Tellin’ It Like It Is

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John 8:32

New Living Translation (NLT)

32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

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Ever have anybody in your life that just needs to hear the truth so that they can be set free from the chains they have put on themselves?  Someone who has pity parties every weekend only because they have chosen to place themselves where they are.  Persons who no matter how much you love them and try to protect them, you know in your heart of hearts you need to show them the truth.  I have several persons in my life I wish I could just sit them down and tell them like it is without hurting them, but that is easier said than done.

There are so many broken people wandering around this planet it’s hard to comprehend how any of us ever function properly.  The idea of love is so warped by society that it is hard to figure out how to approach people on a one to one basis to offer any kind of help.  Many people were severely hurt in their childhood and have placed themselves in chains of bondage because of a lack of trust in people.  Other people wear chains because they are hiding their true identities as protection from the danger of actually being who they really are.

Today, I just blurted out to someone exactly how I felt about a certain situation and it was not easy.  The love I have for this person is great and out of love and a desire to see this person happy, I unleashed it all.  Since I was driving I did not have to face this person so the unleashing went pretty well on my part.  As I turned to see this persons face I saw a clarity I had not seen in awhile, my “lecturing of the truth” had set them free from some chains.  What I said was not meant to be hurtful, however, it was for the truth to be told so that they would no longer be held back by lies the enemy had been whispering.

When things are in need of being said to someone, the first step is to come from a place of love.  If you operate out of love you are more apt to be careful not to use hurtful words or force your beliefs on the person you are trying to free.  Furthermore, when things are done in love, truth can be seen and freedom comes much quicker.  When one begins to expose the lies of the enemy and bring them to light, there is no room for the person to argue because when you have the truth, there is no need for argumentation.

Are there people in your life in need of some chain breaking?  Are you willing to set this person free by telling them the truth about something you see in their life?  It will take some prayer and courage in some cases, however, when the urge to see someone set free from pain or unneeded destruction in their life, somehow a force not your own often takes over.  Choose today to seek God in this matter.  Begin to pray about a certain situation to see if a good dose of the truth would set a person free.  Sometimes the truth will set you free as well when you are no longer bound with the burden you carried for that person.  Two freedoms for the price of one truth, priceless!

Return to Sender

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Psalm 23:6

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.
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How come we as humans never seem to be satisfied?  Why can’t we ever just accept things for how they are and aspire by being thankful to have the next best thing?  Is God not moving us on to the next level because we have not learned to be content right where we are?  And let’s look at love for a moment while we are at it, why is it never enough?  Sometimes it’s the wrong kind.  Often there is not enough.  Perhaps it does not contain enough compassion.  Not strong enough.  Too strong for the moment.  Whatever the reason it seems as if we have stamped “Return to Sender” on love that is genuine simply because we just don’t know how to receive it.
Are we so broken down by our past that one, we are incapable of thinking we could ever be loved, or two, do we just not think we deserve love of any kind?  Satan sure has twisted a lot of the things God intended for good into things we just want to run away from. Maybe if we could just slow down from our running and be thankful for the moment we are in, we could see what God needs us to see, love.  If you read the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, we see a clear description of what love really was meant to be, does any one really believe it to be true?
I know I ran away from love at times because I did not want to get hurt.  I had been hurt by love or what I though was love before and I had no desire to put myself through that again. It wasn’t until I met my new husband that I fully understood this thing called love for what it was intended to be.  You have to be patient with love or it will run away from you or make you bitter.  You have to be kind to love for it also can be hurt by our actions.  It  is not a good thing to be jealous of any love especially if God ordained it.  Love cannot give up on you or lose hope for God is love and if we can eventually grasp the concept of this, we could gain much wisdom.
Are you running away from love?  Is there fear involved of being hurt?  I pray this moment that you would seek God on the subject of love and allow Him to show you that it is a safe thing.  Love can be everything God promises in His Word if we just continue to seek Him.  I know for me, love is real.  I never would have imagined I could be in love again with another human until God stepped in and proved me wrong.  Now, I am thankful for what He has given to me and I will stand on the promise of love forever.

Past the Past

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2 Corinthians 5:17

New Living Translation (NLT)

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

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Just like when we are born from our mother’s womb, we are a new creation, so it is when we accept Jesus into our hearts.  The moment you choose Him as your Savior and begin to believe in the depth of His love you are a new creation.  You get a new lease on life.  A new beginning.  A chance to start over.  A chance to change your habits and old ways of thinking…..so…why do so many of us carry the past right into the present and let it permeate our future?

