Author: marquitabp

To know me is to accept me, and to love me is to help me.
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Daily Devotion

Love 'em Anyway

For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."  Romans 13:9 NASB

I realized a harsh truth about myself this week.  The word family has relatively no meaning to me.  It does not excite me or invoke warm fuzzies for me.  And that really hurt my heart.  I do not distinguish my family from a person off the street and it is because of how a vast majority of my hurts and heartaches mostly stemmed from things caused by them.  I pray that God delivers me from my hurt and pain and how I view my family.  I wish that I had that exciting feeling associated with them, but I do not.  Instead, I have adopted an extended, surrogate family comprised of friends and loved ones that God has blessed me with.  But still the hole in my heart cries out for me to reconcile with them…what do I do then?

And God kept speaking to me this week, as thing after thing occurred to make me remember how I did not have the love I should have for my family.  Even if they hurt me or use me, I should love them anyway.  Even if they do not call me or I do not call them, I should love them anyway.  Even if the only time I hear from them is when they need something, I should love them anyway.  Even if they are the very ones to inflict hurt and strife into my life, I should love them anyway.  I should love them as I love myself.  But I asked God why and how and what?  Why should I love people that do not love me?  How can I should them love when I refuse to allow myself to share the same breathing room as them?  What should I do to overcome the way I feel?  And then several times this week, I saw devotions and was drawn to scriptures referencing Christ's act on the cross.  Do we really know what happened when Jesus died for us on the cross–do we understand the punishment that was revoked, the condemnation that no longer exists, and eternal peace in which we share?

Walking in love is not an easy process.  You must be willing to overlook the wrongs of others, especially your family.  Sometimes the enemy tries to attack us most in life through injustices and injuries caused by those that are closest to us.  I now realize that God has been pulling on my heart strings all week long about forgiveness, in some way or form.  You may be saved by having accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior–but are you forgiven?  Have you forgiven others as God instructs us to do time and time again?  Are you living up to par with the scripture above–loving God, and loving your neighbors (and family) as yourself?  For us to truly understand the monumental gift Christ gave us when He died on the cross, we have to be willing to set aside even the most painful things.  In essence, like He did, we must love 'em anyway. 

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"  Matthew 5:44 KJV

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Daily Devotion

If It Wasn't For God…Where Would You Be?
 
"He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area."  Job 1:3 NLT

"So the LORD blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys."  Job 42:12 NLT

Good evening everybody!! I'm sure many of you may have just watched that UCONN-Butler game…not me! LOL, I woke up from my pollen-induced nap about two hours ago and did some reading.  Anyway, I wrote this title on February 15th.  And its funny to me how sometimes God has me to wait before I write things, but this seems no more perfect for today than the day I wrote the title down.  I was talking with one of my best friends yesterday and her brother, and we all were reflecting on where our lives have gone in the last three years. 

Life sure has not been too kind with some of the cards I have been dealt, but God!!  I looked back over my life so far and looked at the things I have endured.  It has not been pretty but by God's grace and favor, I have survived.  Lets do a brief recap: May 2008 I was fortune to graduate from college and graduate school at the same time in spite of having been stricken by kidney disease in February of 2006.  I graduated Magna Cum Laude and Summa Cum Laude, might I add–but God!!  On my 23rd birthday, I was afflicted with some issues stemming from my medicines, and pretty much for the rest of 2008 it was downhill health-wise, resulting in my kidney function falling enough that I was officially diagnosed with end-stage renal disease–at 23!! But God, because I still went to work everyday in spite of having no energy at all.  January 2009 I had my kidney transplant–avoiding dialysis and death because my kidney function had fallen so low that had anything happened to me, I could have possibly died without dialysis.  I was favored by God to have a miraculous surgery and recovery, healing quickly with little or no issues.  Now, that's not to say that the devil was not busy…I had to have my thyroid checked and I am still dealing with things related to that now.  But God!!!  September 2009 I lost one of my closest friends when my cousin died unexpectedly.  I had a difficult relationship and December 31, 2009 left my family with the pain that my dad was told that he had 2 months left to live.  2010 was the year from hell in every area of my life and I thought I would never come back from the pain of losing my dad.  My cousin that passed in 2009–well, her fiance' ended up dying tragically in August–2 weeks before the anniversary of her death.  But God!!  God saw fit to allow all of these things in my life…and I am sure He allowed trying circumstances in your life as well.

When I look at the two scriptures above, I am reminded that God restored Job.  God gave him more than he had before.  He restored Job's health, his family, and his wealth.  God promises many times throughout the Word to restore us and give us back what we lost.  We cannot get the people we lose to death back, per se, but He can heal our hearts that we remember the best about them. We may lose our wealth temporarily, but God is a great God, because He promises to give us back what we lose.  He promises to heal us as well.  I think about where I would be without God, without His hand on my life, and the first thing that comes to mind is that I would not be here.  I would have given up and died–unfulfilled. I can only cry out in bliss because God saw fit to save me and still keeps His hand on my life.  He blessed Isaac continually in a land where he was not wanted…in the midst of opposition.  He blessed the latter half of Job's life more than the beginning…don't you see the pattern???  But God!! 

"When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the LORD blessed him."  Genesis 26:12 NLT