Love is a Verb that Requires Action.....

Wow....it's been a while since I've blogged. I suck! LOL! I'm smiling as I write this blog. I'm listening to Kirk Franklin sing about his love for his Savior. If you haven't read Kirk's testimony, you totally should. It's amazing! I'm on this journey...a 20 day Journey of Thanks. I'm not allowed to complain (as much) during these next 20 days. Even when school becomes overwhelming, I have to stop and think that there are many peeps out there that would love the opportunity to even go to school! Ya know??

Please forgive me while I preach, but there is so much on my mind lately. Buckle your seatbelts cuz it's gonna be a bumpy, blunt ride!!

I'm divorced. And while that was one of my hardest journeys up to this point in my life, I would get re-married in a heartbeat. I loved being married. I loved belonging to someone and having someone belong to me. Where there ups and downs?? Oh man! There would be days I would look at my husband and think...."How did I get sooo lucky?!" But then that VERY night, watch him while he would be sleeping and think..."Could I really do 5-10 for murder?" But as dawn came and I woke up next to him, I would think..."Thank you God for giving me my husband" even though hours earlier I wanted to send him to Jesus! This right here folks, is what REAL marriage and love is. Love is a verb. It's an action. You have to actively give and recieve love, and not passively wait for love to somehow magically happen! Peopel who think that love or relationships don't take hard work have been so mentally and emotionally messed up by Disney and Hollywood!! I'm amazed how people can naively go into any kind of relationship, whether it be with your family, friends, neighbors, your job or with a lover and think that you aren't gonna have high highs and low lows! In this day and age, divorce rates are so high, but despite that I still believe in the union of a marriage. Am I naive? Maybe....but I'm a realist too. I will never go into a relationship not understanding that it will require me to give my entire all to the other person. Being divorced casts a whole new light on relationships. I've been to scared to give myself completely to another person, because there was a point in my life where I prayed for God to take me to Heaven with Him because I was in so much emotional pain. I couldn't imagine living my life without Matt. But guess what? I am! I'm happy! I'm free from the emotional pain I was in just 3 years ago. Do I miss him? Sometimes I think I miss the aspect of being with him, versus the actual desire to be with him. Make sense? I miss coming home to someone, not necessarily Matthew. I'm letting go of what/who I was in that marriage and look forward to the day I take vows again. Will it be in a year? 2? 3? 10? I don't have a clue, but I'm excited for my journey of how I will get there. I was joking with my friend Kizzle a few days ago and said I wanted to have a letter from above describing my life out for me. Do I really want that? On my lazy days! On the days when the work seems just to hard and I'm doubting whether or not it's really worth it. But on days like today, when I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and put some elbow grease into it, I'm excited for that journey.

Look...life isn't easy. It isn't fair. Shit happens. Even to God's children. But we always have a better hope for tomorrow. Always! I firmly believe something good always comes from something bad. It's the bad things in life that give us character. If we didn't have valleys, how can we learn to appreciate the mountain tops? Does it mean that just because I'm Rae that I get to coast thru life? Mangos!!! That's the naivest thinking one can have! I'm casting all my fears on Him...I'm letting God have them. The fear of being hurt. Gone. The fear of being alone. Gone. The fear of never being loved again. Gone. The hurt of being abused. Gone. The fear of the enemy. Gone. The fear of never finishing school. Gone. Every mistake. Gone. Depression. Gone. All my scars...all my pain. It's in the past and it's yesterday. Does this mean that I will never think on any of these fears again? NO! It simply means that when they come, I will give them back up to God and say, Please Papa...you handle this! Those fears will come and go all the time, because they will constantly be used against me to hinder me from seeing or reaching my TRUE potential. If I have the fear of being hurt, I will miss out on the opportunity of marriage because I will not open myself up to someone. I won't give that person the opportunity to love me like I deserve and want to be loved. That fear has already caused me to fail. I'm learning how to trust Papa fully. Now listen closely: I am still going to sin. There will be days when I want to close myself off and remind myself of all the mistakes I've done in my life. BUT...I am making a conscience that once I think of them, I will make myself stop and remind myself that's in my past. I'm sure there will be days I will have to re-read this post just as a nut-checker. On the days that I find myself sad over a break-up, I have to make a conscience decision to think STOP! Think of tomorrow! If we keep looking back, we will miss what's right in front of us! No more missing out for me. No more living in regret. No more thinking "What if", or "if only". No more the grass is greener on the other side, because what happens when you jump the fence, leave your own yard, and find out that nice, lucious, inviting grass is really....ASTRO-TURF!! Oops!

Now...let's talk about the elusive "One". I'll be as polite as possible: IT DOESN'T FUKIN EXIST!!!!! Hello people! Everytime I hear someone say that I just wanna shake them until I can hear their brain rattle! Our parents, Disney, Hollywood...they all lied to us. There is not a "One". I remember when I asked my mom this she laughed and said "oh Rachel." She told me that because I'm such a personable person, there would be many "Ones" for me. I would just have to figure out which one I am best suited with. Who was the person who I could enjoy the "mundane" moments of life with? Who could I just sit on the couch with and be happy that I'm watching TV? Who could I go on a walk with and be happy in that moment? Who is the person who makes me strive to be a better person? Who is the person that I help be a better person? THIS is the "one" for me. Does that mean we aren't gonna fight? Um...NO! Does this mean that we aren't gonna have to work for the relationship to work? No! Does it mean that on the rough days I won't think: What the HELL was I THINKING in being with this person?! No! Everyone has those thoughts and if you say you don't your lying out your ass. That's right. Ama call you out. This simply means you're human. Everyone is tempted. It's what you do with those thoughts and temptations that count.

(Sigh) I'll get off my soap-box now. I just want everyone to take off their rose colored glasses and see life for what it is: A hard journey that's so worth taking.