Girl Please, Let Him Use You

Women sometimes can be under the impression that God can’t use them because of their past or their current situation or circumstance, but no matter what you did in your past, no matter what you didn’t do in your past, no matter how bad or ugly your past is, God wants to use you for His glory!!! You are so special to God. We are not defined by what we did in our past, and we definitely aren’t defined by those who are trying to hold our past over our head, but we are defined by who God says we are. Which are all great things!!!! There are quite a few women in the Bible that I know that people probably gossiped about, put down, and tried to hold their past against them, but God ended up using them. Since God has a heart for the hurting, when people criticize us, we are in perfect position for God to use us, and to bless us because of the offense that was done/said to us. So let’s look at some women in the Bible that were probably talked about/put down, but inspite of God used them.

Leah-Her story is found in Genesis 29-30. Leah’s marriage to her husband was a scheme and her husband didn’t love her nor found her attractive (Even though the Bible says we are beautiful beyond words Song of Songs 4:1). So imagine all of the things that people were saying about her and the rejection that she may have felt from her husband.However……she was the Mother of Judah, which makes her a Great, Great, etc Grandmother of Jesus. You would think that her sister Rachel would be the Great, Great, etc Grandmother because she was favored by their husband, but the one sometimes that are the least favorite of men, is the most favored by God.

Rahab- Her story is found in Joshua 2. Rahab was a prostitute that lived in Jericho. Rahab was not an Israelite, but when the Israelite spies came to scout out the Promise Land to see how they would invade/take over( including Jericho). Rahab let them in to her home. Now on the outside of Rahab’s house looking in, probably thought she was “entertaining these men”, but if so they should have looked again, she was actually protecting these men of God, in which she did not have to do because again they were coming to invade her people and land……Rahab, the prostitute, is one of only two women who are listed in the “Hall Of Faith” in Hebrews 11, and I didn’t realize until I started doing my research on tonight that she is the mother of the guy that everyone woman says they desire……Boaz!!!! , Which makes her a Great, Great, etc Grandmother of Jesus.

Bathsheba- Her story is mentioned in 2 Samuel 11-12 and she is mentioned again in 1 Kings 1-2. Bathsheba 1st of all was pursued by King David and she was summons to King David’s bedroom chambers (When someone was summons by the king, they could not refuse). She was apart of the scandal where she committed adultery with King David, got pregnant, assisted in trying to cover it up, and stood by while her husband was killed. Can you imagine the whispers and stares of the people that found out?……Yet and still out of all the sons that King David had, Bathsheba the Adulteress son that she had with King David, Solomon was chosen to sit on the throne after King David, which also makes her a Great, Great, etc Grandmother of Jesus.

I don’t know how to quite end this, but If God used these women, what makes us think that He can’t use us. People have the tendency to judge harshly and will hurt your feelings DEEPLY, and will judge your story but we have to keep pushing. What the enemy means for bad, God will turn it around for our good. He wants to use you for His purpose, Let Him.

If you all have any other women in the Bible that you want to add or life experiences/stories please feel free to share.

So Whatcha Thinking About? Part 2

In “So Whatcha Thinking About? Part 1”, I discussed the importance of being in the Word and allowing God to renew our mind. When we renew our mind we align it up with the plans and purposes that God has for us. It is important to know who we are in God and allow His word to build up our confidence, if not, the only thing that we will believe that we are able to achieve will be based on the lies of the enemy, and what he tells us is that we are full of inadequacies, when the truth is that God has equipped us. When we feel inadequate, we do not have the confidence to venture out into the great things and the mighty work that God has called for us to do, because we do not believe that we are capable. What is the enemy saying to us? What is God trying to say us? What are we thinking about? What are we meditating on? What are we allowing to seep into our mind and our heart? We can’t become what God says we are, if we are focusing on who the enemy says we are. Proverbs 23:7 says As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (he becomes). The devil plants thoughts in our mind, to get in our head, and in our heart, so that we can fulfill those lies and not the will of God for our lives. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy us, constantly trying to get us not to fulfill our God-Given purpose. I was watching a video clip on Youtube recently by Jennifer LeClaire (she is awesome!!!) called “Discerning demonic Strategies Against Your Life”. One thing that stood out to me that she stated was that when the enemy drops thoughts in our mind, he always whispers to us in “1st person” so that when we hear his thoughts, we think that they are ours. The enemy says ” I am ugly”, so we say to ourself “I am ugly”, or “I’m not strong enough to do this”, “I’m not smart enough”, “I’m not equipped enough”, “I’m messing up”, “I’ll never get over this”, “I’m not going to be able to write this blog right” (LOL) anytime any thoughts come to our mind that brings on discouragement, fear, depression, low self-esteem……basically a confidence breaker, know that it was the enemy that planted those thoughts there, and that we have to cast them down when they come to our mind and replace them with who God says we are until we start to believe those things. For me recently, as I mentioned in Part 1 it was my self-esteem. I did not know that’s what I needed to work on in this season, but it felt good for God to show me that “Hey, this is what I want you to work on right now”.  God had been dealing with my self-esteem a few months ago, but I allowed my thoughts to regress (the enemy will try to sneak back in there), and I guess God was telling me, “ugh let’s try this one more time”. So I’ve been taking it verse by verse from the Chapter that my sister from church gave me:

