“I love my dog more than people.”  “I would rather spend time with my cat than other people.”  “I do not like people.”  “I want to get away from other people.”  These are common statements on social media or things you will hear other people say.  I am sure I have also felt and said these things before as well.  I will commonly make the joke with my parents that I only facetime with them, so I can see the boys (my parent’s dogs).  Many people, including myself, have been brought up often crying more at a movie where the dog dies as opposed to a person.  

Why am I bringing up these examples?  Well, because I believe we as a society have fallen into a habit of not caring about people.  Even when we are joking, we are still making a lot of comments about not loving people.  This is because it can be very hard to love people.  We can find it very challenging to love all their faults, their mistakes, the times they have hurt us, and the lack of trust we have in our common man.  However, as we know, we have been called to love people.  This is actually the very second command in the ten commandments, which is held as one of the two highest.  

I have been reading a book called, “Daring to Hope,” by Katie Davis Majors.   This book is a great book about mission work being done all throughout the world.  This book does a good job explaining Katie’s work with the women and especially children of Uganda.  She has adopted many children, being the mother of 15.  One quote I have really loved from this book so far has been, “You and I both know the truth of it: loving people is hard.  It brings us to the very end of ourselves. And as much as we are trained to avoid it, the end of ourselves is such a very sweet place to be.”  (pg.49).

To correspond to this book I am reading, at church we then continued to go through the Ten Commandments.  The commandment we went over this past week was to not murder.  This seemed to be a very simple commandment. There are many of us who have not committed murder or anything even remotely close.  It certainly sounds easier than honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy, or to honor our father and mother and all those who are in authority over us.  However, our pastor went even farther than just “do not murder.”  He reminded us that over everything, we are to honor life.  We are to honor the Lord through our love of people.  

This can be showing the people in our lives more attention.  There have been many blog posts where I have mentioned spending time getting to know those who are around us.  This could be spending more time off of our phones, so we have the opportunity to talk to them while we are riding on the plane next to each other.  This could be spending time smiling and caring about those individuals who are in the grocery store shopping amongst us.  This could even be spending time talking to the coworkers who sometimes are not the most kind.  

It is not easy to love people.  People have done things to hurt us, and they do things to make us frustrated.  However, we have also been called many times to love them, even amidst this. It can be very hard to love all people.  It can also be hard to love people when we are tired, when we are hurting or are emotional, or when we are incredibly stressed.  These are all factors that make us want to run away for solace and be alone.  I am not saying that here and there, this is a bad thing-it is important to rest and relax, but we also need to be cognizant of trying to love people on a fairly regular basis.  

I have just become more and more aware of my issues with this.  There is a particular person in my life who is very hard to love.  They are a part of one of the groups I work with, so I need to see them a lot in this particular season.  This person is very different from me and treats people differently than I would, they have different opinions than I have.  There are many things I need to do better when it comes to working with this particular person in order to do a better job loving them like Christ wants me to do.

The challenge for this week is to think about your relationships with the people around you. Is there one person or multiple people who you struggle to love?  Are there times you want to walk away or even run away from people because you don’t want to spend time loving them?  Are there times you just struggle to show love, the same way God has told us to love?  Then after you make those realizations, find ways to show this love; this selfless, kind, and patient love Christ wants us to have for people.

To end this blog post, I want to give one more quote from the book by Katie Davis Majors.  She is working through the pain of losing a loved one.  She is working through the pain of loving someone and then losing them.  However, she writes a very meaningful paragraph on the importance of loving people, even when they are hard to love or even when we possibly get hurt after they pass. “In the dark season, He doesn’t leave.  In fact, He draws near.  He whispers that loving    people is not in vain because in loving people, we know more of Him, regardless of the end result. God is love, and as we love in His name, He is glorified.” (pg. 83) We love people because ultimately this is showing love to God and it is making us overall closer to Him. 

My church is still continuing to give sermons on the Ten Commandments.  I have obviously really enjoyed this sermon series.  This past week was over Honoring thy father and mother.  This is the one command some find interesting.  It is a very specific command.  Something the pastor brought up was, “Why is this command so specific?  Why couldn’t the command be more about honoring everyone? Why is it just to honor thy father and mother?” However, there are many reasons my pastor brought up as to why it is important to honor thy father and mother. 

