Contentment and Comparison: A message from God

I find it so amazing each time I hear God speaking to me so clearly when I ask to hear from Him. This is why it's so important after prayer, to free your mind of distracting thoughts and to really just sit in silence after you pray. Prayer is communication between you and God. When we're finished we're not supposed to get up and leave, but be still and wait to see if there is anything that He wants to say in return.

About a month an a half ago I was rushing off to a meeting and feeling bummed because I didn't have time to pray and have my quiet time prior to leaving the house in the evening. I knew the meeting would end late and I knew I'm not very receptive to hearing God when I'm tired (because I clearly would want to sleep). As I was driving the Lord placed a thought in my spirit "why don't we talk now?". That actually made perfect sense. Why not? I was in the car by myself, I could turn the music off and be in complete silence in the car and I was a 25 minute drive away from my destination so we'd have all that time together. It wasn't my ideal quiet space but it would work.  I started to talk to Him about a lot of things on my mind and I wanted to share what He told me since I think this can apply to anyone who reads this

You are not called to be like other Christians. You are are called to me like Me, Christ. Others talent may not be your talent. Others strengths may not be your strength, but at the same time their weaknesses are not your weakness. You are all a part of one body. Just because you are a different part of the body doesn't make you less than anyone else nor does it make you better than anyone else. The head cannot function without the foot, the hand cannot fully function without the fingers. You are important. You are uniquely made. You are a designer original. I created no one else like you. How awesome is that? Be yourself and embrace it!

A highway is made of many lanes, stay in yours. Stop comparing your life and success, or lack there of, with others. Everyone has a lane. I desire some people to be in the fast lane and some in the slow lane. I desire some people to get off at exit 5 and others to get off at exit 25, that's okay. Your blessing is for you and you alone. No one in the world can keep you from your blessing except yourself.  

It's okay if you're not married yet and it's okay if you don't have children yet. Stop allowing people to make you feel like you should not be content because you don't have those things yet. My child, be happy and content with who, what and where you are. You are exactly where I want you you to be.

Whew! A few things about this:

1) There were some parts of God's response to me that I didn't even verbally talk to Him about in that prayer but He responded anyway because He knew what was in my heart and what I struggle with. How amazing is it that? He gives you answers to things you don't even verbally ask for at time. So cool.

2) This happened in the beginning of December. The first paragraph in which He referenced one body many parts was actually going to be the theme of my church for 2014. Our theme this year in Symphony: many instruments, one orchestra -- many parts, one body. It's custom for my church to keep the theme a secret until watch night service (12/31) so I had no clue. Even thought they announced it at watch night I personally didn't know until I returned to the U.S. on 1/12/14. Talk about confirmation!

3) I learned that I can pray anywhere. This is something that I already knew but it was just a friendly reminder for me. Of course it would be a ideal for me to be in my house where I have my designated quiet space but it's important to not get caught up in the mechanics of everything. I have a relationship with Christ and if it turns out I can't be in my quiet space, a car or wherever I am is perfectly fine. As long as I talk to Him.

4) I also learned that God can talk to you anywhere at any time. Again, this is something that I already knew but was a great reminder. He relayed the first half of this message to me while I was still driving. When I got to my meeting, I parked, pull out my notebook and quickly wrote down what He said so that I wouldn't forget then went into my meeting to get trained. In the middle of the training as I was learning about leadership, I heard God say "I'm not finished yet". I was...surprised to say the least and thought this was the funniest thing ever. I actually giggled to myself. Here I was in this meeting and God shows up with complete disregard of what I'm learning and begins to speak again. I mean... He can do that though, haha. Needless to say I didn't hear the rest of the training because I was busy writing down the rest of what God wanted me to hear.

This message was definitely right on time for me. If any of you are struggling with experiencing true contentment in Christ and find yourself comparing your life to others...I hope this blesses you.

Until next time,

Tasha

Declutter

One of my New Years Resolution this year was to declutter. I have this tendency to say yes to everything or want to get involved in everything because I don't want to feel left out of get left behind. The problem occurs when getting involved in everything causes you to have responsibilities that occupy your every night of the week after work, on Saturdays and even after church on Sundays (my chosen day of rest, relaxation or fun).

