What Can I Say?

This weekend has been an experience. I went to the mountain and came back with a determination to live a life that represents Christ in all aspects. It is so amazing that I used to think that I was experiencing God only to have Him show me that what I was experiencing was nothing compared to what I can experience now. There are higher levels to experience in Him! I am humbled that He would love someone like me....I have made up my mind, there's no turning back.

Fearless

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." 1 John 4:18

Perfect love casts out fear. Fear is a crippling agent; it prevents growth, movement, freedom. Love is & of God and where God is so is the spirit of liberty, or freedom. So, what do I do when I get nervous and fearful about the next step or chapter in my life? I remind myself that God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, LOVE and a sound mind....Love, it always comes back to love. Love is what moves us, is behind most of the decisions that we make, even the excuse we hide behind to justify what we do; but what happens if we let ourselves be exposed to the PERFECT LOVE? Can you imagine how different we would be? If we let ourselves be exposed to the Almighty God in all His greatness, awesomeness, perfectness. I remember when I first came across this verse, I was so shocked how it just spoke to my situation with such a simple answer I wanted to slap my head and say "duh". I have a relationship with my Lord and Savior and because of our relationship, His Perfect Love removes all my fears because He is not the type of God to cripple me and prevent me from moving forward. He's the exact opposite: He is the type of God who by His huge capacity to love a sinner like me, had His Son die for me so that I can move freely in Him. His love allows me to grow, learn, seek and love Him. The loves we experience now: Storge (love between family members), Philia (love between friends), and Eros (love between husband and wife) are just a piece of the love that God has for us. God's unconditional love (Agape) is a love that is so powerful it makes us fearless. We know that once we on on Team Jesus, we can face anything. You can face anything, and do anything through Jesus who gives you strength. Be blessed.

I'm No Longer A Fraud

Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing a word that rocked me to my core. It was by Jesse Peterson, my pastor at Village Vespers (associate pastor at Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village). I can't even put into words how it spoke to me. In the business that I work in (fashion) it is soooo easy to try to be someone else, to fit the ideas that people want to have of you or to even fit the mold for the job that you do. That was my main problem when I first started working in fashion: trying to be someone I was not. I can't even begin to imagine how much it grieved God that I was not happy with the person He made me to be and that I was trying to be someone else. It was like me telling God that He made a mistake when He created me this way. My new job has allowed me to be more like myself. I'm surrounded by people who love their job and love self-expression (did I mention that I work at my dream label?). I have to say that the one thing about realizing you're a fraud when you're a Christian is knowing that there is Someone that take over and handle it for you. I could say I don't know where I would be if I wasn't in the Lord, but that's not true: I would be dead, literally. But now I have someone who takes on my burdens, stress, pain, etc. and gives me strength, patience, love, peace, joy, etc. And believe me, in this business I need it. So, now that I'm no longer a fraud I have the freedom and the joy that comes with discovering who God intended me to be: and that's awesome. Be blessed.

Random Musing: My Quarterlife Crisis

Lately I have been dreading awakening and starting my day. It's the same routine: work, home or work, church. No variations, nothing exciting and interesting. I don't compare my life to others; I just think about where I could be if I buckle down and get serious.  Even working on my portfolio for design school has been a nightmare. I have no inspiration! After praying and thinking things over I realized what my problem is: I'm having a Quarterlife Crisis. I'm 25 years old (will be 26 in 1 month), I have a job but not a career, I'm single with friends who are all either married or engaged and I don't do anything for fun anymore. So, I am determined to make changes for the better. I'm trying to figure out what to do to get some inspiration for my portfolio asap since the deadline for early admission is in one month, I am trying to learn more about myself and what truly makes me happy, sad, etc. and I'm opening up my circle of friends. Most importantly, I'm working on my relationship with the Lord. I will know more about myself once I know more about Him. It's so funny how once I start to feel disconnected from Him, I start to feel disconnected from myself. It's like a relationship; when you haven't seen your boyfriend/girlfriend in a while you feel it. I want my next year to be blessed and led completely by God........be blessed.

