Isn't She Delicious!

I don't even think it's really possible to be "burned by the church" nor do I think we need to be so concerned with her Reputation. 

Why? When I start entertaining these thoughts, it points me back to one thing...I am really only concerned about MY reputation. My reputation points back to the prison of self, not to the ever-increasing freedom of Spirit.

With these thoughts in mind, I click and listen. :)

The Church is my celestial family. She is profoundly beautiful. The Church is the most glorious thing I have ever laid my eyes upon. If it were up to people to have transformed my inner-being, I would have never made it through the curtain to what awaited me there.

PS I also believe it's a possibility the wounding of a heart could very well be a call to stay put in the very place it was pierced. Why leave when you've been given a unique gift to place at others' feet? The key is to listen for your instruction.

Queenship

                                      The Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton

Ponderings:

If I want to be treated like a queen; I must first act like one. hmmm

If I am confident (key) in who God created me to be, as in this definition...

Queen:  a goddess or a thing personified as female and having supremacy* in a specified realm

Perhaps, then I will awaken honor in the king, who is most gracious and inexhaustible in his efforts, by treating me as this definition suggests...

Queen:  the most privileged piece of each color in a set of chessmen having the power to move in any direction across any number of unoccupied squares

*(not above or below men, but equal in importance in God's realm)

Tisk, tisk that I ever demanded it, without first placing something authentic in front of a man to honor.  It's not that men won't honor you best they can, but generally I wonder if they've just been distracted.  I wonder if they're busy staring down at their blood-stained hands watching this wildly, beautiful heart they've been handed and feeling the pressure of not knowing the first thing about what to do with it.  Do you blame them?  That's a God job!

Women, if you throw your heart at a man and expect him to know what to do with it, you have also given away your confidence.  I think we are doing better, but still confused as to what it looks like to walk with a man and remain whole.  There have been some strong messages sent to women along the lines of "offering your heart" is "unveiling your beauty."   But what we've heard is "give him your heart."  Instead, give him a glimpse of your heart's confidence in God and see what happens.

Politely take your heart back and apologize daintily for the mishap...then go to God and place it back under His authority.  No man can ever do with your heart what God can.  Oopsie daisy!!  Sorry guys.

Women on Men

Lady Friends,

I was busy writing an email, when I paused long enough to look up the word "berate" in the thesaurus to see if anything different would strike my fancy.  And BOY DID I FIND GOLD.  The entry is entirely interesting as it relates to interacting with men (see below).  

Berate is a verb.  An action word.  It affects.  Most of us have heard criticism poisons a man's motivation to lead.  Maybe this will help you unpack it further.

Get this visual in your head and ask God to help you hide it in your bruised and battered heart:  take a dagger and write the word "berate" on it and start stabbing.  That's what we do to men.  I know that fear causes us to hold on tight, but a woman's strength comes from her faith.  Her worth in God alone.  Her boldness, courage and confidence come from knowing who she was created to be.  Those qualities are priceless to a man.

If you want to build a man up, pray for him and note the antonym at the end of the entry (there's only one).

Thesaurus entry for:
berate
verb
she berates him so often, he barely hears the words anymore: scold, rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reprove, admonish, chide, criticize, upbraid, take to task, read someone the riot act, haul over the coals; castigate; informal tell off, give someone a talking-to, give someone what for, dress down, give someone a dressing-down, give someone a tongue-lashing, rap over the knuckles, bawl out, come down on, tear into, blast; ream out, chew out, zing, take to the woodshed; dated call down, rate; rare reprehend. ANTONYMS praise.


Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
For her worth is far above jewels.
A wife of noble character is her husband's crown,
but she who brings shame is like cancer in his bones.

~Proverbs