Monday, September 5, 2011

Loving difficult people.

Hey everyone! :)
Yes, I'm still alive! ha! I think I need to start setting alarms on my handy dandy iphone to remind me to BLOG! Out of site, out of my mind! :/

I thought I would share what the Lord has been teaching me lately. It's a topic that is very "common" but yet so hard to truly learn and practice every day. That is.....

Loving difficult people.

Throughout my life, I feel like I've had more opportunities than most to love people that are hard love. I know you all could probably say the same thing so I am not trying to say that MY situations in life have been more difficult. I've been reflecting a lot on this topic and the Lord reminded me of a time many years ago that he began to teach me this.

I remember crying my heart out one afternoon as a little girl. The wounds in my heart from things that had happened to me in my childhood seemed to go so deep that I almost couldn't bare it anymore. I remember this afternoon so vividly because I was sitting on the floor in a family members's bathroom. I was sobbing my heart out asking God WHY did I have to love the people that caused me so much hurt? It just wasn't fair! At the moment, I felt God telling me to look up and what I saw changed my life forever. My eyes were immediately drawn to a simple plaque that read, "People need loving the most when they deserve it the least"

In that moment, something inside of me changed. I got it. God was calling me to a deeper level of loving than what is normal or comfortable. As I sat there, on the bathroom floor on that rainy afternoon, looking up at that tiny wooden plaque, God began the healing process of forgiving those people who had done horrible things to me and had stolen my innocence at such a young age.

I am not saying this has been an easy journey of loving difficult people...no, not at all! I still have days where emotions surface and I want get angry again. But every time, God is still there with me, helping me to walk in love no matter what. God's grace is such a beautiful thing. Without it, none of us would be where we are today. It is my heart's desire to love unconditionally, no matter what has been done to me.

I know I'm focusing on what was done to me as a child but this applies to issues today too!
Loving people who are just downright mean to me, loving people who gossip about me, loving the lady who cuts me in line at the grocery store, loving people who judge me for whatever reason....LOVE no matter what! :) Love is a verb, not a noun. What are we doing to actively love those difficult people around us?

This scripture sums it all up! :)

Luke 6:32-36

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Sincerely,
~The Happy little House wife~

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