I have been doing this to myself for years. I lost out on time to spend with my mom. During the warmer seasons we would come home from church, nap, wake up refreshed, eat dinner then go for a nice walk at Jamaica Pond and just talk. This was a great time for my mom and I to catch up and debrief about our week and talk about plans for the next week.  Weekends were also my chance to plan for the week, what needed to be done, prep food for the week, gym sessions for the week, iron for the week. This allowed my days to run smoothly and even allowed room for unexpected situations.

When I lost my weekends I lost the ability to plan so my eating became awful most of the time, always running to grab something from a fast food place. I had to take time every morning to figure out what I was wearing and iron which in turn caused me to run later. I was exhausted waking up every morning because I was consumed doing things after work every night so I rarely made time for quite time. I would pray say a quick prayer in the shower and I would read my Bible en route to work (I mean it's great that I still read it but it would have been ideal for me to be able to read and meditate on the Word to get more out of it). I felt out of touch with my mom and I missed her even though we live in the same house because I was always on the run.

I don't know if my life as it was sounds like what yours is like on a daily basis but I encourage you to join me in doing some decluttering. What is it that God wants you to do in life an on a day to day basis? A lot of us, like me, end up getting involved in things that might be great but God didn't tell you to do that. Did you ask Him? I want everything I do to glorify His name and draw me closer to Him, not farther way because I'm to tired to pray or read His Word because I'm doing all these other things.

Here are a few pointers:

1) Prayerfully do an inventory of everything that you are currently doing or involved in and evaluate if it's something you really need to be doing or something God really wants you to do. If it's not or if it's just a space filler kindly remove yourself and free up some time.

       **Note: sometimes there are things that we are supposed to be doing that we aren't because we

           don't have the time as a direct result of us already doing something that is taking up our time

           that we don't need to be doing. Whew! That was a mouthful In those cases get rid of the

           unnecessary task and add the necessary task. This may not free up your time but it allows

          your time to be better spent   

 
 2) Organize. Once you have a good handle on the different tasks in life do a quick triage (I clearly watch too much Grey's Anatomy) of what's most important and and what steps need to be done in order to get those tasks done. I like to call these "action items" Sometimes we spend too much time on tasks that are not as important as others and the more important tasks don't get done as a result.

3) Schedule. I love schedules! This may sound boring or stupid but you'd be surprised how much you can get done by just creating a schedule for yourself and sticking to it! When we don't schedule we move along our days and weeks as if we have all the time in the world and time tends to slip away from us to the point where we start to race to do what needs to be done. You can either create schedule's for yourself on a daily basis or a weekly basis. I prefer weekly schedules as they give me more wiggle room. I schedule things such as quite time and "me" time and I even leave room for unexpected situations. This allows me to stay on task and have extremely productive days and weeks.

Now the point here is to DECLUTTER, not ELIMINATE everything. There are things that God is calling you to do or want to use you in certain ways.  Don't go quitting your job now (unless God tells you which is an entirely different blog), or start to sit round doing nothing.

I'm excited for this journey that I am about to start. I've already let go of something that took a lot of hours of my week ( I blogged about the decision process in my blog from last week "Stepping Out in Faith") and I'm already working on removing some non necessary things.

Have fun decluttering!

                                                            Hanging with a friend in New York

xo
Tasha

Stepping Out in Faith

For  the past 2 months I have been praying intentionally to God about a decision that I had to make. I was partaking in a part time gig that could eventually give me the opportunity to have things like financial freedom, owning my own time, retiring when I want to at any age etc. I had been embarking in this journey for about 3 years though but to be honest I was really only putting in the effort for a little bit over one year. I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated and unhappy with my lack of results. There were certain things that I wanted to see happen that weren't happening seemingly no matter what I did. I wanted God to tell me what to do.

So I prayed and prayed and prayed. I waited, I looked for signs from God but it seemed like He wasn't saying anything to me. What did that mean? Does God's silence mean that I should figure it out for myself? Did it mean "I'm not saying anything because I want you to continue pushing?", or did it mean "Go ahead and get out!"? I was frustrated on top of already being frustrated.

I went to home (Jamaica) for three weeks to see family and have some R&R. Back home things are more silent for the most part and seemingly more "simple" than the U.S. In this simplicity I realized I smiled in a way  that I haven't smiled in a long time, there was a joy in my heart that I could not explain. I enjoyed having to throw things on the outside line to dry instead of putting it in a dryer. Having to heat food on the stove because we don't have a microwave. Going to the market to buy fruit and food, only having access to two channels because we don't have cable, going outside on my favorite stairs to sit and stare at the island for hours.

