So many times people come to me asking me for my greatest bit of ‘life’ advice.  It has changed and evolved over the years as I have matured and gained wisdom (more importantly, as I have developed my spiritual walk with Jesus).

With so much life experience under my belt, there have been many things that my former self would offer up. Things such as becoming an overcomer, succeeding in business, creating and building big walls (in not so many words) to prevent hurt. My advice was at the time ‘worldly’ in a sense and not any I would recommend today as a ‘Lady Who Loves Christ’. I am so thankful for the grace and mercy (and patience) of our Father.

As long as I can remember, The Lord placed in my heart that I would one day write and thankfully, I was not documenting my former (pre Jesus) advice, LOL. Today, I sit here fully humbled by the grace and goodness of Jesus. The TRUTH of Jesus and what He really did for us on that Cross at Calvary. This lesson was taught to me not in ‘withholding’ forgiveness from those that had hurt me deeply but rather, from being at the mercy of forgiveness from someone whom I love dearly and whom I hurt deeply. Interesting how that simple change in perspective and being on ‘the other side’ offers up a fresh look at things.

As I allowed The Lord to peel back the layers of my once aching heart, I began to learn things from a new view… a view that unless one fully experiences it, can be hard to understand at first. I began to realize that instead of trusting in ‘self’ which I had done my entire life up to that point, I could fully rely on, press in to and trust in Christ. I could lay down my weakness, my shortcomings, my failures, my hurts and pain, my wounds, my abuse, my FLESH to fully trust in Him. This was perhaps the scariest yet most freeing step of my entire life. To say “Jesus, I dedicate my entire being to you. ALL of it. Take it and do what you will.”

Relinquishing control doesn’t come naturally to us, either. We must be deliberate to seek His face in all circumstances, both good and bad. We tend to want to hold on to our stuff with a tight, firm grasp. We want to own it. Whether we mean to or not, we allow our circumstances and the hurtful events of our lives to define us rather than to use them as opportunities to shine the light on what Jesus can do. When we own our pain and sadness and do not allow The Lord to work through it, this is where the enemy can really work. Oh, sweet girl, what Jesus will do with a willing heart that just says ‘take this’ and do with it with you will.

Proverbs 3:5 reminds us to ‘Trust in The Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding’ … and how powerful this simple Scripture really is. Many of the deepest hurts, wounds and abuses of my life, I did not understand at the time. I could not make sense of the pain my heart suffered and why certain people whom I loved the most, hurt me the worst. I had no idea how The Lord would use it but sitting here today, I am moved to tears thinking of how He has been faithful. He has not only used the mess of my life, He has healed me from it. True healing and release, not a worldly cover up but a true deep healing and repair that only Jesus could do.

I have come to accept that I won’t always be able to ‘see’ what Jesus is doing  and that is ok. I do not have to see. I just have to trust Him. I have to lay down my self EACH SECOND of each day to the Creator of the Universe. I have to constantly lay down my own thoughts, flesh nature and desire to FIX things. This is the same for you sweet precious Lady. Our job is to seek Him. Seek His face. Press in. Grow. Read His Word. Meditate on His Word. Pray. Pray. Pray. Talk to Him daily and trust in Him, even when our eyes cannot see.

When you know the CHARACTER of the great ‘I AM’ it makes trusting Him so much easier and you can’t do this unless simply put, you lay down old ways and pick up the newness that is in Christ. Spend time getting to know Him and it will be the greatest time you ever invest, time that produces eternal treasures. Open The Word daily & make this your new ‘normal’. Set aside time to pray with Jesus and do not forget to listen.

What He will teach you will be wildly amazing beyond your greatest imagination. He loves to give wisdom and understanding…. be someone who listens to His voice intentionally and watch what The Lord will do with your pain and past experiences.

Blessings,

Ashley Poptodorova

Founder, Ladies Who Love Christ