Posted on by darleneishealedtospeak

Perfect Weakness

II Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

I am amazed at how far the Lord has taken me. From a little girl who suffered unspeakable acts of abuse, rejection, and shame to a person who understands God’s love for her. From a person who did not believe she would ever receive love to a person who is married with her own family. From a person who did not believe she had gifts and callings to a woman who is using one of those gifts in which I am writing to you.

Then there are times I am amazed at how far I have to go. Those moments when I act in a way that is not pleasing to God. Those moments when I tell God I trust Him, yet my actions do not line up to what I speak out of my mouth. Those times in which I surprise myself by my own actions. Although I have been healed to speak, there are still areas of my life the Lord is still dealing with me about.

It is in those moments, I understand two things. First, God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness and second, His grace is sufficient for me.

No matter how mature we are in God, no matter what vision the Lord has given us and no matter what our calling is in Christ, there will always be areas we are weak and parts of our soul that require brokenness before the Lord.

Be humble, be a blessing and boast in your weaknesses so our God may be glorified. Let those around you know you were not always the person they see. Tell them there are times you struggle with the old you who still likes to show up. Then tell them you are grateful to God for the new creature you are in Christ, according to II Corinthians 5:7. Tell them it is not because of anything you did, but because of his grace towards you. Tell them it is the same grace that he will extend towards them according to Ephesians 2:8-9.

Someone is depending on your story. Are you willing to be open and share it? Are you willing to show your imperfections in order to show God’s perfection?

Blessings.

Darlene
#healedtospeak

Posted on by darleneishealedtospeak

So Emotional…

Proverbs 25:28 “a person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls” (NLT).

We must identify why we feel what we feel and get to the root of it. As women, we have many emotions and I believe God has designed us that way. Our emotions make us unique and we should embrace them; however, we must be cognizant of not allowing our emotions to control us.

On December 12th as I was cleaning and organizing files in preparation for the New Year, I came across my mother’s death certificate. As soon as I saw it, I began to ball my eyes out. I did not expect such raw emotions to emerge and I was actually surprised. When I was done, I prayed and asked God to continue to heal my heart. Although I finished crying, I was experiencing a heavy weight of sadness for the rest of the day.

Later in the day, the Lord blessed my heart regarding another matter and I wanted to share it with my husband. When he came home, he asked “babe, what happened today” and I proceeded to share it with him. As I was speaking, I noticed he seemed “out of it” or rather disinterested. It upset me, so I stood up abruptly and walked angrily to my bedroom. As soon as I laid down on the bed the Holy Spirit said, “there is no reason to be upset with him” and I immediately knew why. Truth is, he was not disinterested, but tired and I could tell from the moment he walked in the door, but I proceeded to talk anyway. Second, what was actually bothering me is I was still sad regarding the loss of my mother. After identifying the root of why I was sad, I apologized to my husband and received the comfort I needed.

If I had not been obedient to the voice of God I would have gone to bed upset with my husband over something that did not exist. More importantly, I would have been disobedient to God. If we do not control our God-given emotions we will be ruled by them! Having out of control emotions can lead to divorce, misunderstandings, arguments, job loss, jail and saying things we are bound to regret.

How many times have we done something in the heat of the moment and regretted it later? I am sure each of us has. We must remember our emotions are valid and given to us by God. However, our emotions are fleeting and we cannot rely upon nor be ruled by them.

My prayer is each of us learns how to rule over our emotions so we can be pleasing to the Father and a blessing to those around us.

Love you all,

Darlene
#healedtospeak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on by darleneishealedtospeak

He Has A Plan!

Hello Everyone!
Thank you for taking the time to view my first video. I was happy to share a little bit of myself with you. There will definitely be more to come…so stay tuned!

God is funny as it was never my intention to do videos (though I was told I would). At least for now, I thought I would only write. However, as I share with you today, God has a perfect plan for our lives even when we are uncertain of the path or if the path goes in a direction we did not expect.

As I share this brief video, be encouraged knowing that God’s plan for you is perfect and he would not have it any other way.

I love you all,
Darlene
#healedtospeak