Author: italiana@writeme.com

I am listening to the song, can’t help falling in love with you by Haley Reinhart at this moment in time.

“Some things are meant to be…oh I can’t help falling in love with you.”

Love is amazing. Love is inspiring and profound. I’ve come to understand that love always finds you when you least expect it, when your not looking. Love is what makes this world go round and how transforming it is when you find a love who is more than you could have ever dreamt of or imagined!

If your in a season of waiting, lonely or even trying to heal from life’s heartaches, I encourage you to pray to God and ask for the love your heart longs for. Trust that God knows what you need and who you need more than you ever could.

It’s always in hindsight that many things in life are clearer…I recall praying for my future spouse the last three and half years. This season of waiting was a time where my heart had never been surer. I knew with certainty that I would not settle for a mediocre love, I would not settle for another who didn’t cherish my values or hold my beliefs. I would not settle just to have a person by my side. Instead my heart has only hoped and prayed with trust in God’s will.

As my heart struggled to perfectly articulate to God all that I hoped he would be…everything from the traits of his personality that I hoped he had and the values I longed for him to share with me such as God is first then family then everything else. The many, many prayers, Novenas and longings I would tell God about. I would ask God to please let him speak my love language, all those moments in time when in my prayers I would come to a loss for words before our creator I would just succumb and say to God , ” You know my heart, you created me, you know what I need and all I could want in a future spouse more than I ever could….you know me better than I know myself…please let my future spouse be all that you know I need him to be.”

I realized that if we just give God our hearts even when we have no words he knows what we need and who we need, he has chosen and created the perfect person for you.

Remember, we must always trust in his will for our lives. What have you prayed for? I encourage you to pray and wait with hope in God’s goodness. For he has great things and great love in store for you!

Have you ever been so scarred and devastated by this life that you have Felt one to many times, Long agonizing moments of mental, emotional and psychological anguish? This type of purgatory overwhelms your mind with thoughts of despair, it’s a bitter pain to endure, one that makes battling for hope long and arduous.

There are times in many peoples lives that they struggle to overcome fears and wounds by others in this life. Yet to have true healing and ultimately find a lasting peace and joy, fear must be faced with fortitude. Fear must be faced head on with trust in God’s will.

In this life it is inevitable and necessary for each one of us to face our fears. It is not until we can do so that we are truly free. For you see fear can limit the depths of our love and hold us back. Fear can cause a guarding of the heart or anticipation of losing the gifts God has placed in our lives. This is not what God wants for us.

Fear is a liar and only the truth can set each of us free. When we can trust enough to face all our fears we are truly free. Free to love and be loved unconditionally. What fears are you holding onto? How can you face fear and conquer it in your life? I pray you have the courage to pray and trust God to lead you to true healing and freedom and never fear.

Another year has almost gone by. As the Thanksgiving Holiday has only a few hours remaining in the day, I ponder. I reflect on all that I am thankful for. There are so many blessings, so many moments to be thankful for and many beautiful friendships made this year.

What are you thankful for? What blessings has God given you this year?

Always remember to thank God for all his gifts, answered prayers and for the rare and special people he places in your life.

I know I am thankful for God’s merciful love and protection, for the mother he gave me that has been my best friend. I am thankful for the love he has given me and for knowing exactly what my heart wants and needs.

I thank God for my future and for all his blessings both seen and unseen, both known and unknown.

My prayer for you is to cherish the gifts, time and special people God has given in your life.

Providence-it shouldn’t have had to be this way to happen but God in his wisdom, omnipotence uses all that happens in our lives to orchestrate his plan for our lives.

It has been awhile since I last wrote…The original reason I started blogging was to allow my thoughts to flow freely as writing has always been my strength in communicating, even more so than speaking. Over the last three and a half years I have adapted and experienced so many life transitions. I recall the need to just write, as a form of therapy and to allow my heart to heal.

In hindsight it was pain and confusion that gave me cause to write. As I wrote about the concepts, ideals and longings of my heart… I was truly writing for the dreams of my heart…. For a love that is unconditional, a love so real that it is beyond my comprehension, a love that I believed didn’t truly exist. Despite my pain in doubting such a LOVE could ever exist, God guided my path. God, is so amazing. He knows my heart, He knows your heart. He heard my prayers.

God answers prayers in his perfect timing. God in his providence knew my heart needed time to heal, to prepare me for the amazing gifts and blessings that I now have in my life. He has blessed me with a love beyond my wildest dreams.

