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“Changing lives one heart at a time” |
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May 2006 Volume 1, Issue 2 |
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In This Issue · From the Heart · And God Said... · Let's Talk About Love · How To...Here’s How... · What is Your Heart Telling You? · Editor's Notes Meditation Scriptures Daily Prayer is Key Psalms 91:14 Because he haste his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him. Prayer Requests · DeMylian Byrd—Arlington, Texas · Adrian Torres—Saginaw, TX · The Institution of Marriage · Dionne Lennard · John D. Smith · LaSalle Long Contact Us We pray that this letter of love has touches your heart, mind
and spirit. Under the divine unction
of the Holy Spirit, we trust that He has moved in such a way that will prompt
you to contact us. We welcome your
comments, suggestions, and or love offerings. Please let us know if you would like to see something added, or
just share a testimony. Correspondence may be sent to: The Loveletter c/o Laconia Dunn P O Box Grand Prairie, TX 75054 TheLoveLetter@sbcglobal.net Advertisements INSPIRED CONCEPTS INC. exists to provide professional guidance and
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From the Heart
Thank
you! Thank you! Thank you! Thanks to all of you for supporting our efforts in
the Loveletter. We have received rave reviews! And we owe all the
accolades to you, both individually and collectively. I
pray that the Loveletter found its way to your front door and into
your life with the passion, love, and genuity in which it was created. I hope
that you found the contents pleasing to the eyes, warm to heart and stirring
to the spirit. For truly, God has begun a great work that shall continue as
the stages of our lives continue to take form. We
prepared this second edition specifically with you in mind. It is our
prayer that you will take the information that is contained herein,
and apply it to your own life, then share it with others. For that is
what the Gospel is all about, sharing the Good News! And, we appreciate
your feedback. So, if there is anything that you’d like to see added,
changed, or enhanced, let us know. Also if you want to share
your own experiences, and have us print them, please do. You may mail
the information to our mailing address, or contact us via email, whichever
works best for you. Please
know that without your support, our success wouldn’t be success at all.
In the illustrious words of our editor, “we believe in God, we trust
in you”. Until
the next time, Laconia Dunn-Editor in Chief And God Said...
I
am a young daughter of God. I have been married for almost 5 years. I must
admit, I don’t know how to do the “married thing”. And, I don’t think my
husband does either. Neither of us have been married before. It’s a lot
harder than I thought. The dating was divine, the engagement was exciting,
and the wedding was wonderful. Now, what do I do? It’s not the same. It seems
as though we can’t talk, we have money issues, and he wants sex all the time!
I look around and am discouraged, because all I see is divorce. I see divorce
in my family, with my friends, and even in the church. I don’t want that. But
more than that, I don’t believe God wants it. I want my marriage to last
forever. I love my husband and I truly love God. What do I do? How do I make
it last forever? Signed,
Wanna
be married forever!
I
applaud your strong desire. Be encouraged, marriage is not as hard as we make
it, but it does require a great deal of work. It requires commitment and
diligence from both parties. The old saying that “anything worth having is
worth working for”, certainly has some truth to it! In
the day and time that we live in, oftentimes, we take marriage for granted.
Many of us get prepared for the wedding, without being prepared for the
marriage. Only to find out that once we are “there”, it’s a lot more detailed
than we could ever have imagined. The
fact that you are sincere and honestly want to be married forever, is a
signal that God is at work. It also signifies that you have a high level of
commitment. Communication,
money, and sex are 3 of the biggest issues that are vital to your
relationship as you pursue eternal matrimony. It is important that you
understand them, for they make up the very fabric of success in your
marriage. First,
understand that communication is key. Open your ears and listen to his
language; not yours, his. In other words, stop talking and start listening!
