May 21, 2012

Losing



"Oh, Father give me grace to forgive them, because I feel like the one losing"
...About 2:10 into the song is the best :)
"Why do we think that hate's gonna change the heart
We're up in arms over wars that don't need to be fought
Pride wont let us lay weapons on the ground
We build bridges up but just to burn them down
We think pain is owed apologies and then it'll stop
Well truth be told it doesn't matter if their sorry or not
Freedom comes when we surrender to the sound
Of mercy and Your grace, Father, send Your angels down"


May 16, 2012

The Proof of Your Love

If you haven't heard this song or paid attention to the lyrics, you must! Oh, I love it! This is my prayer! That My life would be the PROOF of Jesus' love!



If I sing but don't have love
I waste my breath with every song
I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise
If I speak with a silver tongue
Convince a crowd but don't have love
I leave a bitter taste with every word I say

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

If I give 
To a needy soul but don't have love then who is poor?
It seems all the poverty is found in me

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
Oh, let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

When it's all said and done
When we sing our final song
Only love remains
Only love remains

Let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

May 11, 2012

Pressing Past Pain & Living

Living through your pain or sorrow can be an agonizing task.


This too shall pass & Life goes on cliches don't always help.


Life can be a painful, emotional roller coaster. Living can hurt.


We want what we don't have and then when we have it we want what we had. We see the good when it's too late and only see the bad when we're in the midst.


How do you be content and embrace the now despite your pain, sadness, hurts or frustrations?


1. Don't focus on your problems or on what you don't have. Do focus on your blessings and what you do have.


2. Although cliche, you do have to remind yourself that "This too shall pass". "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child is born into this world" -John 16:21 -THIS too SHALL pass. You are going to come out on the other side. You are going to be okay. You will smile again. There will be joy. There is hope. There IS hope in Jesus! "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain!" -Revelation 21:4 "Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning!" -Psalm 30:5


3. Every moment is a teaching/learning moment for us on earth. If we don't learn to live through our pain we will never help another live through theirs. If you don't embrace your now or spend too much time wishing it away, you may one day look back with regret on this time you can't get back. Learn to embrace your now so that when faced with another trial you can put to practice what you were taught.


4. Allow yourself time. Take care of yourself. Let yourself feel your feelings. Don't sweep emotions under the rug. Don't let emotions control you, but don't hide them either. The sooner we allow ourselves to feel, the sooner we will heal. Feeling isn't dwelling. And don't ever heed to the advice that says "Just Get Over It". You don't just get over it. Whatever "it" is. Everything is a process. It's through the process that we learn. Nobody learns anything over night. So if we don't allow ourselves to go through the process we are only cheating ourselves from fully recovering and coming out on the other side better & stronger.


5. There is value in your pain. Pain can make you defensive or pain can make you sympathetic. Pain can give you courage or pain can make you wallow. You choose how you react in the midst of your pain. You choose if you are going to "live" through your pain or "just get by". If you choose to LIVE you will be better for it. Our struggles in life create empathy. Pain can call attention to unhealthy things.


"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever". -Lance Armstrong ... 


Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens:
     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.
6. Ups and Downs are inevitable. "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" -John 16:33


7. Laugh!


8. Go outside and enjoy the SUN!


May 9, 2012



"When you and I compare our insides to other women’s outsides, we always come out short. 
We’re comparing our struggles to their masks" 
-Jill Savage



May 7, 2012

No If's by Joyce Meyer


No "Ifs"

by Joyce Meyer - posted May 07, 2012

For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening…nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
—Romans 8:38-39
To fully understand all the different facets of love, we must talk about the two kinds of love: the God-kind of love and man’s love. Man’s love fails, gives up; but God’s love does not. Man’s love is finite, comes to an end; but God’s love is infinite and eternal. Man’s love is dependent on favorable behavior and circumstances; God’s love is now. People place conditions on their love, but God’s love is unconditional.
According to God’s Word, He loved us before the world was formed, before we loved Him or believed in Him, or had ever done anything either good or evil. God does not require us to earn His love, and we must not require others to earn ours. As believers in Jesus Christ, the love we are to manifest to the world is the unconditional love of God flowing through us to them.
Loving people unconditionally is a very big challenge. I would be tempted to say it’s impossible, but since God tells us to do it, surely He must have a way for us to do it. Sometimes we pray to be able to love the unlovely and then do our best to avoid every unlovely person God sends our way.
Learning to walk in love with unlovely people and learning to be patient in trials are probably the two most important tools God uses to develop our spiritual maturity. Believe it or not, difficult people in our lives help us. They sharpen and refine us for God’s use.
Love Others Today: “Lord, help me to love others today without imposing ‘ifs’ or conditions. Let me remember that as I do it, I’m being refined by You.”

From the book Love Out Loud by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2011 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.