Loving the People

Some days, verses mean different things.  Sometimes they speak to us differently.  Sometimes, it has to do with context.


"Not that I am speaking of being in in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me." 

PHILIPPIANS 4:11-13

Often, the last verse is all that is read.  Everyone who went through AWANA knows "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  I think the verses before it have just as much meaning, though.  Paul is talking about how God gives us strength for everything, not just the hard times.  He will give us what we need in any and everything, even the good times.

These are a few of my favorite verses, and they have been on my heart today.  Lately, I have been feeling down, and have been on the side of the verses with being low, hungry, and desperately in need of God's love, which I wasn't letting in, though he was offering it as freely as ever.  Today, though, I stand on the other side, the side of abundance and plenty.  I feel like I'm on top of the world.  The strange thing is, nothing happened to change that.  Nothing tangible, nothing I can point right at.

I knew I was lost, and God gave me the strength I needed to get out of the rut.  He helped me through, he helped me to accept his love and forgiveness, and now, I ask for his strength to help me give it all back to him.  He has blessed me so greatly, and now I need to give this abounding goodness to the people around me, I need to love them like God loved me - unconditionally.

None of us deserve God's love, none of us deserve love from anyone.  But we need it to live.  We need God's love, because his love brings his grace and forgiveness.  Its a tough thing, to need something we don't deserve.

I hope these verses speak to you in some way.  This is just what they mean to me today; that God gives us undeserved strength all the time, and he gives it to us out of love.  And with that blessing of strength, we should love the people around us, and show them how wonderful God's love is.  If we could love all of the people in any and every circumstance, just imagine how different of a world this would be!

a little bit about me.

I have a brain.  My left brain works in the morning, and my right one takes the graveyard shift.  It keeps me up at night, turning me to my parmesan goldfish to keep me awake as I quietly type out the thought that interrupted my dreams.  I am the three a.m. snacker.  Food makes me stay awake.  I am the person who stays up because her head won’t shut down.  And I keep myself awake because I can’t let the thoughts pass away and be buried in the cemetery of my mind.  It’s too dark down there, and the chances of it coming back up are the same as a dead man rising from his own grave.  

I live in this constant fear that my ideas will leave me when I need them most.  I am afraid that the most brilliant idea I will ever have will come to me when I don’t have a pen and paper near.  I am what I write.  I write my ideas.  I am afraid of losing my ideas.  I am afraid of losing myself.

I am a skeptic.  And I question everything.  

I am extremely easy to read – my body language could tell you the nature of all my thoughts.  But it won’t tell you my thoughts themselves, because you’d have to ask, and I’d have to answer.  You could ask, if you wished, but I would be sure to lie.  And you will probably know that it is a lie, but you couldn’t get me to tell the truth.

I am bizarre.  I can be something one moment and then another the next.  I am not reliable.  Not constant.  I am a mess.  

But I am a beautiful mess, I think.

I am God’s mess, and He is fixing me more every day.

I have faith in that.

Busy

Life is busy.  Life gets hard sometimes.  I don't have all day to tell you what's on my mind.  But, I want to share my prayer that has been on my tongue for the last few weeks, and will stay for weeks to come.

Lord, slow me down.

Whatever I am spending time on,

It should be glorifying you.

And if it doesn't,

Please help me to let it go.

I feel overwhelmed and busy,

So I can't spend time on anything

That doesn't further your kingdom.

I am a mess.

So, please help me to glorify you in all that I do.

And please help me to stay sane,

And to be able to accomplish all that needs to be done.

Thank you for this life,

And all of the wonderful things I get to do.

But help me to not get carried away,

So that I will always focus on what matters most.

You.  Your kingdom.  Loving the people around me.

God, please help me to live for you

By loving the people around me.

No matter how stressed out I am,

I have a desire to see You through it.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done.

I trust you with this.

Please help me to make it through.

My Hands Hold God's

There is something in the air,

The air that I breathe,

That fills me with the Spirit.

It is the air of fellowship,

The air of brotherly love.

There is something in the song,

The song that I sing,

That makes my heart beat louder.

It is the song of a heart that is claimed.

Claimed by the One who will never let me go.

There is something in the eyes,

That eyes that make me see,

That shows me the light of Your grace.

It is the picture of a cross,

A picture of sacrifice.

There is something in the blood,

The blood that courses through my veins,

That brings life to my soul.

It is the blood of Christ,

The blood that saved me.

There is something in my hands,

My hands that hold Gods’,

The love that God has given me.

It is the love that awakens me from death,

The love that lets me breathe.

I am filled with the Spirit,

I will praise the God above,

I can see the undeserved grace,

I live on the blood of Christ,

And

I have been loved by One who

I do not deserve.

And

I have been given so much

Extra.

I will love the people.

I will love God’s creation.

I will love the ones who live in sorrow.

The outcasts.

The sinners.

I will love everyone.

Because I have been blessed,

And I was blessed with a purpose –

A purpose to share

The love

That is in my hands.

Well Oh Well!

It has been a while since I've had time to post, or rather, since I've made time to post.  Perhaps I was afraid of saying something wrong, perhaps I was nervous that I wouldn't know what to say.  My last and only post was a poem - something I am very comfortable writing.  I would've posted another, but I didn't have the right thing to write about.

My life lately, has been quite busy.  It's been none stop work and school, and finally slowed down for a few weeks off to celebrate Christmas.  For a lot of people, myself included, it's hard to slow down during the Christmas season and actually enjoy the meaning of it all.  There are presents, parties, baking, and stress repeatedly until after January 1st, and it takes away from it all.

This Christmas, I took it slower, didn't stress as much, and tried to truly focus on Christmas.  The verses that I was bound to this year were these;

Hebrews 12:1-2

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

These verses are fairly common to those who read the Bible.  Usually, we interpret them as a motivator, as a link to relief as we are stressed.  We have the benefit of being able to look to Jesus, who will help us rid of our heavy sins, and run with endurance and faith.  This year, though, I looked at the last part of it, where it says that Jesus, perfect, sinless, Jesus, endured the cross for us, as we have to endure the race.  He did it for the joy before him, even though it was shameful, even though it hurt.  He wanted to.  And he knew it would have to happen.  But it goes back.  It doesn't start when he died on the cross and took away our sins.  It started when he was born.  He was born for that very purpose, and he lived on earth for that very purpose.

I get stressed out easily, and I keep busy.  I'm also leaden with sins and burdens.  But, I was gracefully reminded this season that I can cast off the weights and run with endurance, the same kind of endurance that Jesus had when he suffered our horrible deaths.  And, just as he, at the end of our enduring race, there will be glory.  Jesus came with the promise of enduring hardships for coming glory, and we can follow that example.

I hope that everyone stayed safe and well for the holidays, and that you all remember that Jesus was born to die a horrible death, to save us, and for the joy that awaited him.  Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, for sure.  But it also is remembering what his birth led to, and praising Him for all that he endured so that we would have the chance to join him in his joy.

I hope you are all well, I am well.  Well in Jesus.  Forever.  Blessings.