December 23 2014

December 23 2014 Greetings My Friend I mull the word “humble” around in my thoughts again. One of the first “pictures” I see is a tiny baby in a manger. Jesus could have come as the child of an earthly king. He could have chose to enter our world in many other loud ways but He did not. He came as a baby and that is so vulnerable. A baby needs to be nurtured and cared for. He was born to poor parents and His mother was a teenager. The more I look at the birth of Jesus the more “humbleness” I see. I learn that “showing” all of your strength and weakness’ is not how to be humble. The more I look at Jesus’ life I see His humble nature. He was gentle, kind and was a servant as well as a leader. He led by example rather than by force. People were drawn to Him because of His gentle ways. For me I also had to learn that Jesus took a position and stood by it. He didn’t back down from His beliefs just to fit in with what the religious leaders felt was right. Jesus lived the Bible of His day. Learning to tell the truth in love has been a journey in of itself. I can be honest without being cruel. I can be strong in my truth but I don’t have to beat someone over the head with it either. Some people aren’t going to “hear” what is true and I can argue until I am blue in the face or I can state my belief and move on. I won’t compromise my belief in Jesus. In loving God and learning His ways though I can live what I believe. Another trait that speaks to me is the way Jesus reached out to the lowest people in society. He healed the leper, the demon posed and the lame. He was gentle with the tax collector, the woman caught in adultery. This spoke to me when I was feeling useless, undesirable and unwanted. Jesus made even the undesirable people know that God wants a relationship with Him. Anyone can be forgiven but we must come on God’s terms not our terms. I am learning that God does give unconditional love but also there are conditions in which we can be in a relationship with Him. We must want to make God #1 in our life and go by God’s rules not our rules. To me that means repent, confess and believe in Jesus with all your heart not just with your words. When I am willing to meet God on His terms I find patience, love and growth taking hold in my life. I am willing to change my ways to please God and the more I learn to change the better life is. My emotional pain has been a long walk down many different roads but today it is in check like it has never been. As I have entered into older years and health struggles I have the healing from emotional pain to fall back on and in that I know that God is going to make these challenges okay with some maybe not full healing. In a way the full healing is in my spirit because I feel connected to God and I know He is going to walk me through each struggle I have. The more I know that God is there the easier it is for me to live a quieter less self seeking life. I don’t need to show my intelligence, my physical beauty or my acts of kindness. I can seek to please God and find that is all I truly need. In all of this I can go forth with the hope I have living, loving, learning, serving and giving. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet