Real Love Empowers

"How we love people can either harm them or empower them."

~ Becky Rasmussen 

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend the WILL (Women in Leadership and Learning)Power Up Conference and one speaker in particular really touched me with what she had to say. Becky Rasmussen was the speaker of the topic 'Real Love Empowers' and her story is really touching. Becky grew up with a mother who verbally abused her and who always talked down on her. I remember Becky saying that whenever her mom would 'attack' her, she'd always look to her dad in hopes for protection, and he'd turn the other way. Later in life Becky went through a divorce and finally made a pact with herself; She knew that the only way to find freedom in her life was to forgive her mom, which she did. She went on to say that even though her mom still yelled at her even to the end of her time on earth, Becky found freedom in knowing that her mom grew up in that environment, and really never knew how to truly love someone. And because of having forgiven her mom, she was able to love on her until the day she passed.

Becky now works alongside 6 other people and together they help women (and men) find freedom from Human Trafficking. Together they offer their clients guidance and support to break from that lifestyle and find freedom in Jesus and in love. She told us of a lady who starting at age 3 was introduced to this lifestyle as her dad was preparing to sell her to his 'friends'. When she came into her office as a teenager, she was angry, broken, and even attempted suicide. As this girl was standing on a bridge to end her life she realized something, she realized that Becky and her team loved her, and they very much wanted for her to start a new lease on life and live in the freedom that the Lord has for all of His people. She ended up walking away that day instead of jumping off. A year later after finding healing and power through Becky's program, she told Becky "I need to see my dad, because I need to forgive him and get that closure to be able to move on" and together they did just that. This lady is now working for Becky's company and is a powerhouse speaker of freedom and sharing her story with others. Becky shared that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 helps her get through her day. She centers her life around love and knows that despite how hard a situation/client may be, if you love them in a way that empowers them to move forward, they will be unstoppable. We are to love just as God loves us 1 John 4:19.

As I was thinking about my college years I realized something, I realized that I let a lot of hurtful words control my life. And to be honest a lot of my hurts and my insecurities came from the words of some guys/men who I've encountered along the way. Because of this I get scared of opening up to people and here's why. I remember hanging out with a group of my friends and being told that the reason I was always able to come along was because of my roommate. When she wasn't around, I usually wasn't as welcomed in this circle of friends. One guy in particular never failed to tell me that "you suck at life", "you suck at"...you name it, he always said it and it hurt. I started to go from loving to hangout with my friends, to dreading it. Another gentlemen in that circle went as far as telling all the guys in our Navigators group that I was going around telling lies about him, and making him look bad. After getting a nasty Facebook message from this gentlemen saying "I don't like you, I never have liked you, and I never want to speak to you again", I found out through a roommate of his that he did like me, and because I was not interested in him, he made the choice to blackmail me so I'd be miserable too. Long story short, because of this, I was asked to step down from the leadership team in the Navigators group and was told from the leader that he thought I had too many problems to stay on the leadership team and that he'd rather I keep attending the group and growing in my faith. This same exact conversation happened 3 years later with my pastors at my old church, which you can read about in my post 'Moving On'. 

As I think about my conversation that I had with those pastors, and as I think about Becky's message, I realized that in a way my pastors were right at that time. I was living with a lot of dirt in my life, and that brought on anxiety and a fear of trusting people. I trained myself to run away instead of facing those giants. I didn't know how to live loved or how to love other people. It became evident both at church and at work that I was not ok. It wasn't until my lowest of lows where I knew that I either needed to chose God, or chose to be miserable.

Becky ended her message with this "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14. She said that we have a choice, we can chose to use our tools, gifts, and talents that God has given us to empower ourselves and others or we can chose to live in negativity and be miserable. April 8th is when everything turned around for me. When I first started attending GracePoint, I wasn't looking to get involved so quickly, but God had other plans for me. I realized in a matter of months that my tools, gifts, and talents were way larger that the dirt in my life. I was able to find freedom in God's love for me and freedom after forgiving those who hurt me in the past. Real love can empower you and through you, love can empower others.I'm seeing that more and more every single day! My job now is to continue building trust with people, to build solid friendships that are centered around God, to continue using my tools, gifts, and talents, and to learn to love again. Becky's message was a great refresher, and you can tell that God has worked wonders in her life and in mine!

This whole week the song 'Not Today' by Hillsong UNITED has been stuck in my head. To me this song embodies freedom. It embodies saying no to fear and the enemies lies and reigning in life. I like to think of it as my theme song for the week's and months ahead. There's power in saying no to the enemy, and there's freedoms to living loved, and I chose love!