Taffi Dollar - Embracing the Love God Wants You to Have: A Life of Peace, Joy, and Victory

Creflo, my hope and prayer is that you experience daily the fulfillment of our rock-solid bond. I thank my God above for sending you into my life and for our being able to share our lives together. It has been a reward and an undeniable joy knowing that we can face lifes journeys together. It has been your heartfelt love and faith in me that has encouraged me to write this book. Youve been a constant support of motivation and strength every day since I met you. I can never thank God enough for allowing our paths to cross almost thirty years ago. As my husband, Creflo, I want to thank you for showing me the unfailing love of God every single day. I am certainly a blessed woman because of you. You are an expression of Gods love to me!

Taffi

A FEW YEARS AGO , I BEGAN TO RECEIVE MANY profound revelations from God. While discussing revelations with my husband, Creflo, and studying the Word myself, I began to realize these insights from God were concerning grace. God revealed to me that His grace is a manifestation of love. Together, Creflo and I have applied this belief and as a result have experienced greater levels of joy and freedom than ever before. The revelation has been truly an amazing gift. Our deeper understanding of Gods grace has helped us to understand each other better, and taught us how to listen to the Holy Spirit when resolving conflicts. We began to fully understand that there is a grace that allows us to flourish in all of our relationships. Grace allowed our love for each other to break barriersof fear and misinformationwe learned in our families growing up. Grace allowed us to change the way we discipline, direct, and enjoy our children. Grace enabled us to go from trying to rule and control our children to discerning their God-given gifts and guiding them to fulfill their divine purposes in life.

There was a time when we argued about how much to give our children and how much to make them work for what they received. We both were taught, If you want it, work for it. Our parents didntcouldntgive us a car to drive to high school. We had to walk or use public transportation. So it was difficult deciding when to give our children a car. I prayed long and hard about it, and God gave me peace with our decisions. Particularly in these days, when parents struggle against allowing our children to grow up feeling entitled to gifts and favors, I believe we can ask God to show us the right balance for each child, and that God will reveal what we should and should not give.

Gods revelations on love and grace have been pouring forth in my life, and I thank God for the opportunities to share them. When we understand that we are loved by God, and that God gives us gracefavor beyond what we can earnour relationships become transformed. When we feel loved, we glow. We smile more, we feel lighter, we eat less, we laugh louder. Imagine experiencing that in love feeling simply by meditating on Gods love for you. When our heart feels content, we dont even eat as much junk food. Theres nothing like the real thing. Were not eating to fill a void. When we are filled with Gods love, we can extend more love in our relationships. I believe Gods love and grace bless our relationships with our family and friends, and our relationships at church, at work, and in our communities.

Grace is a game changer. Grace is one of the things that can be experienced in our relationships, extended through our manners in dealing with people. I think it is time for all of us to see grace in our lives. We can show grace in the smile we give to a stranger on the street, a reminder that everyone in our world hasnt turned mean or mad. Grace is in a small bottle of scented lotion you leave on a coworkers desk to brighten her day. Grace is responding to someone elses anger with uncommon patience and pardon. Whether its your child throwing a temper tantrum, or your boss fire-breathing over your shoulder, when you have it down in your heart that God wants you to live in peace, you resolve to diffuse the anger that can react to it. Many of us have the misunderstanding that we can use fear and intimidation to control relationships. We think whoever yells the loudest wins. Not so.

In this book we will examine grace-based relationships versus fear-based relationships. I am learning that our relationships require love and grace to survive. Many marriages fail not because of a lack of love but because of an inability, or unwillingness, to adapt to changes and show the other grace. When situations come up that we cant manage, we need Gods grace to get us through. The graceless relationships are the ones that end in destruction and despair.

Tina Turner sang, Whats love got to do with it? Loves got everything to do with everything. We need healthy relationships to grow as human beings. Without loving relationships with family and friends we feel disconnected. Excessive isolation can lead to mental illness. In relating to other human beings, we express our thoughts and feelings and experience the thoughts and feelings of someone else. Theres beauty in the exchange.

We need love and grace in our relationships. The Bible tells us, in 1 Corinthians 13:46, Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. In this book we will reflect on how we can expect, experience, and express Gods love in the relationships in our lives. We will examine our love for Godand His love for us. We will reflect on self-love, and develop more loving relationships with our significant other, with our children, our family, our coworkers, neighbors, and fellow church members.

The Webster dictionary defines grace as, divine favor toward man... divine love and pardon... the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice. The Bible speaks often of Gods grace. Hebrews 4:16 says, Let us draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In this book, you will see how Gods grace shines in the lives of other women, and you will be encouraged to reflect on your own experiences of Gods grace.

When I received a deeper understanding of grace, I felt liberated. It took the pressure off of me and my own ability to have to measure up to what I believed His standards were. Even though I understood the role of the Holy Spirit, I felt a need to do things in my own strength. For example, I thought I had to do a lot of fasting and praying to cleanse myself before delivering a sermon. But when God gave me a revelation about grace, I realized I didnt need to put that sort of pressure on myself. Grace allows me to trust Gods ability above my own. It all boils down to submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to be our guide. Within these chapters, I want to encourage you to begin to release the pressure you may be putting on yourself. I want you to begin to realize that there is a grace to help you fulfill all the roles you are destined to fulfill.