Love, love, love, love, love, LOVE, love.
As 2006 faded into 2007, God's been opening up the door of love, teaching me about love, reminding me about love, showering me with His love and everywhere is love, love, love.
Who's love?
HIS LOVE.
I heard a story over the radio the other day and it was about an old man who was talking to his old wife and asking her about their marriage.
And she told him that many years ago, her mother told her that the secret to a successful marriage is to never argue or fight with her husband when she got angry.
So the husband asked her what did she do whenever she got angry with him.
The old woman took a basket and in it lay a pouch with $90 000 inside and two embroidered dolls.
She explained to her husband that every time she got angry with him, she sewed an embroidered doll.
So the old man was feeling very pleased at what a loving wife he had, having only been angry with him twice during the marriage!
Then he asked why she had so much money in the pouch and the wife said, "Oh I got it by selling the other embroidered dolls."
HAHA okay I found it really funny when I heard it but then as I was feeling frustrated and upset and awfully blue this week, it just reminded me of God's definition of love and how He's been reminding me to exercise this love!
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices iwth the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
I guess in some ways, I never properly understood at that time what I was fully asking God for when I prayed for His revelation of love to wash over me constantly, because ever since I prayed those prayers, I've been inundated by His word on love and His grace and mercy of love! And it's been a nonstop cycle of encouragement and finding it tough, tough, tough.
It's been a reeaal struggle trying to understand, accept and carry out God's definition of love.
I'd always considered myself a fairly loving person but lately, God's just been opening my eyes to expand the capacity of my heart, to love more, and more importantly to love as He has loved me.
And in all honesty, it's hard. Reeeeally hard.
Especially when human selfishness takes place; because frankly, when we give out love, we expect reciprocation, we expect the same love to be extended towards us.
When it isn't, we hurt and we remember the myriad of things done, we feel shortchanged and still undeniably hurt and even bitter, maybe.
And when I hit rockbottom weariness, all my energy ground away by futile efforts, all I feel like doing is giving up and simply not caring.
Then whenever I reach that stage, God plucks me up again with His swift hand of comfort and encouragement, reminding me that love holds no record of wrongs, love is not self-seeking, love always perseveres and truth be told, sometimes I just feel like saying STIIIIILLLL? I'm super tired, God. My heart and head hurts.
And I seem to have hit this stage on multiple levels almost every single day of this week, crying seemingly senseless tears and caving in to some inexplicable loneliness, but yet amazingly, He's renewed me every morning and reminded me yet again of HIS LOVE.
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrfice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."
- 1 John 4:9-12
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen.
And he has given us this command: whoever loves God must also love his brother."
- 1 John 4:18-21
Sometimes we feel the strong urge to hit out at someone who's hurt us, to yell and hash it all out; but just like the story, God reminds us to love, to hold on to His love which enables us to love the way He loved us.
Been a struggle this week to try and let go of hurt and disappointment and renew myself in His eternal love as I set forth to love others.
I really pray that You'll increase the capacity of my heart bit by bit, so that I may love and forgive as You have loved and forgiven me.
Help me to see beyond myself and into the lives of others!
-
And on a slightly off tangent note, today was a really cool day!
Before church, I was praying to encounter Him that He may lift my spirits up because I was feeling rather blue.
I was going to fasten my favourite necklace round my neck when it slipped and my two pendants fell off the left side of my shoulder.
I found one of the pendants but I simply couldn't find the other one: a bible locket.
Anyway I was scrabbling on the floor trying desperately to find it within the short amount of time I had when I was suddenly reminded of this story Laura told me.
So I began to pray that I may find my pendant and God will show me where it is and I heard a voice tell me to look to the right.
So I scoured the area on my right trying to find the pendant but I simply couldn't find it.
I was rather irritated at that point of time and I was thinking to myself, if I simply changed my position, the right would be another area already, so what does look to the right mean?!
Then I stood up and as I looked in the mirror, I saw my little locket stuck on the right side of my hair and it was simply amazing because I had no idea how it could have gotten on the right side of my hair when the pendant had slipped on the left.
And then it struck me again that when God told me to look to the right, He was right!
