Month: September 2015

For several weeks, my thoughts have been on friendship.  It seems that God has felt the need to bring it to my mind repeatedly.

I was raised to value a friendship.  My parents had good friends that they were very close to when I was a child, and they demonstrated the power and importance of friendship.  I have always taken true friendship seriously.

I am blessed at this time in my life to have a small core group of friends whom I value as priceless.  Our friendship has built over the years through common life experience and love for each other.

What I love most about my dearest friends is that over the years we have developed a true “Iron sharpeneth iron” relationship.  I love that when I am out of line, but friends will tell me, and I can love them more because of it.  I value you that so highly.

In recent days, I have had a friendship that has been greatly hurt, and I am doubtful that it will ever recover.  I have shed many tears over this.  I am still trying to fix things. I am still praying for them and me and our relationship.  I know I serve a God that is bigger than any human rift.

I am so glad that God had  been reminding me about the strength of true friendship long before any crisis happened.  I am also thankful for the constant reminders about friendship that God has brought before my mind.

I am grateful that I have the opportunity to teach my children about true friendship, and I have the example that my dear friends have given me.  They have heard my friends give me the “What for” when I have needed it, and they have seen our friendship preserved.

I was thinking about this very subject last night.  I was thinking about our children and the influences in their lives, and praying that they find some of the amazing “Iron” friends.  They need that!  This Christian walk is hard, and it so much easier when you have the kind of friends that hold you up, drag you along, or cheer along the way. We have to have them!

Today when we went to The Call-Rockford, I had the opportunity to read in I Corinthians.  Before I read today, I was truly hesitant to write about this subject, but this was the last verse that I got to read.

I Corinthians 15:33
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Another reminder about friendship.  I am so thankful God has blessed me with GOOD company. 

My heart hurts today.  Honestly, that is about all that is on my mind.  My heart just hurts.

I find it so crazy that just yesterday God was working on me about loving people and within a few short hours I am faced with an opportunity to put this faith into action.  Loving someone like Jesus means I have to love them through all their faults AND no matter how much I am hurting.

Yesterday was a day of roller coaster emotions.  We had a long day in court with mixed emotions.  I came home to find my dear friend had worked hard in my house just to help me!   I am so thankful for my dear friend.  I thank God for my dear friend. We then went to the Rescue Mission which is such a spiritual shot in the arm.   There is JOY in serving Jesus!  We had dinner with dear friends and then I came home and had an incredible time of personal worship.   Then, turmoil.  I went to bed full of love, joy, confusion, hurt, and tension.

But I KNOW.

God was still God throughout EVERY moment of my day yesterday.  Every single moment.  My God is sovereign and sits on His throne when my heart is heavy and my mind is jumbled, and God is sovereign and sits on His throne when I am at ease.

He wants me to have peace. He wants me to obey and trust that He is in control.  He has got this.  He has every little trouble running through my mind.  He knows the result that I am already worrying about, and that is wrong! Oh Lord, help me remember you are in control!

I need to be leave it in His hands because He has the answer.

 

I know that this may be a shock to some, but not to those close to me.

I don’t like people.

What?  How can a person like me NOT like people?

Well, I don’t.

I have an incredibly low tolerance for stupidity (not unintelligent… pure stupidity)  and a bunch of other stuff.   I have really been struggling with this in my life.  As I get older I feel myself becoming more and more intolerant of people around me that I feel do not measure up  to my standard.

Lately, the Lord has been really working on me about  this.  He has told me that I need to LOVE people.  REALLY TRULY LOVE people.

The song that has been running through my head repeatedly is Love Them Like Jesus by Casting Crowns.  I want to love people like Jesus, but I have not been doing my job!

Now, I know people will say, “Well, look at what you two do?  Well, You see… I can love certain kinds of people.  I can easily love the childless, the poor, the hurting, the sick, the orphan, the dirty person… but that is not enough.

If I am to LOVE people like Jesus that means I have to love every person…. The annoying. The mean. The intolerant.  The person who makes the same mistake repeatedly.  The person who keeps hurting me. The person who seems to rub me the wrong way every time I see them.  All the people that I in my own strength CAN NOT love.

You see, I have been loving people in my own strength.  The people that I can easily love.  But, I haven’t been loving every person that God puts in my path.

A while ago, Pastor Mike Cooper preached a sermon he called, “God loves the smelly people.”  I sat there and felt like I could love the smelly people.  I was pretty good at that… but then I reserved a whole group of people I felt I could remain intolerant of.

Oh, could you imagine if Jesus loved people the way that I have?

I hurt him continually.

I grieve His Spirit with MY STUPIDITY.

I do this repeatedly.

And yet He loves me.  UNCONDITIONALLY. 

Oh Thank you my dear sweet Savior.  I need to love people. Truly LOVE people.

I want to love them the way that Jesus loves ME.