A Woman of Purpose: Finding Self and Making a Difference

By Valarie F. Thomas

Life offers us many disappointments and often uninvited pain. A Woman of Purpose details the journey through pain to find your landing pad so you can discover your true purpose and make a difference in the lives of others. A woman of purpose is a journey towards healing and leaving the past behind so you can walk in total freedom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973690559

Valarie F. Thomas

Valarie F. Thomas was born and raised in Alabama. She is a registered professional nurse, educator, and an ordained evangelist with 24 years in ministry service. She enjoys writing and teaching about the Power of Prayer and Christian values. She has a love for people and endeavors to make a difference in the lives of those whom she meets on a daily basis. It is through her pain that she is able to touch the lives of many and to let them know unapologetically about the love of God. God has called her to minister to women and to walk them through their pain into purpose.

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Copyright © 2020 Valarie F. Thomas.

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Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com TheNIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9056-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9057-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-9055-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020907333

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/11/2020

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction To The Journey

1 Feeling Loved

2 Accepting Christ

3 Walking Through My Painful Moments

4 Recognizing the Spirit of Rejection and Receiving Your Healing

5 Untying the Yoke of Unforgiveness

6 Breathing Again

7 Learning the Art of Loving the Outsiders

8 Sitting in His Presence Daily

9 Honoring the Holy One and His Anointing

10 Becoming a Blessing to Those Around You

11 Walking in Purpose

12 Designed for Destiny

DEDICATION

Although many people have shaped my life, I would like to dedicate this book to my mom, who has always had my back. When I was moving through life during my struggles, her words to me were, Just keep going and one day you will step out on dry land. She is truly an inspiration and an amazing woman of God. She has taught me so much about staying in the fight of life and trusting God to bring me through while developing a Godly character that has surely brought me to this point.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am forever grateful for the challenges I have faced in life and the people God has placed in my path. Those people—past, present, and future—have shaped and will shape my course. I am also grateful for the family God has given me in the arrangement of wonderful, loving Christian parents and siblings. My parents taught me the meaning of loving God and loving others. I am now blessed to have a family of my own and have made every effort to pass along the teachings of my parents in hopes that my children will walk in complete submission to the Word of God, and that His Word will guide every decision they make in life. I am most thankful for my amazing spouse, who takes so many journeys through life with me in ministry and not once does he complain. He is truly my natural and loving king.

PREFACE

What if you had the opportunity to do life all over again? What would you do differently, if anything? Many of us live with regrets from the past and the choices we’ve made. Before you beat up on yourself, let me provide you with a few things to think about. No matter what choices we have made, good or bad, there is a lesson to learn from them. I wish I could say I made all the right choices in life so that my walk through life could have been seamless and without heartache; however, that was not the case and I am sure that is not life’s story for many of you. Life has a way of taking us through valleys as well as mountaintops. While we enjoy the mountaintop experiences, it’s really the valley experiences that bring out the best in us. These valley experiences create who we are and will bring us to our expected end.

God has designed us with a purpose in mind. To arrive at our purpose, we must go through a series of ups and downs to be effective and make an impact. The Bible clearly outlines many who have gone through valleys and trenches, close to death, to make it to the place He prepared for them to operate in purpose. Joseph was sold into slavery to the Ishmaelites by his jealous brothers just so, years later, he could save the lives of his father and brothers by preventing them from starving. Job was a good and upright man, minding his own business and just doing life as he knew how, when out of nowhere, his life was turned upside down by the loss of everything, including family and wealth. Naomi suffered the loss of all her family and was left alone in a foreign land with only her sorrows. How was she to know she would lose her spouse and children in a land that did not even worship her God? Hannah consistently prayed for God to bless her with a child because she was barren and constantly ridiculed by her husband’s other wives, who all had children. God used her barrenness to bring life to many others through her prayers as she was blessed with a son named Samuel, who would spend all the days of his life in the temple of God. The Bible has reference after reference about the people of God going through valleys only so He can illuminate their purpose someday for going through the pain.

God may be allowing you to go through valleys now as well but hold on. Your mountaintop experience is on the way. Please do not let the trials of your lives be wasted by missing the turning point God is taking you to so you can be someone else’s answer to life. Many people are waiting for the gifts God has planted inside of you to operate in purpose. Some of us have dealt with infant and pregnancy loss, infertility, or the death of a loved one who was closer to us than anyone could imagine. We feel grief from the hole that has been left in our hearts. We suffer from health issues where we had to fight for our lives, we endure divorce and infidelity, and we might have wayward children who have lost their way in life. The list can be endless.

Nevertheless, God has it all under control. He has given us the tools to endure our valleys and enjoy our mountaintops. When we understand that the valley is temporal, we can enjoy our now because we know the future involves a mountaintop experience. Every trial we make it through is a revelation of who God is and a roadmap to help someone else navigate through their valleys and find freedom.

For years, God gave me the passage of scripture found in Isaiah 61:1-3, which says, He anointed me to bring good news to the humbled and afflicted and to bind up the brokenhearted and release those who are in prison. He anointed me to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, to comfort those who mourn and give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise. These scriptures let us know that the world has trouble to offer, both to ourselves and others. We cannot be any of the things in the aforementioned scriptures unless we have endured the heartaches ourselves.

Will you join me in taking your heartaches and the trials of life and using them for the lifting of someone else? In other words, will you use the gifts that you have gained through your trials in life for a dynamic purpose orchestrated by God? Will you become that woman with purpose and make a difference for others who may be looking for answers to life’s problems?

INTRODUCTION TO THE JOURNEY

It is natural for us to hold on to the negative and remember all the wrong things that have been done to us, but those things only hinder the path to the great purpose God has designed for each of us. We will begin our journey by admitting to the things that have hurt us, and by accepting that pain and disappointment have happened with an understanding that those things cannot continue to keep us bound. We must realize that