♕ Today's Promise: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6
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~ Liora in Texas
Many relationships our Heavenly Husband asks for us to depart from forever, some just for a time and He will let you know. Some of these friendships or relationships can be quite hard at times.
So I have a friend that I have known for quite some time now, 15 yrs. For the past few years during my restoration journey this friend has communicated with me off and on. I have always been kind and welcoming when they reach out to me. Recently I have felt very used in that friendship because they contact me sporadically and come in and out of my life. The burden had been so strong lately and I really felt kind of betrayed and really just used. I cried out to the Lord to please help me with this friendship and I even told my Heavenly Husband that I would sacrifice that friendship and walk away from them, basically blocking them from my life.
I wanted to end this friendship once and for all so that I would not feel this way anymore. But the Lord had other plans….. I could not block this person from my phone… I wanted to stop the pain from feeling rejected, used and offended, but He did not let me. It took the Holy Spirit to hold me back and I felt it so strongly not to do it even though I knew that it was so easy to hit the block button on my phone. I cried. I asked my Heavenly Husband why He wanted to allow this and what He wanted me to do because I so desperately wanted to do things my way.
When I was waking up the next morning, I clearly heard these words “the book, How God Can…..”, as I was coming out of sleep. So i said okay Lord are you telling me to go back and read this book? I have read it a couple of times before but He was telling me to go back. So 2 days later I opened my ebook up again on my kindle and began reading again. When I got to the part “trust and obey” it's like the words jumped off the page at me and I knew He wanted me to read that part over again and so I did. Wow, He was speaking to me so much, telling me to just trust Him and to be radical in my obedience no matter how I felt, that He did not want me to sacrifice that friendship. He wanted me to show the Lord's love to this person, to show mercy because His love is unconditional. Oh my goodness it was so hard to follow this but I did and then came a test…
So this friend called me a few days later and the phone cut out as I was speaking. The phone call ended abruptly and I did not hear from this person again. They did not try to call me again to see what happened or text me or anything to finish the conversation. Let me tell you ladies that after that phone call I was so hurt and offended, I was just so done! But was I going to trust and obey, or was I going to give into my flesh and stop talking to this person completely. I had to let it go. I was feeling hurt and all these negative emotions started to fill my head but I began to pray to my Heavenly Husband and told Him that I was going to obey Him and to please help me with those negative thoughts, and He did. I started to feel joy again and I just kept on going about my day.
Well, the next day as I was headed to my room in the evening to wind down and read, this friend called me again. I got nervous but I answered and they invited me out for pizza. I was so scared and hesitant but I felt I needed to accept so I did. We had such a great time that evening, I mean a super awesome time! And the next day they actually thanked me for being patient and loving and kind to them even though they know that they have not been a great friend to me. They also told me that they were proud of me and that this was the best version of me that they have ever seen.
If I would have blocked this friend we would have not been able to enjoy the evening together, nor would I have been able to show God’s love to them and I would have not heard how the Lord is clearly working on me and changing me…. Ladies, sometimes we are the only ones that will show the love of our Beloved to someone, they have no other way of getting it, there is no other person willing. Will we let the Lord lead us in showing His heart to people so that they can be drawn to Him even if it hurts, even if our flesh wants to do the opposite? It takes true obedience and trust that He turns everything around for our good when we follow His lead.
"Who is among you that fears the LORD,That obeys the voice of His servant, That walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God." Isaiah 50:10
"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6
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