Designer's Genes---In His IMAGE

LONGSUFFERING

2010-05-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about how quickly we give up on those we love. We think that discomfort means that he or she is not the one or not worth our time. In family it is even worse sometimes. We think that if someone doesn't do things how or when we did them (as it relates to coming to Christ) then there is something wrong with them. PRIDE!! I identify with Paul's charge to Timothy (2 Tim 4). Preaching the Gospel whether it's popular or not. I must REBUKE, CORRECT, and ENCOURAGE with LONGSUFFERING [adj. Patiently enduring wrongs or difficulties]. I know it's not popular, but this is that time when people go for what their itching ears want to hear. I stand on the side of TRUTH!

Try to examine your actions to see if they line up with the WORD. This is very important. Before you go and analyze what you see people doing, check to see how it lines up with HIS word. I truly believe in LOVING the HELL out of people. It may seem that unhealthy or unpopular, but LONGSUFFERING is NOT popular! It's NOT about me or my comfort. I choose to patiently endure because that is the model that CHRIST gave me! It wasn't popular to save a "WRETCH" like me, but He waited (waits) patiently with LOVE and REBUKE. I am not going to sit around and watch those I LOVE die. I want to make sure that I proclaim the GOSPEL...So if you are waiting on me to tell you what you want to hear and drop the niceties of God on you all the time, don't hold your breath. I want the end result to be that YOU come to Christ and/or see who YOU are in CHRIST because without HIM, we are nothing! So what if it makes you or me uncomfortable; I LOVE YOU. I will endure with you through the good and bad. Love endures all things! 1 Corinthians 13:7

EMPOWERING CHRISTIAN WOMEN: EMPOWERING Quotes

2010-02-17T16:41:00.000-08:00

EMPOWERING CHRISTIAN WOMEN: EMPOWERING Quotes

Dying to Ourselves Daily!

2010-02-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

Hello All! This can be a bit long, but I had to share because I was so convicted! Check out what is going on at www.designersgenes.com Love you MUCH!!--Tiffaney K. Draper

From the desk of Bill Keller of LivePrayer.com

(1 Corinthians 15:31; Romans 8:4-13; Galatians 5:16; Galatians 2:20)

Dying to self daily is what Paul spoke of so often. It is how we walk in the
"Spirit" and not in the "flesh" as we are instructed in Romans Chapter 8 and
Galatians Chapter 5. The whole issue of dying to self daily is the absolute
key to living a victorious life in Christ. It literally means that you have
to die to self DAILY! This is why so many people who are saved, love the
Lord, live beneath their blessings and in constant turmoil. This is how
people who know Christ as their Savior end up committing adultery, cheat
people, lie, get in bondage to drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling,
shopping, greed, and anything else people become enslaved to. They don't die
to self each day and end up walking in the "flesh" and NOT the "Spirit."

People wonder all the time how a pastor, a deacon, an elder, someone in the
leadership of God's church could leave their wife and run off with another
woman. People wonder all the time how a Sunday School teacher who loves the
Lord could neglect her children and family because of alcohol. Maybe you are
wondering how you could be raising your hands to Jesus, speaking in tongues,
and being used by God to touch lives one day, and sinning against God the
next. The answer is when you fail to die to self each day, you are walking
in the "flesh," not the "Spirit."

The question that needs to be addressed today is HOW does a person "die to
self?" The first step is an action, something that you must do. Dying to
self is a conscious choice that you must make, one nobody can make for you.
It is the act of surrendering your life completely to Christ. The reason
God's Word talks about dying to self DAILY is because it is something that
we must do each and every day. Our life with Christ is not for an hour or
two on Sunday, but literally 24/7. It is critical to make the choice to die
to self each and every day.

Since this is something you must do each day, I do it and counsel others to
do it the moment you wake up in the morning. As I first open my eyes to a
new day, before I do anything I take a moment and thank God for a day that
was not promised to me and make the conscious choice to completely surrender
my life to Him that day. I literally tell God to take my life and use it for
His glory that day, to use me as an instrument of blessing. When we get
saved, we not only ask Christ into our heart and life by faith, but we give
our very lives to Him. In dying to self each day, we are reaffirming that
our life doesn't belong to us any longer, it is His.

At the moment we are born again, we receive the promise of the "Comforter,"
or the Holy Spirit. Each Believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit to empower
them and guide them throughout their life. It is literally the power of
Almighty God living within each person who has given their heart and life to
Christ by faith. As you surrender your life afresh to Christ at the start of
each day, you are allowing your life to be controlled by the Holy Sprit and
not by your flesh. It is no longer you but God that is in complete control
of your life. You have traded in your thoughts and desires for God's
thoughts and desires. It is not YOU that is living, it is Christ living in
you as Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20.

This whole process takes only a few minutes of time alone with the Lord, but
it is the most important few minutes of your day. When you don't go through
this process each and every morning, you wake up, start going through your
day, and not only does it feel like the day is weighing you down, you don't
have that confidence. The reality is, the day IS weighing you down because
you are operating in your strength and not the Lord's, and the lack of
confidence comes from the fact you are in control of your life and not
Christ.

Sadly, some people go days, even weeks without really dying to self, and it
usually takes the consequences of their poor choices during that time to
bring them back to the Lord. Like I say often, your way doesn't work, God's
way works! Let me give you some advice out of my love for you. You can never
run your life better than God can. The sooner you realize that, the more
peace, joy, and abundance you will know during this journey through life.

There is probably no more critical a message I will ever share with you in
living a victorious life in Christ than the one today. All of the benefits
in God's Word exist and are available to those who believe, but there is a
price to pay and that price is our very life surrendered, yielded to the
Lord. It is a choice, an act, that nobody can force you to commit. The
important thing for you to hear today is that it is not something you do
just once and forget about. It is something that you must do DAILY! EVERY
DAY! WITHOUT FAIL! Each morning when you wake up, you have to make the
conscious choice to die to self, to surrender your life to Christ, and walk
in the "Spirit" instead of the "flesh."

I love you and care about you so much. The difference between a person who
knows the Lord as their Savior living a defeated life and a victorious life,
lies in what I am sharing with you today. Please, save your money. You don't
need to waste it listening to Tony Robbins or the motivational speakers of
the world lie to you that you can do it on your own, and you don't need to
spend it on books and tapes from preachers who preach a feel good Gospel but
forget to tell you about the sacrifice involved. The key to living a
victorious life in Christ lies in you waking up each morning and making the
conscious choice to die to self and allow Christ to control your life.

The fact is, the Bible says that if you have asked Christ into you heart and
life by faith, it is no longer your life, that it belongs to Him. The Word
says we have been "bought with a price." So in essence, each day you are
only giving the Lord what already belongs to Him anyway. Remember my message
in the past on what really happens when we get saved? We are literally
giving our life to Christ. It is no longer ours, but is now His. The reality
is, each morning when we wake up, we have to make the choice to die to self
so that Christ can live within us during that day. If we don't do this each
and every day when we wake up, we will soon find ourselves walking in the
"flesh" and not the "Spirit."

I will be praying for you today. Praying that you will sit down and read
this message over and over. This is the meat and potatoes of the Word. This
is where the rubber meets the road in regard to our Christian walk. This is
the part that nobody really wants to talk about since we love the benefits
of being saved, but we really don't want to think about the price that Jesus
paid or the sacrifice we have to make each day. You MUST think about it
since it is the difference between you living a defeated life and living a
victorious life. To live that victorious life in Christ, to walk in His
victory, you have to die to self each day so that you are walking in the
"Sprit" and not the "flesh" so that it is Christ, not you that lives.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

Love, Love, and More Love

2010-01-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. ~ John 15:9-17

Love. Is there any word that is more casually tossed around in the English language? Think of all the ways you can say you love someone or something. I love my spouse, I love my children. I love that movie! I love Jesus. I love chocolate chip cookies, the double chocolate chip ones from Subway when they are warm. I love my friends. I love my church family. I love the people I work with. I love you. How many kinds of love do you suppose I’ve just named?

C. S. Lewis, one of the great popular Christian thinkers and writers of the 20th century, described love exhaustively in his book, The Four Loves.

The first love Lewis describes is affection. Affection is the kind of love parents have for their children, and children for parents. It is a kind of love that arises naturally. Our love for God is need-love. We need God’s love the way we need air in our lungs and blood in our veins and food in our stomachs. I

Next Lewis describes friendship. Friendship is freely chosen, because we are not compelled into it by our own emotional or physical needs.

Of course, the word love is associated most frequently, in our culture, with romantic love, or what Lewis calls Eros. As he puts it, it is the kind of love lovers are “in.” Which gives us some sense of what Eros is like: it possesses us, it claims us, it feels bigger than we are. Lewis doesn’t want us to simply reduce Eros to sexuality, either. Sexuality is a part of Eros, but not the totality. Rather, Eros is a kind of complete delight in someone. That is the kind of love lovers are in.

Finally, we come to Lewis’ fourth love: he calls it “charity.” I think we tend to associate “charity” with “charitable giving” (or receiving). It has even taken on a slightly negative connotation… no one wants to be on the receiving end of charity. But that’s not what he’s talking about.

The love Lewis describes is what the biblical writers call Agape. This is the love Jesus is taking about in today’s passage when he says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love.” And, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” What kind of love is this? This is the same kind of love we talk about when we say, “God is love.” The love Jesus is talking about is the kind that gives of itself completely and utterly. It’s the kind of love that gives up all the power in the universe to become a puny, relatively power-less human being. For those fans of “Grey’s Anatomy” who happened to catch this week’s season finale, it’s the kind of love that lays down its life so that someone else can live.

When Jesus is telling us to love one another, he isn’t talking about having affection for one another—though we may have that. He isn’t talking about being in love with one another—though we may, joyfully, find ourselves in that condition. He isn’t even talking about having true and deep friendships with one another—though we may be lucky enough to have those. He is talking about a love that transcends all the other loves, because it is ready to give of itself totally, wildly and extravagantly, without hope or expectation of receiving anything at all in return. It is ready to give even at the risk of its own life, its own welfare. That is agape-love. That is God-love. And that is what we are called to, as followers of Jesus. “Love one another, as I have loved you.”

The love of God does not guarantee there will be no difficult times, but it does promise to abide through those times. The love of God does not eliminate the need for painful or hard conversations, but it does promise to abide in the midst of those conversations. The love of God does not take away our racing hearts when we finally have to speak the Truth, but it does promise to abide, giving us whatever it is we need to let those words be spoken. The love of God abides, and abides, and abides.

Breaking DOWN walls FOREVER!!

2010-01-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

As I continue to study 1 Corinthians 13 in order to learn what it really means to love, I imagine all the walls in my life that I will tear down with the knowledge on the horizon. Many of the principles of love, I know already, and others the LORD is presenting me with opportunities to learn.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” (I Corinthians 13:4).

First, love is patient. The King James Version says love “suffereth long.” It is “never tired of waiting.” The Greek word literally means “long-minded.” Love is slow to give in to resentment, despair, or anger. The particular word Paul uses means to have patience with difficult people rather than having patience in difficult circumstances. It describes the person who has been wronged, who has it within his power to get even, but chooses not to use that power. How many times have you been in this position? You could have gotten even, but something says that's not right.

Second, love is kind. The word mean something like “sweet usefulness.” Love is quick to help others and eager to reach out to those in need. Kindness is an area where most of us don't struggle much. The part of kindness that gets most of us is the quickness..the sense of urgency that is necessary to show others that we care.

Third, love does not envy. This is the sin of those who think others have too much and they have too little. By contrast, love is generous. It does not begrudge others their gifts. How do you respond to the good fortune of others? If they do better than you, if they prosper when you don’t, if their family seems happy while yours is torn apart, how will you react? If they achieve what you cannot, if they gain what you lack, if they win where you lose, then the truth will come out. Can you lose gracefully? Can you walk away from the contest without bitterness?

Fourth, love does not boast. It does not brag, is not pompous or conceited. It has no exalted opinion of itself. It is not eager to gain the applause of others. The Greek word translated “boast” means something like “windbag.” It has within it the idea of the person who must continually talk about himself in order to impress others. Sometimes we would be better off saying nothing at all.

Fifth, love is not proud. The King James Version says love is “not puffed up.” That means love does not have an inflated opinion of itself. It is not filled with hot air. As I think about the truly great people I have known, they have all (on one level at least) seemed rather ordinary. They dressed and acted like real people. When someone has to dress or act or talk like they are somebody special, it’s because they’re trying to convince themselves. With those who are truly great, what you see is what you get, which is how it ought to be with all of us.

“It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (I Corinthians 13:5).

Sixth, love is not rude. The King James Version says that love “does not behave itself unseemly.” This covers a lot of territory. On one level, it means that love is not ill-mannered. It does nothing of which it will be ashamed later. Love is true courtesy. It is polite, considerate, and careful for the needs and feelings of others. Love is quick to make others feel at ease. Love has good manners!

Sarcasm is the main evidence of a lack in this area. How many times do we make some comment and then try to cover ourselves by saying, “I’m just kidding.” We make too many jokes at the expense of others and then try to laugh it off as cheap humor. The truth is, you weren’t kidding or you wouldn’t have said it in the first place.

Seventh, love is not self-seeking. It takes no thought for itself, does not demand its own way, and is not stubborn about things that don’t matter. Love never says, “My way or the highway.” Love says, “Let’s do it Jesus’ way.” Love serves and doesn’t worry about who gets the credit.

Eighth, love is not easily angered. This is the quality I always stop and think about when I read this chapter. This is the quality that seems to come too close for comfort. Love is not easily provoked, is not quick tempered, does not blow its top, is not easily angered, and is not irritable. By contrast, love is good-natured, easy-going, and quick to forgive.

I think most of us tend to look on this as a minor problem, as if being quick-tempered is merely a matter of temperament, personality or family background. We excuse it by saying “That’s just the way I am.” Well, that may be the way you are but it’s not the way you’re supposed to be.

Ninth, love keeps no record of wrongs suffered. The King James Version says that love “thinketh no evil.” It does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not impute evil, does not brood over injuries suffered. It is not suspicious of others, not cynical about good deeds done by others, and is not quick to remember a personal offense done by others. But true love has a bad memory of wrongs done to it. Love is quick to hit the Delete key. Love is always ready to say, “I’m putting that in the past and I’m not going to bring it up again.”

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth” (I Corinthians 13:6).
Tenth, love does not delight in evil. It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, is not glad about injustice, and is not happy when evil triumphs. And it takes no joy in hearing evil openly discussed.

Love is never glad to hear bad news about another person.

Love never says, “Well, they finally got what they deserved.”

Love is never happy to hear that a brother or sister fell into sin.

Love does not enjoy passing along bad news.

This certainly goes against the grain of modern life. We all know that “Bad news sells” and that good news goes on page 75. That’s why they put those supermarket tabloids right by the checkout counter. We all want to hear the latest juicy gossip about our favorite celebrities.

True love isn’t like that. It turns away from cheap gossip and unsubstantiated rumors. And even when the rumor turns out to be true, love takes no pleasure in the misfortunes of others.

Eleventh, love rejoices with the truth.

This is the flip side of the previous phrase. Love takes joy in what is true and good and right and holy and pure. Love cheers whenever the truth wins out. It is glad to know that suspicions were unfounded. Love believes the best and is glad when the verdict is “Not guilty.”

Sooner or later we have to get down to the bottom of things and admit the truth. “O God, I hate my husband. I hate my wife. I can’t stand my children. My parents are driving me nuts. I hate the people I work with and I don’t like the folks at church. I don’t love my neighbors and I can barely stand to see my own family. O God, help me. I don’t love anyone right now. And even though no one else knows it or sees it, I’m an angry person, filled with bad thoughts and completely lacking in any kind of love. If you don’t help me, I will never love anyone because I know I can’t change the way I am. Lord God, please help me. Change me. Let your love flow through me. If you want me to love others, you’re going to have to do it through me because I can’t do it myself.” That’s the kind of prayer God loves to answer.

I also think it helps to replace “love” with “Jesus” in this passage: “Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind, Jesus does not envy, Jesus thinks no evil, Jesus is not quick-tempered, Jesus does not rejoice in what is evil.” If we want to love, we need more of Jesus in our lives. Run to the Cross. Stand there and behold the One who died for you. Look to Jesus. Stand next to him. Let his love fill your heart. If you will come close to Jesus, his love will begin to fill your heart and you will find yourself filled with supernatural love for others. Your life will begin to change as Jesus becomes preeminent in your heart.

My prayer today is: Thank you Father for demonstrating how we should love! I now really know what it means, and I desire to walk this thing out for the rest of my life. You are so AWESOME, and I don't even deserve to be pursued by You! I only want to live out the name that you gave me Tiffaney=MANIFESTATION of GOD Kashandra=SHINING on MANKIND. Thank you for LOVE even in it's most basic form. Stretch me! AMEN!!

Now as we come to the end, I’d like to give you some homework. Take some time this week to consider the eleven qualities of love in this passage. Think about them one by one. How do you measure up? Where are you strong and where are you weak? Which three qualities stand out as the greatest need in your life right now? Circle those three and begin to pray about them. Write down one practical step you can take in each of those areas this week. And ask God to help you grow strong in love.

Endures All Things-Godly Perseverance

2010-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

I Corinthians 13:7 KJV

Love “endures all things.” The word “endures” is a military term that means to hold a position at all costs, even unto death, whatever it takes. The battle may be lost but the soldier keeps on fighting to the very end. The word pictures an army surrounded by superior forces, being attacked and slowly overwhelmed on every side. One by one your comrades fall at your side. Through the din of battle comes one final command: “Stand your ground, men. And if necessary, die well.” So love holds fast to people it loves. It perseveres. It never gives up on anyone. Love won’t stop loving, even in the face of rejection.

[**Deep sigh** I really needed that. I know exactly what it means to endure through all things with those that I love. It has often been the case when those that I love leave or give up on me. I learned from my grandmother that love endures ALL things. I never saw her give up on those that she loved *especially* when they turned their backs on her. So even in the face of rejection, I love. I can’t even tell you that this comes easy for me, but it’s the cross that I bear, and it is nothing compared to the sufferings of Christ.]

With this phrase verse 7 comes to a logical climax. First, love covers the sins of the one it loves. Second, love believes the best as long as that is possible. Third, love hopes when it cannot believe. Fourth, love endures when even hope is gone.
Love does not commit suicide. It doesn’t give up and walk away. Years ago I knew a woman whose husband left her for another woman. At one point the couple entered marriage counseling, and for a brief moment there seemed to be hope. Then he walked out of counseling and went back to the other woman. The situation dragged on for months without resolution. Divorce proceedings began and continued with much wrangling over anything related to child custody.

One day I saw the woman and she told me an unusual story. “I asked him for my wedding ring,” she said. “Why would you do a thing like that?” I wondered. “When he moved out, I gave him my wedding ring as a sign that he had broken his wedding vows. But recently I began to think about what that ring symbolized. I realized that even though he has been unfaithful, we are still married. When I asked for the ring back, he was surprised. He was even more surprised when I put it back on my finger. By wearing the ring, I want to remind him of what he has done. I also want him to remember that he still has a wife.”

Love endures what can’t be endured. Love means wearing the wedding ring as a final reminder of what has been lost. That little story also reveals a crucial point. Love is not passive in the face of unjust treatment. Love takes action to shake up an intolerable situation. Love looks beyond the present to the hope of what might be in the future.

[This anecdote is exactly what I needed to hear. In a time like this when of my loved ones has given up on me, I still have the strong urge to make things work even if it means that I don’ t ever get what it is that I need or want from the situation. The world says, “Oh well!”God says, “Love endures ALL things.” I really desire to be the real deal, completely living by the word of TRUTH. So, I won’t EVER give up!]

Risky Love

To love like this doesn’t mean that everything will always work out the way you like. That only happens in cheap dime store novels. In real life, love is often crushed, bruised and rejected. Loving others is risky business. What if they abuse the love you freely give? For the Christian, there is only one possible answer: It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. The real losers in life are not those whose love is rejected. They (and they alone) know the deep pain of loving in a fallen world. They understand something of God’s heart because the Father sent his Son to the world knowing that the world would reject him. The real losers are those who refuse to love at all.

[I’m down for risks, but this sounds crazy, right? The world says, give me everything I want and if not, I am out!! Look at God’s response, sending His son (real LOVE) into the world knowing He’d be rejected. I choose to follow this example at all costs!]

In his book The Four Loves, C. S. Lewis spoke to this very point:
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable … The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers … of love is Hell (p. 169).

Love stands its ground in the face of curses, slander, hatred, ill treatment, and the worst that man can dish out. I have never forgotten the words of Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place. When asked how she could endure a Nazi concentration camp without bitterness, she replied, “There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still.”

That one phrase is the key to this principle. First Corinthians 13 is about the love of God, not the love of man. Romans 5:5 says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to pour out God’s love into your heart. When the Holy Spirit has done His work, you are able to pour out the love of God that the Holy Spirit has poured into your heart. What God gives us, we are able to give to others.

[What has God given you? I know what He has given me, and I choose to ENDURE.]

