DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
CELEBRATING LIFE, LOVE & BDAYS | Day 22 of 40 (LENT)
Today, let’s celebrate life & love! Why?
Because today, the love of my life was born.
Not today as in 2012, but today as in St. Patrick’s Day.
Today, he burst onto the scene, bringing a little more peace into a chaotic world.
When you meet my husband, you can’t help but feel at ease. You feel his calm, steady, unshakable strength. He pulsates cool. You feel his hope in you and his belief that you will be alright, regardless of your situation.
He knows a little something about survival. He has faced incredible odds, at no fault of his own, and has found the faith to keep moving forward. That faith runs deep, Fam. He won’t give up. He won’t let hard situations define him. He finds solutions. He finds a way. He finds joy in a heavenly Father who loves him and kept him through the valley of the shadow of death. He smiles a lot. We laugh a lot. If you haven’t yet, you need to meet Kevin. Your life will be better. He’s made mine the best.
He knows that I don’t do this i.e. public posts of our private life. I’m candid-by-birth, and my life is an open book because I make a living sharing it with others through speaking, writing, ministry and performing. But I am fiercely protective of our privacy. Marriages are under attack, and marriages in Hollywood seem to last, what, 72 days? So, I don’t really do this.
But today, I make an exception, because I want to encourage you. Whatever we’re going through – the good, the bad, the ugly – we can still celebrate life and celebrate love. If you are reading this, it means that you are still alive (YAY!) and you are still loved (Double YAY!).
Whether you feel loved or not, you are deeply loved. Even deeper than I love my husband and he loves me and we roll like center-of-the-earth deep. Beyond that, you and I are loved with an everlasting love that is so pure and transformative and real that nothing can separate us from it.
Day 22:
Take a look below at ROMANS 8:38-39.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our God says He loves us beyond depth and height and anything in all creation. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from His love.
Verse 35 asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
In other words, no trouble, no hardship, no bad times can make us any less lovable. What are we enduring? Are we hungry? Don’t have enough clothes? Worried about how to pay the rent/mortgage? Facing threats from folks that aren’t in their right minds? What are we facing? Whatever it is, it cannot make us any less loved in Christ.
Many times, we measure love by how great life is.
We think to ourselves, “If God loves me, my life would be grand 24/7.”
This scripture obliterates that idea. Romans 8:28-39 body slams any notion that God’s love spares us from hard times. Instead, God’s love sustains us through them.
As quoted in Verse 35, there WILL BE trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and life-and-death situations, but while we are in those situations, the love of Christ is right there with us.
Let’s celebrate life today, in all its roller coaster glory.
Let’s celebrate the mountains and valleys.
Let’s celebrate the inseparable love of God for us through the droughts and waterfalls.
I am so grateful for life and love.
I’m so grateful for my husband’s life and love.
What about you?
Got a reason to celebrate?
Go ahead, put on some green and go Irish jig in a St. Patrick’s day parade.
Or put on our favorite color and dance around your living room.
We’re alive!
We’re loved!
Let’s celebrate!
Happy Birthday, Love,
Naima
Our weekends through LENT are times of reflection and thanksgiving. Traditionally, during Lent, SUNDAYS are considered mini-celebrations (symbolizing Christ’s resurrection) following FRIDAYS’ special times of fasting (symbolizing His death). Thus, LENT starts on Ash Wednesday and goes for 46 days ending Easter, but the 6 Sundays are excluded, equaling 40 days. We make a sacrifice of something meaningful for the entire 40 days, but Sundays are excluded. So, Saturday, you’ll get a devotional that you can meditate on for the entire weekend. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks.
DAILY PRAYER (LENT):
1) Confession & Repentance – Let’s confess our wrongs and ask forgiveness
2) Complete transparency – Let our guard down and talk to God about our lives.
3) Listen – Let’s quiet and listen to God’s Spirit re: the scriptures, etc.
4) Intercession for others – Let’s pray for our family, friends, coworkers, church, etc.