One of the Sweetest Joys in Life...

“Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend.”  ~Charles Spurgeon

A few weeks ago I sat down to organize the pictures on my computer and back them up.  My computer is getting older and I wouldn't want to lose all the memories I've gotten over the past few years!   

As I looked through the pictures, and thought of all the friends the Lord has blessed me with, especially since He saved me, and I just had to thank Him.  I have been blessed with the truest of true friends.   I have found that to find real, genuine, godly friends, who really love you, and look out for you and want the best for you are so very precious!  But God gave me friends just like that!!  We can have many "friends," but the TRUE friends are few, and hard to come by!  

Each one of my friends are so different, and yet, I see how God has used each one in a different way! One helps give me godly direction, is solid, steady, wise, and a constant friend to lean on, another is so good at being a comfort and has such a gift of compassion for a hurting heart (she also gives the best hugs that can make you feel better in an instant!).  Another makes me laugh until I cry and my stomach aches, another encourages me with her gentle, sweet spirit that always sees the best, and another convicts me with the way she trusts everything to the Lord.   They listen, they care, they give their time, are selfless.  Their character is godly, and their character sharpens my own.  I trust them.  And that says so much!  Each one is such a special blessing!  

To have friends you can share your biggest burdens with, who "get" you, who you know without a doubt have your best interest in mind, is a gift from God.  These are peaceful, unconditional, loving, solid, unwavering friends and I thank Him so much for providing these precious friends!  

And it makes me want to be that kind of friend too!  I want the Lord to make me to be the kind of friend who wants the best for them, who listens more than talks, is truly selfless and seeks to put others first, a friend who is trustworthy and never gives cause for my friends to fear I would do something to hurt them.  I want to be steady, unwavering in my love for them.  I want to make them laugh and smile and cheer their spirits and I want to be a friend that encourages them in the Lord!  I love them so much, and don't know where I'd be without them.  God is so good to give us friends...and I just happen to have gotten the very best of the best!  :) 

Be Different!

"And be not conformed to this world..."

Several years ago, my parents and I had taken a trip to Duluth, Minnesota one summer.  We were walking near the canal and just people watching.  As I watched all the people walking by us, I noticed one couple in particular.  They just seemed...different.  The lady was dressed modestly and the both just had a joyful, peaceful countenance.  This was even before I was saved and knew the Lord, and yet, watching them made me think "I wonder what they believe."  Now, I don't know what this couple's beliefs were, or even if they were Christians, but I did notice they believed in something that made them noticeably different.  

There is another instance when a difference made an impact on me.  This also was before I was saved.  I was driving from out of town for church on the weekends and would stay with a young married couple from our church.  Their home was "different."  I noticed for the first time, people who sought to live for the Lord all the time!  Whether it be the music they listened to, the way the spoke, the way they dressed, the way they treated each other.  It was so different from the world!   It made such an impact on me.  I saw they were real!  Their true heart was to be set apart from this world for Christ.  

I want to do this too and encourage you to also!  Let's seek to show this world we are different!  I so wish I could share with others how a lost soul seeing a difference in a Christian person makes!  What if that couple I stayed with had been just the same as every one else?  I would not have seen what a life that seeks to please Christ in every area looks like! I am so thankful for this Christian couple's testimony to me!  

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord..." 

 2 Corinthians 6:17

"Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. " 

Titus 2:14

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;  that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:"

1 Peter 2:9

I often like to have a sermon playing as I clean or do various things around my apartment.  Tonight, as I was trying to get some things done, I noticed it was quite quiet, and so I went to my computer to find a sermon to turn on.  Over the past few weeks, the Lord has been so good to me in showing me an area in my character that he wants to root out.  I tend to be a person who is a worrier. As I have been worried about some things as of late, God showed me ultimately, my worry is a result of a desire to have control over things in my life.  So tonight, as I looked for a sermon to listen to, this message my pastor did a few years ago was just what I needed!  I thought maybe others would be blessed by it too!  

"Let Go and Let God"

tinysa.com/sermon/1011101747256

It Starts in the Heart!

 "For the good that I would I do not:  but the evil which I would not, that I do."  Romans 7:19

Do you ever get frustrated at yourself?  I know I sure do!  This verse in Romans is the cry of my heart all too much!  After salvation, there began a war in my heart.  Oh how I long to please my Lord with my thoughts, actions and words!  Yet, I still have my flesh present, fighting against the good I so long to do!  

I have spent so many mornings, asking the Lord to make me a good testimony to the lost, to help me not get upset or frustrated when circumstances get stressful or uneasy, to help me not complain and gossip.  I've prayed for God to help me with these things that I don't want to do  so much, and yet, so often at the end of the day I feel I've failed.  

Just recently, God spoke to my heart as I was thinking about areas in my character I long for the Lord to help me do better for Him in.  And as I thought and prayed, God impressed upon me that it is not just that I need to "do better" in these areas, but ultimately, I need God to soften and change my heart in these areas!  

I don't need to keep asking the Lord to help me to "do better", I need Him to purge me from unthankfulness, selfishness, impatience, a lack of love for others and so much more!  If my heart is right, only then, will I truly be able to please my Lord!

And so, my prayers have changed!  Instead of asking for help to do better, I ask Him to give me a heart to show mercy like He has shown me, to see the good in situations and people, to be thankful for all the blessings He has given me despite my unworthiness, to put others good before my own!   When my heart is merciful, I am more patient.  When I am more thankful, I complain less.  When I see the best in others, it keeps me from gossip and a critical spirit.  

It all starts in the heart!