{It is not simply difficult to live this way, it is impossible. But what God demands of us, the Holy Spirit supplies within us. Our deepest needs are not intellectual or emotional; our deepest needs are spiritual. It is an old story, repeated over and over again. Many of us struggle in our circumstances because we are fighting against the Lord and his plan for our lives. The answer is as plain as the nose on your face. Let each of us yield ourselves completely to the Holy Spirit. Let each one of us ask God for the love which only he can supply. And as we face hard times and difficult moments, let us pray daily, “O God, let your will be done even if it means that my will is not done.” As we relinquish the control of our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, we will find that the Holy Spirit’s power has been released in us and the love of God will become a personal reality that works in us and through us to touch those around us.}

In closing, I offer you no miracle cure for the problems of life. If it is true that into each life some rain must fall, then some of you are getting a thunderstorm right now. I don’t know when the rain will end. But it doesn’t have to destroy your life. When the love of God is your foundation, the rains can come, the winds can blow, the river can rise to the threshold, but your house will stand firm because it is built on the rock which cannot be shaken.

Tiffaney

(words in [] are the opinions of Tiffaney K. Draper. Sermon from www.keepbelieving.com)

Love Hopes All Things-Godly Optimism

2010-01-15T05:39:00.000-08:00

I Corinthians 13: 7 KJV

The third phrase in verse 7 tells us that love “hopes all things.” This is simply a step beyond believing. The meaning is something like this. There are times in life when you face situations so difficult that faith is not possible. You would gladly give the benefit of the doubt but there is none to give. You search for the silver lining but the angry clouds overhead have no silver lining.

Some of you may be facing a situation like that right now. In your life there is a difficult circumstance for which there are no easy answers. It may be your marriage. It may be one of your children. It may be your family. It may be an illness. It may be impending financial disaster. It may be your job. Whatever it is, only one word applies: IMPOSSIBLE. You have cried and wept and prayed and done everything you know how to do and nothing seems to help.

[In my own life, I have experienced this within the past 6 months. I believed that this was one of most stretching times in my life. Ever feel like you knew God was there, but it felt like He was so far away? Once I explained to a former student that when it felt like God was far away, He was just helping someone who needed Him a little more. “He would never leave His own,” I explained. That rationale worked for an adolescent. So when I go through, I recall those words to my mind so that I have a little hope. With God all things are possible—I repeat to myself over and over again. It works in the closest of relationships!]

What does love do in an impossible situation? What do you do when you can’t believe anymore? You hope. That’s a step beyond belief. Belief is finding a tiny grain of evidence to rest on. Hope rests on God alone.

When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, where was Judas? According to John 13, he was right there in the room. Did Jesus know what Judas was about to do? Absolutely. He even told him to go out and do it. Did Jesus wash Judas’ feet? Yes. And he was not play-acting either. How could he do it? He did it because he loved Judas even though he knew Judas would soon betray him. That’s how love works. No matter how impossible the situation, no matter if it looks like there is no possibility of change, love always hopes. It looks to the future, not to the past.

[Notice: Love ALWAYS hopes! Not sometimes…ALL of the time!]

Let’s apply this principle to our closest relationships. We are often told that we must accept people just the way they are. That is true in one sense and untrue in another sense. Sometimes we are tempted to throw up our hands and say, “This is the way you are and no matter what I do, you are never going to change.” That’s not acceptance. That’s fatalism. It’s only true if there is no God. Biblical acceptance is based on hope in God. It says, “I accept that this is the way you are right now. But I don’t believe you are going to stay this way. I’m not giving up hope.” When hope is gone, life is gone. To hope is to believe in God in spite of what you see around you.

[I am so guilty of thinking that a loved one will never change. Read again: THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE--Not if we are going to get to the AGAPE kind of Love that the Bible teaches to have for one another. It wasn’t until I met *TC* that I learned this lesson. I pray for TC all the time, “This is the way you are right now and I love you like this, but I believe that God will do a GREATER work in you than you can even see.” I really do believe this for TC. When it comes down to it, there is nothing in me that is willing to deal with anything in anyone that is uncomfortable! It is God alone that makes it possible for me to be even say, “I Love you,” and mean it! I am at a place where I can take God at His word and HOPE that He sees enough in me to keep giving me such amazing loved ones. I believe that the last statement “when hope is gone, life is gone” is very true. When we lose hope in the ones we love, the life of that relationship is gone, but again…With God all things are possible. (Matt 19:26) TC, I love you and can't wait until He brings you back.]

**Our President Barack H. Obama is known for saying, “While we breathe, we hope.” I want to be that hopeful. With every breath in my body, I want to be optimistic, never giving up hope in those I Love and more importantly in GOD! Continue to pray for me...**

Tiffaney

(words in [] are the opinions of Tiffaney K. Draper. Sermon from www.keepbelieving.com)

Love-- Believes All Things-Godly Trust

2010-01-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

I Corinthians 13

To “believe all things” means that love believes the best that is possible as long as that can be done. Love gives the benefit of the doubt. It takes people at their highest and best-not at their lowest and worst.

[How many times do we struggle with giving up when people are at their lowest? In my life, I have come to realize that when people are at their lowest, I hurt for them and want them to do better. This desire in me is from GOD alone. It is Him working through me. Tiffaney is not strong enough to deal with a lot of the issues that come up with those that I love. It seems as if they are always in WINTER seasons, BUT GOD...I can stop right there...BUT GOD in whom I Live, move, and have my being provides me with the courage and strength to be there ESPECIALLY when times are rough. Can you trust Him to help you LOVE people enough to give them the benefit of the doubt?]

We live in an increasingly cynical age. If a person gives a large sum of money to a worthy charity, there is sure to be someone who mutters under his breath, “What’s the catch? What’s in it for him?” I’m not suggesting that love equals naive gullibility. Love must always be guarded by wisdom on one hand and discernment on the other. True love won’t be taken in again and again by a con artist. At some point love says, “Enough is enough.” But it is also useful to remember that even in a court of law, the accused person is always “innocent until proven guilty.” Love says, “I am willing to wait for the evidence to come in before making my decision. I choose to give you the benefit of the doubt as long as there is reason to do so.” Some of us treat our loved ones in nearly the opposite way: “You are guilty until you prove you are innocent."

[There was a time when I struggled consistently with loving those around me with wisdom and discernment. My life has been a testament to what happens when you become a crutch. I had to learn to love from a distance and love someone enough discern when I am being a crutch and when enough is MORE than enough. Love says, I (Tiffaney) need to back up and enough to let you see that God is more than able to handle your situation. On another note, how much can be said about loving someone enough to say, I want to make sure before I make a decision? I choose to give those that I love the benefit of the doubt. I am willing to believe that this will help us in our relationships.]

People tend to become what we believe them to be. They either live up to or down to your expectations. If you treat a man as trustworthy, he will strive to prove himself worthy of your trust. If you tell a child, “Take a big swing. You can hit that ball,” he’ll go to the plate and swing like Babe Ruth. If you treat your wife as if she is the most beautiful woman in the world, she will be transformed before your very eyes.

That’s what Jesus did. To vacillating Simon, he said, “You are a rock.” To a prostitute, he said, “Your sins are forgiven.” To a woman caught in adultery, he said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” It is the simple power of believing the best and not the worst about people.

Love believes the best as long as it can be believed. What a difference it makes when we believe in those around us. What a difference it makes when husbands and wives, and parents and children, and teachers and students, and friends and co-workers, and church members truly believe in each other. What a difference it makes in the dark moments of life when you can say to those you love, “I believe in you and no matter what happens, we’re going to make it through this thing together.

[There isn't much I can say here except, "WOW! God!" The Message Bible underscores that Love "Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others.." To me this says I need to give people the benefit of the doubt BEFORE I judge and open my mouth. I need to leave previous transgressions in the past where they belong. What would I do if God held everything I ever did against me? And what I really need to do is give up the selfishness. It's not about me! This is a strange deviation from society's view of how things work. Society's "it's all about me" attitude is a stark contrast to the biblical view of "it's not about me." Humility and selflessness underscore the bible's AGAPE love. This is the kind of love I desire. I don't have a problem telling those I love that I am on their team, that I will be there for it all, and that I have their back no matter what (MJ). I want to honestly say to those I love that I believe in them no matter what happens and we'll make it through together!]

Tiffaney

(words in [] are the opinions of Tiffaney K. Draper. Sermon from www.keepbelieving.com)

Love Bears ALL things

2010-01-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

Bears All Things-Godly Silence (from Keep Believing Ministries)

1 Corinthians 13: 7 KJV love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

The first phrase says that love “bears all things.” This comes from a Greek word meaning to cover something. It is related to the word for roof-a covering that offers protection from the hostile elements. I Peter 4:8 says that love covers a multitude of sins. That is precisely the meaning here. Love protects other people. It doesn’t broadcast bad news. It goes the second mile to protect another person’s reputation.

[Now, I can just stop right here in this message! Love protects other people..How many times over the last 6 months have I gone out of my way to protect those that I love even when I know they are not really acting right? I have been guilty of talking to the WRONG person a couple times when it came down to a particular situation. The result of that conversation was a dent on someone's reputation. I have prayed for and received forgiveness, and FINALLY learned that even conversations that occur in times of hurt are unacceptable if the words out of my mouth are not coming from a place of love. Insert a long SIGH!!...At times such as these, I should be SILENT....and listen and wait for God's peace...Normally, I am very good at protecting those I proclaim to love. Let me say that 95% of the time I will go WAY out of the way to protect them. It's those hurtful times that I need more of God to help me with!]

There are two very relevant applications: First, love doesn’t nitpick. It doesn’t point out every flaw of the ones you love. Once in a small group, we were discussing this very point and one of the wives present said a very wise thing: “You can’t talk everything out. Some things you just decide not to worry about.” She’s right. If you took time to point out every mistake your husband or wife made, you wouldn’t have time for anything else. That applies to every human relationship, not just to marriage.

[Again, I am willing to admit that I can be guilty of this. Especially when it comes to a particular someone. I do it under the umbrella of "I am tougher on you because I care so much." I know this is NOT ok on the inside of me because it is unsettling. After the fact, I lack peace about it. On the rare chance that I am nitpicking, I usually wait for a while to make sure I have talked to God, but if I truly LOVE someone, I need to make sure to get the log out of my own eye before I am so quick to get the speck out of their eye (Matthew 7:5). ***Insert gut-check emoticon** I need to take a cue from the message above and decide not to talk everything out..literally!!]

Second, love doesn’t criticize in public. This is perhaps Paul’s primary meaning. Love doesn’t do its dirty laundry for all the world to see. That’s why I cringe whenever I hear a husband humiliating his wife in public or a wife making snide remarks about her husband. I always think, if they do that in public, what do they do in private? As a friend of mine once told me, “There are many times in my life when I’ve been sorry I opened my mouth. But there has never been a time I’ve been sorry I kept silent.” When it comes to needless criticism of other people, that’s excellent advice.

[For me, this is probably one of those areas that I do well with. Almost too well. Not only do I not expose my business publicly, but I sometimes let it eat away at me until it spills out in an angry way. This is NOT of God! How can I love someone and I am not honest about a hurt that they have "unknowingly" inflicted on me? Well, I know that tingles for me, and I want it out of me. As I go through this learning about love period, I have been praying to find a balance of when to speak and when to ask the Lord to bridle my tongue (Psalm 39:1). I want to be able to bear ALL things and not just the things that are comfortable for me. Continue to pray for me.]

Tiffaney

(words in [] are the opinions of Tiffaney K. Draper. Sermon from www.keepbelieving.com)

Learning what LOVE means

2010-01-12T03:13:00.001-08:00

Passion is a huge thing! Most of us think of passion as a sexual thing, but that's not what I mean. I have a tendency to give a thing all I have. Whether that thing be a job, a goal, or a relationship. I mean I love very hard. I value each and every task or relationship that I have to the point that that particular thing consumes my conversation. The problem is sometimes, I may not act like it. When is it appropriate to Not act like I love someone? Why is it that I need to have those that I love be how and who I want them to be? When am I going to accept them just as they are? No strings attached? What about unconditional love? When Jesus gave this love commandment, He didn't give us any prerequisites! John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

My problem has been that I want to BE who I tell people I am (a die hard follower of God) which usually is the same person that people think that I am. As I have been participating in my first-of-the-year fast, God has been opening my eyes to several things. The first of those things is that I need to get back to root of who He created me to be...that passionate person who just loves everyone without any rules!! I think hurts have tainted me a bit. Since, you did this to me, I can't love you fully anymore. Since you won't listen to me, I am not loving you as much as I used to. Who do I really think I am?

I am the woman who He says I am, nothing can separate me from his love. See Christian love is not the same as that stuff we see on tv or in fairy tales. Christian love is giving to others those things that you would want them to give you if you were in their situation -- and it's doing so even if they can't pay you back. In fact, it's doing so especially if they can't pay you back! Christian love is respect for others. It's mercy. It's charity. Those things that Jesus freely gave us! As I go through this fast, I have been re-connecting with those who I love and haven't acted like it. I am forcing those ugly things out so that I can get back to that merciful and giving person that I know He made me to be. That young lady that others see and have stood by even through the toughest of times.

In my studies, I have refreshed myself on the 3 kinds of love: eros, philia, and agape.

Eros is what we mostly think of when we say we are "in love." This type of love covers everything from queasy stomachs and warm fuzzy feelings to strong sensual passion. In order to exist eros is dependent upon the situation and circumstances. Eros is also held captive to each person's perception. For example, if someone perceives a particular quiet evening dinner with candles to be romantic, eros will thrive. However, passion becomes squashed for someone whenever he or she interprets the current situation to be undesirable. Eros thus grows strong and then wastes away based upon our perceptions.

Although eros at times might make us feel like we are on cloud nine, it can not provide a reliable basis for building a deep and meaningful relationship since it is so fickle and dependent upon perception and circumstances. Although eros is exhilarating, this is not the Biblical word used for love.

Philia is the love of friendship, best friends, and the fellowship of being with those people you enjoy. Although philia is wonderful, it too is not reliable since it is also held captive by the sifting sands of situation as well as by ours and other's perceptions and expectations. Unfortunately, we probably all know of a friendship which waned or was severed because of time, distance, harsh words, how someone interpreted another's actions, etc. Again, not biblical love.

God's love is Agape love. Since it is not a knee jerk reaction nor just a responsive feeling to how I've been treated, agape is capable of acting in a hostile environment where there are no warm fuzzy feelings...to love when there isn't an ounce of love in return. If it were not enough that the proactive (not REACTIVE) nature of agape has the power to rise above its environment, it can also empower passion and friendship! For example, when a spouse chooses to speak and act toward the mate with agape, this creates the loving environment in which eros and philia can thrive! Although the proactive spouse might even perceive the other spouse as being unkind or rude, additional problems can be prevented by responding out of agape while the power of agape works at nurturing the growth of the other forms of love!

Jesus taught his disciples that the world would know that they his people if they would show agape toward one another. (refer back to John 13:35)

Examples of Agape Love: John 3:16, John 14:15,23, 1 John 3:17, and Ephesians 5:25-29

For the best refresher on learning what LOVE is, I searched 1 Corinthians 13:4-13 in the MSG bible.

"If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up. (Can we say that we never gave on on someone/thing?)
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. (Are you ok if God never "changed" that person?)
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle, (attitude, attitude?)
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel, (ever told someone that they'd pay for what they did?)
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything, (ANYTHING...not some things...not a lil bit..ANYTHING)
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best, (tell someone the best things about themselves sometimes)
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. (Keeps going!! Don't stop!)

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

That list of what love does, doesn't do, is, isn't is a pretty hard pill to swallow, but it's SOOO appropriate and TRUE. I am taking it line by line and refreshing myself daily... feeding my spirit the things that are really nourishing as I deprive my body of certain foods. So, as I journey to get it right, and make things better, I pray that you will too.

The LOGO is HERE!!

2009-10-05T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have attached a copy of the logo, and we are up and running as a Facebook group. Please spread the word and continue to support. We are in desperate need of donations of supplies or funds to purchase supplies. Please let me know if you can contribute. Call me at 404-200-7911 or email designergenesllc@gmail.com. Paypal is available.

Update L.A.D.I.E.S. by Design, Inc.

2009-10-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

L.A.D.I.E.S. has received a "thumbs up" to begin mentoring a group of young ladies at Campbell Middle School in Cobb County, GA. The program will commence on Tuesday, October, 13th and follow each 2nd and 4th Tuesday through the school year. I am confident that the program will spread to more locations in the county very soon.

Thanks to all who helped L.A.D.I.E.S. by Design, Inc. with books & videos!! I am so proud to see people moving when the Lord prompts them to do so. I would love to see a more donations from publishers of our curriculum and even college campuses and churches.We still need basic supplies (pens, paper, journals, etc.) for 30 young ladies. Can anyone donate a new or used laptop?

Those of you who are willing, can you please make calls and send emails for donations of new or used supplies. We need to aggressively seek 501(c)(3) status to make it easier to raise funds. If you would like to make donations, I will give you my PayPal account information to do so. I have a logo that is completed (praise the Lord) and I am waiting on a distributable copy of it. I cannot wait to share it with you all.

I can be reached at (404) 200-7911 or designergenesllc@gmail.com.

Thanks,
Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder & CEO

L.A.D.I.E.S. by Design, Inc Needs Your Help!!

2009-10-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

Can you donate/purchase books and video for a young girls' mentoring program? Souls of Black Girls Documentary and Don't Give it Away! by Iyanla Vanzant...(About 30 girls) The books are $4 including shipping on Amazon.com. Please email at designergenesllc@gmail.com or call 404-200-7911. We are also looking for the DVD, The Souls of Black Girls, which is on Amazon for $17.99 plus shipping. Please remember that all donations are tax-deductible.

Why Haven't You Given It Up, Tiff? My Testimony

2009-09-16T09:40:00.001-07:00

Let me first say, that I really do not like being called Tiff. But really, who does that? Who goes around asking me if I have had sex? Yes, I have an accountability partner, but that person is not YOU!

I have been approached over the past few months by several people who question what makes me stay pure. It may shock you that the people who question me are Christians. (Or maybe it does not shock you…) Most Christians know or have heard the scripture “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body....You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18, 20) But did that really work for me? Not initially. In order to fully understand why I choose to honor God with my body now and for the rest of my life, I would have to begin with my testimony.

CHAPTER 1. You may be sure that your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23)

This scripture often rang through my head as a young girl. What sin was I afraid would be found out? The sin of lying held me captive. I was lying about abuse. I had been experiencing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in my home from the young age of 8. I was so afraid that if my family knew the truth, the person who was harming me would surely be killed or hurt badly, so I chose to keep that to myself. Until one day the abuser decided to move on to another sibling…At this point, I had to tell someone because keeping it in would not only hurt me, but it would also hurt a sibling or two. TRUTH—when I told, nothing changed. Why? FEAR. My family was so afraid of this person that they decided to make it a family secret, and yet, I continued to suffer. MORE LIES—“This kind of thing has happened in our family before, and it should remain in the family.” This is what I had been told as my 9 year old body was being examined by the doctor only to reveal scars and scratches down below. This abuse continued until I was about 12, and at that point, I was too old and less pleasing. Though he never used his genitals to violate me, the damage had already been done. I sought refuge in the church. I was baptized and active in my home church. I used to notice a young man sitting in the back, and I often made him my focus. There was something about his eyes. It somehow made me feel a little peace. His life seemed so normal, and mine...not so much. Watching his family participating in church functions was a sort of focal point for me. Little did I know that this man would play a large role later in my life.

CHAPTER 2. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians10:5)

As a 17-year old student at Spelman College, I was very excited to be a part of such a legacy of womanhood. I remember when it began at age 16. I had decided (firmly) that I would become a Spelmanite and nothing could stop me from leaving my home town and all the memories it held. I had a boyfriend and was being tempted at this point. I stepped outside of my normal boundaries, but I was very scared. He never seemed to connect sex with love. To me, it was an act that you committed with your husband, but everyone was "doing it." FOOLISH — The silly thing is, I NEVER got any enjoyment out of kissing or touching or anything physical. My boyfriend thought it was wonderful, but inside I was reeling at the pain of the act and the disgust I felt. I was disgusted because somewhere down the line, I remembered the sermons and bible studies and Sunday school lessons detailing to me that my body is not my own. It is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Why He would want to dwell within me, I wouldn’t know until later, but at the time, it made me sick to my stomach every single time I engaged in any physical act. On March 5, 2000, I attended Destiny Metropolitan Worship Church with a “radical” group at my school called New Generation Campus Ministry. The message given by Pastor Bryan Crute touched me so deeply, that I could not (would not) leave without joining the church. I remember feeling like I had danced into my destiny. Never had I felt like nothing I did or could ever do mattered as much as who God saw me as. I rested that night for the first time in a while because I knew God had a plan for me and my best and brightest days were ahead. I remember reading 2 Corinthians 10:5 (above) and thinking, “Yes! I can conquer this thing and get on with life ‘for real.’”

March 6, 2000—I received the call that my brother had passed away in his sleep at the age of 14. I was so crushed because before that time, I had never been touched by death. I called on my new sisters in Christ, and they never left me. They know who they are, and I still love them dearly for that. Did I blame God? No. Reginald had been sick his whole life. In the following year, I lost a sister and my beloved grandmother. Life seemed to be hitting me so hard in the gut, and I fought back: HARD! I was so on fire for Christ that it seemed like the pain I felt was nothing in comparison to the joy He would give or the comfort I felt through the Word or messages given by Pastor Crute or Mr. Barrett.

