ON LOVING AND LETTING GO

Hello🤗. 

How are you doing today? How's the month going for you so far? I pray that God will continue lead you in this month. 

It's another Guest Feature Thursday!

My sister, Ramatu, is featuring on the blog today. When she sent in her feature and I read it, I told her that her message was specifically for me, una be bye-beneficiaries oo😅, and I'm so eager to share her message with you and I pray it blesses you like it's blessed me. 

Welcome to today's gist. 

I recently made the decision that, for the well-being of my heart and love, I had to distance myself from a friend I've known and loved for almost ten years and when I tell you that the ache felt like it was a living and breathing thing, you best believe it. 

In my anger and hurt, I ranted on and on to another friend of mine about how I have done nothing but love this person and been a good friend but this was the way I was being paid back and how I wasn't sure I could continue loving this friend.  My friend let me finish, and in the calmest way possible, my friend goes "this is the same way that Jesus has loved you and you've been breaking His heart all your life".   

For hours, I kept thinking about that statement.

I thought about how horrible I was feeling from just one person's betrayal, and tried to imagine how God felt being betrayed and hurt by millions or billions of people every single day and He still remains consistent in His love to us. His love doesn't flicker on when we do right and off when we do wrong. He is always there with us, loving us and of course that doesn't mean that He stops saying no to our sins and wrongdoings. 

The very nature of the love that God has called us to is that it is unconditional in its workings. It's not dependent on what people have done –right or wrong. It also doesn't depend on whether they have betrayed our trust or have been the best thing since slice bread.

Does that mean that you shouldn't set boundaries that will protect your heart?? Definitely not!  A lot of times it is very wise to love some people from afar. You can love people and genuinely want the best for them without keeping them super close and willingly handing them the ammunitions they need to constantly hurt you, however there is a need to find a balance, to ensure that you do not turn away in hate from that person. 

If you haven't already done so, I invite you to carefully analyze your friendships and human relationships.  If you're like me, you'll probably notice that there are some people that you've been fighting to hold on to, maybe because of how long you've known them or how grateful you are to them for something they did for you at one point in your life. Even though you know that these people cause you pain and make you hold strife in your heart, you've refused to let go of them. 

See the thing with strife is that it can seriously affect the state of your heart and also affect your relationship with God and you really don't want that! So search your heart, find the causes of strife that you currently harbour in your heart and consciously distance yourself from them.

It sounds easy to say but unfortunately it may hurt a whole lot and take a while to learn, unlearn and relearn. 

The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23 that "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it"(NIV). 

Many times, guarding your heart requires setting boundaries and stepping away from some people and some things. It requires you to love them enough to give them space without leaving room for resentment to grow in your heart. 

God's help is constantly available for you and I hope you wholly take advantage of it to learn to love, even if it means letting go. 

Thank you so much Sakie for sharing your thoughts, I'm grateful for the clarity God has used them to give me. Thank you so much. Meanwhile, me and Daniel don ready our pink outfits for your December "wedding" so you better marry that marry oo😅😅😀. 

And to you dear gist partner for staying with me, I pray that God gives you discernment to understand if, when and how to let go of friendships and to love unconditionally. 

NLS HOT GIST: It's 15, or 16 depending on who you ask, days to Bar Finals (I dey work with 15 days sha). Dey pray abeg🙏🏾. E be like say the gist till I write Bar Finals finish go be to dey tell una to pray, but abeg dey intensify your prayers, thank you. In other news, our final Body of Benchers dinner is next week; after that, I'll be another step closer to being a qualified legal practitioner (yes! Eating three times formally is mandatory to being called to bar in Nigeria, funny right 😂?) 

Well that is that about that as far as that is concerned, see you when I see you! 

Love,

Achenyo. 

PS. In case you find that I do not gist with you at any point in the next three weeks, abeg bear with me, na Bar Finals magana na im cause am🙏🏾, thanks and God bless.