Category: Christian Blog

What Does Obedience Out Of Love Really Look Like?

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.  I John 4:18

By third grade, I had taken enough speech classes to have overcome the speech impediment. There was a new “integration” policy in Dexter. There were two grade schools. One primarily had “city” kids and the other had primarily “country”. I was one of the country kids chosen to travel a little further to the other grade school, while the town wanted to integrate country children with city children. (Remember it is a small town so “city” is a relative term). Yet, for me it was a new beginning. I did have to ride the school bus an hour each way; but, I used that time to do my homework and to study. Finally, I was accepted. It was a happy time. I began to win awards in math, spelling, and even singing. There were sleep overs with my new found friends who accepted me for me. My hard work and “performance” were paying off.

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Then in fifth grade, I was moved back to the first school. Determined to be acceptable, I worked very hard to become slender. My success went un-noticed by my classmates; but, I was suddenly noticed by older boys and even the new male teacher noticed me. So, I came to believe that “to be accepted” it was important to perform well and to be attractive. I began to believe the same of God’s love. God could love me only if I could perform well and could work hard for Him. By age 12, I was the substitute Sunday school teacher at church.

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Can One Kind Word Bring Hope To The World?

 

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue” Proverbs 18:21…An unbridled tongue “is full of deadly poison” (James 3:8)

What incredible grace it was that God reached down and touched the heart of a 5 year old. He knew what trials lay before this child. He knew what sorrows would befall her. He even knew every time she would fail. Yet, He reached down and touched her heart; revealing the truth of salvation. My clearest memory of age 5 was accepting Christ as my Savior while Dr. M. R. Dehaan’s voice boomed from the kitchen radio. What Grace that God looked down the corridors of my life and chose to reveal Himself clearly to this little 5 year old at the start of her journey. He knew the perils that lay before me. He took my hand that day to never let go!!

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When Charlie left for grade school, I was left behind on the farm. Though he really did not want to go, I longed to go to school. I sat every evening as mom tutored Charlie like a little sponge taking in every bit of knowledge I could. It was with great excitement and joy that finally a year later I was also going to school. I knew little about the perils that lay ahead for a child who had such a tender heart. I had gained a lot of weight that year. I entered school overweight and with a speech impediment. Quickly, I became the one that others teased and made fun of every day. I managed every day to spill my lunch onto my dress to make matters even worse. Top student in my class, I could answer all the questions, was in advanced reading and math; yet, no one liked me.  To add to my despair, I was very sensitive to the pain of others. There was another little boy who was also overweight but did not seem to understand the teacher’s instructions. Every day he got spanked for something. Everyday my heart broke. It broke from watching what I felt was injustice. I wanted to scream, “He doesn’t understand, please don’t hit him.” Still, my voice was silent.

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3 Truths of Love Displayed In a Child’s Heart

If I am to tell you the truth of love; then, I must begin at the beginning. We arrive at every relationship of life carrying our baggage from the past. Unless we are willing to acknowledge and recognize that; we cannot develop meaningful relationships and we cannot truly love another person. My hope, my desire is that through this series I may help you to find strong, unshakeable love that warms your heart and holds fast to truth, hope and joy.

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As a young child growing up on the farm, my mother says I was very sensitive and tender toward justice. She tells me that at age 3, I would be busy playing when my older brother would take my toys. (Charlie was 10 months older than I). Mom would hear what happened and would come to spank Charlie to make him return my toys. To this she says I would protest. “Please don’t spank him! I don’t want that toy, he can have it. He can have that toy.” I do remember that horrid pain of seeing someone hit another. Years later, I felt the injustice when a teacher would spank a child. My whole body would tremble, my heart break every time someone or something was hurt. I could never have imagined back then that one day I would be crouched in the corner while my husband beat me with a steel rod.

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Why Is To Love And To Be Loved Our Greatest Desire?

To Love, to be loved. We desire that, we want that more than anything else. That need for love supersedes  all our other desires at least at times. We long to find someone who will love us for who we are, with all our flaws; yet, loves us enough to see the potential of who we can become. Someone who loves us enough to take our hand and gently, lovingly guide us along this journey. A companion, a friend, as well as a love that warms our hearts when the winds of life blow cold and chilling. We celebrate love! Valentine’s Day is only 2 days away! We long to believe in “love ever after”! We rejoice in love! We want to love and be loved!

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Still, for so many, all this celebration can bring deep within a lonely ache of sorrow. A sense of not being included in the celebration. For far too many of us the thought of love opens wounds.  Our hearts ache from feelings of pain, rejection, and scarred broken hearts. That pain, that loneliness, that brokenness is all too real in our society and our world. From the songs, “all the lonely people” to people who watch “The Bachelor” to all the dating websites; all representing people longing to believe in the hope of love. Hearts desiring to find someone to love and to be loved by.

You, might at first glimpse at my story and say, “what can I tell you of love?” After all, I have had my heart broken over and over again along this journey. I believed in the fairy

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3 Truths About the Wondrous Grace of Jesus

Throughout the gospel of John, he has made it very clear that his choice of events and his great detail in recording these events were to present Christ’s beauty and grace in such a manner as to draw you to Jesus Christ. The writers of the gospels had each been endowed by the Holy Spirit with a special gift to write down these memories incorporating a part of each writer’s personality and at the same time presenting God’s word to us. God loves to use our uniqueness in a manner to display the wonderful diversity of His beauty. So, it is not surprising that John’s final recorded event was when Jesus came to Peter with such grace and love. Ever so gently, Jesus came to commission Peter to lead the church. So, let’s lay the groundwork to this chapter.

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photo courtesy of Jim Peregoy.  I added the captions.

Privately, in the upper room at the last supper, Peter had sworn his allegiance to Jesus. He swore that he would die before he would allow Jesus to be taken. Jesus told him that before the cock crowed three times, he would have denied Jesus 3 times. Peter thought that this could never happen; yet, just as Jesus had predicted—Peter did deny Jesus three times while in the courtyard. (If you want to read more detail about that go to “What to Do If I Fail with All My Heart?”) After Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus had already appeared two times to the apostles. In neither of those appearances did Jesus mention the betrayal. No, doubt Peter’s heart was rejoicing in the truth of the resurrection. Yet, deep within lay the sorrow of his own betrayal of Jesus. There was that wound that cut deep into his own heart. That pain when you know you have caused pain to someone you love. Worse, that pain which you feel when the Holy Spirit convicts you and you suddenly realized that you have betrayed Jesus (the love of your life). I have too often been right there where Peter stood—filled with the joy of Grace while at the same time fearing that I failed God. [bctt tweet=”Truth is God knew–just as He did with Peter–every time I would fall down & He still chose me”]

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