Our Caves

Have you ever found yourself in hiding or what some may call some “Alone Time”? We often allow the hustle and bustle of this world to send you to a place where you withdraw yourself from the world’s foolishness. We all have moments, days, or even weeks like this; because we honestly believe no one can help nor understand you. So you go into your cave removing yourself so all the drama will stay at bay.

There is this man named Elijah, he actually found a cave and he made it his dwelling place because no one seemed to pay him any attention, gave him nothing but grief, talked about him, and thought he was crazy. Haven’t we all felt this way some time in our life where we wanted to go someplace to hide and shut the world out to be alone, have some me time, or just to get your mind right. However, you can’t stay locked up in your on little world; blocking everything and everybody out forever. God may allow you to do this, have your temper tantrum, for just a little while. Elijah had to be told or treated like a child by God to come out of the cave. God told Elijah to look around at the other people out and about doing His business and Elijah was so into his own world he failed to see that he was not alone. God showed him that there were others in the world that had problems but they were still doing God’s work regardless of their station in life, circumstances, and issues. God showed Elijah, “you are not alone”. Elijah could not understand and God told him I would never send you out to do My work alone there are hundreds & thousands of people out there doing my work also, so don’t ever think you are alone.

We have these cave moments in our own lives when we think God has sent us on some mission and we are alone, not so! God has others working just like you and me, so don’t ever get discouraged because you don’t see with your own eyes others at work. Should we not walk by faith and not by sight? I wonder if Elijah felt foolish as we do, when we discover we are not the only one doing something in life. We all have our bags to carry plus some, but when God has you doing a task in life we need to heed to His command and do it the easy way without complaining or the hard way acting like a child hiding because you can’t have your own way.
By Tina Kay Hughes, author of “TKay’s Inspirational: Walking In Your Season” www.tinakay.net

The What If's In Life

The what ifs in life….sometimes we need to prepare for things in life even if we don’t know they are coming…what exactly are the what ifs…..the what ifs in life, they tend to catch us on our blind side & we don’t have a clue or even know they are on the way, but they come anyway…..the what if’s in life.... are we properly preparing for those things….we all have what ifs in life, there is no way around these what ifs in our lives they just show up like an uninvited house guest who stay, and stay, and stay... they can’t be stopped they are like a freight train or subway ready to dump off a load of what ifs in your life of all these things and people that you were not expecting to show up…what are you doing to prepare for the what ifs in your life.....please believe the what if's are coming....Get ready cause the what ifs don't care about who you are, what you do, your hopes and dreams or anything about you....the what ifs just COME!!!!

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Real Talk

What you should know about me is my energy is one that leaves a room of people glad to have been in my presence…What you should know about me is when I’m there, in your presence you have my full undivided attention for that moment in time….what you should know about me is I say what I feel and I’m done with it and its time to push on….what you should know about me is I try to leave or plant a seed that will someday produce something good for those in my presence, so one day they can say you planted a seed many moons ago that caused me to rethink some things in my life…make a few adjustments, cut off some dead weight in my life, or pursue a dream that appeared to be unattainable…
Real Talk everyone has an energy that exudes from them and you can feel a person's vibe the moment you are in their presence....you see, when you are surrounding yourself with anyone who is not looking to be elevated in life or even help you elevate and grow by sharing themselves in a positive way with you or others, or being a beacon of light in a dark world...you are essentially wasting your time....that's on you, you decided to loose that time with fake want-a-bees.....
Real Talk….I'm me, and that's all, no preservatives, additives, nor are there any extras that make me who I am and who I have been called to be.....life is about flowing and moving forward like those moving floors in the large airports that move you along from corridor to corridor, its no stopping in life…you see a lot of people don’t realize if you are not constantly moving, growing, pushing forward in a positive manner then you are essentially in a place where death is overtaking you slowly and you don’t even realize it…Real Talk you don’t realize it because you are comfortable, it feels good, its convenient, and it does not cause any chaos in this life that you have ordered for yourself….so how long will you sit there on the shelf with the preservatives and additives trying to keep you alive emotionally, spiritually, & physically…..please believe the expiration date will soon come
Real Talk….Once you stop to take a look at the fake flowers you've wasted your time with I hope you realize you’ve missed your season to get a real flower that will grow, produce, vegetate, and give you something real and living to work with…unlike that plastic stuff you bought for the time being.
Real Talk….this is just me and you….what are you waiting on, yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not promised, and this moment right here right now is all that matters….so I ask you what type of vibe are you leaving and giving to others….who is around you that is sucking the very fabric of your being from you…Are you faking it to make it….Are you sitting on a shelf waiting for your expiration date to come so you will be removed from the shelf…are you moving, are you growing……
Real Talk….who are you, what do you stand for, what are you doing, and what is your destiny…..Real Talk, your destiny is not going to fall out of the sky into your lap so do something today that is real.
By TKay Author of "TKay's Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season" www.tinakay.net

