Brrr! Baby, It's Cold.

Good Morning Beautiful,

Meteorologists have determined that the polar vortex is so powerful that it is causing a deep atmospheric depression along the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, subzero temperatures are breaking records across the US this week. Today in Chicago, we are at a frigid 3 degrees, while other states are experiencing temperatures as low as -20 degrees.  News reports are covering deaths all across America. People are literally freezing to death because of these brutally cold temperatures. All across the nation cities are declaring a state of emergency. Several media outlets have described this blizzard as "bitterly cold", "life threatening", "a real killer",  and "a serious situation".  One news outlet stated that within 10 minutes of being outside you could literally freeze to death if you weren't properly clothed. For this reason, we are being warned to exercise extreme caution when dealing with these plunging temperatures. It's dangerous out there and if you aren't properly prepared you could lose your life.

Sounds scary, doesn't it?

Yet, this weather doesn't even compete with the coldness of our own hearts. 

As I sit here and write this blog, I can't help but think of the coldness of my own heart. I can honestly sit here and say that at one time or another, my heart has been so cold that the blizzard of my own words have killed many. I often find myself asking God to change my heart and make it more like His. Daily I plead for Him to reveal the areas in which I struggle and the areas that I need to allow Him to clean up. 

Then, I go through my day being "holy" and "righteous". I become so pleased with myself and how much I'm allowing God to change me, make me new, and renew my heart. Everything seems fine and dandy and I start to take pride in how fully committed I am to the Lord. I can see how kind, tenderhearted and loving I am becoming.

AND THEN.....

My sister comes in town to visit me and the blizzard returns.

My sister and I have always had a very "special" relationship, as most sisters do. I'm her protector, defender, confidant, sounding board, teacher, supporter, and encourager and she is mine. Then at the drop of the wrong tone, attitude, word or action, she becomes my worst enemy and the polar vortex of my heart comes in blazing causing a deep atmospheric depression to those around me. I'm quick to destroy her with my words, hurt her with my actions, and cut her down as though she's my archenemy. In many ways, the way I treat my sister when she upsets me, is comparable to how the harsh, cold, disastrous blizzard treats us. After I've emptied the most hurtful words out of my heart and she's crying, I find myself fully convicted and ashamed.  Most times, I play it off with pride and act as if I don't care that I just killed her spirit with my words and actions. The moment God gets me alone, I sit in a sea of my own shame, fully convicted of my wrongdoing and shortcomings. 

As usual, when you ask God to reveal something to you, He sure does. When I ask God to reveal my heart to me and to work in me, He ALWAYS uses the people closest to me to show me who I REALLY am.  He uses people that I love to reveal the content of my heart to me. He uses them to expose the areas that need His healing power, the areas that need His forgiveness, the areas that need His strength, the areas that need His love and the areas that need His chastening.

Don't get me wrong, He uses strangers as well. However, we have a love connection with our own family and friends and the piercing of His conviction is more painful when He uses them,  because of the bond we share with these people. Which is also why we are deeply wounded when family and friends betray and disappoint us versus some random stranger.

He will use ANYONE and ANYTHING when he is trying to transform your heart.

For instance....

It's common for people to say things like, "I cannot stand "So and So" because "So and So" brings out the worst in me."

No, girlfriend! "So and So" doesn't bring out the worst in you. "So and So" just exposes the garbage in your heart, the evil in your heart and the insecurities in your heart. The reason you don't like "So and So" is because your reaction to "So and So's" actions is a reflection of your wicked little heart and you don't like what you see.

I love this illustration and scripture because it really depicts what our tiny hearts look like when they're engulfed in the filth of jealousy, deception, envy, lust, idolatry, hate, unforgiveness, etc.

The scripture used here explains how the words that come out of your mouth, whether they be love or hate, are connected to your heart and are a result of what is living in your heart. So if you want to determine if your heart is pure and good, then you would need to evaluate what comes out of your mouth. 

Do you cut others down with your words?

Do you curse people with your words?

Do you wish bad on people with your words?

Do you gossip?

Do you lie?

Do you spread rumors?

Do you curse people out?

Do you tarnish people's character and reputation with your words?

Do you speak negativity with your words?

Do you doubt with your words?

Do I hear some of you whispering "yes"? 

Don't be ashamed, Love. Rejoice! God has just exposed your own heart to you. He has revealed the truth to you and His Word says that the truth shall set us FREE. 

Be Free!

How do you find freedom, you ask? 

It's simple. 

Come to the feet of Jesus and ask for His sweet forgiveness. Ask Him to change your heart, mind and words. Ask Him to come in and do some serious housekeeping and to clean out the deepest and dirtiest corners of your heart, and then submit to Him. Let Him change you. Ask Him for strength or whatever it is that you lack and He will provide it. 

I find that when I'm not sitting in the presence of Jesus and allowing Him to be strong in my weakness, I fail, and the story above repeats itself. We are going to make mistakes and we are going to have days where we fail but failure is not a dead end road. Seek Jesus and he will reroute you back to righteousness.

Here is what your heart should be focused on.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

⁴ Love does not give up. Love is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not put itself up as being important. Love has no pride. ⁵ Love does not do the wrong thing. Love never thinks of itself. Love does not get angry. Love does not remember the suffering that comes from being hurt by someone. ⁶ Love is not happy with sin. Love is happy with the truth. ⁷ Love takes everything that comes without giving up. Love believes all things. Love hopes for all things. Love keeps on in all things.

Sister, it is possible for God to change you. Don't settle in your mediocre ways. Be the best version of yourself. 

The grace of Jesus is beautiful. Here's a little tip: Shower in it daily or you will begin to stink. 

