Month: May 2014

To my daughters and sisters in Christ, count your troubles all joy.

“I must say something. Would it upset you if I speak? Job, you have taught many people. You encouraged those who were ready to quit. Your words helped those who were ready to fall. You gave strength to those who could not stand by themselves. But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged. Trouble hits you, and you are upset. You worship God. You trust him. You are a good man, so let that be your hope. (Job 4:2-6 ERV)

Rom 8:28………… “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Phil 1:6…………….. “(Be) confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ,…”

Jas 1:4………… “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

I tell you this to encourage you because when you are in the middle of something it is easy to get discouraged, to feel as if God abandoned you or forgot you. Never fear my loves he knows what you need, he knows if you need to be strengthened, torn down, rejuvenated, humbled or need peace and because he loves you, he gives you that. It may seem harsh or unfair but when you look back, you will understand it was exactly what needed to happen. Many of us are stubborn and prideful and full of righteous thoughts and a clearly defined sense of right and wrong and woe to any who cross us. I’ve learned that many of my lessons were used to make me more compassionate, more open to others pain or situations. I don’t know why your going through but I know this:

Mark 9:23…….. “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.

Josh 1:9………… “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

1Chr 22:18…….. “And has He not given you rest on every side?”

2Chr 20:17…….. “You will not need to fight this battle. Position yourselves,
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you,…”

Who do you love?

(Mary J Blige )
I’ve got to have a real love
Love so true and oh, baby
I thought that love was you
I thought you were the answer
To the question in my mind
But it seems that I was wrong
If I stay strong maybe I’ll find a real love!

Guess what, that real love has to start in you. Well, I may have that wrong, the real love started on the cross. You must recognize what love is before you can find it. If love looks abusive, guess what, you find an abuser. If love looks like money, you find a sugar daddy. If love looks like selfishness, you’ll find that. I may give away everything I have to help others, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing by doing all this if I don’t have love. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. (1 Corinthians 13:3-7 ERV)

Who do you love?

God proved his love at Calvary when he gave his only son so you could understand love. If your looking for a real love try Jesus. His love is so powerful it heals hurts, cleans up the mess in your life, delivers you from sin, restores your joy, gives you peace and most of all teaches you how to love.

Dear Father,

I come to you with bowed head and humble heart. Hear my cry Lord I need you. I have been asking for a word to give your daughters but I think I can’t hear you because I’m asking for the wrong thing, I need to hear from you. Lord I love you and I’m asking that you send your angels to encamp around my family. Our children are under attack from many directions but I declare and decree that no more! No more Lord, I’m planting your flag in the sand and I’m asking that you honor this stance, the devil cannot have our children, not their minds, not their thoughts, not their hearts and not their souls. Lord you said if my people who are called by name will turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves and pray then you would hear from us and heal our land. Lord we are humbly begging you to heal our land and protect our children. I ask these things in the name of Jesus because that’s all I know how to do. I’m trusting you Lord and trusting the process. All things work to the good for those that love you so I know these troubles are not in vain and in the end..we win. Yes, the fight is fixed!
hearts a

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you

I was literally driving down I-75 in tears thinking about my mom. I miss her yes I do. My mother loved me so much, she sacrificed EVERYTHING for me and my brother, even her dignity.
BUT GOD, he sent so many women to help me and guide me, many of you shared your mom’s with me, I’m scared of water damage to my phone as I think of them. The ladies who said, come eat baby, there is plenty of food. The ladies who said don’t act like that, your to pretty to be fighting all the time. The ladies who said don’t worry about it baby, stay here tonight. The ladies who said sit your hot tail down somewhere. The ladies who just hugged me because even though I never told, they knew. I honor not just my mother, but all the mothers along the way who helped shape me. I still have new mothers helping me in my adulthood and words can’t express my absolute joy.

Wives, be willing to serve your husbands. This is the right thing to do in following the Lord. (Colossians 3:18 ERV)

If you talk to me for any length of time you will hear me talk about my husband. If you hear me talk about him a lot you will probably start to think that I believe he is perfect. I’m not kidding, he is a great husband. But don’t be mislead, that does not mean he is without flaws. Often when I tell people we have been together for 30+ years people think we stayed together because it’s been nearly perfect. Oh no, don’t believe that, it’s been far from perfect, in fact if you’ve been around us a long time you might question our sanity. lol trust me, I love him and he completes me.

What I’ve learned:
Wives, be willing to serve your husbands the same as the Lord. A husband is the head of his wife, just as Christ is the head of the church. Christ is the Savior of the church, which is his body. (Ephesians 5:22, 23 ERV)
It was a painful lesson, (head down, humbled). I used to complain about what was wrong with him (only because I was perfect) and focus on what he wasn’t doing. That was just plain dumb but hey, I did not know any better. There were very few married couples in my family and the ones that were married probably shouldn’t have been. IJS so I did not have any examples to guide me, there was no YouTube to help me. I spent so much time complaining about what was wrong that I missed what was right. He made some bad choices when we were younger and I did too. God reminded me of something important, my husband loves me. Oh yes he does and he will do anything to make sure I’m ok, my daughter and I helped define him and he cherishes our love.

When I found this scripture I knew I had found a definition of my husband.

And husbands should love their wives like that. They should love their wives as they love their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself, because no one ever hates his own body, but feeds and takes care of it. And that is what Christ does for the church (Ephesians 5:28, 29 ERV)

I challenge each of you, go back and remember why you said Yes to your husband. Catalog all the things that you love about them and all the things that they do to make you better. Don’t write a list of what they do wrong, who cares, if you trust God (and I know you do) he is working on that man just like he is working on you. You can’t rush God to make him better, he is already great and God will just smooth the edges and heal the wounds so his greatness can shine brighter. Be the light that God created you to be so he can find his way home if he gets lost. These streets are rough, life can wear on you with bills, kids, aging parents and so much more.
But each one of you must love his wife as he loves himself. And a wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:33 ERV)

Written by natalie cole
Hey, did you happen to see my sweet baby?
He was walkin on down the road
Tell him for me that if you see him tonight
Everything is alright
’cause I know how he gets when he’s low
Oh, he’s a beautiful man
Kinda hard to understand but
He’s the only good man that I know
Won’t you tell him for me
I’m keepin a light shinin in the window
Just in case he decides to come home!

My brothers and sisters, God chose you to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful selves. Instead, serve each other with love. The whole law is made complete in this one command: “Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.” If you continue hurting each other and tearing each other apart, be careful, or you will completely destroy each other. (Galatians 5:13-15 ERV)

We love to be in love…as little girls and boys we played house..remember that? I’m the mama and your the daddy and you love me. So cute

As teenagers we were in and out of love with this cute person or the next, they called it puppy love..cute

As adults we fall in love with the person who shows us some affection and care, we build a world around them and keep our expectations high. We are in love so you must meet all my expectations, even if I never shared them with you. We are in love so I need you to trust me, take care of me, fix the toilet, paint the house, rub my back, protect me, leave me alone, give me my freedom, give me your money, take care of me, love me, put me first, don’t expect to be my priority and above all be faithful. I got tired writing all of that. Love, so cute

Ok, back to reality. Learn to love yourself. I mean truly learn to accept who you are in Christ and as a person, flaws and all. It’s not easy but start with accepting that God made you and his works are perfect! Yes, your perfectly You! Accepting who you are and allowing God the freedom to mold you frees you up to love yourself then and only then you can love others without your love strangling the life out of them. Allow God to perfect the love do it will last and above all, Do No Harm!

I’ve been long winded sorry!