Free to give and receive

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,” Isaiah 61:1, NIV

People with broken hearts will hurt you before you hurt them; reject you before you reject them; leave you before you leave them - All in attempt to protect their hearts from experiencing more pain. 

I’m so thankful God comes after us in our broken state. He’s not afraid of us hurting Him; He’s not intimidated; He heals our hearts, fills us with His love, and reassures us that we’re going to be ok. Then He sends us out to minister healing to others.

You can be healed and can be free to give and receive love. You don’t have to be a victim. You ARE victorious through Jesus. 

Relationship

Every real relationship with God begins with a quality decision to let Him into your heart and into your life. 

Your issues and problems don’t scare Him. Your fear and anxiety about everything in your life does not move Him. You are His and He is yours - and that's an everlasting promise... 

And from the moment He entered into your life, the Spirit of God rolled up His sleeves and went to work in changing you from the inside out. His ultimate goal is for you to look like Jesus on the inside and to behave like Jesus on the outside.

Get to know Him by reading His love letter to you—the Bible.
Get to know Him by spending time with Him in prayer, talking to Him as you would to a friend.
Get to know Him by continuing to let Him into every place in your heart and learning what He has to say about every issue of life.

Truth in love

Love is to be the mark that identifies us as Christians. And in order to love, we must speak and accept the truth. We cannot have love, the love that God wants us to experience, without truth. It is impossible.

Challenge yourself today to heed God’s correction if you sense it. And if you feel compelled to address something that is contradictory to God’s word, ask Him for help to speak the truth in love. 

Without truth and correction, we make ourselves and others vulnerable to the enemy’s schemes. 

Remember that the Bible is more than a book of rules, it is the guide to life that gives us insight into God’s heart and living with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. The truth lies in it and it is our responsibility to learn what it says and apply it to our lives.

Liked or loved?

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not - Kurt Cobain

Everyone won't always be on your side BUT the idea of living isn't to be liked, it's to get your opinion out there.

The more you choose the likable decision and stand on the most-liked side of the fence, the more and more you disappear in the crowd.
Don't change who you are for popularity sake. Quit becoming someone else to fit the status-quo.

You are unique and inside of you lies unique thoughts, decisions, ideas, plans, creativity, motives, feelings, etc...
If you never or hardly exercise these sides of your personality, then you are gradually completely going to waste....and the world will never get to meet you.

You are here to make a difference, not to be liked. Stand your ground, and you'll gain respect for always being in your own skin.

Relationships

9 Warning Signs Of A Dysfunctional Relationship

Dysfunctional relationships are relationships that create more emotional turmoil than satisfaction. Relationships are part of the human experience. But what happens if one or both people have never been involved in a happy relationship, or had one modeled for them as a child? Chances are they will participate in a dysfunctional relationship.

A dysfunctional or an about-to-be dysfunctional relationship always has warning signs. Here is a list of some:

1. Addictive/obsessive attitude: When one develops an addictive or obsessive attitude and seems overly focused on themselves or the other.

2. Imbalance of power: You always feel that you are the only one working at 150% at making the relationship work. It is not a good sign when they seem to make no effort at all.

3. Tensions show up regularly: Little things that cause tension are always present..... Like money, friends, love, work or anything else, but they seem to take on a disproportional importance.

4. Feeling cornered: either of the partners can get a feeling of being cornered or trapped into a situation that s/he would not like to have got into in the first place.

5. Inferiority/superiority complex: If any one of the partners in a relationship begins developing an inferiority/superiority complex. Relationships are based on equality and trust; therefore no one should consider himself superior or inferior in comparison to the other.

6. The feeling of frustration: Every relationship has little frustrations here and there, but when they persist and just keep cropping up as soon as one is dealt with, something is certainly wrong.

7. Constant unhappiness: If you do the "are you happy" check often, then something isn't just right! ? If you are constantly unhappy or mentally bogged down, because there is a nagging doubt or a feeling that something is not going right, it is time to evaluate the situation. This can happen when you just cannot reconcile your desires, your feelings and your needs with the other person and neither can he, with yours.

8. Being unsure and insecure: You are so unsure of yourself that you hesitate to do things. So you spend a lot of time thinking about what if it would end up causing a rift in your relationship. In other words, when you go from being spontaneous to overcautious about doing things you like to do. Being unsure brings with it a feeling of insecurity.

9. Fear, jealousy, obsession, non-involvement, manipulation, distrust, suspicion, disrespect and an uncaring attitude are the usual suspects. If there is continuity in any of these behavioral traits, then your relationship is on its way to being past history.