 Partial view of my backyard.

I enjoyed family, sitting around the dinner table and telling stories, lounging in the living room chairs telling each other jokes, just enjoying one another. Everything that brought such joy to my life didn't include anything "fancy" at all. Just time to be with them. That's when it came to me. I've been searching so long for answers when what I really needed to do is bring it back to the basics. What do I really want at the basic level? I know what I want in the future, I know what my future dreams and aspirations are, but what is the basic thing that I want out of life? I want to be HAPPY.

Hanging with my cousins

Doesn't sound like much and I didn't know how important it was to me but it is...at the most basic level. When I thought of where I was, what I was doing, my life on a day to day basis, I wasn't truly happy, I was miserable. Every single day I had to do something or go somewhere I would dread it so much. That's no way for anyone to live. I remember as a teen trying to think about what I wanted to be when I grew,  the only thing I knew is that I didn't want to do anything where I would be unhappy. And there I was...unhappy. I know sometimes we have to put ourselves in less that comfortable situations to make dreams come true and to be successful in some areas but I don't think (as it pertains to my life) that, that automatically means that you have to be unhappy while in that "uncomfortable" stage in life. Life is too short to be unhappy. My best friend died shortly after she turned 23. I'm sure she thought she had her entire life ahead of her and it was tragically cut short. I could be gone tomorrow, life is not guaranteed. I want to make sure that I live everyday of my life being happy.

After realizing this I decided to let go of my part time gig. I'm not sure if God actually spoke through this experience or not but I definitely had an "aha" moment while I was home. Maybe this was his way of speaking to me, I don't know. What I do know is that not every opportunity (no matter what it promises) is for everyone, and that's okay. If it is for you, run and pursue it with all you have. I would only hope my former team members so do that. However, don't speak negatively about those it's not for. It doesn't speak to their ability to dream, work ethic or successful future, they might be successful in other areas that are a better fit for them. If it's not for you, cool, but don't speak negatively of those that it is for. Let them be an support them! Too often we tear people that are trying to go somewhere down.

This was not for me, I'm okay with accepting that. A little nervous because I still have goals and dreams and I won't get to them with only one revenue of income but I also feel peaceful because my God is a God of breaking down the impossible. I'll make it some other way and this time I'll be happy!

Do what makes you happy and make sure you are on board with God's plan for your life. He is the only one that determines your success or failure.

Cheers to stepping out in faith!

Strolling in NYC

XO Tasha

Goodbye 2013, hello 2014

It’s currently 10:30pm on December 31^st 2013. I decided to write this blog now in anticipation of posting for the new year. I am incredibly blessed and happy right now because I’m in my home country, Jamaica. I got to come here for 3 weeks (I’m currently on my 2^nd week) to be with family for Christmas and New Years. I wanted to keep up with the traditions I seem to have created for myself for the past 2 years and review what I my goals for 2013 and make goals for 2014.

2013 goals:

1. I want to read the entire Bible again. This time 4 times by the end of 2013.

Can you believe I did it? I’m one determined cookie. I signed up for the Youversion Bible plan  “Read the Bible in 90 days” and started it over each time it ended. I read the Bible in different versions each time 1) King James Version 2) New International Version 3) English Standard Version and 4) Message Version. For someone as busy as myself I would not recommend doing this. It’s committing to 1 hour of straight Bible reading because of the short period of time you have to get the entire Bible in. It was really hard and stressful for me, but as I said, I’m a determine cookie. I’m excited! I've now read the entire Bible for a total of 5 times in 5 different version (2012 I read the entire Bible in 1 year).

2. Eat better overall and incorporate a steady work out routine into my life.
Honestly, this is a constant struggle for me. I have a few weeks when I do really good and then I have periods where I just fall off so hard. For the most part I did pretty well this year. My car accident threw me off my schedule since October but I plan on getting right back in the gym when I return to the States. The trick really is to prepare ahead of time. I was always so busy all the time that I never had time to prepare. That will be one of my new resolutions.

3. Finish my masters degree

Aaah I remember this time last year I was so excited with the thought of finishing. This is also an accomplished goal. I officially finished classes in June of this year and my degree conferral was in September this year. Thank God! #TeamMastersDegree

4. Continue to seek God for my purpose in life

I would mark this as ongoing. It takes daily devotion and constant communication with God and it never really stops. I believe that He is leading me to where I need to be.

