Sweetness

Proverbs 27:9
Oil and perfume rejoice the heart;
so does the sweetness of a friend’s counsel that comes from the heart.

All I can truly say to this verse is AMEN!!

I have been abundantly blessed in my friendships. I could spend an entire week telling you of how each and every person has transformed my life.

Friends can become our safe places in life. The people we count on, depend on and love. Friends are the closest to us and can hurt us the most deeply. Real intimacy in any relationship opens up our lives to the real greatness in friendship. Real sweetness.

There are friends in our lives that give more to us than we could ever repay them with. People we trust with our greatest secrets, our biggest fears and failures, these are the ones that become a part of who we are. I pray that each of us have someone in our lives that we know will hold us accountable, love us when we fail, and encourage us to see the things God sees in us.

I know how easy it is to call the friend that will agree with you. I know how easy it is to call the one that will always take your side. Next time, I challenge you to call the friend that will give you godly, honest advice.

Heavenly Father~ Thank you Lord for the amazing people in my life. Thank you for the friends that love me, encourage me, and challenge my life. Lord, I pray that you give me the wisdom to be the friend that gives wise council. I pray You be in the very words I speak when I encourage and love my friends. I pray your blessings over those I love today and those friendship you are preparing for me tomorrow. I thank you for the blessings of friends that love me and the sweetness of their friendships that come into my life. ~In Your Heavenly Name

Please pray for Denise P this week.

Bitter/Sweet

Proverbs 27:7
A person who is full refuses honey,
but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.

Today I am struggling a bit on this verse. First of all, I am a honey lover. So all I can really think about is how sweet it is. I know this verse is not about the actual taste of such things so I am going to try to go deeper with this. Lord help me!!!!!

When I was younger, before I had a relationship with God, it seemed I was always looking for something more. I was hungry for something I didn't have. I searched and searched. Mostly looking for my father or some sort of stability or acceptance. When I didn't find him, I settled with whatever would fill that void or that hunger for that something that was out there. When I was no longer satisfied, I would move on to the next and best thing at the time. In a way that meant that I was willing to try it out, even if it was "bitter" because to me it was "sweet". It was something more than what I had at the time. Now, I consider myself pretty full, I know there are a lot more things in my life that need to be tweaked and molded, but for now, I feel that I have filled that void, or that hunger. I would never refuse honey, but I am content, fine with what I have now, I really can't see myself ever looking for something new and something better, I have already found the best. My relationship with my God doesn't ever get bitter, it doesn't ever run dry or stop feeding my hunger. See, I have a living relationship with my creator and each day is new and fresh.

I have a plaque on my wall that I refer to often and it sorta kinda fits into this.

"Dear Lord, make my words as sweet as honey for tomorrow I may have to eat them!"

It is simple, yet we must make sure that what we say today is put into action for tomorrow. Or we will constantly be hungry. Hungry for the truth, the life that God wants for us. Have we been searching for something and can't find satisfaction? No matter how "sweet" it seems at the time, are we living for ourselves, for others, or for God? Which one do you think would be more consistent, more rewarding?

Dear Lord, I thank you for my friends and family. I thank you for my "history" because I was hungry for more and I found you. Lord, I know I will never have a relationship with my earthly father, but I thank you that you are so much better, so much sweeter than anything I have ever experienced. I pray that I will continue to be full with you, that each day a little more of myself will die off and that I will become a better reflection of you. Lord, I pray for those who are reading this, that they to will be full with you, that they will no longer hunger for things that will not last, will turn bitter over time. Amen.

Please continue to pray for Anna B. this week.