Learning Real Love

We are learning some really good stuff at church. Things I don't want to forget and I want to write them down so I can actually process them better. I wrote a hodge podge of notes but typing them up totally helps me process and let it stick.

Jody talked about an ancient deception. The deception is, "I am not loved". She said when we are wounded, especially in childhood MANY times that deception comes into the wound and that message feeds our brain - we are not loved, lovable nor are we capable of really showing love to others. What happens to the wound then, is that it is never healed. When that deception is there, it causes an infection to happen. Then, it is not the wound that is killing us, but the infection. But the wound is still there sitting gaping inside us, pouring out blood.

Dan talked about resentment. He said the actual term comes from "re-sense", basically to feel something all over again. Like when you see someone that has hurt you, you feel everything all over again. He said this is the time we have a choice to make. We can choose bitterness, or we can choose love. If we have that ancient deception inside of us, we are going to have to go back to the place where we were fed that lie and clean out all of the infection. We can only be made whole through the power that comes in forgiving. That is only made possible through God. But when, in resentment we choose bitterness, we only hurt ourselves. The person who has hurt us goes free while we are in prison. Forgivness sets us free. Dan also said, when we remember how much God has forgiven us, that SHOULD make it easer to forgive other people. "Forgive as I have forgiven you."

They also talked about the body of Christ being like the covenant of marriage. Do I have a covenant in my marriage or is it a contractual agreement? A covenant always seeks out the other person's needs first. Of COURSE I don't have a covenant - at least a LOT of the time. It is when I realize how incredibley selfish I am that I realize my absolute dependence on the Lord in my marriage - otherwise my marriage will 100% fail. I have come to that realization, but I don't know that I have always thought of the body of Christ as THAT sort of commitment. Jody said it's not the people that are easy to love that teach us love. It is the hard places, the people that I wouldn't naturally be drawn to, the people I may not even like. Those are the people that I am CALLED to be in covenant with. Dan said, whoever said the Christian life was easy, had no clue what they were talking about. No kidding.

Dan also said, "Unity is the environment where maturity occurs. It's not the goal." I'm still processing that one.

OH, one more thing Jody said is that when we have that infection inside of us, it causes us to have a "limp" of sorts. That limp is a bend/a filter in the way we see everything/everyone. It taints our focus on reality. The infection causes us to see everything out of our wounds eye and not the real world. That made me want to do some soul searching. Are there areas in my life that are wounded and I've not let them heal and they've become infected? I hope not, but it is definitely something I'm bringing before the Lord.

I thank GOD for our teachers and the wisdom they pour out on us. I am thankful for all of the hungry people, more and more coming to learn and seek out the wisdom of the Lord. I am praying this wisdom takes root in my heart and springs up with life and that I don't just brush it aside and go about my selfish ways. It is easy for me to get distracted and not hear God in the details of my life.

So here I am...in process.