This year September will make it 4 years since I made the best decision of my life. I wrote my article "a transformed life still being transformed", which was amazing. But, I’ve never talked about my extreme measures before.
When I first became a Christian, there were RADICAL changes in my life. I’m a telenovela lover, I stopped watching them. I stopped listening to ALL genres of songs except Christians. Let me explain this part. For example, if I go to a wedding and they are playing konpa, I would still dance. I just wouldn't listen to it on purpose. I also would not reply to any man besides my dad and my brother who would text me past my bedtime. I stopped drinking like I wouldn’t even have champagne for celebratory purposes. Listennnnnnm I had a lot of rules those are just a few. Some friends thought some of them were too extreme, but they worked for me. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I remained strong.
Now fast forward to 4 years later, I became a little bit more lenient over the years. Not only did I become lenient, but I also started to play with fire. I started saying things like, it’s just a song. Songs are not just songs. You may not realize it now, but what you listen to or watch has a lot of influence on your thoughts and behavior. All of this made me think about a rule my former pastor had: he would not meet with any woman that was not his wife, daughter, or mother alone even if it was for ministry purposes. I always thought it was an admirable thing, but now I realized that it is more than that.
I quickly learned that no one is exempt from getting burned when playing with FIRE! It’s simple, you play with fire you get burned. It‘s so easy for us to think that we are strong enough. The truth is, WE ARE NOT. At least I’m not. The amount of rules you have or don't have is not what makes you a good or bad Christian. Everyone is different and what works for me may not work for you. But what I do know is that no one is exempt from sin, so set BOUNDARIES. Even if others think you are too extreme, it's fine! The same way when you stay in prayer and worship, you are saturated with God's presence and you can hear every whisper from the Holy Spirit, it is the same way that when you consume everything else that becomes the voice you hear and the thing you desire.
This was meant to be a caption; it started to get too long, so I was like why not published an article 🤷🏾♀️. Anyways, that is ALL!
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Xoxo,
DD
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