Please welcome to the blog guest-poster Jacy Lee Pulford! Jacy is an author, homeschooling mom, and entrepreneur (Hello Awesome Shop), and we are honored to have her with us today. We know you will be inspired by her encouragement and beautiful testimony. Please feel free to leave your thoughts, and don’t miss the links to Jacy’s books and online shop at the end of this article!
~~~~~~~~~
I will never forget the first time I stepped through those wooden double doors at the Apostolic Church of Enfield. I can’t forget because it took my emotions by surprise. Around this same time 11 years ago, a very insecure 22-year-old sat on a pew with deep longing. My eyes were stunned. I never knew people could express their love for God so outwardly! A warmth swept over my entire body and hot tears rolled down my cheeks. I didn’t know how I knew, but I did: Jesus was in this place, and whatever these people had…I wanted it.
You see, that day the “it” changed for me. When I was younger, the concept of love was very warped in my thinking, and I was emotionally promiscuous. Emotional promiscuity is when we do not protect the boundaries of our emotions and they become wild. Our emotions lack standards and are casual in who gets a piece of our hearts. I would give my heart away to others before a relationship was even established. When a relationship did finally start, it led me down a perverted path of impurity and deceit. It was very easy for the heart to convince the brain that life was okay. It was far from that.
Naive and vulnerable, I was searching for the “it” that would satisfy this inner hunger I had for acceptance and love. I wanted to find “it” so bad. Without the proper spiritual guidance, I never found “it” in the places I was looking. Then God sent me Jonathan, who became my best friend. Soon we started dating, and things started to shift. I’d never found “it” before–until that day I walked into an Apostolic church.
There is no finding “it” outside of Jesus, because Jesus is IT! He is the all in all. The complete and whole puzzle for our broken lives. And as I stand today, I feel a sense of responsibility, because I once stood in the hands of the enemy. And “it” wasn’t pretty–the memories I can’t forget, the emotional scars the Lord had to heal, the people I hurt through my selfishness. We don’t think about the destruction of a battlefield after the war. We get so focused on our personal mission, we don’t realize the amount of clean-up that takes place after disaster strikes. Now, I watch as young people think that church is holding them back from the good things. I listen as I hear young voices speak words as if God couldn’t hear them. I can sense cold shoulders towards Heaven and raised internal fists at our Creator. And I weep.
Allow me to be a voice for you, dear sister. You got “it” right now: Jesus! He is the key to your loneliness, your forever joy, your full satisfaction. I came out from the world, and “it” is not there! If you spent the rest of your life searching, it’d be a complete waste. No one can take the place of God. You will not find “it” in friends, dating, alcohol, physical intimacy, a career, or ministry titles. The pleasures of this life don’t have eternal longevity, but the consequences do. It’s not worth your glory being ripped away or the light of holiness blown out. I know. I lived without both. And it was the closest you can get to death without actually dying.
Sister, you have a truth that is priceless, because it was paid for! Protect your heart by averting your gaze. You don’t have to go looking for “it” somewhere else when you’re already holding “it”! This is the turning point. Cement your feet in the Word. Bow those wandering knees. Raise your voice and cry out. You can make “it,” because Jesus is “IT”! His Spirit lives in you, and the boundaries are meant to protect your inheritance. Princess, you are royalty. Your Father is King. It’s time to stop looking at the other side of the fence like it’s a treasure. Our King is the treasure. He is the I AM. He is the “IT”!
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”
Psalm 16:11 KJV
Jacy is a self-published Christian artist and writer who strives to uplift and inspire through the gift of creativity. Two profound subjects represented in her books and illustrations are emotional purity and modest fashion. With the help of Jesus and coffee, Jacy balances being a homeschooling boymom with running Hello Awesome, an online art & writing ministry. She resides with her handsome husband and two sons in their dream New England fixer-upper. Follow Jacy on Instagram for encouraging messages and artwork @helloawesomeshop
Purchase Jacy’s books here:
Palace Keepers – an inspirational book and testimony about emotional purity
Color Me Modest – beautiful modest fashion illustrations to color