Tag: show

honor on her

Karla Lees

This week we will be visiting my hubby’s mom for mother’s day.

We speak fairly regularly by phone when we can, however in order to show her honor we don’t visit too often.

Here is a hard lesson I have learned about honor.

We can honor a person without honoring their choices.

My mother in law is a very broken woman.  I know without a doubt that she loves God. She is however very bound due to trauma in her past that has not been resolved. Many of the choices in life have not been ones I can honor.

However, God has given me the ability to move past the hurt she feels and wields as a weapon at times, and honor her as the daughter of the King she is.

Do you too struggle with loving someone who is not making wise choices?

I see the disciples struggling with this a bit in the gospels, and I love them all the more for it, because they represent us. The regular Joes & Joannas, whom Jesus came to walk beside, and show how to honor.

Jesus never once told a sinner it was okay they had sinned. He loved them where they were at, and pointed to a better way.

He honored them as people, while not liking their choices, the fall out of their sin.

I am now able to show honor as He leads me to my mother-in-law, because I too know that I don’t always make wise choices.

Yes God honored me by choosing me, in the midst of my sin.

Its time for us to extend grace and honor those He came to save. Seeing them as He does…the broken, hurting, lost who don’t know how much their Father loves them.

He bestowed the biggest honor on each and every one of us through the Cross.

He took on our failures, sins, bad choices so we could be free, and become part of His family.

What an honor.

If you too have a loved one you struggle to be around at times, remember God honored those who didn’t deserve it with His gift of Jesus.   You, and I included.

As His beloved, we need to extend that honor to all those around us.

There were moments when the disciples didn’t get it, and Jesus patiently would offer an explanation, and I am sure offer His Father prayers that they would understand at the right time!

He modeled showing honor to us all when He was with us on earth:

Love.
Grace.
Mercy.
Patience.
Forgiveness.
Honor.

(P.S. I am not suggesting you purposefully put yourself in front of any kind of firing gun, if a relationship is abusive.  In that case, you can best show honor through prayer, and seeking His direction.  Honor His request to pray for those who hurt you. for them to come to see Him and be transformed. Jesus didn’t intentionally seek out the Pharisees, but was prepared to answer them when they turned up.)

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kingdom come

Karla Lees

With every act of love,
we bring the kingdom come.
-Jason Gray

I heard that song lyric for the first time today, and God floored me as I was headed in to work.

For years, I have felt guilty or ‘less than’ for not being an evangelist, or walking up to random strangers and proclaiming Christ out loud.

This line….God used it to reveal to me that when I smile, and offer a glimpse of hope, His kingdom comes.

When I help a friend, coworker or stranger in need- His kingdom come.

When I sing and invite His Presence to invade whatever space I am on, His kingdom come.

When we use our gifts & talents for His glory, His kingdom come.

Why oh why do we complicate what Jesus clearly showed us?

Love.
Inviting children to come.
Feeding the hungry.
Freeing the captives.
Touching the untouchables.
Loving the unlovable.
Teaching the thirsty.
Meeting the needs.

God reminded me we can all be as Jesus was when we remember to love one another.

His love was the conduit for kingdom come. 

His love was the key to releasing His power.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:30-31

Its no accident that Mark recorded Jesus’ words about love.

We are marked by His love.
And that love is to be evident to those around us.

When we love one another with His heart, His kingdom come.
He is here.
With us.

You and I? We are an important part of God’s plan to bring His kingdom down to earth.

All we need is Love!

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love the one you’re with- 3 ways to show it this Valentine’s Day

Karla Lees

Love is a choice.

You may have heard that before, but this Valentine’s, may it sink in deep.

We show this love by how we care for those around us.

By choosing to love them, our love can be seen like an outer garment.

We choose to love.

How we express that love should be up to three key factors:

1. Listen:
Keep an ear out for how the person says they want to be loved, which is usually their primary Love Language.

My hubby is Physical Touch, so a long hug, hand hold or kiss he interprets as how much I love him. If we spend too long apart, those small touches remind him he is loved.

My daughter is Show Me. A spontaneous gift, a thoughtful card, going out of our way to drop her off or pick her up from school…those speak volumes too her of how much she is loved.

My son is Quality Time. Spending one on one, whether chatting, reading together, gaming or watching a comedy or action dvd reassures his heart that he is loved.

Mine is Words, or Tell Me you love me. I text, call or email loved ones regularly as a way of reminding them how much they mean to me. Hearing I was on someone’s heart or mind & they tell me about it makes my day!

