God sometimes sits and visits with me in the strangest places and the strangest ways.  Today was in the garden picking green beans.  God probably likes talking to us in the garden...just like he longed to talk with Adam in His garden.

Now, when I say "sit and visit" I mean it in a sense that I start to hear a "story" in my head and it gives me goosebumps in my heart.  I listen intently for the message to unfold and I can't wait to share it.

It always happens when I find myself saying "thank you God, thank you God".  I start to feel overwhelmed by His love because it is never ending and always enduring my faults.

We are getting ready for vacation, and our garden is producing a large harvest, therefore, I am trying to harvest as much as I can before we leave.  Our gardens are important to us and we are thankful for the harvest.  I've learned that it's fun to watch the harvest grow, but it's not always fun to do the work.  I used to grumble about having to go out and pick the harvest, clean it, and prepare it for winter.  It's a lot of work and takes a lot of time.  I used to complain, until one year we didn't have a plentiful harvest.  I would have given anything to be out there picking plentiful green beans...but they weren't there.  Perhaps I forgot to give thanks.

Lesson 1:  In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ~ 1 Thes. 5:18.  

As I'm picking green beans, I'm noticing that it seems that I overlooked several green beans from the picking before.  I know because of the size of the beans.  Sometimes as any gardener may tell you, these green beans can hide themselves in their vines, because we seem to not see the fruit, and we completely overlook it.  Blessings can be disguised this way too.  Sometimes, we think we are seeing all of God's blessings, but we can miss many, because of many reasons.  Most time, we won't see the fruits, because we are looking at the vines.

Lesson 2: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ~ Galatians 6:9 

Next I notice that there are vines that do not seem to belong with the green beans.  They are wrapped around the green bean plant and are making it's way all the way through the crop.  I think these things are called creeping Jenny or something like that...but in any case they are not green beans, and if not addressed, they will kill the green bean plants and take over.  The creeping Jenny is like sin in our life.  It attaches to us, looks like it is "a part of us" like we were "born that way" and will choke out our true identity until we are no longer who we were created and we will no longer produce good fruit and will die.  I didn't think twice about removing this creeping Jenny from my green beans and we should do the same about sin in our lives.

Lesson 3: The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ~Matthew 13:22

Finally, I look at the crop and I think about all that went into it.  You take a dead seed.  Put it in the dirt, cover it up, water it, pull weeds, water, pull weeds, you care for it daily.  You check on it.  You harvest it and you, in return, reap the nutrients from it all year long.  Like God... we are dead without him.  Many are living without God in their lives.  Many people believe money, greed and power will fulfill them.  Many are struggling because they feel worthless and don't believe they deserve God's love.  Some think God is racist.  Some think God picks favorites.  Truth is...you can take a dead life, whether it be yours or others,  you can plant that life in Christ.  You can die to your old ways, you can be a new creation, you can grow in Christ, you can water, and nurture, you can pull weeds, and you can harvest all the blessings he has for you.

Lesson 4: I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  ~ 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

I have had one of the most amazing summer's ever!  It came at absolutely no cost!  I've learned more, grown more, appreciated more and felt more alive than I have in years. It was all a result of becoming Un-Busy.

So much has happened to me this summer, and I'm not sure I can put into words the lessons I learned in my heart.  After working in a position that put me in a lot of health risks because of constant unsolvable conflict, I found myself as a person I did not like.  I felt like all the years I spent in a relationship with Jesus ended in a nasty divorce and I was bitter.  That position then heightened all conflict in my life and it magnified it into mountains.

They were all molehills.

The final straw came after a very vicious comment from a very hateful family member. I hit my limit.  I pulled away from everyone and everything. I shut down my blog, my FB, my Twitter, everything.  I resorted to very limited social media contact.  Just used my email, my phone and my texting app.  I went in search to hear God and live as he would lead me.  No interference.  Just the simplicity of listening to the Spirit and reading the Word.  Those two things have to go together, because it's easy to be influenced by spirits.  Some of them are far from the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, you have to make sure you are in the Word, so that you are not deceived.

