I love Madea. I absolutely love her. I saw it last night with Christal and Tammy. Ah, I just love Tyler Perry movies! He's a genius! Watching that movie makes me want to go to a black church right now. I love his movies because they always shine the biggest light on Christ, and yet Madea's there being blunt and not putting up with no one bein' a fool. :D (lol, I'm so white, even when I try to talk black it turns country. :P) One of the biggest lights shown in this movie was in not being a victim through your circumstances and in forgiveness, for yourself, not just for the other person. I believe that is huge and the only way to let yourself be free. (this paragraph barely has anything to do with the rest, but it's whatever. :))
Let me say this, I am not ashamed about my testimony. I am not ashamed that I haven't dated and I'm not ashamed that I haven't been through the things that some people have been through. I get constantly that I don't understand where people are coming because of that, but my confidence isn't found in what other people tell me. Maybe I can't sympathize with the next person about what they are going through, but I have learned through watching and observing and reading. Just because I haven't been through it doesn't mean I can't give advice - I can give the advice that is from the third party, the observer, the learner. Just because I haven't been through a break-up doesn't mean I haven't ever wanted to throw something at a guy and hit him (lol), because I have. bahaha, it cracks me up. There is a lot of "just because...doesn't mean's" but regardless - I am not going to feel ashamed because of my testimony, I won't give Satan that foothold.
No matter what you believe about the dating thing, I believe it is so crucial to know who you are in Christ. You won't be able to be whole for anyone else until you are whole in Christ. The image of who God is can't change day by day: some days you know He's Your rock, and other days you doubt He's there. Your confidence has to be found in Him, not in the next guy or girl or accomplishments or in who people see you as. Probably one of my favorite quotes is from Madea, "People have to learn how to be aloonee. I don't understan' all these people, 'Lord, I need somebody. Lord, where muh man.' That is crazy as hail. If you don't know how to be by yoself wutchu gonna do wit somebody else? Stop prayin' bout it - Shut up and WAIT. Go work on you. Hail, that's what thaa' time is fo', to get yoself togetha." Ahaha, such truth - and that's coming from a guy, so you know it holds truth and isn't just what the 'girls' think. And it's not just in the dating thing. You won't be able to be whole in who you are for other people until you are whole in Christ. I'm still struggling with this. I'm still struggling to feel confident in who I am in an everyday setting. I want everyone that may read this to know that, because this isn't about me. I just feel so completely that the reason why we, as Christians, have such horrible divorce rates, and why we as Christians aren't confident in who we are is because we don't take time to be reshaped by Him, and be found in Him before we jump into things.
How is a boy going to be what you need when he isn't a man yet? How is he going to be your prince charming if he still needs to be discipled into who he is in Christ? How is he going to be your leader if he doesn't know where he is going and he doesn't know how to admit to his faults? I believe you can't be a leader until you know where you are going and you express your faults freely, without holding them in. People don't want to see fake Christians, they want to see those that are being shaped and being crafted, and who aren't all perfect. I believe it's so crucial for a guy to know who he is supposed to be in the relationship and to know where He stands when the world caves, because it's going to cave.
How is a girl going to be confident that her guy isn't going to leave her if she doesn't have confidence in herself? How is he going to deal with her insecurities if she isn't already secure for the most part? How is she going to trust when she doesn't know how to trust her Father? How is she going to know who NOT to fall for if she doesn't know what she deserves? How is she going to face the trials of life when she doesn't know how to get out of the dirt? How is she going to believe him when he says, "You're beautiful." if she doesn't believe it already?
How are they both going to build each other up and encourage each other when they both have unresolved baggage? How are they going to continue running the race, together, when they have to keep stopping to fix each other's problems? How is it going to be made perfect in an unperfect world when they both keep trying to write it for themselves?
I don't know much, but I'm becoming more and more confident in this. It's been constantly reshaped through the years, and probably will be reshaped some more. But, in all of this, I will stand in Christ. I'll be disappointed and I'll be delighted. I'll feel misused and I'll feel honored. But at the end of the day, it's all for Christ. I'll be found in Him through it all.
2 comments:
People who haven't dated love this.
People who have know what it's like to get over bad times, and that "when it doesn't work out" that it's not a train wreck. At least, not forever. And you're always better for going through it.
It's not even that I disagree with you. It's just that I know experience is a gift. I can relate to a lot of people on a really deep level because of how I've lived. Giving advice requires so much responsibility that I really don't go crazy with it. Loving without advice, just grace, works out better than advice, most of the time.
Yeah, I hope you didn't think I was attacking people who date, because I wasn't. But through observing I've learned key principles that I think are just plain needed in a relationship (of course, I know experience is the best teacher) - no matter when you have it. To be confident in who you are in Christ and to make sure that both of you are where God wants you to be before the relationship, the roles & knowing where God wants you to go on your own. I know people who are on that track right now who are our age, just like I know people on the other side, myself included.
Another thing that I meant through this is that I can't feel bad about my testomony - because everything, every which way I look, makes me feel bad about it, unintentionally, but they do. I believe patience and waiting is as much a gift as experience. God uses both of those in our testomony's to other people. I can show how it is possible to wait, just as much as you can show them what you've learned through each - Holy Spirit led of course, you just don't barge in on people.
This whole post probably came out wrong due to the fact of where people know I was coming from - but without knowing that, I just meant to write it after talking with some older people and from what I've been observing and understanding in my own life. Who knows, who knows, but I respect you for that comment because I know where you are coming from and we talked about all this mess before. I hope you know where I was coming from.
Post a Comment