Category: Devotions

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:14, 17, 19-21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Choosing to live above persecution is probably the most difficult thing to do, especially if you’re a prideful person. It’s even more difficult to do when you don’t know why it’s happening. So to actually abide by the word here seems virtually impossible.

But something changed in me…something broke in me this past month. I cried so much. I talked to God and admitted my choices and part in what caused my persecution. And it seemed therein lie my peace. It was in my total transparency with God and myself that I experienced relief from my pain and I could truly laugh at the things that were happening and being said to me.

I hope that from all this you take away how essential it is to your relationship with God to be transparent with Him, if no one else. Living life that way will help you to see the whole picture, seeing yourself for who you really are. It will help you go deeper in God but empower you to be a person God can trust. By choosing to not merely point the finger at the offending party, you can connect with God in a way like never before. Right now I think of Paul and how he spoke of his unworthiness, of his thorn in his flesh, how he often chose what was not right because he did the things he shouldn’t instead of those he should, and more importantly how God boldly used Paul in spite of his torture and persecution of early believers. That’s been my walk…learning to recognize my shortcomings, seeing God’s beautiful grace in them and being used in spite of them. I’ve also been like Peter — full of zeal for God and ready to slice off someone’s ear in the next minute in my anger. But it has been in my admitting that truth about myself that I recognized my need for God’s grace.

I see now that all of this ties into God’s call of immediate obedience over my life this season because if you choose to immediately obey — which means forgiving your offender at God’s nudging, extending that person grace (as well as yourself), acting as God leads in relation to them and the situation, and choosing to let go of the things they have said to and about you, you fulfill the scriptures above.

It’s been in my transparency about my poor choices that I’ve found God to be more real and more present. It’s been in choosing to pray for the person who has hurt me that I feel the greatest release. I have to remind myself to pray for God to empower me to extend forgiveness daily so that offense doesn’t creep up on me towards those who have wronged me (The Bait of Satan) but it’s been in remembering that God too forgave me that I found freedom.

Being elevated or lifted up above your circumstances requires you to see everything and the only way you can get the peace you need to is go to God in the midst of those circumstances to connect with Him there and let go – of pretenses, of false pride, of feeling like you should be immune to more suffering. The goal of trials is to make us more like Christ so as you admit your need for God, you more deeper or higher in God to be empowered for success.

So I know its been a very long time on since I’ve written…so I figured I would get my thoughts and views out of my head and onto my blog where they could gain responses.

So I’ve been dating!…and well, being that I’ve floated from relationship to relationship in the past, I wasn’t really aware of what an investment is in 2016. It’s an investment of time, energy, and patience. There is still this huge divide between men and women in communication and while I don’t quite understand why when our society is so “connected”…I understand that we are still fundamentally different as a whole.

This has caused me to question my beliefs and stances on many things as both a woman, an independent one at that, and as a Christian. It’s led me to ask myself questions like, am I too shallow and am I nitpicking or searching for a reason to x someone out.

The truth is, this whole process is a huge faith walk for me with growth intertwined. I’ve had to acknowledge some truths about myself and also recognize that there is nothing wrong with being different, having standards and simply just not being that into someone.

So alas…here was my conversation with God and myself today. I found myself wondering whether I was settling and/or trying to find fault with the guys that have been pursuing me lately. For example, I stopped dating a guy because he couldn’t handle my busyness (albeit he never communicated this to me until he sent the subliminal ultimatum text). While they are nice, there are certainly things that concern me. It caused me to have a Come-to-Jesus moment today (I’ve been having a lot of these lately) about whether I’m using the right thing to guide my choices and decisions about people I choose to entertain.

Going forward, I will continue to use common sense, but more importantly, I’ll let the Holy Spirit guide my choices. Why? Because we are told to not be unequally yoked. We are told that the man is the head of the household and also the head spiritually. Many of the idioms of Christianity in regards to marriage have caused me concern as I navigate the dating field because of my calling. I cannot deny what God called me to do, and so it makes me leery of choosing who to date. While granted my own faith could be the very thing to lead a man to Christ, I don’t want to be so carnally-led that I settle for someone who could significantly impact my relationship with God for the worst. So this has driven me closer to God in ways previously unseen, for which I’m very grateful.

I’ll be honest…I am somewhat shallow, lol. I do have a type, to an extent (thank God that “type” has matured, GLORY lol). But there are simply things I cannot deny. I want to be attracted to my husband. I want him to be sooo in love with God that his love for draws me to him and closer to God. I want us to have chemistry. I want him to make me laugh. I want him to be smart, intelligent, and witty. I want him to be able to handle my competitiveness. I want him to not be intimidated by my career and calling, and I want to have those kinds of conversations with him without reservations. I want him to love his momma. I want him to be tall, dark and handsome (just kidding on some of that 😉). I don’t want to be aggravated or allow my pet peeves to keep me from meeting a great man.

So…all of this to say…above all else…please be God-led in your dating so that your marriage will be God-ordained!

❤