FREE your mind & the REST will follow

This is a phrase that describes my season of life right now. Not because of any one particular event but because of many different things. God has brought me so much love and happiness with friends, co-workers, life, family, etc. Even the hard things I have had to encounter this year all were building blocks to grow me into the woman I am today, who by the way is still continuously growing.

I have come to fully realize during this season that Love & happiness is a choice. We wake up every morning and make a choice, we choose to be happy or we choose to be sad, mad or angry. when someone makes us upset we choose to Love or hate. I have been challenged this year in so many different ways. But the main challenge I have had is to choose to Love and be happy.

When life throws things at you that are unexpected don’t choose to be upset choose your attitude. My mother always told me, your attitude determines your altitude. And I can honestly say that I have chosen an attitude of Love and happiness over negativity and drama. Its the best feeling in the world to not allow life’s curve balls to control your outlook on life and whats to come. The energy you put out is the energy that is returned to you. Give Love and happiness to others and watch it come back to you one hundred fold!

As much as I would love to expound on this topic, this is my first blog after my year hiatus..so there is more to come trust me. :)

But until then I suggest that you go listen to the smooth tunes of one of my favorite classics Al Green- Love & Happiness <3

• Question: I'm back! Follow me! :) - portiababyy-deactivated20120326
• Answer:

  Ok I will right now :-)

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy spirit to fill our hearts with his love” {Romans 5:3-5}

This scripture really spoke to my heart. No matter what we may face in this life, no matter how much ppl disappoint us or let us down, our FAITH will bring us JOY! If I focused on how big my problems were instead of how big my God is I would be left in despair and frustration. But because I know to LOOK UP and PRAY when trials come my way I can have peace and be reassured that God has me. I have hope in God and his promises because I BELIEVE that he is a loving father who WILL provide for me and take care of my needs.

Trials help us build ENDURANCE. Endurance is the act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress. When you’ve been through alot of trials in life, your endurance is built STRONG. I thank God for all the trials Ive been through because they have made me a stronger woman. So the next time life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Dont sit there and dwell and complain..dwelling and complaining keeps you from moving forward. Its all about PERSPECTIVE. Looking on the bright side of every negative situation will bring you freedom. :)

I love being me :)

verielle:

Yup!

 real talk!

teeshteesh116:

Sad but true :/

(via teeshteeshpr)

There is truly NO feeling like being FREE! Free from opinions, from what YOU think other people think, from your own insecurities, from fears, from false friendships/relationships, negative people, negative mindsets, the list goes on and on and on! Being truly free is a gift from God, there is no other feeling in the world that feels this great! thank you lord for this amazing amount of joy and freedom I have in you! LOOOOOOOOOOOVE it! Can’t no one take this away from me! :)

 “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. (Matthew 7:6) NLT

 Pearl: A rare valuable jewel, precious. REAL pearls are very rare and hard to find.

 Pig:  a coarse obnoxious person

We live in a culture today were most men treat women like objects and chilvary is close to DEAD. There are VERY FEW gentlemen/legit men of God, instead there are men who only care about “Swag” and how much they can enhance their outer appearance meanwhile neglecting what really matters: CHARACTER and the CONDITION OF THEIR HEARTS. Men dont want to step up and be men anymore, they walk out on their famiies,they walk away from responsibility, they make excuses, don’t want to commit, live like cowards and their value systems are completely jacked. They want everything for free and dont want to work hard for anything.

This in return has left single parent homes where the mothers take on the role of the father trying to teach a man how to be a man, and trying to love their daughters like only a father knows how. It has left young girls stripped of their confidence, dignity and value, going anywhere they can to try to fill that void.

Nowadays there are ALOT of young ladies and women “Throwing their pearls to pigs” giving up their value and worth looking for LOVE in ALL the WRONG places. They sacrifice TIME, money and their HEARTS in relationships that DON’T bring them LIFE. They tolerate abuse (verbal and physical) & disrespect because of a FEAR of not being worthy enough to receive better.

There are many reasons why a young lady or woman may get caught up in these type of relationships and situations, it may be low self-esteem, insecurity, loneliness, a skewed perspective of relationships and love, or FATHERLESSNESS.

