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!