nothing else matters. Really.
About a year ago, I was attending an amazing Bible Study. I was growing by leaps and bounds and learning so much. We were studying a book called Waking the Dead. It taught our group to dive deep into God's love for us and understand His purpose while being aware of the spiritual battle going on around us. It was deep, but it was good.
After one night specifically, I left our study so full of God's love. I don't know exactly what it was or how it all happened, but I remember getting into my car to drive home and just feeling God's love all around me. It was intense, but so very REAL. I remember thinking that I could die at that very moment, leave my family, kids, and friends all behind and I wouldn't even care because I'd be with my Savior, my precious, glorious Savior.
Did she just say she could leave her kids and be okay with it? LOL yes! I remember watching this program about people who died and came back to life. Some people weren't dead long enough to experience much of anything, but one woman in particular who died found herself standing before Jesus in the after life. She stood and talked with Him and when He told her she had to go back, she begged Him to stay. She said when she came to in her present life, she couldn't believe that she would want to leave her kids, but she said His love and presence was so amazing that nothing else mattered. I remember watching and thinking, 'she must not love her kids that much then!'
After that night after Bible Study though, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Imagine if everyone experienced God's love on that level every day! Imagine if we were all so embraced in His love how effective we would be and how much we would shine for His glory! Our world would truly be different.
Seek His face and His perfect, intense, pure, real love. He created us because He wanted others to experience that love so go find it!! It's there for the taking!
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Because He loves us..
There is something I want to share. It's been along time since this situation happened, but it's time I talked about how God took a hurtful, bad situation and turned it around for good in His own time, in His own way.
A long time ago, I was a liar. I was a cheater. I was a stealer, a jealous, self indulged, unrighteous, sexually immoral mess. I had a set of issues I was dealing with and instead of handing them over to God, praying without ceasing, and asking others for prayer, I tired to fix my mess of a life in my own way and ended up making it worse. In the process, I hurt people around me, and damaged relationships I'll never get back.
The details of my mess are too lengthly to explain, but you can easily assume plenty from the adjectives people used to describe me in the past (yes, people said those things to me). Naturally, I thought I was justified in the way I acted, but looking back, it was wrong, and it hurt a lot of people. It hurt me too. Yes, I was the one lying and causing the problems, but when a group of people turn on you and never forgive you, it hurts and it makes you believe you really are a bad person. I only made things worse by walking far from the spirit of God.
Years after I damaged several unfixable friendships, I'd still have nightmares about it and wake up feeling like trash. Satan wanted to remind me of how awful I was, how those people still feel about me, and how I'm still a sinner no matter what I do. It took a lot of prayer and seeking God to be able to put that hurt all behind me and thankfully, all because I serve a gracious, merciful God, He was able to mend my brokenness and turn a bad situation to good.
See, I've learned how lying hurts people, so with prayer and healing, I strive to speak only truth. I've seen how a self indulgent attitude can offend others, so I strive to be more of a giver and lover on a daily basis. I've experienced how unrighteousness hurts people, so I strive to be more righteous daily. And thankfully, I haven't hurt more people because of those things since this one bad experience.
See, God took that bad, hurtful, damaged situation and made me a better person. Had that situation not happened, would I strive to speak truth EVERY day? Maybe not. I would not see the importance of it. If that situation hadn't happened, would I value humility? Probably not. And righteousness? Definitely not.
It was a life experience that some would agree HAD to happen for me to learn these things. Thankfully, God was with me through it all, had mercy on me and I was able to get through it with only a few damaged relationships. Could there have been more damaged friendships? Maybe. Less? Maybe. I'm glad that time is over and God has changed me. I'm glad there was an important life lesson. And I'm glad God healed me and used it to make me a better person for His purpose. With God, no matter what it is, He can turn it for good because He loves us.
A long time ago, I was a liar. I was a cheater. I was a stealer, a jealous, self indulged, unrighteous, sexually immoral mess. I had a set of issues I was dealing with and instead of handing them over to God, praying without ceasing, and asking others for prayer, I tired to fix my mess of a life in my own way and ended up making it worse. In the process, I hurt people around me, and damaged relationships I'll never get back.
The details of my mess are too lengthly to explain, but you can easily assume plenty from the adjectives people used to describe me in the past (yes, people said those things to me). Naturally, I thought I was justified in the way I acted, but looking back, it was wrong, and it hurt a lot of people. It hurt me too. Yes, I was the one lying and causing the problems, but when a group of people turn on you and never forgive you, it hurts and it makes you believe you really are a bad person. I only made things worse by walking far from the spirit of God.
Years after I damaged several unfixable friendships, I'd still have nightmares about it and wake up feeling like trash. Satan wanted to remind me of how awful I was, how those people still feel about me, and how I'm still a sinner no matter what I do. It took a lot of prayer and seeking God to be able to put that hurt all behind me and thankfully, all because I serve a gracious, merciful God, He was able to mend my brokenness and turn a bad situation to good.
See, I've learned how lying hurts people, so with prayer and healing, I strive to speak only truth. I've seen how a self indulgent attitude can offend others, so I strive to be more of a giver and lover on a daily basis. I've experienced how unrighteousness hurts people, so I strive to be more righteous daily. And thankfully, I haven't hurt more people because of those things since this one bad experience.
See, God took that bad, hurtful, damaged situation and made me a better person. Had that situation not happened, would I strive to speak truth EVERY day? Maybe not. I would not see the importance of it. If that situation hadn't happened, would I value humility? Probably not. And righteousness? Definitely not.
It was a life experience that some would agree HAD to happen for me to learn these things. Thankfully, God was with me through it all, had mercy on me and I was able to get through it with only a few damaged relationships. Could there have been more damaged friendships? Maybe. Less? Maybe. I'm glad that time is over and God has changed me. I'm glad there was an important life lesson. And I'm glad God healed me and used it to make me a better person for His purpose. With God, no matter what it is, He can turn it for good because He loves us.
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