Don't Forget TO LOVE

It's kind of funny how we actually have to be reminded to actually Love. What I wouldn't do to have someone serve me a platter of post-it notes everyday of what I shouldn't forget and how much easier that would make my life!

I find Love is something that is so powerful because it is so easily swayed by what emotions we feel on a daily basis. As women, you know that can totally change from minute to minute. lol!!! You wake up and feel great, and then you take your first look in the mirror and see that you have planets that have appeared on your face overnight while you thought you were getting your beauty sleep! All of the sudden, that moment of glee you woke up with is suddently gone! The power of that emotion of disappointment can greatly affect your response to those you love! Wild, huh? I have soooo been there!!

The key is to learn to remain steady in LOVE at all times. I know - that is so not easy to learn but it's a beautiful emotion to experience that I find, the more I fight to hold onto Love God's way, the more amazing the outcome of Love radiates through my life.

What I want to challenge you with this week is to start a Love REVOLUTION with your family - Your family see's the good, the bad, the ugly, the orbits growing on your face, your reactions to how you feel when you're happy, sad, mad, and glad! They see it all!! Now - check out the verse below and begin to apply those key words of God's wisdom into your family life....Read on:

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. I Cor. 13 (MSG)

It doesn't matter how many times I read that, it's so powerful!!

Love Tips:

1. Keep LOVE scriptures posted around your mirror and quote them every single day. Col. 3:2 - Set your mind on things above.
2. Remember that LOVE is something you have to do on purpose
3. LOVE is a verb which means you have to put it into action.
4. You must PUT LOVE on like getting dressed. Eph. 6:11-17
5. Stop catering to your flesh...LOVE is best shown by serving.

(These love tips were inspired by a teaching I heard from Joyce Meyer's this week)

So, Start in your home - revolutionize the love God has placed in your life to LOVE greater than you ever have. When your buttons get pushed, your day at work make you want to pull your hair out and then you have to head home, make dinner, do a soccer practice run, laundry, homework - DON'T FORGET to Love - Trust God Always...Love NEVER fails!!

Tracee

Don't Forget......TO LAUGH

Last week I was struck by a comment made by a speaker (who's name I can't remember...lol!) at a conference I was at....what he said was, "Don't forget...." After I heard that, I couldn't think of anything else the speaker said as my brain went on a shoe trail of thinking of all the 'don't forgets' I've done in my life and how if I really remembered those things I really don't need to forget, how much easier my life would be. Oh the joys of being human and having many many 'duh' moments this life brings. I'm one of those people that can make a shopping list and forget to leave my list at home. Now, I do have one good trait of actually being able to 'see' the list in my head and recall what I put on it...well, most everything I put on the list. lol!

So, I want to start a series of what I'm calling, Don't Forget. They'll be funny inspirations and spiritually challenging thoughts of the things we can't afford to forget as we walk closer and closer to our Master. It's the don't forgets that draw us closer to Him.....

Here we go.....

DON'T FORGET - TO LAUGH

Too many things in this life take away our laughter, our joy. When I read in the scriptures, I find a little secret that we must NEVER lose in order to succeed in this life that can be great, miserable, difficult, suffocating, fun, and crazy all in one. That key verse is: "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10 Did you see that secret - the joy of the Lord IS your STRENGTH. The way we find God's joy is by hanging out with Him - breathing Him in, living every single minute of every single day wtih Him. As we do that, His joy overtakes us and consumes everything we do.

Just the other day I woke up and was literally just not having a good day. My kids were sick, I didn't have a good night sleep, I just felt heavy inside. Even after reading the Word and praying that morning, I still didn't get that lift I was looking for. About 3 hours later, I was driving down the road and talking to God....I asked him, "Why do I literally feel so blah today?" You know what He said, "You have a choice of how you want to respond to all that's going on and how you feel...let it sink you or rise above it." Well, you guessed exactly what I did - I made the choice to seek JOY and when I did, I experienced HIS strength. It was wild! You might be saying, "Yeah, right! How could it be that easy?" I have to say it actually was. I literally, in one moment, made the decision to choose joy over how I was feeling and instantly I felt the heaviness begin to lift off me. Just as you choose to feel and accept the heaviness you are feeling, is just the same as you can choose to experience God's full joy for your life.

So, don't forget - LAUGH, LAUGH, LAUGH!! It's God's gift to YOU that is contagious.

Tracee