Fasting From Sex

....Lol, I know what you are thinking: "fasting from sex?" Let me explain. I had the blessing today of coming across a blog about the Blessings of Singleness and it mentioned fasting from food. I started to think about how fasting from sex or abstaining until our season of marriage is like fasting from food. When we fast from food our stomach still grumbles like when we abstain (especially those who have been sexually active before) from sex we still have a desire for it; but we press through it and put it before God because He will give us something better than.......a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy's, lol. It had me thinking: when we don't really stress it and approach it on a day-by-day situation and REMIND ourselves everyday that God is more than able (since He is our architect; He made us this way) to handle this and keep us, it gets a little bit easier. I remember when we did the Daniel's Fast how the first week was the hardest, but as each day passed I didn't think about it much. I was focused. If I approach this the same way, knowing some days will be harder and staying in God's word and before Him; it will get easier because He will be giving me the strength. That being said, I want to leave these verses (NIV) to encourage you:

1. Jeremiah 29:11 (My most favorite verse)

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

This verse reminds me that in that hour when it seems darkest and I doubt God; He already has it all mapped out and it will work out fine. All I have to do is follow that path He is leading me down.



2. Galatians 5:16

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

This verse is pretty much self-explanatory; live by the spirit (a lifestyle that is in the Word and led by God) and you will not gratify the desires that are flesh- based. If you live for God and have a relationship with Him you wouldn't want to grieve Him by following and doing things that you know will break His heart. It like God is your spouse; you wouldn't intentionally do things to strain the relationship and hurt Him, right?



3. 2 Corinthians 4:17

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."

This one is the verse that belongs on my mirror so I can see it every morning. It just reminds me that this is nothing; the eternal glory, eternity trumps this little thing.



4. Isaiah 26:3

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

If you keep your mind on Christ not on who is in a relationship now or getting married while you're still single, blah, blah, blah.....you will be calm and in peace. Trusting God is the hardest thing to do nowadays; we live in a microwave nation and we expect God's time to match ours. But if just let Go and let God because HE DOES KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING we will be in perfect peace. Perfect is a powerful word; it means no faults, errors, nothing. Can we /will we trust God? What would that look like?



5. Psalm 37:4

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."

I am focusing on the first part of that verse, "delight yourself in the Lord". How can we or what can we do to delight ourselves in the Lord? I can think of one thing: treat Him like your best friend and tell Him everything, look forward to those times when you can speak to Him candidly. Get excited about this wonderful relationship you have with Christ Jesus!!!!!



That being said, I hope I have encouraged others in their season of singlehood; I know I have encouraged myself.





Be blessed!


image source: photo.net Entitled: Alone by Miguel Angel de Arriba Cuadrado

Waiting......

Last Saturday, the S.En.S.E. (Sister Encouraging Sister in Excellence) Ministry had a seminar on waiting. It was pretty good. The topic drifted to what to do when you are actually waiting for the one God has for you and the spotlight ended up on my cousin and I.  I never really looked at it as we are the actual living examples to the younger girls we mentor. I mean, I am there when they have questions and I share parts of my past experience so they will not make the same errors; but to know that they are watching EVERYTHING  I do especially in this area makes it very unnerving. As I started to think about it and wondered what could I say with my actions realizing that my actions don't just effect me but the young eyes that are watching me I came to this conclusion: I don't mind waiting and doing it God's way. Just for the fact that I can show them that in this day and age there are still people waiting on God's timing and aren't "playing around" until then. When I look at it from that view, it makes it even more worth it. I want to be able to say "I did it, and so can you".

When Nothing Satisifies You.....

The song has been playing in my head all day. I guess its because I realize I'm at a crossroad: I am wondering where do I go from here? or even better where is God leading me? The feeling of being led blindly in the next chapter of my life is a sore understatement. But the good thing is that I'm not alone; I am not leading myself but being led by God. Also, many, many people have been in my place so I know the saying "been there, done that" will be told to me over and over. So the question now is not what is the next step but how can I encourage myself and others in the same situation as me. It's simple: I'll say that you can't go wrong when you go God's way. It's not easy, and it never goes as planned (that's for another blog entry) but it can't go wrong or be bad if God is in the midst of it. Today is the beginning of my Daniels Fast and I decided their will be a lot of things I will be laying before the Lord and bringing before Him in prayer. Also I didn't forget my promise to Stay Single for the Rest of the Year!  I'm excited for what the fast will reveal and do in my life. I'll keep you guys updated. Be blessed.