For one thing, we as people can struggle to honor others.  This doesn’t just mean mothers and fathers, but everyone in general, especially those who are in authority.  Learning how to honor our father and mother gives us an opportunity to learn how to better honor authority at a young age. We may obey our authority figures, but we also may talk disrespectfully about them when we are not around them.  This is really not honoring.  This is just basically following their orders.  It is important to learn how to honor someone when we are young. If we learn to honor our parents, then we can also learn how to honor our bosses, our government officials, etc.  This is important to teach us how to conduct and act in our society. Otherwise, we may want to go against authority because we may believe we know better or are just being defiant. 

Some verses good about highlighting this concept is Romans 13:1-2 which says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” These verses remind us of God’s work in our lives and in the lives of our authorities.  

My pastor did a really good job reminding us we don’t have to agree with everything people in authority have to tell us or everything they stand behind.  There are going to be times we don’t agree with our supervisors or our parents or our government officials.  However, during those times, we need to make sure we can still be respectful and kind to those who are above us.  There is a way to honor those who are in authority while also disagreeing with them.  

I remember having mixed feelings about this command as I was growing up.  I loved listening to my mom (for the most part).  We got along great.  She is still one of my best friends.  I also was really close to my grandparents.  However, I did struggle getting along with my dad growing up.  There were times we got along great and we were able to do things together very easily.  However, there were times we did not get along at all, and I personally was not very good about respecting or honoring him.  There were times I didn’t feel as though he even deserved it. I have worked on this continually as I have gotten older, and it has gotten a lot easier to be respectful and honoring to my dad. 

Besides the relationships with my parents, I do overall have honor and respect for those who are my supervisors or are in charge of me at my job.  I want to make sure I do a good job at my place of work, which does include listening to my bosses and supervisors.  However, there are times when I struggle with this as well.  I can sometimes be pretty prideful in pieces of my work.  For example, I make lessons for the various age groups of the students who are in our program. I love getting the chance to be creative and incorporate fun pieces into the lessons.  Because of this, sometimes I am very open to changes and discussions of changes, and then there are times when I am not.  There are times I can be very happy with the way it looks, and I am not as open to discussion about how to make it better. This is something I have become a bit more aware of, and I want to make sure I can do a better job with it.  

The challenge for this week is to first be reflective over how we handle authority.  Are we good about handling authority?  Are you a person who does a good job listening and honoring those who are in authority over you, or are you typically a person who finds it hard to listen to authority figures?  It is important to be aware of those who are in authority over you.  It is important to be willing to listen, even if there are times when we don’t want to.

However, there is one important thing to remember and to take away is that we do have to honor God above all else.  We can still be kind and respectful to other authorities, but we do need to remember to put Christ above everyone.  For example, we still need to honor the Bible before we honor job commands.  This is why a person could decide or request to not work on the Sunday or at least one day of the week to honor the Sabbath.  Even though a request from work may seem like a way to honor work, it is important to honor the Lord above the one of work.  

Recently in church we have been going over the Ten Commandments.  Today’s sermon was all over Honoring the Sabbath and keeping it Holy.  It is important to make sure we rest.  This isn’t just because of our physical or mental health.  It is not just because of following God’s example for taking time off, while that is also a part of it.  

There are many reasons to honor the Sabbath.  The Sabbath can serve as a mirror and as a map to show us our relationship with God and how we can continue to grow this relationship.  I say this because we should want to spend time with God.  We have a day set aside to spend a lot of time resting in God’s goodness, spend time not thinking about all the things we usually do such as work, tasks, or other usual obligations.  It is to be completely surrounded by the love of our Father, Jesus Christ. 

For some people, it can be hard to imagine not having a productive day.  However, as my church mentioned, this is because of the culture we are a part of.  We are in a culture where productivity is praised.  Even as my pastor mentioned, there isn’t an award for whoever rests the best.  They are usually awarded for who is the most sacrificing with their time, whoever works the hardest, and/or whoever can accomplish the most.  It is important to work and to work hard, but it is just as important to rest.   

