The Right Relationship

 
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have LOVE, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have LOVE, I am nothing. ³ And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have LOVE, it profits me nothing.

⁴ LOVE is patient, LOVE is kind and is not jealous; LOVE does not brag and is not arrogant, ⁵ does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, ⁶ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but REJOICES with the TRUTH; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ LOVE NEVER FAILS; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part; ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. ¹³ But now faith, hope, LOVE, abide these three; but the GREATEST of these is LOVE." (1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NASB)

As a teenager, I was angry.  Others said I had good looks, a shape that stopped men dead in their tracks, high intellect, and an attitude that made others feel somewhat intimidated. After a few heartbreaks and disappointments, my anger grew to bitterness. This bitterness made me appear confident, sarcastic, and honest to a fault, and wanting attention/affection but responding in a way that pushed others away. I often offered help to others but never seemed to get it back in return.

Always looking for love in all the wrong places – men!  Men who were mostly unavailable emotionally and leaving me wanting for more than they would offer. I was hoping that the words coming out of their mouths were true but not trusting that they could ever be true. Using work, men, fashion, and giving as a means to validate who I was.

When, in fact I had low self-esteem. Never quite measuring up to my mother’s standards, I seemed to hold on to the perceived criticisms in my head. My dad being too preoccupied with a life of partying, philandering, and sports to give me the fatherly love that every girl needs and desires.

Still God was in control. The final bad breakup that broke me to the core was with someone I thought to be a friend. He was just playing the game until he had the opportunity to catch me in a vulnerable state to compromise myself to fulfill his goal – sex. After a few years of allowing the booty calls and the unrealized disrespect, I wanted more. I thought it was a relationship with him, but in fact it was my soul crying out for the LOVE of God.

How wonderful it has been to date Jesus. I’ve gotten to know myself better and to know God better. All that energy I seemed to spend on people and things that really couldn’t appreciate or see me for who I am. I am a wonderfully, precious, beloved and great woman of God who is what God says I am – His!

I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me! With Jesus, I have chosen to walk by the Spirit within me and not by my fleshly emotions…sexually pure, drug and alcohol free, anger managed by God, and believing Jesus will walk with me through life’s struggles as I walk in obedience to His Word – The Bible.

There is nothing like the FREEDOM found in the RIGHT RELATIONSHIP... with God by HIS Love!

Don't Give Up...Have FAITH!

"For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance." (2 Corinthians 5:7)

I was fortunate to have worked for the Travel Industry most of the years I was raising my daughter. Now having ENOUGH money for what I WANTED to do was another thing. Yes we had a roof over our head, we usually took a vacation at least once a year for either one of our birthdays (in HONOR of our VALUE to ourselves, the world and to spend QUALITY TIME together); however, most of the EXTRA things I wanted like decorations for my house, dance classes for my daughter, fashionable clothes, artwork...came because I DECIDED to take on a JOB that would supply what I WANTED.

So when I wanted artwork...I began selling artwork. No these jobs didn't last forever, because it was keeping me from spending time with my child, but for a short time to get what I wanted for my home. When I needed Life Insurance, I began selling Life Insurance to recoup what I was planning to put out for it. When I needed Life Coaching, I began selling it so I could get it at a lower cost and GROW from it. I'm SAYING all of this to say… WHAT DO YOU WANT??? HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT???

A lot of times we don't BELIEVE we can have it so we don't even TRY to have it. Yes, you must have the FAITH FIRST to do anything that you want to do. However, once you have SET YOUR MIND (FOCUS) on what you want, God somehow will OPEN the DOOR for you to get it…but will you TAKE ADVANTAGE of it when it SHOWS UP??? I think the main thing we have lack of FAITH in, is OURSELVES and the GOD in which we SAY we have FAITH.

I know when things start going south in our lives we sometimes forget who we really are INSIDE, but be assured, GOD has not FORGOT! He sometimes has to take us through the VALLEY for us to get to the MOUNTAIN top. The VALLEY is where we learn that we will NOT SINK when we WALK on the Water with Him. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s SCARY as heck, because you’ve never walked in this particular situation. But remember you do have a little history to look back over whenever you might begin doubting it.

Nothing is NEW to God! We just have to TRUST that He has our GREATER GOOD all worked out…even when we fall (and we usually will fall).  But you know the BEST thing about it is, when we do, He always has a LOVING hand reaching down to PICK us up which makes us all the MORE GRATEFUL to get off and running again with Him by our sides to our Destiny. We just have to KEEP MOVING towards it!

Blessed and Highly Favored

Today, I was Blessed & Highly Favored from my time with God! I had to get some MUCH needed extended time in with the Lord this morning. See, I usually read a chapter of Proverbs everyday and then let the Lord lead me as I meditate on what POPS off the page at me. Well Proverbs 3 is one of my FAVORITE chapters...because of Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart..." you know the one. But today verses 3 & 4 SHOUTED at me..

"Let not MERCY and KINDNESS [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and TRUTH [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, WRITE them upon the tablet of YOUR HEART. 4 SO SHALL YOU FIND FAVOR, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight [or judgment] of God and man." (Proverbs 3-4 AMP)

You see, I've been praying for FAVOR...FAVOR with people, FAVOR in my business, FAVOR in everything I put my hand to do. With 2012 being such a persevering and testing year as I ventured out into NEW territory, I needed to SEE some fruit from all the labor I had been putting out.

Well, sometimes in our LABORING we can be so driven to make it happen in our own power, we work, work, work ourselves right into a merciless and unkind mode just to try to MAKE the TRUTH of what we believe WORK out like we want them. So of course when I saw this verse this NEW 3rd morning in this NEW Year, I saw this chapter and verse in a NEW LIGHT.

We must remember to ask God to ENLIGHTEN us with His Word as we read it otherwise reading His Word can become another LABOR on our list of things to do without any NEW ENLIGHTENMENT or REVELATION from it. God's Word is INSPIRATION (see 2 Timothy 3:16) to our lives when we SLOW DOWN long enough to ask Him for His insight, digest/receive it and  then apply it to our lives.

So today as you are trying to get to the next thing you are trying to complete, remember that God wants to be a NEW ENLIGHTENMENT in your daily task as you "bind mercy, kindness and truth around your neck and write them on your heart to find FAVOR from God and man." Be Blessed!