CHAPTER 3. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Although I was on fire for Christ, I wasn’t self-controlled. I would pray that God give me the strength to remain pure, and for a season, He did. I dated a man named "G" and eventually gave in to the pressure of having sex after being told I could not bare children. It only took one night. This man knew all the things to say and do, and it worked for him. He was able to get what he wanted from me and took full advantage of me in a vulnerable state. He would drive me to work in my car and use my cell phone. Silly, right? I know, and I have no justification except that he was charismatic--the kind of slyness that the devil will use to prevent us from having what God wants us to have. Is “G” the devil, No! I was fully aware when I engaged in the act that produced my son, Giovanni. What I wasn’t not aware of was the fact that I would have to lose everything to regain the life God had for me. When I say I lost everything, I really mean EVERYTHING. As I mentioned, “G” and I planned to have Giovanni after a doctor told me I would not be able to bare children and needed a hysterectomy. At the 5 month mark of my pregnancy, “G” went to Florida, and while away I discovered that he was sleeping with and using my car and home to have a relationship with a high school girl. Our relationship was cut short because I knew this man would never wait again to have sex. It was too late though, my Bank of America and Wachovia bank accounts had been drained. At the 38 week mark of my pregnancy (also my birthday), I went into false labor after the police came to my home to search for weapons and “G.” See he had been using my vehicle to rob people’s homes. Would I have suspected he would do anything like this? No. He worked for his parents as far as I could tell. Ladies, let me tell you this for certain—DO your DUE DILIGENCE!!! After I delivered my son without “G” (he had been incarcerated), I was forced to leave everything behind to begin again in TX with my mom.

When I left TX, I settled in a town called Horn Lake, MS. Soon after, I began a real, authentic relationship with that young man from my church. His name is Tyrone. He was so strong and caring. He was thoughtful and respectful and considerate. I often thought, does this man see the things in himself that I see in him? I prayed for Tyrone each night that he would give up everything for Christ. I knew that Tyrone would be an ideal soldier for Christ. I only wished that he would figure it out. We were great at everything from spades to cooking. My family; however, did not see things that way. They were very clear that Tyrone had issues that needed to be ironed out before we could be together and they did everything they could to make sure I knew every fault he ever had. This did not sway me though. I was convinced that Tyrone was the man for me. One night though, Tyrone left after an argument and we cut things off for a while. The thing is, though, Giovanni was not my only child. Out of fear and mistrust, I had been forced by my doctors to give up a baby girl due to complications. I will never forget the coldness and the loneliness and the darkness that came over my life. Tyrone was not there and I felt nothing. I had nothing. Me, the strong one in the bunch—the smart one, planned to leave Mississippi with NOTHING. I wanted so badly to just cry and work things out with Tyrone and get through this together. Nothing feels like the loss of a baby. That’s what I thought…God knew exactly what would happen, but I felt so far from His love and grace. I thought why would He accept me back? What the devil means for bad, my God can cause to be for MY good!

CHAPTER 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFCeyeLSBoQ Restoration has FINALLY come

This song came to me while I was away from Atlanta. I could remember a time in the old church (Destiny) when Pastor Crute began singing this song on Sunday and the words flowed out of my mouth although I had never heard it. I had been diagnosed with a muscle weakening disorder, myasthenia gravis, shortly after I delivered Giovanni. How like my God to prove to me that I am not as strong as I think, and His strength is made perfect in my weakness. I really feel total dependency on Him for normal tasks such as lifting my arms and legs. This time away from Atlanta was a time of purging and reclamation of all God’s promises to me. I began with my body. As for me and my house (which meant my body at the time), we will serve the Lord! (Joshua 24:15) “This is the place where You will dwell again,” I told God. And He responded, “Tiffaney, I never left you.” I sobbed because I felt like if He can forgive me for all this, then I could forgive my offender and family for what happened, my son’s dad for what he had done and would do, and myself for playing god and taking life into my own hands and listening to doctor's who had limited knowledge. Who knows who my daughter would have become even if she were disabled? I began to spend so much time in His presence (via reading His word, praying, and fasting) until I felt like we were meshed together again. Do I feel temptation, YES! Pastor once said that if you have a sexual appetite, that means #1-You aren’t a eunuch, and #2—you need to get married. I finally felt the freedom, the liberty, and the transparency to be Tiffaney again— but not just any Tiffaney, His Tiffaney. The young lady who had been tough her whole life (or so she thought) was now available for God to use because of her humility.

CHAPTER 5. For the grace of God that brings salvation...teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:11-12)

I am now back in Atlanta, and serving at Destiny. I have a God-vision that I know I can’t accomplish without His help, and I feel like I am back where I know he needs me to be. I can truly say that my life is a testament to the Grace of God. He never left me and He has redeemed me. I have never been so confident in my ability to overcome. I am Confident, intelligent, caring, passionate, RESILIENT, loving, imaginative, hopeful, fearfully and wonderfully made, blessed, SELFLESS, Christian, mother, and WOMAN all at the same time! I no longer compromise what I know God can do in my life. I love hard and demand the respect that my Daddy said I can have! It is through Christ that I live, move, and have my being (Acts 17:28). I often think of and dream, of a day when I can speak to Tyrone just to see how he has changed. I am trusting God for a change in his life. I love Tyrone enough that even if he doesn't want me, I will always pray for his health, strength, and family because I love him too much to let him live his life outside of what God has for him.

**So back to the original question*
Tiff, why haven’t you given it up? Don’t you know that won’t last 3 months (6 tops) with a grown man? Nobody “really” waits until they are married anymore. You shouldn’t feel bad about giving a man some booty.

#1—I fear God.

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Right? So, I know where I was, and I DO NOT intend on risking all the ground that I have covered with Him for a few moments of pleasure. (That, mind you, was not all that comfortable and enjoyable for me anyway). If I ever get married, I want to be able to say to my husband, “I love God so much that I wanted to wait to give this gift to you, and I know he will honor our marriage because of this commitment.”

#2—I am thankful for my justification.

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor...the greedy nor drunkards...will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, [but] you were sanctified, [but] you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

See, nothing in this world has ever justified me like Jesus has. Nothing. Not the awesome grades—Dad doesn’t acknowledge that. Not the career achievements—Money is fleeting! I could go on and on. My flesh will submit to the authority of Christ Jesus. Period!

#3—Jesus died for me.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”(John 15:13)

Really, I cringe when I think of all the things I have done. I think of myself as an active participant at the cross. Spitting on Him, mocking Him, laughing at Him when I was in sin. Little did I know He did that for me 2000 years before I was even thought of! It is sobering for me. The cross (not the wood, but the suffering) hurts me to the core. Yet, I know no man that would lay down his life for me, and I am supposed to lie down and open my legs to any man? Nah! The man I end up in a relationship with will love Christ more than he loves/adores/respects me. This makes me secure. I pray that his reverence for the cross of Christ keeps him focused on his purpose just as it does for me. A tree is known by its fruit (Luke 6:44)

#4—there are so many other things we can do.

“The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:32-34)

My primary goal in life is pleasing God. This comes before my son, and for sure comes before any man. I want to be holy and acceptable. If I allow a man to have my body now, what example am I showing my son? I desire to teach my son how to respect women and love God. Contrary to popular belief, you can wait until you are married to have sex AFTER you have had sex previously! DISCLAIMER: Just because I have a son, doesn’t mean I am easy! I love seeing people come to Christ, and I enjoy changing the world through the youth. If I were sleeping around, would my leadership suffer? YES! Children see everything! They follow our example. I imagine all the lives that would be affected by my sin, and it is not worth it to me. Instead of worrying about how sexy I can be for fleeting attention, I focus on waiting on the man of my dreams to reach his full potential in Christ. It may not be popular, but it's worth it to me to be able to say, "Hunny, I trusted God and I waited on you." I am praying that we are reunited and that our efforts are honoring to God.

#5 (LASTLY)—I am free!

“Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.” (John 8:36)

This has become my mantra—2 Corinthians 5:16-20 MES—
“Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.”

I hope this helps YOU.

Love,
Tiffaney

Hair We Go Again

2009-09-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hair we go again….
By Tiffaney K. Draper
9/8/09

Check out the trailer for Good Hair. http://www.goodhairmovie.net/

So the title of this blog is cliché I know. But I must get this much off my chest. I wear my hair sans-chemicals. Now whether you define this as natural or not is up to you. I prefer the texture of my hair when it is curly, but I love the way it feels when it has some heat to it. We know this as a “press.” I found that when I permed (“relaxed”) my hair, it was always thin, oily, and prone to breakage. It took an experienced stylist to let me know that my hair was a grade that did not require a perm to straighten. Shocked, I looked at her as confused as ever and replied, “What are YOU going to do to my edges?” Ladies, you know how we feel about our “kitchens.”

Why had I responded this way? I think the answer is inevitably because I had been brainwashed by family, peers, and society into thinking that my hair was “bad.” Oh no, my reference to bad hair must imply that there is such a thing as “good” hair. Ladies and Gentlemen, I submit that all hair is good. WHY? Because God designed us all just the way he intended for us to be. On the sixth day, when God created man, He “… saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Gen 1:31)

Now, when I was not putting chemicals in my hair for a period of 3 years, I may have gone 6 months without even needing a trim, and I rarely experienced any breakage. My hair was obedient. When I explained this to many, they didn’t believe because how could my “nappy” hair be obedient? The soft curls of my hair had been trained to do anything I asked them to do and my healthy hair was the talk of the office at one point. Still, many of the co-workers cringed at the thought of possibly having to show these curls or sweating out their press. I offered them evidence that my hair would do what I liked even if I worked out for an hour because it had indeed been trained. My hair was straightened very often, and even straighter than the hair of those who were getting “relaxers.” My hair was longer than it ever had been and much thicker than any chemical treatment had been able to give me.

Now my story is a two part story simply because I had gone without chemicals for 3 years when I allowed someone to “relax” my hair shortly after the birth of my son. I experienced the loss of 6-8 inches of hair over a 6 month period and had bald patches. I cried every time I washed my hair and noticed the enormous amounts of breakage. Others would often compliment my hair and tell me how good of a “perm” I had. I knew the truth, and my hair was bland. I had little movement and less body. I longed for my old stylist to cut away and start anew without chemicals.

When I relocated back to Atlanta, I wasted no time getting back to Ms. Tia Majors at L’Image Full Service Salon in Buckhead. She had to cut my hair to start the uphill battle to reclaiming my healthy hair and length, but I was ready for whatever. I knew I was on the right track when my boyfriend rubbed his hands through my hair. I enjoyed this little affirmation. Since then though, I have seen my hair grow about three inches back. I love the movement of it, and I am excited at the possibilities of my curls, color, and twists.

I am still not ready for wearing extensions and weave, but to each his own. I want the kind of hair that I can run my hands through on occasion or that reminds me of my mom circa 1984. I like to hear my guy compliment my hair. His excitement about seeing particular styles makes me giggle. Somehow, I have become that girl who likes to see her guy smile about her hair.