I am not the best at keeping the Sabbath Holy.  I am not very good at relaxing and instead I enjoy being productive.  I am a type A personality for sure.  I enjoy getting a lot of work done, even if it includes writing for this blog.  (I am writing this on a Sunday night, but it is in part because I have these thoughts fresh in my mind).   I would also usually say Sundays are my least favorite days.  I tend to have a case of the “Monday scaries” as some would call it.  I start stressing and thinking about the upcoming week, especially when that week will be very hard or busy.  I can really tend to get overwhelmed on the Sunday before. 

The Sabbath is mentioned a few times throughout the Bible.  Obviously, it is mentioned in the Ten Commandments.  However, it is mentioned in a few other places such as Isaiah 56:2 which says, “Blessed is the man who does this (the Sabbath), and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”  Because again, the Sabbath is working on representing how committed and devoted we are to God and the relationship, making sure to honor the Sabbath helps us avoid the evil sins and decisions we could be making.  It reminds us of who God is, and helps us avoid our many temptations.  

It is important to realize the great benefits that can come from making sure to rest.  When a person is an athlete, and they don’t take time to rest, there is more of a chance of injury and the longer an athlete tries to not rest with the injury, the worse it will get.  This also works with mental health or our overall self.  The longer we go without sleep or rest, the worse off our body will be. Otherwise, the amount of anxiety and depression is more likely to increase and to get worse over time.  Then, of course, sleep is necessary for bodily function as it is recommended to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night for the average person to stay healthy.  

The challenge for this week is to think about the Sabbath. There are ways we can best do this. We can choose to pick a day when we do not have work.  Culturally, our Sabbath day is on Sunday.  This is the day we go to church and the day the majority of people don’t work.  However, if there is a person who does have to work, there are always other options to go to church on Saturday nights in some places and then to take off other days for this opportunity to rest and to enjoy the Sabbath. 

Also, it is important to spend time thinking about how to avoid tasks.  Maybe do your grocery shopping, your meal prep, and your household duties a few different days throughout the week, so you don’t have to spend your Sabbath day doing those chores.  During the time you would be spending doing those items, you can spend that day learning more about Christ and worshipping all He has done for you in your life.  This doesn’t just mean not working a job, but it also can mean limiting the tasks we would usually do.  

This last week was a very wild week as many Americans and even those in separate countries know.  Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, was shot at a college campus while he was speaking and debating with college students, ultimately leading to his death. There were thousands present at the time of the shooting, creating havoc and leading many to be angry about the injustice, while others feeling as though he should not be honored.   

I am not going to say I am a person who really knew who Charlie was. I am not necessarily going to say I was a big fan.  Sometimes I am not very good about following things that are happening in the political media world or in the debate world. It is something I need to be better at.  However, I know he was a Christian as well as a person who was not afraid to speak truth and to speak about the Bible. 

I will be honest when I say I am not very good about speaking the beliefs I have in truth.  I really don’t like confrontations too often.  I hate getting into arguments or getting into tough conversations.  I often wish I was better and braver in these conversations.  I want to be able to speak my truth in love and in kindness. 

Recently, however, I have been called to speak truth.  I started to notice something I didn’t necessarily agree with.  I didn’t like how I thought a certain student was being treated who I was coaching in cross country.  I haven’t liked the certain words that have been said or used to describe this student by other adults who also work with him.  I had to speak the truth.  I had to talk to other adults involved, so we could all be called to teach and coach this particular student with more love and care than we had previously.  

This was scary because I don’t like confrontation.  I tried to be as reflective in my actions when I was having this conversation.  I didn’t want to come off as myself thinking I was better than anyone else. I didn’t want to come off wrong or to really disrupt the practices or the structure with all the other coaches.  However, it went very well.  They were all Christians as we work for a Christian school, so they appreciated me listening to the Holy Spirit and being willing to be convicted and speak from the heart.  I know not every hard discussion will go easily, but it is always just as worth it.  

