Power-filled Positive Thinking-Part 5c; 14 steps to Finding Fulfilling Love

So, how do we learn to love? Or even more important, how do we break free from loneliness so that we are able to love others? Henry David Thoreau is quoted as saying: ““Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Such a sad thought; yet, we live in a society that so emphasizes finding that one who can release that song from within us, our soul mate. We long to find someone who sees the darkest crevices of our hearts, our fears, our sorrows, our pains, and our every thought; yet, chooses to love us, walk beside us, and even inspire us. We want someone who will love us and accept us as we are; yet, desires to help us grow to who we can be. We want to find that one person who can see the potential of who we can be and reaches out their hand to gently guide us into the one we were meant to be. That search, that longing deep within our innermost core can drive us down many roads of brokenness, despair, and loneliness; but, never true love. C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

We were created by God so that we might be showered with His love, filled with His love, and overflow with His love. Yet, in His Sovereign wisdom; He knew that we would never know the pure ecstasy of that love were their not choice. Knowing all that and the price He would ultimately pay so that mankind could know that love, God with great patience, mercy, and longsuffering has endured the pains of man’s rebellion. He has endured it all so that He might bestow His Glory, His Riches and His love on each of us who believe in Christ as our atonement for sin. (Romans 9:21-23). In Christ, we are His Beloved. The amazing part is, He loves me right where I am; yet, loves me so much that He won’t leave me there. He sees the very best in me and ever so gently, takes my hand and leads me. Never is He disappointed. When, I fall down, am broken hearted or I fail to see His Joy filled face—He trusts in His Love for me, cradles me in His arms, and sings His love song over me. (Zephaniah 3:17)

original photograph courtesy of Jim Peregoy

God has known me since before He created the Universe. He has known my every thought, every word that would come from my mouth, every time I would fall down and every time He would pick me, and He has loved me with His steadfast love all of those years and will continue to love me throughout eternity. (Psalm 139)

He has promised that nothing can ever separate me from His love (Romans 8:38-39). That nothing includes that not even I can separate myself from His love because my position as His Beloved has been sealed by the Holy Spirit in me. (Ephesians 1:13) God chose to love me and thus he has written a commitment to love me on His own heart that is unbreakable through good and through bad times, when I am lovable and when I am unlovable.

Love is a commitment to love and cannot be based on the waxing and waning of one’s own passions or desires to get one’s own needs met. In order to truly love, I must first have a heart that is whole, complete itself. As God’s Chosen Beloved, my heart is full and; therefore, I am freed to choose to love fully. The problems when I was young came out of my failure to grasp that truth and therefore my inability to allow Him to make my heart whole.

What are the steps needed to transform these truths from simple thoughts in your mind to the reality of your life song so that you realize that you are completely loved and can then from a heart that is overflowing commit to love?

Continue reading 14 steps to Finding Fulfilling Love →

God’s Song of Love

by Effie Darlene Barba

I fell before your precious throne

With broken heart so all alone

My tears were falling like the rain

And then I heard this sweet refrain

CHORUS

I have loved you before the dawn of time

Desired to give my joy sublime

My love held tight

By my own might

Come, dear child, I’ll hold you near

Wrapped in my love there is no fear

Cradled tight within my arms

Safely kept from this world’s harms

I’ll sing my song of love for you

Your hope and joy I will renew

 

Amazed by grace, my hope did grow

Enlightened heart his love doth know

All fear now gone, I rise to run

For I am God’s dear precious one

As He sang

CHORUS

I have loved you before the dawn of time

Desired to give my joy sublime

My love held tight

By my own might

Come, dear child, I’ll hold you near

Wrapped in my love there is no fear

Cradled tight within my arms

Safely kept from this world’s harms

I’ll sing my song of love for you

Your hope and joy I will renew

 

So, as I walk this journey here

I’ll love and live without the fear

For I will stand with faith so strong

Because for me He sings this song

CHORUS

I have loved you before the dawn of time

Desired to give my joy sublime

My love held tight

By my own might

Come, dear child, I’ll hold you near

Wrapped in my love there is no fear

Cradled tight within my arms

Safely kept from this world’s harms

©2015 Effie Darlene Barba

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post.  I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

I’ll sing my song of love for you

Your hope and joy I will renew

 

Power filled Positive Thinking-Chapter 5 B—Saying Yes to Love as God’s Beloved-What does that look like?

I began Monday by telling you that there was a moment in time when everything I thought about love changed. That was 9 years ago and has remained a transformation which now guides my life . Before I share with you the steps that can help you transform your heart from broken to loving; let me pause today and answer the three questions I promised you that I would, plus one.

