Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Cor. 15:58
Guess what we are having on the blog now? Books!! and Book recommendations! <3 *squee*
I absolutely love this book! It was the first regency I ever read and I fell in love with the genre. It's so funny how one misunderstanding can lead to a bigger issue than originally occurred.
Grace finds herself wed to a man who loathes her. She is shunned and exiled to the farthest corner of the land. It wouldn't hurt so much if he hadn't once been her best friend.
Thomas became a duke long before he was ready. Now he can't go anywhere without women trying to entrap him into marriage. He expected better from his childhood friend.
How can friendship, let alone marriage, thrive in the face of bitterness, suspicion and misunderstanding?
What's to be done when the hurtful choices made in anger have lasting consequences?
It takes a special kind of person to see past the pain to the beauty that lies beyond…
Love Faith Fiction? Come join my Faith Filled Fiction group on Facebook. Click HERE.
~Kelly
**Disclosure. Encourage 365 is affiliated with Amazon's Associate program which means I get a small... small amount of money if books are bought from my site.
I'm paraphrasing of course. Jeremiah wrote it much better than I could, but the idea is the same.
Jeremiah never saw himself as much, but God chose him to tell everybody about Him.
And did Jeremiah have it easy because he did it? Nope. He was laughed at. Mocked.
Can you imagine the people in his little hamlet rolling their eyes when "Bible Thumping Jeremiah the Christian" came walking by? I bet that was really fun....
Or the glares... or the constant worry that he'd be arrested, beaten or killed?
But he did it. He wasn't happy about it all the time, but he did it.
God could have called a more 'qualified' person-- someone with a huge following who could get thousands to crowd around- to get people excited about being in the 'in' crowd and not care anything about the message being delivered.
He could have picked a politician who had influence over laws.
He could have picked someone better looking (not that I know what Jeremiah looked like.. he could have been very handsome for all I know), taller, skinnier, more muscular-- better...
But God chose Jeremiah for a reason-- He knew that Jeremiah would do what He told him to do.
That is a huge quality to God. Think about it... do you love any of your kids more than the others? There are some that get on your nerves at different times (I have 3 girls.. I know :) ) but you never would think of them as any better or any worse than another child.
I think we forget that a lot about God. He doesn't' care if you have a million dollars or $1-- He doesn't' care if you run a million person church or if a small group meets for church in your living room every Sunday. He loves each of us equally....
And here's the rub... As parents, we see qualities in our kids that they don't see in themselves. WE see ourselves as we 'THINK' we are... God sees us as what we 'TRULY' are, what we are 'CAPABLE' of, and what HE MADE us for.
Maybe we should start seeing ourselves as God sees us. He wouldn't be telling you to do that think you KNOW He's telling you to do... if He didn't think you could do it.
Every January, I pick a word to be my 'motto' for the year. Last year it was commit. The year before that, it was Love. This year, I chose 'Let Go'.
The irony of this is I had never watched Disney's FROZEN when I picked those words. I had never heard the song on the radio (I listen to KLove mostly... KLOVE.com ). I hadn't heard LET IT GO until the 2014 Academy Awards...
... Doesn't she do a great job!?
I love that song now!
I love it so much... I have the FROZEN CD in my car... yes, Yes I do. And if you pass me, my mouth will be wide open, signing at the top of my lungs-- The kids may or may not be in the car when this is occurring ;)
I love the message in the song... let go of worry. Let go of who you are 'supposed' to be. Just let go--
To be honest, I'd forgotten all about my words for 2014. I hadn't been on this blog in months and I'd forgotten what my motto for the year was-- how sad, because they fit so well.
I have a hard time holding on to things. When I get mad, I stay mad. I might not bring it up again, but I'll stew on it every once in awhile and not fully get over it...
Let it go...
I get depressed sometimes. I get down-- mainly on facebook. Do you let facebook get you down? Do you look at everyone's presents from their husbands or their book sales (me ;) ), or their blog followers or whatever they have that you think you want and get jealous of them-- and then depressed with what YOU have...
Let It Go...
There's about 300 things I don't understand in the Bible. I just-- don't understand. I'll talk about them later-- There are things that I don't understand (or can't do for whatever reason) that makes me get upset reading the entire thing. I'm a black and white person... either it is or it isn't... I like rules and knowing exactly what I'm supposed to do-- I like things spelled out. I like order. I like knowing what's going to happen. I've let maybe 5 verses in the entire Bible keep me from reading it... (how sad is that)...
LET It Go...
Do you know I'm not a perfect parent? Or a wife? Did you know you aren't either? But, are you like me, you just assume everyone else is awesome and you (I) missed the 'parenting/wife' guidebook? Do you screw up and feel bad about it for days?
A lot of times I like to be by myself just so I don't screw anything up....
(say it with me)
LET IT GO!
We aren't perfect. The world isn't perfect. Our spouse isn't perfect. Our life isn't perfect.
And other people's aren't either.
(I think the quicker I realize that, the better... how about you?)
SO, how have I done with my ONE WORD: Let Go?
Well, to be honest, pretty pitifully ;) I've given up so much-- and a lot of it isn't a good thing to drop. I've sort of slid. I've been down. I've let things pile on instead of letting go.
So now I think it really is time...
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.
For life is more than food,
and the body more than clothes.
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
