SOULMATES...............?

I, like most women my age grew up fantasizing about the concept of a "soulmate" or the concept of finding "the one." Between Cinderella, Pretty Woman and similar themed movies, I dont think we are to blame. But I am now a little older and I recently got a completely new perspective on this topic. For me, more specifically, I am a former subscriber to this notion that in all of the world, there is ONE GUY whom I will one day meet, and everything will just make sense, he will LOVE AND ADORE everything about me, even the weird and slightly creepy stuff. He would be my....soulmate. And of course rises the question, where is he? Because if the ONE was living in a small uncivilized people group in southern Australia, I might be doomed to search forever. And here is a few reasons why this idea is so prevalent: 1. It makes us feel warm and fuzzy. 2. It leaves us exactly the way we are. No reason to ever improve myself because my "soulmate" will find me PERFECT the way I am. 3. It gives us an easy cop out/escape route for when things get hard. This is one of the reasons why people accept divorce, because who is going to argue with a reason like "turns out she/he wasn't my soulmate" The problem is....... this is misleading. At least in my opinion. When two people meet and decide to get married, and they are both seeking God and Holiness together, being soulmates... is not a requirement, even being romantically in love with the butterflies in their tummy is not a requirement. The requirement is that they Love God and are committed to Him, and they love one another, which is easy because if they are both Christians they are required to love all people anyway. I also havent seen anything in the bible that supports this idea. (Even though I am young and very single)I believe that marriage is a unique miracle where you have 2 different people with different ideas and experiences, uniting and becoming one, and raising a family together. I think it is incredible, therefore incredibly difficult, and the very idea of having a soulmate to me, takes away from that, making people believe that if its the right person you won't have to work hard at ANYTHING AT ALL. #LIES In the interest of keeping it short and sweet, thats all I will say on the topic. I am Ayo and I no longer believe in a soulmates. Feel free to comment on this article...do you agree...... disagree...why?

OUR EXPECTATIONS vs Gods Will

John 5:6-7 (ESV) 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” Notice something in this verse. Jesus asks the man "DO you want to be healed" He responded to a question, but not the one asked. He had been sitting in this place for 38years and his mind was locked into a belief that the only way he would obtain healing was IF AND ONLY IF he could get someone to get him into the water. His time at the pool had made him tunnel vision. And HOW different are we. I recall a time when I was struggling to raise the funds for my study abroad, and I was expecting that I'd get a rich benefactor or a random scholarship to pay for the trip. I was blessed with the funds through the contribution of friends and family and NOT how I expected it would come. I also remember stressing about how I would live without steady income for 5months in a foreign city my last semester of undergrad, and instead of me getting a surprise check in the mail, or my unpaid internship turning PAID, He provided me with opportunities that saved me money, so I even had enough left over at the end of the internship to take a flight to Missouri. ALL these to say, HIS WAYS are NOT our ways, so be VERY CAREFUL that you are not STUCK expecting a blessing, or an answer to a prayer to come from ONE specific means, you JUST never KNOW. Sincerely, Onlyayo

BACK FROM A BLOGGING.......DRYSPELL I guess RAN.......(maybe wrong word) COMPLETED A 5K (3.1 miles)on January 15th, 2012. And am I proud of myself??? WELL OF COURSE! To God be the Glory though, because I am pretty sure I am anti-athletic. I have probably worked out less than 20day in my entire life, BUT, I was able to sign up for and participate in this event with some training. AND I lost some weight while training. Its been 5days since my race now, and I have not had an adequate work out. DEFINITELY need to get that together before I get too used to no physical exertion.

Worrying is Temporary Atheism #fb

Worrying is Temporary Atheism #fb

Dont ever FORGET what He did for you

I get as frustrated with people as the next person, and sometimes more than the next person. One of my dear friends once told me, "You canNOT hold people to the same standards that you hold yourself" and as I nodded, I thought to myself, WHY NOT? I used to have the opinion that if people were choosing to be in your life, then they should JUST DO WHAT YOU WANT!

Clearly, as God often shows me, I am WRONG, again!
Its definitely been taking some getting used to, this whole growing up thing. Being able to admit that I am wrong and that some of the things I just "KNEW" to be true a few months ago are in fact, false, unbiblical and pretty selfish.

The Main POint of this post though, is about FORGIVENESS! I was at Singles bible study a few weeks ago and a young couple was speaking about a few things and the husband mentioned something that definitely stuck with me. He said Marriage is about Love and Commitment and all that, YES, but it is also grounded very strongly on forgiveness. For those who dont believe, thing about how frustrating ANY kind of relationship is with a person who somehow remembers EVERY wrong thing you ever did. It is like they want you to be perfect (which you arent)and PUNISH you for ever instance when you are not. His argument was built around the fact that we WILL mess up in our relationships, and we will be offended by other people, but the Heart to forgive is SO important to heal from those hurts.

A famous quote say to Err is Human, but to Forgive is Divine.