 

Perhaps we really do not have the full understanding that when Jesus died on the cross He took away our past, present and future sins, which in my book means we are forgiven of EVERYTHING and we need to adjust to a new way of thinking.  How many times do we bring old relationship issues into new ones?  How many friends and family members do we no longer associate with simply because we feel they will not understand the new us?  I feel we really hold ourselves back from living to our full potential as a daughter or son of God because we cannot simply wrap our minds around the fact that we are truly forgiven.  God cannot even see our sin through the blood of His Son.  We need to begin to wrap God around our minds, that would make more sense.

 

When I met my present husband, I had spent three years not in a relationship. During this time I learned a lot about myself and really dug deep into what God wanted to do in me.  He wanted me to be healed and whole.  As I attended the 54 day revival, I began to renew my mind and allow the healing to begin.  This process allowed me to enter into a new marriage free from the baggage of the past.  I did not have to bring my past hurts and pains into a new relationship because I took the time to renew my mind with the Word of God and I chose to let God show me who I really was as a person.

 

Now I am not saying it is all forgettable,  however I am willing to admit that without this healing process my new marriage would be a mess.  If I would have carried all the baggage from my previous marriage into this new one, John and I would have had so many issues to compromise on that we would not be able to enjoy each other at all.  Since we both went through a three year process of God changing our hearts and minds, our marriage is on solid ground and the compromises we have to make are not like any other married couple we have met.

 

So long story short, the past is the past.  Leave it behind you and move forward.  The past whether good or bad has no place in your present or future relationship.  Every person is unique and at different levels, yet God has a way of just meshing things together.  I pray that anyone reading this will take just one minute to examine their current situation…..are you living your past in your present life?  If so, choose to renew your mind.  Spend some time seeking God.  Trust me, it will do you a world of good and set you in motion for a past free future.

Every Grace Counts

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Romans 5:20

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
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How many of us have family members or friends that just drive us to seek God’s grace for their lives?  I mean it seems like every time we see them, we have to brace ourselves, stay in the love of God and just listen to them rant and rave about whatever life has thrown at them this time.  Ya know those people who can’t say a nice word about anything and feel like the whole world is against them.  Or what about the ones who are in sin and choose to stay there while there lives are falling apart?  Lastly, what about the persons who think they have it all together but you can clearly see the unhappiness in their lives?
All of these people need grace…not our grace, but God’s grace.
I have several persons in my life that I feel I need to give grace to on a daily basis.  Some of this borders with compassion, yet I feel without God’s grace I could not have the compassion to love.  I know people talk about me behind my back and some may even despise me.  Some don’t get why I divorced and remarried.  Others are perhaps envious of how happy I really am.  In the whole scheme of things, it is not I who needs to take care of these situations, it is Jesus.  God will never leave or forsake me and He will take care of my enemies, I am called to love and love means grace, forgiveness and compassion.
When you combine love with grace you are able to forgive and when you forgive you can find room in your heart for compassion.  If you melt all these things together you find freedom.  With freedom comes peace.  Sigh!  What a relief to discover that the root of all we have to do is love.  God is love and it is through Him that we even obtain grace.  If He gave it to us and it freed us from our sin then why would we not want to free others around us with His grace?
Who are the persons in your life that are in need of grace?  Are you withholding grace because of offenses?  Do you desire to be free?  I urge us all to seek out the grace God gave to us to give to others.  We are called to love and sometimes that means just keeping the peace in certain relationships.  Sometimes grace needs to be from a distance and that’s perfectly okay.  Just remember grace comes from love and all the love you need is in Jesus.

Drops of Healing

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Joel 2:23

Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem! Rejoice in the Lord your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness. Once more the autumn rains will come, as well as the rains of spring.
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Sometimes when we hear the sound of an approaching storm we begin to prepare ourselves for the downpour.  Depending on how severe a storm may be we might seek shelter and cover the windows for safety.  If we are caught outside we run for the nearest dry place and wait until the storm passes through.  Yes some storms are destructive and can do some very bad damage while others just pass by with a little sprinkle of rain.  We can clearly compare these real rain storms with ourselves.
There are storms which come in our lives that are tougher to handle than others and it takes all kinds of gear to protect ourselves from the pain they bring.  We hide ourselves from the storm not wanting to get wet or struck by lightening.  We have learned from past experiences that the storms just take a toll on us and we have no desire to face another one. As I faced one ordeal after another in my previous marriage I was so tired of the storms raging I wanted to pack it all up and move to a state or country far, far away yet I knew the storms were building my faith, even if I could not see it.
Every time I endured a storm no matter its’ size, I grew more and more dependent on God to help me through it.  When the storms first began, I was not following after God and it all seemed hopeless, however, once I let God back into my life the storms got a little easier because I gained wisdom for the situations.  Just like if you moved to a state that was prone to hurricanes, after the first time of being in one you would know better how to brace yourself for the next one.  Same thing with God, He teaches you how to endure the storms while He makes a way for you to be healed.
I look back now on all of the storms in my life and I can see them for what they actually were, character building, healing rains.  Every storm has something to glean from it.  Every storm brought me closer and closer to who I am in Christ today and I am ever so thankful for the rain.  The rain provided drops of healing for my broken heart.  It was the rain that held me together.  Now I see the storm and my feet want to dance in the rain instead of hide from it.  