I Used To Love You

The truth is we loved each other a long time ago and there is no way to get back what we once had. At one point in my life I would do whatever you asked, I would go where ever you said go, I would hang onto your every word, and wait for you…longing for our next appointment with destiny…You would never miss a beat always saying the right thing when it needed to be said, always giving me what I wanted, always being there when I felt no one else was there for me…I pushed all my family and friends away so you could occupy every free moment in my life…I loved you, I depended on you alone, I waited in anticipation for you…what would our next thrill be and what would we do next to give me an adrenaline rush, I would sit on the porch looking down the street for your car to come along, I would watch my phone for your number to appear so I could hear your voice…I would check my computer for your messages and check the mail for just a simple letter.

But today, I look back on how I adored you and wonder was it adoration or simply stupidity on my part…You tricked me so many times….Your lies were like the words to my favorite love song…Your actions and touches would make me melt like an ice cube…You could sweep me off my feet with the I’m sorries and please forgive this and that and I would accept it because I loved and missed you…and I would fall head over heals for it each time, not knowing I was being literally pulled in to a dark hole with every thing I accepted and believed from and about you….

So I stand here in this deep dark hole where you’ve placed me while you prey on your next innocent and clueless victim…Here I stand, just me and darkness and I am looking up for the light that will guide me back to the only One who called and considered me His beloved. I stand here alone thinking what have I done and how did I allow these tricks and lies to bring me to a hole for me to die a slow death all alone…but I began to call out to my Adonai (my God who is the Master of my life), El Shaddai (you are sufficient), El Roi (you see everything), My God My God you are the comforter of my soul, you are the only One who can wrap me in your wings so that not even my feet are harmed or hurt the enemy…I cry out with a wail that I’ve never heard come out of belly before this day at this moment in time….I wail because I realize I’ve been bamboozled by the Master of Lies, Satan himself….he fed my flesh, brainwashed my thinking, and kept me running in circles so I would not understand or even recognize his plan of trying to take my life for his own…But what Satan failed to realize is, God planted a seed in my soul that could never be removed when I accepted Him so many years ago…he thought he could woo me, trick me, and leave me in a hole to suffer in silence…Satan did not know God already had a plan in place and a dance with destiny for my soul…Satan can trick you and lure you, but Jesus has already paid the ultimate price for you to belong to our Father if we would only accept Him…God takes even those of us who have hit our bottom who are looking up for the light…

You see my dance with destiny was my choice, but as I laid in that hole waling from the deepest place in my belly God heard my cry, and told me My Beloved I love you, I’ve never forgotten you and I knew you would come back to me as He held His arms out to embrace this wounded and broken soul….no longer confused but now I have a better understanding of unconditional love…God wants me no matter how I look or what I have to offer; whereas, Satan used my weaknesses to lure me into his traps….I thank God for taking me back and loving me with no conditions attached, and His forgiveness, huhh He throws all my shortcomings into the sea of forgetfulness….Yes God rescued me from that hole and He has never stopped loving me in and through all of my foolishness…He was only waiting on me to come to myself and realize no one or thing can ever love me like He can…Now I realize and recognize and I am very weary of those who come into my life….I ask God, should I allow this person into my space, my life, and my secret place….Now I wait for God to let me know who is good for me and who is not. The truth Satan, is we loved each other a long time ago and there is no way to get back what we once had.
By Tina Kay Hughes, Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season” www.tinakay.net

