Rooms

     Happy Sweet Thursday beautiful people! I am praying that where you are, regardless of what you're doing…that the peace of God invades your space. That this blog provides you with some form of encouragement, a hearty chuckle, or simply something good to munch on, but even further, that the Holy Spirit dwells near, in and around you. I'm not sure of how your day is going, has gone or will end, but I speak life to it right now. I demand that things take a turn for the best and that any obstacles that was intended to happen, to hinder, hurt or harm you, cease in Jesus's name. 

    I'm not sure who that was for, but as soon as I started typing, I felt led to set the atmosphere.

Hey there! 

      Wednesday came, and Wednesday left and I didn't get my #WaitingSpaceWednesday post up, but it's here. It has been a week! Honey, I am tired! I went to Canada this past weekend. OMG. What an experience! I can't even find the words for it. While I am currently sleepy, when I tell you my weekend was relaxing....RE-LAX-ING! First, I went to the Maid of Midst tour (if you haven't done it, or have only seen the Niagara Falls from the outer view--like on the rocks, I encourage you to get in the water, and experience the heart of it.--that'll preach! LOL!) It was absolutely beautiful! Extremely wet, as expected but hands down SO beautiful. Seriously, nothing like it. 

     Secondly, we went on the Skywheel, which was gorgeous. The views were like nothing else and it was a nice balance to the entire experience, and we ended our tourism having dinner in the CN tower. LISTEN, don't go to Canada and not visit the CN tower. I'm sure it's gorgeous during the day, but at night... smh...hands down phenomenal. Super cute thing about the resturaunt? Your table moves in slow motion so that you're seeing the view from all angles! AMAAAAZING! In between specific destinations, I did a lot of site-seeing, tried one restaurant outside of CN that I think is only in Canada called, "Chopped" (it's a steak house. Another place worth visiting.) Other than that, went swimming. (IN MY 2 PIECE! LOL!) Which if you read the last blog, WAS NOT A GAME! Honey I was strutting all around that pool! LOL! You couldn't tell me a thing.

     Anyhew, outside of the catching up and recapping. I just wanted to share something that I came across this week that encouraged me. I am pretty sure in the past few blogs I've mentioned how God has been dealing with me about "authenticity." I can't fully write a post about it, YET because I'm still walking through it, but I did find something that I want to encourage you all with that blessed me tremendously. 

Authentic- genuine.

     God is calling me to a deeper level of relationship with him, and an even deeper level of being able to be authentic with him about E V E R Y T H I N G. If I am seriously honest the one thing I have learned at 25, is that church folk, know how to do church extremely well. *Don't throw your stones, please.* It's true. If you do something long enough, you master it. It's easy to get in routine of "going to church", "talking about God...because it's the "right thing to do", encouraging others, waking up at set time to pray, read your word, tithe, give etc.

     It's easy to make the mistake of doing things out of religion versus being relational/spiritual with God. While I don't feel like I've fallen into a routine in my entire walk, I have found myself extremely uncomfortable about discovering a new place in my life, where I can't fit God in a box. Which presents an "ouch" moment because I didn't realize, until entering this space/season of discomfort how routined some parts of my walk and my relationship with Christ had become. It's kind of like exploring new parts of Christ, and having to strip things off of me that I didn't pay much attention to or thought mattered. Kind of like being naked and someone saying, "take your socks off too.." It's like, eh. I didn't really think the socks mattered, especially since the "main parts" are out...and Christ is like, nah... completely naked!  

Below is a snippet about deepening your relationship with Christ.

"Deepen your relationship with God. The emphasis is on "relationship" because if you don't learn  what relationship is, what will happen is, if you do get married you have expectations out of marriage that are not realistic and some of it comes from not knowing what relationship really is. So you don't have healthy relationships with other people...because you haven't had a relationship with God, and in order to have a relationship with God...the relationship has to be based on honesty. This means coming to a point in your walk with God where you become comfortable with talking openly about who you are, to reveal who  you are, to finally recognize that God knows who you are even if he doesn't condone what you do. To separate  a difference between what you have done and who you are. To the point that you don't allow what you have done to define who you are. Relationship skills are critical for people. Because a lot of people get married without the benefit of understanding what relationships really are. They are expecting a performance based relationship.  You see, your relationship with God solely based  performance. [Saying things like] "God loves me be because I pay my tithes, because I don't smoke, because I am not doing XYZ etc. However, There are no "becauses" with the love of God. The bible says God commended his love towards us, and while we were yet sinners he died for us. 

     Deepening, means allowing Gods in all the rooms of your life. See, your life as a house. A big house, and I want you to see all the things in your life as different rooms in the house, and when company comes to the house you let them in the living room, and if they get to know you better, they can come into the kitchen. But there are some rooms in all of our houses we dont want ppl to go. As you see your life as rooms, I want you to identify rooms that you don't let God in. Because as long as you treat God as company you will never have a loving long term relationship with Him. As long as you are taught that everything has to be perfected before he can go through the rooms, you will always lock him out of areas that only he can clean.  And you'll treat him like company and you'll wonder why you don't have a  prolonged relationship." -TD Jakes

Reread it if you must, let it sit and simmer. Authenticity. 
What's your relationship with Christ like? Is it a performanced based relationship? Do you think God's love for you is contingent upon other things? Are there rooms you haven't let God in? 

Why? Where did you learn that?

XOXOXxoxoXOXO, 

Alicia Elizabeth