Showing Love

"You don't know everyone's story and today I understood the story of a person who has been through more than I could imagine. There are so many people walking around hurt and wounded. I challenge you to hug someone you thought was rude, mean, inconsiderate, etc. I guarantee they are hurting on the inside. Love on them for five seconds.  You might just change their life! THINK ABOUT IT!" (via Janita Still Movingforward)

I just happen to come across this in my Draft emails. I remember when my friend posted this sometime last year and I saved it to send to someone else. It stills stands very true today. We all have seen pictures or heard the statement how there's always someone else who has it worst than you or how we all are fighting a battle. I have no doubt about that for a second. We all are fighting through something and trying to make it to the light!  I also think there are some people who are just plain rude, inconsiderate, selfish and don't have any respect for anyone, let alone themselves! BUT..STILL show them love! Don't allow them to walk over you and disrespect you or try to do harm to you. Just always show and have love for them and PRAY for them!

Romans 12:20-21 NLT

Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Matthew 5:43-44 NLT

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!

It's truly a learning process that only the Lord can give us the strength to do in turning the other cheek and walking away and not always having something to stay. We are a work in progress! We all need to be transformed and broken to be restored on a daily basis! So, the next time that rude co-worker or bothersome neighbor or inpatient and uncaring Sales Rep gets lippy with you or just tries to disrespect you and have no compassion or sympathy for you or your situation, take a deep breath and count to five and Thank God for STILL showing you Love throughout all your faults & imperfections! OUCH!!! I KNOW SOMEBODY SAID AMEN ON THAT ONE??!

BE BLESSED & ENCOURAGED IN THE LORD TODAY!!! XoXOXo

~Raven J.

Forgiveness

Some people hurt you unintentionally. Some people hurt you deliberately. Forgive them both! The anger, resentment, stress & worry you put into it will have a long-lasting effect on your body and more than likely, they've moved on from it, or didn't care from the beginning. Now, whether or not you choose to continue to deal with them is another story. LIFE IS WAY TOO SHORT!

Growing up, I think every generation was told to "Forgive and Forget." Then as we got older, people started saying they forgive the person but they don't forget what they did. Which expression is correct? Jesus plainly tells us in:

Matthew 6:14-15 NLT

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.  But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins."

None of us are without sins or faults. The world's views on sin(s) is judged extremely  different than what God teaches us. We often compare some actions being greater or lesser than the other, such as a fib or  small white lie versus a lie. At the end of the day, a lie is STILL a LIE whether we're lying about something huge or something very small.

James 2:10-11 NLT

"For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law."

Romans 3:23 NLT

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

We are human with a fleshly body and are going to continue to make mistakes and have faults.  Thank God for his mercies being new everyday and for his AMAZING grace! We as a people need to learn and work on being more merciful to those who have wronged us (using wisdom of course).

Matthew 7:6 NLT

“Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you."

*"Neither cast ye your pearls before swine," advice that Jesus gave to Peter. It means: Don't waste your advice, intelligence, good words (basically, anything you could provide of value) on those who are too naive or ignorant to appreciate it.

I love the way this user broke down that scripture. So, when I said we need to be merciful to those who have offended us, there are alot of people we will have to love from a distance even tho we have forgiven them. Some people may continue to hurt us, put us down and are just not healthy for us to be around, and it's up to us to choose whether or not we're going to be around that negative environment. Letting them go and choosing to not to talk to them or hang with them anymore doesn't necessarily mean we no longer love or care about them, just that we love and care about ourselves more and those individuals need to get themselves right first and learn to love themselves in order to be a better and kinder person to the people that are in their lives. Only then, when we know they're attempting to change for the better and do right, then we can obtain that same grace & mercy Jesus has when he said:

Isaiah 43:25 NLT

“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.

We will truly have such a LOVE and FORGIVENESS in our hearts towards those who have committed the most unbelievable offenses and earth-shattering evils towards us that we, too, will remember their short-comings NO MORE!
THANK YOU JESUS FOR FORGIVING US WHEN NO MATTER WHAT WE SAY OR DO, WE'LL NEVER BE DESERVING OF YOUR GRACE & MERCY! PLEASE BE BLESSED & ENCOURAGED IN THE LORD TODAY!!! XoXoXo
~Raven J.

Our gifts are for others

1 Peter 4:11 NLT

Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, luvs,

I hope everyone has had a very blessed and safe weekend. Firstly, My heart and prayers goes out to those effected by the tornados. May the Lord be with everyone and give them strength during this time. This is a very exciting blog post for me because although it's being posted here on my own personal blog, it's my first blog entry for The Reading Group Ministries. I was brought on board Saturday afternoon.

