Encourage and Promote Peace

So then, we must pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another. – (Romans 14:19, HCSB)

So let’s try as hard as we can to do what will bring peace. Let’s do whatever will help each other grow stronger in faith. – (Romans 14:19, ERV)

Join us, and pursue a life that creates peace and builds up our brothers and sisters. – (Romans 14:19, VOICE)

This is such a powerful reminder, as we are meant to encourage and build one another up, no matter how we are feeling. It is not about how we feel, but rather about what we are called to do and who we are created to be. To live out this life with purpose, we must be bearers of peace and people who encourage those around us. Yes, there is a time for correction and redirection, but love must be the center of all we do. If someone who has my trust and has clearly established that they are for me and not against me, I am receptive to what they say if I have said or done something that was not aligned with love. It requires courage and intention to live in relationships like this, but our investments in one another are always worthwhile. May we ever pursue the Lord to lead us in living a life that creates peace and builds up our brothers and sisters.

May we seek pursue,

A life that gives peace;

Build each other up,

As love does increase.

For we have been made,

To love each other;

Encourage, lift up,

Sisters and brothers.

So, let us choose love,

In all that we do;

Be bearers of peace,

Encourage in truth.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call us to bring peace and encourage each other. Thank You for the people whom You have placed in our lives that do exactly that. Forgive us for the times that we have not brought peace or have not been an encouragement where it was needed. Teach us to rely on You to lead us well. Show us how to bring peace to places where it is absent, and to encourage hearts that need lifting up. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we listen to Your leading so that we can be bearers of peace and encouragement wherever we go. Amen.

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it. – Psalm 34:14

Love Well

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – (Ephesians 2:10, NIV)

God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things He had already planned for us to do. – (Ephesians 2:10, ERV)

For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago. – (Ephesians 2:10, VOICE)

 

We have been designed to do good things. Incredibly, it is not about some master plan to accomplish an incredible feat (though some do as part of the plan) but rather it is to love well in each little thing, as to do so, adds up to a life lived well, according to His purposes. Above all, we are called to love. If everything we do is motivated by love, then we cannot help but do the good that God created and intended us to accomplish. Heartache, struggle, disappointment, grief, and weariness all provide us opportunity to look past ourselves and discover just how powerful love can be when we choose to dig deep and give it away. The good that comes from pouring out when we feel depleted, is a crazy filling up that does not even begin to make sense. There is something that happens when we do what we were designed to do – we grow. God multiplies where we can barely conceive the idea of addition. The more we trust Him and step out in faith to love well, the more He utilizes our obedience to touch and transform those around us. May we ever choose to do the good that He has called us to, as we opt to love others, as He first loved us.

As for mom, it sounds as if she had a successful first day in Albany. When I called, she actually answered her phone! That was a huge accomplishment in and of itself, as before, she had not interacted with her phone much at all. The first challenge in her new space, is that her chair does not fit in the bathroom. What this actually means, is that mom is getting more walking practice than before, and will likely lose the chair faster! Things happen the way they ought to, even when it seems a bit frustrating at first. Meg was able to come home at lunch to check and see how all was going, and it seems that all was well. My phone conversation was cut short, and I did not really have the opportunity for a second check-in, but will be eager to hear more about how mom is settling in. I know prayer points for mom need include expediting a visit to a general practitioner to establish care, so that mom is able to reestablish in-home care for physical, occupational and speech therapies that come to her during the day. The process has been started, but favor and prompt processing would be fantastic. We are praying for wonderful, loving people to work with mom as well, as each of the therapists that she had in Wenatchee were incredible individuals.

 

Lord, help us to love,

Do good in Your name;

To love as You love,

As peace is proclaimed.

Help us see others,

Through Your loving lens;

So we treat strangers,

With love, like our friends.

Grant us Your kindness,

Fill us with Your grace;

Teach us Your goodness,

So all we’ll embrace.

 

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that You call us to do the good for which we were designed to do. Thank You that above all, we are called to love. Thank You that You have shown us what it is to love above all else through the example of Your Son. Forgive us for the times that we have not given good or not chosen love. Teach us to trust You more, so that we make the conscious choice to love, no matter the space we find ourselves in. Show us how to love those around us in a way that Your goodness and grace is made abundantly clear. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we seek You to equip us to do the good for which we have been designed to do. Amen.

 

© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present

 

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. – Psalm 34:14