Facetime with Jesus

Jesus and I have a pretty sweet relationship. And when I say sweet...I mean in a cheesy, mushy kind of relationship. We have the ultimate husband and bride relationship. But I'll talk more about that on a future post! :) I said this because in our morning time together today, He said He misses us. I found this statement rather odd seeing that He is with us at all time. It was later after much thinking that He showed me what He meant. He used my brother Tim and his wife Toni as an example. 

If you don't know, my brother Tim is in the Navy and currently deployed to Afghanistan. He and his wife Toni have been married for almost 25 years. The last 25 years they have spent life together. They've experienced joy together. They've experienced sadness together. They've experienced late night pillow talk. They've experienced the ups and downs. The list goes on and on... That many years of closeness make separation difficult. 

Tim will be gone almost a years time. During this time, he and Toni are able to still communicate although time and distance separates them. Thanks to Apple, they can use Facetime to video message. Unlike the past where soldiers would go without hearing for weeks or months, they can now see each other face to face. They can interact and communicate via the internet. Despite having this contact, I'm sure they can both agree that it comes nowhere close to physically being in each others presence. 

Jesus, although fully God, was also fully human. Being fully human, He also experienced the power of human touch and what it does to the human spirit. He lived on this earth for 33 years. He had parents whom He hugged and kissed. He had close friends that he told secrets to before He let the public know. He washed their feet. He had late night talks around the fire. He traveled with them. He had his beloveds. Then His time was up and returned to Heaven. Although Jesus is patient, I know now that He can't wait until He can be back in contact with all of us. 

Just like my brother and his wife, Facetime temporary satisfies them considering the circumstances. Jesus also desires "face time" with each and every one of us until His return. Yet, many of us are so busy that we cannot make the time. Imagine my brother dialing in from Afghanistan and my sister-in-law never answering his call. He misses home and longs to hear and see her. She says she loves him, yet she can never make time to answer. She can't wait for him to get home, but is not willing to communicate with him in the meantime. You see where I'm heading?

So many of us act in the same way. God desires to see us. He desires to hear our voice. He anticipates the time that we can spend together. He wants to hear how our day went. He wants to share in our joys, sorrows, and moments of anger. He desires true relationship with us. He desires the intimacy with us. If you call yourself a follower of Christ, God desires His Facetime!

And yes, He can't wait to see you face to face too. My brother did a previous tour in Kuwait. I had the honor of being part of the welcoming committee. We had flags and waited with anticipation as he descended down the escalator at the airport. When he did fully, there was a flood of emotions as he ran to his wife and kids. People in the airport saw what was happening (since he was in uniform) and began applauding. I also believe our face to face reunion will be the same. The angels will rejoice, and Jesus will run to embrace us. There will be tears of joy. 

I know this analogy may be silly, but I find that Jesus often tells me things in parables that I can relate to! :)I pray that my sharing this helps you to see your daily time with Him in a different light. I encourage you today to make the time to Facetime with Jesus. Spent that quality time having heavenly exchanges with Him until you can be reunited with him face to face. Dial Him, gaze at His face, and talk. It's just that simple.

Alone. That dreaded word.

Ahhh yes. The word alone. It is a word that a single person has dwelled upon at least once in their singleness. If you claim you haven't, you are a liar. I'm just sayin! I know I have. With my marriage ending last year, God has been working on me regarding this subject. Before I get to that, let's look at this word more closely.

Merriam Webster's defines alone as being separated from others. It defines lonely as being cut off from others; lacking company. I'm sure there is at least one person reading this right this very minute can relate to these definitions. If you can, your thoughts may sound something like this:

"Will I ever find a husband?"
"My friends never look me up!"
"My kids are out doing their thing, and I'm stuck at home."
"I have no life."
"I wish someone knew what I was going through right now."
"Does anybody even care or think about me?"
"Everyone is out living their life, and I'm by myself."


Without even knowing your situation, I know the feelings that swarm your thoughts. You feel anxiousness, gloom, sadness, fear that you'll remain this way... the list goes on and on. The danger in these feelings is that they will lead you straight into a path of depression where all you can see is lack in your life. And the crazy thing is that we get all worked up based on a fact of life that is simply untrue. I was heading down that path until I had an awakening.

Let me explain. You see, I profess Jesus Christ as my savior and Lord. I am a daughter of the Heavenly Father. If you also profess the same, the word "alone" needs to be wiped away from your language completely. The word alone is one that is from the devil's vocabulary. It's a word he uses often. He whispers it into our ear, we hear it, dwell on it, and allow it to sink into our soul. Our soul is where our mind, will, and emotions live. When the word alone makes its home in our soul, it's bad news. 

If you don't believe me about it being the devil's word only, try to find any scripture to back you up. I dare you. In fact, I can find scripture to back me up quicker than you will ever find your evidence. You see, the Word of the Lord declares that we are NEVER cut off.  Allow me to show you...

• "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Deuteronomy 31:6
• "No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5
• "Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Romans 8:39

You see, the devil would like nothing more for you to think that you have been "cut off" from things, people, and blessings in your life to leave you in isolation. But God is telling you right now otherwise. He is ALWAYS with you. Do you believe that? Do you really? Be honest with yourself.

If not, I have been there. Trust me. I've had many lonely days. However, God does not desire for you to stay in this condition. He wants to give you a heavenly exchange. He wants to remove that word from you and replace it with his love. He wants to you to feel His wholeness. That means you will no longer feel like you are lacking in any way, certainly not lacking in company.  