Unmerited Favor

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“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.

 Matthew 18:15 NLT

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So what do you do when someone does something wrong to you and seems to not want to have anything to do with fixing the issue?  What kinds of emotions are running through your mind?  First your anger rises and then bitterness might set in.  Then comes the explosion of emotions that you really did not want to happen.  Pretty soon you probably have said or done some things that really were not so pleasant and a complete misrepresentation of the new you in Christ.

 

This type of incident just happened to us.  John took our car to a dealership to get a deal on an oil change.  When we then discovered after four days of driving it that the oil light came on,  John popped the hood and found the car to be 3 quarts low on oil.  Upon further investigation it was discovered the dealership had placed the wrong filter on the car at the time of the oil change.  Now, needless to say John and I were a bit steamed.  The final payment on the car was just paid.  We really had no way of getting a new vehicle if the engine blew up in this one, so we were a bit angry when we called.

 

John spoke to the manager and she said for us to bring it to them and they would take a look at it.  Well, that was not how we wanted it to roll.  We wanted them to come get the car, knowing the dealership was in another town 30 minutes away.  We did not have money for a tow charge.  Some words were exchanged and we even threatened to get a lawyer for it seemed as though the dealership really was not going to doing anything. So John bought the right filter and put oil in the car and had decided to just not deal with it.

 

How many times do we do that with relationships?  We figure it’s just not worth dealing with because nothing will be resolved.  John waited a day to cool off and then drove to the dealership where he first apologized and asked for forgiveness.  When he took the time to humble himself about the situation, then God could step in and show us just what favor was all about.

 

John left the dealership with a full refund, a 3,000 mile warranty on the engine, a new oil change with the best oil and the satisfaction that some times it takes humbling ourselves and repenting for our actions for God to do something awesome in our life.  This goes back the one commandment Jesus left us with, love your neighbor.  When we begin to let go of our own issues and accept that people make mistakes everyday, then we can be open to that love.

 

Is there some anger in you today?  Have you pushed aside something that you feel won’t ever change?  Maybe today, search your heart.  Choose right now to look at some situations in your life that perhaps need some humbling.  As for John and I, we are a work in process and sometimes we have to just take a deep breath and trust God to take care of all of our circumstances so that we can be ready to love and forgive others.

Hole Perspective

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So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Romans 8:1-2 NLT

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Raise your hand if you have every been picked on in your lifetime.  I can pretty much see by the show of hands that we have all been there before.  Lies and rumors and hurtful names can cut at you worse than actually being stabbed with a sharpened knife.  Kids tease and parents ridicule.  We get told we are not good enough or that we will not amount to anything.  We are bombarded with comments about our weight and overall appearance.  These are truly Satan’s attacks on our lives, especially since most of it occurs when we are very young and once the rejection sets in we begin to believe it to be true because it is all we know.

I was teased a lot in elementary school and it really destroyed me as a person until I got to high school.  I was called names and teased for my clothes.  My parents were not financially blessed but they did their best.  My mom shopped at Goodwill when it wasn’t cool, it was considered a place where you went when you were poor.  The other piece to the destruction to my self image was my dad at times would call me chubby and it quickly became who I was and I struggled in junior high to get rid of that feeling.  I ended up staying skinny but it wasn’t because I had healthy eating habits.  I still struggle sometimes today about my appearance but because I have learned to see myself as Jesus does, the pain is not there.

Just like a tree that has been pecked at over and over by the woodpecker, our souls begin to get holes in them.  The more we get teased, the more holes we accumulate and then pretty soon part of us begins to die and sometimes no matter how much someone tries to pour life back into us it just seeps out the holes.  We just no longer know how to receive anything good about ourselves, we have accepted all of those crazy lies and we have no idea how to stop the pain.  Just like in my blog the other day, we have to expose the roots and start forgiving those who have hurt us.

For me, it took forgiving a lot of people in my life and finally accepting myself for how God saw me.  I had to read His promises for my life to fill in the holes from the enemy and it was the only way for life to begin again in my soul.  If we dwell so much on what others say about us we will never see what God made us for.  We will never be able to experience love and acceptance.

Today, choose to forgive those who have put holes in your soul.  Begin today to see yourself as God does.  Let those who truly love you, pour into your soul and help you heal. Allow God to show you how He sees you.  Give yourself another chance to be a living member of society knowing where you stand with God.  You are a Son or Daughter of the Most High and He delights in everything about you!