Do you have a closet that no one is allowed to open? I wonder why not. Is it full of junk and you keep telling yourself you are going to use one day? Just like cleaning out the closet, at times we need to do a spiritual and emotional cleaning. In order for God to bring His blessings into our lives, we must decide to get free of some excessive baggage that we have held on to. Carrying to much emotional baggage is unhealthy and unwise.

After a relationship has ended, we tend to hold on to old feelings and material possessions. This are called “soul ties”. Soul ties must be broken. Holding on to past issues, feelings and even gifts will continue to connect you with that broken relationship.

I must tell you to remove the clutter. Gather all those emotions and personal belongings and get rid them. It’s not that easy, you say. Trust me I know. It is a process but you must move in that direction. Each day decide to rid yourself of something that you know is not beneficial to your emotional and spiritual well being. What you get rid of, God will replace.

Question for today: Is what I’m holding on to helping me grow and mature in Christ, if the answer is No, you know what to do.

Be blessed.

Paulette Harper as our I Can Begin Again columnist. She is also the author of That Was Then, This Is Now. To learn more about Paulette, please visit her official website www.bvministry.org.

Who would have ever thought it would come to this? Repositioned and moved from one comfort place to somewhere unfamiliar. If you thought like me, I didn’t factor in the ending of a twenty-three year marriage. But this is where I found myself four years ago. Having to make adjustments in my ministry, home and personal life was a bit much of an undertaking, yet this is exactly the place God had me.

Let me share with you some important lessons I’ve learned while moving forward:

1. Repositioning allows you to discover who you really are. As women we by nature, nurture those around us-family, friends, and ministry. But in the process of nurturing others we forget about ourselves. Everyone else is more important and we are the last ones to get our needs and desires met. We tend to lose our identity and things that once mattered to us take a back seat. When I was going through my divorce, I lost my individuality. I was so consumed with ministry, family and my job, I forgot about Paulette. God allowed me to be by myself. He actually isolated me for years. While going through years of restoration, I began to rediscover who I was. I spent plenty of time alone. For some of you, the word alone does not fit in your vocabulary. But let me be the first to tell you, being alone is wonderful. I spent time with ‘ME”. I began to enjoy Paulette. I did want I wanted to do without having anyone to answer to except God. I realized that God wanted me to be happy and satisfied with the person He had created. Even with my faults and issues, I could honestly say that I love who I am. Can you say that? Before entering into another relationship, do you!

2. Repositioning allows you to explore a whole new dimension in life. You have no idea what doors God will open for you. We are familiar with the saying when one door closes, God opens up another. Let me say AMEN! In the process of my marriage failing, God was allowing something to die, so I could live. I understand that it can be very difficult to believe that anything good could come from such a disaster, but I’m living proof that what is before you is greater than what you walked away from. I wake up every day in expectation. What about you? Are you filled with excitement about the next level or place that God is taking you? Your life is not over by any means. You must accept and embrace the new dimension that God is bringing your way. I sit in wonder by the people, places and things God has permitted to come into my life. Don’t let life pass you by. Get yourself up and move forward, there are some amazing wonders that God has just for you.

Please welcome Paulette Harper to FFS as our I Can Begin Again columnist. She is also the author of That Was Then, This Is Now. To learn more about Paulette, please visit her official website www.bvministry.org.

Paulette Harper

Bitterness: Not In My House



Ruth 1:20-22 (Amplified Bible)
And she said to them, Call me not Naomi pleasant; call me Mara bitter, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

If you have never read this story, here we have a woman whose life was drastically changed. First, she and her husband, Elimelech, and their two sons left Bethlehem because of a severe famine.

Looking for a better life, they journeyed to Moab. While in Moab, Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, dies, and ten years later, her two sons die, leaving her to care for her two daughters-in-law. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, but upon returning she has no husband or sons, instead a bitter heart.

Just as Naomi did not understand why God had chosen to take her through one of the most challenging experiences in life, I pondered as well. Just like a child growing up in life you have expectation and plans that usually don’t include bruises, flat tires, accidents and bumps in the road.

But I found that even when the unexpected things in life do occur, God has a plan and purpose to make something good out of the worse situations. Can you believe that?

At 42 years of age I found hope, encouragement and a renewed spirit while going through a divorce. Although my dilemma was not one in which I welcomed or embraced I had to accept that this part of my life God had known about before the foundation of the world.

He was taking me through one of the most unpleasant times in my life but I had to trust that the one in which I had given my life to, knew exactly what was best for me. There was something about my life that He was going to reveal and what I had faced and conquered was really going to alter my life forever. I had one choice to make either I was going to allow myself to be bitter with what He had allowed or I was going to let the situation develop and make me into a better person, I decided to use the situation as a catalyst to make my life better.

God was using my circumstances to bring me to a place of maturity, confidence and total dependency on Him. I learned not to look at my current condition although quite hard at times but I had to realize that some day God would show me why He had chosen me to carry this particular cross. There was a bigger picture that God had for my life, a picture that was revealed at the beginning of 2007. God wanted me to begin telling people what He had did for me during my ordeal and how He carried me through the rages of life.

So many times I wanted to give up, throw in the towel and quit but something inside me would not let me. Gods’ spirit was constantly bringing comfort to me, guiding me and assuring me that everything was going to work out for my good.

Romans 8:28 (Amplified Bible):
We are assured and know that God being a partner in their labor all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good to and for those who love God and are called according to His design and purpose.

Naomi’s plight:
God allowed her husband and both sons to die in order to get her and Ruth back to Bethlehem so Ruth and Boaz could meet. Ruth and Boaz had a son
named Obed, who was the father of Jesse, and Jesse, was the father of David the King, who was the father of Solomon.

After a lineage of forty–two generations, we get to Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who birthed Christ. God caused Naomi to lose everything she loved so that He could get her into position of receiving more than she could ever have gotten in Moab.

Naomi had no idea of the plan God had in store for her and Ruth. Sometimes when we are faced with hardships beyond measure it’s hard for us to even grasp or accept that things can get better. This is when you must exercise your faith. It is in this place where your faith will be tested, stretched and tired. God already knows you can handle everything that comes against you, but you need to know you are well equipped to handle everything as well.

Well as for me, writing has become one of my passions. Inspiring, encouraging and motivating others to rise above the muck and mire is what I have been called to do.

You have a choice to make, either you are going to allow the situation to overtake you and you become bitter or you say with a firm, bold stance “not in my house”! Bitterness cannot abide here!

I encourage you this day. Even when it appears that things don’t always go according to our plans, God plans are better. Choose to let the disappointments in life make you into a better person. Don’t allow your heart to become bitter with was has happened, embrace the changes, embrace the new things, embrace the season of new beginnings.

Paulette Harper is an emerging Christian Author making her debut with her first inspirational book “That Was Then, This Is Now, This Broken Vessel Restored”. You can learn more about her by visiting her official site http://www.bvministry.com/.