by Harriett V. Bennett
Why is it often so tempting to consider dabbling in past behaviors that can only produce the same dissatisfying, present-day results? Well, here is my 5 cents therapy tidbit: you never completed the process between beginning the “cleansing” to finally realize undeniable “closure”. Consider these five things in your “cleansing process: Continue reading
Filed under Encouragement, Harriett V. Bennett
by Latricia C. Bailey
Why do I choose to love you ask? I choose to love because God chose to love me first, and He commands us to love. I’m not talking about cute little “puppy love”, but UNCONDITIONAL love. It is hard to love someone without conditions, but when you choose to do so, you gain all the benefits God intends for love to bring. What do I mean you might ask? Well, let me explain.
Recently my husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. WOW! I can’t believe we’ve lasted so long! All those times we could have killed one another, but didn’t. We made a choice. Michael Clarke-Duncan’s character in the movie, The Green Mile, said it best when he said, “They kill ’em wit they love.” So true. It’s even Biblical how wicked our hearts are. The Bible says,
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NLT)
Now if the very Creator of our hearts and the Controller of our fate commands us to love one another without condition, also warns us that our main tool we use to love one another with (our heart) is deceitful and desperately wicked, then how do we love others? First, we must CHOOSE to love. Continue reading
Filed under Latricia C. Bailey
by Tammy A. Phillips
Grandmommy always brought cheap soap; four bars in a bag for one dollar. I had only used it to wash my hands. One day I took a bath using the soap in the bag. The pain from itching was quick and severe. Immediately, I rinsed off, got out of the tub and complained, loudly.
“Grandmommy, why do you buy cheap soap? Mommy buys IVORY, and it never itches me. This cheap soap hurts.” While drying dishes, never looking at me, she said, “There is nothing wrong with the soap. You started rubbing and disturbed the dirt.”
Grandmommy’s soap reminds me of challenging commandments from the Word of God:
“…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you… (God, I must do this for someone who lies to me?) Matthew 5:44 Continue reading
Filed under Tam's Tidbits, Tammy Phillips
Lynnette McCollum Haywood
I was in my car and had just dropped my son off at school. I took a deep breath because I was dreading the second part of my commute to work. I had to drive through the District of Columbia to get to my office in Virginia. That is a drive that taxes even the most experienced driver. I poke along inch by inch watching the more impatient drivers switch from lane to lane, as if it makes an ounce of difference. The radio is on but I am only half listening to the voices on talk radio espousing their two cent opinions about President Obama and the economy, foreign policy, heath care reform, or whatever issue was stuck in their craw for the day. I am also a bit antsy over the meeting that I have scheduled for the day and am going over everything in my head trying to assure myself that I hadn’t missed anything. Continue reading
Filed under DivaA Digest, Lynnette McCollum
by Chris Allen, founder of Anointed Women in Christ Ministry.
