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God's love

TRUE LOVE DOES EXIST!

February 26, 2017 by Missy Lewie Leave a Comment

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I usually hear or read where people quote scripture from the Old Testament that substantiates their reasoning that God is uncaring, a hater, or just plain ready to throw a lightning bolt at us whenever we make mistakes or fail in life. Or they have a mindset from previous experiences with their own father or “guardian” relationship.  Maybe they had an overbearing father that could never be pleased, or one that never shows any emotion toward them or never says, “I love you.” And there are others that don’t even have a relationship with an authority figure at all. If they actually know their dad, they are non-existent in their lives when it came to raising them.

I was raised in a home with a single mom, and although she genuinely tried to wear all the hats, it just wasn’t possible. My mom was a very tough lady, but also incredibly gentle. This was a characteristic that I learned to manipulate at a young age and therefore never really experienced any direct discipline from her. I would usually just smile or laugh and she would forget all about it. If she did move forward with grounding or disciplining me, she would almost in no uncertainty, let me off the hook. But she did love me. And her life of serving and loving God was yet another example of how I should live. It wasn’t until I was a young adult that I realized this component was missing in my life and at age 19, I accepted Christ.

Even after my new found relationship with Christ, I personally struggled with the “disconnect” of a Heavenly Father that I didn’t really know and all of a sudden wanted to be a part of my life. I struggled with the idea that God truly loved me, yet sat by for 19 years and watched our family struggle in every way possible. I ultimately figured that I had probably messed up in too many ways growing up, that some of His promises just wouldn’t apply to me. Now, even though I knew Him and genuinely loved Him, my past was still my past and clearly God knew all about it. And as a new believer in Him, when I screwed up, He couldn’t possibly still love me. I heard someone recently say that the Grace of God is Him giving you what you need, NOT what you deserve! Today I am thankful for the grace of God in my life and recognize Him as the loving Father that I personally never experienced growing up. But it hasn’t always been rainbows, lollipops and unicorns as my husband would say, but God has brought multiple times of correction, rebuke and life training experiences that I didn’t like nor understood.

When we experience pain, hurts, hardships or struggles, the viewpoint that God is mad at us or teaching us a lesson is a normal thought process. Especially if you’ve read any of the Old Testament. The Old Testament shows an angry God with His creation and Jesus was the final sacrifice that literally took all the punishment of sin onto Himself once and for all. I mean literally, He died FOR ALL!

 

Now I realize there are New Testament scriptures too, like in the book of Hebrews; but knowing that you have a loving father, who cares for you, wants to see you succeed, has a desire to finish all the good that He started in you, I personally feel those scriptures are usually taken out of context and misrepresented. I do know that God disciplines those that He loves. As a parent disciplines their children because they love them and want them to learn right from wrong. Sometimes we as parents use the word “punishment” when disciplining our children, but God does not. There is a difference. Discipline requires training and the potential of a heart change, punishment is just the penalty being paid, no training involved. Through Jesus, the price for our punishment was paid.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews, wanted his readers to remember that the difficulty and pain they were experiencing was not God’s punishment for their sins or weak faith. He explains that Jesus’s sacrifice for sin was complete and for all believers. No sacrifice of any kind for sin was ever needed again. He followed that up with example after example of how the life of faith has always been difficult for the saints.

Then he quoted Proverbs 3:11-12

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.

“It is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons,” he said. The Hebrew people were not to interpret their painful experiences as God’s angry punishment for their sins. That angry punishment was completely spent on Jesus — once and for all — nailed to a cross. Rather, this was the message they were to understand from their hardships: God loves you! He has fatherly affection for you. He cares deeply for you.

It is crucial that we remember that everything God feels toward us as Christians is gracious. Even when God disapproves of sinful behaviors and habits and thoughts and disciplines us, it is a precious form of His favor. It’s what a loving father does.

God is not giving us what we deserve because what we deserve was nailed to the cross. Instead, He is training us in righteousness.

Because He loves us so very much.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: God's love, love, right relationship, True love

DOES THIS MAKE ME LOOK FAT?