•  I go over the Chapter starting with Verse one, that talks about how I (you have to make it personal) am _________ (you can fill in your own blank. So when I read it I say, “I am ________
• I may also go into praise and worship and thank God that He says that I am ____________ and take God (trust God) at His word that He says that I am___________.
• Throughout the day if I feel thoughts coming in my head that tries to tell me that I’m not__________, I rebuke those thoughts and say no I am________________ and believe that I am in Faith.
• Sometimes I may just go over in my head and tell myself that I am___________ because I believed the lie that I wasn’t ________ for so long, it feels good to believe something positive about myself.
• I’ve been trying to do 1, 2, and/or 3 daily. I’m not saying that this is a formula or method and it does not feel repetitious to me, but this is what has worked for me. Find what works for you, but through these things, I’m incorporating what God requires for us to do anyway: Read, speak, and meditate on the Word, worship Him, resist the devil, believe by faith, and spend time in praise and worship.

Because of meditating on this, I now know that I am ___________, but I still try like to read over that particular verse before I read the other verses in the chapter because it’s one of countless evidences of God’s love for me, plus again I like feeling like this. I thank God for His revelation about me!!! Stick with this thing until you believe it, if the enemy tries to get you to doubt again, go back to believing that you are who God says you are! God will deliver! Put your trust in Him, He will not disappoint you! The enemy wants you to think that you will always feel the negative things that you do, the hurt that’s there wants you to think that it will never go away, anytime the enemy tries to tell you those things, began to thank God and believe God that your victory is coming, no matter how long it takes (may not be overnight, but then it could be, either way, it’s coming!). The enemy wants us to stop believing, to make it harder for the receiving! Stay encouraged!!!!

2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Romans 12:2; James 4:7; Romans 10:11