Goals for 2014

1) Declutter: I tend to want to jump in and get involved in everything and end up overwhelming myself and being busy all the time. I don’t like that. It gives me very little down time, I have little time for myself and my family, I’m always tired and never seem to have time to stop and smell the roses. Life is too short to not smell the roses. I need to figure out what I want in life and how that lines up with what God wants for me and get rid of some things so that I can have more time to just…be

2)Read the entire Bible again: Haha it will never end. Seeing that the 4 times a year plan was so intense I think I’ll do 2 times this year. I’ll enroll in the 180 day reading plan this time around. One version will be in the Amplified version and I think I might revisit the Message version again

3) Finish Bible X: I talked about this Bible reading plan in a previous blog “So You Wanna Study the

Bible”. I think I got half way through then stopped being consistent. I want to finish that this year and I have 

plenty of time to do so

4) Get better with finances: I create budget after budget and never stick to it, I never know where my 

money goes and I always seem to be…broke. I want to officially get out of that habit in 2014. I want to

purchase a house someday, be able to pay off student loans and be able to put emergency money away for a

rainy day. The goal is to create a budget, stick to it and start getting rid of these debts.

5) Workout and eat healthy: As I declutter I will have more time to plan and I should be able to stick to a 

healthier regimen and workout routine. This year is my year. The goal is not to be skinny but to be healthy.

I'm so blessed to be able to see another year. I think sometimes we don't stop to realize just how blessed we

are. There are those that never lived to see this year or loved ones that never lived to see this year. I'm

looking forward to 2014. I know there may be struggles, drama, obstacles but there will also be happiness, 

excitement and breakthroughs bigger than I can ever imagine. 

Thank you for following me throughout 2013 and I hope you continue to follow me as I journey through

2014.

xo

Tasha

The Promised Land

Last night I was having my quiet time time with Christ doing a little Bible study and started reading a few chapters in Joshua.

[PAUSE]

**Here's the context of where we are in the Bible now: the Israelites have finally reached the point where they can enter the promised land after a 40 year journey and are about to inherit everything that God told them that He had for them**

[RESUME]

In these chapters, there were accounts of all these nations that the Israelites were going to war with because they already inhabited the lands that the Israelites were supposed to claim. In each war, no matter how big or small the enemy's army was, the Israelites defeated them because God was for them and had already given them the victory. At that moment, I heard God speak a lesson to me that I would like to share with you. 

God has given us all a promised land. Yours may be different from mines but nevertheless, it's a promised land. It's something that God has in store for you, whether it's a spouse, a brand new house, a business or even a ministry of your own. He already has it for you, it's yours. However, just like the Israelites, even though you have inherited it, you still have to go get it. It also doesn't mean that you're not going to have to go through some tests, trials and battles to get it. You'll have to fight for it. The good thing though, is that God is with you and it's already yours! You've already won! I don't know what test and trials you may be going through right now. You may feel like you're constantly being attacked, if it's not one thing it's another, it seems like it will never end. I'm here to tell you to stand up, stand tall, adjust your posture to that of a winner because you...will...win. 

I also felt God teaching me through that lesson that sometimes the battles that you face have nothing to do with you, but with others. All these nations that the Israelites were fighting did not know God or worship God prior to the Israelites. However, as the Israelites continued to defeat everyone that they came up against, knowledge of God began to spread. They now knew of Him because of how He was fighting for His people. Sometimes you're going through things not for you but because God's glory needs to be shined through you so that others can see how good He is, how He delivers,  and how He blesses. It also gives you a testimony and strengthens your faith muscles. Whatever you do, keep holding on to God, this is only a season. 

Tye Tribbet posted a tweetgram the other day that said "Your posture in this season will determine your placement in the next", which I think reigns so true. Most games are won in the last quarter. We're in the last quarter of 2013, the year's not over yet. Keep fasting, keep praying, keep pushing, keep believing, keep grinding. You're so close to the finish line....DON'T GIVE UP! Creation is waiting for YOU.

xo 

Tasha

Battle of the Exes

If you've been following my blogs a lot or even if you know me personally, you'll learn very quickly that I'm a thinker. I guess that's what causes me to be able to write so many blogs..I think a lot and I like to put my thoughts into words on paper.