(PS. Not sure what your love language is? Take the free test at:
Discover Your Love Language , it is so worth doing…for all your relationships.

2. Look:
How we see them show love usually reveals how someone wants to be loved.

It is likely no surprise that a writer & singer would love to hear loving, kind & encouraging words. Take the time to observe your loved ones as they express care & love to those around them. They will give you the best clue you need by how they show their love.

3. Get Equipped:
Learn how God says we are to love up on one another:
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Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

This is a huge list to try & do on our own. Trying to love in our own strength leaves us exhausted and empty.

Feeling stressed about how to love like the list in 1 Corinthians 13?

The good news is God helps us to love others when we come to Him to be loved…

The overflow of His love through us is more than enough to express our love to others.

This Valentine’s, let your loved ones know how much you choose to love and treasure them.

Your loved ones doesn’t need our freaking out about what you should get them by the world’s standards.

Bigger doesn’t mean better if your wife hates the roses you get her every year, coz you think that’s how you need to show her extravagant love & that she is special on Valentines… if she really loved daisies (true story!)

If you can only afford:
a small well chosen token…
genuine affection & love poured into a card…
a shared moment over coffee…
a dance to your wedding song…
a poem about love you printed off the internet and put in a dollar store frame…
then be yourself and express your love however you can. The best Valentine’s I ever got were hand written cards from my loved ones, as they showed how much they loved me by loving me back as I love to be loved!

Its not about the monetary price, but the choice you make to invest your love into another’s heart.

Love is priceless, and will live on beyond beauty, objects and time.

Choose to love from the best Source of love there is, its Inventor & #1 Lover of us all!

Love is always worth the investment when you choose to love the ones He loves, revealing His heart as you do.

His love never fails,
never gives up,
never runs out on us.

That’s the love I want my loved ones to know I have as my source of love, and that i will model for them.

Love wants the best.

Loving your beloveds as they long to be loved is the best gift you can give, every day!

meet

Karla Lees

Meet people where they are, not where you’d like them to be.

@POTSC tweet

Every one you meet has a story, just like you and I.
Their story may not be visible on the outside.
Just like you and I.

There is more that goes on inside every book beyond the title on the front & the summary on the back cover.

Because, just like you and I, we don’t let it all out when we first meet people.

We like to look presentable until we know the person we meet is safe to share our real story with.

Like a first date. We take care in choosing our outfit, practicing our answers, and try to make sure we are meeting in a location we can easily escape from, especially if its a blind date. We might even have back up in case our antenna picks up any weirdness.

But just like the rows and rows of novels and hardcovers in the bookstore, each and every book has an aspect to their story that the reader doesn’t expect. A character behaves in a way you don’t expect, a situation has your holding your breath. The unexpected catches your attention, and draws you in to the story.

Every person we meet has a story deep beneath the face they show to the world. Addictions, losses, pain, brokenness, illness, abuse…each and everyone has a unique twist, as no two people are exactly alike.

Everyone you meet has their own story.

As His followers, we need to be listening to His prompting, discerning:
When to offer the same grace God extended you when you met Him for the first time.
When shame needs to be met with a hand of mercy.
When love needs to be poured into a wound until it is made clean and healing can commence.
When kindness in a smile or caring look will soften a hard heart as it begins its journey back to wholeness.

Everyone you meet is beloved by God, and He wants us to meet them where they are at, just as He does the same with us.

When we hear where people are at, it can be unnerving.

Why? When we look into someone else’s story, it can remind us of our own.

That can make us uncomfortable, if we are being honest with ourselves.

I really enjoy learning about the life of King David. But not so much from his story as told by the storytellers, but His own words in the Psalms he wrote, and sang in His day. Honest, gut wrenchingly moving, they are a testimony that we can meet God, be changed for the better, yet be ourselves through the process.

God meets us where we are at.

Let’s offer the same gift to those we meet around us.

Accepting people where they are at is God’s specialty, but it doesn’t end there. He begins to help us write the story He intends for our lives, as we meet and hang out on a regular basis with Him.

We can rest confident that He won’t leave us where He found us.

There are no chance meetings in God’s plans.

If God brings someone into your life, He has a purpose for your meeting.

It may be to help Him be known to the one you meet, or because they have more of Him to reveal to you through their story.

Be yourself.
Accept people where they are at.
Meet up with God.
The world will be a much better place the more we do so.
Imagine the stories He will be writing!
Imagine the rewritten masterpiece you will be from meeting Him!