Sunday, May 29, 2011

When Darkness Falls God is Still Good and Still God

This past week my brother-in-law of more than 30 years, Nelson was laid to rest after suffering a heart attack. He was on the road to a lifestyle change of healthy eating and exercise, but he was not able to undo years of unhealthy living. This passion project is even more dedicated to helping and supporting believers in their journey of eating and living well to the glory and honor of God. We are desperate and committed to continuing the work of this ministry and to gain ground on the epidemic of obesity and it's health complications.
 
As a family of believers, we found comfort in knowing that my brother was a believer. Darkness can never overcome the light. We understand that death can have no victory in the lives of believers. Some of you may also be mourning the loss of a loved one. I wanted to share with you something that I wrote for my brother's funeral service. I hope that you find comfort in knowing that death is not final and mourning is a natural process.

God doesn't waste anything. He is able to use everything that we go through to bless us and to bless others through our testimony. We will not allow Nelson's death to be in vain. I pray that it causes some of you to commit to a healthy lifestyle with your whole hearts and I hope that it will jolt some of you into getting started today. Your response and commitment are necessary and the need is urgent. We really cannot afford to wait. Please make a change today, putting this change at the top of your priorities. We can do this with God's guidance, power, and grace.

Thank you and bless you for reading, commenting, and sharing.           

This Time

Visiting death again. Storm raging. Sorrow palpable.

The world's truth we must all pass from This life to This death.

The Kingdom's truth we will live forever in eternity with Him. Comfort.

This time we rest with an unrelenting and unwavering assurance that God is in control. Sovereignty.

This time death and hell can have no victory. Faith.

This time the man. Son. Father. Husband. Brother. Uncle. Nephew. Cousin. Friend

Knows the One who conquered death, hell, and grave. Victory.

Griped with grief. Screams into deafening silence. Barely breathing, our tears fall and our hearts break.

This time our souls cry out to a loving merciful God. Dependence. He is present. He is listening.

This time in This pain we know victory. Assurance.

Victory and peace pursued, captured, and apprehended because Jesus is present This time. Love.

Grace keeps us. Faith sustains us. Love lifts us. Heaven is near. Heaven is felt This time.


This blog is dedicated to my brother, Nelson "Tank" Holloway (1953-2011)


Your body is the temple of the Living God! Live Well in His Name!  

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Mother Daughter Relationships

God day Conquerors  

It's Mother's Day weekend and many of us will be celebrating and honoring our mothers and those who mothered us with heartfelt prayers, cards, flowers, candy, and well wishes. Some of us won't be partaking in these celebrations because possibly our mother or mother figures have gone on to be with the Lord or we have strained and estranged relationships with our mothers. For those of you in both of these situations I pray God's love and comfort on you. God can comfort your heart and give you peace as you deal with your lose and separation. Aside from this, mother-daughter relationships can be quite complex. Can We Talk?!

Mothering is a big responsibility. There is no mother test or license required before a woman can become a mother. Think about it, the moment a child is born the mother is also born. I believe that most mother's do the best they can with what they have and what they know. If they knew better, prayerfully they would have done better. God's grace is sufficient to cover all the heartaches, pains, and bitterness birthed through our perceptions of neglect, distance, and lack of love from our mothers.

I thank God for each of you who had and have great relationships with your moms. You are a blessed! That is not every one's reality. Some of us have challenging relationships with our mothers as a result of generations of unresolved mother-daughter conflict. Often we are attempting to heal old wounds that predate our present relationships. We should be attempting to heal these wounds or we are destined to pass these issues on to our own daughters, to their daughters and generations to follow. This is the way of generational curses. Think back within your own genealogy, how did your mother and her mother communicate and get along? Does that explain some of your own mother-daughter woes?

We don't get to choose our mothers. God did the choosing for us before we knew Him. Because we know that God does not make mistakes, we have to play the hand we are dealt. Good, bad or indifferent our mothers are still...our mothers. We have to choose to work through our issues in these relationships if we want to be healed and see change for future generations.