So what has been on my mind lately? Friends and Exes. What if you found out your friend was dating your ex? How would you feel? Do you have a right to feel that way? Why am I even thinking about this? Who knows. Regardless I started to ask a bunch of men and women how they felt about their friends dating their exes. Was it okay? Did it matter? Is there an unwritten "code" that people are supposed to follow? Juicy!

Here's some commonalities that I found in the conversations that I had:

Women:

There is definitely a girl code. Dating a friend’s ex is not okay and not cool. That’s only leaving room for drama and anyone that would do that is not really your friend. There is some wiggle room in that though and it depends on the situation for some ladies. For some of them, if there isn’t any emotional attachment (i.e. they are over that guy completely), they would be okay with their friend dating the guy, however, the friend must ask them permission first. Also, even if there was no official relationship title (e.g. in college when people hook up or the whole friends with benefits thing), if a girl was intimate with a guy that still counts as an ex, just because girls tend to be more emotionally attached when sex is involved.

Men:

There is a guy code but may not be as strictly enforced as the girl code is. Theirs is much more situational. If the guy was just having sex with the girl then that “ex” is fair game with the friends. They don’t care. However if the guy was in a relationship with her and was known to love her, she’s off limits. If the guy has kids with her…off limits. Some guys will break this code (as I said in the beginning it’s not as strictly enforced), but guys tend to get over things quickly anyways.

After asking them this, I was curious as to whether or not this "code" had an expiration date. For example “what if you dated that ex 20 years ago?” or “what if you are now married to someone else?”. For ladies, the time stamp on the end of the relationship isn’t as black and white so it varies. However, they did say that if they were married to someone else then that code becomes null and void. Men were pretty much the same, but some men said they didn’t care, that ex is off limits forever.

My personal opinion kind of lays in the midst of all that was said above. If I am no longer emotionally attached to the ex, I'm fine with my friend dating them as long as they run it by me first. It's at least respectful to do that, I would hate to find out from somewhere else that my friend and ex were together. I think I'm at the stage in my life that I am not emotionally tied to all of my exes except for one. If my friend were to date that one exception, it would hurt me.

Then I got to playing devil's advocate and started thinking, do we really have a right to say who our friends can and can't date? I mean people aren't property. When I think about it on a deeper level, God has a specific plan for me regarding who I should and shouldn't date. I'm pretty sure He didn't tell me to date any of my exes, I went rogue and did what I wanted to do for years. So if one of my exes was the one that God intended for one of my friends, who am I to say "No. You can't date him because that would hurt me?", I wouldn't have has that soul tie to begin with had I not gone rogue. And who's fault is that? Mine. Whatever I feel as a result of my friend dating him is sort of my consequence for not obeying..right?

Needless to say, now...I don't know. I'm interested to see what other people's thoughts are if would like to share.

xo
Tasha

Given up on God or Church?

A couple weeks ago one of my sisters in Christ took a picture of a sticker she saw posted in someone's wind shield window

"Church Sucks.com

1 in 5 adults under the age of 30 say they were raised religious but are no longer affiliated with any faith"

My initial response to hearing this was that "they must feel some type of way" to want to put that on their wind shield. It made me sad but it's probably a statistic that is true. I know that I would be one of those people had I not heard God's call on my life, surrendered it all and followed Him. This further sparked a conversation about the reasons why people may leave the faith. It made me think about some of the reasons I hear people give about not wanting to be a Christian a not living the Christian life. I know that there are a lot but for the sake of time I am only listing a few.


To be honest, one of the things that bothers me the most about those who speak badly against Christianity is when they make their reasoning about other people. 

Christians are judgmental 

Be careful about generalizing. Are all Christians judgmental? No. Are some? Sure. Honestly, you have probably had moments when you were judgmental too. Take the speck out of your own eye before talking about the log in another's eye (Matthew 7:3). Am I saying that the Christians that are judgmental are right? Absolutely not! We (Christians) should know better than to judge, knowing that God saved us our ratchetness in life through GRACE. I honestly think there are two types of judgemental Christians 1)those who really do think they are holier than though (pray for them) and 2) those who actually don't mean to be judgemental but come off that way because they are either misunderstood or use the wrong words when trying to express themselves. Either way, judging another person for the purposes of putting someone down is wrong and hurtful (I blogged about a specific situation in which I was judged by another Christian here: Don't Judge Me). There are certain instances where we are correct in judging one another but that's for another blog.