1. IF IT IS TRUE THAT I AM GOD’S BELOVED, WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG FOR ME TO REALIZE IT? Let me begin by pointing out that our finite human minds do not fully understand or grasp the truth.  God loves me is the truth I have come to understand and embrace. Unless we begin to own this truth as our own, we remain victims to our own fears. The real truth was that my transformation did not occur suddenly. I had been learning this truth my whole life. Every broken heart, every broken dream  I had experienced in my life’s journey led to my growing strong in God’s love.

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JIM PEREGOY

Ever so patiently, gently and steadily; God had taught this heart of the depths, the heights, and the mighty power of His love for me. I had been created to be filled with His love and His joy. So, all along this journey from that little girl of 5 to the woman I now am; He has shone His light into my heart to guide it and to allow it to grow in that knowledge of Him. That journey may have lead through many heartbreaks and sorrows; but, each one lead me deeper into His heart of love.

2. How does having your heart filled with God’s love change how you love others? When human Love overflows with God’s love, it takes on characteristics of God’s love. So what does God’s love look like? To better understand, let’s turn to

Continue reading Saying Yes to Love as God’s Beloved-What does that look like? →

Power-filled Positive Thinking—Chapter 5A—TO LOVE AND BE LOVED

It was sharper than any knife, cutting deep within my heart that day. “What makes you think any man could ever love you?” my mother said. She continued on, “Look in the mirror, look at your past, look at all the health problems that you have had, and face the reality that there is no way anyone could ever love you.” The part that was even worse, her words only echoed what my own heart had come to believe. I who had searched for love, believed in love, fought for love, sacrificed for love, and bled for love was about to finally lay down my sword.

original photograph used courtesy of  Jim Peregoy

Broken, wounded and tired, I laid down my dream of finding someone to love me. At first I mourned the loss of the dream. Then the most miraculous thing happened, I suddenly awoke one morning and realized love was in me. When I quit searching to find someone to love me, I found that perfect love had been there with me the whole time

. All the love I had ever needed was there residing in my own heart. It had been there ever since that little 5 year old had asked perfect love to come into her heart. Like the awakening of the dawn, bright and beautiful—light shone into the crevices of my heart and I knew that I was God’s Beloved. Greater love than I had ever longed for was there and had been there all along. That same love became an overflowing fountain of joy. That joy became a brilliant light of Grace which allowed me to see that not only did love fill me, it surrounded me. When I no longer needed love, love found me. It is there in the bewitching smile of a grandbaby, the hugs of my children and their families, the phone calls and text message. It is there in the kindness of a stranger passing by. Love is there in the heart of friend who is willing to trust me with their friendship and take my hand to show me clearly who I am. In fact, once I realized that love was in me and I need not search for it; I realized it had always been there. I could look back over all the memories and see its golden threads woven throughout the tapestry of my entire life.

Continue reading TO LOVE AND BE LOVED →

Power-filled Positive Thinking—Chapter 4C-  6 steps to Victorious Joy

Thus far in this chapter I have told you that one of the major, power-filled positions that is yours and mine “In Christ” is that in Christ we are already declared Saints. Yet, we both know that our lives often do not reflect that truth. Indeed, I am certain that the harder I try to fight to prove my “righteousness” the more defeated I will become. So, how do I change that God given position into a visible reality? What are the steps to living a joyous Victorious Christian life which will bring God the Glory?

Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, “You become what you think about all day long.” Buddha is also quoted as saying “The mind is everything, you become what you think.” That is the major principle of all positive thinking philosophy. It is very powerful and very true as long as it is based in reality; example, I cannot become 7 foot tall by just thinking myself so. Still there is great power in what we focus our thoughts upon. The Bible taught that very truth long before Emerson, Buddha, or the modern positive thinking philosophers did. (Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 23:7, Matthew 6:21, Philippians 4:8, Matthew 12:35).

Paul knew the importance of every believer being grounded in the truth of the gospel. He knew that Christ had won the victory for each believer and that without them knowing this in the central core of their being, no Christian’s testimony could survive or stand. No Christian can fully live grounded in their faith unless they understand the truth that in Christ they have been declared saints and are saints—fully clothed in righteousness before the throne of God the Father because of the atoning, finished work of Christ on the Cross.

This is not a “hallelujah” then I shall live like the devil until I get to heaven; quite the opposite, this is (if you really know Christ as your Savior) God is going to complete the work of sanctification in you whatever it takes. Although if your heart does not desire with all its being to be righteous, then I might wonder whether you ever came to a saving knowledge of Christ. Note the key word there as desire, not fulfillment. Which is what brings us back to as a Christian what do I do to transform my state in Christ to a reality. Once more before I begin to tell you the steps that you can take let me remind you of these 4 truths.

Continue reading 6 Steps to Victorious Joy →