I learned quickly who my "small circle" of friends were.  I don't mean that I have a small amount of friends, but I mean the circle that makes sure that they keep you in their lives.  It was a tough, but important lesson for me.  You see one of the lessons I learned, as a people pleaser, is that all the people I love, don't necessary love you back.  I learned that we sure put a lot of effort trying to please people, that don't even think of us.  These are the people that always use the excuse they are too busy or have to check their calendar and then never get back to you or pick a date.  Then there are the ones that only contact you to ask you to do something.  The tough part of this lesson for me, was knowing that some of the people that I trusted with my deepest heart strings, never even contacted me.  The best part of this lesson was, I found out quickly who I could trust with my deepest hurts, frustrations and prayer requests.

I did a lot of "soul searching" during this time away from "the world".  I took care of my husband, my family and our home.  I caught up on some very needed talks with my children.  I am very close to my boys, but as teenage boys probably often do, they resort to their rooms and don't have time for Mom or Dad.  I used to think I was an excellent parent, until they reached teenage years...and now I am not sure how to parent.  I learned so much this summer about being a parent to a teenage child.  Parenting is different at this age.  You go from full need, to none.  I do, however, get so many compliments on my boys with their behavior outside of our home, which assures me that we are moving in the right direction. This summer I realized, I turned into a friend and a guide for my children, even though they warn against this. My boys are both learning very much who they are without their mom, but when the time comes and they need guidance, they ask.  They are turning into men...independent.

I focused on our hobby farm.  We now have 8 head of cattle, 6 pigs, 30 chickens, 2 hives of bees, 28 rabbits, some cats, dogs, 2 birds and goldfish.  We have 2 gardens, fruit trees, and bushes as well.  All of our buildings have been salvaged from ones people either threw away or abandoned.  You'd be surprised on what we've done with other people's garbage.  All my landscaping has been salvaged as well.  The secret is, we have items from grandparents who are no longer with us.  So to us, it's not garbage or old...it's important.  People throw away far to many things, including love.

I wanted most of all to be free from drama and the hate of the world.  I don't watch the news, I didn't have social media.  I didn't leave my house for more than a small amount of time and although I longed to spend time with people, I didn't want the chance for conflict.  Life had become far to beautiful again to risk letting anyone in to say the things about me that I'm so used to hearing.  My deepest hurt has been rejection and learning how to be a step child or an adopted child into a family that isn't really my own.  Family has always been a longing in my heart, however, I've never found my extended place in family, so I've dove deep into my own.  Although I'd love to say that hermitizing myself rid my life of complete conflict, it did not.  I still have emotions, I still make mistakes and I still get hurt.  So many things happened, including "don't ever f'cking talk to me again" texts.  Yep, life...it can be hurtful.  But you learn.

Obviously, I did get back on social media, began blogging and re connecting.  I chose to do so, because there was a medical emergency with my new born niece.  I watched her turn blue and nearly died in front of my eyes.  This was a moment that is etched in my head worse than anything I've ever witnessed before.  This shook every heart string, brain cell and nerve in my body.  It was the only time I can remember feeling completely and utterly helpless and fully dependent on God.  I don't know what I would have done if the nurses were not able to bring her back, but luckily they did.  My perspective on life was drastically changed in this moment and my outlook on life changed.  I learned the importance of love vs hate.  I learned the importance of edifying vs tearing down, I learned the need for forgiveness vs bitterness.  I felt the need for re-connection vs separation.  

But life, the news, and social media quickly made me realize this was a personal lesson, not a worldly one.

I guess the bottom line is, the journey is not about the world and all that happens in it...the journey is about hearing from God and all he has to say.  If he tells you to reconnect.  Do it.  If he tells you to withdraw and pray, do it.  If he tells you to stop acting like the world...and follow his lead, Do It!  The world is full of hate, hurt and bitterness, things we'll never fix on our own.  It's getting worse.  Conflict, offense and spitting on family and friends, has become normal.  Throwing away relationships is easy and communication has been limited to a "don't ever f'cking talk to me" text. The cool thing is...the text doesn't have to come from you...because you can change your world, simply by listening to the right Spirit.

Becoming "unbusy" has made me realize and learn so many things.  We put our time into so many activities that only causes us stress instead of blessings.  We bring it on ourselves chasing things that will never fill our needs.  Money, greed and power is in the lead...it makes people crazy.