Ladies STAND UP for yourselves! See yourself how GOD sees you. KNOW that you are worth more than GOLD. ACT LIKE IT!  You are RARE, you are Gods PRECIOUS creation. STOP trying to gain love through your outward appearance, which will only fade overtime. “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.” {Proverbs 31:30} Develop what really matters, a TRUE genuine relationship with God. SPEND TIME with him, CUT OFF negative relationships. Don’t entertain everything that comes your way! Be single for a while (emotionally aswell) and spend that time DEEPENING your relationship WITH GOD. Find out what God thinks about you by reading his word, find your identity in CHRIST, NOT in a relationship or male. Don’t seek your approval from what man thinks, but from what GOD thinks.

LEARN and KNOW GODS CHARACTER so you can detect the REAL from the FAKE. KNOW that you DESERVE a man whose going to love you like Christ loves the church, whose going to be chilvarous, selfless, loving, caring and LOVES GOD more than life. Dont settle for anything less! “DON’T THROW YOUR PEARLS TO PIGS” KEEP your heart in Gods hands, and he will allow the RIGHT GUY to come alongside him and properly handle it with care.

Living above reproach……2nd Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

This topic is VERY important to me because its SO easy to get pulled into mediocrity, or the status quo christianity in america, and not have any standards to live like christ.

So what does living above reproach mean? Living above reproach means to strive to live a holy and righteous life for God to live blamelessly, to go above and beyond the standard that is set in the world for whats “good” and whats “moral”.

As witnesses for Christ it is extremely important that we carry his name with care. If we proclaim that christ lives inside of us we cant go around carrying on in activities, language, actions and attitudes that we know does not refelect Gods heart and his character.  We are Gods children, we represent him in everything we do and say. Lets step it up! Let’s be the GREAT examples he’s called us to be!

You cant try to be in the world (devoted to its worldview and mindset and living according to its standards) and serve God at the same time you have to choose who you will serve. Matthew 6:24 says “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” In this case Im not referring to money even though the scripture does use that as an example. Anything can become your God..the LOVE of money, relationships, a career, pornography, Fornication (sex outside of marriage) lustful desires, coveting, lying, the list goes on..

When others look at your life do they see christ? Is your faith contagious? Do people know and believe that Christ is Lord from the way you live your daily lilfe and what you allow and dont allow? Or is your life self-centered and self pleasing? All about you and your wants and your desires?

Scripture says in Romans 14:16 “Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil” Meaning that we should live our lives in such a way that we wont even get involved in things that are questionable because we dont want our good intentions to be perceived incorrectly and be spoken of as negative or evil. Now you may say..”I dont care what people think im going to DO ME, God knows my heart, I can’t please everyone” Thats partially true with the fact that God does know our hearts and this is what he says about our hearts in Jeremiah 17:9-10 ”The heart is deceitful above all things,and desperately sick;who can understand it?“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind,to give every man according to his ways,according to the fruit of his deeds.”  it is also true that you can’t please everyone, but we are to live for others, not for their opinions and for what they think of us personally but we are to live for others for the sake of showing christ through our lives and not allowing any of our actions to become a stumbling block for them or for our actions to cause them to get the wrong view of Jesus Christ. 1st Corinthians 10:23-24 says “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”

Now dont get me wrong, I am definitely not writing this from a place of perfection, thats impossible no one is perfect but jesus christ, but as I strive towards perfection in christ, and allow him to RENEW my mind, and sanctify my motives and actions, I want to have the mentality everyday to raise the standard, not in a legalistic condescending way but in a loving, graceful way that shows the heart of christ in my actions and my speech. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 ^“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

I dont want to live lukewarm, halfway on fire for God or living for God in certain areas but not others, I dont want to give God half of me, but ALL of me EVERYDAY! I dont want to be the one trying to find loopholes in everything just so I can please my desires and justify what I want to do or say and stamp jesus on it. Thats not who I was created to be! I was created to STANDOUT for God to be a vessel to Proclaim his name no matter where I am or where I go, Im supposed to carry his name. Theres nothing like the love of Christ, and living for him brings SO much peace and joy!! satan is such a DECEIVER and all he does is make the pleasures of this world look so inticing because he wants us to take our eyes off of God and place them on our selfish nature. Satan wants us to lower our standards and say we believe in God and that we are christians so that no one will have a desire to know God truly for who he is. Satan wants people to continue to attend church and have no lordship or true repentance. You may ask, well what about our freedom in christ? Yes we have freedom in Christ but we should not use that freedom to indulge in all kinds of behaviors we know God doesnt approve of, or have standards that we know do not please God. Galatians 5:13 “you my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.”