This is something often brought up in the Bible as well, such as in Ephesians 4:15 which says, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”  This reminds us that we are supposed to spread God’s love.  We are meant to live our lives in truth and in justice and to tell others about this.  This doesn’t have to be done with harshness or in condemnation.  This should still be done in love.  These conversations still need to be spoken in kindness and in gentleness. 

The challenge for this week is to think about ways we can speak truth to those who are in the world or at least in your world or in your area.  Are there areas where you don’t usually speak about your beliefs or your values or your thoughts?  Are there times you are more bashful about your thoughts and ideas?  Are there times you are not as good about being brave?  Pray for bravery and the right words in these moments.  

I have also been trying to work on myself more in this area.  This is one of those reasons I have started to read the book called, “Toxic Empathy” by Allie Beth Stuckey.  This book has so far discussed pro-life v. pro-choice discussion, the transgender movement, and multiple others.  What is a true Christian’s stance on these issues and how can we share our love with others who have different perspectives about Christ?  We should not be afraid to speak God’s truth.  We shouldn’t be afraid to be empathetic about others who are hurting themselves more through their life decisions. 

I would highly recommend this book.  It has been a very good idea to look at this book and how we can best speak our faith in love and in truth. This book shows how we can be stewards of both truth and love and how we can win people to Jesus when we have these tough conversations.  This book does a good job of showing how we are not being completely truthful believers when we include this toxic empathy or not always listening to the world, but rather to the truth God gives.

I absolutely love the musical Hamilton.  I have gotten to see it twice this year.  One live for the first time with my friend and matron of honor, Izzie and then I recently got to see the live taping of the show at the movie theater with Cole.  He had never seen the musical before and had hardly heard any of the music, so it was good to have him experience it, even if it was mostly for my benefit. 

Since I have seen the show now a few times, I can really start to pick up on the well-crafted characters and their developments., as opposed to paying attention to just the plot. For example, Aaron Burr.  He is considered to be the villain in the story.  He is the one who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, our protagonist, in a duel.  (This isn’t really a spoiler alert since it is said in the opening song of the musical and it is an actual factual part of history.)  However, was Burr a cold hearted murderer throughout the musical…no.  That is what makes him almost more scary.  He was just a man. He was a father, and he was a husband who, at least according to the musical, loved very deeply.  A man who was afraid to state his real opinions because of how others would see him, and a man who was filled with great jealousy. 

Throughout the musical we see Hamilton being overall more successful than Burr in many ways. He was ranked higher in the military by George Washington, as well as being liked more than Burr significantly.  Hamilton was someone many people wanted to listen to.  He maybe wasn’t liked by everyone.  However, there were a great deal of people who did listen to him and he was able to make a lot of decisions for the country.  Burr wanted the opportunity to make decisions for their new country, but he didn’t ever really want to step on a lot of people’s toes or become unliked.  This jealousy and envy would eventually lead him down a destructive path, one of murder.

The Bible reminds us to not be jealous or envious.  This is reminded throughout the text from the beginning to the middle to the end.  This is even mentioned as one of the ten commandments in the Bible.  One verse in Proverbs discussing not being jealous is Proverbs 14:30 which says, “a peaceful mind gives life to the body, but jealousy rots the bones.” This is exactly what happened to Burr.  He had been so jealous of Alexander that it really had rotted his bones. 

I tend to be jealous at times. In fact, I often struggle with jealousy.  I think I can often get jealous of people and their abilities.  For example, when I meet someone who is an incredibly talented runner, I can often get jealous.  I work really hard at running, yet I am not near the level of talent other people are.  This also can happen at choir when I meet those who are incredibly gifted singers or music readers.  I can get filled with jealousy because I may be insecure about not having a music reading ability as strong as theirs.  

This is a reminder to not be so focused on the things of this world and the jealousy coming from life’s situations.  There are many times we can get jealous.  There are many times we can fall into wanting what others have or we are wanting to have a certain skill that maybe other people have. There can be many times we can get jealous about the life situations some are in, that we are wishing we could have, such as being married or in a relationship or having children or a certain job position.  We can sometimes see life experiences others are having and become jealous since we are not close to having that particular life experience.  We have to remember everyone has a different life path.  Everyone has a different journey, sovereignly designed by our gracious Lord and Father. 

