Author: marquitabp

To know me is to accept me, and to love me is to help me.
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Love’s Healing Power

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real loveā€”not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. (1 John 4:7-12 NLT)

I learned a valuable lesson in loving others this week. I have a bucket list of things to do before I leave Charleston…namely apologizing and forgiving and clearing the air with people so I won’t carry those issues with me to New Orleans. One of those situations was very near and dear to my heart, and the frustrations of it pulled greatly on my heart. I talked to that friend once a couple of weeks ago and I prayed that of something was left to be said, that God would give me the opportunity.

And of course in line with God’s character, He kept having me run into him. This time I thought about the things I said, and it bothered me. After my weekly prayer call and bible study Wednesday, I had a much needed girl talk with one of my friends. God used her to allow some things to resonate with me from some of her own difficult conversations, so I sought Him to give me clarity. As I sat in the tub, I heard Him clearly say, I wasn’t walking in love. I realized I had acted selfishly and truthfully mean, being a little spoiled.

We often do things to protect ourselves after someone hurts us. Your reactions may be different than mine; I stopped all forms of communication with him, even just saying hey and hurry away when I would run into him. I would get ticked off if I saw him and try to go the other direction. But it did not make the hurt go away, in fact it seemed to make it fester and grow into anger.

Only God can heal those hurts. We must allow His love to heal us and we must be obedient to whatever He leads us to do. The beauty of this process has been that God has gently corrected me throughout this process. It surprised me that I had to go through the forgiveness cycle again but it made me even more aware of how important it is for us to be loving in all situations. But it’s so appropriate: how else can we show God to the world unless we love and love all in spite? Try sharing God’s love with all you meet, especially those that have hurt you!

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. (1 John 4:16-19 NLT)

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Get Out Of Your Own Way

You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail. Proverbs 19:21 NLT

Looking back, I amaze myself with the things I thought I was going to do. I thought I was going to marry Ginuwine the singer lol, then I thought I would be a doctor, a psychiatrist at that. I thought I would marry my first boyfriend and have kids by the time I was 25, I thought I would be back in Atlanta too. None of these plans have come to fruition obviously, because I am still single, still not a doctor, and still in Charleston–but on my way out thank God, heading to New Orleans for law school. I never imagined that with my 27th birthday being a week away, that I would be starting over it seems. But God had to tell me to get out of my own way.

The strides God has taken in my life in the last 6 months, well truthfully this last year, are beyond measure. It all started with a conversation with Him during my final plane ride to Ohio, which was confirmed in a ‘spiritual intervention’ I had with my linesister Yvette (smile), and later officially put into action upon the completion of my vision board last June. I had finally gotten up from being knocked down by the series of events beginning in 2009 following my transplant. I thought faith at that time was waiting on God to do something, waiting on His action and simply believing. Now I know better. Faith requires that you do whatever God tells you to do–you must pray and move, step, stand, or jump, but you must do your part. I got up and out of my own way, and you know what, things started happening. Plans changed, people shifted in and out of my life for more spiritually grounded people, and miracles and favor changed how I understand God and His movements.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a planner. I could probably do event planning because that’s how much I plan. I plan a party, a dinner, and my life on a whim; I get into the ‘zone’ and crank it out, then do it. But now because I have been seeking God’s purpose for my life and listened long enough to hear Him clearly reveal it to me, I know that the plans I make are inspired by Him. No longer do I make decisions to appease anyone else; instead, I go to God for His leading and direction and I simply do.

We spend so much time on the wrong path because we stay in our own way. We ‘wait on God’ to do something, ignore His direction and leading, or simply live aimless lives to please our own carnal desires. This can’t be!! Lives, souls and eternity are at stake. We don’t listen when He gives us that red flag about our relationships; we stay stuck in the mud. We run from situation to situation, trailing the dirt and baggage from every thing we have gone through with us until we reach the point of no return, brokenness. We do not give God the opportunity to help us because of our pride nor do we allow Him to inspire us with a way out of the situaiton. We take the wrong job because we were so focused on getting back to that place or that person that we end up miserable, crying, complaining and hurting from all of the devils that came with it. It is when we reach that place of brokenness that we finally cry out to God to alleviate our struggles and give us deliverance. Fortunately God never says it is too late and out of brokenness can come true beauty.

I was in my own way for a long time, over four years to be honest about it. I was planning my life trying to fulfill what I thought He wanted me to do. I finally stopped trying to please everyone else including myself and really got before Him to hear what He has been saying all along. I do not know what this next step in my journey entails but I am excited about it. I can honestly say I feel so free, so alive for the first time because I am pursuing His will and not my plans. Following in the path He lays before you guarantees you get there…and I’m not giving up on that for anybody, including myself. Get out of your own way, do your part and have faith! If its God’s will, you will gain so much fulfillment and peace from the results.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT