Some people may hear this as some type of cliche remark that people say when trying to ease someone's recent hurt or tragedy. I do think it is true, but at the same time I am offended by it. It is a comment that tries to explain away our emotions. It is a band-aid trying to justify the scars on our fragile souls. How do we start to understand this concept through the pain of living through tragedy?
I feel like my current curiosities about life have lead me into the wanting to know "Why?" Why do things happen and why do bad things happen? Why are we hurt and why do we cry? Why do we experience pain and why do we feel other's pain? Why do we hurt people and why do we justify that hurt?
We are all living in a series of happenings that are designed by a complicated logarithm created by an infinite intelligence; I like to refer to him as my father. This is what brings me comfort. My father that is in heaven, holy is is name. He holds the whole world and it's existence in his understanding. Our understanding is not his and therefore we must trust in the Lord.
Although I may think about the reasons why these happenings happen the way that they do, I am comforted to know that my father has a plan. He has everything working together for my good. Hence, I should not be offended when someone says:
Everything Happens for a reason.
This should be something that is just understood although not easily explained. There is nothing in this life that happens for no reason at all. Our God is a planner, a creator, and a designer. We can grow from every experience, every hurt, every loss, and every win. It is up to us to see the benefits in the life that is happening around us. Everything, I mean everything, is happening for a reason.
I challenge you to slow down in your current space. Take sometime to analyze the happenings that are going on around you. Just take some time to get un-busy. Don't pour anything in your mind, just be and observe. Ask your self: Why is this happening to me? Wait for the answer. Open your heart and your mind to the answers that will help you understand the "Why?"
The word says:
Ask and you shall receive. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
(see Matthew 7:7)
Everything that you need is around you. Every answer and every blessing. The Father has already solved that complicated math problem. The logarithm is just being worked out on this time line that we are living in and on.
Here is your Motivation for Monday Be at peace and know that everything is going to work out for you. Everything happens for a reason.
The original post has been removed pending further guidance from the Holy Spirit.
He tells me that it does indeed matter how people perceive you so be kind, be patient, and be gentle with other people's feelings. Always rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord. Always be a representative of his love.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
I greet you with joy on this rainy day in New Jersey! I pray that you stay dry and have a blessed day ahead. . . A few announcements though . . .
Guuuurrrlss!!! I just found out yesterday that they are bringing Mary Jane back to BET! OMG . . .I am so happy because I was just thinking about that show. I might even start a blog about it! No, I won't do that, but I have been out of the TV advertisement loop for awhile. Any TV that I watch is live streamed which consist of "This is Us," and "Grey's Anatomy." I do limit my TV watching because the Lord tells us to guard our mind. It is important not to fill your brain up with nonsense, but I'm here to let you know that it is okay to watch TV.
Everyone was getting excited last night about the premier of "Game of Thrones." I didn't get a chance to watch it, wasn't too in to it yesterday, but maybe another time. I think someone was surprised that I watched "Game of Thrones." Perhaps they thought that I was "Too Holy" to watch something so racy. I want to let everyone know that the holiest person you know may be more human than you know. The holiness that you see on someone has more to do with the Holy Spirit then it does with the actual person. . .
I thank God for the freedom that he has sent us. This doesn't mean that we indulge in all fleshly and lustful things. No. Not everything is good for us. Not all things will lead us in the right direction. The Lord wants to lead us to love. He wants to lead us to life. He will teach us along the way how to guard our minds.
Watching TV is a big part of our culture. I have to tell you that there are some denominations that tell you that you will go to hell if you watch TV, go to the movies, or drink coffee. Well, I am a movie buff, I love to watch my favorite shows to relax, and I will be drinking my coffee after I write this post. And guess what, the Lord knew this about me. And guess what else, I love the Lord. And guess what else, God loved the world so much that he gave his only son to die for these sins. We are not trapped in our sin. He already saw what the culture was going to become, he already sent the solution . . .
Here is your Motivation for Monday: There is Freedom in Jesus Christ!
This is awesome news. Why? Because if we believe in this freedom we will stop being bombarded with the condemnation of sin, but we will learn how to work through it. We will learn how to let the Holy Spirit guide us through this life. One of the biggest hindrances to a healthy mind is self condemnation. It is a heavy burden to feel like you are always in the wrong or that you are always doing something wrong. Let go of that burden and give it to the Lord. How do you do that you ask, simply by believing in Jesus. It is that easy.
How do I believe in Jesus?
I would simply say to find a quiet place and start talking to him. Don't think it is strange. He wants you to talk to him. He will direct you from there:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3:16
I was just reading about some of the false prophets in the book of Acts that were trying to convince new followers of Christ to be circumcised in order to receive their salvation. When Paul heard about this, he was like "HOLD UP. That is a very heavy burden for a gentile to handle. Why are we making this hard for them?" (paraphrased of course). When Peter and the other elders spoke on it, they set everyone back on the right course. Peter put it like this: "God accepted all of us how we are. We are saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." The elders put together a letter and sent it to the new developing gentile church and said the following:
Greetings.
24We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing.28It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Farewell.
See Acts 15: 5-29
I know there are a lot of words here, so I'm just going to go over a few things. I encourage you to go to Acts and read the chapter so that you can become familiar with some of the characters like Paul and Peter. The Gentiles were all of the people who were not of direct Jewish decent. However, it was shown through out the book of Acts that Jesus's death covered all people in the earth to be saved. All people, of all nations are able to receive the Holy Spirit through believing in Jesus. Finally, there were super religious people on the scene (Pharisees) always trying to give requirements and rules in order to follow the Lord. The law of circumcision showed in the old covenant promise that a person was of Jewish decent. It used to be a requirement under the law. This is no longer an issue when you believe in the sacrifice of Jesus, and also when you believe in who he is.
It is by God's grace and his sacrificing his only son that we are saved. Who so ever believe in Jesus will have everlasting life. So I am here to say, that it may not be healthy for your mind to watch everything on TV or in the movies, but it is not going to send you to hell.
Keep believing in the saving grace of Jesus Christ. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Now, I am going to go get my coffee . . . .
Keep this in mind: God sees everything, past, present, and future, so when he says he fixed something. He fixed it. It's all good.
Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.
Psalms 62:1
Happy Monday to you!
I am having a calming day so far and I pray that you are as well.
I would like for this blog to be inspirational to the point of making people happy, but more importantly, I want this blog to feed your soul. I want the truth of the word of God to shine through it, in it, and around it. However, I am learning more about who I am and I am learning more about who the Lord is. I am learning that I am often flawed in my interpretation of the world around me. This is why it is so important to seek after Jesus yourself. There is no man on earth that is going to get you to heaven except for Jesus.
My upbringing makes me concerned with certain issues in the world and in religion. For this reason I get involved with issues in church, education, and government policies. This may not be where your interests are, so, again, I encourage you to let Jesus show you your purpose in this world. We each have one. I and you are alike. There are specific experiences, attitudes, and beliefs that form who we are as individuals. We all carry insight, we all carry perspectives that can mold this world into something different. I am learning that the battle is not mine, it is the Lord's. Hence, I encourage you to develop your own personal relationship with the Lord so that he can guide you. He is the one that will show you what kind of job you need, what type of church to attend, what type of business to start, and what kind of prayers to pray.
I love God. I love Jesus. I often fall back on these two thoughts. These thoughts remind me that God loves me and Jesus loves me. These are truths that we need to hold on to forever and ever.
Why is this important to remember?
These are truths that are important to remember because as we navigate ourselves through this life, things happen. Life beat us up, because we are not 100% sure in how to live it. I think some people have learned some pretty successful strategies to live this life. However, when others try to explain to us how to live our best life, the truth is often lost in translation. The truth is this: Jesus died for our sins and now we are free. Believing in Jesus means that you accept him as your savior, your deliverer, and your salvation. This is something that most Christians are taught. We are taught a lot of things but we don't always understand. Just hearing that we need to believe in Jesus doesn't mean that our soul understands. It doesn't mean that your mind has received the power of that message.
