Everything by Naima

I could tell you as a child all I ever wanted to do was sing and somewhere along the way I lost the belief in the gift that God had blessed me with and gave it all up only to be asked by the Lord on a beach in Jamaica to re-accept the calling which cannot be revoked and leave my job at Wright State University to form Broken Box Ministries, a Christian Arts and Education Organization. I could tell you how the Lord instilled in me boldness and confidence in Him by allowing me to be the Youth Praise and Worship Leader under the ministry of Youth Pastors Tim and Leann Winton. I could tell you that growing up I looked for love in all the wrong places, hid myself from the world as often as possible and even now struggle with an intense desire to be hidden from view. But that is not my testimony right now...

My current testimony begins in November of 2001 when the man that I wanted to give my entire life to told me that he did not feel the same way about me and I thought that my life was ending. Being a child of the Lord I knew that God could take this pain and use it for His glory, but I didn't know how. As a woman who dreamed of one day ministering to and with a mighty man of God and raising a family, I was devastated and I could not understand why the Lord allowed my entire life to be shattered.

For over a year I had built my entire life around the hope of becoming this man's helpmate and yet this was not to be the case. My heart was breaking and even though I knew the Lord was with me I couldn't feel Him. What hurt the most was that I believed that God had ordained this relationship. It was then that I had a frightening thought. I wondered if the relationship that I had with this fallible human, who loved me yet could not love me as God did, meant more to me then my relationship with the Lord. I think I may have spent too much time seeking the hand of God about wanting this relationship instead of asking and allowing God to determine the outcome of my life. I never thought that He might have something better for me.

My struggle with finding love and acceptance in relationships is not a new mistake. It is one that I have made several times. And as I mediated on what my life was like and how I was letting God down again, it dawned on me that He truly was there to take me in His arms and hold me. For the first time I had a true understanding of His unconditional love, His ability to see the entire picture of my life and His desire to do only the best for me.

I had just begun singing and writing again and I did what I had done since I was saved in 1994 when I was in unbearable pain. I began to sing a melody unto the Lord and in about 30 minutes a song came out. Everything - even now when I sing the song I wrote on that cold November day, I get emotional because I know how much pain I was in and how much I loved that young man. But God is always faithful and it is often in our darkest moments that His love shines the brightest. Jesus is my everything, everything I ever wanted, dreamed of and needed.

The perfect gentleman, He is always waiting when I come home.

For booking information for Naima contact: Alabaster Entertainment, 937-879-0921 or brokenbox@sbcglobal.net

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