The last two weeks have been amazing. Father has taught me so much. I want to share what I've learned. It's so awesome - praise God. Over the years the Father has continuely revealed to me how much he loves me. (This is the story of what God showed me, but it applies to everyone. God loves each of us more than we can imagine and He wants a relationship with us.) Last Christmas, Father melted the wall around my heart and I begin to grasp his love for me much more than I had previously. Along with that I began to understand that since I know, not just in my head but in my heart, that God loves me I can trust Him. Yes, sometimes life is painful. Bad things do happen. Scriptures says that all things work together for good for those that are called according to his purpose.
This fall Father used some situtations and a book to reveal his love for me even more. My relationship with Him became even deeper and now.....SURPRISE......He is teaching me about trust.....AGAIN.
Here is what I've realized in this season:
- Trust, pray, and let go.
- Other people are not in control, no matter how much they think they are, God is in ultimate control
- We must trust God to take care of our loved ones - family and friends - He loves them more than we do.
- Sometimes you need to open your heart to what God is calling you do. Yes, opening your heart could bring pain....and joy.
- God has not given us a spirit of fear....trust God ...... run to Him not from Him.
- God is in control, not you, so stop trying to control the outcome.
- It's not about you. It's about Him and the glory is His.
- The world has said - you can't love others until you love yourself. What I've learned is you can love others when you are secure in God's love for you. Loving is a risk. We love because He first loved us.
It's been one of those days and I've been looking forward to blogging tonight, but it is getting late. After I created this blog I was looking forward to writing about the wonderful, amazing, and sometimes stretching things that Father is doing in my life here in Arizona. I was thinking about writing about Thanksgiving, which I will do eventually. What I'd really wanted to write about tonight was bullying and how it affects kids long-term. I've been dealing with bullying at work. I see the long-term affects it has on kids. I've seen and experienced the affects it has on adults who experienced it as children. Shortly put, it breaks my heart and makes me angry. Angry, because some adults don't get it. Some kids don't how to just, "ignore it" or "let it go." Frankly, they shouldn't have to ignore it - the bullying must STOP. And "let it go." Get real! A child or teen who has been excluded, laughed at, called names, needled, and mimicked by different groups of kids for 2-9 years should let it go????!!!?? Well, yes they need to for their own emotional health, but how? Someone needs to teach them how. Depending on many other factors in the child and their life they may not have the ability within themselves to ignore the messages that the bullying is sending to their emotional heart. And I see the gentle, beautiful, joyful hearts of kids being wounded repeatedly by peers, teachers, and family members. It breaks my heart. It breaks the Father's heart.Father, show us what breaks your heart. Show us how to minister your love and grace to the broken-hearted adults and children we encounter daily. May you heal the broken-hearted. In Yeshua's (Jesus) name , AMEN
Okay, first blog ever. Deciding to give it a shot, maybe it'll help keep up with folks in WI and elsewhere. This is interesting, but I'm actually supposed to grading papers. Well really I should be sleeping. Well, I've tried posting more later.
