June 28, 2015, is a day I will never forget. There was another significant event happening that same day, and I had to choose which one I would attend. My heart led me to honor and celebrate a woman who had labored quietly in prayer for many — Pastor Juanita Clay, a true intercessor and a pastor to the Body of Christ.
I was running late and accidentally walked into the wrong church. God must have smiled because that wrong turn was part of the right plan. I quickly redirected myself and found a seat, telling myself I wouldn’t stay long — just long enough to give her my flowers and a card. But God had other plans for me that day. I didn’t know it yet, but I was about to have an encounter with His glory — a glimpse of how it felt to make Heaven’s honor roll.
The first time I had ever been in that church years prior, I remember weeping and asking God not to let my sufferings be in vain. I had honored Him deeply in a season that almost destroyed me — my previous marriage. It was there, in my sorrow, that I learned how to worship from a broken place.
If you’ve ever been faithful, honorable, and it felt like no one saw you — hear me: God has not forgotten. He is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love. He saw every tear, every prayer, every quiet “yes” when you wanted to quit. If we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him.
That day, as I sat there quietly, Mother Clay entered the room. Right before she did, tears began to pour from my eyes. I whispered, “Lord, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Have you ever done everything you knew to do — prayed, fasted, sowed, stood — and it still didn’t turn out the way you thought it would? That was me.
Then, something unexpected happened. Mother Clay took the microphone and began to honor the leaders in the church. Suddenly, she called my name. I wasn’t on the program, but I was on Heaven’s agenda. I had come to honor her, and God decided to honor me.
She said, “Today would have been Marie’s late ex-husband’s 41st birthday. I want to honor the Christ in you.” She said it multiple times and each time, Gods glory overwhelmed me.
It was thick, tangible — you could feel it in the air. I broke. I didn’t feel that kind of compassion when he was buried. Though our marriage had ended years before, the way I had honored God in it was bigger than the marriage itself. That day, God stamped His seal of approval and said, “I remember how you honor me.”
Then Prophetess Makeba Buford, whom I had never met, ministered prophetically to me. She said God saw me when I walked into the wrong church — that I had made a mistake years ago, but the Lord was putting me back on the right path. She said I was about to have encounters with God like never before. That day was one of them.
God reminded me that He knows exactly where we are. He deals with our root systems — our pain, our losses, our hidden traumas — not to condemn us but to heal us. Jesus came for the broken, not the perfect. If we let Him touch the roots, He’ll heal the fruit.
Jabez prayed, and because he was more honorable than his brothers, God enlarged his territory (1 Chronicles 4:9–10).
Get ready — God is about to do the same for you. You’ve been honorable when it wasn’t easy. And just like Jabez did and me—you’re about to make Heaven’s Honor Roll.