A Quote and Testimony

The following quote and a testimony on Sunday, were laid on my heart this morning and I just wanted to share it with all of you. 

The Quote:
"Great things happen on the wheels of relationships.' And the oil that lubricates the wheels of relationships is love.  No power holds more potential for changing human relationships than the power of love."1.


Found on Pinterest

First off, I want to thank God for those words and how they convicted my heart!!  How many relationships do I want changed?  How many people do I want to see changed so that our relationship can be stronger and so that through our relationship we can be a brighter light to the world?

All I need to do is express His love...

Especially when people are unlovable...

Oh God, may you give us strength and courage to love no matter what!  Help us to show your love!

The Testimony:
On Sunday a woman in our church shared a testimony.  She had been reading in her devotions and in one of her devotionals the writer pointed out that most of us are willing to lay down our lives for those we love...but how many of us are willing to lay down our wills?

Ouch!

How many of us are willing to lay down our will, our desires, our thoughts and plans and show the love of Christ to every person we come in contact with...I will admit that this is a hard one for me...Some people are so much easier to show love to than others!!!  But how much more could the light of God shine through me if I would just surrender to HIS will and allow HIS love to flow through me!! 

How many of my relationships would blossom and grow if only I would love as Christ loves us...Unconditionally, laying down my selfish, prideful and stubborn will to be reflection of HIM. 


This is such a weak area for me!!  As I sat there reading and meditating over what I had read, the thoughts came..."Are you kidding, you can't lay down your will when people hurt you, you know how you react."  You are too weak to even try to love others when you pride has been hurt."




Found on Pinterest

I think you know the thoughts that Satan wants you think about that come flooding forward when your heart is convicted of something...but God in His love brought one of my favorite verses to mind.
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."  Philippians 4:13

Yes!  I praised Him for bringing that to mind!  I can love others.  I can lay down my will.  I can kick my pride and selfishness out the door through Christ's strength!

Praise God!

Footnotes:
1. "God Speaks Your Love Language" by Gary Chapman pg. 186

Eric Ludy Video - Depraved Indifference

One of the ways God shows his love for the fatherless is through us... Are we living in such a way, that we are available and willing for Him to work through us at any time? 

What are your thoughts after watching that?

 



How Precious Is His Blood?

Our Pastor went on vacation a few weeks ago and one of the men in our church stepped up and took his place on Sunday while Pastor was away.  He gave an allegory that really made me think about how precious the blood of Christ is, and I wanted to share it with you all.

I think we all know how special a wedding dress is to a bride. Whether you have been a bride or have been around one while she is looking for "the" dress, you know how important the dress is.  Once the dress is bought, it is placed in a very safe area until the day of the wedding - unless fittings are needed on the dress, in which case every safety precaution is used to ensure the safety of the dress :)  I think you get my point, the dress is IMPORTANT....

Imagine two days before the wedding the bride goes to look at her dress and finds a huge stain on the front of the dress.  What would be her number one priority at that point?  Finding a type of solution that would remove the stain from the dress right??  Once the solution is found, how valuable would that solution be to the bride?  Extremely, right?

Well, how valuable and precious are our souls?  The souls of the whole world?  Our hearts and souls have been blackened by the presence of sin in our lives and the penalty for that sin is death.  We are destined to spend eternity in hell without Christ because nothing we can do can ever cleanse us from the filth of sin...
However, the Son of God came, a perfect human being without sin, paid our debt, our penalty.  He spilled his precious blood in order to cover our sins and wash us white as snow.  His blood cleanses us.  How precious, how powerful is that?
He laid down his life and spilled his blood in order that we might now have a choice.  A choice to accept his free gift of salvation.  Salvation from eternity in hell and eternal separation from our Creator and God.  OR  To reject the gift so freely given and continue down the path we have been destined to follow.

Don't you think the precious blood of Christ that wipes away our filthy, dirty sin from our lives is incredibly valuable?  Even more valuable than a solution that will remove a stain from a bride's wedding dress?

"...Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes..."  Those words are ringing in my ears as I glance at the blizzard blowing outside my windows.  As I watch the millions of snowflakes make there descent down to earth I am again blown away by the thought that each one is unique.  Each one a special creation of the Creator!

  He is truly the God of creativity!  Billions of snowflakes, tiny, frozen, water crystals each designed to look slightly different from another one! 

As I sit inside by our warm woodstove, reflecting on this incredible design, I've begun to think of the people in the blogger world who are also so unique and designed with such amazing creativity!   I follow several blogs that make my heart smile when I see they have a new post, because God has given so many girls the precious gift of being able to write what God shows them!  You know what I'm talking about, that author that writes exactly what you needed to read, written in such a way that you are immediately caught up in the post. 
Yes, that is very special gift...filled with creativity...after all we are made in the image of a creative Creator :)

So....I thought I would share some of my favorite blogs written by some of these amazing girls!  As you get ready for the special holiday tomorrow and enter the weekend, I hope that these blogs and articles encourage and bless your hearts as they have mine over the years!

A Bright Light In A Dark World  by Shannon

 

APJ (A Passion for Jesus)  by Laurie

 

Written Upon My Heart  by Rebekah

 

A Girl With Wings  by Abigail

 

Altogether Separate by A group of girls

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day remembering our creative and loving Creator!!