Love

[Betty]

February 14th is Valentines Day. I want to wish everyone a happy Valentines day.

[Betty]

Love and Friendship

The best definition of love that I have found is in the Bible. 1st Corinthians chapter 13 says; Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep tract of wrongs. It isn’t happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. Love never stops being patient, never stops believing; never stops hoping never gives up. This translation is from “The Word”.
If you take the word love and change it to friend it would also be the best definition of friend that I have ever found. This is the kind of friend that I want to be. It is not what I expect from anyone else.
Friendship, as any other kind of relationship, takes both people wanting to make the relationship a good one. The kind of person I am is the only thing that I have control over and that I have to remember. Love is a choice and I chose to love. Anything else is a burden too heavy to carry.
It also means that I have to forgive. Forgiveness is also a choice. It is only when I forgive something that I can truly let it go. When I can let it go then I can forget about it and not let it bother me. I wish I could be more like this in all situations.

[forgiven]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Tony Beckett
Exodus 34-35, Matthew 22:23-46
Key Verse: Exodus 34:6-7

Critics of the Bible sometimes speak negatively
about the God of the Old Testament, stating that
the God of the New Testament is preferred. One of
the most obvious problems with that viewpoint is
that the God of the Old Testament and the God of
the New Testament are the same.

In the Old Testament God describes Himself as
"'the compassionate and gracious God, slow to
anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,
maintaining love to thousands and forgiving
wickedness, rebellion and sin'" (34:6-7). Those
who reject the God of the Old Testament must not
have read these verses. When Moses heard these
words, however, he worshiped.

The context of this statement adds to its
poignancy. Moses had brought a new set of stone
tablets upon which God would write the
commandments. This was the second set of tablets;
Moses had broken the first when he saw how the
people had so quickly forgotten their commitment
to God's law. After the golden calf incident, God
proclaimed Himself compassionate and forgiving.

God is the unchanging God of grace, in both
testaments. Be thankful that He does not change.


Think for a moment about how God has forgiven
you. Then thank Him for His abundant mercy.
____________________________________________________________

[Betty]

by Phil Ware

February 6, 2005

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also
ought to love one
another. No one has ever seen God; but if we
love one another,
God lives in us and his love is made complete in
us.
--1 John 4:11-12
New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE...
Can you imagine what an honor it is to have
the Creator of
the universe, the Lord God Almighty, living
inside of you! But
when we love each other, that is exactly what
happens. When
our hearts are full of love, there is room for
God. When they
are not full of love, we leave God little room to
take up
residence and produce his character in us. Let
God complete
his love in you. Make a commitment to do loving
things for
others today!


MY PRAYER...
Abba Father, it is so comforting to know that
you are not
far away - that I live in you and you live in me.
Help me see
others with your eyes, and respond to their needs
with your
heart, so that your love may be complete in me.
Through Jesus
I pray. Amen.

[Betty]

Author: Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
Devotion: Streams in the Desert
Scripture References:
Romans 8:18
Title: When We See Him Face to Face

"I do not count the sufferings of our present
life worthy of mention when compared with the
glory that is to be revealed and bestowed upon
us" (Rom. 8:18, 20th Century Trans.).

A remarkable incident occurred recently at a
wedding in England. A young man of large wealth
and high social position, who had been blinded by
an accident when he was ten years old, and who
won University honors in spite of his blindness,
had won a beautiful bride, though he had never
looked upon her face. A little while before his
marriage, he submitted to a course of treatment
by experts, and the climax came on the day of his
wedding.

The day came, and the presents, and guests. There
were present cabinet ministers and generals arid
bishops and learned men and women. The
bridegroom, dressed for the wedding, his eyes
still shrouded in linen, drove to the church with
his father, and the famous oculist met them in
the vestry.

The bride, entered the church on the arm of her
white-haired father. So moved was she that she
could hardly speak. Was her lover at last to see
her face that others admired, but which he knew
only through his delicate finger tips?

As she neared the altar, while the soft strains
of the wedding march floated through the church,
her eyes fell on a strange group.

The father stood there with his son. Before the
latter was the great oculist in the act of
cutting away the last bandage. The bridegroom
took a step forward, with the spasmodic
uncertainty of one who cannot believe that he is
awake. A beam of rose-colored light from a pane
in the chancel window fell across his face, but
he did not seem to see it.

Did he see anything? Yes! Recovering in an
instant his steadiness of mien, and with a
dignity and joy never before seen in his face, he
went forward to meet his bride. They looked into
each other's eyes, and one would have thought
that his eyes would never wander from her face.

"At last!" she said. "At last!" he echoed
solemnly, bowing his head. That was a: scene of
great dramatic power, and no doubt of great joy,
and is but a mere suggestion of what will
actually take place in Heaven when the Christian
who has been walking through this world of trial
and sorrow, shall see Him face to face.
--Selceted

"Just a-wearying for you,
Jesus, Lord, beloved and true;
Wishing for you, wondering when
You'll be coming back again,
Under all I say and do,
Just a-wearying for you.

"Some glad day, all watching past,
You will come for me at last;
Then I'll see you, hear your voice,
Be with you, with you rejoice;
How the sweet hope thrills me through,
Sets me wearying for you."