Just Love!

A few lessons learned from the http://antiochconway.com/site/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=69 iPromise series.

*God honoring obedience is doing the right thing with the right attitude.  Ouch! How often do I find myself doing the right thing, just because its expected, but not with a very good attitude about it. I'm praying that God continues to work in my life and that doing the right thing with the right attitude would just become second nature.
*Obedience brings blessings. Oh how those lessons are being learned. Obedience does bring blessings, but on the flip side, disobedience always brings consequences. That whole "reap what you sow" thing, its a truth that, no matter what age you are, it still relates to you.
*Freedom comes with responsibility.
*Don't make your family bitter. Instruct them in the right ways in the right way.
"The greatest gift you can give your kids is not your treasures, but allowing them to see theirs." -Max Lucado
"In everything set them an example by doing what is good." Titus 2:7a
*Is the life I'm living one I want my children to follow? Am I passing on a passion for the Lord, His church, a love for people, a heart for missions, and a strong desire to please Him in all they do? Oh this is my heart's prayer!
*Nuturing and guiding is best received when built on a good relationship.
*T-I-M-E....it is the best way to build it.
*Don't miss out on the things that matter for the things that don't.
*Accept the place in life God has given you at this moment. Every stage God wants to use you for what is to come.
*You can't surprise God, He knows all!
*No relationship in your life will be good, until you get your relationship right with God.
*Use your time to serve God and others, your energy for eternal benefits.
*What's the church's ultimate goal? To honor Christ in ALL things.
*When a church begins to have problems its when they lose sight of their goal.
*DON'T FORSAKE YOUR FIRST LOVE!
*The same things that can trip up a church can trip up a marriage.
*You are responsible for your part whether they do their part or not.
*To be able to do your part, you have to be living in submission to His Spirit.
*There are times we must be willing to let our desires be overlooked for that of the other.
*For a marriage to survive, LOVE must remain; not the feeling of love, but the 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love!
*Marriage won't change a person!
*Marriage does not automatically mean unity.
*I must choose to love; demonstrate it~through your words, not just what you say, but how you say it.
*I must change what needs to be changed! "“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:3-5
*I must strive to model Christ.
*We all have a story of how our marriage began (our life) and we are all in the process now of writing how it will end. Write it well!
*Love each other with a Christ kind of love!

These are just a few lessons learned and now my prayer is that I may truly live these out, in front of my children, my husband, my church, and those I come in contact with every day. Life is really hard some days and Satan loves to use others to knock us down again and again. We just have to remember to daily put on His armor, that we can stand against those fiery darts.
Frustrations come with the little things, but I serve a God of everything, the little things as well as the big things! I'm giving it all to Him today and trusting Him to lead me. My goal for today, just love!