BE FREE TO BE YOU (Be free to be Who God has called you to be)

I know it's been a while but as usual when I come out of a season I love to share what's on my heart and help y'all!

BE FREE TO BE YOU!!!!

The Bible clearly says in Jeremiah 1:5 that before We were formed in our mothers belly God knew us and ordained us. One if not my favourite scripture is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts I think towards YOU, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give YOU an EXPECTED end" the NIV finishes this verse by saying plans to give YOU a hope and a future.
Where am I going? Good question stay with me it will all make sense.

Like I mentioned in previous blogs I grew up with low self-esteem didn't think I was good enough and didn't like me. I often used to compare myself with other people who were in the same field as me like other singers,  other young dynamic preachers etc.  Whilst doing that I started to envy them not realising what was inside of me.
Some people used to tell me that I was waayyyyy too loud, wayyy to energetic and too talkative and I used to try the tone everything down,  not talk too much not crack too many jokes untill something inside started to feel like noo!!! Enough is enough! That is not me and I shouldn't try to change to please men. If God put it in me and didn't convict me about it its a part of me that God has need of. And the more God was dealing with me on  how to accept ME. I realised that I was more and more becoming people bound rather than being God bound. I had allowed people to determine how I should be instead of allowing my creator to break me, make me and mold me into who he wants me to be.
Don't get me wrong sometimes God will convict you of something through people but if it causes heartache, distress and hurt IT AIN'T OF GOD!!
There isn't another me like there isnt another you. God has created you uniquely fashioned with a specific purpose that only YOU can fulfill. Nobody can be a better you but you!
Being in leadership amonsgt 4 other guys where I was the only female and the youngest one I was always told how I should behave in order to look proper and that meant burying who I was, who God made me to be to become this woman they wanted me to be. Did what they do work? NOPE! NOT AT ALL! Instead it made me more insecure. I felt like I was putting an act on, and always wondered what if I drop that act, will people take me seriously? Will people still like me? Untill one day the Holy Spirit reminded me that GOD has the final say over me and that GOD made me this way for a reason and for the purpose he has for me and looking back then and looking at myself now I have grown a whole lot and what I was told to tone down is what God has been and is using to enable me to fulfill my purpose and connect with various people from various walks of life.
And since then I have become PEOPLE FREE!!!!! Dont care about what people say on whatever I do anymore. Its all about what God says about me! Becoming people free will enable you to fullfill your destiny. And so what you praise a bit louder than everybody else? You dance a bit more than everybody else? You dont sing as high as another singer? YOU ARE YOU and THAT'S WHAT MATTERS  and its high time you EMBRACE WHO YOU ARE!
To return to the scripture I highlighted God has amazing thoughts and plans concerning YOU and for YOU his thoughts and plans towards YOU are for YOU and nobody else!! There are things with YOUR name on it just for YOU!! Don't forfeit the purpose God's plans and purpose for your life by comparing yourself to oher people, you keep on wishing you were like someone else. The truth is that by carrying on like that you will never be able to be a better YOU because you are trying to be somebody else and you will never be able to fulfill YOUR destiny because you are too busy trying to fulfill somebody elses!

Be Encouraged!! Be people free and God bound but above all BE FREE TO BE YOU!




Love y'all

Yours In Christ

Valencia

It's time to LET IT GO

Wow!!! What a title!  May Sound cliché but it is soo true and real! Life, people and circumstances have a way of leaving things with us. Some good and some bad! We need to hold on the good things and let go of the bad ones!  But it is often the bad things that we hold on to causing us to be stagnant and not move forward!  For the past 2 years God has really been dealing with me on this topic. Like I shared before I grew up in a single home.  Things were not always easy!  I've had my wilderness experiences and valley seasons. I've had my heart broken many times,  various people hurt me including people I loved HARD!  Disappointed by many,  hurt turned into bitterness which eventually turned into unforgiveness.  I was leading Praise & Worship carrying unforgiveness!  I was interceeding for people with hurt in my heart.  I was serving in pain.  I wanted to be free; I wanted to forgive but I didn't know how.  Until the Holy Spirit began to minister to me.
The first thing He said to me was that He doesn't send wounded soldiers to battle.  God is more interested in your well-being and your emotional, physical as well as spiritual state more than what you do for him. Oftentimes we're hurting and instead of taking a back seat and allowing God to heal us and mend our broken hearts we keep serving not realising that we're an easy prey for the enemy as we're already weak!  he'll know where to attack us! I did it for so many years! It took me to get sick for God to slow me down and take time to heal me! Let Him do it! If you need to take time out do so! Don't wait till God has to do it for you!

