Re-Love: Your Journey to Freedom

By Karen Gaughan

This book is for anyone who has ever been hurt or ashamed or afraid. And for those who have placed the stake in the ground and built a wall around their heart refusing to be hurt again. This book is for those who want to understand those who are angry or frustrated and cant seem to find solid ground. This writing is to help you stand. To help you on the road to being a tree planted by living waters. Stable, deeply rooted, able to bend, but refusing to break. If you want to begin the healing process or seek to understand those who need healing then this book is for you.

Make a choice to relove today. Make a choice to relove God, relove your neighbor, and relove yourself. Together we can start a revolution. A relove revolution. Will you join me?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524607173

Karen Gaughan

After God began dealing with her about past hurts and personal short comings, Karen realized she was living a life filled with fear that affected every relationship and every decision, including the way she was raising her children. Her relove journey began when God challenged her to learn to love him, others, and herself in a way she had never known before. Karen wants others to experience the life she is learning to live. Karen Gaughan is a prayer warrior and is passionate about encouraging people. You can visit her blog at www.relove.me. Karen is a devoted wife, loving mother of two boys and lives in the Washington, DC, metro area.

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© 2016 Karen Gaughan. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/27/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0718-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0717-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016907733

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

NIV

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica

NKJV

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

KJV

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Ground Zero

Route Relove

Release Lane

Repent Circle

Redo Loop

Rejuvenate Parkway

Restoration Trail

Revive Road

Resurrection Highway

Rebuild Boulevard

Recover Court

Renew Avenue

Sinner’s Prayer

Relove Connection

Acknowledgements

To my God, thank You for Your LOVE and Your FAITHFULNESS. I reserve the words Awesome and Amazing only for You.

Thank you to my husband and my two sons. Every moment we spend together is continually shaping me into the wife and mother God wants me to be. I see Him in you; I hope you see Him in me.

To my parents, Quincy Adam and Eva, who helped shape and mold me into the person I am today. I thank God for allowing me the gift of having you as parents.

Thanks to Jaqi Wright, Novena Reid and Tameka Selby for allowing God to use you with your words of inspiration, correction and guidance. Special thanks to Tracey Casis for reviewing my work. You all are heaven sent.

Thanks to Bishop Derek and Pastor Yeromitou Grier and all of the Grace Church family (especially my DYC family) for your obedience to the call of God on your lives. You have grown me and stretched me in ways I never knew. I can hardly wait to see what God has in store for us.

To all who have supported me, thank you, I love you and God Bless you. To all who have hated on me, talked about me, mistreated me, lied on me and hoped and wished for my demise, God Bless you as well. You have been used by God to assist in my pruning and refining process. You are the ones who have taught me to re-love.

In His Love,

Introduction

For many reasons, I thank God that you have chosen to read this book. The number one reason is because you have a desire to be a better person. Congratulations! You’ve taken a major step in your journey and a major step in making our world a better place.

The concept for this writing was inspired by the voice of God in my head. The entire book was given to me chapter by chapter during one 40-minute ride to work. During the start of my journey, God was dealing with me on some of the fears I had growing up that shaped me into the woman I am today. God was like a broken record showing me my face in a mirror and providing me a picture of my life in 1000 pieces.

For about a year, each time I went to God in prayer He spoke to me about love and about the log in my eye instead of the speck in someone else’s. At this exact same time, there were so many love issues in several different relationships in my life. As God really began to work on me, or better put, as I opened up to his call on my life and chose to let God really come in, the 1000 pieces of my life began to come together.

That coming together is what is termed as the verb re-love. Re in our English language means to do again. Love, as we know from the most read book in the world is God. 1 John 4:16-18 (NIV) tells us that

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

To relove is many things. To relove is to live a life without fear. To live a life dancing like no one is watching. To live a life filled with poetic perfection like when swimming in the rain. To live a life on the mountaintop even when you find your situations and circumstances in the valley. To remain rich in your thinking even when the reality of your pocketbook says otherwise. To live a life above soaring like an eagle and never beneath like a slivering snake. At the front and never at the end. To live a life realizing that the only time we fail, is when we fail to try. Relove is an action word but it’s also a faith word. Faith that with God all things are possible. Faith that nothing is too hard for Him. To relove is the act of loving again with all hopes of doing it right this time. Loving God, Loving Others and Loving Yourself again. And loving in absolute freedom with no fear.

I had to face the facts, my first attempts at loving God was a miserable failure. Jesus tells us that if we love Him then we will keep His commands and we will be His disciples. My first 10 years of claiming to be a Christian was not spent keeping his commands. Actually it wasn’t even close and if I were to be honest, I really wasn’t even trying. I was trying to keep my flesh happy. There was no picking up my cross and following Him. There was no trying to do everything to live peaceably among my brothers. There was no turning the other cheek. I just thought oh God knows my heart and that statement was and is correct. He does know my heart. And I thank God for His patience.

My attempts at loving others was sad and pitiful as well. My teenage friendships were based on superficial things. My 20’s were based on selfish desires stemming from a low self-esteem. In my 30’s as I began to serve others it started to come together but still lacked any real depth. I knew there was something to this service thing because it felt so good to serve others. But even in that, I would serve but thought too highly of myself to