October 7, 2013 by Missy Lewie 1 Comment

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ccc_new_logoOver the years, I have spent many hours counseling families and businesses and find most people struggle with maintaining a positive viewpoint regardless of the topic, need or struggle they are in.  Or they have a desire to see the positive outcome but what comes out of their mouth isn’t exactly equaled.  You have to help yourself and train your mind to find the good in situations surrounding you.  I like what Joyce Meyer said, “You’re gonna go through it, so you might as well be happy!”  

I can remember a time when I wasn’t feeling very good about myself, I didn’t like the way I looked, I felt like everything I wore looked frumpy, and I was personally tired of wearing black (I had heard it makes you look thinner). While struggling with my own perception of myself, I finally chose an outfit and then asked my husband that very dangerous question, “Do I look ok?” He innocently responded with, “Could you wear the black outfit?” So obviously you can assume how I responded. The irony is, he just wanted me to wear the black outfit so we could match.

Your mindset will predetermine how you react to situations, how you view others, what you speak, and most importantly how you perceive others intentions.  It basically aligns (positively or negatively) your perception.  If you have a negative outlook, your perception of how something came about or a person’s intentions will be negative.  I find it ironic that when a situation happens, if you have a negative perception, you always look for and ultimately find any mistakes in the situation.  HEY guess what – PEOPLE AREN’T PERFECT!  So there will probably be an error in judgment – but you can find the good if you change your mindset. Starting with your thoughts is paramount!  I always say, take the high road.  Always assume the best of intentions with people.

When I worked with families and businesses I worked to provide them with the written plan to be completely debt-free.  I have to say, there has never been a couple or business owner that has said to me, “thanks for the plan, but I have no intention of completing it.”  In fact, it’s quite the opposite. They usually say, “This is great, we can follow this plan, no problem!” Then, 3 years later, they call me back to re-do their plan.  Which is not necessarily a bad thing, because at least they get back on track!

But what happened?  Somewhere, they lost focus, or they didn’t organize as the plan said, or worse – CIRCUMSTANCES changed their mindset.  If everyday they concentrated on being debt-free, decisions they would have made along the journey would have supported the vision.  Now I realize that circumstances happen, but they don’t have to move us off the vision.

Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” (NKJV)

IT DOESN’T SAY, “Write the vision and make it plain so that those that read it can CHANGE it, RE-ROUTE it, REVISE it – hence pushing you in a different direction to ultimately obstruct your view and change the vision God has given you.

Circumstances can’t change your vision, only YOU can.

YOUR DAILY DECISIONS ULTIMATELY AFFECT YOUR THOUGHTS

You are always making decisions.  Our current lives are a direct result of decisions we have made in the past.  You make decisions constantly.  Whether it be what time to wake up, what to eat for breakfast, what you are going to wear, etc.  All of these decisions can affect your thinking.  You can begin to think differently of yourself with something as simple as “what am I going to wear.”  Thoughts can begin to transpire that clearly weren’t there the night before, but now have taken over your mind and can affect the way you view yourself the rest of your day.

You have to recognize those thoughts are not of God and make them be quiet.  In order to do this, you must know who you are in Christ!

God says, “You are the apple of His eye, that He loves you, that you are to be the first not the last, that there is nothing you can’t do with Him by your side, that He will stick with you, closer than a brother, that He will never leave you nor forsake you, that greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world. These are just a few of His promises and there are so many more.

I realize that you may not always feel like you are special, but you are! I realize you may not always feel like you are loved, but you are! I realize you may not feel like God even knows you exist, but you do and you are all He thinks about! Your feelings do not determine how God feels about you. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He loved you before the earth was formed, before you were born…

…And He loves you now.

The innocence of my husband just asking me to wear what he liked, or the families that realized they were off the planned vision, are just some examples of clues we need a “factory reset” with God. He has a plan for you to begin again. Get your mind right, align it with the Word of God and allow His Spirit to lead you into truth. You will find purpose, happiness and peace that you will never truly fully comprehend!

Filed Under: General Tagged With: change your mind, circumstances, daily decisions, factory reset, God's love, innocent husband, mindset, renew your mind, vision, what you say, what you think

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