Soul Sister Time

            Healthy relationships require healthy boundaries.   If we do not learn how to manage the people who come to us, we will not be fit to carry out our work in God’s kingdom.   Sometimes you just need to withdraw from circumstances and people that drain your energy and focus on the work God has called you to do.   The Gospels record the many times Jesus had compassion on the people He met.   He saw that they did not have a shepherd.   The Gospel writers point out that there were times when He ministered without eating, sleeping or resting.               Jesus also modeled a life of boundaries.   There were plenty of people who wanted Him to go somewhere or do something but He would not let them sway Him.   Jesus would stay in the boat allowing the people to only come so far.   He would withdraw from the people or close the doors to a room, inviting only a few.   He didn’t perform miracles on demand just because He had an audience or request.   Jesus always knew the righ

              Did you hear the one about when the tax collector and the Pharisee prayed at the temple?   It may sound like a joke, but there is nothing funny about it.   In this story both did some heartfelt praying, but one went home justified and the other when home further away from God than he was when he came.   The story is recorded in Luke 18:9-14. 9  To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’   13  “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14  “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went

            This week everything is all about love.   Yet what most people are seeking on Valentine’s Day is a far cry from true love.             How does Valentine’s Day love stand up to 1 Corinthians 13 ?     If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8  Love never fai

            I seem to always be in a hurry for God to do what I want Him to do.   It seems that what God wants to do for me is teach me how to wait.   I find myself waiting for it over and over again.               After years of waiting I thought I got good at it.   I can see that there is improvement in my ability to wait on God, I still plan far more than He knows is good for me.               WAITING is vital to spiritual maturity.   I’m learning God’s purpose for waiting is the way He   focuses my soul.             A pregnant woman thinks about her baby her whole pregnancy, but she is willing to wait to hold her child in her arms because she knows that before 36 weeks, the baby is not completely mature to live in the world.   That is why God asks us to wait for our spiritual maturity.   No matter how fast and furious we try to make spiritual progress, most of our spiritual growth takes place while we are waiting.             Isaiah 30:18 proclaims the promises for