Picture Credit: Textgram

So Whatcha Thinking About? Part 1

In my Bible Study class we are doing a book challenge for the month April, my book of choice was “Battlefield Of The Mind” by Joyce Meyer. I chose this book because the enemy has been trying to come against my mind and I know that God will meet me in this book. God is so awesome, He met me before I started reading the book. About two weeks ago, He gave me a specific scripture (Chapter and Verse) to meditate on, but I didn’t realize that it was God until I went to Prayer the next night and one of my sisters at church gave me the the exact same Chapter that I got the night before (she did not know what God gave me the night before)!!!! God did not give her a particular verse, but the whole Chapter which let me that instead of zeroing in on the particular verse that I was mediating on, to meditate instead on the whole Chapter. God told her that through the Chapter He wanted me to change the way that I saw myself, and when I begin to read it, I knew that He meant my self-esteem. So over the past few weeks I began to meditate on the Chapter, verse by verse and God began to show me some things. So on tonight as I began to reread the Introduction of “Battlefield Of The Mind” I looked up Romans 12:2 which is a scripture given in the intro. I’ve read Romans 12:2 many times and can quote it (mainly), but on tonight God gave me a-whole-nother revelation of the scripture that I never truly grasped before. The scripture might be elementary to you, but there is nothing like when God illuminates a scripture, it’s like something lights up inside of you. I can feel the Holy Spirit bringing everything that I’ve read together in the Chapter that she gave me with Romans 12:2, it’s like He’s saying to me “This is what I wanted you to see, this is why reading the Word is important, why renewing your mind is important. My word confirms, validates, backs itself up with itself, this specific revelation for you shows you my goodness, it shows how much I love you, this is why I want you in my Word, because it makes you into a better person, it does something to your heart, it soothes it, it let’s you know everything will be ok, it gives you confidence”. Romans 12:2b-“Let God change you into a new person by changing the way that you think . Then you will know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. Let’s look at the first part of that verse: “Let God change you into a new person by changing the way you think”. That is exactly what He spoke to my sister at church. Is that He wanted to change the way I saw myself. Why? Because if not the only way I would view myself is through the lies of the enemy. So since I chose (it’s a choice, the enemy will try to steal your positive seeing, see Part 2 coming soon) to believe the things that God was saying about me through the scripture that my sister gave me in prayer, my self esteem is now on a higher level, I think more highly about myself (not conceited, but confident in who God says I am) I’m no longer limiting my self-worth to what the enemy is saying. Why else did God want me to change the way I thought about myself? Let’s look at the 2nd part of the verse: “Then you will know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. If I see myself through the lies of the enemy, then it’s hard to see God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will for me. So a few days ago, the situation involving the low self-esteem that I was dealing with began to rise up again, but I believe God was wanting to bring it up because He was wanting to deal with another area of why my self-esteem was low. As He began to show me another area, I gave it over to Him and began to read my verse in the chapter my sister gave me and He immediately showed me my “from ashes to beauty”, moment and how He plans on using “what the enemy meant for bad” through my low self-esteem for His will for my life, which is pleasing and perfect, but I never would have known or experienced any of this (self esteem booster, one of God’s will for me) if I wasn’t meditating on the Word, spending time with Him, or allowing Him to allow my mind to line up with His Word. I know that this is cutting off in the middle, but stay tune to Part 2 coming soon. In the meantime I want you to think about what you are thinking about, if it’s not lining up with what God rebuke it, and begin to think about what God says about the matter. Allow God’s Word to renew your mind.

Are You Both In The Same Gear?

If you are in a car riding with someone, more than likely you two are trying to arrive at the same place.  There is only one gearshift in the car, not two. If it’s in drive, then both of you are going forward, if it’s in neutral, then you aren’t really going anywhere, if it’s in reverse then you’re going backwards. When you are truly trying to seek and run after God, don’t even bother or settle down with someone who is not in the same gear that you are in, because you will not arrive at the same place and you may end up in a destination that you did not intend or for see.

What Is Your Beauty Based On?

Growing up, I use to think that my beauty was based on how many guys found me attractive. Sometimes I was the girl that was out with female friends and guys would approach them, but not me. But at 30, I’m learning that my beauty is not based on the caliber of guy that approaches me or does not approach me, but my beauty (our beauty) is based on who God says I (we) am (are). We can not measure our beauty on the negative words that man may say, because it will give us a false reality of our beauty. When we measure ourselves based off of man, we are not measuring ourselves with a Precise Measuring stick, but settling for the short end of the stick!!! When the Precise Measuring stick says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and nothing less than!  Embrace the fact that you are beautiful and walk in confidence that you are beautiful! You are beautiful!!!! You always measure up!!!!

Letting The String Go On Purpose

Plain colored helium filled balloons are nice, and they make great decorations at baby showers, birthday parties, etc, but there is something about a customized helium ballon, the ones that say “Happy Birthday”, “Congratulations”, “Great Job” etc, that before you walk outside, if you don’t make sure any of the plain balloons are wrapped around your wrist tightly, the customized ones that celebrates you are in at least a double-knot around your wrist or hand. The customized balloon is special because it helps to celebrate you, support you, it appreciates you, you don’t want to let it go, you quickly develop an adoration for it. I know in my teen years when I got customized helium balloons, after the air went out I would hang them on my wall or put them in some type of “keepsake” box to relive the memories. If you were to walk outside and the string of your customized ballon slipped off your wrist into the air, you did what you could to get the ballon back, reaching, grabbing, running, jumping, trying to catch the balloon before it got away. If it did get away, you may feel a quick jolt of sadness and disappointment, because hey, that ballon stated what you were and who you were in the moment. I said all that to say that customized helium balloons are a lot like relationships. Relationships celebrate you, support you, appreciate you, you don’t want to let the customized ones go. You do what you can to hold on to them, you talk, encourage, listen, spend time, pray, whatever you can to hold on to it. But unlike a helium balloon, sometimes in relationships we have to unwrap, untie, or simply cut the string from around us, letting  the string go on purpose. We have to know that after the helium has gone out, we can’t hold on to it as a keep sake, but you have to throw it a way. Specifically speaking of the relationships that God has been saying to let go because in one way or another it’s detrimental to us, whether we see it or not. Sometimes we don’t see the harm, and sometimes we only can gaze specs of it because what’s in our focus is the fact that we are giving effort, the fact that we care, the fact of loyalty and trust that we feel is there, because not only the fact that you love the person, but you love the friendship/relationship. I could go on and on in this blog, but this will have to be a part two. I don’t want to just say let go (especially if God is saying let go) without me giving ways of how to let go, but here are reasons why God may say to let go. It’s easier said than done, but it has to be done. Even though we may feel a jolt of sadness at the moment, there is not pain that Jesus can’t heal.

 Here are some reasons:
-We are in relationships or friendships where we are taking advantage of.
-We are in relationships where we are tolerated and not celebrated.
-When we are putting time into something that’s not going to work because it wasn’t meant to be.
-When we have put someone in place of God.

-When we have used someone to fill a void.
-When God wants us to separate because there is a soul tie there.
Stay tuned for part 2.

Another Tamar (DOT COM)

I know that when most of you all saw this title, you thought of Tamar Braxton Herbert,Toni Braxton’s baby sister, but there is actually another Tamar that I wanted to blog about. ThisTamar lived a few thousand years ago and is the daughter of King David, this Tamar is mentioned in 2 Samuel 13:1-22 (there are also two other Tamar’s mentioned in the Bible, one being this Tamar’s niece). I wanted to talk about Tamar to reach out to all of the women that may have had Tamar like experience in their life, steps to allow God to heal, and the and the plans that the enemy had for your lives after the incidents have happened. Let’s begin with 2 Samuel 13 (NLT)

2 Samuel 13

Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. ² Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her.³ But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimea.^{[a] 4} One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “What’s the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so dejected morning after morning?”So Amnon told him, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”⁵ “Well,” Jonadab said, “I’ll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you’ll feel better if she prepares it as you watch and feeds you with her own hands.”⁶ So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and cook my favorite dish^[b] as I watch. Then I can eat it from her own hands.” ⁷ So David agreed and sent Tamar to Amnon’s house to prepare some food for him.⁸ When Tamar arrived at Amnon’s house, she went to the place where he was lying down so he could watch her mix some dough. Then she baked his favorite dish for him. ⁹ But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat. “Everyone get out of here,” Amnon told his servants. So they all left.¹⁰ Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring the food into my bedroom and feed it to me here.” So Tamar took his favorite dish to him. ¹¹ But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling sister.”¹² “No, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel. ¹³ Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, and he will let you marry me.”¹⁴ But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. ¹⁵ Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.¹⁶ “No, no!” Tamar cried. “Sending me away now is worse than what you’ve already done to me.”But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. ¹⁷ He shouted for his servant and demanded, “Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!”¹⁸ So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe,^[c] as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters. ¹⁹ But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.

Some of you reading this may have been a Tamar throughout one point and time in your life whether it’s been rape, molestation, incest, etc, as an adult, teen, or child. Some have been left without a voice and without justice being done. Some walk around feeling guilty, like the reason why the incident happened is because they were at fault. Some feel embarrassed that such a tragic event has happened to them. Some feel ashamed and can’t find a way to open up, especially if the incident was done in silent. Some feel abnormal because of what happened to them. Sexual perversion can shape a person’s personality, and the person may not even realize that they are this way because of what happened. It can cause them to put up a guard, not to trust people, think that everyone’s out to get them, walk around with a chip on their shoulder, hard to forgive people, walk around depressed and with hate in their heart, a bad attitude, and hard to receive love. Also with this sexual perversion there are some plans that the enemy had for your life through this sexual perversion. A lot of times the devil attacks children through sexual abuse at an early age, because he wants their life experience of sexual relations to be perverted, including that of fornication, homosexuality, selling their bodies, such as prostitution, promiscuity,using their bodies to seduce people, exotic dancing, wearing seductive clothes, pornography, masturabation and to be an adulterer, as well as using drugs and alcohol to mask the pain. Yes these are the plans that satan has for people when he attacks them sexually. Yes these are the perverted plans that he has, and he starts off by attacking with rape, molestation, incest, etc (especially at an early age). I’m not saying that everyone that has been sexually abused will turn out this way, but if this is you, these things do not have to be your fate or your lifestyle because God is a Healer and a Deliverer.