These are a few warning signs of a dysfunctional relationship. If you happen to notice any of these, take preventive measures immediately and address the situation. As you may already know, band-aid measures won't work, look for long-term solutions. Perhaps the most commonly used and least effective solution to problems in relationships is to ignore them and hope they go away. They never go away unless addressed and taken care of - in love.

All the best....

Extend love

Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again - Og Mandino

None of this "if you did that for me, then I'll do this for you." Or "if you weren't there for me when I was down and out; don't expect me to show up for you." Or "since I was the one that called you the last time; then you should be the one calling me this time."

Whatever happened to missing someone and you pick up the phone and call. Or blessing someone with some cash; but not expecting it back or back with interest. Or just exercising some good ol' fashioned kindness and friendliness.

If you have ever tried loving someone else and giving of yourself freely; then you know how rewarding it gets. On the other hand, if you do not practice this often, then you are unfortunately living a life that isn't very pleasing to God and is hence limiting you of heavens blessings.

This is a big one ..... Meditate on it ;)

Happy Monday and New Years Eve!

Breaking Bread

Hey ladies,

We are a few days away from Thanksgiving day and the holidays are quickly upon us.  I want to encourage you during this time, that its not all about the food, but really about the people that are with us.  Take the time to gauge your friends and family, spend time with them, eat with them, pray for them, uphold them, listen to them and their needs, get to meet new people and invite them to dinner...etc. 

Thanksgiving is a very hard time for a lot of people that do not have family members with them, as this tends to remind them of their loss or absence of...however, as Righteous Women, we are to key into these needs and offer assistance as we can.

Remember to look out to others, and share what you have with them....and hopefully, your relationships will go beyond Thursday's dinner and will carry on for a period or a lifetime...

I pray for your families, and know that God will continue to shine upon you. 
Happy Thanksgiving week...and be blessed!

Hiding from God

Nehemiah 1:5-6

I think the real reason we pray so little is fear: fear of facing God, fear also of facing our own and others' brokenness.  Our hearts are saying: "Can I really trust God? Will He really show me His love when I don't keep anything hidden from Him - or will I be crushed by His anger and lose the little bit of freedom I have so carefully carved out for myself?"

"Do not be afraid" Those are the moments where you can get closer to God.  God is a jealous God, yes, but His jealousy is not filled with possessiveness and suspicion; as is our human jealousy.  This is why we have a relationship, and not a religious contract with God.

God loves us with a perfect love.  A love that casts out all fear and allows us to approach Him and His people in complete freedom.  He loves us so much that He in fact, passionately desires our love in response.

So, ladies, pray without fear, enter God's presence with a vulnerable openness. Learn to be silent in His presence, so He can first speak to us and reveal us to ourselves as women created in love and created free to love. Then we can respond with a full "yes", affirming from the depth of our hearts that we are indeed made in the image and likeness of God.

Love Builders:

• What fears keep you from sharing openly with others?
• What fears keep you from feeling free to approach God in prayer?

Be certain of God's limitless love for you...no matter what!

Article from Joyce Meyer

Throughout the course of our lives, negative things happen...dissapointing things....heartbreaking things. People let us down. Situations we expect to turn out one way end up turning out another way.  It's really just part of life, but Satan always tempts us to wonder: God, what is going on, don't you love me?

The Bible makes it clear, very clear that God does love us (Ephesians 2:4-5). Still, every now and then, we find ourselves trapped in that mindset (of God, don't you love me?). 

If you struggled with fears and doubts, I want you to get a revelation today - a heart knowledge that no one can ever take away from you - If God loves me so much and He's so strong and capable of doing whatever needs to be done, then I don't have to live in fear because He's going to take care of me.

If we will simply believe that God loves us and wants to bless us, we will see good things happen in our lives.

A lot of women don't love themselves or see themselves as valuable because they've had life experiences that make them feel worthless, or because they struggle with sin and they think God is mad at them. And they become so accustomed to having disappointing things happen that they just kind of vaguely expect things to go wrong.

The only way to break the chains of fear and doubt is to know in your heart that God loves you - no matter what.

John 3:16 -I don’t understand it.

FORWARDED BY SHELIA

A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner, the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers.

He walked up to a policeman and said, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and its awful cold in there for tonight. “Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay."

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say John 3:16 and they will let you in."

So he did. He walked up the steps and knocked on the door, and a lady answered.
He looked up and said, "John 3:16."
The lady said, "Come on in, Son."