Alright, now go out there and start your day with encouragement and love. This day is YOURS. Conquer it!

P.S I am so excited about Friday's blog. It's going to be the most transparent I have ever been in my entire life. I would like to forewarn you about the rawness of Friday's post. If you have teenage daughters, I would encourage you (use discernment) to have them read my post. It's going to rock your world. We will be covering sex, adultery, fornication and a few other things. This blog will be candid and real. I am willing to lay it all on the line to save another woman from experiencing the pain I went through and to prevent them from making the mistakes I have made.

Jessica Torres

Founder of Beauty of Encouragement

Ugly Little Mouth

Ladies,

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I am so excited to pour love, encouragement and motivation into your life. Please bare with me because it may not always be perfect, but I promise it will always be sincere.

Can you believe we are already three days into the new year. Gosh, how amazing is that? A whole new year full of endless opportunities and blessings. I know that soon the New Year hype will start to dim down and you'll start feeling a little discouraged and your motivation will not be as high as it was on January 1st. That's OK, because we will all have those times and we need to encourage each other to stay focused on the goal. So, think of this blog as a place to refresh your mindset!

I encourage you to share this blog with as many women as possible. Just like you there are tons of other women out there lacking encouragement, feeling beaten down by life, and simply ready to throw in the towel.

OK, so here we go..... Are you ready for this new journey? I am and I'm on fire for change.



Encouragement- the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope


Wow, how awesome is that? the definition of encouragement is to GIVE someone else support, confidence or hope. 

Now, let's meditate on that for a minute......

Encouragement is a gift we are able to give to others. A gift we are able to speak into someones life. A gift that can support, restore hope or encourage someone else not to give up on life, to keep pushing, to keep fighting. However, too many times we take this beautiful gift and spike it with hate, jealousy and bitterness. 

Are you guilty of this? I sure am. I have also been on the receiving end of that and let me tell you, it's an UGLY feeling. 

I remember telling certain family members about my goal to open a business in my home. Immediately after finishing my sentence they started to speak negativity into my dream. It was almost as though they were just waiting for me to finish my sentence  so that they could tell me how I was going to fail. I felt hurt and upset and I even yelled at them. I mean, how could they? This was important to me. This could mean so much for my life and my finances. Without even thinking, they just started to stab at my dream as if MY DREAM was attacking them. I was mad, hurt, confused and upset. Then God reminded me that I don't need people to validate the gifts, dreams, hopes and visions HE has planted in me. I don't need people to validate my existence. He already did that! 

Now that's all nice and dandy, right? Jesus validated my worth, now I should feel free from people's negativity. Well, to be honest, I wasn't. I was enraged. I kept thinking of how my family should have been more supportive, uplifting and encouraging. In reality they weren't because they just simply didn't know how to. Generations and generations of people have this mindset of defeat. They are defeated in their minds, so out their mouth comes the same thing. 

That is when this very blog came into existence. I decided that I was going to speak encouragement into someones life every single day and I was going to be that tiny little voice that tells them "you can do it. Keep pushing through.".

Too many times we speak because we feel like it's our duty to the world. Too often we don't think about what we are about to say before we say it. Too many times we hurt people with our words and lack of encouragement.

Imagine encouragement like a gift you are giving someone. It's in the prettiest gold box with the perfect glitter polka dot wrapping paper, and wrapped around the box is the biggest, prettiest , perfect,  red ribbon. The wrapping of this gift is simply amazing and makes you excited to open your gift . There must be something beautiful inside. You can already tell because the gift wrapping is so thoughtful. So after anxiously waiting for so long you finally open your beautiful box. BUTTTTTT, You can't help but notice the awful stench coming from inside. As you make your way through the tissue paper, you feel something cold and slimy. Oh my goodness, your hand just touched a dead rat. In that beautiful box you were gifted a dead RAT!!!!! 

How do you feel? Disappointed? Forgotten? Upset? Angry? like a fool? Maybe even a combination of all those emotions? I mean, who would take the time to wrap such a beautiful box knowing it's filled with a rat?!

Has this happened to you? Have you gifted someone with something so special to your heart, only to find that in return they gave you back hate? We often gift our dreams up and hand them out to people we feel will support us and too often they taint our dreams with their poisonous words. 

It hurts, right?


So Beloved, WHY ON EARTH DO YOU DO THE SAME TO OTHERS? Why not do the opposite? 

Now, think of all the people who tell us their dreams and hopes. They are gifting us with their hearts desires and wishes, and in return we give them back a pretty little box filled with the negativity rat. We replace their dreams with our stinky opinions, our doubt, our hate and our negative words. 

It's a never ending cycle of negativity until someone breaks it. So......

Today, I encourage you to be mindful of all your words, your actions and your thoughts. Filter EVERYTHING! Speak encouragement. Speak life. BE that hope that people so desperately need! It starts in your mind and then it will pour out of your mouth. So today start by thinking positive thoughts and then speak on those positive thoughts. I challenge you to do this with me and see how it changes your day and your world. You may even change someones life, just by one thoughtful, encouraging, warm word.

Remember, your words have the power to speak life or death. Do not be careless with your words. Be accountable for what you say to others and to yourself. God himself brought things to life and ended things with just WORDS. He formed the world with words, "let there be light" and so there was. You too have the power to do the same with your mouth and words. What will you allow your words to bring to your life and the lives of those around you?

Go out there and be a spokesperson for love, hope, and all things good. Once you do this the universe will return it all back to you. 

I know we can do this, ladies! One GOOD thought and word at a time. Baby steps.

Please be sure to email us with how this new way of living and thinking has changed your day or life. We look forward to hearing from you.

Jessica Torres
Founder of Beauty of Encouragement