Are you walking in darkness?

I was reading this verse the other day and wrote it down because it really struck me. The verse is I John 2:9... "If anyone claims, "I am living in the light", but hates a christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. If you love your brothers and sisters you are living in the light and do not cause others to stumble."
When I first read that verse, I thought to myself, "I don't hate anyone!". Hate is such a strong word. Then I decided to go look up the definition of hate in the dictionary. Hate means to have strong dislike or ill will for someone or it can also mean to wish to avoid. Well, I guess there are some people that I strongly dislike and definitely wish to avoid!
When we are walking in darkness because we hate a brother or sister, that means we can't see which way to go. It's dark.... we stumble around. It keeps us from moving forward in life. We just get stuck in the darkness. So how do I get past that? We will always have people in our lives that challenge us, but we need to ask God to help us forgive them and to see them through His eyes so that we can live in the light and move forward into what God has planned for us.

The Plank In My Eye!

Matthew 7:3-5- "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck out of your eye', and look, a plank is in your own eye?
Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother's eye."
I have been guilty of this so many times! I remember talking about how selfish I thought one of my friends was with her money. Then, the next week we went out to eat with someone. My husband decided to buy his dinner (which he ordered an $18.00 meal). I was feeling very stressed about our money at the time, so I started to grumble to myself about what an expensive meal he got and began to complain about having to pay for it!
What a hypocrite I was! How selfish I was! This was the same kind of thing I would complain about my friend doing, and here I was doing the same thing!
That's what this verse is talking about... me always looking at what others are doing wrong and not first asking God to show ME where I have been wrong and selfish and judging others for things that I do myself... just maybe in a different way or in a different area in my life.

Doing Good

The verse for the week is Galatians 6:9 which says, "Let us not become tired of doing good. At the right time we will gather a crop if we don't give up."
Sometimes it feels like we keep doing what is good without any reward or benefit, and everyone around us is not even trying to be good and it seems like they are the ones getting the rewards and the benefits!
It's like when a farmer plants a crop. He puts the tiny seed in the ground, and then everyday he waters it and cultivates it. Then one day, he finally gets that sweet, delicious corn, or those juicy, ripe tomatoes.
God will do the same thing in our lives. He told us not to become tired of doing good. To trust Him, don't give up, and He WILL pour out the blessings in your life!
He WILL give you the desires of your heart! Sometimes it might take a while, just like with that crop, but it's because God wants to give you the best.... he doesn't want you to settle for what seems good enough for right now, He wants to give you the perfect gift, the gift that was made in heaven just for you!

Is God mad at me?

Have you ever felt like God was mad at you? I remember going through a time where I felt like I could never do anything right when it came to my relationship with God. I would do really good for a while spending time with God, praying and reading my Bible, and then I would go for months without doing anything! I would feel so bad, like I had failed God. Then I would get back to focusing on God and spending time with him. I would be feeling really good until someone would come along and make me mad! Then I would start talking bad about them to anyone who would listen!
I knew in my head that God loved me, but sometimes I didn't really feel like He loved me or was proud of me.
Jeremiah 31:3 says that "God has loved you with an everlasting love", a love that can never go away, no matter what you do or how you act. God is on your side and wants to see you succeed in every area of your life... in relationships, in school, in health, etc. He wants to use our success to bless others and point them into a relationship with God, so that they can also experience the everlasting love that God has for them.

Suddenly!

Acts 16:25 (after Paul and Silus were thrown into prison for no cause- they had done nothing wrong) "About midnight, Paul and Silus (while they were in jail) were praying. They were also singing praises to God. The other prisoners were listening. And suddenly there was a powerful earthquake. The foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were open and all of their chains fell off!"
Have you ever felt like you were at a "midnight" in your life? Where everything seemed dark around you? Have you ever felt in chains, bound to something and that no matter what you did, how many times you told God you were sorry, that you couldn't break free?
Have you ever felt falsely accused of something and no one seemed to believe you or try to understand you?
God saw the midnight, the darkest hour of Paul and Silas. God sees your "midnight". What did Paul and Silus do? They prayed and sang praises to God. And then what happened?
Suddenly God began to shake the foundations.... and immediately all the doors were open and all of their chains fell off!
As we begin to praise Him, God will replace your darkness with light, God will set you free from the chains that bind you, and God will be your advocate, your deliverer and will fight the battles for you!

Wait!

Psalm 27:14 says, " Wait on God! Take heart and don't quit! He will strengthen your heart. I'll say it again, Stay with God and wait on Him!"
Waiting on God is sometimes very hard to do. I remember just recently when we were waiting on a referral for adoption. When we started out, they told us we would only have to wait for 6 months. Then when we got to 6 months, they said we would have to wait for 12 months. We finally made it to 12 months and then they changed it to 18 months. Again, we held on till it was 18 months and then it changed once again to 24 months!
What was God doing?! All we wanted to do was to help another child, so why was God making us wait so long! So many times I just wanted to quit and forget it all! The heartache and pain didn't seem worth it to me!
The reason God wanted me to wait was because He was doing something wonderful behind the scenes that I couldn't see yet.... it wasn't ready yet. Something even better than I had imagined.... but it wasn't ready yet. And if I would have given up because the wait was so long and hard, I would have missed out on one of the biggest blessings of my life.
Sometimes some of God's best gifts for us are ones we have to wait for. Not because He wants to test us to see if we can suffer and wait, but because He is working on things for us behind the scenes that we can't even see and can't even imagine how wonderful they are!
So, what are you waiting for? What have you asked God to do for you that you feel like He's not even listening or doing anything about it?
Like the verse above says.... don't quit! Don't give up! Keep waiting, and our Heavenly Father who loves you more than you will ever know, is working behind the scenes on something extra special just for you!

You Matter!

When I was in High School, I never really felt important... or that I really mattered. I never felt like I really stood out in anything. I seemed to be average at everything I did. I had sisters who always seemed to turn the guys heads. One of my sisters who was just two years younger than me was blonde, tan and thin... just what the guys liked and just what I wasn't! I remember being on family vacations and as we walked down the streets or went to restaurants, the guys were always gawking at her and I always felt invisible.
Satan used those times to try and make me feel like I wasn't valuable. That I didn't matter.
But that wasn't true. I had a God who created every detail of me and loved it! He took great delight when He created me. I made Him smile.
Matthew 10:30 says "the very hairs on your head are all numbered."
Times when you feel nobody notices you and nobody cares, know that your God in Heaven notices every detail about you. He loves your smile, the way you laugh, the way you care about your friends. He notices everytime you walk into a room. He notices everytime you get down on yourself or just get discouraged.
God says not only do you matter, but you matter GREATLY to Him.