Good Morning My Loves!

Amazing isn't it,  to have a clear understanding and knowledge of something, for it to slip away in a moment of truth. This was Eve's story. Genesis 3: 1-5 tells of the conversation that she had with the serpent, and what she REALLY knew...

At what moment did she make the exchange, the exchange being what she KNEW was sure and what was uncertain? Did Eve realize that Guilt and Fear were waiting just beyond her move to take the fruit from the tree? It's something to think about all that Eve had at her disposal, and what we as modern day Christians have. Eve had no foreknowledge; in fact many of the ill emotions that waited on her negative actions were emotions never known to her before the act of eating the fruit. Today, we have foreknowledge, examples and memories of things that we have done in times past, but yet, we still reach for that which is forbidden. What is it about our lack of REVERENCE for guilt and fear that pushes us to a place of no return? How is it that we are so able to transition from light to darkness without feeling the GRAVITY of where we are headed? 

I would daresay it is because we have never really thought about what lies beneath the guilt and fear, and where these emotions will take us in the course of our lives. Eve had no idea that she would suffer such extraneous circumstances, those that she was not designed or prepared for. What about you? Is the act worth the trouble?

~With Love, Towana~

The Giver of Life!

Good morning My Loves!

Last week we talked about Eve, the Act, and the guilt that followed. Oftentimes it is not the act but, it is being caught in the act and our failure to resolve our guilt. It is this lack of resolution that pushes us to experience masking emotions known as fear, disappointment, sadness, and grief (see chart below). Each of these emotions comes with a litany of others that, if left unchecked, will lead us into decisions and actions that will constantly cause pain, hurt, and loss of strength in character, between spouses, and within the family unit.

This was not God's perfect design that we experience any lack! The Bible says in John 10:10 the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

God wants us to resolve our ills by depending on him in all things. He has come to give us LIFE! Join me this week as we look at fear and continue the journey to fullness of Life in God by uncovering the "Many Faces of Eve" and the Resolution.

God bless you today!
~With Love, Towana~

Fear

Good Morning My Loves!

Think back to the last time YOU did something contrary to the will of God. What enticed you to keep going even though you KNEW it was wrong? Once you completed the act, what guilty feelings rushed into your being? Were you fearful? What did that fear feel like?

Fear can be a paralyzing emotion. It suspends your ability think clearly and instead of acting, all actions become REACTIVE, based on your level of fear. Think back to Eve's story...once she and Adam ate the fruit, THEY HID. In that moment of fear they couldn't clearly process God's infinite love for them OR the fact that God sees all.

Isa 41:10 says this: So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

NO MATTER WHAT, allow God to be with you, strengthen and help you. HE IS our Righteousness!

~With Love, Towana~

The Many Faces of Eve: The Cost of Sin

Source: Google Images

As the first woman known to and made for man, Eve was special. She was specifically created with a purpose in mind, and if she held true, her unique qualities would work to enrich and broaden the life of everyone she encountered.

Unfortunately  unable to maintain control of self,  Eve ultimately cost her family the Garden, their  tangible communion with God  and  a life without sin. The cost  was the precious that the life designed to be shared daily with the tangible Savior, walking, talking and being in the cool of the day, was completely and utterly lost. 

The gravity of her loss of control, the loss of their Garden home and the loss of a life made easy by the Creator,  had to have weighed heavily on her heart as she grappled with the foreign idea of forgiveness. The very syllables of the word tasted foreign on her lips. Eve can't muster the word, or even BEGIN to understand the depth of its meaning. Before the tree and THAT fruit, there was no need for forgiveness or mercy to be extended,these qualities were not needed in the world created and perfected by God.  As her eyes wandered to the flaming sword that prevented her from entering into the gates that lead home, the burden of acceptance and letting go is now inextricably tied together, and Eve does not know how to do either one. Humbled by her downfall, Eve holds her head in shame as she wanders the earth in search of what she needs to make and maintain a home; she has NO IDEA; she has NEVER faced this place before in her life! The face that once was full of love, the face that once was lit by the light of God, the face that gazed with adoration at Adam has forever changed.

The changing face is about to be seen. To remain attached to the face created by the Master is perfect lie. No longer is that face innocent, bright with hope and love, or free from sin. The created face is changing. The contrast between the created face and the face that is because of sin is stark, unsure, heavy and enough to make Eve bow in shame. This is the beginning of the many faces of Eve.
#ManyFaces
#SinCOSTS

A Better Place

Source: Google Images

       In 2 more days it will be 3 full weeks, 21 days, a mere 504 hours since that horrific day when evil walked into a church and took 9 lives that did not belong to him. As the days, minutes, hours and seconds have passed,I think about just how much that day changed my life. I remember with love my dear friend taken from her 4 daughters, and the family and friends that adored her. I think about the gaping hole that is left now only to be filled by He who fills best. I think about the causes that have been taken up, the fight to take the flag that for some represented a cause, while for others the representation was death, pain, destruction and loss. Like a holding pattern, I find myself circling back to the memory of those that were taken and the space that their emptiness now magnifies. I want the world to be a better place because these 9 precious lived and were taken. I want those that once focused on such silly things like pomp and circumstance, titles and position to be more concerned now with making the world that is now 9 lives smaller, a better place. I want the focus to be kindness, love, generosity, compassion, tenderness, meekness, long suffering, patience, and finally faith. But like the news trucks that have packed up and left to find the next big story, the next breathtaking byline, the sharpness of the reality that existed almost 3 weeks ago has faded into a new reality. Whereas there was fear, the novelty has worn off, and all that seemingly remains is exactly what existed before June 17 ended in gunfire, and the theft of life: no significant change. God HELP US.