Then God began to tell me that on my own, I can't forgive. I need his grace to forgive.  I was busy trying to forgive and when I would see the person that hurt me I'd go back home crying because the hurt still felt fresh.  Thats when God told me, give it to me.  You just be willing to forgive and let my grace empower you to forgive.  When you forgive someone you don't forgive them for them but you forgive for yourself.  You're the one that's hurting! They're out there living their lives! They might even have forgotten  what they did to you! And that unforgiveness starts taking root in your heart.  Tainting your heart. The Bible says in Matthew 5:8"Blessed are the PURE in heart for they SHALL SEE GOD ". When your heart is tainted by bitterness, anger,  unforgiveness and many more you are not able to hear God clearly or even feel him near because these things cause a bridge between you and God.  When I realised that I said to myself I don't want to allow anything to get between me and God.  And I surrendered everything to Him . Told God how I felt,  told Him EVERYTHING!  And he began to pour his love and peace into me. The more I asked him to help me forgive and to give me the grace to forgive and LET GO!The better I Felt! I felt soo much freedom and peace! Today I stand as a living testimony!! I'm not  a 100%  there but I'm definitely close!  God is AMAZING!!!!  And NOTHING and NO ONE is worth jeopardising your relationship with God.  Whatever it is!! LET IT GO ! Bring it to the Master! He's waiting for you!  You're not in this alone!  He's right there with you!
Be Encouraged!  You will get through it!

Love Yourself

Hello Everyone!!

Here's my second blog of this year called "Love Yourself!"

Ever been in situations where you just didn't love you! Times where you didn't like you? The way you look? Big nose, small nose?  Big cheeks no dimples? Big thighs or short?You go through people's Facebook pages and people's Instagram's pictures and the more you see beautiful ladies and Gents you start to compare the way you look with the way they look? Then you become more and more depressed because you want to look like them but you are far from it? You wished you had longer hair, slimmer waist, more muscles or a better build?
Well ladies and Gents this blog is for you!
I'm addressing both men and women but I'll be speaking from a woman's perspective.

Growing up like I mentioned in one of my previous blogs I grew up with low self esteem! Never thought I was pretty enough and never thought I was good enough for anybody! Out of all my friends I would be the only one who didn't have a boyfriend or a guy after me. And to be honest it did hit me in a way because I thought if nobody comes to me that means that I might not be pretty enough nor beautiful enough! So I grew up with that mentality!  I would look at other girls!  Tall, skinny, long hair and all and I would think I wish looked like them!  I was a Christian don't get me wrong but I still didn't think I was beautiful!
Until the scripture  Psalms 139:14 was made reality to me! It says "I will praise you, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvellous are thy works and my soul knows it very well".
The more I was going through those times of not really liking myself the more this scripture would resonate in my spirit. And I had to realise that by comparing myself with other people I was telling the God of the whole universe,  the one who created me in his image and in his likeness; the one that formed me in my mother's womb and ordained me to serve him! I was telling that God that he made a mistake by making me the way I was! When I realised that I had to repent and tell God sorry for not appreciating myself,  sorry for not appreciating how you've created me! And I had to ask God to show me how to love myself! You see as human beings we were made for companionship that's how God created us however you can NOT and you will NOT  love your spouse properly if you don't love yourself! That's why for some people God delays the arrival of your spouse in your life because he wants you to learn how to love yourself and how to love Him. Then and only then will you be able to love yourself!  You will not only be able to love yourself but you'll be able to receive love!  All these things don't just come by wishing!  They come by having a close walk with God! Ask him to teach you about love! To help you to love yourself and give and receive love! To help you to see yourself the way He sees you! If you ask him He will surely do it!! Whatever can be changed if it's weight loss or eating healthier taking care of the body that God has given us by all means do it! But the things you can't change!  Learn to appreciate them because that's how God made you!
You are beautiful,  you are special, you are intelligent and loved!  Don't let the things you see the models you see determine how you are going to view yourself! Be bold, brave and confident in who God made you to be! Nobody else can be you better than you!
So when you wake up in the morning after your devotion, look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself: I'm beautifully,  fearfully and wonderfully made! The way I look is how God made me and I'm going to love ME!
Big nose, small nose, big lips, small cheeks, big thighs and whatever else. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!
Learn to value yourself!!  And don't ever sell yourself short!!
This change will not come suddenly! It does take time! But the more you do it the more you shut the door by which the enemy will try and come in to make you feel low about yourself!  As you do it! You will build confidence in who you are and you will be able to be all that God wants you to be!

Pray that this blog encourages you! Leave a comment to encourage others!

Love y'all!

Why Me???

Hello People!

I know it’s been a while but God has definitely been dealing with me on some things and I’d like to share one of them with you and I hope it blesses you!

The title of my first blog for the year 2014 is “Why Me?”

