Hurt... Heal.... Help!

I was reading this in my Joyce Meyer "Ending Your Day Right" devotional and felt led to share it.

"God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us" Romans 5:5


Sometimes people say or do things that hurt you, but you have the God-given ability to love these people One good way to start is by following the well-known golden rule. It isn't easy. In fact, it requires discipline. But God will help you if you really want to do it. 
Discipline is your friend- it is the ability God gives you to walk in His ways. Although, it is difficult, discipline is temporary discomfort that can lead to permanent or long-term enjoyment. 
It you've been hurt and learned to overcome it, you have a valuable tool to help others. God comforts us so we can comfort others. Here's the progression: We are hurt...we allow God to heal us... and we are ready to help others. Hurt...Heal... Help! It's a process that can literally change your life... and the lives of many others around you.


-It's easy to find ourselves stuck in our own hurt. Pain has the ability to paralyze us and actually keep us from fulfilling the call of God on our lives. I think there is comfort in knowing that God himself has provided a way past our pain.
When we learn to lean on the healing power of the Holy Spirit that is already at work in us, we will find ourselves loving others past our own capabilities. It's at that moment, the moment when we love outside ourself, that our hurt is transformed to help for someone else.

You're Kind of a Big Deal...

Ephesians 1:4-5 says:

"Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. "

Before we were born, before we even took our first breath, the God of the Universe had us on His mind. We were chosen and loved before we even existed on this Earth. Never doubt how how valuable you are!

TIMING

^"But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3:8-9

We serve a BIG God who lives well outside of our concept of time. I mean a day is like a thousand years to him right? Even still, He is a God of perfect timing, His plans are laid out so perfectly for us and we so often fail to realize it. Many times we find ourselves questioning God's plans and purposes for our lives because they just don't seem to be working out the way we would imagine... BUT the good news is His plans for us are far greater than we could ever imagine! Never doubt the fact that God is ALWAYS working behind the scenes for your good!

"And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth" Ephesians 1:10-12 (NLV)


"But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to [a]atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God's sons]." Galatians 4:3-7 (AMP)