Through these posts, my writing, my poetry, and my teaching, I try to communicate truth to you. There is so much peace with Jesus. Believing in him means that you trust him to guide you through this mess of a world. Don't get stuck in one place of your own understanding. Keep growing. Keep learning. Keep seeking after Jesus. The word says; If you ask, it will be given to you, if you seek, you will find, if you knock, the door will be opened to you. . . (see Matthew 7:7)
Here is your Motivation for Monday:
Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you.
Understand this and you will leave behind that spirit of self condemnation. Leave behind that spirit of not doing things right, or those feelings of self pity, victimization, shame, failure, or disappointment.
Life is a journey and you must learn in that journey. You must grow in that journey. You are going to misstep sometimes but everyday is another day to start over. Let the Holy spirit, (The spirit of God, who is also Jesus) guide you in that journey. He wants to give you peace; and joy; and happiness; and purpose. He wants you to feel better in this life. He wants to give you hope for an future so that you have something to look forward to. Have hope in your salvation!
What is salvation:
Your salvation is your free gift of everlasting life. It is a promise that the Lord has given to you through the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Jesus's death represents the perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of the whole world. Jesus, because he is also God, is so holy that his death covered everyone in the whole world. Believe that and trust in that. This is the good news that brings hope, love, peace, joy, truth, and comfort to your soul. We get to be reunited with our creator. Not everyone has the mind capacity to believe such a thing but I tell you that this is the truth that will feed your soul. This is the truth that will set you free.
One more thing before I go . . .
I had a very intriguing thought over the weekend that I think will help a lot of people. . .
Here it goes:
"If you want to be a scholar of anything, learn how to study yourself"
I can go on in another blog post of what this means to me, but I'm going to let it simmer a little bit for you to ponder on. . .
Greetings and Love to my brothers and sisters in Christ,
I come to you on this Monday to discuss the many decisions that we make in life. Every little decision will lead you to a major decision. Every major decision will make major shifts in the direction your life is going. . .
Here is your motivation for Monday: Life is a Journey,
walk it with Jesus it will be the best decision you make in your lifetime
I have been reminded this week of how our decisions effect other people around us. Our actions show the person that we are inside. Of course, we all are capable of wearing masks and showing people who we want them to believe we are, but who are we really? I have learned that the longer you are around people, the more you get to know them. The more intimate your relationship, the more you understand about them and therefore the more you know what is really in their heart. Basically, the closer you are to someone, the more in tune you are with their true character.
If we really want to stir this theory, we can begin with the following statement:
Everybody is fake . . .
To a certain degree, we hide our true feelings. We are often conditioned to hold our tongue's and to be compliant. We are trained on how not to cause a problem or raise an awareness. I think what happens when we do this is that it gets all bottled up inside. One day it is all going to come out anyway, so we might as well be truthful along the journey. Let us meet others and ourselves where we can admit what is real. Let us confront those things that hurt us, the people who hurt us, and the experiences that hurt us. Let us be truthful with ourselves. Let us seek help from those sent to help us. Let us ask the Lord:
Who am I really?
You will be amazed of what God shows you. . .
We wear masks to protect ourselves. We wear masks to protect our feelings. We wear masks to give off false perceptions of who we need others to perceive us as. People treat us the way that they do because of the person we communicate to be. Better yet, people treat us the way they do because of the person they perceive us to be. I'm not saying that we do this on purpose but it is all part of the subconscious processing going on inside of our selves. This is the reason we wear different masks around different people. We subconsciously want to be treated a certain way, so we act a certain way, around certain people. If you want to be treated how you ought to be treated, be yourself. If you want to be treated how you "think" you want to be treated, continue to wear your mask.
I think this is why people really act the way that they act and the reason why they can't be real. People want to be treated with respect and relevance. People want to have power and be reminded of the work that they do. We as the human race do this, some at higher levels than others. All in all this is the point I want to make. . .
Don't try to hide the person you are. Release the stress, be who you are, then let God fix your flaws from there.
This is easy for me to say, but not so easy to do. I am a recovering people pleaser. As a people pleaser I wore a mask for every different situation that I was in. As the competent teacher, I was resourceful, organized, and a manager of all things. As the youth leader I was the responsible mentor who was reliable and trust worthy. As the worthy daughter I was well mannered and obedient. But when it came to my life at home where nobody could see, I was the uptight, yeller, messy, unreliable wife, mother, and friend who couldn't pull it together.