It will help too, if you realize that a lot of times his language is
non-verbal. Watch how he apologizes, or makes advances for intimacy. Respect
that and respond to it accordingly. This is the starting point for
better communication. Next, learn to respect your money. That means, monitor
your spending habits, don’t be offended when the subject is brought up, and
don’t keep secrets when it comes to spending. Finally, it’s crucial that you
understand that sex is HUGE for men! It is #1 on their agendas. Start by
giving him sex whenever he asks for it without complaining. This will open a
door of trust between the two of you that hasn’t been opened before, and it
will give him a deeper level of satisfaction and appreciation for your desire
to please him. All
of this will aid in making your marriage last forever. Notice too, that these
are instructions for “you” to do something. Why? Because change starts from
within. A major catalyst to change in others is the change they witness in
you. Yes, your change will bring about change in him. Mahatma Ghandi said it
best, “You must BE the change you wish to see”. Do these things and
watch the heavens open up as you walk slowly into eternal bliss! Let's Talk About Love
Why do you do what
you do? What moves you? What do you think about when you are doing it? There
is an old saying that, "love will make you do crazy things". If you
think about it long enough, I’m certain you will agree that you’ve done some
crazy things all in the name of love.
I
wonder if Christ may have thought the same thing? Is that the reason He said,
“Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39)?
I’m not sure, but, the bible says, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us” (Romans 5:8). Think about that. While we were doing our own thing;
clubbing, lying, cheating, stealing, fornicating, committing adultery, God
still loved us. He showed that love when He sent His only son to die for you
and me. My God, what a sacrifice! How many of you have really thought about
that? What do you make of that kind of love? Would you do it? Can you imagine
giving up your child to save the life of someone you know is living foul? At
first thought, your answer is “no”. Hmh, at second thought, your answer is
still no. You’re asking yourself, “why in the world would I even consider
giving up my child’s life for the life of someone who is a liar, cheater,
thief, etc”? Are you crazy? You start to think about how much you love your
child, and how important they are to you. Not only that, you begin to think
about their age, and the fact that they have their own life to lead. You may
even think about their accomplishments, and how much they have to contribute
to the world. You reason, “oh no, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, I can’t, I won’t,
no way, especially not for them”! Never mention the fact that you could be
one of “them”. But that’s another issue. Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not
telling you to give up your child. So, don’t be looking sideways. I’m simply
asking: how much are you willing to give up? Why do you do what you do? What I’m simply suggesting is that the Holy Spirit be the moving force behind why you do what you do. He certainly wants to be! The love that you have for him, and the desire to please Him should prompt you to make decisions. It should be because you love Him, that you love others. It should be because you are committed to Him that you can commit to other people, places, or things, not the opposite. Any time that it is the opposite, we get burn out, love dissipates, commitment is of no regard, stress rises, the desire to stop or quit is very strong. When we commit to the church without being committed to Christ, we get tired of going. When we continually give ourselves to people, and God hasn’t been our reason for giving, eventually we stop. The bible says that the Holy Spirit is our guide (John 16:13). This means He should guide us into doing what we do. When we are guided by Him, it affirms that He is on our minds. Our reasons and motives are illuminated, and God honors them. That ’s why He said, “blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). Because anybody that does something with a pure heart, is seeing the very essence of our beautiful Savior. How To...
QUESTIONS
Here's How...ANSWERS
What is Your Heart Telling You?
