As the (jive) turkey turns…

No time for gobble-gobble

Time for another episode of Jive Turkey-ville! I’ll tell this story with the names changed to protect the innocent (and guilty). 😀

“Ginger” has been baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost for over 10 years. Early in her walk, she was a little unstable (as most of us are) and ended up falling for a guy, “Tyrone” who was “churched”, but not saved. Ginger was so smitten, she nearly considered backsliding! Tyrone ended up breaking her heart anyway, which was likely God’s way of delivering her. Although she was hurt, Ginger knew it was best.

On occasion, Tyrone would call her to say “hi”. During one of these instances, he tried to get Ginger to let him come by for dinner (sigh, that tells you a lot right there). Disgusted, Ginger stopped answering the calls and they stopped for the next few years.

Recently, the phone rang–Ginger didn’t recognize the number, thinking it was a family member. Oh, gobble-gobble, now!!! Tyrone was on the other end!! Regretting she answered, Ginger was curt but polite. Tyrone was very pleasant, though, asking about family, what she’d been up to and things along those lines. Ginger found herself enjoying the conversation and thinking, hmmmm…maybe this dude has changed. He suggested lunch since he’d be in the area, so they agreed to Friday.

As Ginger read the Word that week, a couple of Scriptures came up.
“As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly” (Proverbs 26:11). Also, Joshua 9 where the usually astute leader and his men were fooled in part because they did not “…..seek council from the Lord” (v. 14b). She didn’t think much of the “warning” until talking with the Lord during her prayer time. The Lord was telling her NOT to meet up with Tyrone..rather invite him to church.

When he called to firm up plans, Ginger let him know that she couldn’t make lunch and invited him to church. He heartily agreed and she was nervous, but excited that a soul would be coming to the house of prayer.

Sunday came and “surprisingly” dude never showed up. Nor did he call to explain what happened or come to church on his own. And funny, the calls stopped, as well. Umm hmm…anyone else smell jive turkey?

OHHH… and going back to the firm-plans call, after Ginger declined, homeboy emphatically stressed he had taken that Friday off and assured her he could still meet her. We can’t say what was on his mind, but I wonder if he had a bag packed thinking he’d be spending the weekend with his sandal dangling off his toe..who knows? LOL!!!

So while Ginger was a little miffed that Tyrone was still up to his old tricks and how she almost fell for them, she realized she followed the voice of the Lord and stayed in His divine will for her. That’s a blessing!!

Bottom line: temptations will come, but the Lord provides a way of escape
(I Corinthians 10:13) to those who choose the use the hatch!

Be blessed family!

Blen

Pic courtesy of: http://www.joystickdivision.com/2008/11/happy_thanksgiving_from_joysti.php

BlenCouragesU5 Comments

Forgive-them-not?!!

Hey family,

Hope you all are well! I was thinking about forgiveness and decided to do a quick post.

My pastor, Bishop Larry Elliott often says “unforgiveness” is the number one sin among Christian people. That’s a little surprising, since our salvation was based in God loving us enough to forgive us–but Bishop raises a good point.

When someone wrongs us, as they often do, there’s no doubt that it hurts us–sometimes to the core, especially if it’s family, spouse, kids or close friend. And in many cases, we are JUSTIFIED to be upset with the offending parties. The thing is, though, we ARE NOT JUSTIFIED to have an unforgiving heart, mind and attitude toward them. “But, Blen, he left me high and dry with the baby and no money”, “she stole my man”, “they tricked me”, “teased me”, “broke my heart”, “violated my trust”, “said I wouldn’t be anything”, abused me”….I know, y’all, I get it and understand–they were wrong and you should be hot. Let’s take a look at this from God’s perspective.

Matthew 18:23-35 tells of the servant who owed BIG money to the king, didn’t have it, asked for mercy and his debt was forgiven. That same servant went to his friend and demanded the LITTLE money he was owed and cast the friend into prison. When the king heard, he cast the servant into prison, reminding him he should have given the same forgiveness he received. The Lord goes on to say that if we don’t forgive, we cannot be forgiven.

