by Carol Roberts | May 16, 2017 | Friendship
After many years how do we feel when one who was our enemy long ago tells us hello? We have long forgotten that person and moved on and so have they. However situations come about that place us together. That person may not know he offended us and is glad to see us after many years. He has a smile on his face and greets us warmly.
This is a great check point to consider. Have we truly forgiven this person? Do we still have hard feelings after many years of being apart? Do we suddenly start remembering the past where this person is concerned?
God is very clear when He tells us to forgive. Forgiving others is the best way to free ourselves from hidden feelings we don’t realize we have. God allows these encounters from time to time to show us where we are in our faith.
What about us? If this same meeting takes place how do we respond if we were the offenders and the enemy to them? What about all the mean things we said about them and they didn’t know anything about it? What about the times we made them cry or caused them great misery in their lives? How do we feel when these same people approach us with a smile to say hello?
It’s God’s way to have no condemnation toward anyone. If we are to be Christlike we should do the same. These chance meetings are excellent gauges to show us where we stand in our efforts to become more like Christ.
Romans 8:1 New Living Translation
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
by Carol Roberts | May 15, 2017 | Encouragement
As a young person having a job at a fast food restaurant is an opportunity to grow. The pay is very little and the work is hard. The hours are long and the glamor is not that great. When that young person wants to move to a better position he will apply at places that seem more glamorous. These places require Sunday attire and a professional attitude. Hopes are quickly dashed when he learns that the pay is less than a fast food restaurant.
A teenage girl baby sits to earn extra money for college. She sits for a lot of different people. Quickly she learns that the richer person pay a lot less for her sitting than the person on a standard income.
An elderly person earns extra money cleaning houses to supplement her fixed income. She is able to get the extra money she needs. One day she gets an opportunity to clean the home of one who is popular because he has a showbiz job. She spends several hours cleaning a very dirty house only to learn she wasn’t going to get paid at all. The showbiz celebrity’s way of thinking is that it should be an honor to be allowed to serve at his big house.
These things happen to people regularly. Rich, popular or glamorous people end up using hard workers out of pride. Hard working people feel obligated because they have an idea that the richness or popularity of these people are beyond being challenged. People feel too many enemies are to be made if they expose what is really going on.
It’s ok. God already has them exposed in His heavenly kingdom. Whether these people are challenged or not, God knows. It’s ok to be too busy next time to turn down these opportunities to be used. It’s ok if these users and abusers no longer like us when we turn them down. They never liked us from the start. Their smiles toward us while we worked hard were not smiles of approval but instead sarcastic laughter in their evil hearts.
We lose nothing when we walk away. God will take care of us and He will see to it we have enough.
Psalm 37:16-17 New Living Translation
It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich. For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the Lord takes care of the godly.
by Carol Roberts | May 12, 2017 | Hope
There are times things are on our minds so strongly that sleep will not come. We are awake long hours during the night trying to figure things out. Things that need to be done start plaguing the mind. Grief over losing a loved one or someone is sick who will not get better will tear our emotions to bits making it impossible to sleep. A teenager is missing or someone is being abused and anything we say or do only delays progress.
It is during these sleepless times we pray. We open our hearts to God in all honesty including every fact we know plus every wrong or damaged emotion we experience. God knows all things. God is with us during these times of uncertainty. When we acknowledge His presence we can start to feel His peace. Through all of this we have a divine partner Who has divine answers.
Many times we try to think things through in an effort to handle a divine situation through inferior human efforts but God has all things under control. He is even working things out while we sleep because He never sleeps. He is always alert and He is always available to embrace any situation we bring to Him. There is nothing too hard for Him and any who seek Him, He guarantees will find Him.
Psalm 121:1-4 New Living Translation
I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the One Who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, He Who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
by Carol Roberts | May 11, 2017 | Hope
There is nothing too impossible for God to handle. He created everything. Therefore He knows everything and how things work. He knows the innermost reasons why people act like they do. He knew before we were even born that good times and bad times would come our way. He knows our exact time span here on earth.
He knows what makes us happy and the things that hurt us the most. He knows the desires of our hearts and He wants to grant them to us.
However, if we do not have a moment to spend with Him then asking for a heart’s desire is like us asking a friend for a favor when we have not been on speaking terms with them. Jesus is our Friend and as we draw closer to Him He draws closer to us. He is the one Who sees to it vengeance is served and vindications are awarded. Trusting in Jesus to handle everything means we no longer have to waste time being mad at somebody, or delay answers to heart’s desires trying to get our own vengeance on someone. Jesus has taken care of all things.
Mark 11:24-25 New Living Translation
I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
by Carol Roberts | May 10, 2017 | Love
It’s amazing how much it encourages someone to get a brief phone call. To hear the actual voice of a loved one and they hear yours is an act of love that has been overshadowed these days with texting.
Face time and video chat are available yet so very few people use it. People make all kinds of excuses like bad hair days, no make up or voice is recovering from a cold. People will text in a heart beat but will not take even a second to have live contact. Personal visits are quickly becoming uncool and not the thing to do anymore. However, these personal contacts made to people are the things that motivate others to feel their best, look their best and act their best.
Has texting become a way for people to project themselves as something other that who God made them to be? Has social media become an outlet for people to play act where others believe a lie?
Genuine love is truth. The truth may not be glamorous or popular but the truth is genuine. When someone receives an act of love from a genuine heart it creates joy and happiness. Time is the most precious gift one person can give to another. Texting means nothing to a lonely person and gifts mean nothing when a person wants to hear a word of encouragement.
It only takes seconds to make personal contact with a person. It doesn’t have to be long. The fact someone had a loved one on their heart lasts well beyond the actual time spent.
Hosea 6:6 New Living Translation
I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know Me more than I want burnt offerings.