Morgan had her second leg surgery two days after we returned from California and it went really well. This leg needed less correction so she only had to have the femur cut through and re-aligned. This made for a much less painful, easy recovery. She got her cast off yesterday and starts physical therapy today. Thank you for all of you prayers for her. We expect her to be walking normally before Christmas!
I have several things to write about. There have been a lot of things going into my hand-written journal and floating around in my head, but I just haven’t had the time and energy to sit and write for the blog. So I think today I’m going to start with something short and simple. I have been taking a class on co-dependency from a Christian perspective. Wow! Very eye-opening. There is so much I could share about that, but I’m just going to share this little piece. At the end of the last chapter we had scripture to look up regarding what the Word says about living in healthy relationships and one of the verses was Ephesians 4:25.
Therefore each of you
must put off falsehood
and speak truthfully
to his neighbor,
for we are all members
of one body.
Ephesians 4:25
This verse reminded me of my original Warrior Princess Sisters and the reason I started this blog. I have been able to grow and become healthier (spiritually and emotionally) because I have friends who do speak the truth to me. What a blessing! We don’t look for things to “hold one another accountable” for, but we are able to speak the truth when we need to. We are not trying to “fix” each other, we are simply able to ask questions and share truth from God’s Word to help one another. My prayer for this blog is that as we share and read each other’s stories, real life happenings, struggles, and victories we will be speaking the truth and putting off falsehood.
We do need to remember the first part of the verse says that we “must put off falsehood.” We want to be good friends, nice people, so sometimes we don’t say anything because we are afraid it might hurt (the other person or us if we are rejected). But if our motive is to expose the truth and not “fix” our friends, if we check our motives and find that we are not trying to be controlling, but are genuinely concerned for others, we can expose the lies and speak the truth. In fact we are told that we must do that. It is actually a sign of wellness, maturity, and becoming more like Christ.
Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Ephesians 4:14-15
I was struggling with something last week and thought I knew the truth, but wanted to be sure that the view I had of myself was accurate and not just what I wanted to think about myself. Because I can be very self-condemning I needed the perspective of a friend I could trust to tell me the truth about what she sees in my life. I was open to both possibilities, that I have made huge progress in this area or that I have only made some effort and have deceived myself into complacency. It was so encouraging to hear two friends speak the truth to me so that I could move forward in truth! They didn’t just tell me what I wanted to hear, they spoke truth and then each one prayed for me.
Do you have a friend like that? Are you a friend like that? Sometimes we have to be that kind of friend before we can have that kind of friend. Just remember that we are to speak the truth IN LOVE. Whether or not our friend chooses to hear is in God’s hands and between her and God. Keep loving and speaking truth, looking to God to do the work in you and in your friend. And instead of being hurt when a friend risks speaking the truth to you, thank her for caring enough to take the risk to speak honestly with you. Then ask the Lord what He would have you to do with that information and always make sure that it is in line with His Word.
And over all these virtues
put on love,
which binds them all
together in
perfect unity.
Colossians 3:14
Sole Deo Gloria,WP Stacey
p.s. Pastor Logan spoke on this two weeks ago. Here is the link to listen to the podcast http://www.ccctucson.org/listen.asp the sermon title is Right Relationships in the Body of Christ (Mann). I highly recommend listening to it, even if you've already heard it. I look forward to hearing from you regarding this topic and anything else that the Lord puts on your heart to share.
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