2-39pm
Today as I scrolled through FB statuses I came upon the one that Nico Bougas had posted. It’s a quote from Nicky Gumbel:
“People will hurt you, God will heal you. People will humiliate you, God will honour you. People will judge you, God will justify you.”
I just love it!! It reminds me of a couple of conversations I’ve had recently with people about their upbringing and how coming from a dysfunctional family need not mean a dysfunctional adulthood.
The difference in my life came when I became a Christian. In the book of Acts in the New Testament, the new church often referred to their new belief system as ‘The Way’. I like that. At 14, my life changed from my way to God’s Way. I discovered the truth in the quote. People hurt me, but God healed me. People humiliated me, but God honoured me. People judged me, but God justified me. He is faithful! And what He’s done for me, He will do for you.
But having said that, even within the church body, there can be pain between fellow Christians. Causing others pain is never right, regardless of who it’s between, but when it is within the church body, it’s particularly devastating. This is not how Christ wants us to behave. All of us will get hurt by others at some time in our lives. What we do with that is what makes a difference. Turn the other cheek. Do not retaliate. Pray for those who offend you. And take great care in what you write. With social media at our fingertips 24/7, it’s easy to rapidly write whatever you are thinking in haste or maybe anger. Once that SMS or email with its biting comment has been sent, there’s no getting it back. When you send a text message or an email, people cannot see your expression; they can’t hear the tone of your voice or read humour between the lines, so it’s easy to get misinterpreted. Take care and err on the side of love, compassion and forgiveness.
Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient bearing with one another in love.
When you are on the receiving end of unkind words and harsh comments, imagine you are a cricket player. There are balls that come flying towards the batsman that he chooses not to hit, but rather he lets it go through to the keeper. You can do the same when someone says something spiteful or unkind. Choose to leave those words – don’t embrace them – let them go through to the Keeper and let that Keeper be Jesus. He’ll take care of them for you.
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After all the rain over the last three days, it was great to get some sunshine. As I drove back from doing some shopping, I spotted some kids having a great old time in the flooded field….
The exuberance of youth! When I got home, Truffles was warming herself on the balcony and lazily lifted her head to acknowledge me arrival…
When I got upstairs, she was a little more gracious in her greeting….
Since I’ve been working from home, she’s been far more attentive and hangs around the house as if she owns the place!
Yesterday’s stew proved pretty bad! By the time we ate it at about 2-30pm, it still wasn’t tender. Although Mike and David, generously said it was good, I nearly broke my teeth on it. I put most of mine back in the slow cooker and just left it cooking away. Sometime, last evening, I turned it off and it’s tonight’s dinner! Yea!! Dinner is cooked!
I’m now going to watch my broccoli and lettuce grow!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gratitude Pic…Every cloud has a silver lining…
