Made New (New Beginnings)

Doing life with THE LORD is a journey; sometimes, that journey feels like a roller-coaster ride. You go through things that you didn't see coming until HE lets you know. HE Loves you to life so much that you have no choice but to trust HIM, because you know HIM. You are broken down to be built on a firm foundation - CHRIST. The foundation is laid indestructible. Things and people have been removed; places have been changed. You have been made new and now the circumstances around you are new as well. The rebuilding has begun.

Love,

Raven Renee

Leave a Comment

Learning

Learning a new way of being is a full-time, never-ending job. It's a life-long journey. When you learn, whether you are self-taught or have a natural teacher, you have tests along the way to check what you have learned and to see if you will apply what you have learned. In life, there are some things you learn through wisdom and some through experience; all of our journeys have a different combination of this, which makes our testimonies different. The greatest and ultimate goal of learning in this life is love.

That is what we are learning- the who, what, when, where, why, and how. All of it leads us to JESUS because HE is. Three things will stand: faith, hope, and love, with the greatest of these being love, as relationship is most important and it's our purpose and design here and beyond.

1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

[13] Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Everything and everyone is influenced through relationships, which is why you have to know who your FATHER is, and you need to have a relationship with your LORD, SAVIOR, best friend, and love of your life and beyond (JESUS). Love is being built in us on our journeys of surrender. To have faith, hope, and love that stands, there has to be complete surrender. JESUS did the ultimate act of surrender when HE said...

Luke 22:42 NKJV

[42] saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”  

This ultimate act of complete perfect love was for relationship with us. So, in our process (life), it gets tough, we are tested, and we are learning. Never stop learning. Have an open and available heart to love. As we learn, THE LORD loves us to life. HE comforts, HE protects, HE heals, HE restores, HE makes new. HE is gracious and kind, and sweet. 

Don't be afraid of learning, you will get things wrong or miss the mark, but run on and seek THE LORD. Of course, this is not an excuse for sin, but it is permission to lean into your growth in the good and bad times and run to his transformative love instead of away.

What a process...but it's with purpose. In this life, you can't have one without the other. Lean in and hold on for the ride, it is well worth it and a privilege, indeed.

HOLY SPIRIT led.

Love,

Raven Renee

Leave a Comment

Don't Neglect The Call

Reminder and Instruction from THE LORD: Don't neglect your calling or assignment. 

Also, THE LORD used me driving to speak to me. HE showed me how I was driving and going under the speed limit, but it didn't feel/seem like it. For like the past week or so, HE had been highlighting that to me. It had become comfortable. HE let me know that you may be living beneath your full potential, annointing, and calling HE has given you and not even realize it. 

Don't get "comfortable" and don't settle. HE has privileged you with an assignment. Your life is not your own, and it is not just for you. Others are connected to you. HE has more for you. Don't look to the left or right. Just look up and move forward in HIM! Your convictions are your own, and HE has made you unique for a reason. The gifting(s) that HE has given you are to be used for HIS glory, not to be put under a basket and kept to yourself. If you are being stretched, just know that THE LORD will expand your capacity, and HE has and will continue to equip you for whatever HE has called you to.

What a time!

Love,

Raven Renee

Leave a Comment

Brown Sugar (Originally written in 2019)

My favorite movies are Black romance movies. My all-time favorite is Love and Basketball, after that it’s Love Jones. I wouldn’t consider myself a hopeless romantic, however, I just love, love. It just warms my soul and allows me to feel. It brings out this vulnerability inside of me, as the characters unleash their masked personas. They allow themselves to love and be loved. It has always been something that I have admired, especially as we struggle to show our true emotions. We tend to put on this hard posterior that can seem to be cold-hearted, while inside we all just want to be loved. It is something so beautiful about a genuine, happy, and healthy relationship, no matter if the couple is struggling or thriving (circumstantially).

Brown Sugar, the movie starring Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan is also on my list of favorites. There is a rawness that is so pure and clear in their friendship. It shows that while you may have a plan for your life, don’t allow fear (of failing) to stop you from obtaining GOD’S best for you.