I'm so excited and sooo grateful to the Lord for this opportunity!!! God truly hears ALL of our prayers! Whether they're vocal, written down, or just our thoughts or what we're feeling in our heart. HE..IS..LISTENING!!! AND He truly cares!!! People can say what they want about social networks, but I have met many people from Instagram, Facebook and Twitter who have been such a GREAT inspiration to me, who have been AWESOME at encouraging me - half the time, not aware of it, and just a HUGE blessing in my life on a daily basis!! ♥♡

So...with that lovely introduction, I want to say that the way God blessed me Saturday, inspired the title of this blog and all that it regards. As always, I pray that you are blessed & encouraged in the Lord today! No matter what you're going through, try to stay encouraged! I know it's not always easy, but I'm often reminded, especially as of lately, that IF we take our eyes off our situations and storms and put our eyes on the ONE who can help us with our circumstances, then we will have peace and no more stressing and worrying. I honestly believe that's why this door of opportunity opened for me the way that it did because I just let go and realized that my circumstances are what they are and I will only make things worst trying to fix it myself doing something out of desperation. But that's another Blog.. 😉 ENJOY!

Our gifts are not for ourselves. The Lord has blessed all of us with many gifts and talents. Some of us have the gift of management, the gift of event planning, very good with numbers, good at encouraging, the gift of sewing & quilting, good at singing, dancing, acting, writing, very good at cooking, applying makeup, doing hair, or good with technology.. and thousands of other talents! A lot of the time the passion we have for our gifting, it started off as just a hobby and developed into something more. Also, we may find ourselves interested in things we didn't think we'd ever have an interest in. The Lord places those desires within us, and then it's up to us to go out and put them into use for His glory alone! A lot of us including myself need that reminder from time to time. It's Okay to love with you do! It's even OK to want to make a career out of it, but in all that we do, it should glorify the Lord and we should be helping others. Those two are the main things.

There are people who are struggling so bad financially it's like they're buried deep in their debt and don't know how to get out of it. Somebody somewhere has an awesome testimony about a financial hardship they've endured and the Lord gave them a vision on how to manage money better. That person or persons needs to let their story be heard! Forget about the shame and guilt you may have. The Lord brought you out of it and turned it all around for your good! The world is full of resources! WE ARE THE RESOURCES! WE all are a gifts to the world for the world! XoXoXo ~Raven J.

STILL MY PASSION

Good Morning/Evening Luvs!!!!

I haven't blogged anything in over two months. I kinda regret it ,then again, I do not. All of my thoughts, inspirations and ideas are written down; they're also buried deep within me. I have SO much in me that I want and need to share with all of you!
Like any career (YES - STILL NAMING & CLAIMING THIS! NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES NOR THE SETBACKS & STRUGGLES I ENDURE).
As I was saying, like any career, it's OK & healthy to take a break from it and venture out into some other areas. We all have many gifts and talents. Some of us are more stronger in some than we are the others. It's good to strengthen and improve on all..although I believe there will always be that ONE you have the stronger passion and desire for. That's writing for me!!!!

In closing on this brief and halfway informative update, I'd like to share a few lines from one of my new writings. These thoughts came to me earlier THIS work week. Although, part of this writing is connected to and goes along with another inspiration. ;-) As always, I pray you are BLESSED & ENCOURAGED in the Lord today! XoXoXo

"No matter how many times a person encourages you or tells you something positive about yourself, until YOU believe it to be true, it really doesn't matter. A person can tell you all-day long you're beautiful and smart, BUT..until you see and believe those things about yourself, you won't have that confidence to push and act it out."
~Raven J.

Communicate in Love

When asked a direct Q, answr truthfully. Mean what U say. Don't allow fear of a presumed outcome that may nvr happen keep U quiet abt how U really feel. Express yourself bodly! The truth of your feelings, wants & desires should NEVER be held against U! ALWAYS COMMUNICATE IN LOVE!!!

Ephesians 4:15 NLT

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

1 John 3:18 NKJV

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

That statement above was what I was writing on my Facebook status update literally just now! I was getting ready to post it, but surprisingly  I felt lead to add more and it developed into something much bigger! ♡♥ how the Holy Spirit works!

Have you ever spoken the truth, only later come to realize there was no love behind it??  "You were so focused on right being RIGHT and wrong being WRONG and being truthful, but not always being aware of speaking from the heart?"

A fear that I've been struggling with lately is being completely honest about things I don't like or things that I strongly believe are considered disrespectful towards me. Deep, in the back of my mind, I feel my honesty and how expressive I am about certain subjects will be held against me. I know it sounds silly, but those are my thoughts. I feel in the end, I'll be resented for feeling the way I feel.
But when it's all said & done, I'll only have myself to blame for passing up those opportunities. It may be too late the next time.