Is obedience really worth sacrifice, or is disobedience better? When it comes to obeying God’s commands, which do you choose? In a situation where a young man fathers a child outside of his marriage, I would tend to think obedience prevails. Everything was just fine as long as the relationship was being hidden in the dark; you thought you could even keep the baby a secret, until the mother threatened to go public after you explained to her that you never had intentions of leaving your family . Now that the baby is here, the situation has proven to be more stressful with the mother refusing to let you see the child out of bitterness and anger because you did not choose a life with her and the baby. Because you are a God-fearing man (yes, you can still be God fearing and still make mistakes of this magnitude) and have decided to do things God’s way in an effort to bring some sanity to the situation, familiarity of scripture, “obedience is better than sacrifice” comes to mind. To be obedient is to do the Lord’s will in every situation; however, there are times when we think we are being obedient but are actually sacrificing God’s will for our lives by doing something else. Example: God speaks to you and tells you to bless someone with $200. You give $50 instead and call it a sacrifice because the person was a stranger. They were not expecting anything so they were none the wiser of what God told you to do. Now the remaining $150 becomes your (so called) blessing for what you thought was sacrificing, when God would have tripled the $200 making it $600 had you been obedient. In the case of fathering the child outside of marriage, the entire situation was tempting because the other woman was willing to do things for you that your wife would not do. You saw your wife as a restriction to your desires and ultimately sought pleasure outside the sanctity of your marriage. The bible says, “the marriage bed is undefiled”(Heb.13:4), however, when you take your desires outside of your marriage, every act imaginable is defiled and unholy. So, you choose the sacrificial way out of a seemingly bad situation instead of being obedient to your wedding vows and asking the Lord to change your wife’s sexual habits or desires. You are being obedient now; however, in turning away from the situation and turning back to God, you are being forced (in the flesh) to give up (sacrifice) a life with your daughter. It seems unfair that you should have to abandon her to have a relationship with God but is it not worth the end result: the ultimate repair of your marriage and relationship with your first daughter that has been placed on hold because of all the attention you have to give to this messy situation you caused. If you had been obedient in the beginning, God could have blessed you with another child within the realm of your own marriage and saved you the humiliation of being labeled a dead-beat dad for not being a part of your illegitimate daughter’s life. Now, it seems as though the only solution is to trust God to humble your baby’s mama so you can be a father to your child. Tough trade, wouldn’t you say? One really doesn’t compare to the other in the grand scheme of things. One thing is sure though, God will travail and have His way. Lesson to learn: the grass isn’t always greener on one side of the fence than the other. The reality is, it is greener where it is watered. What is your heart telling you? Obedience or sacrifice? Editor's Notes
How familiar are you with reading a map? Do you recognize the directions on it? Can you identify streets well enough to navigate around and make it to your destination? Sometimes a map can be hard to read. It can be misinterpreted, misunderstood, and, can help you get lost instead of help you find your way. However, the more you read, study the map, and familiarize yourself with it’s design, the less likely you are to get lost. Being lost produces feelings of fear, anxiety, hopelessness, and isolation. You don’t know what to expect because you are in unfamiliar with unchartered territory that renders you vulnerable to the unknown environment. Your bible is a lot like a road map. Its purpose is to navigate you through unfamiliar areas on your way to your true destination: Heaven. Reading it can be complicated, frustrating due to lack of understanding, and you can get lost in the translations. However, the more you read and study your biblical road map, the more familiar you become with its precepts and guidelines. You soon begin to understand its meanings and what roads the Lord will have you to travel to get to where He predestined you to be. Understanding your road map helps you to know where you have traveled from, how to progress past where you are now, and point you into the direction of the future that was meant for you. Understanding your road map also keeps you focused and prevents you from having distractions, i.e., some books, movies, or people. These can be controversial issues that stunt the growth of new converts, babes in Christ, and sometimes even the more mature Christians. Stopping off to view, read, or even talk to any of these can bog down the truth and may even alter your course, sometimes permanently. This is why understanding your road map is very important. It assists in explaining things you don’t understand and prevents you from ending up lost. I challenge you, get to know your road map. Understand where it can lead and/or take you. Treat it like American Express: Never leave home without it! For if you do, you could find it hard to return! Believing in
you, trusting in Him |
Dear
“Wanna be married forever”, 
Think
back. How many times have you called the one you love over and over again
when they didn’t answer the phone the first time? Did you ride by their house
or the office, to see if they were there, maybe ignoring your call, or
hanging out with someone else? Have you ever been asked to play a game or
have tea with one of your children and you really didn’t want to? What about
having to relocate to another city or take care of an aging parent; or,
having to move that parent into the home or city where you reside? Now, that
you think about it, do you agree that “love will make you do crazy things”? 