As for me...I'm working on the Proverbs 31 woman...I'd encourage you to read it every day. it's been an incredible journey and the best summer I've ever had!

Bible Study Reference: Proverbs 31

As I came across a bag of gifts I had given in the midst of a pile of things thrown in the corner, I felt instantly hurt and rejected.  I love to crochet, I love to make things "in love", as I call them, for people I love, and I love a lot of people.  While making the items, I pray over them, prayers of love, peace, prosperity, and safety.  I've crocheted headbands with prayers for peaceful minds, I've crocheted blankets with prayers of protection, but all of them, I've done with purpose.  Sometimes they are crooked.  But oh well.

Our gifts are not always received.

I thought of my Grandma Thelma, and the countless number of blankets and items she crocheted.  I wonder if she prayed prayers over them too?  I am positive that every stitch was with love.  I remember one in particular.  I wanted a "Strawberry Shortcake Kid" so bad.  All my friends had them, Blueberry something or another, peach something...who knows, it was so long ago, but all my friends had one.  They were all scented too, so when my friends would come over, I would be envious of their dolls...wishing I had one, but we were too poor to afford them.  My Grandma was poor also, but she crocheted me a Purple Plum Shortcake doll.  It wasn't the same, and I remember I was not appreciative of it.  I didn't show all my friends, because really...all it would do was show them I was too poor to have a real one.  I was ashamed, and I tossed it in the corner when my friends would come over.

Just like that bag of gifts I came across that I had made.

I wish I had that doll back....because now that I know what I know, I understand that that doll was way better than any commercially fabricated machine made replica of a true Grandma's love...

I of course thought of the gifts that God gives us that we toss in the corner.  God has blessed us with so many things, and we throw them in the corner with the rest of the stuff we don't know what to do with.  Maybe instead, we could embrace those gifts.  Maybe we can help others with those gifts?  Maybe they will throw it in a corner for another day, but the point isn't what others do with your gift, it's what you do with your gift.

Now that I know what I know...sometimes we search for things that are nothing but commercially fabricated machine made replica's of a true God's love.

I'm reminded of the scripture that tells us not to hide our lights under a lamppost.  Sometimes it's easy to want to take our gifts and hide them....it's a lot easier, that is for sure, because with the gift of giving, comes the pain of rejection.  Jesus gets it....so don't feel alone in this.  We can certainly let rejection shut us down, and make us quit using our gifts...or we can keep doing what we love. 

Keep sharing your gifts...and keep giving them to others, even if they throw them in a corner.

Scripture Study: Matthew 5; Luke 11

 Yesterday was an amazing day!  My Grandpa, my hero, would be among a selected number of soldiers,  by the Republic of Korea. who aided in their freedom,  to receive the Korean Peace Medal and be considered "Ambassadors of Peace".  Veterans Services Officer, Larry Goette shared that all military deserved recognition and he is right.  We are so thankful for our service men and women.  The Korean War was noted the "forgotten war" although it is quite apparent that these men nor any of our military are ever forgotten.

If that wasn't a big deal, I can't wait to share the rest!

The ceremony began with the Assembly's worship team, sharing the love of Jesus.  The love that He gave to us, long before we ever loved Him back or deserved it.  It invited the Holy Spirit to be with us, to minister to us and it invited us to be "one nation under God".

Next, Tribal Chairman, Dave Flute, began his presentation with a Native Song about the President and our Leadership.  It was powerful and honorable, and although it was sung in native tongue, it impacted us all.  Larry and Dave presented the Korean Peace Medals to the soldiers and to the families of the soldiers that were no longer with us.  Dave was a war vet himself and the one thing that resonated in my ears was his announcement that it was his honor to belong to his tribe, to be an American and to serve the American flag and he would do it all over again.  Why that would be so important will become clear shortly.

As I stood there, God overwhelmed me with His amazing love for not only these men being honored, but also for all the families that were represented here.  I looked around at all the races, cultures, colors and I smiled...because there was no racial tension, there was no riots, there was no hatred, there was only cultures, colors, races, human beings and honor.  But for Sisseton, SD, this is normal.