Now, I am no one to “hate” on a particular type hair treatment. I am only documenting what happened to me. If the hair is healthy, do your thing!

Miss Jessie’s Sleepover 9/25/09 at Tiffaney’s place….come get some information on how to treat your curls with this product. $15 admission to cover the stylists coming out on a Friday night. They will also bring product to sell. http://www.missjessies.com/

(Psalm 139: 13-14) For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

For more info on the Miss Jessie's Sleepover, call Tiffaney at 404-200-7911 or email at designergenesllc@gmail.com

L.A.D.I.E.S. by Design, Inc.--Information

2009-09-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

If anyone in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area would like to help with the launch of a new non-profit organization, please connect with me ASAP.

We will work with local (Cobb County or North Fulton County) schools to facilitate discussions and workshops.

Read below for more information:

L.A.D.I.E.S. by Design, Inc. - educating young women about self-awareness and healthy decision making and becoming WHOLE individuals

Learning Always: Determination, Intelligence, Empowerment, Service

Teaching ladies about the power of positive emotions

Target Age Group: 11-18 (Middle/High School) Girls

Goals:
• Increase self esteem
• Discouraging promiscuous behavior
• Increase healthy decision making—nutrition, economics, social skills, family interactions
• Encourage parent-student relationships
• Increase commitment to community service (monthly activity)

Romans 15:1-2 (MES)--Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?"

Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder
designergenesllc@gmail.com

Skinny Genes 2: Putting it all in Perspective

2009-08-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Skinny Genes Part 2: Putting it in Perspective

After nearly two weeks of “Upgrading” my body, I have learned that I have had to upgrade a few more things to match, specifically, my prayer life. Prayer, fasting, and consecration have to go along with the physical fitness piece. To consecrate is to devote or dedicate to some purpose (Dictionary.com). A purpose-filled life means that each aspect/activity of my life serves some purpose. So what has the purpose of my upgrade been?

Truth be told, I really want to be better able to play with my son who is nearly three years old. But even greater than that is the desire to be in the best shape possible for ministry. See, my life is a ministry. I have come to the point where I realize that even my body and how I care for it are a representation of Christ. I am not saying nor will I ever say that people who don’t appear physically fit in my “plank-filled” eye misrepresent Christ. But what I am saying is that it is very important to take care of the vessel that houses your soul and His Spirit. My service to God will suffer if I do not take time to care for myself.

Caring for self looks different to everyone. Some need to lose weight, some need to lower cholesterol, some need to lower blood pressure, some need to stop drinking or smoking, and some need to STOP participating in risky sexual behavior. ALL need to eat healthily, and ALL need to incorporate some physical activity in their lives! Physical fitness can lead to a longer LIFE.

As for exercise, it is not needful or even desirable to put in long hours at the gym. A basic level of physical fitness can be attained in as little as 30 minutes, three or four times a week. More would be needful to attain even more beneficial levels, but about six hours a week is really the most that is needed for general fitness purposes. A physician needs to be consulted before beginning a fitness program. It may be a surprise to find out that most of us are NOT generally FIT.
However, since Christians know that God is with them, they sometimes feel it is unnecessary to make needed lifestyle changes to help prevent such diseases saying that, "God will protect me." But Satan tempted Jesus to prove he was the Son of God, by telling Him to jump off the temple. Jesus refused, despite knowing that God would save Him, saying, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'" (Matthew 4:5-7) To engage in unhealthy practices while claiming God as your protector is tempting Him.

Paul said, "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection ..." (1Corinthians 9:27). The key word here is "discipline." Starting and maintaining a proper diet and exercise program involves more than anything else, discipline and caring enough for yourself (again, "...as you love yourself") to take care of yourself. What I have learned is a lesson in discipline.

Although following a proper diet and exercise program is important, during the last two weeks I have learned that obsessing over my program is not healthy either. In regards to diet, Paul wrote, "for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). The key is balance. Balance between not caring about my body at all and obsessing over it.

Below is a link to the ABCs of fitness—a creative way to view your health with scriptural references. You can also find out about Athletics Plus Fitness Group sponsored by SOLiD Projects, LLC with a link below. Just click the SERVICES tab.

Love you!!
Tiffaney K. Draper, CEO and Founder
Designer Genes, LLC
designergenesllc@gmail.com
404-200-7911

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=1118221

www.solidprojectsonline.com

Skinny Genes

2009-08-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

What makes a person healthy? Is it the standards set forth by ideal weight calculators? If that were the case, my 4’11” 112 lb frame would be overweight, since I am supposed to be 97.5 lbs. Hmmm? A nearly 28 year old woman with a child at 98 lbs is healthy? Questionable. One thing is true for me, when I was 130+ lbs, I really felt unhealthy. It wasn’t just about the numbers on the scale. It was about the deep breaths necessary to climb one flight of stairs and the wind I struggled to catch while chasing my 2 year old around the backyard.

I sought an answer in the BMI (Body Mass Index). This calculation indicated that I am at or below maximum healthy weight and that my maximum healthy weight is 123.33. After reading this, I became even more confused. How am I overweight but still healthy?

Upon further investigation, I found this statistic:
One variable BMI fails to consider is lean body mass. It is possible for a healthy, muscular individual with very low body fat to be classified obese using the BMI formula. If you are a trained athlete, your weight based on your measured percent body fat would be a better indicator of what you should weigh.

At this point, I decided to seek God’s opinion on the matter. Psalm 139 tells me clearly, (v 13-16) “you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. “ This should serve as assurance that “I am ok just the way that I am,” but am I? Isn’t that what I hear the sisters preaching? Haven’t I been told enough by people who are amazed that I am even exercising?

What about my 5’8” sister who weighs 195 lbs and complains about the muffin top she can’t get rid of with all her efforts, and the mother who is 5’7” and 175 lbs but has legs to die for and hardly any fat in that region? Are sisters who are “big-boned” free from having to work out? What about the sisters who are tall and thin? Do they need to workout at all? Is physical activity only for the “obviously” obese and overweight?

No. Physical fitness is a lifestyle. It is not predicated on a scale reading or an index that could in no way give an accurate depiction of all the different types of bodies that make up God’s kingdom. Do I believe in health? Yes. I think physical health goes hand in hand with spiritual health. I Timothy 4:7-8 , “train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” In essence, God says that physical training has value. What does that mean? For my life, I want to be in the best physical shape to work for Him, but I should not neglect the spiritual things He is trying to convey through my WHOLE life. Does that mean that I will have the perfect dimensions or fit within some parameters for healthiness? That is up for discussion.

Come on out to discuss weight, service, diet, and, of course, relationships! I know a few women who would love to talk about being “skinny fat,” the stigma of being “big-boned,” and those who believe that their health is just in their “genes.” If we are true believers, we know that we are over-comers by default. God wants our best!

Let’s Talk! Starting August 9, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Join my Facebook Group Designer Genes, LLC to RSVP or email me for info.
Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder
Designergenesllc@gmail.com
404-200-7911

Healthy lifestyle tips:

Physical activity is good for your heart and blood vessels and it helps you control your weight. It makes you feel like a totally different person. You don’t have to run marathons or be an Olympic athlete to benefit from physical activity. However, it is important to take the first step and make that commitment to better physical health.

Many people often start exercising without seeing a doctor…not good! Always consult with a physician before beginning any new exercise regime. This is especially true, if you have a history of heart disease or have had a heart attack, are taking high blood pressure medication or have had a stroke.

Once you have committed to make this lifestyle change, don’t worry about getting off track. If this happens, try to identify the particular trigger or stumbling block that temporary derailed your efforts. By doing this, you can develop a plan of action as to how to avoid these pit falls next time. Listen, everyone slips and falls at one time or another. Remember you are making lifestyle changes! It’s a long-term process. You must celebrate your successes and treat yourself with a non-food treat to acknowledge your accomplishments.

In 1995, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the American Health Foundation issued new guidelines that defines healthy weight as a Body Mass Index (BMI) below 25. In a recent study, 59% of Americans exceeded this weight.

There are many adverse health effects that accompany obesity, the most common being high blood pressure, but including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and an increased risk of death from all causes.

http://www.healthdiscovery.net
http://blackwomenshealth.com

God's Truth vs Satan's lies Girlfriends in GOD

2009-06-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

June 4, 2009
The Enemy's Lies
Sharon Jaynes
Today's Truth

"The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10 NIV emphasis added).

Friend To Friend
"Now the serpent..." The great deceiver clothed himself as a serpent and slithered up to Eve with a game plan to destroy God's prized possession. He didn't come with a sword or a gun, or even a knife for his attack. He simply wielded lies. The serpent knew Adam and Eve would not buy into a radical flamboyant denial of God, so he slithered into the garden with a twist and a turn of the truth. He began by causing Eve to doubt... "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?" (Genesis 3:1).

Satan knew exactly what God had said. He was simply trying to confuse Eve. Perhaps he was evaluating just how well she knew the truth. He found out.

"We may eat fruit from the tress in the garden," Eve replied, "but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die" (Genesis 3:3).
Bingo. She didn't know the truth that well after all. First, God never mentioned not touching the fruit. That seems like a pretty good idea, but it was not what God said.

Second, Satan denied God and lied about the consequences of her disobedience when he said, "You will not surely die." (3:4). He didn't even try to disguise the deception. He told a flat-out lie.

Finally, he told her she could be like God. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). In other words, "God doesn't know what He's talking about. He's holding out on you. You don't need Him. You can be your own god."

Eve rejected the truth and believed the lie. She believed that she could be like God...in control of her own life. "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her."

As she sunk her teeth into the forbidden fruit of deception and the lie slid down her delicate throat, the temptation settled in her soul and fermented into shame and condemnation. Her husband, who chose the woman over God, also felt the sickening rot of sin settle in his very soul. Suddenly, shame and fear entered the world, and Adam and Eve hid from God like wayward children.

All temptation is an attempt to get us to live our lives independent of God. Satan is not very creative, but he is very effective, and he has been lying to us ever since he lied to Eve. Why? Because it works.

Every one of his lies springs from the idea that happiness is just a decision away. Satan wants you to believe God is holding out on you. You can be like God. You can be your own god. Rather than being thankful for what we do have, he points out what we don't have. Think about it. Eve had at her disposal every tree in the garden except one. Every tree. That is a smorgasbord of goodness! Rather than being thankful, she bought the lie that the one thing she couldn't have was the one thing that would make her happy. I would be happy if... Is any of this sounding familiar to you? It should. Satan uses the same tactics with us that he used with Eve.

Eve believed the enemy's lie over God's truth. His plan worked, but what the serpent did not know was that God's amazing plan of forgiveness and grace was about to unfold. Satan did not win the battle for man's soul in the garden. Jesus Christ won the war on Calvary's Cross. When Jesus said, "It is finished," and then breathed his last, He made a way for all mankind to regain all that Adam and Eve had lost.