She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old fireplace, and she went off. The boy sat there for a while and thought to himself: John 3:16... I don't understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.

Later she came back and asked him "Are you hungry?"
He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten in a couple of days, and I guess I could stand a little bit of food,"

The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more. Then he thought to himself: John 3:16... Boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure makes a hungry boy full.

She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16 ... I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.

The lady came in and got him. She took him to a room, tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers up around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he lay in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night, he thought to himself: John 3:16 ... I don't understand it but it sure makes a tired boy rest.

The next morning the lady came back up and took him down again to that same big table full of food. After he ate, she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and picked up a big old Bible.

She sat down in front of him and looked into his young face.

"Do you understand John 3:16?" she asked gently.
He replied, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it,"

She opened the Bible to John 3:16 and began to explain to him about Jesus. Right there, in front of that big old fireplace, he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there and thought: John 3:16 … don't understand it, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.

You know, I have to confess I don't understand it either, how God was willing to send His Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don't understand the agony of the Father and every angel in heaven as they watched Jesus suffer and die. I don't understand the intense love for ME that kept Jesus on the cross till the end.I don't understand it, but it sure does make life worth living.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If you aren't ashamed to do this, please follow the directions. Jesus said, "If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father." I do Love God. He is my source of existence. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Phil 4:13 If you love God and are not ashamed of all the marvelous things he has done for you, SHARE IT with someone else.

Overpowering Love

I was reading Romans 8:31-39 this morning and was really blessed by how much God's overpowering love will never change....no matter what we do or don't do. There are so many things that try to sway us away from our love with God; there are other things that just happen to us in this life that can easily distract us and cause us to doubt God and His love for us; BUT, this paragraph of scripture is so encouraging and gives a sense of peace that embraces all fear and overpowers all doubt. God is still God, and that's that! NO MATTER WHAT. Whether He does want we want Him do or not...the fact remains that HE is still who HE said He is.... - our Father, friend, and comforter. Sometimes, we may be feeling stale and dry, or too busy, or physically exhausted, or guilt from not spending time alone with God. The guilt starts to remind us of all the teachings we have received, all the Bible College classes we have taken, all the great sermons we have heard - or even preached at times, all the notes we have taken - but never studied them again, all the powerful books we have read - but yet to apply them to our day-to-day lives, all the people we know - that we have learnt nothing from, all the critical things we have done or said, all the lazy moments we have had, all the unkind words we have spoken or thoughts we have entertained etc..... Then it begins to get really clear to us that we are not the saint that we want to be, or the saint that we have been portrayed to be. When we get all these feelings bundled up in one, its the best time to read Romans 8:31-39 - to remind us AGAIN, and bring to our consciousness that God's love is with us...no matter what. God loves you in spite of you! Sometimes, as ladies, we think that the less we deserve God's love, the more we have of it. If you have kids, you know that the one child who struggles the most, is the one that you reach out to the most. If you have any friends, the same logic applies - you find yourself emotionally or physically present with the friend(s) that struggles the most. Now imagine if you are exerting this kind of love and attention to a struggling person, how much more does our Heavenly Father love us even when we've fallen flat on our faces? Love Builders:

• When have you felt spiritually dry?
• When have you felt like a failure?
• How does receiving God's enduring love encourage you in times of staleness or spiritual dissapointment?

Committed to Love

These days, there is a widespread belief that the real problem people have in relationships is they haven't learned to take care of themselves properly. You hear people say all the time, that we should love each other as we love ourselves. AND we interpret the teaching as "we're pretty good at loving others; but our problem is loving ourselves". This may be true in some respect but not entirely. I believe that what Jesus was saying in Mark 12:31 is for us to love others with the same kind of commitment that you already have in loving yourself. The scripture does not justify learning how to love yourself before you love others....which is sadly, what we hear most of the time. If your commitment to loving yourself is invaluable, uncertain, low and dim, then guess what, your commitment to loving anyone else will be just the same. It's just the way it is! Love builders:

1. What do you think "loving yourself" means?
2. Why are you responsible to love others, even if your self-esteem is often low?

{"The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these." (The Message - vs 29-31) }

The way He loves.....

God's love to us is just like water to a thirsty soul; food to a hungry heart; clothes on your body; protection and shade on a hot sunny day; air to your lungs; a cool cloud on a bright afternoon; blood to your veins; arms to run to on a weary day! How is it possible that God loves us that deep and that wide? How could it be that He chose to die for each and everyone of us, so that we might ultimately be in eternal living? Meditate on that....