Have you ever had God
speak to you the same message from various different locations..? It makes you stop and think, “Maybe God is
trying to tell me something here?” Well
that has happened to me lately and it fits right into my theme for the year of
resting and trusting in God.
You may be wondering what
this message is… well let me tell you. It
is on loving others well. The topic
first came up a couple weeks ago when I was browsing through some books at a
friend’s house. I noticed a book that grabbed my attention called, “Love One
Another; How to let God’s Heart Shine through your Life” by Gloria
Chisolm. It was a study that challenged you
to love others in different ways for 21 days so that it came become a habit in
your life. I decided to order the book
and do it this summer. Today was my first day reading the book and I know that it will be challenging but good.
Next, I was invited to a
Women’s Retreat here at a local church that took place two weeks ago. All I knew was that it was going to be a Beth
Moore video study and that it was with women in the area. I decided to go to this study and meet some
women from the area. Upon arrival I
found out the study was called “Loving Well”.
Although it is one I have done in the past (at least part of it) it was
just what I needed for this time in my life.
It talked about loving 4 different types of people. 1) Those who are a joy to love. 2) The testy
people in our life who may be difficult to love. 3) The foes in our life who are impossible to
love. 4) Those who are strangers and yet God still calls us to love them. I think one of the most important messages
from this weekend that I was reminded of is that in order to love others well,
I first need to be loved well by God.
This is how the theme fits in with my theme for the year. I don’t want to just rest in the Lord, I want
to experience His love so that I can love others well. We were given a four week journal to do after
the weekend so we could continue to meditate on this topic of loving well.
About the same time I
started reading a book in my kindle called, “People can’t Drive you Crazy if
you don’t give them the Keys” by Mike Bechtle.
This book spoke in particular to how we can’t change other people but
how we can choose to change our own attitude and love the crazy people in our
life. It is a more in-depth study on the
“testy” people in our lives who may not be easy to love. In the past I didn't have many people in my
life that I would consider to be “testy”.
In fact, I hate conflict and get along with most people but throughout
the years there have been a few people that have not always been easy to love
for one reason or another. I don’t want
these people to control my life and emotions but I desire to learn how to love
them well so that God’s love can be reflected through me… but I got to say this
is NOT EASY and is taking lots of time and prayer along the way.
One might think that three times was enough
for me to get the hint, right? But God
wanted to make SURE that I got it because my church is starting a new series
this summer on “Loving one another”. The
church as faced many times of transition and turmoil throughout the years. No church you find will ever be perfect since
they are all filled with SINNERS like me… but we can learn to love one another
regardless of our differences. I am
committed to praying for our church and being an example of love.
I am excited to see how
God is going to use these various studies throughout the summer to help me to
mature in my love for others. Of course,
my first course of action is to learn to love my family better. I want to love my husband and son well. Next, I believe he is calling me to love the
youth well since they are the ministry he has placed before me. Finally, I know he will bring others into my
path that I need to love well. But I
have to remember that in order to love others well, I need to rest in Him and
allow Him to love me well. I hope that
when the summer is over I won’t just have more head knowledge but that I will
be actively loving others well. I invite
you to come with me on this journey as I share various quotes that may impact
me along the way.
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