It's Like That

He never took life at face value; he never looked at life thru a set of smoked filled glasses. He looked at life square in its eyes and said I’m ready, he loved life and life loved him back. He always had a kind word; a way of putting something where you would ponder his words for hours or days, and the wisdom that exuded from him was like a set of mud footprints everywhere he walked. Nothing was ever taken for granted and the senses God gave us to hear, to feel, to see, to smell, to taste is what life to him was all about! Taking advantage of your senses and this is what he did. Always taking time to really hear what someone he loved was really saying by repeating it back to them so there was no misunderstanding and the meaning was clear. He touched those he loved by reaching out and taking their hands sometimes and hugging them followed with a sincere kiss. He never rushed through life not seeing the things and people along life’s way, but sometimes in this thing called life he took time to just sit down during this journey and take a break; to be with friends and family to develop memories that will be with you for a lifetime. God has given us a gift of smelling those things that are good or not in life, but either way take time to smell those things in life that bring fond memories, create new insights, and learning from those things and people who don’t smell so good. He never missed the opportunity to taste and see for himself what this thing called life was all about. God said, “Oh, come taste and see for yourself how good I am.” Tasting does not necessarily mean with your pallet, but tasting requires you to seek out things in life that are there for the ready-- waiting for you to find and explore. So many things at your disposal and this he constantly reminded me; a new city, a new lease on life, a new way of thinking, a new way of doing things, a new beginning, just do something/anything new.

Life does not deal us the hand we hoped for like in a game of spades, where sometimes you don’t have enough books to make board. But there are other times when the hand you are dealt allows you to sweep the board. However, either way you have to work with the hand you’ve been dealt because in this life it’s no giving back the cards or saying I quit; you still gotta live regardless of how many books you can make. But you see when you sit down in this game of life you do have a partner, a brother, a friend like no other who comes along to help you go over the books you thought could be made—that would be God, Jesus Christ, who gives us the Holy Spirit. So, my friend would always say “It’s like that!” with no uncertain terms. Life is like that! Deal with it! Use what God has given you—your senses, your sanity, your spirit, and all the love you can muster to look life square in the eyes and say I’m here and I ain’t going nowhere; I will enjoy this life to the fullest. When my time comes to get up from the table of the game of spades and be called home, I pray that you and I have used every sensory at our advantage to taste and see for yourself how good this thing called life can truly be! It’s like that!!! I lost friend who lived life this way, and he would always end his sentences with “It’s like that”, always in my heart and memories Cedric Hinson.
By Tina Kay Hughes, Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season” visit www.tinakay.net

I'm Just Saying

People love to preface a sentence with “I’m just saying”. It seems that people even have the nerve to say this at the most inopportune time! I’m just saying conotates “I told you so”, “You should have listened to me”, “Why did you do that anyway” or maybe even “That was stupid”. It is a slogan that really gets the listener on the receiving end on edge and angry. When I think of this slogan I think about Job’s ignorant friends and stupid wife! Job’s friends had the audacity to sit around for seven full days looking crazy at each other and at Job and then finally accusing him of doing something wrong. I can hear them saying “I’m just saying you must have done something to cause this wrath to come on you at this magnitude, but I’m just saying.” Job got so frustrated with all of their foolish talk and told them, “Don't talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well." Despite all that happened, Job never once said anything against God, because he knew in his heart of hearts that God had his back. Job was unable to see the forest for the trees because he was having a valley experience and he recognized this. When you are in the valley you don’t know what’s going on or in the works outside of that valley. However, he was not content on pitching a tent and staying in that valley. Job placed his trust in God and only God because that was all he knew to do at that particular juncture in his life, and on that he stood; in trust, faith, hope, and believing in what he could not see with his own eyes or come to a conclusion with his own mind was not his final destiny in life.

We must be mindful of the people we bring into our circle, our space, and lives because they love to share and actually invite themselves to be apart of your life when things are well, but when things start making a turn for the worst there they stand with these words, “I’m just saying”. Sometimes we need to take that “I’m just saying” that is coming out of the mouths of other people into your life and rebuke it! Remove yourself from their presence, and tell them to get to stepping. This is what Job told his shallow wife and friends to do.