So by holding folks in the prison of our minds, we are really letting God know that we know better than Him and in essence really trying to supersede His wisdom. On top of that, WE don’t get forgiven. That can make us miss heaven! I know as much as can I mess up and am still growing in grace, I need forgiveness on a regular basis, don’t you? Is being upset with Lu-Lu about mistreating you in high school worth delaying your blessings, negating answers on your prayers, and risking your soul to eternal damnation? I’m checking the “no” box on that.

When someone does hurt you, know that the Lord sees and knows it, and will balance the scales in His time. In the meantime, take the situation to the Lord in prayer, and ask Him to help you forgive the offending parties from your heart, remove any bitter root, and heal you from the hurt and pain that was inflicted on you. This goes for the people that dogged you out years ago, to the cashier that rolled her eyes at you today– whether they asked for forgiveness, apologized or not.

You’ll know you have forgiven the person from the heart when the matter crosses your mind, is brought up, or you see the person and you do not get angry or keep negatively referring to the situation like it happened 2 minutes ago. God’s peace will totally take over and you will feel wonderful and marvel in the spiritual growth as you obey God’s Word.

True forgiveness takes God’s grace and a willing heart that wants to please God, rather than satisfy the flesh. Easy to do? No. But it is necessary to receive the benefits of God’s love and forgiveness.

Bottom line: You can’t change the past, but you can stop living in it.

God’s blessings to you!

Love,

Blen

BlenCouragesU10 Comments

Does your heart need healing?

Your heart can be healed

Hey all,

I didn’t post last week (please forgive me) but I have a few ideas roaming around in my head and I think I will start with this one. This is something I penned years ago out of my heart and I recently found it again. So many young ones (and not so young) are going through for love when Jesus took care of that for us all. I thought I would share an excerpt with you.

There was a time I wasn’t free
There was a time I was hurting
There was a time I was being hurt
It was mental, it was physical
It was from someone who said, but “Bay, you know I love you”.

I was bound in bondage–at the time I didn’t know
The enemy had this sabotage planned
in order to forever claim my soul.

I went through life trying to mask the pain
A voice telling me I was to blame
I wasn’t good enough I needed to improve
Then he’s really love me–hey, that’s a good move.

But even with this brand new me
The changes I mad that all else could see
Wasn’t good enough for he
I was still being lied to, he’s still cheating on me

But the prayers of my parents and loved ones and friends
didn’t fall on deaf ears, for God heard and saw my pain.
And He wanted to dry my tears.

After leaving from that mess, a new freedom I’m on
I could be myself, the healing could begin
I let that bad man out of my life and let Jesus in.

To forgive me, love me and show me love.
That unconditional agape amour that comes from above
To show me how to forgive and love others, too.
And to learn to love myself and all that I do.

Love my skin, my lips, and my hair
Learn from my past mistakes, and with others I’ll share
The real way to love us yes, though a man,
His name is JESUS– it’s part of His divine plan.

To let us know to love Him first.
Trust Him to give us what we need–including a man
A real man who will love, honor and cherish me correctly
Like the beautiful, unique queen that I am.

I want women everywhere to know that true love starts and ends with Christ. He can heal your broken heart and make you whole again. He desires to fulfill all your needs, we just have to wait on Him–it’s not easy, but totally worth it. Be encouraged!

Love,

Blen

© Blenda, Blen’s Blog and poem/Blenblogs, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Blenda and Blenblogs with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Thank you

BlenCouragesU5 Comments

Heavy heart?

Time to lighten the load…

Hi all!

This post is related to a comment made by Sara on earlier this week about being whole. “…one thing you DO NOT want to do is get into a relationship with low self-esteem. You will begin to question your boyfriend/husband’s faithfulness, his truthfulness [about being beautiful,] and your negative thoughts become power and that power consumes you making you feel like the ugliest being on the planet and that makes you feel alone even when you are coupled.” WOW!!!!! POWERFUL statement, right? You know, it’s my opinion that as children of God, as we are saved and Holy-Ghost filled, we may not be whole in certain areas. Allow me to explain (yep, I have another story, shared with permission and names changed).

Lea was friends with a Mike for a few years before they decided they liked each other. Lea was saved, in school, working and loving life. Mike was also saved, educated, hard-working guy. They dated for awhile– all giddy with excitement about marriage, kids and maybe even a dog :-). But, they didn’t make it. And it wasn’t all HIS fault.

