November 1, 2016

Greetings My Friend, "let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil:hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor." I stop first at "let love be genuine", mainly the word genuine lingers the most, I think on this and I come up with do not be fake, do not love for what you can get but let love be genuine. I love with all my heart I think and then I am convicted, no I have loved because I was afraid to be alone, not wanted and basically I gave my soul away to whoever showed kindness to me for a minute or two. I had a desire to love someone so that the broken pieces in them would respond to my love and appreciate me all the more. Once more I hear "let love be genuine" and I realize that even though I thought I was full of love the genuine kind, I truly was not as loving as I thought I was. The is a sobering moment! That was the past I think so I do an introspection of myself and I ask "is my love genuine now?" To be honest I do not think I ever met true love until I met Jesus in the pit of my life. The strange thing is Jesus told me that I am special, I matter and by the way I love those warts you possess too. Wow! I remember those things that were dark and hidden down so deep I was barely aware of them. One day brought that secret sin up and boy was I ashamed. I did not want to face God with that sin but God told me to trust Him and He reminded me that He loves me even with that secret sin, "okay, I thought?" The strange thing is God took my hand and began a journey with me walking away from that dark and deep sin that plagued my soul. Later when I reflected I was amazed that the desire for that sin was gone and in its place I had an admiration for God and His power. Soon I started looking into my life and lifting up those other dark sins I had and God graciously began walking with me teaching me how to give them up and showed me the destruction that they played in my soul. The more I was accepted and the more I walked away from, the more my idea of loved changed. I saw my need to be a co-dependent, enabler and that these traits were not healthy at all. I learned Agape love "seeking another's highest good" and wanted to learn how to love in this manner. God has been teaching me this wonderful trait and I have so much more to learn, to last me a lifetime. God showed me what He did with His chosen people and told me to write, to warn and I have tried to stay faithful to this. God told me to use my life and write about His saving grace in my life of the hope of Jesus to all people. God has given me courage when I had to write things that are hard for me to do. In the process I keep loving God and His love keeps reflecting back in my heart. As my thoughts return to where I started I see the difference between loving in the flesh and never finding that empty space in me filled. Next I see that my desire is to enter into each day loving as I have been loved by God. Today I love all people and I learn to not love in dysfunctional ways. I like that. I find again God's ways are the best and the Holy Bible is a valuable book for each of us to read and get to know God be thankful for our Lord Jesus' strength. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet