a SPIRIT of power love and a sound mind

The Lord has been teaching me more and more about Love ...
the best part being that God is Love.
Love is an entity according to the Bible.
It is God ...

When I think about the spirit of power and love and a sound or disciplined mind, I think of peaceful men and women who surmounted ferocious resistance to their peaceful demands that evil take a backseat to what is good and right for all of mankind.

Wondering what all your personal experiences and thoughts are on the subject of the spirit of power and love and sound mind.

Desperately needed encouragement.

I feel quite lonely when I care for my son at home. He has a debilitating mental illness. He little resembles the bright witty young lad with a ready smile of days gone by. I keep him home with me ... it has been 15 years now since he first showed signs of faltering ... oh, we have tried a group home for a year and a half and I really did enjoy my freedom, but he was eating uncontrollably and gaining so much weight that health problems related to obesity were just around the corner and his blood work began to show early signs.
So home I brought him to save him from certain death or worse, a debilitating stroke or diabetes. He has lost 20 pounds and I have gained 20 pounds.

Guess it all has to balance out somehow. LOL

He needs one on one care ... which is pretty hard to find but I think we have found a place that may help us. We are waiting to find out whether they will accept him.
L'Arche community homes, L'Arche being the French word for the ark, as in Noah's ark, begun by Jean Vanier many years ago.

It is hugely challenging to have him at home and I know there are people who question my sanity for having him home. He is happy here but it is hard on me. It will have to be this way as I won't compromise my search for the very best place for him.

This excerpt from Jean Vanier's book, 'Community and Growth' has lifted my spirits some today.

He writes:

"I marvel sometimes when I visit families with a son or daughter who has a severe handicap. The parents are living each day, and sometimes the whole day, with little help or times of rest.
They are not admired or honoured for what they are doing; sometimes they are even criticised for not having aborted their child or put him or her into an institution, outside the general run of society.
We in L'Arche have days off; we get help and encouragement from professionals and clergy. We even receive salaries. And often people see us as wonderful and generous people. And yet, isn't it those families who are living love and truth and humility and abandonment to God in a special way? Isn't it all those families in the ghettos of large cities struggling to feed their children who are radiating a truth about our humanity?
People who have chosen to live in community have much to learn from all those people throughout the world who are living love in a simple hidden way, and who are there welcoming and forgiving."

;-)

What really happened to the dinosaur

Matthew 24:3-13

As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

And Jesus answered and said to them,

"See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.

Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved."

Interesting that the way we endure to the end is to keep the fires of love burning in our hearts ... toward our God and toward each other.

Our world is getting crazier by the day ... it's a bit disconcerting to see that there will be hatred and betrayal among those who claim to follow Christ when any persecution visits us. Many will fall away ...

:-) be careful who you make your alliances with ... be sure the Lord says they are OK because only He knows their hearts but the best thing to do

is to continue to love and forgive even your enemies and those who would persecute you, for what reward have you if you only love those who love you. Matthew 5:46

The Way of Love

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

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.
Love never dies.

Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.

We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.

But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:

Trust steadily in God,

Hope unswervingly,

Love extravagantly.

And the best of the three is love.

1 Corinthians 13

The Message

Love

We don't express love to one another because we are afraid.

And yet there is no fear in love ... perfect love casts out fear ...

So the love we are afraid to express is not perfect ...

So many hang ups .....

The very thing we boast about ... our freedom

Is an eagle with clipped wings .....

Grounded for safe keeping .... held captive

God is that perfect love .... let's grow our wings and fly.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5

This has been a challenge for me .... and yet it is so simple ... when I have drawn myself close to God believing that He loves me ... peace is always there ... and when I think of the times that I haven't it all boils down to one thing ... trust in the very real fact that God loves me and you and you. That was hard for me to believe for a long time. I felt I had disappointed Him and that I was unworthy in so many ways ... but He has generously poured grace upon me and covered me with His love and all my faults are nonexistent in His presence. That's where I want to be and that's where I want to stay ...