Love Well!

This will be my last post for the month of September. I’ll be back in October with more self-examination and more challenge to live as people of God! I’m headed out of town on the vacation of a lifetime. I won’t be around to announce the new blog posts, so decided to just take the month off. I have no idea how you use my posts, if you use them regularly as devotions or as inspirational reading when you see my reminder. My guess is out of sight, out of mind. My blog is always there, so if you miss me, go to famousapril.blogspot.com and read back. Some of the oldies are goodies!

While I am gone I hope you will pray for me. Pray that I will be a good representative of Jesus where ever I am and whatever the situation. Pray that my words are kind. I’ll be traveling with both daughters and my mom, and they know how to push my buttons. I’ll be doing all the driving, and on the “wrong” side of the road, so pray for our safety! Pray that we aren’t ugly Americans, but that we respect the culture we find ourselves in. Pray that my words and actions are gracious and a living testimony. Pray that our money stretches far!

While I am gone I will be praying for you!

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God! Philippians 1:9-11

God is working in you. He began a good work, and will keep working, stretching you and growing you and loving you, until Jesus returns and you are complete and mature (Phil. 1:6). He is faithful!

Have a good month, friends. Keep your eyes open for how God is working today, and your ears tuned to hear his voice. Love well!

Heal My Heart

I’m not the type of person who holds on to hurts. People hurt us. That’s the nature of life. We hurt others, too. Some hurts go so deep, though, that letting them go and moving forward is really hard. It takes work. Even then, sometimes those hurts rise unbidden in our minds.

I have to choose to let hurts go. I have to decide that I am not that person who broods and mulls over old stuff. I have to acknowledge that I was hurt, work through all those feelings and then set them aside. When they arise from out of nowhere, I have to once again look them over and then give them to God. I pray over each angry thought and ask God to remove it, and replace it love. We’re still working on that last part.

Lord, all my desire is before Thee; and all my sighing is not hidden from Thee. My heart throbs, my strength fails me; and the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me. Psalm 38:9-10

God understands hurt. David expressed it well in the Psalms in many places. Joseph bore the hatred of his brothers, being sold into slavery by them. Dinah bore the shame and hurt of rape. Paul was stoned by the people he was trying to share salvation with, more than once. Jesus bore the hurt of the betrayal of one of his own, his closest. He felt the whole world turn against him. God gets it.

When my kids were growing up, we went camping with our church family every Labor Day weekend. I will confess that I hate camping but it was a good time of fellowship with our best friends. (We went one Memorial Day, but it rained so hard we couldn’t get a fire started, and had to go back to town and buy pizza for dinner!) A while ago I found myself watching the news and seeing the weather report for Labor Day weekend – RAIN! All weekend long. The thought sprang to my mind, “I hope my ex-husband is going camping this weekend!” I wasn’t sitting around cooking up evil things to do to my ex. I wasn’t consciously thinking about him at all, and yet here was this ugly, hateful thought.

First, I laughed at myself. I am human. I don’t think I am angry and hateful, and yet here was a thought that revealed my heart. I had to ask God to forgive me, to take that thought and to banish it. Once again, I had to give God my heart and ask him to transform it. I certainly can’t do it on my own.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

Next I choose to dwell on other things. I fill my mind with things of beauty and joy. Getting rid of the bad and dark thoughts isn’t enough; I need to replace them with something positive or the vacuum sucks in the first thought that comes along. I want to fill my mind with better choices. It’s going to wander (someone said my mind is too little to be allowed to wander on it’s own!) so I want to shape ahead of time where it goes.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8

I want to be a joyous, positive person, one who laughs and loves freely. I can’t do that if I’m weighed down with hurt and anger and hatred. I choose to let those go to live lightly. God can heal me, if I let him. He can heal you, too. Whatever hurt you are hanging on to, give it to him. He is trustworthy. He wants better for you.

A joyful heart is good medicine! Proverbs 17:22a

Choices

When I first learned that I was diabetic it became apparent that I would have to change my eating habits. I needed to make healthier choices, to eat more protein and veggies, and to forgo carbohydrates. I learned to read labels and packaging, looking for hidden sugars and making my calories count. Some days it was harder than others. I developed a mantra that I repeat to myself even today: “I can eat to live or I can eat to die. Today I choose to eat to live.” Not every day, though. Some days I am tired or discouraged or grumpy, and I eat the wrong things. I eat to die. I didn’t just come up with this and say it once. I repeat it every day. I have to make this choice every day.

The same is true with my Christian life.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice and holding fast to him. Deuteronomy 30:19-20

First I must choose life, the life that is only found in Jesus. If you have not placed your faith in Jesus for salvation, do so. Do it now. Don’t wait. Why would you choose death? Choose life today.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

John 14:6

I must also choose each day who I am going to live for. Will I live for myself, investing in temporary and earthly things? Or will I live for the One who gave me life? How will I invest my time and energy? Will my day belong to me or God?

Choose for yourself today whom you will serve… Joshua 24:15

It’s a choice I have to make every single day, sometimes hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute. Will I stop and share God’s love with that inconvenient person? Will I choose to spend a few minutes in the Word? Is my time mine, or his?

Just like choosing to eat for life, I have to choose to live for life and for the One who gave me life. Some days it’s harder than others. Some days all I want to do is nap and eat chocolate. Bring on the brownies! Some days I want to walk by that annoying, needy person without seeing them or stopping to affirm their worth in the eyes of God.

It helps to remember that I am chosen, and was chosen first by God before I even knew that I needed him. My choice to live for him is only possible because I am his beloved. I can be kind because of his kindness to me. I can be patient because of his great patience.

And so, as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Colossians 3:12-14

Today, choose life. Choose to live the life that God has given you. Put on life and love like your favorite jeans and t-shirt. Wear them and grow comfortable with them. It’s a daily thing, but it’s worth it.