BIBLICAL GUILT: A play on words

I love quiet time. Truly. Sitting in one of the two chairs in my greatroom. It's a holy time and a blessing for me. Yet, getting started is always the hard part. Distractions. Priorities. Procrastination. It's really what I'd planned to be doing now...

FACING EACH NEW DAY

Not every day is eagerly anticipated. I sometimes go through down times--where my energy and enthusiasm are sucked away by dangerous ruminations. Most of the time I am blessed with a definitely cup-half-full outlook, but there are a few periods of time each year... So, even before I open my eyes in the morning I have learned to touch base with God. Verses I've memorized and leaned on over the years cycle through my awareness.

For I know the plans I have for you. Plans for welfare and not for calamity. Plans to give you a future and a hope.

For God has not promised a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind.

Faithful is He who has promised, who also will bring it to pass.

Faithful is He who began a good work in you and will also bring it to pass.

Paul's promise to the Philippians (of which I am one by marriage!) So this is my prayer, that they would overflow with love for others while continuing to grow in their own spiritual knowledge and insight. (This is the prayer that I have prayed for each member of my family for many years, and God is so, so faithful...)

These and many more... What a joyous way to face each new day.

And, I have learned that when I do not want to get up in the morning--lazy or tired or facing tasks I dread--it helps to first open my eyes, become acclimated to the room, and then my Calvinistic upbringing kicks in and I am ready for action. Well, maybe not action but at least the first tentative steps.

LOVE IS WHAT GOD USES TO HEAL US.

[Love] ...it is an energy that is manifested by a commitment and a will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's total growth, which includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.

Higher Levels of Love: p.133

• caring through conflict
• forgiveness
• trust
• commitment to growth in ourself and in a loved one
• unconditional empathy and acceptance
• pure peaceful BEING

Whitfield is the very best thing that came out of my counseling sessions with JF... A close second would be making the list of "What Children Need from Their Parents..."

I think that I put the skin on love after devouring Whitfield. It began with my parents, who did love me, and then my God the Father and Jesus my salvation. And, at 20 years old I was certainly "in love" with my young husband. From the moment of birth and before, I loved our son and daughter. But during this period in my life, I learned to define love and to practice love and to celebrate love of myself and of others. My heart began to grow.

I recognized that I had much growing to accomplish--I had learned years earlier that I was a "kid under construction" and not a finished product--signed, sealed, and delivered. I began to set goals for growth and to pray for growth in my loved ones. I adopted Paul's prayer for the Philippians as my prayer for my family...

My prayer for you is that you will overflow more and more with love for others, and at the same time keep on growing in spiritual knowledge and insight.
Philippians 1:9
Life Application Bible

And, Whitfield yet again, Love is what God uses to heal us.