Some
days, it’s like an ocean during a storm- where the waves are overwhelming and
non-relenting.It’s like a rogue wave
that comes without warning; you have no idea where it’s going to hit you and it
always comes when you least expect it.
I’m
filing out a survey for the Hospice service that took care of my mother.A simple survey and I feel like I got punched
in the gut.
It’s
ALWAYS there, just under the surface at the ready to pull the rug out from under
your feet.
I’ve
learned to compartmentalize, if I don’t, it would consume me.
I had no idea the impact my mother’s death would have on me.
It’s
been 4 months and I’m still completely devastated. I’m still in complete shock and there are
moments where I just can’t wrap my brain around the fact that she’s really
gone.
I
really thought that because I lost my dad 12 years ago, and we were really
close, I’d know what to expect this time around.
I
was so very wrong.
This
time is so different, it’s not even comparable.
I
miss her so much, it literally aches.It
still takes my breath away when I think about her smile, her laugh, the way she
said my name, the way she called me, Baby Girl.I have her voice recorded and I can’t bring myself to listen to it.I guess I’m afraid it would shatter me if I
did.
I
have thank you notes to write yet for those who contributed to her cremation/memorial
costs and I just can’t write them.I
need to set up a payment plan to finish paying for the cremation and I just now
did that.I need to purchase an urn for
her ashes and I just can’t do it.
Every time I start to work on these things, I just stop breathing.
I
experienced so much adversity in my life and I’ve always used it to make me
stronger, (and give me a dark sense of humor) but this?This makes me feel like I’m going to just
crumble.
She
was so special and so beautiful, and I know she never knew that while she was alive. I wish I had told her more.
She had such a hard, hard life, sometimes at her
own hands, but not always.
It seems like she never could really get it together, no matter how hard she
tried.Time and again, she picked
herself up, and soldiered on.Things
just didn’t work out for her most of the time.Her times of complete stability were few and far between, but you’d
never know it by her attitude.
I
wish I had done more to help her with that.
I
know that eventually the grief will change into something smoother and less
jagged, but right now, it still feels like someone punches me in the gut every
time I think of her.
She had the greatest laugh, and she laughed all the time. She was passionate and felt things big. She loved with her whole heart. She never lost her joy. I could learn a lot from that.
“See, I have
engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.”
Isaiah 49:16 (NIV)
Have you ever read a verse and thought to yourself: “Part
of that applies to me, the other, not so much”.
Yeah, me either.
Except for this one. Mainly,
because I wasn’t wrapping my brain around the wall part, but something in my
spirit pricked every time I read it.
Anyone that knows me at all, will tell you that I’m an
independent-get-it-done-yourself kind of woman.
The women in my family are just known for their “I can do it myself”
attitude. We’re strong, self-reliant,
and hard working- and proud. Boy, are we
ever proud. We never show weakness and
we most certainly do not ask for help.
Needing help is a shameful thing.
Showing weakness is a shameful thing.
Owning your mistakes, that’s right, it’s a shameful thing.
The fact that I can be transparent at all, is a freaking
miracle.
I was brought up with the mentality that you should never,
ever depend on someone else to do anything for you. You should never depend on anyone to take
care of you, because they will fail you every time. Countless times have I heard the advice from
my mother, ‘Pamela, you can’t depend on any man to take care of you because as
soon as you do, he’ll leave and you’ll not be able to take care of yourself. You just can’t depend on them.”
Add that on top of a tumultuous childhood of instability,
an adolescence of verbal and emotional abuse from someone who was supposed to
take care of me, and marrying a man who was just not capable of taking care of
anyone but himself and here we are.
So let’s get back to these walls…
“Your walls are ever before me.”
To be quite honest with you, I didn’t even realize that I
even had walls before the Lord. I didn’t
even realize that there was any part of my heart that I didn’t leave open to
the Lord. Turns out, that’s a lie.
There are wounded parts of my heart that I’ve made off
limits to not only God, but to myself. I
locked them away and forgot about them.
However, if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million
times at least- sooner or later, every truth comes to light. There is nothing hidden in the dark that
doesn’t eventually make it’s way into the light.