Yes, it takes time, courage, effort, energy, grace, prayer, and love. If we have unresolved issues with our mothers we have to confront them and address them sometimes day by day if we are going to be all that God calls us to be and if our families are going to live out their purposes in Him.

For those of you who still have young daughters that you are raising, I pray that you are taking every opportunity to nurture your relationships. Pour love into your daughters and show them what it means to be godly. Talk with them. LISTEN. Guide them. Hug them! Don't settle for relationships like your own relationship with your mother. No matter how good you think it was...make it better by God's power. Creating healthier relationships takes work and commitment.

For those of you who are estranged from your mothers. Forgiveness is the key to a healthier you and healthy-loving relationships with your families and others. Creating healthier people also requires work and commitment. God can walk with us, but WE have to do the work.

As we reflect on Mother's Day and what it means to us remember that none of us was ever placed on this earth just for ourselves...to satisfy our own needs, to minister to ourselves, to bring joy and happiness to ourselves. Each of us was created for a purpose; that purpose is outside of ourselves and has to do with serving, choosing, and loving God in everything we do. By His power give a little of yourself this weekend, wherever God guides you, even if it is not reciprocated.

Your body is the temple of the Living God! Live Well in His Name!
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Monday, May 2, 2011

Speaking of Royalty

God day Royalty!

When we first started this passion project we said that we would talk about everything related to what we feed our temples. Not only do we have to be fully aware of the natural food, but the spiritual food is as important to our overall healing, health and well-being. Can We Talk?!

This past week the world stood still (almost literally) as a prince married his princess. For those of you who know me, you know that I do not follow pop culture and celebrities. I did not follow any of the wedding news nor did I watch the royal wedding on television. It was 3 in the morning for goodness sakes! A girl needs her beauty rest. What was funny about this week is that my sister, (you have to know her to laugh at this) sends me a text at 0430 in the morning saying "text me when you get here, I saved you a seat at the Abbey". She wakes at 3AM EVERY morning.

What was not funny this week was watching the comments and commentary about the royal wedding from lips of faithful believers. I heard an onslaught of negative and critical comments from the bride's make-up to the best man's paternity. Oh my! What does THAT have to do with the wedding? As faithful believers we MUST have the eyes of God. We must see everything through the eyes of God and through the blood of Jesus Christ. We cannot look upon a beautiful event such as this (I'm told it was beautiful) and focus only on the negative. How can we behold such beauty and speak so critically? It's a heart issue.

When we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are adopted into God's family as royalty. We are royalty and we should speak like royalty. How can we look upon the beauty of this wedding, where our Father and King was represented and not just be filled with joy? How could our eyes not be fixed on the wonder and beauty of His Majesty? It's a heart issue. The Word of God says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We need heart transplants. I know a God surgeon!

The royal couple offered this prayer to God.

"God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage. In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy. Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen".

I know what you are probably thinking. Why are YOU NOW judging those who made the comments? A few years ago, I was convicted of having a critical spirit. I am being healed everyday so, the answer is I recognized my old self in these comments. I'm super-sensitized to critical comments, it's part of my healing process.

Before I always had to pick apart everything and everyone because nothing was ever good enough. Maybe I didn't feel good enough? What is certain is that I was looking through foggy dirty lenses, not through the eyes of God. I saw everything through own my pain, my past, and my life experiences. Good or bad. God wanted to heal that pain so I could see the beauty of His people and His world, making me more useful for Kingdom building. He wants to do the same for you. I meditated on this scripture to begin the healing process. When negative thoughts creep into your mind start reciting this scripture. Take those thoughts captive and begin to speak words that edify, support, and encourage.

Philippians 4:8 Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected.

The Message says it this way...Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Some of you will read this post and think, that's not me. I'm not critical, negative, or judgmental. Others will read it and be convicted, not by my words, but by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you.        

Your body is the temple of the Living God! Live Well in His Name!
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