forget!
Are you a Creative Christian Woman? Are you seeking support, fellowship, educational opportunities and spiritual growth? Then join the Creative Christian Women’s Network with both online and in person meetings and educational seminars! For more information email me at naimasbrokenbox@yahoo.com for more information!

We are now booking for 2014! George or Kim would be happy to book a date! Call 901-409-5505 or email them at info@vincentcreativegroup.com if I can be of service.
Praying blessings on you all! Now go out and achieve… Your Calling!

© January 2014, The Calling is a publication of 7thirtyseven Logos, a division of BBM, All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication can be republished without express permission from the publisher.

The Deeper Project!

Last year I found myself in a place where I was so desperate to discover God’s perfect will for my life that I determined that the only way to find it was to get so close to Him that we were face to face. It seemed to me that if I could get that close to the Lord I could actually get past all my fears, frustrations and issues and live in the center of His will.  And if I could live in the center of His will, I could accomplish anything and everything He had created me to do.  I wanted to get past the surface and get as deep into the Lord as I could. And in the midst of that moment I started to sing the song that became, Deeper (Center of Your Will) the title track of my new EP releasing winter 2014.

As a songwriter I express myself best through lyrics and music.  In the melody, meter and rhyme I craft the things I want to say but often don’t, share the secret desires of my heart and present it to the world in hopes that they will understand.  I want to sing to the world in hopes that they will see that in the middle of all the messiness of life, there is a God who can heal, restore, give hope, love and keep them.  I want them to meet the beautiful Savior who died on a cross so we could have a true relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ.

Jon and I decided to start recording this project two years ago, as artists and ministers we don’t often have extra money, and although sometimes it’s difficult, we would not trade the life we live for anything.  We found things came to a standstill as we transitioned back to Nashville and had to find a new producer.  But the scripture that tells us that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8 Verse 28) is so true.  In what first seemed like a delay, I wrote new songs that were much more suited to the current place I was in – a place where I was learning joy, to overcome fear, to see the Lord work his marvelous wonders in my life.

I now have a collection of songs I humbly ask for your assistance in recording.  Although we’d love to do a full length album at this time, we are starting with an EP of 5 or 6 songs that both Jon and I truly believe will encourage all who hear them. We’ve tried to come up with some fun gifts to give back to you for believing in us so much that you would donate to this new project and any donation of any amount you make is more then appreciated.

We face some possible challenges, anytime you set off on a journey; you can do nothing but your best to get to where you are trying to go.  And I promise to do my best.  There may be delays in the recording process and other administrative hold ups and life moments we may need to pause for.  But we go forward trusting the Lord and relying on Him to get this new project into your hands.

I’m working with a dynamic producer, Evan Sieling who has seen past my insecurities and musically pulled out the best in me.  Between Evan and the constant encouragement from Jon, I am facing my fears head on, singing with a new found freedom and from a perspective that truly understands who I am and whose I am.  Before I sang because I was compelled to, now I sing for joy!

Our plan is use the money raised to record 5 to 6 songs, duplicate the project, shoot a video and do some basic promotions.  If we exceed our goal we will record more music then we originally planned.  I always have more songs then I have resources to record.

Thank you for taking the time to consider donating to the Deeper EP.  Words can’t express my excitement about sharing these new songs with the world.  I hope that you will partner with Jesus, Jon and I so that we can encourage the world to go deeper and explore the riches of our matchless God.  And together we will live fearlessly, singing for joy, in the center of His will.www.gofundme.com/Naima

Random Life Lessons On Marriage - Lesson One

Tomorrow Jon Bush and I celebrate 3 years of marriage! I can hardly believe it. In honor of our 3 years I have compiled a list of 4 life lessons I've learned about marriage. I'll be sharing them over the next four days.

Lesson One: You can’t change anyone. Don’t ever marry someone thinking you can. And don’t spend too much time asking the Lord to change them into what you think or want them to be. (I thank the Lord I knew that coming in!) Ask the Lord to change you instead, so you can be the wife or husband you’ve been called to be. Praying together daily as a couple makes all the difference in the world. Making Christ the head of your marriage is the most important thing you can do.

Matthew 19:4-6
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' ? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."