Have you ever asked yourself that question when things are not really going your way? It seems like you are always going through something? You come out of one trial and then comes another one? Why am I always going through something you wonder? Is it ever going to end? Am I ever going to be happy?

Well you’re not the first nor the only one asking yourself that question!

Towards the end of 2013 to middle of January 2014 I was going through depressing times! The fear of not knowing what my future held though in God’s hands!  I was always crying and weeping because things that I thought would come to pass then didn’t. People I called friends and people that I sacrificed a lot for let me down, disappointed me and hurt me even though our differences and issues were discussed and settled. I felt worthless, because things were not working out. I almost started to doubt my very calling and why God put me on this earth! I was tired of being sick and tired! I was fed up of being hurt and disappointed! Getting my hopes and dreams up only to see them being crushed over and over again. Whilst I was crying out to God I kept on saying “Lord I know you can hear me, but I can’t hear you, I can’t feel you I have no clue as to what is happening to me”. And I wept, and wept and cried and cried some more until I couldn’t weep nor cry then I was brought to this calm place by the Holy Spirit and there God began to minister to me.

Why me? Because I called you and chose you! And as I began to be still these scriptures were whispered in my ears. The bible says in Jeremiah 1:5 (KJV) “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” The NIV version says “Before I formed you in the womb I knew^[a] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Then Jeremiah 29:11(NIV) says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to PROSPER you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.” The King James Version says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an EXPECTED END”. And Romans 8:28 (KJV) “And we know that ALL things work together for GOOD to them that love God, to them who are the CALLED according to his PURPOSE.”

The bible clearly says that ALL things not something’s or a few things; but the good things and the bad things that come our way work together for our GOOD! The Holy Spirit made me understand that the reason why I was going through those things was that in order to become someone after the heart of God a way to get closer to God was in those though times I faced because those times brought me to my knees; made me seek the face of the Most High God and He was magnified in my life! Light doesn’t shine in the midst of light but Light shines in the midst of darkness. It’s in our dark times, in times where we don’t understand what is going on, in times where we’ve lost hope, in times where you can’t see past the end of the week, in those times God’s light shines through and He reveals himself to us in a way that he wouldn’t have been revealed if everything was rosy and easy! And even if the enemy tries it like our brother Joseph who went through hell we understand that whatever the enemy meant for evil God will turn it around for your good (Gen 50:20).

 In the Book of Zechariah chapter 13 we as God’s chosen people we are likened to Silver and Gold and Zechariah 13:9 says: “And I will bring the third part through the FIRE, and will REFINE THEM (You and me) as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”. 2 Timothy 2:20 (KJV) says “But in a great house there are not only vessels of GOLD and of SILVER, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.” The NIV translation says it even better “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for SPECIAL PURPOSE and some for common use.” God sees us as precious stones Gold and Silver and in order to be used for the special purpose that God has called us to, we have to go through some refining! How is Gold refined? God is refined by Fire! Refining with fire is one of the oldest methods of refining metals i.e Gold, silver and many more. The refining of gold is even mentioned in the bible, refining by fire is the preferred method for larger quantities of gold. In ancient times, this form of refining involved a craftsman sitting next to a hot fire with molten gold in a crucible being stirred and skimmed to remove the impurities or dross that rose to the top of the molten metal, with flames reaching temperatures in excess of 1000 degrees Celsius until the craftsman can see a reflection of himself.

Whatever we go through in life shapes our character for where God is taking us! I will never forget what the Holy Spirit told me! Your gift will make room for you and bring you before great men but it is a humble heart and character that will make room for you and KEEP you before great men!

So Why You? You because you are called! You because you are chosen and were ordained to be a vessel unto God before the foundation of the world! You because you are special in Gods eyes and he has great things in store for you! So whatever you go through know that it won’t break you but it will make you stronger! Don’t ever allow the enemy fool you and cause you to start doubting the very God you serve! When you go through things not knowing what the future holds TRUST God! I know it is easier said than done! I went through it myself! Not knowing what was coming up next career wise and in other areas of my life! I had to trust God! Sometimes we don’t know how to trust God because we build our hopes and a false sense of security on our plans instead of putting it in God’s plan! And when things don’t go our way we get thrown off and allow the enemy’s words to cause us to doubt. The bible does say in Proverbs 19:21 “There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.” Trust is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something. Whatever you are going through! Trust God!  Even when you don’t know what lies ahead! That’s what makes him God! All knowing! Even when you don’t know what’s going to happen trust the All-knowing one who holds your future in his hands!

Please be encouraged out there! Don’t let the enemy rob you of your joy in this season!  Things are not always going to be easy but as long as you hold on to God he will keep you and strengthen you! Keep holding on and see what God will do!

In the meantime! Be and Stay blessed!

Peace & Blessings Always!

Yours Truly!

Valencia