Let's Pray
Dear God, help me to recognize Satan's lies as soon as they come into my mind. I have tried being in control of my own life and seen the terrible results. I know that true peace and joy comes from obeying You in all areas of my life. Help me to see through the enemy's lies that tell me anything other than the truth of Your Word.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Now It's Your Turn (JOURNAL THIS)
Have you been focusing on what you don't have rather than what you do have? Begin to praise him in advance for whatever is missing in your life.

Where do you think your discontentment comes from?

Today, make a list of God's blessings in your life.

GOD IS BIG!!!
Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder Designer Genes, LLC

Transition--BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

2009-05-28T06:12:00.000-07:00

Designer Genes, LLC is relocating to Atlanta (finally) on June 12. After much prayer and fasting, God has instructed me to change the business from a women-focused business to a people-focused business!! He has given me 5 years with a focus on women, and my heart will be there, but we all know HIS Will has to prevail!!

I am asking that everyone attached to this group and its ministry pray for my son and me. If you cannot find the words to say, I have attached some prayer points on which I would like to focus.

Love you all!!
Thanks for believing in our ministry!!
GOD is BIG!!

PRAYERS:
•Ask God to strengthen us as we get settled in Atlanta.
•Ask God to grant us favor through Designer Genes and SOL Foundation. May God give us a renewed sense of vision and passion, as well as courage to lead others as God leads us.
•Ask God to bless my son, Giovanni, who’s going to spend the summer in Texas with grandma. First time he will spend so much time without mommy.
•Ask God to give us wisdom (knowing what’s right) and courage (doing what’s right, even when it’s hard).
•Ask God to bless our walks with God, including our daily time with God. May God give us listening hearts so that we may discern God’s yearning for ourselves, our family, and for the communities God calls us to lead.

PROVERBS 14:23
Empowering PEOPLE to take care of their FAITH, FAMILY, FITNESS, and FINANCES using His blueprint.

Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder
designergenesllc@gmail.com
http://designergenesllc.blogspot.com
404-200-7911

Meeting God in the Middle (Kirby Patterson)

2009-05-25T03:20:00.000-07:00

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2

We need to renew our spirit in Him everyday. We can't depend on Sunday sermons alone. We have to make the effort daily, because things happen daily. If we wait to be renewed only on Sundays, we will be so drained from the weeks events that we just ask God, "Man, just give me a miracle. Make it better so I can make it another week." But my question to you is, how can we converse with our closests friends everyday, socialize with people everyday, but are too tired to talk to the one we need most? The one that is ensured to be there EVERDAY. And we use the excuse, "God knows my heart. I'll talk to Him tomorrow." He feels neglected, just like we do when someone we care about doesn't communicate with us. How would you feel if He never came through for you? Didn't answer your prayers? Decided to take a break? But we take Him for granted, "Oh, it's God, He will be there tomorrow so I will just talk to Him tomorrow." That's where "Meeting God in the Middle" comes from. God can bring you to Him, but it's up to you to push to make the relationship stronger.

"Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can declare all His praise?" Psalm 106:1-2

There isn't enough time in a day to tell God how much and why we love Him. So why don't we try to tell Him a little bit everyday? He's so incredible! It's amazing how there are so many people praying to God for help, but He still has time for us. Yes, it is hard to trust a being that we can't see. But when we do, we realize that He is more than just our friend, because friendships end everyday. He keeps His promises. So why do we put more effort into people that aren't ensured to be there for us the next day? We take for granted what God does for us. Just to be among the living is a blessing. Don't take it for granted that you are here. It could've been you. Be thankful and fulfill your mission. It's a blessing for someone to look past where we are, our past and even the things we will do in our future, and sees where we will ultimately be.

We are striving for success, money, fame... desperate for it even. Let's be DESPERATE FOR GOD! Ask Him to take you, use you and change you. We should long to worship Him. Wake up every morning searching for Him, because if we do this, everything our heart desires will be granted to us. Stay strong! Don't let materialistic things take the place of the Almighty. Let's live in DESPERATION...for God!!

Thoughts

2009-05-14T08:30:00.001-07:00

Sometimes prayer is not so easy. We ask, we seek, we wait, we hope, and we yearn to hear from God. Yet, many times, what we ask for does not come to pass and our prayers seem to be spoken into the void. But, that can be quite good. Have there ever been prayers that you are glad were not answered? Sometimes our short sightedness causes us to pray outside the will of God, and that is the problem. What would be a good prayer? We must primarily ask for #1God's will to be accomplished, not ours. This means that we must enter prayer by faith and accept, in advance, that what we are requesting may not be answered the way we hope it will. We must look to God as the wise counselor, the all-knowing Lord who loves us deeply and who hears our prayers, but has a divine plan and purpose (Jeremiah 29:11)for His creation that God will carry out. Therefore, we must not only pray for others, for forgiveness, for healing, etc., but we must also pray that we are moved into the will of God in every area of our lives so that our prayers might more accurately reflect the will of God.

Furthermore, we must ask the Lord to reveal to us anything that we are doing that prevents our prayers from being heard and prevents us from being in His will. We must seek forgiveness for our sins and conformity to God's purpose and plan. Then, our prayers will be more frequently answered. #2: Submission. When Jesus was praying in Luke 22:42, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked the Father, "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done." Jesus did not want to go through the ordeal of the crucifixion and He asked the Father for a way out. His prayer was not answered the way Jesus requested. Nevertheless, He submitted His will to the will of the Father, and that is the key to prayer.
I must tell you that the words in this blog are meant as a part of my own personal healing in the hopes that I might help someone else. Until I submit to His will and learn from the situations He places me in, I will continue to experience the same cyclical and harmful life patterns.

We must learn to use the powerful tool we have: The Tongue. We need to be speaking those things that are not as though they were. I went back to my favorite (The Message Bible) and found this written: "We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!" (Romans 4:17) I love that with a word, He can make something out of nothing. Is that a testimony or what? Even better, He gave me the same power! WHAT?!! YAY!

#3: Praise. God is awesome! We hear this, but do we KNOW this? I have experienced both sides of the spectrum, and I know that I have power to "speak those things." I am very careful with my heart now because of this very principle. Proverbs 4:23-27 tells us “Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts. Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you (A PROMISE!!!). Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust (A COMMAND!!!).” #4:PURGE!!! Take inventory of your lives and hearts and leave anything behind that is outside of His will. Relationships especially will hinder progress--no matter what kind they are.

I love you all, and I can't stop thanking the Lord for allowing me to share with you!

25 Easy ways to find extra cash by Brooke Stephens

2009-05-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

from the June 2009 Issue of Ebony Magazine

1. Brown Bag it--save the $5 to $12 for lunch

2. Buy Generics--try Costco or Sam's and save 25 cents by buying store brands

3. Use Coupons--coolsavings.com, coupons.com, smartsource.com (I love double coupons)

4. Garage Sales--clean out your closets and storage!!

5. "Stay-cation" vs vacation--skip this year's cruise and opt for a local attraction

6. Smoking--just quit! save $4 to $5 a day and live longer!

7. Barter--swap services like babysitting and haircuts

8. Library--It's free--books, movies, magazines, and newspapers

9. Water--get a filter and refill bottles at home instead of buying bottled water weekly

10. Regular gas--unless your car manufacturer insists, all cars are calibrated to run off regular

11. Manicures/Pedicures--do them at home once a week and go to the salon when they offer midweek discounts

12. Movie matinees--get there before 6pm--get 1/2 price

13. Dry cleaning--wash sweaters in Woolite and iron your own slacks

14. Cosmetics at the grocery store--yogurt for moisturizer, egg whites
for facial mask, Witch hazel for astringent and cucumbers or tea for nourishment

15. Phone bills--internet based services like Vonage, Skype, etc...can lower monthly bills by 25-40% CELL phone providers offer pay-as-you-go

16. Theater discounts--corporate discounts, unions, etc offer up to 50% or more discounts

17. Prescriptions--if there is no generic version of your medicine, check online for 30% savings

18. Balance Checkbook--avoid NSF (insufficient funds) charges

19. Unplug appliances, TVs, Cell phones, chargers, and computers--they draw electricity even when off

20. Lightbulbs--change to CFLs (compact flourescent lightbulbs) reduce energy costs up to 75%

21. Extended warranties--skip them on appliances...it's a gift to the retailer..most come with a one-year manufacturer warranty

22. Health clubs--employers may offer discount packages, try YMCA

23. Cable service--eliminate premium channels and save $40 a month (hey, you still have ESPN!)

24. Online bill paying--mailing dozoens of checks can cost lots in postage, so automate the recurring bills or go ONLINE!

25. ATMs--use your own bank's ATMs or get cash back at grocers or drug stores.

SMART MOVE!!--carry only cash you need daily!!

SMARTER MOVE!!---TITHE!!--Give 10% of your income to the church where you are being spiritually-fed. The tithe goes to bringing people into the KINGDOM. In my life, it is not optional! I am reaping the harvest of incorporating this in my life.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38)

Tiffaney K. Draper,
Founder and CEO
designergenesllc@gmail.com
http://designergenesllc.blogspot.com
404-200-7911

I found this on Girlfriends in GOD~I think it will help us ladies!!

2009-05-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

May 12, 2009
In His Eyes, Part 2
Mary Southerland
Today's Truth

Psalm 139:14-15 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (NIV).

Friend to Friend
God can set you free to be all He created you to be. A healthy self-image is not rooted in pride and it does not exalt self above others. In Romans 12:3, Paul clearly says, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." Success comes when we learn to accept God's evaluation instead of our own, when we give Him permission to make us what He created to be and when we begin to understand who we are in His eyes. How? Let's look at six steps we can take to understand who we are in the eyes of God.

Step one: Check the label.

Step two: Embrace the plan.

Step three: Be yourself.
We should always be looking for something new to learn, an area where we can grow and changes that need to be made. Sit down with your mate or close friend and ask for a realistic evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses. Constantly search for gifts and abilities and then take one of those abilities and work on it. Don't be afraid of change. It is a sign of life and of growth. Change what needs to be changed, accept what you cannot change and quit whining about it! I know so many women who wasting so much life trying to be something they were never created to be -- kind of like a hand trying to be a toe. We need to stop questioning God's design and kicking against the plan. An old man from the mountains of North Carolina, who was known for his extraordinary wooden carvings of dogs, was once asked, "How do you take a block of wood and create such beauty?" The old mountain man replied, "Well, I just take my knife and carve away everything that doesn't look like a dog." Learning to see your self through the eyes of God is like "carving away" everything that is not part of the original design -- God's plan -- and then learning how to accept what remains.

Step four: Guard your mind.
Scripture is very clear on the point that the mind is the main battlefield in spiritual warfare and is especially important in the battle of discovering who we are in Christ.

Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinks within himself, so he is."

Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

We are bombarded on all sides by the media, family and friends, co-workers and even enemies. They all have a certain identity that they want to assign to us. We have a choice. No one makes us feel inferior without our permission. We will become what we allow our heart and mind to dwell on. An old saying says it well. "You can't keep a bird from flying over your head but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair." In other words, it is impossible to avoid destructive thinking entirely. We will be tempted. We will have negative thoughts and temptations, but we do not have to allow them to dwell in our mind. God has given us a "garbage disposal" for the mind.

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
We once lived in Miami, Florida, a place where ships come from all over world. However, before a ship is allowed to dock, an inspection team goes aboard with one assignment. Find every bit of contamination on board that ship. If contamination of any kind is found, the ship must be quarantined until it is cleaned up and inspected again. Then, and only then, is that ship allowed to dock. We need to control our thought life in the same way.

Step five: Control your tongue.
Our words either build up or tear down. Scripture tells us not to curse others because they are made in the image of God. So are we. We need to apply this truth to our own life. As a mom, I constantly warn our children about the danger of critical words. I want them to learn how to encourage others with their words as well as have a healthy picture of who they are. One day, while standing in front my bathroom mirror, I began talking to myself about something stupid that I had done. I didn't notice that our son, Jered, was quietly standing in our bedroom door where he could hear every word I said. "Mom, who are you talking to?" he asked. Oops! I sheepishly replied, "I was talking to myself." He thought for a moment and then offered a convicting observation, "Boy, if I talked like that, I'd be in big trouble!" I was immediately reminded of the words in Psalm 141:3. "Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips."
In our own lives, we need to stop putting ourselves down and in the lives of others, we need to encourage and look for reasons to praise God. We must learn to celebrate the good in each other. Words are like seeds. What we plant will grow. If we sow destructive, critical words, we will reap a life that is negative and critical but if we sow words of truth, we will reap a life of peace and purpose, knowing who we are in His eyes.

"Dear Father, help me to bridle my tongue, so that on judgment day, I will not be found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon!"

Step six: Be Patient
Weeds spring up overnight but it takes years for a mighty oak to grow. Today, you can take the first step toward gaining a new perspective of who you are in Christ. Our Father says it this way in Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns."

Let's Pray
Lord, I want to know You more and learn to see myself as You see me. Please help me recognize and guard against anything or anyone who would chip away at Your truth working in my life. I believe You love me and cherish me as Your daughter. Help me to walk in that value and worth and then lead others to do the same. I praise You for validating my very existence as part of Your heart's plan. I love You, Father. I pray all of these things in Jesus' name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Here is your assignment for the week. Read Psalm 139 at least one time every day. In your journal, write each verse in your own words. At the end of the week, set aside time to celebrate who you are in Christ. Have a praise party -- just you and God -- or invite a few friends to join you in celebrating your identity in Him.

A Special Note about Physical Fitness!!

2009-05-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

I found the following excerpt from https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-exercise.html
Please read it and pray on this as well!!

First Timothy 4:8 informs us, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” Notice that the verse does not say that exercise has no value! It says that exercise is valuable, but it orders priorities correctly by saying that godliness is of greater value. The Apostle Paul also mentions physical training in illustrating spiritual truth. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). In 2 Timothy 2:5, he says “Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules.” “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

So, clearly there is nothing wrong with a Christian exercising. In fact, the Bible is clear that we are to take good care of our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Ephesians 5:29 tells us, "After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it..." The Bible also warns us against gluttony (Deuteronomy 21:20, Proverbs 23:2, 2 Peter 1:5-7, 2 Timothy 3:1-9, 2 Corinthians 10:5). At the same time, the Bible warns against vanity (1 Samuel 16:7; Proverbs 31:30; 1 Peter 3:3-4). What does the Bible says about health? Be healthy! How do we achieve that goal? By engaging in moderate exercise and eating reasonably. The God who created us has also given us the biblical pattern of health and exercise.

I am also a proud supporter of SOLiD Projects (FB group SOLiD Projects) Summer Upgrade. I encourage you all to check this out and Upgrade your physical bodies with me!

GOD is BIG!!
Tiffaney K Draper

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Been thinking about all of you!!--ENCOURAGEMENT

2009-04-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about the members of this group and the purpose of Designer Genes. The following is a result of a huge amount of prayer and fasting:
Financial aspects of our lives seem to be talked about the most, and the Enemy knows that the economy is bad—unemployment is high, debt is skyrocketing, and people are desperate. Can I tell you something?
God didn’t save you from sin for you to lose. He didn’t predestine you to lose or to be defeated. If you were going to be defeated, you could’ve been defeated in Sin. God never meant for you to lose. The devil is just being himself when he tells you maybe you are wrong for wanting something in God’s kingdom. He is the father of lies. Thank God for what He is going to do. We all have challenges. That’s nothing new, but there is a fight going on. If you are not spiritual, you may not be able to see the weapons drawn against you. Ephesians 6:12 says For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The Philistines in your life are marching against your mind, health, destiny, prosperity, and all things of God. We are warriors.
In your daily fight daily..STAND tough. . That mountain of debt is the ENEMY. Satan wants us to be ignorant, it’s an attack! This is why we are told in Ephesians 6:13-17 to put on the entire amour that God has given to us. In verse 13, we read, "...that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand." The purpose of amour is to protect. The Bible tells us that we are to protect the lower portion of the body with TRUTH. What is the truth? The truth is that Jesus is in control; not Satan, not emotions, not even you! Jesus says, "I am the way the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
As a believer, you must understand that you must make yourself available to be used by God, and if He never uses you, you should not be upset because He is still able. When He gets ready to raise you, He will raise you up. What He has for you is yours. Keep your motives pure and stay humble. That humility that says Lord I am not worthy! Talent does not earn you the right to serve. If people don’t recognize who you are, that’s because God has not shined the light on you yet, and that is likely because you are not ready in your character to go where your Gift wants to take you. Anyway He uses you, be satisfied! You will never have the stage He gives you until you humble yourself. Celebrate God when you have experienced job loss!
A common trick of the enemy is to get you to pull off to the side of the road when you are down and feeling low…and have a pity party. Pity parties are no longer okay. Doubt, loneliness, anger, bitterness, fear are all invitees, but these are all the wrong emotions. Get where someone can tell you God is able (a church family; small group, etc.) speaking the word of truth in your life. During tough times, get in the company of encouraging people. Do not go through alone. Hebrews 10:25 (King James Version) says Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. In times of financial hardship, these feelings are amplified. Take this time to learn more about finances, what God has to say about your finances, and how to pray for His guidance in all situations.
@ Designer Genes, we are somewhere between promise and fulfillment (not perfect). We love God. We are on the right road. We are saying Yes to His will. We are looking for people who are heading in the right direction (or not). We are believing God for GREAT things!! If you are already in a group, ask someone if they need to be connected. Pray with someone.
Knock until the door is open. Look to God for your deliverance. He’s the only one who can take us from where we are to where we are destined to be! Sometimes the best things are those that you have to wait on. Even if things start getting worse, God can and will deliver! God will do all that he says he will do! Matthew 7:9 (The Message)"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?

Even in my imperfections, God is still perfect in His Grace and Mercy. ~Kirk Franklin!!!
Thanks for joining Designer Genes, LLC. If there is information that you would like to see here, please message me or post it on the wall! Invite all your friends! God is BIG!
Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder
designergenesllc@gmail.com
Facebook groups: Designer Genes
404-200-7911

Upcoming Classes

2009-04-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

Let me know if there is anything else that I can offer you!

COMING SOON~ (classes)
New and improved company logo
Homeownership class--getting income, assets, and credit in order
Home loan approvals--how to read the documents that you sign!
Accounting (taxes) for businesses and individuals
How do I improve my credit score NOW?
Does God care about my financial situation?

Thanks you all for your support!!
Tiffaney K. Draper, Founder and CEO
designergenesllc@gmail.com
http://designergenesllc.blogspot.com
404-200-7911

Introductions: What is Designer Genes?

2009-04-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

Designer Genes, LLC

Vision: All women have the genetic make-up to live healthy lives because He is our designer.

Mission: Empowering women to take care of their faith, family, fitness, and finances using His blueprint.

Foundational scriptures: Luke 2:52, Proverbs 14:23, Proverbs 28:19 and Jeremiah 29:11

Purpose
To help women learn spiritual principles that will keep them focused on TOTAL FITNESS.

Business
Financial planning

Values
The Bible is the Inerrant and Infallible Truth that can help us in ALL aspects

If we work hard at developing our physical life but not the other parts of our life we will never reach our potential physically. In the same way, if we work hard to develop our spiritual life but do not develop the other parts of our life we will never reach our potential spiritually. This does not mean that a person doesn’t have salvation, but they could serve and worship God more effectively if they did strive for health in all areas or their life.In our lives, we should strive to be “fit” socially, emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. We should give all these areas over to God. Glorifying Him with each area. Striving for this balance and wholeness can give us the peace and joy of God. In the words of my girl Amena Brown, "One may be alone, but it still a whole number!"

Let me explain the major areas of fitness.

Physical

Physical Fitness is the condition of the body and it’s ability to function at one’s best level. The components of physical fitness are body composition, muscular endurance, muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility.

Mental

Mental Fitness is expanding knowledge of self, others, and God. This includes engaging in creative and stimulating intellectual activities to gain knowledge and to accomplish self-improvement. Some examples include: learning new tasks, memorizing scripture, and exploring new cultures.

Emotional

Emotional Fitness is the capacity to appropriately control one’s feelings and related behaviors. It is an awareness and acceptance of one’s feelings. The components include: self-esteem; managing stress, tension or anxiety, attitudes; and feeling at peace.

Social

Social Fitness is developing relationships and contributing to the common welfare of the community -- interacting effectively with the world around you. This includes your relationship to family and/or friends; and your values.

Spiritual

Spiritual Fitness is a relationship with God. This involves one’s assurance of salvation, living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and growing in reliance of God’s resources. Some of the components of spiritual fitness are: devotions, Bible reading, prayer, and worship.

Financial

For financial fitness, we should work hard as Christians and ensure that the people who we come into contact with or we interact with will never equate or relate our God with laziness. The fact of the matter is that God said he wants you to prosper even as your soul prospers. Since God is interested in your being in Heaven with him, He is not going to put any stumbling blocks in your way. He wants you to get rid of any spiritual problem that would hinder you from being a good steward. Ask yourself if you have a spiritual problem that might hinder you from God’s blessings.

Designer Genes will focus on helping women develop into financially fit individuals through biblical principles. As mentioned above, financial fitness cannot be attained unless all the other areas are addressed.

Let's DO This!
Facebook groups: Designer Genes
email: designergenesllc@gmail.com