So how does this happen? Be honest with God about how you are feeling. If you have to tell him while bawling your eyes out, DO IT! If you have to yell it at him, DO IT! I dare you. Dare Him to make His presence known to you. God will not be mad at you. He desires intimacy with Him. Intimacy requires honesty. It's in those moments that he removes the source of your loneliness. If we look in the Bible, there are plenty of examples of this.

• "I sought the Lord, and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears." Psalm 34:4
• "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever-do not abandon the works of your hands." Psalm 138:8
• "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:17-18

God is with you. He hears you. He wants to heal you. He wants to calm your fears. He wants to remove all the hurt that is causing you to feel alone. And when he does, my sister, He will fill that loneliness with joy. Once He does this, look out! I really mean that! Look out! You will feel like a new woman. 

Disclaimer: Yes you will feel like a new woman, but the devil is sitting by just looking for an opportunity to come and whisper again. There will be always be enmity between women and the devil. Enmity is "an active, and typically mutual hatred or ill will." The book of Genesis speaks to this. So he will not give up. This is why all that free time you had saying, "Whoa is me!" needs to be filled with God. Either you need to spend that time in God's presence in prayer and worship, Bible reading, or doing something for God like attending a church group or volunteering somewhere. Idle time is the perfect breeding ground for the devil's whispering.

Lastly, I want to speak to those of you reading that do not know Jesus as your savior. If this subject has spoken to you, and you desire to know what it feels to have joy and experience his wholeness, it's simple. Talk to Him. Ask Him to forgive you for all your destructive thoughts and actions (sins), and ask Him to enter your life. He's waiting for you. Do it now!

Be encouraged my sisters. You're never alone. He is with you even now as you read this. Do you feel Him? :) 

If she only knew who she was

After a grueling day, I met up with my parents for dinner. Nothing better than Mexican mole to make the day all better! Before leaving the restaurant , I excused myself to use the little girl's room. While in the stall (you can keep reading.. no TMI moments coming), I heard a commotion in the restroom. Two ladies were at the sink; One was crying and the other was trying to talk some sense to her. Of course I took the opportunity to listen in. Well... I really didn't have any other options at this point. The conversation sounded something like this:

Girl One: **crying**

Girl Two: Mija, you need to be happy his @#$ is out of your life. You deserve better than that!

Girl One: I know **whimper** 

Girl Two: Seriously! You don't want anyone that you can be yourself around; someone that won't accept you for who you are!

Girl One: I know, but it's hard!

As I was listening in, I had a smile on my face. Not because I found this situation humorous in any way, but because it was as if I was listening in on a conversation between my sister and I about 8 months ago. I was on the outside looking in on my past. In that moment, I felt her pain. I felt the rejection, the doubt, the insecurity, and the anger.

I walked out of the stall and was heading to wash my hands! They were blocking the one sink, so I just stood there. The conversation continued for a few seconds. It paused for a few seconds only for Girl Two to look at me and ask me, "Right?" as  if she needed some extra back up. I jumped in and said enthusiastically, "Yes! You have to love yourself first mama!" Girl Two then high-fived me (gross, I know). I washed my hands and left.

It's only tonight that God brought to mind Abby. That's Girl One's name. My heart was saddened. I wish now in hindsight that I could go back to this afternoon's situation and say more. I wish I could have spoken life into her. I wish I could've told her who she was. You see... in Psalms 139:14 the Bible says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." This verse is a popular one, yet I don't think we truly believe it. I know I didn't until recently. 

I lived a life where I apologized for who I was. I'm not talking about the things that God wants us to fine tune either.  I literally would say I'm sorry when I cried. I would apologize for standing up for myself.  I would apologize for my appearance. I reserved apologies for people that were only meant to be directed toward God in my prayers. I was extremely co-dependent. How everyone saw me was how I determined what to think of myself. I'd stay in relationships where I thought if I could only get better, then the relationship would be better! If the other person rejected me, I'd question what was wrong with me. I know in my heart that Abby believes this, too. I believe many, many others believe that too. They are ashamed or apologize for their talents, dreams, goals, desires, tears. You get it.

It angers me now that the devil has gotten so good at convincing us (especially woman) that how God created us is wrong or faulty. How wounded are we that we apologize for something that God declared is good? It hurts me to see my sisters try to change themselves into something that they were not created to be in order to please someone else. This goes for all relationships, not just romantic ones.

I wish I could tell Abby this...

• She was fearfully and wonderfully made. 
• She is a wonderful work made in the image of the Creator. 
• She is loved by God more than she can fathom, and that is where her security lies.
• Her beauty resides in that beautiful spirit of hers. 
• She needs to be a relationship with someone who sees her as God sees her. 
• I wish I could tell her to be brave, and she will be ok. 
• I wish I could point her head and heart upwards to God, so that she could bestow His beauty and see hers in return. Then and only then would man's rejection not be so hard knowing that our Heavenly Father accepts us just as we are. Flaws and all. 

So since I can't tell Abby, I'll tell you. I'm sure there is an Abby out there reading this. If you are, I dare you to be brave. Be brave enough to ask God to prove it. Prove that He made you fearfully and wonderfully.  Dare Him to show you how much He loves you. Dare Him to show you just how beautiful you are to Him. Keep daring Him until He does it. Oh and He will! Just you wait! He'll give you a Heavenly exchange. He'll exchange your troubled thoughts for His pure ones. And when He does it, you will run away from anyone that doesn't see you as the masterpiece that you are. I didn't think I could do it, but I did. My life has changed, and so can yours. Be Brave, you'll be ok.