"So love can live to tell the tale."

"Love"

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (msg)

My heart always finds it's way back to this song at this time of year. The one lyric in the song that grabs my attention is,"So give me strength to die myself, so love can live to tell the tale". I love the intent of this statement. More than anything,My desire is that love lives to tell my tale. It is so easy to focus on hurt and selfish desires to save face and self protect. I have learned the hard way that when I do that.. the story ends cold, the problem usually isn't solved and no one ever wins.

Thank you Jesus for allowing love to tell your tale. Allowing yours to end so that mine could begin and never end.

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

Barbara Johnson

Tempted by fear to reject the strength given to us by God.

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.

~Hāfez

I came across an interesting fact the other day. Fear is a temptation. It is offered to us by our enemy in the midst of trying circumstances. I had never really thought of fear in this way. A temptation? I thought temptations were suppose to be shinny, pretty items that were hard to resist. I think of Eve and how she was tempted by the most beautiful red and perfectly ripe apple. I can almost hear the crisp snap of the apples skin breaking open as she bites at the bate laid before her.Just so you know, for me the apple would have been much more tempting if it had been covered in caramel. The shinny apple analogy, we can all understand. It's something we desire. Choosing to be a coward is not. Fear tempts us to stand still instead of charging forward when we hear the trumpet blow.

I will not lie to you, I have been struggling lately. It has been a time of testing, letting go and dyeing to my reputation. I find this a hard testing period. Especially after everything we've been through. I feel as if I am holding on to the knot tied to the end of my rope. Fear keeps me here, maybe I should let go. Holding on could be holding me back. My fear only allows me to focus on my competition at the starting gate. It whispers to me, "Julie, they are all much stronger and faster than you. Don't even try to run this race. You will only lose." Once again, I am tempted to stay put and play it safe because I believe that I am weak. Maybe it's time to put the blinders on at the starting gate. Focus on the course ahead of me and realize the strength inside of me. God built me to be like the stallion, strong and powerful, excited by fear, to charge the gate when the trumpet sounds.

I know it's not just me that is tempted by fear. I hear so many stories of others who struggle as well. It seems that many of us are going through trials of faith. My heart is heavy, but holding on. Something that lifted my head of discernment the other day (just to let you know...my discernment awareness these days is on an all time low!) Yet, God is still near when we don’t sense Him. So... My eye, heart opening word that I wanted to share came to me as I watched the clip above. Did you know that temptation comes in all packages? I did not know that a temptation was for me to fall into pity about my circumstances. To fall, means he (my tempter) wins. Truth is.. I am like the race horse mentioned in the clip above. I am strong, fast and I should not shy away from the sword! To give into the temptation of self pity means I don’t understand... who’s I am and what I was made to do!

God says's..“Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust,
striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds." ~God~ Job 39:19-24

Maybe, I'm the Jockey and the horse is the Holy Spirit. My job is to hold on tight, His job is to bring the strength needed to win the race.