Give It To God

Hi all!!
Huge apologies for the last 6 months. It has been an incredibly busy six months for Meggie and I!
I had something on my heart recently and wanted to share it.

I've been struggling with some things lately and feel like Satan is tempting me everywhere I look. Why do I find myself sinning and lacking the strength to resist? I believe in God and know Jesus overcame sin, so if I believe in them then I should be able to overcome it too, right? Wrong.

I've learned the hard way that it's not enough to just believe God is real. There's more to it. To be truly Christ-like I need to be actively trying, day-in and day-out, to be more like Him. I need to be reading His Word so He can speak to me and make me stronger and wiser. I need to be praying regularly so I can communicate with Him and give him my problems. I need to be spending time in His presence so I can hear Him and His direction over my life. I need to be an example of Jesus so I can show Him to those that don't know Him. I need to be worshipping Him and giving Him the praise and glory He deserves.

In the business of the last six months I've found less and less time to give God. I can't just go about my day not recognising God and expect to have the strength that comes from Him when temptation strikes. Our relationship with God needs to be purposeful. It's extremely difficult to have a relationship with someone if you don't communicate, love and serve each other. So if I'm not doing that, I don't have any spiritual strength to get me through tough situations because I haven't been filling myself with God's Word, wisdom or unconditional love. I can't be staying put where I am in my busy life right now, doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes when I am tempted. God wants to live in close communion with me and with you. He loves us so much that He gave a way to be free of sin when He sent His Son (John 3:16).

A side affect of sinning is the self worthlessness and shame that follows. We feel like we don't deserve His love, like we have let Him down, like we are failures that cannot be forgiven and therefore rob ourselves of the gift He freely offers to us. When we sin, we fall short of what God wants and plans for us. We are sinner's, we are going to sin, but we can't use that as an excuse for our actions. If you love someone, especially The One, don't you want to do all that you can to make them feel loved and important, like they actually mean something to you? I know I do, and that means my actions, thoughts and heart need to change, now!

God has an amazing plan for us, and He wants us to fulfill those plans (Jeremiah 29:11). Don't sit in your shame, ask for forgiveness and it will be granted to you. Don't put a wall up between you and God. Let His hand be on your life and follow Him to the best of your ability. By always reaching out to God in our weakness and listening to His wisdom, He becomes our strength, the only Strength we will ever need to overcome anything the world and Satan try to through at us. In order to do that we need to be diligent Christians, actively seeking Him and being obedient to our Father. We will never be deserving of what He did for us, but we can say "Yes" to the gift He offers us through Christ Jesus.

Cast your burdens to God, ask for forgiveness and embrace the amazing plan He has for you.

Be blessed lovely readers!!
~ Taleisha 

Let Go

Sorry everyone for the late posting! Taleisha and I have both been very busy with church commitments and our studies. Thanks for your patience. We hope to get back into a schedule again sometime soon!

The past few months God has really been teaching me a lot about letting go, letting go and letting Him take control. I worry about everything I could possibly think about. Worrying so easily becomes a bad habit for me, and quickly saps me of strength and of joy. I worry about assignments, I worry about relationships, I worry, am I doing enough for God?

The worry, however, only comes into my life when I take control. I decide it is my turn to run my life, and I start to plan out my future exactly how I want it, I plan out to do lists to accomplish what I want to get done, and I dont stop to pray or even focus on God. 

God has been teaching me to dump that worry. To completely throw it out of my life, and replace it with the joy of the Lord. How do I do that? By letting God. Sacrificing it all back into His worthy hands, letting God plan my future, my to do list, and my life. Letting God take the wheel. 

Dont try to do life on your own. Trust God with your life. Let go, and instead, give God control. He is faithful, and will never fail you or give up on you. 

And you know what?
He is with you, right now, just as you read this.
And He loves you.
Not with a silly 'I want something from you' love, or even 'you need to become better' kind of love, but a steadfast love that looks into your eyes and says,
'right now, just as you are, you are beautiful and I love you'.
God loves all of you!

~ Meggie

If You Learn to Trust Me

This was my devotion this morning and I thought it was a good reminder to trust and rely on God.
He's got this. Whatever you're going through, He's walking the road with you.

May 7
If you learn to trust Me - really trust Me - with your whole being, then nothing can separate you from My Peace. Everything you endure can be put to good use by allowing it to train you in trusting Me. This is how you foil the works of evil, growing in grace through the very adversity that was meant to harm you. Joseph was a prime example of this divine reversal, declaring to his brothers: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." 

Do not fear what this day, or any day, may bring your way. Concentrate on trusting me and on doing what needs to be done. Relax in My sovereignty, remembering that I go before you, as well as with you, into each day. Fear no evil, for I can bring good out of every situation you will ever encounter.

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." 

- Genesis 50:20 

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me." 

- Psalm 23:4 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." 

Proverbs 3:5-6 

I hope this encourages you as much as it did me. 

God bless! 

~ Taleisha 

The Ultimate Gift

We know we said we would only be posting once a month, but we just couldn't let time pass without at Easter post!! So with no further ado, here it is! 

Each year we hear a lot about 'The REAL meaning of Easter'. We all know what Easter is about. It's an amazing time when we get together and celebrate the death and resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I think that's definitely a great reason to celebrate! So instead of taking you through the Easter story and telling you all exactly what went down some two-thousand years ago, I'm going to ask you all one question: How are YOU going to celebrate? 

Now I don't mean celebrate as is throwing a party and giving presents. I mean celebrate as in rejoicing and giving thanks to Christ. Are you going to go to the Easter Service at your church? Watch the Passion? Send up a quick prayer of thanks and get on with your day? Maybe eat some chocolate bunnies? While these things are great ways to remind us of what Christ did and are consistent with how Easter is typically celebrated, how sincere are we? It all means nothing if we don't mean it. 

Do we realise the full magnitude of what He did for us? How He rescued us from an eternity of damnation and the weight that should carry in our hearts? Do we fully understand the ultimate sacrifice and how different our lives would be without it? We would have no Hope. Jesus literally saved us and I know too many times I've taken that for granted. Where would you be today without Christ? Are you truly grateful for the price He paid? He gave us an alternative to sin and punishment. I know I am EXTREMELY and undeservingly, forever grateful for His mercy. Jesus didn't hang on the cross asking God to take away the pain, instead He said: "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do." He was begging and pleading on our behalf, to the point of death. But then He conquered it, that's how powerful, magnificent and amazing our God is. 

Let this Easter be a time of unconditional praise and worship to The One Who Saves as we turn the focus of this holiday back to our Redeemer and Father. 

So I ask again: How are you going to celebrate this Easter? 

God bless, 

~ Taleisha & Meggie 

Are you loving God?

Sometimes religion can burn us out and drain us of energy. We get to the point when we are just going through the motions and doing different things to 'be obedient' and 'to serve God' when in our hearts all we feel is tired, used up, and unmotivated.
I have been like this in the past. You sign up to help out at church, you try to serve in every ministry, you feel great for awhile, and then the aching weariness hits. You keep on doing it, going through the motions, with no heart- and after awhile you burn out. Your obedience has become a religion, and there is no love for God behind it.
I even found this happen when I tried to spend hours each day in devotions with God. It became a to do list that I went through each morning, just to get on with the day.

Its not meant to be like that.

Are you doing things for the Lord because you want too? Are you being obedient because you love Him?

I know that there are times in our walk when we need to be obedient even when we don't feel like doing it. But what I am saying is, take a look at your heart and make sure you are not burning yourself out. Maybe you are doing too much of one thing. Maybe you are expecting too much of yourself. Maybe your simply not getting enough sleep.

 

Matthew 22:37  Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 

 

We were meant to do things for the Lord because we love Him. Not because we feel we have too. Not because we think we should. We were meant to serve out of love and adoration for our Father in Heaven.

 

Take a step back, take a look at your life. Are you loving God?

 

 

 

~ Meggie

Attention UE Lovers!!

Hi all! We hope you've had a fantastic week. 

Meggie and I have news, and it may be hard for some of you to take ;) Now that we're both graduated from high school, Meggie and I have chosen to further our studies. Meggie is now juggling work and University as well as all her other responsibilities, and I am now studying full-time at TAFE. This means we won't have as much time to dedicate to Unfading Elegance. 

We appreciate the love, support and encouragement you've all given us over the years. Now you're probably thinking we're going to stop the UE blog. Well, we are very glad to say that's not true, but our posts will be reduced to one post a month, instead of once a week. But so you all don't have to wonder when the next entry is coming out, we can tell you that we will be posting in the FIRST week of every month. So you can still look forward to what we have to share! 

We are sorry for this, but know you will all understand. Meggie and I are very excited as this is a new chapter in our lives. But we also have to realise we now have more responsibilities. Thank you so much for every thing over the past years. You will still be hearing from us! Don't forget you can still  ask questions and email us at: unfadingelegance(at)gmail(dot)com(dot)au!! We look forward to hearing from you. 

Keep an eye out for our next post in the first week of April :) 

Much love and God bless, 

~ Meggie and Taleisha 

Extending Love (Being God's Hands And Feet)

In a world full of 7 billion people, how is it that so many people live their lives feeling unloved? As Christian's we are called to a life of love. The Bible says; the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself (Mark 12:35), to abide in faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13), love each other deeply for love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8), love comes from God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7), there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18). "I love everyone!" You may say. But it's easier said than done.

My pastor on Sunday made a good point that we can love others, but only so much. I'm sure we've all reached a point where we love this person, but hate that one. It's conditional love. This isn't the love of Christ. The Word says that God is love. His love is agape and unconditional. So in order for us to love unconditionally, we have to have God. If we don't have God then we can't love like God loves us - with our entire beings.

When we invite Love into our hearts, the restraints are broken and there are no limits. Now that this Love is dwelling in is we are able to love each and every individual, regardless of their sins and our previous beliefs about them. If we can't forgive someone, how can we love them. If we can't forgive, how can we possible expect to be forgiven? In all of life's questions, God is the answer. Sometimes we forget that. We forget to call on Him when we stumble or are tempted. But our Father is the answer to everything.

God didn't die just for me. He died for all the sinners. The Bible often speaks of Christ's love for each of His children. If we want to live an abundant life, we need to welcome God inside us so we can radiate the unconditional love that comes through Him.

Love them anyway.

I Love You Anyway by Holly Starr is a lovely song about the love of God. Click the link to have a  listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrF0-8TY7U4&list=PL45DF8A3624D11E2E

God bless,

~ Taleisha