Love isn't always being comfortable.
What is love? Is it the sparkles that fly with the butterflies? Is it the going out of your way for somebody else? Could it possibly be doing or saying something for the betterment of others even when they don't want to hear it?
I'm here to tell you that something I have learned in a variety of ways this tour is that love is not always being comfortable. Let's say you care about someone who is cheating on themselves (yes, I meant on themselves). "Whatever do I mean?" Well, let's see, God calls you "fearfully and wonderfully made" - Psalm 139:14, and "Beautiful from head to toe"-Song of Solomon. How many people do you know that don't see themselves as such. Promises that are clear but no one lives as though the promise is for them. They are selling themselves short of who they really are. And we should call them out on it! 1 Corinthians 15:34 says "Awake unto righteousness, and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." In this passage Paul is talking to the Corinthians because it sounds as though they are starting to settle with people questioning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is telling them to get their act together. Be prepared; don't be quiet; don't hesitate.
This is not an easy thing to do. God, love, honor, might have you do or say things you don't want to do or say and the receiving party might not want to hear it either. But how are you in God's eyes? Are you going to be found faultless? Yes it's true that a talkative man is not wise but you will be judged by God for your silence too. God says "He has put the words in your mouth." -Jeremiah 1:9 and to me these scriptures apply as well. Hebrews 3:13 "But exhort one another daily, as it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” and 1 John 5:16 "If any man see his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. "
I believe that God puts us in people’s lives for a reason and we have a purpose. That was a lot of what this tour was about for me. People coming to me, pointing out things I needed to change in myself as well as me seeing things in other people's lives and getting a chance to say something out of love to make them better people. Honestly I didn’t always take the opportunity and I'm not happy about that but with God's persistence of who I am, I did speak.
Part of my testimony is being delivered from this mindset that says that I have nothing worth speaking, that nothing I say or do is going to help someone with a situation they might be facing. This is really more fear than anything and I know that my God hasn’t given me a spirit of fear! I'm still scared but hopefully the testimony from this tour is that I speak the things that God has called me to speak. I know that when I heard what others had to say I was grateful. Something that I was ignoring, something keeping me farther from God and essentially who God has called me to be, was revealed. Now I could be that much closer to God! That was so great to me. Yeah, I didn't like hearing it, but it was good for me. And that my friends, is something great that happened to me this tour and hopefully I have shared its importance with you, don’t be silent! Be willing to be changed and to help others change!
If you would find it in your heart to send me to an unfamiliar place to be challenged and to minister the gospel and change others (as well as to experience something new), you can click on the link below and bless me with some of the God given blessings in your life and you know what, the great thing is, God will bless you back, even more. Thank you and God bless!
Love,
Carissa
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