On the Other Side

I was writing out my prayer requests today and hesitated to write something down that seemed rather trivial.

Then I heard from the still, small whisper of the Holy Spirit that, “Nothing is too big or small for God.”

Friend, I hope you feel comforted in this truth today just as I have been.

Surely nothing (no thing) is too big or small for our Almighty God!

🩷🩷🩷

BLOCK HIM AND BE DONE.

Quit stalking his page.
Quit holding onto false hope.

We live in a day and age where it’s now the easiest that it’s ever been to get into contact with someone.

If he wanted to contact YOU … he would.

Friend, he wouldn’t have let you get away.

God removed him from your life.

You need to accept the protection and praise God for it!

Maybe he’s not a bad guy … but …

He’s just not right for YOU.

Pray for him.

Pray he finds the one.

Pray that he becomes the man that God desires him to be … the man that you saw the potential in him to be.

And be willing to accept that you’re not the one who gets to stand alongside him ‘when’ he is this man.

You need a man who is; not one who is becoming.
… Reread that and let it sink in …

While you’re expending all of your time and energy WASTING your thoughts on what might have been, you are ‘robbing’ yourself of what could be waiting right in front of you.

You’re wasting your life.

Our days are numbered.

We only get one shot.

Just one!

Friend, if you think you need a partner to make you whole, then you need to figure out what’s missing and needs healing in YOU.

The only “Him” that wholeness comes through is the One who has the power to make all of us healed and whole …

JESUS.

Only Jesus.

No human can fill those shoes; it’s unfair for you to expect them to.

You’ll only be forever left with the remnants of continual hurt, frustration, and uncertainty.

It always was and it always has been Jesus.

Maybe you’ve blocked the wrong One.

Jesus says, “Come to me…” in Matthew 11:28-30.

Blessings! 🩷

~ Tera Fraine

(Image by https://www.freepik.com)

I’ve been so overwhelmed within my spirit lately by the story of the Prodigal Son.
(Luke 15:11-32)

It’s picture-perfect love.

It’s God’s unconditional love for us, and how He expects us to love others.

It’s a “no-strings-attached” kind of love.

It’s not a “I told you so” kind of love.

It’s not a “You made your bed and now you’re gonna lie in it” kinda love.

It’s not a condescending kind of love.

It’s a “Welcome home, the slate is clean” kind of love.

It’s an embracing love.

It’s a come-as-you-are … however broken you may be love.

It’s a love that endures.

A love that binds.

A love that was bound to a cross by nail-stricken hands and feet.

It’s a self-sacrificial love.

It’s the kind of love that, despite all shame, sin, guilt, and flaws …

… all of your failures and all of your doubts …

… a love that throws a banquet in YOUR honor to welcome you home and celebrate you.

Why?

Because God says no matter what others say, no matter what others think, and no matter what others do …

YOU matter and you ARE worth celebrating.

Adjust your crown sweet friend. 👑
You have a celebration to attend! 💕

I love to put these on my front porch every year because they thrive so well.

They’re called “portulaca” and they are an annual.

Early this Spring, I noticed some little green sprouts that I thought were some of last year’s portulaca coming up.

Needless to say I was shocked after the Artic Winter we had here in Tennessee.

Aside from the cold, they aren’t meant to last from year-to-year.

I proceeded to scan the little green sprouts with my plant app which told me they were merely a “weed.”

Pulling weeds was the last thing on my agenda that day, and for the weeks to come.

Then one day, I noticed those tiny green sprouts had grown into bigger plants, much more recognizable.

Again, I got out my plant app, except, this time when I scanned them, the result shown was that they were in fact “portulaca.”

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Friend,

There are so many valuable lessons tucked away in the simplicity of these plants.

But the root that I choose to reach is this:

God knows who we are and what we will become.

While the world may see us as one thing, God sees us as what we will become after HE is done refining us.

We will all experience Artic Winters in life.

These are the times in our lives that God uses to grow us, shape us, and prune us into HIS likeness and image.

While on the other spectrum, Satan wants to knock us out … at the root, which is our soul, our very core.

For some of us, these times may be a bit more bitter than for others.

The enemy wants us to be an “annual” in our faith.

But friend, for those of us who dig our heels deep into Christ Jesus, we are overcomers.

We are the ones who sprout back to life after the harshness and bitterness of Winter.

The season that was meant to destroy us helps to define us and determine our destiny.

For when we come back, we grow and thrive in full bloom.

Winter is over, friend.

BLOOM.

Exactly where you are. 🌸 🌱 🌺

~ Tera Fraine

The older I get and hopefully the wiser I become, I realize that there are always those who try to steal the spotlight from others.

Sadly, it is seemingly more prominent among women than it is men.