DIVINE, huh? Like from Above...Like from Heaven. Which is my real point. John 3:16 which we all love to quote reminds us of God's Love which is so great that he gave his son that we may have life. The reason that Love is SO MIND blowing is that we do NOT deserve it. I mean, its like if you go to work and earn a wage, getting that text message that you got paid is not MINDblowing, its EXPECTED. But if you called in sick everyday for a month and you got paid, OR you quit a job and they still kept paying you, You'd be confused and EXCITED.

The reason we do not deserve God's love is that we are UNWORTHY, filthy and sinful creatures and we do NOT deserve the MAGNIFICIENT Love of a PERFECT, JUST God! We just DON'T! We cannot! Our "righteousness" like a filthy rag! BUT though our SINS, MY SINS, my lust, my lies, my pride, my envy, my malice....may be as scarlet they shall be white as snow Isaiah 1:18. No wonder we are referred to as Saints in the New Testament.

Anyway, when we harbor Unforgiveness in our heart about the wrongs that people have done us, REMEMBER your wrongs are MUCH GREATER and much worse. And HE forgave YOU!
So be joyful and show mercy unto others, its not really about them!

One little anecdote before I end this post:
A few years ago, a friend really hurt my feelings once, at the time I even referred to it as breaking my heart (now, I think I was probably a bit dramatic). I held on to it for awhile! And it took me TOO long to forgive and then furthermore to forget. Anyway, on a random weekend, the Lord put it on my heart to let this go, and stop holding on to the pain cuz it was really hurting me. And I made the decision to let it go and be DONE! And less than a week later, I get the most RANDOM text from this guy asking for my forgiveness for his actions years ago! I mean, WHAT WERE the chances, and I responded that I appreciate the apology, but forgiveness had already happened. So the message there is FORGIVE people, EVEN if they haven't asked for it.

Letter from God Part2

I apologize for not posting the rest of this up sooner.


I am able to do more for you and rejoice over you. I am so happy about how my Son has redeemed your life that I sing songs of love over you(Zephaniah 3:17). Listen to the song I am singing and you will know how much I love you.

I am not unaware of the battle against you, a battle between light and darkness. Let me fight your battle. Let me keep you sade, but you must keep close to me. I have won the bathe for your life with My Son, so you should never allow regrets of your past to be tools in Satan’s hands to defeat you, as I have already conquered them. You have grown to be a splendid woman of excellence and I will not cease in victory until I have purified and perfected you because I will not let you settle for less than Me. (Philippians 1:6)


You cannot do it alone (John 15:5); I never created you to be able to. Realize today that restoration is your portion from Me. I restore your soul; your heart, your emotions, your puriy, and every other part of your life (Psalms 23:3)
Let me restore you today. Let me elevate your body of death and let me transform your mind. Let me love you. I love you now. I love you then, I love you forever. Come to me

Sincerely,
God, The All Sufficient One.

Random blog about missing people

You ever get that text from someone, a girl or guy friend saying "Miss me?" Well, I don't know about the rest of the 9billion people hanging around earth, but that is always so weird to me. It takes a LOT for me to actually MISS someone. Maybe its because I have a number of long distance friendships and I am used to not seeing people.

I mean, when I lived with my college roommate during the school year, and we'd go home for breaks, or when I moved to Austin for my internship, YEA I missed her, and I would hit her up and be like, DUDE, I MISS YOU IN MY LIFE. But other than that, If I dont see you OFTEN and you say you miss me, I'll just smile politely and say, aww, thats sweet! #FairWarning

OH AND I GRADUATED

SHSU CLASS OF 2011 WITH a B.A. In Criminal Justice!

WOOT WOOT!

PRETTY Exciting! Here are some PICS

Reflections of a Legislative Intern.

In the last few weeks of my internship, I had to write a 12 paged paper as part of my assignment to receive 9 credit hours from my university. I mean, it only makes sense that after working 50-60hr weeks since January, that I be able to come up with a measly 12 pages to chronicle the journey. I can say without a doubt, that I am a better person for this internship.Don't get me wrong, there were difficult moments when I delayed purchasing a new toothpaste for as long as humanly possible because my funds were just that low. THere were moments where I just felt like I was gonna break or explode if I didn't say the things that were on my mind, and moments where I just felt *lost*. But through it all, there was a force stronger than I could ever be, pushing me to do more than I want to, and be be more than I'd like to be. Thank you Lord. Couldn't have made it without you.

In my essay writing and reflections, I came to the conclusion that I truly did have an amazing experience. I was exposed to so much, and unlike some people, I took a lot of those opportunities to meet people, have conversations and make friends.

Some of the things I've Learned:
1. Take care of your responsibility and then help someone else out (Kinda like in the airplane safety)
2. Treat everyone very well. You never know who is who, and even more so, you never know who's gonna remember and mention a good treatment.
3. Its okay to talk about a problem, but when you talk about it with no real solution, and do it over and over and over again, it just frustrates you.
4. Say YEs, often. You'll have fun, make memories, but do NOT compromise who you are.
5. Plan your outfit the night before, It JUST makes the morning a lot easier!
6. Always have gum, you never know when you (or even more importantly, Someone ELSE) will need it.

LOL! I cant think of anything else at this exact moment that would make sense to a non Lege person.

GOT FLOWERS AT WORK!

I got flowers from a friend, and another staffer down the hallway for graduating! SO PRETTY!!!