Ignorance is NOT bliss, KNOW Gods character, KNOW who he is, Raise the standard, LIVE ABOVE REPROACH! :-)

I challenge everyone whose reading this to do a self-examination and pray and ask God which areas of your life arent fully under his lordship, what areas do you need to raise the standard in?

Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 29:20

“I challenge you to make your life a masterpeice. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.”

Gods LOVE NEVER FAILS! I LOVE this song! :-)

Your Love Never Fails

Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes
But You have new mercies for me everyday
Your love never fails


You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There maybe pain in the night but joy comes in the morning

And when the oceans rage
I don’t have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails

 
The wind is strong and the water’s deep
But I’m not alone in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails

The chasm is far too wide
I never thought I’d reach the other side
But Your love never fails

You make all things work together for my good

Im more relaxed, being natural ;-)

I decided to take this journey of going natural in october of 2009, I was SO tired of the perms and straggly ends and my hair being “fried,dyed and laid to the side”. I wanted to try something different and since im all about change and diversity I decided to go back to my natural roots. I had always remembered my hair being very long and beautiful when I was younger. I had a hair full of beautiful curls and when it was pressed it was down my back. Eventually after getting tired of breaking combs and my mother using the infamous “blue magic” grease on my hair (BIG mistake! LOL she did NOT know about hair care at all!..that grease had NO magic in it..they clearly lied..lol) I started desiring a perm. Little did I know that the grass was not greener on the otherside! I saw my sisters hair (permed) being so flowy and nice without and kinks or curls and I wanted to have “hassle free” hair so I told my mom my mind was made up and that I didnt want to turn back. So my first perm was the summer before highschool started. I got it and loved it at first because Ive always had thick hair I loved the length and how soft and managable it was. Although that only lasted a short period of time my hair started to break off and get shorter and shorter…I started to get weave to bring back the length but I was never fully satisfied, I wanted my hair back! :-/ So to make a long story short I decided to go natural my junior year of college and its the BEST decision I’ve made! Im so in love with the journey of finding different styles and products and I absolutely LOVE the texture of my hair!! ;-D I feel so free and so rejuvenated! I do not regret a second of it at all, and I cannot wait until it grows down my back again! So like I said before I decided to go natural in october of 2009, I cut off all my permed ends 10 months later in August of 2009. It is now June 2009 and I have been completely perm FREE for 10 months! woo! SUPER excited! I have been finding new styles to wear and loving the diversity of my hair. I know the best is yet to come! :)

Ok, so this summer has been a bundle of SURPRISES for me..some good and some bad but at the end of the day I know that God is still sovereign and that he does everything for a reason. So since I know that, in my heart I have embraced my summer and turned it into an adventure, I feel like Im on this beautiful journey with God that requires MAJOR trust, but I can honestly say that I am happy and that learning to trust God on a deeper level has definitely opened my eyes more, made me ALOT more graceful, loving and secure, confident in God and thankful for him. God always surprises me but I think thats the beauty of who he is as a loving father, not exactly knowing whats going to happen next in your life requires us to TRUST him and that he knows whats best for us as his children. Surrendering to God all your hopes, dreams and plans is a beautiful thing because it stretches you and builds character that you may have never known existed inside of you. God brings out the treasure in our hearts. This summer has also taught me more about being selfless..Serving others without hesitation has made me tap into a love deep in my heart that I didnt know existed. Serving others really does bring joy, it makes me so honored to serve God, to be able to show others the same love that God shows me daily is priceless. I am so content with knowing that Im IMPERFECT and in NEED of a PERFECT savior daily, Ive definitely struggled with being a perfectionist and being very independent..although I still have some tendencies God is amazing and faithful and he watches me change daily and LOVES me through my growing pains :-) You cant ask for a better friend than that..LOL Lord you are truly amazing I cant wait to look back at the end of this summer and see all the beautiful and amazing things you did through me and my family and friends. :-)