I am a learner. In all things, I try to find the lesson. I have this feeling of peace when I find the lesson in a situation. In that lesson everything makes sense to me and hope fills in me, like I have just been handed a map and I know where I am going from here.
I really look for the lesson when I listen to sermons. Some times it is very clear to me as soon as the pastor starts talking that I am struggling in an area and I need to listen. There are times I have to really pray for my heart to open because I feel like I am missing the lesson. There is another reaction I look for and that is guilt. I know that guilt is a sense that is used to convict me of something I am doing wrong.
Today's sermon was over love as we have been going through 1 Corinthians. We reached chapter 13.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV)
The sermon was taught, Love is a verb and not a noun. I have heard it said, love is the action part of faith. In any case, as I was listening I was trying to get the lesson, what I needed to learn. Then the part came about opening ourselves to let that change happen. Through Christ's love, we wouldn't be the same, everything would be changed.
A feeling came over me, almost prideful at first and I had to process it. A feeling that I wanted to shout "I did that, we did that!!" Nineteen months ago , I hit a bottom in my life, and I hit my knees. Twelve months ago, we hit that same bottom in our marriage and hit our knees again. We submitted it all to God just as we had done with our individual lives.
I realized I wasn't feeling guilt and it wasn't pride, it was gratitude. The lesson of Love wasn't taught to me in church today, but by life over the last year and half. I couldn't shout, "I did that, We did that" because honestly God did that! Today, God brought not just the lesson, but the blessing and feeling of Gratitude. Grateful that I , my husband, and our children know real and true love.
As a family, we practiced love. We took action, and it was God's faithful and unconditional love for us as sinners that turned our lives into more than we ever imagined. Christians since we were children, we no longer believe just what we have been told, we KNOW what we have been told. We have been saved by the Grace of God. We have been forever changed by His love from the inside out.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV)
A Grateful Believer in Jesus Christ
~Johnna
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
2013~ A season of growth
It's a brand new year. Its time
to make resolutions, I choose to call them goals. Whatever we want to call them, it's a great time to think about what expectations we have for our lives and what direction we need to go.
Last year was a year of recovery for our entire family. There are many factors that influenced the need for this. The bigger picture, our family wasn't on a spiritual path or living in God's will. We did have about 6 months of recovery going into 2012 but we had many more years of traveling the wrong way.
In 2012, we attended many Celebrate Recovery meetings. We started attending church again. My husband helped launch the landing and I helped launch Celebration Station, the teenage and children ministries for Celebrate Recovery. We were able to visit other churches and recovery programs and give our testimonies. We were blessed to be so immersed, along with our children, into an environment that provided much healing.
Our new way of life was a little terrifying. It was different than anything we had planned. I read in Hebrews a verse that reflected this past year so much for me...
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; "~ (Hebrews 10:31, 32 KJV)
I can literally see God scooping up our family, dangling us across the way like a huge crane, as he swings back on to the path HE intended for us. That swing across was terrifying. So many changes, old environments and old relationships gone replaced with new places and new relationships. Landing on our feet, in the will of God, made it worth it. It just took our obedience and faith.
I worked on several projects this year, one being to see what it would take to bring a homeless resource center to our hometown. I was visiting another homeless resource center with members of a board I serve on. I can't explain the feeling I felt as I stood there in the middle of this day center full of the homeless other than to say it was the hug of God, letting me know this was where I was supposed to be standing. I was froze in place for several minutes.
That recaps a lot of 2012 as far as Recovery is concerned. As 2013 begins, I have set my goals and expectations. One thing I have learned, to pray for God's will for my life and the strength to carry that out. I can't say I have many specific
expectations but as 2012 was to recovery, 2103 will be to growth.
I pray for growth in faith, wisdom, relationships, service, recovery and love.
"Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow. " (Job 8:19 KJV)
Whatever your goals, resolutions, and expectations for 2013... Hold on tight to your faith. Give glory to God whenever possible and always help that love grow by leaving fingerprints.
A Grateful Believer in Jesus Christ
~Johnna
to make resolutions, I choose to call them goals. Whatever we want to call them, it's a great time to think about what expectations we have for our lives and what direction we need to go.
Last year was a year of recovery for our entire family. There are many factors that influenced the need for this. The bigger picture, our family wasn't on a spiritual path or living in God's will. We did have about 6 months of recovery going into 2012 but we had many more years of traveling the wrong way.
In 2012, we attended many Celebrate Recovery meetings. We started attending church again. My husband helped launch the landing and I helped launch Celebration Station, the teenage and children ministries for Celebrate Recovery. We were able to visit other churches and recovery programs and give our testimonies. We were blessed to be so immersed, along with our children, into an environment that provided much healing.
Our new way of life was a little terrifying. It was different than anything we had planned. I read in Hebrews a verse that reflected this past year so much for me...
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; "~ (Hebrews 10:31, 32 KJV)
I can literally see God scooping up our family, dangling us across the way like a huge crane, as he swings back on to the path HE intended for us. That swing across was terrifying. So many changes, old environments and old relationships gone replaced with new places and new relationships. Landing on our feet, in the will of God, made it worth it. It just took our obedience and faith.
I worked on several projects this year, one being to see what it would take to bring a homeless resource center to our hometown. I was visiting another homeless resource center with members of a board I serve on. I can't explain the feeling I felt as I stood there in the middle of this day center full of the homeless other than to say it was the hug of God, letting me know this was where I was supposed to be standing. I was froze in place for several minutes.
That recaps a lot of 2012 as far as Recovery is concerned. As 2013 begins, I have set my goals and expectations. One thing I have learned, to pray for God's will for my life and the strength to carry that out. I can't say I have many specific
expectations but as 2012 was to recovery, 2103 will be to growth.
I pray for growth in faith, wisdom, relationships, service, recovery and love.
"Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow. " (Job 8:19 KJV)
Whatever your goals, resolutions, and expectations for 2013... Hold on tight to your faith. Give glory to God whenever possible and always help that love grow by leaving fingerprints.
A Grateful Believer in Jesus Christ
~Johnna
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