What’s your sign?

When most people hear that question, they think “Leo.” “Sagittarius.” “Capricorn.” “Aries.”

Today, my friends, I want to let you know about another “sign” that is in your life that has nothing to do with the astrological calling of Ms. Cleo. (Call me now!)

A couple of weeks ago, I was spending time praying about some things going on in my life and as I was pacing my living room, (as I always do when I pray) I began to walk with a limp. I wasn’t sure why, but my right hip bone kind of tensed up and I was walking with a limp. I was heavy into my prayer so I didn’t want to stop a spiritual encounter because my physical body was acting up, so I just kept walking. As I was praying, I was reminded of the story of Jacob in Genesis 32:24-26

This left Jacob all alone in the camp and a man (an angel) came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

**Jump to verse 31**

The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel and he was limping because of the injury to his hip.

I’m going somewhere with this; stay with me.

Jacob encountered God through this angel who appeared as a man, and after his battle, he was left seemingly “injured”. For the rest of his life, Jacob walked with a limp a sure sign that he had an encounter with God. Jacob was the first son of the many tribes of Israel. He, as far as we know, never complained about the pain and embarrassment of being so young walking with this old man’s limp. He saw it as a sign of God’s grace and outward expression of the huge blessing on Jacob’s life.

So, what’s your sign? What has God left behind in your life to remind you of His presence?

For me, it’s Ashli, my soon to be 5-year-old daughter. She’s a sign of my past struggles and failures, pain and tribulation, poor decisions. But yet, she’s a sign of my future promise—the joy, the purpose, the growth, the increase, the Godly seed planted that ultimately changed my life from the former to the latter. Most of all, Ashli is a sign of God’s grace and mercy on my life.

What’s your sign? What has God left behind in your life to remind you of His presence?

Your sign may be a life altering disease; Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, or AIDS.

Your sign may be multiple children with multiple fathers.

Your sign may be impoverished living conditions.

Your sign may be lasting effects of the date rape drug.

Your sign may be a jagged scar across your back from abuse as child.

Your sign may be only a GED or high school diploma.

But when God touches your life, He will always leave a sign of His presence. As bad as those previously mentioned things may be, it is His touch that turns the ugly (those things meant to kill and destroy you) into something of beauty.

The scar left behind from MS surgery, removal of a malignant tumor, or multiple I.V. treatments that saved your life.

All of those children with no earthly father to care for them earned A’s through school, academic scholarships, and blessed with an entrepreneurial spirit that set you up for life.

The poverty in your life presented an opportunity for you to have a compassion for the men and women you encountered while working for a community advocacy center, of which you recently became the lead counselor. Oh, and that position pays 75K a year.

The loss of your faculties while drugged up caused the enactment of a law that gave a mandated 10 year sentence for individuals caught with or attempting to use the date rape drug. Because of that law, a 21 year old man thought twice about drugging a 16 year old girl as she attended a college party without her parents’ permission.

Your GED or high school diploma, while had not been enough to acquire a job that paid enough to survive, was the reason that the CEO of Coca-Cola allowed you to intern in their product development department. After 5 years, a B.S. in Business Management (paid by Coke) and one more year in Georgia State’s MBA program (also paid by Coke) was the “result” of that miniscule GED.

The limp, the baby, the disease, the poverty, the scar, is the sign of God’s presence.

But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” Genesis 50:20 NKJV

Your “sign” is your “sign”. Be not embarrassed, uncomfortable, or self-conscious about whatever your sign is. It is a real life manifestation of God’s greatness. The story behind the sign matters not; the sin, the rejection, the pain, the discouragement, the closed doors—none of it matters. Nothing but the sign, the end result of God’s glory in your life matters.

Gang members rep their clique…hard.

 

Every month, night clubs let folks in free into the club because of their “sign”.

Now, rep your sign. Show the world that that thing you wrestled with in the past or even currently won’t conquer you. It won’t cause you to coward and back away from the rest of the world.

I rep my sign daily. And I ain’t shame.