What the enemy intends for bad, God can turn it around for good (Genesis 50:20). God is a healer of emotional hurts and is a deliverer from the traps of the enemy. God can heal emotions to the point where it feels as if the incident never occurred in the first place (Genesis 41:51). There is no shame in God. He loves you. Here are some steps that will help you deal with the pain of the sexual abuse that occurred.

Step 1: Change your mindset, when you change your mindset, it will change your life. Know that in your heart that God loves you, He wants to answer your prayers, meet your every need, answer your questions, heal your wounds.

Step 2: Rebuke the enemy. Whenever the enemy tries to make you feel condemn, guilty, weak or ashamed, rebuke him. Tell him that he will not bombard your mind with the negative thoughts The enemy has told us so many lies, that it seems like the truth and we do not even realize that it was him that planted that negative seed there. Therefore, when the enemy brings negative thoughts to your mind, rebuke him, change what you are thinking. The best way to change what you are thinking is to fine scriptures of hope and bright outcome of the situation.

Step 3:Have confidence that God will move on your behalf, do not give up even when things do not seem like they are going to get better. Soup yourself up, “I know my God has my back!”

Step 4: Speak Life over your situation, by speaking the Word over your situation. The word of God helps to break chains that the enemy wants us to be bound up in. It is important that we read God’s word because it helps us to know who God is, what He is capable of doing, the great promises He has for our lives, and teaches us how to be successful.

For questions or more information, please email me at lhorne2005@yahoo.com

LaCrystal is 30

For the past few years I’ve feared turning 30. Every time I would think about it, it would make me sad and bring tears to my eyes. A few weeks ago, God showed me a deeper purpose and a new purpose that He has for me and this excited me!!! God’s timing is perfect, and I believe He strategically showed me my new purposes (including blogging) right before I turned 30, for one because I am His daughter and He did not want me to be sad, and for two to show me that no matter how old we are, we still have purpose. I am now excited about turning 30 and the new things that God will do for me and through me in my 30s. Knowing our purpose in God helps to renew, strengthen, encourage, and it gives peace. Know that God wants to show you your purpose and assignments.

One thing that I wanted to include in my first blog was that no matter how old we are, or no matter what the current state of our life is (married, divorced, kids, no kids, death of loved one, employed, unemployed, etc), God still has purpose for our lives, and that we cannot base our lives, our situations, or how obtainable our goals are based on any negative outcome that may have happened to others that are in/were in our similar situations as we, but we base what the outcome may be based on what God says. So many times we allowed fear to stop us because well “ it didn’t happen for such and such” or “well they said it couldn’t be done”, instead of going to God and seeing what the real outcome would have been.

May the story of the Israelites, and how they were unharmed from the plagues bring you encouragement

Exodus 9:24-26:

“So there was hail and lightning striking through the hail without stopping. It was very bad, worse than had ever been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ The hail hit all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both man and animal. The hail hit every plant of the field and broke down every tree of the field. ²⁶ Only in the land of Goshen where the people of Israel were, there was no hail.”

We see that the Israelites was in the same place (even though physically, this can be looked at metaphorically) as the Egyptians (both were in Egypt), the hail fell down in ALL of Egypt and caused such a calamity, except for where the Israelites lived in the region of Goshen (in Egypt). So again, just because something happened or didn’t happen for others that are in the same place (situation) as us, does not mean our situation will have the same negative outcome. Never walk in fear. Consult with God, He will lead you and direct you to what you need to do for your situation. Remember God favors you!

For God has not given you the spirit of fear, but of Power, Love, and a Sound Mind. 2 Timothy 1:7