My sister-in-law...

My sister-in-law is one "sold out babe." She is a full-time missionary to college kids that are in training at New Tribes Bible School. She is a full time mommy of 3 (yep I said 3...) girls and a really great wife to my "little" brother. And, she's brave ! In this world where we are worn down to accept what we see in print and to accept "bad choice" behavior, she is not one of "those" ladies. Here's a for instance... (yes, I did get her permission. She's the "chic" in brown! How about the pic? I didn't have a good recent one of you ... but you did... so?! )

I read something on your blog this morning that made me a little concerned. You had said “God is working in our lives and so that's a lot to celebrate - it means that He loves us after all.” I think it was the “after all” part that concerned me.

Should we respond only when He seems to be doing what we want Him to? Isn’t this
“self-love”? Such a mindset is a love that is all about self getting what it wants, but in reality Biblical love trusts Him and lets Him be God even when He doesn’t seem to be answering. We think that God should jump through hoops for us, but in reality we have to trust that His wisdom and working is superior to ours no matter what the circumstance.

God doesn’t work according to our thinking, but according to what is best. In the end, we will see that His doing was much better than what we wanted. So even though we don’t sense His working (according to what we want) we should never
assume it means He doesn’t love us. In fact, that is the completely wrong
starting point. It is all about self. We truly are self-focused creatures.

In 1 Thess. 1:4 Paul calls the believers “Beloved of God,” which is exactly what is true of you.

Romans 5:3-9 is a great passage. In hard times we can persevere in hope because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Spirit. If you do not
believe God loves you, you are walking in unbelief. Even the Spirit is testifying in your life that He does. The passage goes on to show that the ultimate demonstration of God’s love was the sacrifice of His Son. Even for believers this can’t be forgotten.

**Romans 8:35-39 nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Really- nothing. Even in our unbelief we are still loved. If we don’t believe God we will not
experience it. It is impossible to separate a believer from the love of God. It doesn’t matter how we feel. Feelings aren’t the right measurement.

Ephesians 1 is pretty amazing for a believer. The point is- look at all that God has done for you by His grace, yet you are so focused on little circumstances that these things don’t matter anymore. Let us not forget all that He has done.

I hope some of this can be encouraging. I am praying for you…always. I am so excited about Shipshewana!!! Love always,

Thanks for encouraging me to measure the meaning of my words before I just "spew" them for anyone to read. You are very important to me and to many around you. Happy 1st Day of Spring!