Love and Trials

Sleeping in!!  What a joy!  God usually has me awake long before the sun comes up so today was a treat.  All this morning, He has been showing me verses related to love.  And to love others even through trials of life, and to especially love Him through trials.  I had an amazing day yesterday traveling to Alabama with a friend.  It was a short trip, but our friendship is growing stronger each time we get in the car to go somewhere!  I didn't know how to have friends like this and I am blessed that God sees fit that I can handle it now.  I am definitely learning!  I shared with her yesterday about the situation with my children and it was an open door for Satan to push through and in turn I heard from the enemy all night, not just about that, but about everything.  Thank goodness I have a faithful Father who showed me this morning why I suffer and what to do when I do suffer.  If you have ever lost a child to addiction, whether it be to the state or to family, it is the hardest thing in the world to sit back, stop defending yourself, and wait on God's timing. I still have responsibilities to them and I intend to uphold them as able. I need to love through it.

On May 27th, 2013, I did one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life and that was to walk across the threshold of Jacob's Well Ministry and walk into a peaceful place where there was no judgment, there was only love.  I was surrounded by beautiful men and women of God who truly cared for me.  They loved me when I didn't love myself.  It would be the beginning of a long journey that would be so very painful at times that throwing in the towel and going back to the street actually sounded like a good idea.  They exhibited the love of Christ and in my broken state, it was truly overwhelming but I am SO grateful.

Here is how the Lord spoke to me today regarding trials and love.  How to love everyone the way Christ loves us, even our enemies, even complete strangers.

2 Thessalonians 1:4-7b - Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.  All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.  God is just:  he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.

• I am not where I want to be, but I am moving in the direction He wants me to move.  
• I am being strengthened by the trials I endure and the patience I am learning.
•  Have perseverance and faith and trust in His timing.

1 John 4:7-8 – Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 – Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one's house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

•  No matter what, when God brings love in, it lasts forever.  

Bring the Pain, because Joy ALWAYS comes in the morning!!