So, in conclusion, I say, SPEAK THE TRUTH, BUT SPEAK IT IN LOVE! Don't let the focus be about right & wrong. When the love is there and it's truly genuine, everything else will fall into place. There's no fear in LOVE!

1 John 4:18 NKJV

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

THANK YOU, LORD JESUS FOR USING & CHOOSING ME TO BE A BLESSING TO YOUR PEOPLE! I DON'T LOOK FOR THE PRAISE, FOR I DON'T THINK OF THESE INSPIRATIONALS ON MY OWN. THANK YOU GOD FOR BLESSING ME AND DEVELOPING ME DURING THIS SEASON! I LOVE YOU!!!

BE BLESSED & ENCOURAGED IN THE LORD TODAY!!! ♥

~Raven J.

All Things Through Christ

I TRULY CAN do ALL things through CHRIST who strengthens me!!!

Philippians 4:13

I felt led to post a blog about this after my own personal accomplishment tonight.

We all have things we feel we can't do or are afraid to try from fear of failure or intimidation. For those who don't now, I'm sure there was a point somewhere in your life when you didn't always feel so fearless and determined!

No matter how GREAT or SMALL the accomplishment, you should always be proud of achieving something you felt you could not.

About a week or so ago,  I bought this.

I wanted to put it together right away, but didn't. I thought about asking my Bae, but decided against it. I said to myself 'some things I just need to do myself and not be so quick to be dependent on someone else because they may not always be there.'

I've always been a hands-on & visual learner and almost always just skim through manuals. To make a long story short, as I started looking at pictures I initially felt intimated n automatically thought I couldn't assemble this and should just ask a man to do it for me. Lol That would be too easy.

I just spoke out loud and said "Okay, Lord & Holy Spirit." All the while through, I just kept thanking the Holy Spirit and just relying on His guidance. I didn't trust in my own capabilities, but His! I was sooo proud of myself! Proud WOMAN moment! Hahah I know a lot of very independent women who do it all and don't wait for anyone to help them and don't ask unless absolutely necessary! I'm independent, too, but not so much to where I'm foolish enough to think I don't need help from time-to-time.

Let me correct that - I ALWAYS need help! I/You/We NEED the Holy Spirit 24/7!!! The fears & intimidation I had was NOTHING because the Holy Spirit was there to HELP me despite my doubt. 

And here you have it.

Viola!!!! 

I KNOW SOMETIMES IT'S EASIER SAID THAN DONE,  BUT TRUST IN THE HOLY SPIRIT DESPITE HOW AFRAID YOU ARE OR WHEN PEOPLE SAY YOU CAN'T! Tell them, "I can't, but MY GOD CAN!" 

Be Blessed & Encouraged in the Lord, Luvs!!! 

♥♡

~Raven J.

WILL WE STILL TRUST HIM?

"I don't have all the answers to certain situations and we probably never will, but SOMETIMES things do happen. God DOES allow to SEE IF WE WILL STILL TRUST HIM? WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW....Do we still love Him & Trust Him with our life NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS. NO MATTER WHO OR WHAT COMES N GOES..

I first wrote this back on March 16 to a friend I was talking to about how she dealt with a very bad breakup. The conversation basically was about her praying to God and how she felt her prayers were falling on deaf ears. She said she would pray to the Lord constantly and asked for strength and for the pain to be taken away. She even prayed for her ex who consistently betrayed her. My friend has serious doubts when it comes to males and is so very afraid of trusting their actions or believing their motives when they appear genuine.

A lot of times we have anger in us, buried so deep and we don't always know why. I told her to let go of that anger and pray to the Lord because only HE can help you let it go. It was then she told me how she did pray but felt the Lord wasn't hearing her because she didn't feel any change within herself about the situation. She still felt bad and was still hurting. She thought the Lord didn't care or she was being punished for something.

1 Peter 5:7 NLT

Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Psalms 55:22 NLT

Give your burdens to the Lord , and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Many of us at some point in our lives have felt that God's silence was  equal to Him being dismissive.

Psalms 46:10 NLT

“Be still, and know that I am God!"

The silence of God can seem like great torture, but on the contrary, it's one of the times we find great strength in Him. His silence increases our faith. How badly do want & need Him during that hour? Will we still believe & trust Him to be who He says He is when we feel He's not listening and doesn't care? Patience in the Lord isn't an easy thing to have.

Numbers 23:19 NLT

God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?

One thing I know for sure without a shadow of doubt is the Lord does care about us and He deeply cares about the things that happens to us! Never let anyone or allow any of your circumstances to make you feel like the Lord has forgotten about you or that He doesn't care about you. We may forget about Him, but He never forgets us!

I pray you are Blessed & Encouraged in the Lord!!! ♥♡

~Raven J.