The movie uses hip-hop as a metaphor for love. I think love makes you want to dance. Once you find a good beat or rhythm, things start to flow. But, never be afraid to change it up, as long as GOD is always the pulse. 

Love,

Raven Renee

Leave a Comment

Do Your Design.

Even the clouds do what they were created and designed to do. 

GOD created you and designed you intricately. We are all different; do your design. Whatever gift(s) HE has given you, use them. Your design has meaning. It showcases the solution you possess, and it takes into account everything in your life because GOD knows. Understand your strengths and allow GOD to make them stronger. Oftentimes, these need to be refined so that they can come through the lens of CHRIST. Understand your weaknesses and allow GOD to pour in what you need. Many times, this is where people come in because we are all pieces to the puzzle, especially those HE has called you to partner with. However, this doesn't negate your necessity to develop and allow GOD to turn weaknesses into strengths. This happens through process. 

Process reveals your design. It prunes, refines, and cultivates what needs to be developed, actualized, and/or uncovered. Allow GOD to process you, not the situation. Remember, GOD holds you accountable for what HE has given you to steward well and cultivate. 

‭Psalms 139:14 NKJV

[14] I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

Truly get to know yourself. Understand how GOD has made you so that you can fully show up (in your calling), uniquely you. You have to know GOD to truly know yourself; you have to truly know yourself to show up in the world and in relationship. Not knowing yourself makes it a lot harder to do relationship with others, which we were made to do.

In your process, remember that THE LORD is the source of everything good, and HE is the answer.

- HOLY SPIRIT led

Love,

Raven Renee

Leave a Comment

A Love Letter to THE LORD

THE LORD to whom my soul loves, I give back to you all that I can, knowing that I can't give much. My soul and spirit know that I need you and yearn to be with you forever. My spirit knows what it's like to be with you and whenever you speak, touch, and move...it knows it. Help my soul to always be in tune with you, to know you. THE LORD, The love of my life and beyond, I thank you for being YOU. Thank YOU for never letting me go and continuing to cure everything that is wrong and not like you. I don't know, but I know YOU, and YOU are matchless. OH GOD, my GOD. Thank YOU for loving me and giving me the opportunity to love you completely.

Every day is a great day to express your love to THE LORD. HE shows YOU HIS great LOVE every second. I encourage you all to write a love letter to THE LORD GOD because HE IS.

Love,

Raven Renee

Leave a Comment

Show me LOVE

The words to this song ring so much louder to me now than when HE first brought this song to me. GOD has made these words true. I had no clue, but GOD was working, planting seeds that needed to be watered. I thank GOD that HE shows me Love. HE is my knight in shining armor. HE is my first and forever LOVE because HE first loved me. Nothing would have ever been enough if HE wasn't. Nothing I could have found on my own could sustain, last, or produce the fruit that GOD has for me. I never wanted to settle, however, I was looking for what GOD had for me rather than allowing HIM to send it. I tried to have my hand in it because I didn't know how or when it would happen. I thank GOD for HIS sovereign gracious hand. HE wanted me all to HIMSELF longer than I anticipated. But, HE will always have me ALL to HIMSELF, because HE is my always. 

GOD is my first and forever LOVE. 

Now I truly know what and who Love is. Now I know what it feels like to have complete intimacy, to be seen, which is what I truly desire. Now I know what it is to be cared for, protected, and provided for. Now I know what it feels like to be completely dependent. Now I know what it's like to be completely vulnerable. Now I know what it's like to trust. Now I know what it feels like to build a "new" relationship from the ground up, being broken, repentant, and grateful for another opportunity with GOD. Now I know what it's like to know Love in words and action. I thank GOD that HE taught me how to truly love myself. I thank GOD that HE is love and that HE shows me Love. 

Nothing and no one could ever compare, and that's okay because they don't have to. 

GOD is my first and forever LOVE. 

HOLY SPIRIT led.

*** Background- this is coming from someone who wasn't focused on romantic relationships and only desired the relationship that GOD had for me. However, once HE gave me the desire, especially after HE gave me the promise, I searched when I just needed to be found.

The song that I referenced is "Show Me Love" by Eris Ford/Evan and Eris. Be blessed!

Love,

Raven Renee

Leave a Comment