Tag: love
A Trip Down Memory Lane!
I survived my first plane trip and wanted to share a little bit about my trip down memory lane with all of you! Be prepared because as my Pop-pop would say, ‘This might take a while’.
Last week proved to be one of the most stressful weeks I can remember. I have been trying to refocus my life in so many areas. And on top of the everyday stresses of a large family and back to school worries I got the call that I really needed to head back to my childhood home.
While I call Florida home right now I was born in Pennsylvania. I grew up about an hour from Philadelphia in the mushroom capital of the world, Kennett Square.
Funny the things you didn’t know, huh? We were also very close to the Amish and Mennonite communities. In fact several of my siblings were delivered by an Amish midwife.
Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash Continue reading “A Trip Down Memory Lane!”
You are worth more than rubies
She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. –Proverbs 3:15
I am writing this for my beautiful daughters but it really could be directed to all of the women out there, young and old.
First and foremost, I want you to know how much I love you! I have loved you since before I even met you. I don’t want you to ever doubt that in any way. As your mother it is my responsibility to protect you and look out for you. Please don’t ever think that I am trying to be critical or trying to discourage you. I only want the best for you and if I say something about a guy you are interested in I am only being honest because I have learned some traits to look for and some traits to avoid. In the end I will be there for you no matter what and I want you to know that.
I want you to know how wonderful you are. Everything about you is perfect and I don’t want you to ever feel like it isn’t. How do I know that? Because God was your creator and He makes no mistakes. He has lovingly created you and He only wants the best for you because before you were my child you belonged, and still belong, to Him.
I know life is hard and especially when it come to the romance department it can be really tough. I want you to remember that you deserve the best in whoever your partner is. I want you to set your standards high because you don’t need to settle. You should never settle because God has someone in mind for you and that someone will not only meet those standards you set but he will exceed those standards. How do I know that? Because God has a plan for each of us. He loves us and truly only wants the best for us. He can do the impossible.
You deserve to be loved, but not just loved like the general idea of love, you deserve to be cherished. You deserve someone who is loyal and honest. You deserve someone who longs to be with you just as much as you long to be with them. You deserve someone who will look after your heart as they look after their own. If you will take your requests to God He will supply. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but according to His timing which is always right on time.
So for now I want you to take things slow. Learn to be patient and trust in the Lord. Develop your relationship with God because His love is the only perfect love. When you have a close relationship with God everything else will start to fall into place.
Use this time wisely. Ask God to help you and to show you the areas that need improvement. He is molding you and training you into the person He wants you to be. When we don’t give Him control then it makes this process so much more difficult.
Don’t just pray for yourself but pray for this future partner. You may not know him right now, you may live in different zip codes, or you may know him and not even think of him as ‘the one’. God knows who He is. Ask God to work in His life as He is working in your life. When you both are ready God will reveal him to you.
Don’t chase guys or waste time on guys who refuse to meet your standards because when God puts His plan into motion the right guy is gonna find you! I promise! I joked before that the guy for me would have to be driving the UPS or FedEx truck as I never went anywhere for anyone to find me. I was wrong. God put me where I needed to be and He will do the same for you.
Don’t let these guys tell you that your standards are too high! Don’t let them make excuses! Your standards are your standards and they have no right to judge them. This is just a sign that they are not the one for you. When you find the one God intends for you then you will be just what He was looking for, just as He will be just what you have been looking for.
Don’t settle because you think that you will be able to change them! That kind of change can only come from above. It is possible that the guy you like right now may be the guy God has chosen for you but it may be that God is not finished with him yet. God is working on the perfect man for you.
I may not be a relationship expert but I have made my fair share of mistakes when it comes to not waiting on God. I don’t want you to make those mistakes and deal with the heartache that goes along with them. Every heartbreak will leave a scar and will make it that much harder for you to love someone in the future.
I have faith that there is someone out there who is waiting for you. He has made his list and he knows what he is waiting for. You are worth the wait!
Daughters, you are beautiful, smart, funny, and wonderful. Anyone that thinks otherwise or puts you down is not someone you need to be with. Please remember that you are a daughter of the king and He wants what is best for you. If you trust in Him He will provide you with so much more than your heart can imagine.
I am praying for each of my children and their future/current spouses. Times are especially hard right now and it will be so much harder for our children to remain pure and to keep their focus on God.
Lord, I ask you today to watch over these young women. Show them how beautifully and wonderfully made they are. Lord, guard their hearts and keep them pure. Be with them as they wait on you and help them to develop the character traits that they will need for their roles as wives and mothers in the future.
Please watch over their future partners and protect them. Keep them pure, guard their hearts, and help them to keep their focus on You, Lord. Help these young men to develop the character traits that they will need to be the husbands and fathers they will need to be in the future.
Thank you for you mercy and grace on all of us. Amen!
Below are some links that young women and their parents can check out:
Having the Right Perspective When Praying for a Future Husband
Praying for Your Future Husband: Preparing Your Heart for His
How to use the Bible to Pray For Your Future (or Current) Spouse
6 Prayers For Finding A Godly Spouse
12 Ways to Pray for Your
Child’s Future Mate
Five Prayers for Your Daughter
Prayer for my daughter who seeks a relationship.
A prayer for my daughter to find a godly husband.
** Featured image is from Mr. Amari Soul on Facebook.
Would The Real Boaz Please Stand Up?
I’ve been reading a lot about Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. It is one of the most beautiful love stories told in the Bible. It shows how God can use the most tragic of circumstances, the poorest of the poor, and the most humblest people to fulfill His great plans. It shows God’s power and control of our lives, even when we don’t understand what is going on in our lives.