It did for this weekend, and this weekend was hard. I am in the process of learning how to become
financially stable- I’ve struggled all my life with not having enough – not having
enough money, attention, love, affection, sex, nice things, whatever it may be,
just not enough. I’ve tried every which
way I could to have ‘enough’. I’ve spent
money on worthless things to try and feel like I had enough junk in my home; I’ve
stayed in unhealthy relationships for far too long so that I could have ‘enough’
affection and love; I’ve had more friends with benefits than I care to admit
out loud to try and make myself feel like ‘enough’. Here’s some revelation- until I let God heal
those deep, dark, wounded parts of my heart, there will never be ‘enough’ of
anything because I’m attempting to fill a bottomless void.
SO as I come to this gut-wrenching revelation at the help
of a good friend who’s trying to help me get my finances in order- I recognized
that I there are things that I need to forgive God for.
I needed to forgive God for not giving me parents that
were able to provide for me when I really needed it.
I needed to forgive God for not protecting me in all the
ways I felt like He should have.
I needed to forgive God for taking things and
opportunities away from me that I thought I deserved and I needed.
I needed to forgive God for withholding from me all the
promises He’d given me- a husband, a family for instance. The truth is though- if the man that God
created for me, the one He’s promised me, walked into my life right now, I
wouldn’t trust him. I’d always be
waiting for him to let me down, to hurt me. I needed to forgive myself for not trusting God to be my provider; for so arrogant and thinking that I could take care of everything on my own when that hasn't worked for me thus far.
Then, I had to let the Father come in and heal those
deep, dark, hidden wounds of my heart.
That’s still a work in progress.
I believed the lie that God couldn’t be my provider for
every area of my life and in doing that, denying that God can’t be God all the
time, I’d robbed myself of so many great opportunities for God to show off in
my life.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve said that I wanted
God’s best, that I wouldn’t settle for anything mediocre or sub-par from God- I
want everything that He has for me. In
order to receive that, I have to let Him be God. I have to let Him be my everything and I have
to trust Him to be that provider.
I have to stop being self-reliant. I have to accept that in reality, I have no
control, I have no say in how things go in my world. I have to lay down my own will to have things
my way. I have to trust that whatever
God wants to give me is His best, not
mine because let’s be honest here, my
best is filthy rags compared to His best.
I’m still processing and I’m still being submissive and
several moments throughout the day, I have to stop myself from trying to figure
it all out and trust that He’s at work and it’s for my good. I’m a logical person so it’s hard for me to
trust an illogical God.
I have to trust Him.
In all things, in everything, in every minute detail of my life and of
my heart, I have to trust Him.
Like I said, I’m still letting God reveal the hidden
parts of my heart- the parts that are still tucked away behind those walls- the
ones I thought were hidden from Him, but He states it so clearly- my walls are
ever before Him. He never stops thinking
about them, He’s just waiting for me to give Him the permission to bring them
down.
I don’t just want them to come down, I don’t just want Him
to crush them, or tear them down, I want Him to obliterate them. As painful as those wounds are, and as
painful as I think it will be to let Him heal them, I don’t want any part of my
heart guarded from Him.
The other great part of that verse, my name is engraved
in the palm of His hand- because He loves me that much.
He is my healer, and He is my provider, and He is a good,
good God- there is no one or no thing that has the capacity to love me the way
He does.
I want my heart to be laid open before Him, because it is
all that I have and I love Him so much that I want Him to be the God of my
life, to be the King of my heart.
Besides, it’s not like anything or any part of me is
hidden from Him anyway. He sees the
darkest and dirtiest parts of me and loves and delights in me anyway.
How could I not trust a God like that?
I’ll leave you with this- trust Him. Forgive Him if you need to, forgiveness is
not about feeling like it, or being in a place where you think you can, it’s a
command, and it’s for your own good. How
much of the goodness of God are you missing because you’re holding on to
something painful?
As
I get ready for these huge, possibly life-changing tests on Wednesday, my
anxiety is at an all-time high.My trust
is where it should be, but my physical body just won’t get on board.
I'm
leaning so heavily on one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible today. Psalm
18.
It’s
my favorite depiction of how God rescues us.I've posted it from the New Living Translation because it's just so vivid.
