Love to Move....

After much thought and consideration.... I've decided that my journey has grown bigger than I could ever imagine and Google is just not able to do what I need to maintain my growth.
So as of today, Love is Here, Take it With You has moved to www.liajesyka.wordpress.com.
Please join me there as we continue this fantastic journey! I can't wait to see where we go!

Love for A Fool

Throughout my life I have fallen in love with many a fool. Maybe the better term is I am in love with love.
I have a friend, that I do love so dearly, who watched me hopelessly date and used to know exactly how long each guy was going to last in my life. It was so frustrating! He was a confirmed bachelor and all I wanted was happily ever after. What did he know about love?
Several years later, irony has had sweet revenge on both of us. He is now very happily married and I have been single for almost as long as I've known him. I refuse to use the words confirmed bachelorette.
Yes... Yet again, more the fool am I, I know. But on this day, this foolish day, I want to fool my heart, fool my brain into believing that I am not this much in love with love for nothing. Would God have wasted this gift on me? I refuse to believe that! I know that somewhere out there is someone or something needing my time and energy, my love and I just haven't discovered it yet.
What I do know is that in the last year, this is the first time in 6 years that I have not needed to search for my other half. And it feels amazing to finally know that He has everything under control, that I am where I am supposed to be. That I can just stop and breathe. Once more.... Just stop and breathe..... Relief.
I hope you are able to find what it is that your gifts are and where He is calling you to be. Pray about it. If you would like someone else to pray for you, leave a message below. And know that I am praying for you as well.

Love to Be Loved

As my bible study has been studying so much of the life of Jesus and the early church, this week, Holy Week, has been even more emotional than usual.  I know I owe you more than I am going to write today.
But today, know that you are loved and the proof of that love died on a cross for you.  For you!  Amen

Love to be Blind

Recently, I wrote about the blind man from John 9 1-3.
We are doing a little bit of independent study in the middle of our current Bible study. Each of us chose a gospel to read and learn more about the life of Jesus than was touched on in the study.
I chose John and when I got to chapter 9 and read more about the blind man, I had to think even more.
Jesus heals the blind man by putting mud on his eyes and telling him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. After the man is healed, he is almost unrecognizable to those that had known him.
Is this because the light that Jesus referenced in verse 5 was now in the blind man? Shining from his now opened eyes?
I don't know, but I know I want this transformation. I want the mud to be washed from my blind eyes. I want Jesus to open my eyes to what he wants me to see!

Love the Blind Man

Yet again I mention a conversation my friend and I had in bible study... The topic of conversation was similar to yesterday's topic: candy or ram... Was my miscarriage from God or the devil.
As I was doing my homework for bible study this week, we were studying David and Bathsheba and the fact that because of David's sin, they would lose their first child.
Immediately, Angie Smith starts talking about the women reading this story and that they are going to see a correlation between their lives and David. She says that she doesn't think this is true unless we are called to be the king of Israel.
I'm going to insert here that Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins!!!
She goes on to talk about the fact that she herself has buried a child herself and knows where we are all coming from.
She then tells us to go read a couple verses... John 9:1-3
I want you to take a moment now to go read them. If you don't have a bible, look it up on Google. Read the verses a couple times. Just stop and think.
No matter if you have had a miscarriage or lost a baby or... That is the specific suffering that brought this verse into my life, but as I read it, I knew it was so much more powerful than just for women, for just this one instance in my life!
As I sent a text to my friend asking her to think of me as she read this verse, I had no clue the suffering I was about to endure. This week has been difficult in no small part starting a few hours after I discovered this verse... But every moment, every time I turn around I see God using me. I see God's miracles in a situation that could have left me 'blind' if I had allowed the devil grip of my life.
I know it's not easy to see a use for suffering... And for anyone to say to a grieving mother that there is a purpose... I hated the doctor that said something similar to me. But looking back many years later, I can see reason to the situation. Not that I don't miss my daughter every day! But I understand why God chose to take her home instead of giving her to me.
So once or twice more, read those verses. And I hope you find comfort. Know that I'm praying for you, no matter where you are in your journey, because we all suffer! I love you!

Love to Know: Tested or Tempted

One of the girls in my Bible study and I have long talked about the topic 'does God test you?' as we study one verse or another from week to week.
A couple weeks ago, the author of our current Bible study answered that question in terms that we both could understand. Since today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of Jesus' temptation with the devil, I thought it a great time to write this.
In Seamless, Angie Smith describes the scene with Abraham as he prepares to sacrifice his son as a test. Before Isaac is killed, God reveals a ram in the bushes.
She continues to say that when the devil tempts you, it is like a candy bar is front of you...
Now I grant you that telling the difference between these situations is not always easy.
First of all, let me just say candy? Yummy! Even if I can't eat it any more, it doesn't mean I don't want it... And it's the devil offering it to me, so I'm sure he knows how to offer so that I don't realize that I'm even taking it... And that's the problem! We have to be on guard! At all times!
And Abraham was being asked to be kill the son that he had waited forever for? How cruel! But sometimes God calls us things we don't understand so that He can open our eyes.
I have no big answers to know the difference between test and tempt... Between a ram caught in the bush and a candy bar... Sometimes they will look the same... But if we are careful, if we are on guard, if know submerse ourselves in God's word and surround ourselves with His family, at the very least, it becomes much more difficult for the devil to gain access to us. And when he does, we will have an amazing support group and the knowledge to protect ourselves and say candy... Nah... No thanks!
So I challenge you over the next few weeks to find your candy, to say no thanks... Or to find your ram and tell the Lord that you are willing to step up to His challenge!
I have faith in you! I know you can do it!
Are we tested? Yes! Are we tempted? Yes! Are we strong enough? With God, yes!

Love to Live Alone

A little over 4 years ago, I was looking at moving out of my apartment at my parents and was trying to figure out what I wanted. I had been denied my own apartment based on my nonexistent credit so I had turned to Craigslist in hopes of a miracle.
I went to look at a garage apartment, 1200 sq ft with a small yard. The commute and rent were a bit more than I wanted, but it was an amazing space! I wanted it! I gave the lady my deposit even though I was meeting a potential roommate the next day.
As I was driving to meet this roommate, who BTW, I really did not want to live with... I just did not want to live with someone! I wanted my own space!
Anyways, as I was driving, I just kept praying, saying, I know what I want, but what is it you want for me? Give me a sign. Make sure I know I'm in the right place.
As soon as this wild and wacky woman walked in the door of Panera, I can't remember if it was like we knew each other forever or if it just clicked, but I know we couldn't stop talking.
She is this amazing and loud bubble of faith that I just knew without a doubt, God wanted in my life.
One of the questions of my Bible study this week was how has God challenged you and how did you respond?
I really, really wanted that garage apartment, but it would have been a struggle for me in more ways than one.
Moving in with this roommate, opening my eyes to a whole new world of how to live with God and I thank Him all the time for bringing her and her beautiful family into my life.
And another fantastic blessing of this move, I never would have ended up at my church if I had moved into the garage apartment...
So many miracles from one cup of coffee... Or chai latte :-)