+Love is patient, love is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.1CO.13.4-8
Chances are you have a member of your family or a “special” someone in your circle of friends who is clearly unlovable. Yet while this person screams for attention, which means they only receive more rejection, you might be running after and obsessed with reconciling with someone else—the person you have had on your mind throughout this entire book! However, that unlovable person who tries your patience and may be totally ungrateful to anything and everything you have ever done for him or her is exactly the person whom the Lord has sent to teach you how HE wants you to be. He or she is in your life as an exercise of true, unconditional love since you will also need a constant supply of this fruit of the Spirit from the Lord in order to have even the shortest contact with them, let alone true kindness that we all long to experience. From ERIN THIELE RYR
My dear wives,
I come to honor our beloved once again. When we received the manual How God Can and Will Restore Your Marriage, we discovered what He asks of us, and He first restored ourselves. My relationship with all the members of my family has been restored, my finances, my home, where He continues to restore. But today, I would like to share with you the story of my relationship with my extended family.
I got along very well with my sisters-in-law, but there was one sensitive point: my mother-in-law. She was always angry, indecisive, and often imposed herself in our marriage.
And with the Pharisee's cloak I wore, I would point out their bad behavior.Over the years, I felt anger and frustration because of her behavior.
One day, while I was browsing blogs, I came across an article that spoke about how we see others. I don't remember the title well, but I know that our beloved allowed me to come across it so that I could begin to see her with love. I understood that all the bitterness and anger she carried inside were tied to a painful past, from her childhood to her marriage. She went through a divorce, then remarried my father-in-law, but she was not yet healed from all her wounds.
When she came to the house, I listened to her talk about her sufferings. I no longer heard her with the ears of the past, and I remembered the love we must have for those who carry hidden pain. She jumped from one subject to another, telling me about the problems she was having with my father-in-law, the financial issues of my eh(which I already knew). I did not respond; I simply listened.
I knew that the love of our beloved could heal her, not vain discussions or by feeding her sufferings. After dropping her off, to my great surprise, she took me in her arms to show me that simply listening was enough. She gave me a gift and told me that she would call me if she needed me.
Today, the fear of seeing her has been removed from my heart because I know that love excuses all, forgives all.
Praise be to our beloved who continues to restore my relationships.