Sometimes
we like to keep God in this snuggly Father figure box (which He most definitely is)
where He just scoops us up and loves on us and kisses our boo boos; but
sometimes it's important to have Him really reveal Himself to us as the
powerful Almighty God of the Universe.
I
love the way that David describes Him in this chapter because He is my rescuer
and today, this is how I need to see Him.
The Almighty God of the
Universe.
I
Am.
My
Redeemer.
My Healer.
My
King.
My
God.
I
need Him come down on His angelic beast and fight for me.
All because He has heard my cry and He delights in me.
Not
because of who I am, but just because of who He is and because of how much
He loves me.
For the choir director: A
psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang this song to the Lord on the
day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. He sang:
1 I love you, Lord; you
are my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, my
fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power
that saves me, and my place of safety.
3 I called on the Lord,
who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death
entangled me; floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave wrapped its
ropes around me; death laid a trap in my path.
6 But in my distress I
cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his
sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth quaked
and trembled. The foundations of the mountains shook; they
quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his
nostrils;fierce flames leaped from
his mouth.Glowing coals blazed forth
from him.
9 He opened the heavens
and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty
angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in
darkness, veiling his approach with dark rain clouds.
12 Thick clouds shielded
the brightness around himand rained down hail and burning coals.
13 The Lord thundered from
heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded
amid the hail and burning coals.
14 He shot his arrows and
scattered his enemies; his lightning flashed, and they were
greatly confused.
15 Then at your command, O
Lord,at the blast of your breath, the bottom of the sea
could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were laid
bare.
16 He reached down from
heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my
powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong
for me.
18 They attacked me at a moment
when I was in distress, but the Lord supported me.
19 He led me to a place of
safety;he rescued me because he delights in me.
20 The Lord rewarded me
for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence.
21 For I have kept the
ways of the Lord; I have not turned from my God to follow
evil.
22 I have followed all his
regulations; I have never abandoned his decrees.
23 I am blameless before
God; I have kept myself from sin.
24 The Lord rewarded me
for doing right. He has seen my innocence.
25 To the faithful you
show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show
yourself pure, but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.
27 You rescue the humble, but
you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for
me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
29 In your strength I can
crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
30 God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for
protection.
31 For who is God except
the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock?
32 God arms me with
strength, and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as
surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
34 He trains my hands for
battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
35 You have given me your
shield of victory.Your right hand
supports me;
your help has made me great.
36 You have made a wide
path for my feet to keep them from slipping.
37 I chased my enemies and
caught them; I did not stop until they were conquered.
38 I struck them down so
they could not get up; they fell beneath my feet.
39 You have armed me with
strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
40 You placed my foot on
their necks. I have destroyed all who hated me.
41 They called for help,
but no one came to their rescue.They
even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer.
42 I ground them as fine
as dust in the wind.I swept them into
the gutter like dirt.
43 You gave me victory
over my accusers.You appointed me ruler
over nations; people I don’t even know now serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of
me, they submit; foreign nations cringe before me.
45 They all lose their
courage and come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise
to my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted!
47 He is the God who pays
back those who harm me; he subdues the nations under me
48 and rescues me from my
enemies. You hold me safe beyond
the reach of my enemies; you save me from violent opponents.
49 For this, O Lord, I
will praise you among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.
50 You give great
victories to your king; you show unfailing love to your anointed, to
David and all his descendants forever.
I am forever convinced that no matter what I do, what I go through, no matter how ugly it gets, and no matter how awesome it gets, there is absolutely, NO END TO HIS GOOD!
I'm the one in the back with the glasses and hot stud!
No, thank God, I don’t.
And no, I’m not at the DMV.I’m at a country and western dancing class at
TWU with my “friend” Sandy.We’ll see if
she’s still my “friend” when these 8 weeks are over.
I tease, she’s alright and we did have fun.
She’s in this phase of life where she wants to try
new things and meet new people and let’s be honest here, I’m SO NOT.
I’m pretty sure I’d been drinking when she
proposed this idea of going to this class and I agreed to try it.I think.Or maybe I was just distracted.
Last night was our first class and I should’ve
started drinking before leaving the house.
See, we had this big plan of leaving early so we
wouldn’t make a grand entrance.It didn’t
quite work out that way.Oh, we left
early, but we still made an entrance.