The challenge of this week is to think about the instances when we have experienced jealousy or the times we get the most jealous.  It is very important to first beware of the times we can most feel jealous or the times we can most get insecure and in our heads.  After we spend time reflecting on those thoughts and those jealous antics, we need to spend time in prayer to overcome jealous moments. We can seek this growth from the Lord and he will help us overcome it. 

This last weekend I went to Galena, IL for the Labor Day weekend.  This was a mom and daughter trip.  My mom and I usually go earlier in the summer, but with the wedding and RAGBRAI, we delayed the trip a bit.  It was a busy weekend, where we got to go hiking and running, as well as do our favorite thing  of checking out the shops. One new thing we were able to do was go to a few museums, such as the Dowling House (Oldest House in Galena) and President Ulysses S. Grant house.  I learned a lot about Galena and the town’s history as well as some of the important individual people who lived there.  

One point consistently made in these museums was how big Galena once was to how small it is now.  Not to say Galena isn’t a busy town.  Many people, including my mother and I, travel to it, but it is not a huge town.  There are not many people actually living in town or a part of the population.  The town did a very good job of pivoting and making their town an antique or old school town of sorts, filled with cute local shops, and museums to help grow its attraction after the initial loss of people.  

So how exactly did Galena go from being the biggest city in Illinois at one time to being a small cute shop town? Galena really became big because of the river.  It was a river town, when the river was the main point of transportation. Because they were on the river, many people came to town and helped with its growth and its wealth.  Galena also was a town where many miners found lead. This being the main reason the town was called Galena, which is the name for the mineral form of lead sulfate.  At the time, lead could make a person a lot of money.  

However, many things changed over time.  After years, the lead mineral became less and less in value.  It went from 50 dollars a ton (50 dollars meant a lot of money in the time) to 2 dollars a ton (Still money, but not near as profitable).  There were many people then who went to find jobs and profit in other areas, leaving Galena behind.  Along with that, they had to chop down the trees in order to use their machines to get up the lead.  Because there was a lack of trees now, erosion occurred and the river began to shrink and shrink.  This gave people less reasons to travel to Galena as well as the main form of travel quickly becoming the railroad.  

What I learned from this, is nothing in this world is concrete or is meant to last forever, even the items and things we think are meant to be the most valuable. This town of Galena thought they had it made.  At one time they were the biggest city in Illinois as well as the wealthiest.  Then they were very poor and hardly had anything.  Many of the original houses and businesses were left desolate. We have been taught to believe certain items are the most important, whether this be money or certain name brands, etc.  However, if those are the kind of things we build ourselves on, then we will very easily be able to fall. 

Living in the United States right now, there has been a lot of discussion on money.  I am not saying that there isn’t a good reason.  Our prices are really high right now.  There are a lot of people who are struggling.  There are a lot of people who are living paycheck to paycheck or not even having enough from their paychecks.  I too have been really stressed about money a lot recently.  I have been very distracted by the high prices, the amount of savings I had to dip into for the wedding expenses, and the consistent car issues I have been having, making more and more payments I wasn’t ready to make.  

There is a verse, I myself, as well as many others need to look at for encouragement which is Hebrews 13:5.  This says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” I love this verse because it is a reminder to avoid the love of money and greed.  We need to remember to be content with what we have and not so focused on the things not in our possession.  The Lord will take care of his children.  Not saying we won’t have struggles, but we will have God’s sovereign protection.   

The challenge for this week is to spend time in prayer.  This is to spend time in prayer over the things that we can sometimes depend on more than God.  This could even be money.  I know money is tight for a lot of people, and I don’t want to take that away from anyone.  I know it can be very stressful.  I just want us to remember as God’s people to not depend on money but instead to rather depend on God for everything and all time.  

I have talked a lot about running in my blog posts throughout the years. I have talked about my triumphs and the times I have accomplished certain goals.  I have talked about my struggles and finding it very hard to run at a pace I had been able to run in the past, and I have also discussed getting to run with others and the growth coming from the practices and runs we do together.  I have been so blessed in my life where I have been able to be a cross country coach where I am able to help other student runners become better. 

