Refined Gem

Good morning PEACE, Good morning JOY! Good bye worries, Good bye doubt! Negative thought you been served. I welcome you, SELF CONFIDENCE! My name has been changed. My spiritual face has been changed. I would like to introduce myself as REFINED GEM. A gem is woman who is precious in the Eyes of God. A precious stone, one who is prized for her beauty and her pursuit for excellence! Having no idea of who she was and who she was called to be; she allowed society, the people around her, and her experiences define who she was. In defining her they gave her many baggages to carry along her journey. Oh my, the baggages were heavy. They weighed down her spirit tremendously. It crippled her walk. It stripped her of her confidence and her identity. She didn’t have any hope that things were going to get better. The desire to seek love was way greater then the desire to seek God. But God NEVER gave up on her because HE knew that she was precious. He knew that end result. He knew who he had called her to be. (Praise Break, God is a RESTORER)



So in May 2007, God said “ummm , I cant let her go on living this way. I need to reveal her identity to her. I need to make her new and fresh before all who have hurt her. And the process begins! My God I had no idea of the pain I would have to endure to get were I am now. God showed up right on time. So the other day, I looked up the term “refined” and to my surprise it defined it as (1). To free from impurities (2) to teach good manners good taste, and etc. After reading this, it stirred up something in me. God started to speak to me and reveal some stuff to me! See I was a Gem but I was dirty! The experiences, the negative thoughts and the choices I made me impure before God! But Glory be to God, he saw the end result! So after this revelation I understand everything, I understand the pain, I understand the tears and now I can truly embrace the process. It truly was an ah ha moment ( for the psych majors lol ). My walk has been changed. My walk is no longer crippled. Now, I walk with confidence! I walk in authority! I walk with my head high looking to my Maker. My walk screams I am the Daughter of the MOST HIGH GOD! God, Jehovah Nissi, I thank you; You are the lifter of my head. You have made all things new, Lord. Because of the process of being refined, I understand who I am in YOU. I am a Refined Gem. I am Fearfully and Wonderfully made. My worship is sweet and pleasant before my Lord. Oh God, I’m tasteful! Taste and see, the Lord has been good to me. I am praised for my inward and outward beauty. Your spirit flows from the inside out. I am free to worship you with all that I know I am. This process has taught me that I can be still in His presence and hear Him speak to me. I can freely dance before my King, I have beautiful feet! My worship is my testimony and I will never let anyone take that away from me.



Lord, I love you. I’m in awe of You. I worship You! I adore You! I lift your name up! You are my everything! You are my strength! I will never find the right words to say to You! Thank you for allowing me to share my story, Your glory to your children and those who have not met You (yet).





Signed Refined GEM <3

Make Time Before its too late

I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.
All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of Christ to frien...ds,
They'd laugh at me I'd fear.
No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.
I went before the Lord,
I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book;
It was the book of life.
God looked into his book and said
"Your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down...
But never found the time" ~Unknown



"Praying, just to say that it has been done" ...this speaks volume on so many levels. Always doing GOd's work while rushing and not givign it our best. So its liek we are doing it in vain because it has no substance! We keep saying that we are doing it in his name, every sentence that comes out of our mouth ends with "in the name of Jesus" but Is that really the case.. Is God satified with the way you have been doing things? Is he happy with the position he has given you in ministry? Lets take some time and re-evaluate ourselves and get it right, we dont want to get before him only to find out that your name could not be found because he he forgot to write in the book or your name never ringed a bell! I dont know about yall but Im trying roll VIP style in Heaven. My name has to make the book. Listen, It's not too late now but DONT wait any longer. Get it right today. Right now is the best time to work on tht relationship with him. He is still waiting....

That Secret Place

Lately,there has been an urge, a desrie to go to that secret place in God. Too often we say "take me to that place", "take me beyond the inner courts", "I want to go from Glory to Glory God", "the holy of the holies" not truly knowing what it means or not even giving importance to what we are saying at that time. I have been in my walk for about 3 years now and I am trying to discover that place. I do belive there is more that I have not experienced with God yet, so I am trying to get to that place. A place where it is just me and God, dancing,singing love songs,walking, our hands locked in becoming one while talking in a language that only we can understand. I am certain that I will get there and when I get there I will be lost in Him. To me a secret place is somewhere where I am safe, where I dont have to worry about what is going on in the natural, somewhere that I can run to when I am looking for comfort, when I need to be loved and after finding that place I know that I wont be the same. I dont even know what will take place but I know it will be a good experience. Im ready to let my gaurd down, totally releasing everything to Him. I believe that place can be found and I am not resting until I get there!
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" Psalms 91:1
His words let me know if I draw near him, He will draw near me and if I seek Him with all my heart....HE WILL BE FOUND. So there is no question that he will come when I call on Him. In the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping, I can wake up and and He will be right there waiting to have a conversation with me! Isnt that AWESOME! I believe that this is the season that God is really calling us to draw closer to Him, to get to know Him more and to really seek him with everthing that we are. Right NOW, NOTHING ELSE MATTER, NO ONE ESLE MATTER! Everything in this natural word is temporary!When we look around so many things are going on, people dying from left to right, people losing their jobs, fathers being intimate with their daughters, family units being broken, My God the violence, losing our kids to gangs and drugs and the list goes on...WE need to find and hold on to someone that will not change! For those who are looking to find that person, he can be found in constant communication with Him. I encourage you to start your day with him and spend more time getting to know Him every moment of the day.he should be your spiritual breakfast in the morning. Sometimes when you dont eat, you cant function. As Christians, we need to have our spiritual breakfast before we leave the house...if your spirit is weak..dont leave the house without having breakfast, FED YOUR SPIRIT(meditating on the word of God).

"The way you spend the 1st minute of the day conditions the rest of your day!" Rev. Gregory Toussaint

I AM ME

So today I wrote a poem (I have written four within the pass month) celebrating my identity and the woman I am becoming in Christ! I stand proud in telling you who I really am....







I am me

You may see a huge smile place on my pretty caramel face
Don’t be fooled...
Do you really know me?
Conversations with me
A hug
A kiss on the cheek
But you have yet to discover who I be
Nor are you close to finding the treasure that is within me

My swagger gives voice to my long awaited confidence
Those four inch heels validate the woman I have become
Every color that I wear paints an image of the little girl who cries no more
My short cut
My colored lips
My fitted jeans
Letting you know that I am content with the way I am packaged


To some I unlock my emotions
I speak the language of my heart
Pieces of my heart
My hurt
My pain
My struggles
My joy
My accomplishments
The girl I use to be
The lady I am
The woman I am becoming
Yes, it’s all about me, I am ME

I am Linda Raoul, Ms.Diva, Ms. Pretty
I am your Lin-Lin, your dada, your dadou, your lynnie pooh
I am a child of God, the lover of my God, his Beloved
A sister, a daughter, a god-mother, a cousin
I am your friend
An OVERCOMER
A servant
A leader
A social worker
I want more
I have big dreams
I will be someone's wife
I will be a mother
I will be a minister of his word
NEVER settling for less
I was made to have to have his best
My roles, my accomplishments doesn’t define me
Just some accessories to my being
I must say that I wear them well
I define them

I am Me


I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.—Ps 139:14

Welcome to My Spiritual Journey

"Our Spritiual journeys are blessed when shared with others. A word of encouragement, a smile to brighten another's day, a favorite bible verse shared with a discouraged friend, a prayer offered for another-all these things can make our own of faith much easier" ~Unknown




The purpose of this blog is simply to testify my love for Jesus Christ and to share my spiritual journey with others as I seek to grow stronger in my walk. Although, I was born and raised in the church, went to 3-4 services during the week, my walk with God really started about 3 years ago after an annual Church of God Convention. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I am so grateful for that experience.
I want to thank all the women who encouraged me to get this started9 Lord know I fought this idea for months lol, everyone who continue to support me and answer all the questions I have about GOD, and those who have shared how my words have been a blessing to their spirit...You guys are a blessing to me because every word that you share with me lets me know that I am being used by him

So I pray that you all are blessed by my postings which will include quotes,messages, poetry, video, my experience, other people's work and any and everything that empower and uplift the body of Christ!