We went to the wrong building.Twice.
By the time we finally ended up where we were
supposed to be, we were nice and sweaty, I mean, glowing with excitement to be
there.
We walk into a room full of…couples!Like boys and girls all posed neatly in a
circle waiting to start dancing.
Then we come busting into class, all two girls all
dressed up and no boys to dance with.
Cause this wasn’t supposed to be a ‘couples’
class.
So, instead of being all depressed and single, we
danced with each other, taking turns being the boy.
Now, get your minds out of the gutter, it wasn’t
gross (mostly) but it was sweaty.
Sandy couldn’t figure out that the boys hands
always go on top and she kept asking me not the fling her across the room for
some reason.
I think the instructor got irritated a time or two
because we kept laughing hysterically.I’m
also pretty sure that the other couples were somewhat annoyed- psh, like we’re
supposed to take this all serious and junk?!Please!
HELLO?!!!We’ll
be dancing at BARS… not like at a Catholic Mass or anything…
Anyway, I’m sure there will be much funni-ness
that comes out of this new adventure that I find myself in.Just the fact that I’m dancing… in a
classroom… probably with a girl for the rest of my days… will have to bring
some hilariousness.
I love my comfort zone- and I hate to brag,
whatever, I love to brag, it’s pretty awesome up in Pamela’s comfort zone- but
it’s healthy to be pushed from it occasionally.
I admire my friends that just seem fearless and
anxious to try new things all the time when I dread it.
Oh yes, I’m sure there’s some deeper wounds going
on there on my part, but still, it’s just not my nature to enjoy any kind of
change in my world.
Lately though, I’ve been in sort of a rut and this
was a good opportunity to change that.
Thank you, Sandy for helping me stretch and grow a little.
We’re still friends, for the moment. ;)
I can’t make any promises until after next week’s
class.
Instead,
be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God
through Christ has forgiven you.
*Insert whiny voice here*
Forgiveness is not my favorite topic of
discussion.It is unpopular, it’s not
fun, and it is usually painful.
It’s also one that reminds me of where I am
sure to fall short. That being said, it's on my heart today.
Over my lifetime, I’ve had many unpleasant things
happen to me, many people have hurt me, wounded me, and done things to me that
most would agree are unreasonable to forgive.
There was a time in my walk with the Lord
that I tried to rationalize with Him about forgiveness (haha, yeah, I’m going
to ‘reason’ with the Creator of the Universe, right).I’d say things like: “Well, Father, I’ve
already forgiven these people that hurt me thisway, so because I forgave them for
such a big thing, I should be given a free pass on this one who just hurt me a
little bit.”
Uh, God doesn’t work that way.
Harboring unforgiveness is like holding
onto a hot curling iron and not letting go.
Eventually, it will destroy that thing that
holds it.
You can tell yourself all you want that it’s
not as hot as it seems and it’s not as painful as it looks, but the truth is it’s
destroying the tissues in your hand.Once you’ve initially grabbed hold of that curling iron, whether
intentionally or not, it’s surprisingly hot and it’s likely to leave a blister
that may go away on its own.
However, the longer you hold onto the hot
iron, the deeper the burn will go and the more likely it is to leave a
permanent scar.
Every time you look down, you’ll see that
scar and be reminded of that particular wound.
It’s the same way when people wound us.Usually, at first, we’re surprised that they
hurt us and it may only take us a short time to realize that we must let go of
that hurt and forgive them.It will
probably leave a small (if at all) trace of what happened.
On the other hand, if we choose to hold onto
that hurt, the deeper the damage to our hearts, and sometimes our souls. This leaves a permanent abrasion so that every
time we face that abrasion, we remember those who wounded us and the hurt
spreads like a infection, ultimately destroying us.
Unforgiveness does nothing but create
additional pain, resentment, bitterness, and is the stealer of our joy, thus
sapping our strength and health (Nehemiah
8:10).
Maybe you’re the person that needs
forgiveness.We’ve all been there, and
as long we’re living and breathing on this earth, we’ll always be in a position
where we’ll need forgiveness from others.
