Joyful, Patience, and Faithful

     "Be joyful in hope, patience in affliction, and faithful in prayer."-Romans 12:12

         This verse is a verse that I saw on an email that a friend sent me last week and with everything I am going through and thinking about it really stuck with me. It is a verse I have prayed over this past weekend and still am. It is in my head everyday. I can't get it out of my mind or what it means in my life right now. The version I have here is NIV but my Bible is a different version and this is how it says it:

       "Be glad for all that God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful."

         Right now, in my life, I need to do all three of those things in different areas of my life. Be glad in my future and what is going to happen up ahead. Be patient with where I am now and all the problems going on. Always be prayerful about where to go and about the people around you and that you care about. I also read on through verse 21 and most of those verses hit me too. It is telling us how to live but lately I don't feel like I have been living that way at all.

        Verse 13 is about helping children in need and inviting people into your house. What is my major? Oh! Yeah! FACS and child development. What is my job? Taking care of children in need. To be real with you all, I have been in a place lately where I have been upset with some of the closest people to me and I felt, when I read this, like I was cursing them but God wants me to bless them and be happy with them. Don't be jealous of what they have or are doing but happy that they got the job and got in that position or went that far with it.
        Verse 16 also says to live in harmony with one another and that has been a hard one too. It is hard to share when you don't want to tell some stories that have been going on in your life lately but all these touched me in some way.  When you are fighting or when you won't live things alone that other people want you to leave alone then you are not living in harmony with them. Don't act like you know everything where you live or work because you are not prefect and you will mess up at times. Enjoy the company of "plain" people because you are just like the same in Christ. There is no better then them attitude in Christ.
         Verse 17 says something that I hope I did in a situation this past week and that was to honor someone where people and that person could see that I honor them for what they are doing and not for my selfish ways because that is not important at all. I tried and hope that I didn't pay back evil for evil but hope that I explained myself well enough to the other person so they could understand where I was coming from plus encouragement for them to move on. That, I hope, was doing what verse 18 says, and that is to do your part to try live in peace with everyone.
          Verse 20 is how I felt at the end of the week last week. I felt ashamed of myself for what I did. I shouldn't have gotten myself into the situation that I did. I should have done things with it sooner and not let it grow into something bigger and deep like it was. I was just scared to let go so soon, I guess. Even though I am a sinner and I'll be honest I wanted to say some things back right after things had happened but I let myself cool down for a couple of days and then I did something about it and ask for that person's forgiveness towards me. I didn't let evil get the best of me, like verse 21 says, I conquered it by, hopefully, doing good.
          So yeah, all this to say that God has been speaking and working through me these past couple of weeks. I've had a lot going on and have seen God in so many different ways whether through friends, children at work, His Word, or something else. It has been good and I learned a lot and I will continue to because I know God isn't anywhere near done with me. He is just scraping off the top and making me humble and then we'll see if I can trust Him with things to come. He is just getting me down to the rock bottom of life so He can raise me back up again.
         Out of order but verse 9 and 10 says, "Really love them (others). Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other". Do all of the things mentioned above and more and you will Love with the Love of Christ.