I'm not going to say there is no racism here, because there is still some ignorance and some offenses that occur whether it's about race or not.  But I grew up in and around Sisseton, SD, I lived it, and I assure you that my Grandpa has instilled in my heart, the passion to be "an ambassador of peace" long before he received the award today.

Native American people are beautiful.  Not only their faces, but their smooth chocolate skin color, that by the way, never ages, and their hearts that are always serving.  I have many surrogate Native mothers, Phedora and Elaine being of the highest ranking, who took me in and never called me a "little white girl".  Ok...well maybe they did, but it was all in love and fun, because I was the ugly duckling that was adopted into the swan family.  This culture is amazing, and was an honor to be a part of.  The native women are always finding a reason to cook big meals to feed the tribes, getting all the children together to play, honoring, celebrating, mourning, but always living life in abundance.  The Pow Wows are unlike anything you've ever seen.  These people are honoring and dancing, celebrating, worshiping, loving and rejoicing. The dancers, drummers, servants, colors, purpose, is overwhelming.  I'm forever grateful, I've never looked upon them or any other with hate in my heart.  Matter of fact, I don't even know what that would look like.  These people loved me and I loved them and there was never a separation because of culture or color or religion.  But again, this is normal for Sisseton, SD. 

I believe that God had a major plan for Sisseton, SD, way back in it's start in 1907, to be a place of "Ambassadors of Peace" to mentor nations.  You see although you will find some brief mention of racism, you will find much more love in culture, in color, in race.  You will find that long before Martin Luther King Jr.s dream in August 28, 1963, Sisseton, SD had possibly sparked dreams of sort,  as it had already learned how beautiful it was to see Native American, Black American, Hispanic American, White American as well as others growing together, playing together, working together and marrying each other.  

I'm so honored to be a part of all of this.  I think about the Black Lives Matter movement.  Black lives have always mattered.  There is no down play in that.  Life really isn't about the color as much as it is about Jesus, but we will certainly try to put importance on one culture over another...except in Sisseton, SD.  There you will see, for the most part, the harmony of race, color, culture, religion and freedom.  You will see honor, respect, and human beings who are learning to love God as well as one another.

You see, when Tribal Chairman, Dave Flute spoke the words I am proud to belong to my tribe, to be an American and to serve this flag, he spoke a truth we could all benefit and learn from.  We can be proud of our culture, we can be proud of our heritage, our color our race, and we should be.  There is no shame in any of it, matter of fact it is beautiful and something each of us can learn from.  We can be proud to be American's, meaning no matter what color, culture, race, religion, we are all together, living this life out, honoring one another and respecting each other.  We can be proud to stand under our flag, as an example to the nations...

​Under God...

​and His blessings.

For many reasons I've been a person who believes that hanging on to relationships at all costs is imperative.  If you do this right, or that right, if you stay silent, if you don't cause waves, if you participate and help them with their dreams, whatever it takes to keep connection with others.  Forgive, let go, forgive let go.  Just stay connected.

Except now I found myself hurt, bitter and wounded, many times acting like a victim instead of a victor. I was angry at injustice, and upset that people were not accountable for their actions. I was ruining new relationships because I had no trust, no confidence and anticipation that new relationships would turn out like past relationships. Bottom line was, I was angry that I could not control others, I could not make them love me, or God, and I could not make things work out the way I felt they should, hence making me a failure.

I could have many excuses as to why I should let go, such as hateful words, rumors, hurtful actions, rejection, lies...the list goes on and one, but I held on.  I continued to let things I should have learned to let go, form my identity.

I learned how to "let go".  It became easy and common.  It was a great protection for my heart and my identity.  In my own home, I had no drama, I felt good about myself, and I was able to focus on what God said, instead of what people said.  Except, I can't be a hermit forever.  God for some reason make me crave people.

So I began to ask God to show me how to "cast my cares".

Psalm 55:22 New International Version (NIV)

22 Cast your cares on the Lord
    and he will sustain you;
he will never let
    the righteous be shaken.

​Things began to change.  I didn't have to "let go", I could instead "cast my cares".  It's entirely different.  Letting go, shuts people out.  "Casting Cares", keeps connection without loosing identity.  There are times, you have to disconnect, perhaps for a time, or perhaps until God...  But casting cares, allows for re-connection when God does.  Casting cares also does not allow bitterness to set in, or unforgiveness.  Casting cares, allows you to give a situation to God and trust him to work it out, or get rid of it.  And yes, there are lots of things in life we need to get rid of...so it's ok.  If God wants it to come back in your life at a later time, he will...so don't worry about that either.

1 Peter 5: (NIV) 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

I encourage you to consider working on this.  Regardless of what your cares are, financial, relationship, health, sickness, weight, employment, spiritual or any other, learn the art of casting your cares, instead of letting go.

Bible Reference 1 Peter 5 ; Psalms 55

Sometimes I yell at God.  There has been a handful of times that I can recall, screaming at God.  Asking Him WHY???  Times where I should be strong in faith and in prayer and all I can do is cry and ask Why?

Yet, I still fully trust God.

Yesterday was again one of those days for me.  My beautiful niece Maci had been born, an "Amazing" birth, as her mother described to me in a text.  I rejoiced with the new birth pictures my brother had sent me...giggling at his exposure of the birthing room scene.  I could not wait to get off work in 6 hours and go hold her!

Less then 2 hours later, I got another message, "they are air lifting her somewhere, we don't know where, she is having complications in breathing, please pray!"

So I set about first and foremost gathering up every prayer warrior I knew, and luckily I know a lot!  I love that about God, he has helpers all over the world.  After I dispatched the request, I fell on the floor sobbing, and yelling at God.  Why?

I will be honest, I went through a lot of emotions in a short time.  From anger at family for things they had done and said, to feelings of helplessness and despair, to fear for the unknown, to frustration that I wasn't a stronger Christian, and finally scripture.

Jeremiah 1:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Of course she was set apart!  This little girl is going to be a "fighter"

Thank you God for taking care of us when we go through these things, that we have the ability to be strong for others, that we have compassion and understanding for one another. That through many things in life, we have the ability to overcome and be victorious not only in victory, but also in trials.  Thank you God that you are with my brother and his bride as they look to you for answers and strength and thank you for Maci who is a symbol of your unconditional love.

So after work, I picked up Mom, Maci's grandma and we headed to the NICU.  We had to scrub all the germs off our hand arms and nails and I giggled again as Mom scrubbed herself all the way to her shoulders.  We had to put our phones in plastic bags and if we touched anything we had to re-scrub.  NICU is full of amazing nurses and Dr.s all very intent on caring for their delicate and innocent patients.  They are knowledgeable, calm, sweet, caring and understanding.  My brother looked exhausted, but strong.  I looked at my brother with eyes I never have before as he stood over his daughter with the protection of a Daddy.  Maci was beautiful, she was pink and perfect.  She was now breathing on her own and I knew that the prayer warriors had stormed heaven because she looked amazing.  I was so relieved and thanked God over and over.  Thank you Jesus...for Maci, for Kyle, for Amanda, for the Dr's, flight team, hospital, nurses, family, prayer warriors... she was perfect and I was no longer scared.

Until....

She stopped breathing, right there in front of us.  The nurse was not there.  "rub her chest" I said...she needed to be startled or something...her alarm was going off, and her oxygen went from 90 to 70 very quickly.  The nurse returned and after some calm assessment and Maci's color changing from pink to blue...asked me calmly to "get someone in blue".  I scanned the oxygen - 50%. In a flood of adrenaline and daze, I quickly went to the nurses station and I said, you have to get to station XX, Maci's turning blue.  Another loud alarm went off and a army of blue came running.  When I say army I mean army.  I don't know where they all came from, but I was glad because I felt like I was going to pass out.  I kept looking at my brother.  My mom was praying out loud, and I was again screaming at God, but this time in my head, until a nurse looked at me and said, honey you need to sit down are you alright?  Again, another dispatched angel, I tried to not cry for spite of my brother's sake, but my feet went out from under me, and I couldn't control it.  I cried.

Jeremiah 1:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Her color came back...she turned pink, her oxygen came back to 92%.

