Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Over the last month or so, I have had two very freeing revelations, two things that I have been struggling with off and on for quite some time. God has helped me to reevaluate and bring things back into perspective. It’s always such a wonderful thing when you know it’s Him talking to you and guiding you along the way. (Insert very large smile)
The first is with my women’s group; I’ve been feeling like I’m failing the girls. Feeling like I’m not handling things as I should or I don’t have a good enough plan or set up. I’ve been condemning myself for not being this organized spiritual leader that I see in churches or on TV. By organized I mean…I don’t have set plans for us to study this and that or for us to read this and then discuss it later.
So a couple of weeks ago I decided to look at what I wrote down when God first blessed me with this idea. What I wrote was…it will be a group of women to get together to testify of God’s goodness, to encourage each other in word and prayer and to become close so that we know we always have a spiritual sister we can count on. This group’s purpose was to build spiritual fellowship with a small group of women to grow together in the Lord, through prayer and praise.
Being reminded of this felt really good; it showed me that I am being obedient to God and that our coming together is still in praise and honor of Him. Now, I’m not saying that somewhere down the line we won’t incorporate some particular books to read or something like that…but, we will stay in prayer about it and let God guide our steps.
Ephesians 4:31-32 (NLV) 31 Put out of your life all these things: bad feelings about other people, anger, temper, loud talk, bad talk which hurts other people, and bad feelings which hurt other people. 32 You must be kind to each other. Think of the other person. Forgive other people just as God forgave you because of Christ’s death on the cross.
The second revelation was about my feelings…whether of hurt, confusion and even some anger towards another person. Part of this understanding has come from my blog Separate the sin from the person. While writing it I realized there are many reasons people do things the way they do, to include myself, and even if being treated wrong does not give me the right to return the same. I gave much of myself and depending on the situation I was either accepted (to an extent) or used and this caused me to feel a multitude of emotions. I tried to be careful not to portray those emotions, but in my heart was built up hurt, confusion and anger so I’m sure I wasn’t always successful at concealing it.
However, I now realize that it does neither me nor the other person any good to harbor these hurt feelings and that I would be better to let it go and allow God to heal me and prayerfully them. I’ve noticed some of the ways God is helping me with this…recently He has placed a new person in my life that somewhat reminds me of the other person, or a younger version of that person. They look so innocent and love to help others out, as well as being very loving and playful. This has helped me to see past what has occurred back to the person and for this I am really thankful.
While it never totally left, my love and compassion is being restored and my prayers for them are returning to what they once were…actually, now being lead even more by the Holy Spirit. I’ve also come to realize that on all sides things are not being handled as they should and could be dealt with better, with God at the forefront in every aspect. So my prayers for everyone to be in the will of God have increased.
I always feel so blessed when God reveals things that need to be changed, especially within myself. Initially it’s not always the most pleasant, but it really does help with my emotional, mental and spiritual growth. These are both lessons that I pray stay with me and continue to help me grow.
No comments:
Post a Comment