Because the locket was on the right side of my head, no matter where I turned, where I sat, it would always be to the right :)
As 2006 faded into 2007, God's been opening up the door of love, teaching me about love, reminding me about love, showering me with His love and everywhere is love, love, love.
Who's love?
HIS LOVE.
I heard a story over the radio the other day and it was about an old man who was talking to his old wife and asking her about their marriage.
And she told him that many years ago, her mother told her that the secret to a successful marriage is to never argue or fight with her husband when she got angry.
So the husband asked her what did she do whenever she got angry with him.
The old woman took a basket and in it lay a pouch with $90 000 inside and two embroidered dolls.
She explained to her husband that every time she got angry with him, she sewed an embroidered doll.
So the old man was feeling very pleased at what a loving wife he had, having only been angry with him twice during the marriage!
Then he asked why she had so much money in the pouch and the wife said, "Oh I got it by selling the other embroidered dolls."
HAHA okay I found it really funny when I heard it but then as I was feeling frustrated and upset and awfully blue this week, it just reminded me of God's definition of love and how He's been reminding me to exercise this love!
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices iwth the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
I guess in some ways, I never properly understood at that time what I was fully asking God for when I prayed for His revelation of love to wash over me constantly, because ever since I prayed those prayers, I've been inundated by His word on love and His grace and mercy of love! And it's been a nonstop cycle of encouragement and finding it tough, tough, tough.
It's been a reeaal struggle trying to understand, accept and carry out God's definition of love.
I'd always considered myself a fairly loving person but lately, God's just been opening my eyes to expand the capacity of my heart, to love more, and more importantly to love as He has loved me.
And in all honesty, it's hard. Reeeeally hard.
Especially when human selfishness takes place; because frankly, when we give out love, we expect reciprocation, we expect the same love to be extended towards us.
When it isn't, we hurt and we remember the myriad of things done, we feel shortchanged and still undeniably hurt and even bitter, maybe.
And when I hit rockbottom weariness, all my energy ground away by futile efforts, all I feel like doing is giving up and simply not caring.
Then whenever I reach that stage, God plucks me up again with His swift hand of comfort and encouragement, reminding me that love holds no record of wrongs, love is not self-seeking, love always perseveres and truth be told, sometimes I just feel like saying STIIIIILLLL? I'm super tired, God. My heart and head hurts.
And I seem to have hit this stage on multiple levels almost every single day of this week, crying seemingly senseless tears and caving in to some inexplicable loneliness, but yet amazingly, He's renewed me every morning and reminded me yet again of HIS LOVE.
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrfice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."
- 1 John 4:9-12
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, who he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen.
And he has given us this command: whoever loves God must also love his brother."
- 1 John 4:18-21
Sometimes we feel the strong urge to hit out at someone who's hurt us, to yell and hash it all out; but just like the story, God reminds us to love, to hold on to His love which enables us to love the way He loved us.
Been a struggle this week to try and let go of hurt and disappointment and renew myself in His eternal love as I set forth to love others.
I really pray that You'll increase the capacity of my heart bit by bit, so that I may love and forgive as You have loved and forgiven me.
Help me to see beyond myself and into the lives of others!
-
And on a slightly off tangent note, today was a really cool day!
Before church, I was praying to encounter Him that He may lift my spirits up because I was feeling rather blue.
I was going to fasten my favourite necklace round my neck when it slipped and my two pendants fell off the left side of my shoulder.
I found one of the pendants but I simply couldn't find the other one: a bible locket.
Anyway I was scrabbling on the floor trying desperately to find it within the short amount of time I had when I was suddenly reminded of this story Laura told me.
So I began to pray that I may find my pendant and God will show me where it is and I heard a voice tell me to look to the right.
So I scoured the area on my right trying to find the pendant but I simply couldn't find it.
I was rather irritated at that point of time and I was thinking to myself, if I simply changed my position, the right would be another area already, so what does look to the right mean?!
Then I stood up and as I looked in the mirror, I saw my little locket stuck on the right side of my hair and it was simply amazing because I had no idea how it could have gotten on the right side of my hair when the pendant had slipped on the left.
And then it struck me again that when God told me to look to the right, He was right!
Because the locket was on the right side of my head, no matter where I turned, where I sat, it would always be to the right :)
HOWWW COOL IS THAT.
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