Welcome to another episode of #FeminineFridays! Today’s episode is something I am so passionate about. Kindness. Many people meet me and say, "Wow, you're just as kind as you are on social media." This always strikes me as weird because I believe that all Christians should be kind. A mean Christian is weird. In today's society, we've normalized toxicity and trauma so much, that anything above that, is deemed to be fake. I want to dive deep into that today and teach how it's okay to leave toxicity behind in order to move towards God's original design for us.  

1. {1:30} Being gifted doesn’t equate to having the fruit of the Spirit. In Galations 5, the fruit of the Spirit is characterized as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and faithfulness. When I encounter people, I want them to meet the love of Jesus and someone full of kindness. I believe that as a people we’ve been through so much trauma, that it’s caused us to go into survival mode. I’ve found that most women who are brash, have always expressed that they had to take care of themselves and fight to survive as children. Can I tell you something? We are not children anymore.

2. {3:16} It’s time to start taking responsibility for ourselves and choose different environments. Many years ago, when I first got married, my husband and I went to see some of my old family members. They were very abrasive and brash and I noticed that in that environment, I began to go in a shell and enter into a tough exterior.  I went into a survival mentality. If you’ve ever experienced this, understand this, you can decide which atmospheres you want to be. It doesn’t matter if its your family or close friends or if you are trying to be the “bigger person". You do not have to go.

3. {5:25} You are supposed to be different. There will and may already be those around you who say you are different or try to bring up your past to discourage you from growing into your next. If that is you right now, take that as a sign of your growth. Some people don’t understand the transformation taking place inside of you. I love being around people who want to get better. That's why I sign up for courses, and go to the gym -  the atmosphere is amazing. Will you be brave enough to flourish in your transformation or strive to prove to those unwilling to change that you haven’t?

Lastly, this morning, I spoke life into my three daughters and they began to cry and beam with joy. The reason why was because I was pointing them to Jesus and encouraging them. Sometimes you need someone in your life to build you up and that’s what my new community is about. It's about women coming together and supporting each other on their unique transformation journey.

It’s time for you to make a decision. Will you be brave enough to say you need women around you that will lift you up and help you on this journey? If you said yes, then I invite you to join over 100 here: http://www.femininewomancollective.com

Scriptures:

Galations 5:22-23