I was so wrong in my actions . . .
I was so tired by my actions . . .
I was ready to make a decision for change. . .
I often don't write about my husband, but I have to tell you that he is the opposite of a people pleaser. I can honestly say that he is a person who doesn't care about what others think of him; as a result, he is the most consistent in his personality then anyone that I know. I am not saying that he is perfect, but I am saying that he is real. Here goes another realization: Being the person you really are is not going to make people like you more. Sometimes, being who you really are will make some people see that they can't use you or easily manipulate you for their own selfish needs. As a result, your true friends remain true, and your fake friends will move on. This is not anyone's fault, it's just that everyone is at different stages in their journey. . .
Everyone needs time to grow.
How can we get anywhere with growth if we can't admit that we are wrong sometimes. Some of us are wrong all the time, but we think we are right. This brings me back to how we should treat each other. The bible says that we should love one another. I think a lot of us are confused in this because we don't know the definition of love. We don't understand the full potential of love.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love Never Fails
1 Corinthians 4-8
Friends, let me tell you that in every decision that we make we should make it in love. I am not saying that I do that all of the time. The Lord actually showed me that a lot of my decisions have been selfish and self-serving lately. He showed me how hurt I was by some actions that other people did towards me and my family; these actions were not done in love. As a result, my hurt feelings sought to hurt someone else's feelings and I felt very justified in doing so at the time. However, over time there was something going on on the inside of me that was changing who I wanted to be as a person. I made a decision to forgive and move on. I made a decision to be brave and to not be used because of my people pleasing ways. It was selfish, but it was necessary to get closer to my true character.
This is the biggest revelation yet:
My people pleasing ways were from the result of needing to feel wanted and accepted which was seeded from selfish and prideful desires. The praise and notoriety that I received from doing things at work, and at church were empty, but I sought after it anyway. Why? Because I wanted recognition: It was Vanity, all Vanity. . .
I had to let it go.
The decision that I had made created a major shift in my life. I thank God that he continues to teach me the healing power of forgiveness. He also shows me how to be patient with people as they figure out who they really are. Know this friends: Hurt people, hurt people. Show your love by being patient with them and not responding to them in the wrong way. Be aware in how you respond to people. What kind of person do you really want to be?
Nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Remember to love because God first loved us. Walk your journey, being aware that every step is for your growth and learning.
The following song has been in my heart and I want to share it with you:
Some of the Lyrics:
The truth can hurt you Or the truth can change you What would truth do to you
I just wanna be happy But if I keep on doing the things That keep on bringing me pain There's no one else I can blame If I'm not happy Wasted time but now I can see The biggest enemy it was me So I'm not happy
Cry yourself to sleep Shout and raise your hands It wont change a thing child Until you understand
If you're tired of being the same If you're tired of things not changing It's time for you to get out the way Don't get stuck in how you feel Say Jesus take the wheel He knows the road that you need to take (But it only works if) If you wanna be happy (Look at yourself and say) Don't you wanna be happy I just wanna be happy
But if I keep on giving my heart For people to tear apart The healing will never start So I can be happy Will I ever be happy
The most important decision that we can make in life is that decision to let go and let God. It is that decision to say, "You know what Lord, I tried it my way and it is not working."
When we say "Jesus take the wheel in my life," we are making a decision that will effect so many people around us. We must stay true to who we are and who Jesus is helping us to be. It is a journey to walk with him. He will continue to tell us to change our mind about a lot of things that we think we are doing right. Build a relationship with the Lord and you will know him better. You will understand that he has been real this whole time. Jesus doesn't wear masks. Jesus really loves you and his decisions are always out of love.
Live
Live life
and live it on purpose
Until Next Time
-Tamorra
p.s. I pray that all of this makes sense as I ramble on and on. God be with you. May this post reach who it needs to reach, in the time it needs to reach them. Let it be a blessing to the heart and encouraging to the soul. Amen, Amen.