All I know is I thank God for loving me and blessing me with my hearts desires. Despite the trials and struggles in life which is inevitable for all our lives. Know he has great things planned for you. So keep praying, hoping and dreaming. Keep trusting in God and know he is the only one who can provide and bring to fruition the desires of your heart. What are the dreams of your heart?

Wow. This is such a good question: What drives your life?

Below are seventeen lines from Chapter 3 of Rick Warren’s, The Purpose Driven Life that jumped out at me, I hope you find meaning and insight in them too.

1. “Everyone’s life is driven by something.”
2. “What is the driving force in your life?”
3. “God specializes in giving people a fresh start.”
4. “Well-formed love banishes fear.”
5. “Self-worth and net worth are not the same.
6. “Real security can only be found in that which can never be taken from you—your relationship with God.”
7. “There are  other forces that can drive your life but all lead to the same dead end: unused potential, unnecessary stress, and an unfulfilled life.”
8. “Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life.”
9. “Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason.”
10. “Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.”
11. “Hope is essential to your life as air and water.”
12. “Hope comes from having a purpose.”
13. “Knowing your purpose focuses your life.”
14. “Henry David Thoreau observed that people live lives of “quiet desperation“, but today a better description is aimless distraction.”
15. “There is nothing quite as potent as a focused life, one lived on purpose.”
16. “Purpose always produces passion.”
17. “It is usually meaningless work, not overwork, that wears us down, saps our strength, and robs our joy.”

Do you know your purpose? What would your family and friends say is the driving force in your life? 

It’s amazing to ponder how God had planned your life and the moment in time you would live long before you were born. Even before time. I have always been taken back when contemplating how God is above time, time is subject to him as he created it.

The cliche saying, “Everything happens for a Reason”, is true with God and the events in our lives. He allows all the circumstances of our lives to shape who we are. He created us for Love, to love and be loved.   In Rick Warren’s book the Purpose Driven Life he writes, “Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.” “God’s motive for creating you was his love.”

Today’s chapter shares a poem by Russell Kelfer that sum’s up God’s love, purpose and intention in creating you:

“You are who you are for a reason. You’re part of an intricate plan. You’re a precious and perfect unique design, Called God’s special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason. Our God made no mistake. He knit you together within the womb, You’re just what he wanted to make.

The parents you had were the ones he chose, And no matter how you may feel, They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind, And they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy. And God wept that it hurt you so;

But it was allowed to shape your heart

So that into his likeness you’d grow.

You are who you are for a reason, You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod. You are who you are, beloved, Because there is a God!”

Have you ever struggled with where you are at in life? Wondering what your purpose is? This has been my greatest longing this last year. As my life changes, seasons pass and friends fade away, I am left with this question: “What is the purpose of Life?”,  I ponder on all the transition I have been through over the last three years and my heart weary at times, wonders, what’s next? It is easy for the days to pass in a blur and to be drained by the volume of responsibilities in contrast to the sheer pace of time.  This fleeting life calls to mind the bible verse, James 4:14. Our lives are really short and before you know it we are no longer here.

Our purpose is known by our creator. We must seek a personal relationship with God to find our purpose in him.  Your purpose in life, is not about YOU. A life of service and self sacrifice is a purpose that can impact others in a profound way. Jesus’s life is a great example of this.

In my journey, as I seek my purpose, I have found I gravitate toward solitude.  I have embraced the reality of being content alone. I have often felt a great peace and joy in being alone because I know God is always with me.

However, today I read words that countered my perspective on being alone. I received a gift in the mail from my mother, Madolyn. It was an unexpected surprise but God’s timing is always perfect. The gift a book, and the title: The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren. As I opened the package I  Immediately poured into the words  and absorbed chapter one. I read some points that contradicted my “I can do it alone” attitude. The following are scripture and lines that struck me:

“Two are better off than one, because together they can work more efficiently. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up….Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9 (TEV)

“A journey is always better when its shared.”

“Real spiritual growth is never an isolated, individualistic pursuit. Maturity is produced through relationships and community.”

All I know is God is faithful and we were made by God for God. I  invite you to join me on this journey of discovering God’s purpose for your life, for my life…Today is day one of a 40 day journey. The Point to Ponder is: “It’s not about me”.

The Verse to Remember : “Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” Colossians 1:16b (Msg)

How can you really live for God and not yourself in today’s environment of social media, advertising and culture of relativism?