I have been in the cross country season for a few weeks.  These weeks have already been great.  I have had a middle school student who decided to sign up and try running xc for this year.  When she first started, she could hardly run a half mile. However, now she is able to run two miles this morning without stopping.  She just accomplished that this morning as I am writing.  I was so very proud of her.  I was so happy to see her accomplish this.  

I have loved this moment as a coach. I need to remember to think this way similarly for those who have become Christians.  I need to remember to see the growth in the people who I have discipled or who I have talked to about God.  There have been many kids I have had the pleasure and blessing to work with who are developing their own thoughts and opinions and knowledge about Christ.  Every week, I need to remember to find ways to encourage these kids to work with.  

Sometimes we don’t always focus on the growth all of us make when it comes to our Christian Walk or the walk of others.  Maybe we don’t always take the time to really see if there has been growth made in people’s walk.  Are they learning more about Christ?  Are they growing in their Spiritual Disciplines?  Are you yourself, growing, that you can tell others about to help encourage them.  

Galatians 6:9 is a beautiful verse which says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”  This is a very uplifting and encouraging verse about how we need to continue working hard for the Lord.  We need to make sure to not give up because if we don’t give up, then we will be able to see more of what we reap and what we sow.  We also need to make sure to hold one another up.  We need to be willing to help our brother or sister in Christ.  We also may need to help those who are not yet Christian.  How can we help create an environment where people want to become a Christian or want to enter into a life with Christ. 

The challenge for this week is to spend time thinking about who you could encourage and support.  I am very blessed to have the opportunity to encourage these young runners.  It is a great chance to meet with them all and see them improve over time.  However, there are many other places where a person can be encouraged and can be supported.  This support can really be a thing that helps a person understand Christ and his love.  I also need to be challenged as I have a friend who needs to be encouraged through a very challenging and difficult health and life experience.  

The second challenge is to spend time thinking about those who have supported and encouraged you lately.   There are many people who have encouraged me.  My mom helped encourage me to finish RAGBRAI a few weeks ago.  My friend Hillary has always been an encouragement when it comes to following Christ.  Then Cole has been very good about encouraging me in my running journey as well as my general exercise journey.  There are days I come, and I have been very discouraged because my pace is a lot slower than it usually was in the past.  I need to make sure to spend time thanking him for that.  I need those pieces of encouragement to really make me feel good about the days I don’t do as well. 

Through my devotional Bible reading time, I have been learning about David and his journey to become king of Israel while comparing that to the journey of Christ becoming the ultimate king.  We see through David’s journey, he had some suffering and some pain to experience.  This includes his relationship with Israel’s first king Saul.  Saul eventually started hating David, being filled with rage and jealousy.  He was jealous of the promise of who David would be.  This means he started to plan how to kill David. David had to live on the run and fear for his life. Saul would catch up to David, and while David had the opportunity to kill Saul, the Lord was with him and helped him to forgive Saul and to let him go unhurt. 

Through this devotional Bible reading, we are also reminded of Christ’s tough life he had on earth.  He didn’t have it easy.  He was very much abused and was even killed by crucifixion.  Before that, however, he was mocked by the Pharisees and Sadducees, he was left in the desert to fast and was tempted by the devil for 40 days and nights.  None of these experiences were easy, yet he was able to overcome all suffering for the sake of his people.  This should serve as an encouragement to us all.  We need to remember this during the times of our personal suffering.  Jesus has experienced pain and suffering and has come out stronger from it all. We too can conquer through our suffering and come out stronger, with the help of Jesus Christ, our lord and savior.

I have seen many people in my life go through recent suffering.  I have had some friends and family members who are struggling through their health, while others are struggling through their friendships or personal relationships.  I have also seen some struggling after the death of a family member or a friend they know.  It has been hard to watch and hear about this all surrounding me.  I have tried to keep the prayers long and to keep all these people in my thoughts. 

