TRUTH: LOVE WINS EVERY TIME!

Faith Filled Friday

Recently, I made a decision and I felt justified by my decision to remove certain people from my life. Now I didn’t make a big deal or scene with this decision I made; it was a decision I had made in my heart and mind. I felt no remorse for it and was convinced that God was behind this decision. You see I have been hurt by these people all my life, and my weary heart could not withstand it any longer, or so my weary self thought.

Thanks for joining me today for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith-Filled Friday with Trench Classes United.

 Last Sunday during worship they played a song that talked about fighting for love. As I sang this song, tears flooded my face. I was to fight to love these people, not for me, but for God because this is what He instructs us to do. I cried my broken and weary heart out to the Lord. I came before him standing, but in my spirit, I was on my face asking God to forgive my wretched heart. After worship, I dried my tears, and the pastor begins to speak in 1 Peter about loving your brothers fervently.  As I am listening to the message the tears continued to flood down my face. I couldn’t contain them. My purpose is to show Christ's love, and here my heart and mind’s decision was the furthest thing from His love.

1Peter 1:22 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Enduring Word

²² Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth ^[a]through the Spirit in ^[b]sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

Looking back, I do recall a period of my life where I had fallen away from the Lord, and lived my life the way I wanted for my pleasures, and didn’t want anything to do with God. Yet, He still loved me and sought after me, and here I am throwing in the towel. Needless to say, my heart was convicted to the core, but I love how gentle and tender God is with correcting us. He does it with grace and love.

Can I encourage you beloveds, if there is someone difficult in your life who causes you pain or hurt, just ask God how you are to love them and for the strength to do so. It could be either through prayer or actions, a smile or a simple “How are you?”

You see when we put ourselves and our feelings down and allow God to work it’s not us they see but Christ who lives in us. Let’s be like Jesus, though we didn’t deserve his love or grace, He still gave it abundantly. Let us follow in His footsteps. 

1 Corinthians13:4-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not ^[a]puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, ^[b]thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

Love,

Ashley

Problems are like onions; they need to be peeled one layer at a time to get to the core EL

To steal a reference from Shrek, “The problem is like an onion; it has layers”!

Welcome to Monday’s Musings with Trench Classes United. Today we have a special blog for you from a board/trench member who has witnessed a lot in the first response arena and the aftermath of people’s choices. I love how he combines the reality that problems, more often than not, have roots, a genesis, a beginning. The issue he’s sharing about today while becoming more and more televised and talked about didn’t just show up. Please, come on in…with an open mind and heart which will enable you to look past the first layer of this issue.

Is all of the action and attention directed toward the school shootings and gun control focusing on the wrong layer? Yes, these shootings are tragedies and guns are being misused, but I think what we are missing is the “WHY”?

Why are these kids taking the actions they are taking?  I feel we should be looking deeper at the “why” of this issue. Why are we making it all about a gun issue and nothing about an emotional/mental health issue? While the gun is the tool being used in these horrific tragedies, what is it that got them to the gun?

Until we get that figured out, it won’t matter what you ban, it will still happen.       

I feel we need to look at the root of the problem, the “why,” which in my opinion is mental/emotional health. Why or how does it get to the tragedy of killings with a gun and yet NOBODY noticed? Perhaps it’s time we all become more cognizant of the people around us; then we might see problems in the home, bullying in schools, over medicated and under treated mental health issues.

Mental/emotional health is not like a broken arm. You can’t always see it; it’s not always obvious…but it’s real! Unfortunately, for most, emotional/mental health is out of sight and therefore out of mind.

Until we dare to try and understand the root of this problem, we can’t endeavor to fix the problem. The sooner we start to identify and treat the root of the problem, the sooner we can make a difference. I’ve learned in life, and with the help of the Trench Classes that to get to the root takes helping one to understand his or her feelings, validating those feelings in a way that brings value and helps the person see their need for a change of direction. This will help develop healthy coping skills to deal with life on life’s terms.

It sounds so simplistic, but the truth is it takes work. Until we are willing to peel back the layers of this problem, no matter what you ban, what you try and control, it will still happen.

Musing,

John Jones 

The more we meet with Him, the easier it is to hear Him in the loudness of life -EL

“How did you end up here?” the Oncology Nurse questioned, after reviewing my unremarkable medical history. “Divine intervention,” I replied. Her eye brows frowned at me over the rim of her glasses. “You must have had some symptoms,” she replied...

Welcome to Coffee Hour at Chicklit Power and Megan’s Monday Mantra with Trench Classes United.

Truth be known, I did have one significant symptom – and that was the Lord prompting me to get off my hind-end and go to the doctor for a chest ex-ray!

My seasonal allergies did feel worse than normal and I was a bit more tired than usual, but

 “In the World According to Dave” (that would be my husband), these were just normal signs of aging. Plus, I was still mourning the loss of my Mother. I credited feeling less than my best to emotional distress or depression - until one early morning, when the Lord’s prompting broke through.

After a heated argument with my Doctor who believed that my stuffed-up nose and congestion-free lungs did not warrant a chest ex-ray, he relented and wrote the order. Forty-eight hours later I was summoned back for more tests. The diagnosis of probable early stage non-smoker’s lung cancer and major lung surgery was the result.

I was healthy - I was symptomless - and it is rare to detect early stage lung cancer.

WHAT IF I HAD FAILED TO FOLLOW THE PROMPTING OF THE LORD? I would not be cancer free today.

How do we know it is God prompting us and not just something we conjured up ourselves? That is always my biggest concern. Scripture tells us we were created to know God in a personal way. In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” We were created to have a relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. Everything starts and ends with our relationship with Him.

It is through our personal relationship with God, that we become sensitive to the promptings of His Spirit. 

“I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”  (Psalm16:7-8 NASB)

Your comments are always most welcome.

Lovingly in Christ,

Megan

Monday’s Mantra

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and Trench Classes United. I’m incredibly grateful that you chose to join us for Monday’s Mantra. Grab your coffee, or whatever you’re having, and grab your Strand of Faith © and let’s go tie some knots in our faith together.

Have you ever had to be reminded of something over and over again? I really hate that feeling of forgetfulness which in a split second turns to frustration. Do you know what I’m talking about? When I think back on the recent times this has happened, it usually has something to do with humility! 

Without going into explicit details, I’ve had this “issue” and of course it involves another person; how could it not?! J But for years, I’ve determined in my heart that they were the problem and recently I discovered that I am actually a big part of the problem too! Oh, the sting is still there as I write this and yet, there is hope for this particular situation, now that this has been unveiled and become my truth. Oh, that word just reminded me of something and we must take this little detour: Did you know that one of the translations for truth in Hebrew means “unveiled truth”? See, what my truth is for me may not be your truth, but if one is earnestly seeking our Father for truth, He is faithful and just to unveil it for us…and when that unveiling happens, humility swoops down, ever so gently to clean up the mess that living a lie left.

Maybe that explains it for though I’ve had many lessons in the classroom of life on this very deep subject, I’ve come to realize that humility is like an ocean…never-ending. It’s like a must in the tool-belt of life, a condiment to have in all conversations and interactions. Humility, like an ocean, can soothe the hurting soul of both the giver and receiver. Humility has the power to ease tension, to crash into walls and bring them down, to build bridges where there is a chasm.  Humility is accepted everywhere all the time. What if…we were to humble ourselves in times of frustration, and just give the other person the benefit of the doubt, reminding ourselves that they are doing the best that they can with their truth? Oh, Coffee Hour Friend, then we would be walking scripture!  1^ST Peter 3: “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit…” and “walk humbly with your God.”^{Micah 6:8c}

Walking humbly,

Evinda