Words Of Encouragment To Start The Day: Special Edition ( Friday 11/14/08)

Today's devotional was written by a very special individual and extraordinary young woman in her own right. She is my spiritual daughter and a she is often referred to in my devotional as my God daughter. She has been a blessing and an inspiration in my life. She has patterned the life of an overcomer and one who excels in goodness and grace. She loves God and those around her hard and she will never know a stranger, those who encounter her are blessed if they only are priviledged to grasp the realness of who she is. Presenting Ms Tracy Koweh, may you be as touch and blessed by this devotional as I am!

To Sum It Up In Three Words...........God Is Love

1 John 4:16 (Amplified Bible)
16) And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him.

I recently became a mother a little over a year ago and although alot of it came naturally to me, just as much didn't. I found myself questioning how Iwould be able to handle the next 20 + years of my daughters life. I can recall the million times I had heard that being a mother is something that is already in you, that it will all just come to you. Well that was definitely not the case with me. I had to study other mothers around. I had to ask for help. I had to put forth effort. I had to test the waters to find out what worked and what didn't. There were alot of hit and misses and I'm sure many more growing pains are down the road. So just as I had to take the time to learn how to be a mother, we shouldall take the time to learn how to love each other. God has blessed us allwith the power to love so strong it can destroy old mindsets, heal open wounds, and bring joy where there is sadness. The problem comes when past hurts, other people's opinions, childhood experiences, and fear taint the spirit and make loving ourselves and others seem like an unattainable goal. Love at its best is the greatest gift given to man. Love at its worst can be very dangerous, to the point of becoming fatal.
There are two scriptures that come to mind as I write this devotional to you: 1) That there is no greater love than to lay down your life for another, and 2) That we are destroyed by lack of knowledge. What you don’t know can kill you. So why not step out on faith and ask the greatest Lover of all time to show you how to love like only He can. Some of us won’t give up an hour to spend time with the ones we claim to love, and God gave up his ONLY son for people He knew would hate Him. Love should cause you to lay down your feelings, your plans, your wants, and your needs to sow into someone else. The secret to this is that if we are all loving each other, then All of our needs would be met.
So today take the time to express your love to someone outside of your comfort zone. We take the time to study for school, to prepare for the job, to get the promotion, but what effort do we put towards investing into the thing that will sustain us for a lifetime, LOVE. If you are already a lover, love harder. If you are a beginner, take baby steps until you get it right. If you don’t know how to love, find someone who does and take notes. Ask someone around you for a creative idea, google an article on the internet, or if you’re bold enough study some scriptures and get some insight that is guaranteed to change your life forever. Remember, just because it doesn’t come natural to you, doesn’t mean you can’t become a NATURAL.