I personally have been going through some minor struggles, very minor in comparison to most.  I have had so many blessings in my life recently.  I just had a blog post about getting married and finishing RAGBRAI.  Those were two very great things.  However, I have also had a car that keeps struggling to work.  As of writing, it has been in the shop for the past month and a half.  While I have been blessed to borrow a car from others, I still would have an easier time knowing my car is going to be completely fixed.  I also have been struggling with a bit of a cold the last few weeks.  I can remember during these minor inconveniences to be strong in Christ. 

There are a lot of verses and tales in the Bible about suffering.  However, one of the verses was James 1:12, which says.  “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”  I love this verse because it is a reminder for all of us believers to live steadfast and to stay steady, even during the times of intense suffering and pain.  If we do choose to stay steadfast and strong, then we will receive a crown of life and this isn’t just regular life but rather it is eternal life.  

There are two challenges for this week.  The first one is to spend time thinking and reflecting on whether or not you have been learning a lesson from one of your struggles.  Is there something in particular you are developing from your time in this suffering?  Maybe it is not going to be a struggle you are experiencing right now.  Maybe you are too close to the hurt to really see the growth you have made.  Maybe it is from a past hurt or experience. What is something you have learned from a past amount of suffering that can help you overcome future struggles? 

I know one area where I have struggled is in the area of friendships.  I have had some amazing friendships in my life.  I have had many women who have helped me out through life and have helped me develop a deeper relationship with Christ. However, I have also had friendships who have hurt me throughout the years.  I have been left out, and dismissed by some friends.  I have really struggled with a feeling of hurt.  Through those friendships, I have learned how to focus more on Christ for my validation and not the thoughts of others.    

The challenge for this week is to spend time in prayer to God about any suffering you are experiencing today as well as the suffering of others. The best way to overcome this suffering or this discouragement from suffering is through prayer.  Similarly a way to show love and care  about others is to spend time in prayer for them.  

I have been reading the devotional book from The Voice of the Martyrs.  This has been a really good book to read stories and devotions from Christians who are giving their whole heart, soul, and body into spreading God’s love and goodness to everyone.  These are the Christians that are willing to risk it all in order to spread the good news of Christ.  

“‘It’s not a matter of keeping a commandment,’ Richard replied gently.  ‘When I became a Christian it was as if I had been reborn, with a new character full of love.  Just as only water can flow from a spring, only love can come from a loving heart.’” (Extreme Devotion, The Voice of the Martyrs, pg. 71.)  This comment from Richard really struck me.  There are many times I don’t necessarily have a heart that is just so filled with love where I am willing to forgive even those who are torturing me.  

There are times I am filled with a great love, like when I am with my husband, with my friends, or with my family.  Then there are other times I am definitely not filled with love.  These are typically the times I am driving.  I often get very frustrated with the other drivers going down the road, whether they are going too slow or too fast or driving too close to me.  I also have times when I am filled with frustration when I am at work and there are people who are maybe not easy to work with.  While my job is awesome and I absolutely love my coworkers, there are some people outside of our organization who make the job a little more difficult.  

I also am not very loving when people are straight up mean to me.  When people are not very nice to me, especially strangers I meet down on the street, I will probably not be nice to them.  I also feel this way when there are others who are cruel to the ones I love.  I find I am very judgemental when someone is mean to those who are my friends and family.  

In order to really love others with all my heart, I have to really be filled with love of the Lord.  I need to make sure I am filled with the love of Christ before I start to head into conversations with others.  I need to make sure before I am really about to talk about Christ that I also am properly filled with God’s love.  I should be spending more time soaking up God’s love and really putting it into my heart.  On a daily basis, I spend some time with God in devotion.  However, there are many times, I don’t take all the words as fully as I should.  I need to make sure to really soak up all of what He is trying to teach me and how he is trying to shape me.  

There are many verses about love.  One example of a verse about love is 1 John 4:7, which says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”   This is a reminder for us to love one another.  This verse doesn’t get specific about who we need to love.  The church leaders had already been told we need to love everyone.  We need to love all those who are in the world.  Now this verse is a reminder to love from the heart, but this heart needs to be changed from God, not from ourselves.  