I’m just saying gets tired and old real fast when you are experiencing these valleys in our life. We must take note of the situation, pray, wait on God to move, and be patient that He has already worked out the kinks in this thing called life. You see a test is between you and God, while a trial is for everyone to see how you will react and respond in these valley experiences. When you are in the valley, don’t be still and set up a tent to stay there! These valley experiences test us, try us, give us more faith, and teach us to believe in God and not man. So, I’m just saying when you are in that valley take heed and note because you are being tested as you go through the trials in this life. You can remain there with those ignorant, unfaithful, unbelieving folks if you want—and you will be there for a long while. The other option is to never give up hope or faith and believe God always has your best interested at heart because He has called you His Beloved, and even engraved your name in the palm of his hand to remind Him of how much He loves you. So, remove yourself from those in your life who speak doom and gloom, just like Job’s close friends and family just like those who are doing the same in your life. God can provide you with new friends, new experiences, and a new life as you come out of the valley to the other side to see all He has always had in store for you, even before the beginning of time. He was just waiting on you to stop with the “I’m just saying” and allow God to say “I am saying”.
By Tina Kay Hughes Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season” www.tinakay.net

Liberation

Sometimes do you want to just go to the airport and buy a plane ticket to the next destination to anywhere, somewhere, but not here….maybe sometimes you wish you could travel in time….or even just jump in the car and ride and ride and ride with no destination in mind….The worries of this world, the disappointments, the heart aches and breaks can send you to a point of wanting to just fly away, get away, and find a place to feel free….

Some days I feel as if I am this butterfly in the cocoon fully developed but there is duct tape all over the outside of the cocoon so I can’t push my way out…the evolution of the butterfly is when it gets to a point of being fully developed (just like a baby) it is time to come out into the world…come out of a place of development….the butterfly has to push itself (breaking through) the cocoon without any help…the break through that it must experience maybe painful and it may be a struggle but the butterfly has to crack that cocoon open with no help, if help is provided the butterfly will die….this is the way God has set this thing called life up, with the butterfly experiencing a difficult situation to be free….when the butterfly pushes through it squeezes all of the excess fluid inside it’s body out and if someone helps it, death is the consequence (because the fluid remains in the body of the butterfly not allowing it to live).

Same holds true in this life thing…we must experience a development period (or a period of preparation to get us ready for another level in life); during this period, it’s not pretty, it does not feel good, and it may be you all alone. But when that breakthrough time comes and you can begin to see the light and taste the air that’s when you discover you are almost to a place of freedom…when that butterfly breaks through, oh my goodness liberation is so sweet.

But I’m not like your typical butterfly there is duct tape all over my cocoon! With the duct tape representing me holding myself back, not believing, afraid, uneasy of what out there looks like, or not believing and having faith. I want freedom, maybe that’s why I want to just get away and fly away from here, but first I have to remove all these limitations I’ve placed on myself that prevent me from coming out of my cocoon. How do I begin to remove this duct tape, which represents self inflicted obstacles? I want liberation, freedom, to be able to fly away, to be a free spirit; but I’m still in this cocoon as I work on slowly removing my own confinement, my own blockades, my own restrictions, and boundaries.

One of these days I will be free just like that butterfly, a free spirit—liberated. Oh! Liberation is so good, it is peace, it is happiness, it is being in your right mind, it is trusting, it is believing in something bigger than you and I. Liberation is deliverance, emancipation, and exoneration. Oh Liberation I gotta have you!
By Tina Hughes, author of “TKay’s Inspirational: Walking In Your Season” www.tinakay.net

Where Do I Go From Here

Many people have stock piled in their minds or on paper what it is they want or would like to do in life. Others may have all types of plans in place for this and that, but the truth of the matter is we don’t actually control this thing called life. We wake up not knowing what card we will be dealt the day, month, year, or even life. We travel through this thing called life with the assumption that we are in control. Not so! We are seriously misinformed and sadly under the assumption that we control the direction in which our lives will take.

Life is so funny it can be like a sunny day then the next is like a tornado tearing through your life destroying all that is in front of you that seems to be right in your reach. So you question yourself asking what happened between yesterday and today…we forget God is in control and not ourselves. It’s hard to give over complete control to an entity, this untouchable being, this spirit in the sky; but letting go is exactly what we need to do! Many say let go and let God, so true so true! If we would only have total confidence that God gets it right every time and never of the sometimes we may come to understand how God works in our lives. It’s hard to receive something when your hand is closed or your vessel is already overflowing with your stuff. You must let go of that thing, person, or belief that you hold on to for dear life which is preventing God from putting something new in your life, in your space, and in your hand to cherish and provide you with the desires of your heart, it’s time—past time to let it go. Begin to pour out all the toxic stuff in and around your life that consumes you with negativity, chaos, and disparity. Because at the end of the day where do we go from this place in life without God.

