Don’t Cross Me!

In anger, a person makes a threat. “Don’t you cross me!” No one enjoys being threatened and intimidated. The old self-preservation mode automatically kicks in and we feel compelled to retaliate. “I’ll show you who you are trying to push around!” We get our hackles up and our resistance to temptation down. There is a far better response. I choose to cross them.

Jesus alone, through his death on the cross can produce peace. “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:20 NIV).” Now, I am onto something. He reconciles; he makes peace.

He powers peace and reconciliation with others through our reconciliation with him. “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Colossians 1:22 NIV). He frees us from making both false and justified accusations. He frees the accused. “I’m crossing you; please cross me!”

Our Own Reflection

Many moms can become lonely. Friendships can be hard to keep up when your families’ needs come first. It is a wise woman who knows this. Yet even though we may know that sometimes our wishes and desires have to be put off, that doesn’t mean we feel any less lonely at times. It doesn’t mean that our hearts don’t yearn for some good girlfriends who can understand our soul.

Just as our children need good friends in their lives to walk alongside them, encourage them, and be strong for them during those times when they aren’t feeling so strong – so also, do we as adult women need this in our lives. In fact, just when we may need this the most (when we become mothers) is when it becomes the toughest to cultivate.

So, what do we do? What do you do when you feel like there is no extra time in the day to get together with another woman for lunch? What do you do if you are having a hard time making friends who you feel truly care about you and your family? What do you do when you feel really lonely for women friendships?

I have been on both ends of this spectrum. I’ve been thankful – most of my life – to have been able to easily make and keep friends wherever I’ve lived. I always thrived with girlfriends in my life to help teach me things about myself, to encourage me, and to just be a sounding board at times. Yet, I also hit what I call a “desert” period in my life with friendships. I’ve had close friends leave my life and holes have been left that created quite a deep loneliness in my heart. It was a new feeling for me.

As lonely as this time has been, God taught me some special truths through it that I wouldn’t have learned had I been filling my heart and mind with only the words from the mouths of friends. Instead, I was forced to go straight to the mouth of God for what He thought of me, what He wanted of me, and how He would help me. I learned that it is good to have no one to depend on at times other than my Lord. For so often we can let others fill His shoes in our life when that is not their place. And oftentimes we can lose a little bit of what makes us unique if we are in the company of women who are stronger, or more verbal than we are. But with God – all He shows us is our own reflection. It may not be one we want to see at times, or it may be just exactly what we need to see to encourage us to move onward. But it is pure, it is authentic, and it is full of love for us and our future.

Nothing can ever take the place of earthly friendships. As women, we are social beings and we were created that way on purpose. God knows we need friends. But if you find yourself in-between friendships, or maybe in a position where you’ve been praying for years for sweet, Godly friends to enter into your life – then be encouraged. I believe they will come for each one of us in God’s perfect timing. Until then, know that you have the best friend of all who is right there beside you. He wants you to unload your daily heartaches and burdens on His shoulders, share your dreams and hurts, ask Him His thoughts and perspective, and He wants to be able to encourage you and show you just how beautiful and lovely you truly are. He wants to show you what HE sees in you so that you can blossom as a woman.

You can have a very special friendship with Him that will help hold you together until those women come. And you will find that even when they do, God will be the first person that you turn to with all those thoughts and feelings that you’d normally run to a girlfriend with. She’ll still be there to hear them – but they will be filtered with the wisdom, grace, love, and devotion of your Heavenly Father. The best friend a woman could ever have.

 

 

~ Dionna Sanchez

http://beautyinthestorm.blogspot.com

Cutting Words

Words contain pain or a powerful remedy. We have freedom of choice in forming vocal messages. Do we take the time to search for just the right words? Are we too quick to criticize and too hesitant to praise? God blesses us with the ability to communicate; that also involves responsibility.  People hear not only with ears, but also with hearts.    

Words spoken in anger or sarcasm cut deep and may leave lasting scars. Bitterness penetrates the wounded spirit, inflicting pain and emotional suffering. Wrong words, spoken in haste, linger in memories for a very long time.

Words of love and grace carry benefits of nurturing, strength, and wholeness. God will one day reveal the full impact of uplifting communication. “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health (Proverbs 12:18 NKJ).” We do not need a pharmacist’s diploma to dispense that prescription!

How Much Do You Love?

Have you ever loved someone so much that tears come to your eyes, your throat, and your heart – just thinking of them? I love my Lord that much. And as I was thinking today – I was just thinking about all the people who say they are “Christian” in name and yet don’t have the tender heart of love for the Lord that goes with it. How do you know if you have it?

Do you cringe when someone says God’s name in vain? Do you get rankled when the media scoffs, laughs, or ostracizes a Christian? Does your heart feel literal pain when you know you have sinned against God? Do you fall to your knees in humble blessing and gratitude when God has done something for you – something you wanted – that only He could do? Just at the realization that God is truly alive and active?

When was the last time you talked to Him during your day? When did you ask for forgiveness or set aside your pride and comfort to give to someone else – out of a heart full of love that only can come from walking with God?

This IS a season of joy. But it’s also a season of heartache for a lot of people. What are you going to do about that? Nothing? God said, “And the greatest of these is love….” He was the most profound example of love we could ever possibly dream of. How are we loving others in His name?

Life isn’t always p-r-e-t-t-y. We live it out. We should know. It’s downright ugly and scarey sometimes. And sometimes we just need to be reminded so that we can let hearts FEEL! And LIVE! And so we can love in some fragment of a way in which He loved.

I do not want to be a “Christian” in name only. So I ask myself a lot – “What am I doing with the life that God has given me?” Look at what He has done for us. What are you doing with the life He has given you? What does God mean to you? Does He impact your heart to tears? He does mine.
~ Dionna Sanchez

You can follow Dionna on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/DionnaSanchez

Tangles

Help, I cannot straighten this out!  Is that your cry? Do you have problems untangling a long vacuum cleaner chord?  There have been many times when it got the best of me. I have no idea how they can get in such a mess. Another frustrating example is a tiny delicate necklace chain; once knotted, it is nearly impossible to correct.

If there is someone close by, passing on the project might be the solution.  Maybe a fresh approach is all that is needed. Another suggestion is to just set it aside, and come back later when we have more time to concentrate.  We can work things out.

 Things are more involved when the tangles are in our relationships. Anxiety takes over and it feels like our nerves become tangled. We get that feeling in the pit of our stomach. An invisible force has you tied in knots.  In those times of stress and feeling overwhelmed, we need to go directly to God. He can make a way, when it seems there is no way.  

The Apostles Paul and Peter faced conflicts regarding relationships with Gentile believers (Galatians 2:11-12). Later we see from a writing by Peter he held no hard feelings toward his accuser, “and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction (2 Peter:3 15-16 NAS).”  Let the Lord untangle; His hands are to be trusted!