While Lea was Holy-Ghost filled, she was NOT healed from the hurts from her past relationships– that manifested itself in various ways. For example, Lea wasn’t a big sports fan, but would muster up excitement while watching ESPN with Mike. Hey, she hadn’t had a date in years and didn’t want to mess this up. When Mike cancelled dates at the last minute, Lea was upset, but rather than talk about it, she pretended she was ok. After all, she didn’t want to seem like a nag and wanted to prove she was Christ-like and able to forgive. She even lied to him about how far she went with past boyfriends so he’d stay interested in her. In short, Lea’s self-esteem was so low, she felt she had to be a certain way in order to keep him around and interested. It was tiring to Lea to keep pretending, but it was the only way she knew to operate so he’d stick around. Eventually one thing led to another, and the relationship ended.

Lea, (like many other women) was so battle-weary from past rejections, hurts, self-doubt, watching friends get boyfriends/married, etc., that when this guy came along, she allowed the whispers of doubt and fear from the enemy to control her thoughts and actions. This is where she needed to allow the Lord to come in and heal her heart.

This reminds me of the woman with the spirit of infirmity Luke 13:11-13. She had lived with this issue for eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no way lift up herself. For Lea, every rejection, negative comment, the tormenting voices–all that pain began to pile up and weigh her down to a point where she could not lift herself up, like many of us. But just as Jesus saw and called the woman to be loosed from her infirmity, He is calling to us to be healed as well!

Facing up to the things that hurt us is difficult and painful. But so is carrying it around–and now you don’t have to anymore! Jesus is calling to us to be made whole in all the areas of our lives, for His glory foremost, and especially if we want to attract whole people–this goes for all relationships–not just potential mates. Today, ask God in faith to lift you up from all areas you are bowed down in, bless you to be confident though Him, and replace the areas of fear with His perfect love (I John 4:18). Take comfort in knowing that it is His pleasure to heal you and then walk upright and see the “whole” bright future God has for you!

Love you all!

Blen

BlenCouragesU9 Comments

Love on the dot com?

Click here for love(?)

Hi there ladies!

I picked up a WONDERFUL book last week entitled  The Young Lady in Waiting by Jackie Kendall and Debby Jones.  This is a practical, scripturally based book of encouragement for women of ANY age who are awaiting the Lord to bless them with a husband, if that is His will. I plan to highlight some of the teachable points I received in future posts, but overall the book urged women to stop sitting around and do what God has called them to do while waiting!   One thing the book emphasized was not to go looking for a mate. We know what the Solomon said, “he that finds a wife, finds a good thing” (Proverbs 18:22 a).  So where do Internet matchmaking sites fit in?

I have a friend who confesses Christ, (yes a friend–this is not me :-)) I’ll call Lola. Lola tired of wading in the shallow in the dating pool and made a splash by hooking up with a dating site. In exchange for an ex-amount of  monthly dollars, a detailed profile and some time, she met a men that matched her personality, lifestyle, etc., and they dated for a while. Lola pretty much felt he was “the one”. Eventually the “sunshine and lollypop part” of the relationship faded, as Lola realized he wasn’t the person she thought (and he probably felt the same way).

My questions: (And I am not condemning… just trying to get an understanding and create dialogue) are we really waiting to “be found” when we sign up or even peruse Internet dating sites? Or are they “the new way” to date?

Are we trusting God to provide a husband the old-fashioned way, (a chance meeting in the grocery store aisle) or do we need to “put ourselves out there” by using these sites? Should we be “paying” for the blessings of God by signing up to “hubbynow.com”?

What about the examples of Ruth (Ruth 2-4) and Rebekah (Genesis 24)? Yes, there was no Internet back then, but is there something to be said of how God blessed them with mates?

I have to say, as tech-nerdy as I am, I’m old-school on this subject. After a LONG time of God working on me, I believe that He will set up the divine meeting His way and in His time. It seemed that anytime I “placed” myself somewhere or went with the hopes of “him” being at the gathering, I was disappointed. The Lord finally got me to the mindset of going places to be a blessing to people, and not look for a blessing.  Easy all the time? No. But keeping my heart from unneeded heartache is worth it.

I would love to hear your thoughts….

~Blen

BlenCouragesU8 Comments