There have been things in my life that I’ve
had to forgive myself of: adultery, not being good example of what a Godly
woman is to my daughters, being deceitful, being prideful and entitled, and
being malicious and spiteful when it suited me.
Sometimes the person that is the hardest to
forgive is yourself.
I heard someone remark today that they were going
to seek peace about an individual that wronged them by going to church every
Sunday.
While going to church is a good, healthy way
to enhance your Christian walk, it will not bring you lasting peace.
We live in a world that is craving true and saturating
peace; a peace that this world cannot give them.They are yearning for something that will
heal those permanent wounds in their lives and are crying out.
Instead of just pointing people to ‘church’,
we should be pointing them to Jesus.
I advised this acquaintance of mine that
church is good, but if she wants real peace (& the ability to forgive this
person), she’s only going to find that in an intimate relationship with the
Father and quality time spent in His presence.
Asking
for and giving out forgiveness is not something to be taken lightly.God certainly doesn’t and He expects us to
make it the top priority in our lives.
Mark 11:25 (NLT)
“But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are
holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins,
too.”
Matthew 6:15 (NLT)
“But if you refuse
to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
As a Christian, we not simply asked to
forgive, we’re commanded to do it, Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to
forgive his neighbor, and Jesus’ reply was seventy-times-seven. (Matthew 18: 21-22)
Okay, that’s math I won’t do and I’m too lazy
to keep track, so I’m just going to go with, I’m supposed to forgive them every
time they wrong me.
Does that mean that I have to continue to
have them in my life if they’re causing severe damage?Does that mean that I have to continue having
a relationship with them?
If the Lord has released you to kick them to
the curb, do it, but with Godly love.
I know that forgiveness is hard, and I know
that there are most certainly things and people in our lives that we, in our own
strength, simply cannot forgive.
That’s where our Father comes in.It is with His strength and His ability that
we’re able to do that.It is only with His love that comes permanent
healing and forgiveness is what paves the way to that permanent healing we're so desperate for.
We cannot be healed if we do not forgive.
Proverbs 17:9 (NLT)
Love
prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.
Forgiveness and restoration go hand in hand,
you cannot have one without the other.
Unforgiveness creates a separation between
you and someone else and prohibits true relationship.No matter how miniscule the offense may be,
for a time, there is separation and your love may become conditional.Exercising true forgiveness creates restoration
between you and the offending party and opens the door for unconditional love.
When you break a bone, it is said that when
it heals, the bone is stronger that it was before it was broken.
I know that my God is more than capable of
doing just that in relationships between His people.I’ve seen it work in my own life. Most importantly, forgiveness is not a feeling- it's not something we do when we 'feel that we are ready'; it's a commandment from God. It's an act of sacrificial obedience. We have to give up something - more often than not, control and stubbornness, in order to fulfill our obligation to God.
Is there someone in your life that you deem
as unforgivable because of the hurt that they’ve caused you?Maybe you feel that they are unworthy of your
forgiveness?
Despite the circumstances, when we sincerely forgive others who have wounded us, we
are reinstated to freedom from that particular wound. We are no longer in agreement
with what that hurt tells us to feel or how to act, we are able to choose our
actions and not be ruled by that hurt any longer.No matter what transpired or how deep that hurt
goes, God promises to use it for our good.He says that He uses everything, all things; not ‘some’ things, but all
things for our good.
Romans 8:28 (NLT)
And
we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who
love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
God’s a pretty smart guy like that, He knows what’s best for us and that
harboring hurt and unforgiveness does nothing but poison us.He says that He’s come so that we may have
life and more abundantly- He wants us to be free and healthy, therefore, we
must forgive those who hurt us.
I know that I fall short in this area but I
am confident that I am a work in progress.
Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
And
I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his
work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Let me encourage you today that if there is
someone who you need to forgive, but you just can’t seem to do it in your
strength, take refuge in the knowledge that you were never meant to do that on
your own.You have the power through your
spoken word to exercise forgiveness through your Father. Ask Him for help- ask Him to give you what you need in order to forgive.
He’s just waiting for you to cry out and ask
for help.
He’s anxiously waiting to hear from you.
You are important to Him.
This is Matthew Wests' song and testimony about "Forgiveness" and can be found here. It really blessed me.