He only requires you yielding yourself totally to Him so He and only He can take you by the hand and lead you through the complexities of life. These convoluted things we fill our lives with don’t allow Him to lead us because we feel as if we have it covered because we know it all, have it all, and all the world is at your disposal whenever you want and need it—I say keep on living. You see this thing called life will take you to places you never imagined you would have to go, or take you through circumstances you never dreamed of being smack dab in the middle. Then, we ask where do I go from here. Maybe, if you are in your right mind you will say I yield, I yield all that I have, all that I am, and all that is within me to You my God! I trust you and love you enough to believe you know where to take me not only from this space in life but throughout my life’s journey.

By Tina Kay Hughes Author of “TKay’s Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season”
www.tinakay.net

I Want To Fly

I work with young teenage girls and I am constantly drilling into them that they must love themselves before they will ever have the ability to love anyone else or allow anyone else to enter thier space to love them. These girls are very similar to me, I think we are butterflies with broken wings and no one wants somthing or somebody that is broken. So other butterflies see our beauty on the outside then they begin to see the other side that is broken and not whole so, the others fly away because honetly what can you do with a butterfly who cannot fly, be free, be in the open, be liberated, and just be what it was meant to do fly free...I always say to my girls you better love you, learn to love (yourself) first and everything that is broken, God will begin to mend those broken wings. I've been saying that for so long to others that sometimes I fail to realize that as I try pouring into others my vessel has all kinds of cracks and I have to allow God to put me back together before I can hold all that He is filling me with. But in the meantime, I still pour what I have into those who are broken just like me, waiting for their wings to be mended so they are ready when the time comes to fly free.

We too often think, everything will be alright--but it does take working on those areas in life that need mending, fixing, and putting back together again. We don't want to really pull back a few layers in our lives (like an oinion) because it will cause tears to flow, things that had been repressed to come to the surface that need to be dealt with. Life is all about mending those things that have been broken at some point in time. No one is or will ever be perfect so we all have some mending to do.
by TKay, author of "TKay's Inspirationals: Waling In Your Seaosn" www.tinakay.net

Not To Feel

There is a place in life where the only way you can live is not to feel, until you come to a place in life where you understand that there is a dependency on all types of things in life that have no substance, no purpose, and no value...not to feel causes one to lower their self sufficiency and self value so there are never any disappointments when someone has done you wrong, or here we go again with the drama, or when your body begins its decline. To not feel is a way to put up a wall that allows you to live but not really live, I know you are wondering who lives like this? So many, so many who don't want to admit it, so many who are not willing to raise their hand, so many who have given of themselves until their hearts bleed, so many who have opened up but now they feel gutted out....and you ask me who are these people who learn to live a life not feeling in order to live...it may be you, it may be me, it may be your neighbor, lover, or friend...not feeling allows one to push pass the sadness, the obvious, the ordinary, the disappointments, the loneliness, the rejections, the heart aches and breaks--not to feel so I can live...this makes no sense huh, but it makes sense to the person who has learned to live life this way. Intriguing as it may be, so many live like this, it may be you. Living without feeling is a facade so many have learned to mask themselves with...so desperation or anticipation is never apart of their game. If it happens it happens, if not I knew it--but I'm banking on not getting my hopes up ever again so I am not crushed, mutilated, incarcerated, or decapitated. Living this life is a life without faith because one who lives without feeling has been let down more times than they can count, more times than they can imagine or remember...Living a life without feeling helps get the edge off and come to a place where they have to face faith face to face, until living without feeling is a life one comes to understand cannot be a happy place but more of a sad place...this place where you meet God and you have to decide to believe and trust that He can make you whole, He can make you feel, not just any feeling but a feeling that is unscripted and not easy to understand. Maybe, this is why my Savior said "Be not far from me", as He spoke to his Father in heaven. Can the spirit take more than it was built to handle? How many seasons can a man suffer without putting his feelings on the line? Is this possible? Living a life without feeling causes the soul to sink into an abyss where it is hard to retrieve. Many live like this, in this thing called life--many wear their facade, many even die while living, so they can live without feeling.
By Tina Kay Hughes (TKay) Author of "TKay's Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season"

