It takes all kinds to enrich your life, not just those who love you and are invested in your success, but also those who dislike you and are invested in your failure. It takes those who are unconcerned. All of it adds up to you becoming the person you need to be, for God, yourself and then others.

I cannot think of any stronger times, any times when I saw God more clearly than when people failed me. Like most people, I spent the majority of my life looking for someone who would see my value. But what value could they see if I couldn't even see it without their validation?

After many heart conditions (breaks and aches), I discovered that I need to be up sometimes and then I must come down for a bit. I need good friends, but I also need enemies. I need the yeses, but I must also appreciate each no. I want to be loved, but I must also be hated. And somehow in this seesaw process, I must not lose myself. I must learn from it all, growing better and wiser, not bitter and worn-out. I must grow hopeful instead of hopeless. Be encouraged.

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The most important person in your life is you. It took many years and a lot of understanding for me to finally accept this truth. For some who are hyper- religious, or super spiritual, you will not want to accept this as the truth, but it is. You are the most important person you'll ever encounter.

As I searched through scripture, I noticed how often it came right back to us. In a quest to love the way God intended, I realized I cannot give what I do not possess. There's a lie that floats around the world, a popular saying: "I love her more than I love myself." or "I am nicer to others than I am to myself." On the surface, those things may appear to be true, but let's dig a bit deeper.

I used to do everything I could to win favor and friendship with people. I'd overlook their slights, try to laugh off their cruelty and share even when I didn't have enough for myself. Then I'd go home and beat up on myself for taking the abuse but run right back to it. Do you think I was loving them more than myself? I wasn't. I was doing us both an injustice. Do you think I was being nicer to them than myself? I wasn't. It's the greatest cruelty to see a friend headed to destruction and smile them along the way. Thus, just because it seems kind and loving and self-sacrificing doesn't make it so. I cannot give love to anyone if I don't have love for myself. I cannot give grace and mercy if I do not first partake for myself. I may try to fake the characteristics, but the Judge of our hearts know the truth.

Start with yourself. Learn how to love you through a close relationship with God. Learn how to forgive yourself, be kind to yourself as you grow into God. Learn how to partake of all God's goodness so that you can give of the same. If you don't first accept it into your own heart and life, all of your preaching and teaching and pretending is in vain because it will not profit you to win the world but lose yourself. You don't have to make that sacrifice. It's already been made. 

For more inspiration, follow me on Twitter, Facebook or join me at Officially Lacresha Hayes. And please, help me continue to spread my message by picking up a copy of one or all of my books. Each was a joy to write and share with the world. The ordering link is on the home page. God bless you!

This week has brought many things to a head for me. I suppose having my son and his wife visit made me face something I've not fully dealt with. I guess there had been a certain fear that kept me from fully addressing the issues of a nemesis I could not control-- aging.

Doesn't matter how great you look, how much money you have, how much you've done with your time, the aging process is sometimes terrifying. Along with advancing age is the growing concern for your health and the impending certainty of death. I never thought either of those things were issues for me. But watching my son be a grown, mature man who is now building his own family, I realized that I'm not 21 any longer. I'm growing older. I have a grandchild on the way. And then, those thoughts gave rise to many other thoughts, most of them unpleasant. I had to pray my way back.

It is my faith that alleviates my fears of aging. Through faith, I realize that aging doesn't have to hurt, doesn't have to include sickness and more diseases, doesn't have to include boxes of medications and nursing homes. But what you fear, you focus on and then it seems bigger than it is. Though many elderly fight through the aforementioned things, there are many who do not. There are many who live productive lives until their deaths which do not always include pain and suffering. Also, many young people suffer disease and are cut off in their youth. And the faith of God showed me that I've already fought my most feared battle and won. I was already sick, bedridden, broke and facing death. It wasn't youth that saved me then. It was God! 

My prayer is that you will not fear the passage of time. It is a blessing to see time move and progress happen. And even if your outer body faces decay, you are much more than an outer body. Your inner spirit can soar and you can experience joy, peace and prosperity all the days of your life, young and old. It has never been youth that gave us anything. It has always been that inner strength and that doesn't age.

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This has been one of the most inspirational weeks I've had in a long time. Some of the writing I'd been putting off, feeling blocked from is now flowing freely.

A writer's life can be lonely sometimes. Instead of hanging with the buddies, you have to stay home and get quiet so you can listen to your characters or organize your thoughts. You need time to think, time to write and time to read. It's a double full time job for the serious author. So be encouraged if the journey seems difficult right now. It may or may not get easier, but it is always worth it. Keep writing and sharing the things that change lives. Keep putting fingers to keys and creating. Someone appreciates it. For more writing inspiration, join me at Books by Lacresha Hayes on Facebook.

I asked the question: how many times can you fall in love with the same person?

Over and over again, daily, for a lifetime.

This morning, I woke up in a great mood, feeling loved and cherished and contented. And I feel like a river of love sharing my joy with everyone around me, but especially my own sweetheart. 

I have to say, I'm discovering that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to matters of the heart. God's love operates differently in each one of us. And when it comes to relationships, the love we share ought to be like His. It doesn't have to always be carnal, physical or sexual. Sometimes, it is in the quiet fellowship of suffering, in the stillness of knowing, or in the surety of presence. Just being there, witnessing life and staying truly tuned in to another person is not easy, but that is love. And oh how sweet the reward. You may cry sometimes but the joyous moments are always worth it.

I fell in love again today, not just with my sweetheart, but with my Father. I love God because there is no way to love anything or anyone else without being loved by Him first and loving Him in return. It creates a love movement and I'm caught up in it right now. I know that I won't always feel this high in Him, but I do right now and I'm going to enjoy every moment of it.