We never understand the impact of those God puts in our lives.  Little Maci already had made me realize and fully understand how precious life is and she was just under 12 hours old.  She taught me forgiveness, love, peace, perfection, trust, and the miracle of life.  God was right...he had already appointed her to be a prophet to the nations, long before she was in her mother's womb.

I don't know what is going on with my spiritual ears lately, but for some reason I have tuned into listening to how people pray.  I want to make something clear before I share my thoughts today.  I'm not judging prayers, I'm not suggesting anyone is praying wrong, and I'm not telling you how to pray.  I'm sharing what my journey of being led by the Spirit is teaching me this week.

As I'm tuned into prayers I hear, "God please send rain". "God please stop this pain". "God please develop my ability to ... " "God please do this...." "God please help me get this....".  And I wonder, do we stop to ask God what he may have us to do?"  See, as a person that is searching for God's leading, I wonder if I myself might be doing things backwards.  I mean really I'm looking for this amazing journey with God.  I've always been a morning person and excited to get up and see the gifts God had waiting for me, yet I woke up with my own agenda and prayed that God would make sure that things went my way throughout the day.  Many times he would so I would be ecstatic about God, but other times he wouldn't and I would be disappointed and feel like "God didn't love me".   Maybe I had swore that week, or yelled at the boys, perhaps I had had bad thoughts about someone and God wasn't going to answer "yes" until I did better or learned the lesson he wanted me to learn so I could grown stronger in my faith.  You know... sometimes God says yes, sometimes, no, and sometimes wait...

But what if I was not asking the right questions to getting a yes...  What if I wanted all of God's answers to be yes and Amen?  What would I need to do?  Would I need to be a better Christian, or would I need to ask the right questions.  How do you get God to say "yes" to everything you ask?

Maybe the answer is...."Ask the right questions".

This morning I prayed, God, "what would you have me do today?  God let my attention be on you.  Let me be extra sensitive to your leading and your direction.  God please open doors that you have laid out for my life, please teach me how to draw closer to you, to be led by you.  Let me be less sensitive to my own wants and temptations.  Give me a heart like yours."

I think about those of the Bible.  Like Abraham, Mary, Moses and others.  For instance Mary...did she pray that God would allow her to be the mother of his Son?  Or did Mary pray to do God's will?  Did Abram ask God to send him out into the wilderness to give him direction and let him be successful, or did Abram obey God's direction?  Matter of fact, what happened when Abram came up with the idea to tell the Kings Sarai was his sister... did God bless him?  What about the pillar of fire and the cloud.  Did Moses tell God where he wanted to go and God led them, or did Moses follow God's leading?

I'm going for God's leading in my life.  So for me, I'm going to start asking for God's agenda.  I'm not going to rely on mine.  In my opinion, Church should look like that... God's agenda instead of mans.  It's a journey, a gift, a surprise...and will always lead to God's best and God's yes!

Bible Study Reference: Exodus 13, Luke 1, Genesis 12

In lieu of all the violence with the "lives matter" I feel very compelled to write a little bit about my thoughts on this.

I'm saddened.  I can't find any light in the direction of this movement.  None.  I see races rising up to take their place at the top of the totem pole, but I do not see love.

You have to be careful not to use "this word", or "that word", say "this color" or "that color", you have to make sure that you are silenced in fear you may say something that offends someone, and already I've said totem pole.  But I grew up with beautiful Native American Indians, so I don't know any different.  We are moving in a Hitler direction...full of control and dominance, and I do not see any love.

We don't know our worth.  We value the worth of the world.  We want to be on top, we want to be in control, we want dominance, we do not want to be held down, enslaved, or in bondage.  We feel that this control is somehow in the hands of man...because we listen to the world and not to God.

If you read through my blogs, you will see that my first passion is against racism.  I despise it.  I will not tolerate it, and I will also not tolerate race cards to be played.  Why...because your race does not determine who you are, or your direction in life.  Anymore than any of my past issues in life have determined my direction, although, I'd love to use it for an excuse when things don't go my way...chalk it up to the race card, the abuse card, the addiction card...but let's never chalk it up to not having a relationship with Jesus.  Because then...we'd all be equal and we'd have nothing to climb the ladder of success for...because we would be a people about Christ, instead of ourselves.