This devotional book does a very good job of showing how the love these Christians have is shown to even their enemies.  This is really the big motivator to big anti-Christians to turn their life to Christ.  There are many ways to plant the seeds of Christ into someone’s life.  However, those who have a very hardened hearts to Christ, the best way to win them over is those who are willing to love and be kind to those who have hurt them, those who are beating them, those who are mocking them, and those who are hurting their loved ones.  

The challenge for this week is to spend time diagnosing your heart. How do you feel about people, even including every person, even those people who are not always that kind to you.  I need to remember this with those who have been unkind to me, who have sometimes patronized me, or who have even mocked me.  Go this week in God’s love and show that love to many others. 

This past week my life took a major change.  I got to marry Cole, my best friend and the love of my life.  It was a day I had been waiting for, for a very long time.  There were months of planning going into this day.  I spent a lot of time picking the wedding party, picking how the decorations should look with my mom, the food and desserts, who would officiate our big day,the DJ and photographer, etc.  It was fun planning the big day, up to the final details and knowing at the end of it, Cole and I would be married. 

First, I just want to comment on how beautiful the day was.  I can not believe we were blessed with such a beautiful day.  I have lived in Iowa my whole life.  I love it, but I am aware weather can be a major factor on a day to day basis.  There is humidity, there is just plain heat, there is a lot of rain or cloudy days, and there is a lot, and I do mean a lot of wind.  How Cole and I managed to get a day in August, no less, in the mid 70s temperature, sunny with a little cloud coverage, hardly any wind and no rain is beyond me.  I was just praying for sunshine and wind to be minimal.  I could not have believed I would have had this perfect of weather if I tried. 

I also was blessed with the people around me. My mom helping me plan really helped things go smoothly.  There really were only a few last minute details we had to buy or were forgotten, like a basket for the bubbles for example.  (Thanks Izzie-matron of honor for getting one the night before for me!) Then really the only major issue on the actual day was forgetting my veil at the hotel and my mom needing to run back right before the ceremony.  (Thanks mom-hoping this is just a funny story for the future).  

I am also grateful for my friend Caleb who was willing to officiate my wedding only a few short months before it occurred when our original officiant had something major pop up.  It was wonderful.  He did such an amazing job and he really helped capture everything Cole and I wanted to do in the wedding ceremony from signing of the marriage license, completing a unity candle, and doing our own personal vows.  Plus, there was also a wonderful speech he gave at the very beginning of the ceremony to build Cole and I up for our lifetime of marriage.  

There are many times I can look back on meeting Cole, and I can see how God was at work. Cole and I met through a dating app.  However, he was one of the first people I connected with on the dating app once I moved to Cedar Falls and had been very persistent in talking to me and starting conversations.  As I mentioned in my vows, he kept seeking me out and pursuing me, even before we officially met.  Then, since that first date, it has been natural and continuously growing stronger.    

There are some verses about becoming one body of Christ that I believe really captures what I want to do, stepping into this new life chapter of marriage.  These verses are Ephesians 5:30-33 which says, “for we are members of his body.  ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

I love these verses.  We used quite a bit of them for our wedding ceremony.  I do want to make sure I am a very respectful and loving wife to my husband.  We are now one body.  We are one unit.  I am not just a single person on my own anymore.  For my whole life, I have been a single person.  Not to mention, I have also been an only child and for the first 18 years, was the only grandchild on my mom’s side.  All that to say, I have gotten really good about doing my own thing and being on my own.  Now I need to learn how to best work as a continuous team with my now husband.

The challenge for this week is not necessary to get married.  However, if you are about to get married, congrats! It is rather to think continuously about any new future endeavors.  Are you going through any major changes in your life?  Are you getting a new job or trying to go back to school?  Are you starting a new relationship  or a new friendship? Whatever new adventure, big or small, you are about to encounter, remember to go about it with God in mind.  

The second challenge is to be encouraged to be someone who prays over marriages.  A marriage is supposed to be a beautiful example of Christ and the church.  And it is also important to realize that many times Satan does want to take out these marriages.  There are temptations coming from Satan, so it is important that all members of the body, pray for the body, including praying over marriages. Cole and I would appreciate prayers as we step into this new life together. I pray we can be a good Godly example of Christ and the church.