Sucking You Dry

This funny thing called life has so many doors through which we can open, go through, and sit for a while. During the duration of your stay in that room allows God to give you so many lessons that He wants you to learn. He is showing you new things that have always been in your life but now you see it and understand it a little clearer. He wants you to move from room to room (elevation to elevation) so He can give you wisdom! But it is so hard for people to leave certain rooms in life because they are not paying attention, they are stuck on stupid, allowing others to hold them back or even holding themselves back. A lot of the problems that come with moving from room to room or elevation to elevation are the people with whom you surround yourself. Its okay if your life has changed in such a way where you have to leave people (even the ones you love) right there so you can keep moving. A life without change or movement is a life of death--change has to take place for anything or anybody to grow and live.

life is just too precious and uncertain to play mental gymnastics with people who have little minds, no goals, and negative attitudes. Today let's pull the cord on all these people who are plugged into you (like you are an extension cord) sucking you dry of all of your positive energy, peace, happiness, and joy; right out of you. But the key is you must remain lugged into the source (God). Today what are you going to choose your sanity, peace, joy, happiness, and an open space for God to work in your life or continuing status quo? It's time, past time to move to the next room and unplug yourself from those who are sucking you dry.

By Tina Kay Hughes, Author of "TKay's Inspirationals: Walking In Your Season" www.tinakay.net

Haters

People will always hate on you and the root of it is jealousy. When people are still in a place in life where you once were, they become like crabs in a barrell, trying to pull you back down to where they are, Jesus told his disciples to dust off (forget, cut off, and move past) those who curse you and bless those who bless you. God is expanding your windgs to reachnew places, new things, and new people during the process anything or anybody that is weighing you down you need to let go, you can't let them hang on to your wings or they will pull you down. God is doing a NEW THING in your life. TKay

Enough

When you are broken it is easier to just fall apart, forget about the pieces that had been taken from you, the pieces stolen from you, the pieces that were left behind, the missing pieces that have forced you to adjust to your environment….the pieces you simply do not have anymore, the pieces that were God given gifts, the pieces that made you the person you were called to be, the pieces that long ago made you whole…For so long I told myself its okay, I’m fine, It will get better, and this to shall pass…..

But today when I woke up and decide, ENOUGH….I will no longer allow other’s to take from me, the very fabric of what holds me together, the glue that keeps my pieces from just falling off as I walk….I will no longer be a broken mess ENOUGH….Today I call those things that be not as though they are…Today I will pick up all the pieces, the fragments, the leftovers….all that I can possibly find so that I can offer them up to God, so that He and only He can make me whole again….These pieces (that make me who I am) may not mean much to you, but God grieves because these pieces , these parts, this broken person was long ago pieced together carefully in The Potter’s hands for His use…You see I was perfect when He molded me many years ago and He even thought about me long before I was in my mother’s womb….It grieves Him because He made me…the person you see before you, may not look broken on the outside, but there are pieces missing within….my makeup may be flawless & my fashionable clothes are freshly pressed, but there is something missing….So right now I lie prostrate before God and offer Him all of the broken pieces that I can possibly find so maybe, just maybe He will make me whole again.

I’m tired of being the girl with the broken wing…but today I will allow Elohim (my God who is all powerful, Jehovah Rohi (He is indeed my Shepard), Jehovah Jireh (He is my only provider), Jehovah Rapha (You are my healer),Jehovah Shalom (You are my peace), El Shaddai (You are God Almighty) to take these pieces and do with them as He sees fit….He hears my cry and wipes my tears then He completely wraps me in His wings, in His bosom, in His love, in His care and nurtures this broken soul, this broken woman you see before you…I go to God & He like no other is capable of wiping away my tears and He kisses my forehead…Today I cry Enough and that is all that seems to come out of my mouth as tears roll down my face I whisper Enough….I trust You and only You to make me whole again and for that I love you.