We’ve all seen and heard of a great deal of posts
on facebook regarding Christians and the movie Magic Mike, and reading fictional erotica like the Fifty Shades of Grey series.This is a very controversial topic of
conversation, especially in the Christian world.
**Let
me clarify here that I will not say one way or another that seeing movies like
this or reading books of this nature is right or wrong.**
I will say that I do have mixed emotions and views
on this topic.I’ve read a few articles
and seen these posts and one word comes to mind every time I’m broached with
this topic… condemnation.Even from the
several that started out their posts with “I’m not condemning anyone, however…”To me, that’s a big, red flag that tells me
there could be condemnation afoot.
I’ll be transparent enough to say that I’ve seen Magic Mike and I’ve read fictional
erotica (gasp!).
I have a strong belief that one person’s
convictions may not be another’s and that it is not my place to tell you what
you should or shouldn’t feel convicted of.The Holy Spirit is the authority on that and He’s much more
knowledgeable of your heart than I.I’m
also of the profound belief that not everything you do is my business.Sometimes we just take on more responsibility
for others’ actions than is necessary.
I will admit this, I did not feel convicted about
seeing Magic Mike or reading any
fictional erotica.This is not my conviction where it might be someone else’s. However,
I’m also not encouraging that others run out and buy the series and go see the
movie.I’m just being transparent here
because I know there are other believers out there that can relate to me.
I know that many Christians have posted that we
are letting pornography (sin) and lust (sin) into our lives by allowing such
books and movies to be viewed, however, let’s take into considerations 3
questions:
When
we offer our Godly advice and warnings to other believers, are we pushing our own
convictions onto them and therefore causing them to feel condemned?
Are
we offering yet another opportunity for the world see judgment and legalism
rather than love and grace?
Can
we not pray for our brothers and sisters to hear from the Holy Spirit for
themselves?
I can guarantee that the Holy Spirit is much more capable
of speaking to their hearts and minds than we can.See, when we allow the Holy Spirit to do His
job, He will speak to us in a loving and accepting way, which will only deepen
intimacy with the Father.He jumps at
the opportunity to encourage that!
I remember when Harry Potter hit the scene and
there was a huge controversy in our church (as well as many others) as to
whether or not it was promoting witchcraft (also sin) to our children.The Word says that not one sin is greater
than another.I just don’t see how this is
any different.
I know in my own walk there have been times that
I’ve pushed my convictions on others with such gusto that it produced
condemnation when my intentions were really good.I just wanted to keep others from falling
into the same pitfalls and suffering the same consequences that I had.It was for their own good to learn from my
mistakes where they could, right?The
truth is our priority should always be to point others to the Father
first.We should always advise others to
seek the Holy Spirit and His wisdom above our own.If they still want our opinion after doing
that, then by all means, after seeking the Holy Spirit first ourselves, give
your opinion.Too often, I’ve found
myself speaking first and then asking the Holy Spirit for His ‘permission’.I guess I tend to be backwards in that
way.I bet no one else has ever done
that…
We must always go back to God’s Word.I believe that seeking the Holy Spirit
sincerely and diligently goes hand in hand with God’s Word.Let me encourage Christians to do this before
we post, comment, or advise others on these particular comments.Then again, shouldn’t we be doing this on
all advisement?
Christians who are intimate with the Father should
automatically seek the Holy Spirit sincerely before participating in such
activities like the books they read or the movies they see.
This is my plea: Believers, please seek wisdom and
discernment before posting your advisement to other believers to be sure that
you are really not condemning them, but aiding them in seeking the Holy Spirit for
themselves.
Giving Godly counsel, not our own opinions, is
imperative so let’s be sure that we are encouraging each other to seek the
Father’s heart for us.That is what will
make all the difference in our behaviors and actions.
Here's my scriptures...
Romans 5:16-17 (NLT)
And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that
one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift
leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.
3 God’s
will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.4 Then each of you will control his
own body[a] and live in holiness and honor—5 not in lustful passion like
the pagans who do not know God and his ways.
I had no idea the impact my mother’s death would have on me. 
She
was so special and so beautiful, and I know she never knew that while she was alive. 
She had the greatest laugh, and she laughed all the time. She was passionate and felt things big. She loved with her whole heart.