But in the meantime, how about we try to shoot each other, kill each other, control each other.  Let's try to change our language, our dictionary, our culture.  Let's try hatred and violence, let's try all the schemes of Satan...because they are forceful and there is no love in them.  I am lead to John 8 when I write this...constant "disputes over".  We love to dispute, we love to be right, we love force and we feed off of conflict.  Just give us a reason to hate.

Jesus answers that the truth lies in God, and in His ways...of love.  Now I'm not talking about the 60's when sex and drugs were the definition of "free love" we didn't have it right then either...but we got there, because of the results of the Vietnam war.  But we forget we still have people fighting the depression that the war caused.  War is not the answer...and if you don't know history, you will fall victim of it's repeat.  

You must know your worth in Christ, regardless of your race, your color, your gender.  Your identity is not in man...it's in God.  You will never understand or get it right until you line up under God and humble yourself under his Son's name.  The name of Jesus...that breaks every chain...including the violence of "lives matter".  Only then will we know and see real love.

Bible Study Reference: John 8

I love the voice of Adele.  She captures me with her emotions, her words and her voice.  The lyrics of her song "Hello" captured my attention.  I could relate, I talk a lot.  So I've heard many people say that I must like "center of attention", and although it rings some truth, it also holds a very hurtful message for self esteem.  So I fully understand when she sings, "It's so typical of me to talk about myself, I'm sorry."

I was studying 1 Corinthians 8 today and it's like God just opened up a revelation to me, in the midst of His words.  I love when God does that.  It's a very humbling feeling when God corrects you.  It's the kind of humility that doesn't leave guilt and condemnation, it doesn't make you feel worthless or little, no good, or like a failure.  It's the kind of humility where you feel like God is putting his hand under your chin, lifting up your face to his eyes and telling you how much he loves you..,

When it comes to correction, and faults, it is strictly a "me me me" issue.  Really it is.  It's taken me a very long time, back and forth, back and forth, getting it, changing it, revising it, praying about it, and contemplating it, perhaps even rejecting it...before I got it.  The Bible is so clear on ministering truth to others, and judging sin...so it's easy to think that it's our job to help others see the things God sees in each of us, including our faults...but really that's not the case.  It is very important for us to seek God in all we do.  If God's Spirit speaks to us, it's important for us to obey.  It's important for us to instruct and correct our children in the ways of the Lord.  It's also important for us to stand beside our brothers and sisters in Christ as we walk this life out together.  But what happens when we have conflict?

It's laid out in 1 Corinthians 8.  I've just not looked deep enough because frankly, we don't really have a lot of issue these days with if we should eat meat or not.  I don't hear that being brought up in churches very often at all.  But what if we took the "eating meat" out of the context and put in a modern conflict, like "drinking alcohol".  Now I am certainly not telling you to change the Bible...so don't read this wrong.  What I'm suggesting is to consider the "message" instead of the "topic".

In this scripture, it is very much about "me me me" and yet, it's about being accountable to others.  God does that you know...he works on you, so you can impact others around you without you having to say anything to anyone else, you simply obey and God's power is unveiled by your willingness to obey.

So...scripture is telling us here in 1 Corinthians 8 this, in a nutshell.  When you become aware that something is wrong in your life, and you are saved and freed from that bondage, you must be careful not to allow your knowledge of this to make you puffed up and judgmental.  For instance, if you are a smoker and quit smoking, and now you are walking around coughing and choking and telling everyone how stinky they are...  Get it?  :)  Instead, you must realize that others may not have received the conviction from the Holy Spirit yet, or perhaps they have and are currently resisting or rejecting....because really this seems to be the process within us all.  You also must realize that if someone is caught in sin...such as addictions, as a fellow Christian, it is just as important that you are not participating in any behavior that would cause someone who struggles to fall into the temptation.  For example, perhaps you believe 1 glass of wine is fine, and are exercising your freedom to enjoy a glass at supper, with your guests, who you may or may not know is a recovering alcoholic.  

So bottom line...make listening to God all about "me me me".  Don't point fingers at others with "you you you".  You may never have to preach to anyone every again, because the heart of God is about love, and once you have love, everything else looks much different.

Bible Study Reference: 1 Corinthians 8, 1 Corinthians 13:2