Back in June of 2020, my small business suddenly took off and in order to keep up with customer demand, I had to upgrade my website. The gentleman that was helping me with all of my website needs at the time was unable to do this for me, so I hired another guy that a friend recommended who happened to be a former coworker of ours. He and my friend had worked on similar projects, so she was more familiar with his work than I was. Here's the caveat though: he was fired from our job because of poor performance (I processed the paperwork for it). However, both my friend and I had a good relationship with him during his time there, so I chose to connect with him anyway and ultimately hired him, which turned out to be 1 of the top 3 worst decisions that I've made as an entrepreneur. Let me explain.
I spent the 4th of July in Jamaica that year with my brother & sister caring for our dad. He got sick in December 2019 and his condition declined rapidly, so the three of us decided to travel in the thick of the pandemic to better assess his situation. This was an incredibly busy time for my business and a confusing time in the world, so my emotions were all over the place. My dad was so weak and the doctors we took him to see were unable to diagnose his condition not to mention the stress of trying to keep up with customer orders. On my layover headed home from Jamaica, I made the decision to hire my former coworker to build my new website. He told me that it would take him approximately 2 weeks to complete. I'll spare you all the details but long story short, he lied about his skills, capabilities, and experience and I paid the price with my tears, constant service disruptions, and restlessness.
Despite what this man did and did not do, I still had to take accountability for my actions. I don't recall praying (let alone fasting) about whether I should have hired him. As a matter of fact, I know that the pressure of trying to keep up with customer orders drove me to make my decision without first considering what the LORD had to say about it. I still remember crying to my sister in our AirBnB in Jamaica about all the problems that customers were having on my website. I was anxious for a resolution, so I made an ungodly alliance in hopes of getting one and reaped more problems than I could've ever imagined.
Don't be pressured, be prayerful.
This was a revelation that the Holy Spirit gave to me recently pertaining to who and what we come into agreement with. I've learned that if you're going to trust God then that means you have to really believe His word and be willing to wait for His answers to your prayers & supplications. Making decisions based solely on emotion or someone else's opinion without seeking the LORD for confirmation (and obeying what He tells you) can have you running for your life like King Jehoshaphat did in 2 Chronicles 18:31 when he ignorantly aligned himself with King Ahab to fight against Syria. Although I wasn't running from a physical death, I spent a whole 12 months running into countless website issues as a result of my poor decision. I also ran away from Christ during that time and became sick both physically and mentally because I was neglecting my spiritual health. Truth is, I was making more money than I've ever made in my entire life yet I was broke on the inside.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" - Philippians 4:6
Unfortunately, my dad died a year after we went to see him and his death pushed me to stop delaying my own healing. By the end of that summer, I returned to the local church and came back into alliance with Jesus Christ and I got so much more than I expected, including the Holy Spirit helping me to identify other ungodly alliances that I made throughout my life that I needed to come out of agreement with. That's the thing about being in a spiritual slumber, it makes you blind to all the people, places, and things that are hindering you from taking possession of the life that the Father always meant for you to have. In other words, who God has called you to be becomes buried under your emotions and poor decisions, which are often influenced by other people's opinions of you and whatever evil spirits are oppressing you. Yet, I am a living testimony that there is hope for those that are willing to give the LORD your undivided attention. When you truly let Christ be the King of your life, He will reveal and heal the parts of your soul that have been divided against Him. So, if you're in a fallen state right now, I encourage you to let our Lord & Savior help you get up. Take it from me, life is so much better up here.