Scandal/Hypocrisy in the church

 Remember that story that broke a couple years ago about Bishop Eddie Long being accused of child molestation of a number of teenage boys? Talk about scandal in the church. Here we have a Bishop preaching the Word of God every week, supposed to be walking upright with God and he's allegedly being the biggest hypocrite ever. I'm not here to debate whether or not he is guilty, at this point only he, the boys and God know the truth. I'm only using him as an example. Another reason by people don't want to join the church.

I once remember speaking to a friend about going to church. She told me that she had lost faith in the church because the Pastor, who she looked up to, ended up cheating on his wife with one of the church members and it ended up getting out to the whole congregation. To see someone that she admired so much do something so sinful disappointed her and made her think that a pursuit with God was not worth it after all. She and a host of other members ended up leaving the church. Another reason why people give up on the church.

I ended up asking my friend to examine the foundation that she built, because what I was hearing was that she putting her trust in that pastor and not in God. So when he (the pastor) fell, she fell. If her trust was in God, yes she would have been hurt and disappointed in what happened but she would have never stopped following God. 

Discussion

There is not one book, chapter or verse in the Bible that indicates that being a Christian has anything to do with following other people or other Christians. The goal of being a Christian is to follow, Christ and Christ alone. He is the only perfect one. He is the only one that will never let you down and will never sin. I understand and deeply sympathize with those that have been hurt in any way shape or form. Whether it's a judgmental person, gossipers, the body of Christ verbally attacking or ostracizing you, a scandal involving a pastor, being taken advantage of physically or emotionally etc. I get it, you're hurt and I'm sorry, so sorry.

I've made up my mind however, not let what others do dictate my relationship with Christ. I can't! It's the difference between heaven and hell. That's too important. On judgement day when God asks me why I didn't live the life He commanded me to live or obey Him, how do I look saying, "I didn't do what you told me to do because my pastor cheated on his wife and I was upset/hurt/felt betrayed?". Is that my God or is God my God? God didn't tell me to follow the pastor, He told me to follow Him!

Here are a few more bonus reasons:

Tithing

Some people have an issue with tithing. I say, do your research. Read your Bible, seek God's face and He will tell you what to do. Do I think you should give something? Yes. Am I going to tell you how much or what that something should be? No. That's between you and God. I'll leave that to Him to hash out with you. At the end of the day you are blessed, not only with finances (rich or poor) but with so many other things like family, friends and health. I personally think it's selfish to think that God should continually blessed you abundantly, overflowing without you never giving anything back to Him. 

Christian life asks for too much

God sent his ONLY Son to live the life of a human, come down from His throne to be whipped for hours until His skin tore, mocked, spit on, disrespected and CRUCIFIED. Then He blesses you with all of the things of the world (take the time to try and write down all of your blessings big and small). Your are given the keys to heaven and the only thing He asks for in return is for your heart and to live for Him. Do you really that that's too much? I don't think so. I think I got off easy.

  

Christian life is too hard

He never said it would be easy, but eternity with Him is worth it. This walk isn't for the weak hearted. I'm still learning to develop thick skin. His yolk is easy to bear and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). Give it your hardships to Him

Too many rules 

 Before Jesus came the faith was legalistic, lots of rules to follow. Just read Exodus-Deuteronomy and you'll be overwhelmed with all the laws. Thank God for Christ though who came to establish a relationship. When people tell me there are too many rules, it becomes clear to me that they don't understand what my walk with Christ is. He pursues a relationship with you. Are there certain things I should and should not do? Sure. I'm representing Christ and I want to give an accurate representation of who He is, but I don't look at it as a "rule" per se. Have you ever been in a relationship with someone before? Would you talk down to that person? Would you go out and cheat on them? Would you never call them? Would you never see them? Of course not! Are these technically "rules" that you should follow in a relationship. Yes, but you don't feel bound by them. Why? You WANT to do these things for the other person because you LOVE them. That's what a relationship with Christ is like. I don't do certain things because I love Him. As a result, I don't feel bound.  

To wrap things up, a lot of the reasons I hear are due to a negative experience that a person has had with the body of Christ. We are in no way excused and need to get it together. But at the same time that can't be your excuse. The relationship is between you and Christ alone. Following Christ is no easy task so make sure your foundation is like that of the man who built his house upon the rock. The rain came, storms came and the house was still there....strong. (Matthew 7:24-27)

xo Tasha