How Loosing Your Job Can Be a Great Blessing – Brandy's Story

“Getting fired from my job was the best thing,” says Author and Spoken Word artist, Brandy Rankins (a.k.a BrandyWine). In this post, I share with you the full discussion which transpired between BrandyWine and I on LinkedIn on November 12, 2011. It’s my prayer that you will find hope, inspiration and encouragement from the story of a woman of God who at some point in life felt all hope was lost, but God intervened and gave her “hope and a future” as promised in Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV.

Brandy’s story followed when I posted the statement below:

“This evening I felt really depressed, and as I began to pray the Lord gave me this scripture: "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." - Matthew 24:13. So I want to ask, what have you been enduring as a Christian?”

Brandy's reponse to the above statement is as quoted below:

Brandy Rankins

"Love and needed this scripture! As a Christian I've endured A LOT! My hope, belief, and confession is that the most challenging trials are behind me. I've endured some great hardships such as becoming a widow at the tender age of 21. I was devastated by the loss and since I was new to the church, I left God because of my confusion and pain. "Why would you let this happen to me Lord?" I thought daily. From there I went into the world drinking, smoking, and clubbing heavily trying to do everything to fill a GOD SIZE VOID. I found out the hard way only God could fill that.

I returned to the church and began to sit under God and allowed Him to minister to my pain. What I LOVE and remember about my time away from God is that He was still with me. He continued to PROVIDE, and look out for me, even though I left Him. He was and is so Faithful. Seven years later, I was blessed to remarry a wonderful man but then my mother and best friend passed with lung cancer. We literally had to raise the money to bury my mom in three days because she didn't have any life insurance. We held two carwashes, sold hot dogs, and went through the community with signs that read "Please Help Us Bury Our Mom." 

A Closer Look at Christian Hip-hop and Christian Rap Music

We recently posted an article on what the Bible says about hip pop and secular music. As I read through that post, it impressed on me the need to take a look at Christian hip pop (a.k.a Christian pop or holy pop), and Christian rap music. So let’s get into it; let’s take a closer look at Christian hip pop and Christian rap music.

Personally I find Christian rap and Christian hip pop to be cool. While secular hip pop fills your mind with sex, women, drugs, crime etc., Christian rappers preach the Word of God through their music. Fans of secular artists raising their hands in excitement as they watch their artists perform is a form of worship to satan (the lord of most secular artists).  On the other hand, fans of Christian artists/rappers raise their hands in support of the Christian message that the Christian artist/rapper is presenting. This gives glory to God because His name is being honoured. 

The issue with secular music or secular hip pop is not the rhythm of the songs but rather the words/lyrics of the songs and the obscenities found therein. Rhythm is like language. There are thousands of languages in the world. As far as I know, it is accepted for each clan or tribe to praise God in their language. You may look at it this way; God created sex but does that mean he supports pornography?