God sends us into the storm!

God sees us in the storm!

God shows up in the storm!

As 2015 comes to a close, sometimes we can’t help but to think of unmet goals and desires. We can find ourselves at a point in life where we don’t feel like we’ve accomplished all that we’ve set out to do. Our businesses haven’t grown as we expected. We’re at a stand still in our careers. We hoped that we would be married by now. Couples hope that they would have had children by now. We can slip into a season of despair. We may be tempted to abandon our devotion to God and His calling on our lives in a season of despair.

Loneliness is a feeling of separation, isolation, or distance in human relations. In a busy metropolitan area such as the DMV, it is easy to find ourselves in a season of loneliness. Though we are surrounded by thousands of people, we can still feel immense loneliness.

God desires us to truly honor and love him in our heart from the inside and out.

True compassion moves us to go where we are not comfortable and to embrace those we naturally shy away from.

Sometimes, we say things that we shouldn’t say. At other times, we are silent when we should speak. Yes, we don’t want to speak death. But we can’t speak life if we don’t speak up.

It is often said that hurt people hurt people. Sometimes people hurt or offend us intentionally or unintentionally. We may find ourselves bitter or jealous towards someone. Others may receive the attention or acceptance that yearn for. As a result, we respond by sowing seeds of discord. Seeds of discords are words that creates division between two or more people. We pursue things that divide instead of unify. The venom of division is spread through things such as discord, and gossip.

When I was a child we use to say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I later found out that was not true. Words do hurt us. The venom of destruction causes us to make emotional withdrawls versus emotional deposits in the life of others. The venom of destruction includes mocking, belittling, slandering, and criticizing. Instead of destroying, we can use our words to build up and edify.