Recently, in my Women in Leadership and Communications Class, I was shocked to learn that statistically speaking, WOMEN bully and harass other women MORE THAN men bully and harass women.

This should’ve come at no surprise to me as I’ve been on the receiving end of this multiple times in my adolescent AND adult years.

I believe the root problem is a lack of confidence in oneself and knowing who you are in Christ.

I believe when one is confident, there is no need for comparison.

Period.

As I mentioned, I have been the recipient of such hurt; wounded from the harsh words others used to try to break me down and destroy my confidence.

But God.

He’s Who I turn to.

He’s the One who has the final say.

He’s the One who says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)

He is also the One who created and designed me for my specific job, trials, and purpose.

Therefore, if I try to steal the spotlight from someone else, the light will cease to shine on me because I cannot fulfill a role that I was not called and created to fulfill.

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Ladies—

Quit trying to compare and compete.

Quit trying to one-up other women.

Quit trying to steal the spotlight of her accomplishments. Instead, magnify her light through the light of Christ in YOU and make it shine all the more.

Quit allowing the enemy to use you as a tool for evil and instead demolish the darkness through the light of Christ.

Most especially, find your calling and purpose and allow God to shine your spotlight on you.

In God’s economy, there is room for everyone!

1 John 1:5
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

May we celebrate others more.

Cease to compare, compete, and covet.

Be the first to share our flame thereby spreading and intensifying God’s holy light.

May we be the one who takes a stand to unify; not intensify our selfish desires.

James 4:2-3
You desire but do not have, so you kill.
You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt

It’s after 1:00 a.m. and all my mind can do is muster up words.
I’m a writer.
That’s what I do.
It’s my outlet and it’s where I find healing.

I’ve been juggling a lot lately including the process of going back to therapy to deal with some unhealed wounds …

James 1:2-4 instructs us:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

I recently sat in my bed one night and meditated on that verse. I wanted to break it down one key word at a time. The trials in my life have seemed unfair in many ways, but, somehow, this verse makes sense of it all.

… It brings it all into full circle …

With that being said, I can assure you that what you are about to read is probably not what you are expecting …

It is this verse lived out in my life … as well as the promise of Romans 8:28 … my life verse … the promise that God works together “all” things for good.

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"I Give You My Consent"

To those who tried to break me with their harsh words, thank you for teaching me the path of resistance.

To those who excluded me, thank you for helping me learn to stand on my own and become a leader instead of remaining a follower.

To those who have spoken harshly of me behind my back, thank you for reminding me that that is not the kind of person that I aspire to be.

To those who have tried to compete, compare, and wanted to play the “one-up” game, thank you for reminding me of the importance and significance of teaching my daughters to be confident and content in who they are and to adjust another girl’s crown.

To those who have doubted me, thank you for making me work that much harder to prove myself all the more.

To those who thought I would never be able to manage after my husband died, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to prove to myself that I am stronger than you and I both thought I was.

To those who thought I would lose my faith, yes, there have been times when I felt that I might, or even that I did, but it has grown stronger than it was before.

To the men that have hurt me, thank you; it was not meant to be and God spared me from more hurt and deeper heartache.

To those who have made me feel as though my feelings do not matter, thank you for helping me realize the importance of feelings and that they are from God. To feel is to be human. This is one of the very things that distinguishes us from all of God’s other creatures.

And---To those who doubted my strength, thank you for allowing me to show you that it is Christ that sustains me because I am weak … HE is strong!

This is me.

My life.
My story.
My brokenness.
My testimony.

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Perhaps we judge ourselves harshly and continue to wallow in self-hatred even from the sins we’ve repented of because we mirror how the world sees us and neglect to see ourselves how Jesus sees us … as HIS spotless bride.

For we cannot see ourselves as complex as Christ sees us.

Don’t allow the enemy to hold you prisoner to your mistakes of yesterday.

Friend,

Today, I’ve come to remind you and proclaim God’s promise over YOU:

1 Samuel 16:7 (b)
“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

~Tera Fraine♥️

(Image by freepik)

Accept the protection …

It is a blessing.

Accept the rejection …

It is not only a blessing, but, also protection.

… And then God reminded me that my season of singleness is a gift …

I think I’ve lived more and checked off more bucket-list items during this season than I ever did before. I think the loss helped me learn to fully live.

God loves me enough that HE has given me time to find myself.
No strings attached.
To really “find” me.
And to love who HE created me be.
Time to chase my dreams.
To pursue the education that I only dreamt about…

… The seed that HE planted in my heart many, many years ago …

God is good.
He doesn’t always answer our prayers the way we might want, but HIS timing is perfect and HIS plan is better.

Thank you Jesus for blessings in disguise. 💕