For me, this really hits home. No, I haven’t been widowed, but I am alone. I have been transplanted to a place where I knew almost no one but I am not struggling to get by on a daily basis. Or am I? I do have my struggles but I don’t think they would ever compare to the struggles that Ruth and Naomi faced. Nor do I ever feel that I would be worthy of the blessings that were bestowed upon them.
I do however have hope that there is one out there for me. My ‘Boaz’, if you will. Over the past few months I have met a few men that displayed the character traits of Boaz. I am not talking about men who were rich landowners as I rarely ask about a person’s occupation or income. I am talking about men of integrity and faith. Men that are genuinely kind and give without expecting anything in return. Men that I would consider to be of good moral character and who I would trust to lead my family.
Time and time again I have been let down. There have been various reasons, sometimes they get tired of keeping up the false front, sometimes I may have been to blame in some ways. I know that feelings of rejection can creep up from hurts I’ve had before and affect the way I feel. I do have a hard time trusting people when I’ve opened up my heart to them and they use my weaknesses against me. This is not what my real Boaz would do, he would never want to hurt me or see me hurt. He would want to guard my heart and wipe my tears, not be the cause for them. I still have faith and hope that God is working and I will keep waiting and praying for this man.
I try to pray daily for him even though I don’t know who he is, where he is, or what he is doing. What am I praying for? I pray that he will love God more than anything else and that he will pursue his relationship with God above everything else. I am praying for his health, safety, and protection. I am praying that God will work in his life to help him develop the traits and character qualities, like humility and integrity, that will bring honor and glory to God. I pray that God will guide him to be the leader that I will need him to be. I pray that God will teach him how to love, unconditionally, as he will need to accept my children unconditionally if he is truly my Boaz. I pray that he is successful in whatever he sets his mind to and that God will bring him peace and rest after his hard work. I pray that he is surrounded by friends and family that support him.
I also try to pray that God will shape me and mold me into the person that my Boaz will need me to be. I want to be ready for whenever he comes my way. I pray that God will teach me to be a good help meet. I pray that God will help me to develop the qualities that he will need from me so that I can support and encourage him. I pray that I will be the love of his life, and he will be mine also. I pray that God will give me wisdom and discernment in the choices I am making now that may affect my future. I pray for the strength to overcome any weaknesses I have and that they can be turned into strengths. I pray that I will learn to love unconditionally and accept him for who he is. I pray that God will heal my heart from my past relationships and not allow those feelings to creep into future relationships.
God knows me better than I know myself. He knows my needs and my wants. He knows my strengths and weaknesses. He knows my likes and my dislikes. He knows what I need and when I need it. He shows me glimpses of traits and qualities that my Boaz will have and He gives me hope and encouragement. I trust that He will bring my Boaz along in His perfect timing according to His will and plan for me.
I pray for patience and faith while I am in this state of waiting. I am not actively searching for My Boaz because I know that God will put me where I need to be for him to find me. Who knows maybe he has already found me and God is still working on us before He opens ours eyes to see the plan He has in store for us?
Afraid To Love
I’m sure all of us, at one time, or another have thought about how nice it would be to live secluded away from others for a time. I have thought about it more than once in the past little bit. I have come to realize that this would be selfish and a bit self centered. It would not be at all what God has called us to do.
Sometimes it is because we have been hurt by those around us. Other times the weight of the world just seems too heavy to bear any longer. There could be a million reasons why we would want to withdraw and hold back our feelings but that is not what God wants us to do.
He has called us to love one another. Time and time again it is mentioned in the Bible about loving others. It has been explained and modeled by Jesus himself. He does not want us to withdraw or to withhold love from others. No matter what we are going through we should always show compassion towards others. No matter what they have done to us we still need to love them just as He has done for us.
We are all, each and every one of us, sinners that have or can be saved by grace. There is not one of us that could be held blameless. We are not to judge the sins of another because we have our own sins that could be judged. We need to be a constant source of encouragement to them. Yes, we have our bad days but that is when our lights can shine the brightest.
Each of us, to some degree, have a yearning to be accepted. We want to feel like we belong to something or that we really matter to someone. This may be a little selfish or self focused but it is natural for us to feel this way. We want to be loved and respected by those around us. We want to have a close relationship with others. Sometimes though past experiences can make us afraid to love or to accept love.
The sermon at church today touched on so many of these points. I have been studying a lot of the same verses the past couple of weeks. It gave me a new understanding and perspective to see this from. How can we show a Christ like love towards others?
Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
— Hebrews 13:1-6King James Version (KJV)
We can do it through our hospitality. By welcoming others into our lives and showing them kindness. We can help them to feel accepted, welcomed, and loved. We can do it by showing empathy for others. We can do this in person or through prayer. There are so many others that are in worse situations than we could ever imagine and need our prayers on a daily basis.
Of course, we should show this love towards our families. We should show love towards our spouses and our children. By modeling this love in our families we can be a role model to others and to our children.
We can do this also by having the proper outlook on life and towards those we meet. We don’t know what others are going through or have been through. For this reason we are not to judge them but to accept them. We are not to look down on them but to see them as equals. We are to help them without the thought of what they could do for us. We are to show them unconditional love.
We each need to renew our commitments to God and ask Him to help us show brotherly love towards everyone we meet. When we experience God’s love to the fullest it will overflow and spill out onto those around us. His love will be the driving force behind your desire to show love to others.
Don’t be afraid to love others. I know sometimes it is hard to forgive others for things they have done or to look past things that have happened. If you can overlook those things and let God’s love shine through you and through your actions you will be bringing honor and glory to our Lord.
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