Hey Pastor John,
I wanted to tell you about what the Lord did for me over the weekend. It was really sweet because it tied into the meetings perfectly. I hope I can get this out right because it was big for me.
For a while now I had been praying for Jesus to take my relationships with people to the next level. It just always felt that in so many instances, my relationships with people never really took off, and I could not understand why.
I had prayed this over and over, and at one point, got so frustrated because I would never get anything from Jesus on the matter.
Well, Saturday night after the meeting, I started thinking about the things that had been said, and my relationship with the *** family came to mind. I love the ***s and I started to think about my memories with them and some of the tougher situations we’ve been in together. I started to remember times when they corrected me. I remembered that it didn’t feel good but I knew they loved me. They loved me enough to tell me how rotten I was in a few situations.
Then I started to think about this one and that one, and how the common denominator in all of the relationships was that we went through things together, tough and not so nice things together, with lots of correction. But when we came out on the other side, we were closer, and there was more love between us.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped being willing in my heart to be vulnerable to God’s people and correction. I started to not be willing to get in there and rub shoulders, I think. As a result, my relationships with God’s people suffered. I really thought, prior to this weekend, that I had been willing to be vulnerable to God’s people, but I feel like God showed me that I actually have had walls up.
The biggest lesson I feel that I got from this experience was that if I am not willing to be vulnerable in my heart. I am stuck – dead in my tracks – with people and with God.
I feel like this weekend was the answer to my prayer. I feel like this is why things have been the way that they are. Basically, I am the reason things have been the way that they have been. That stinks, but if He shows you something, it’s because He wants to fix you.
I am thankful that Jesus worked it out the way that he did, though, because this weekend really brought it all together for me in such a sweet way. When Jesus does it, its always better!
I am thankful He let me see that about myself, and I wanted to let you know. It is a big deal for me.
Thanks and see you at the end of May.