Bless this Mess

and, boy, did we have a mess yesterday!!  Communication is not one of our marriage's strengths.  A few words said in a way, undecipherable by the other, can start us on a spiral of hurt, blaming and distrust.  I heard recently that you should marry the man or woman who you will enjoy "making up" with :-).  I do choose to MAKE UP with Fred.  All is well and I choose to not bring up the past anymore - it hurts the present and wounds the future!

Anyway, our pastor has started a new series called, "BLESS THIS MESS", teaching men and women to love and lead each other and their families to be devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

 

 

Here's some highlights from the first week:  http://rockharbor.tv/blessthismess.php

 

1) Do you have an attitude or gratitude?

 

   Gods

   Riches

   At

   Christ's

   Expense

 

    Psalm 100:4-5,  Thank first vs. tank  "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."

 

2)  There is a reward for all who run the race.  Luke 6:45 "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

 

Play The Gratitude Game - toss a toy to a family member and say something you're thankful for - speak a blessing over that person.  What gets rewarded gets repeated.

 

3)  Gratitude begins where my sense of entitlement ends.  Philippians 2:3-4, 5-7  "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."  Where entitlement is high, gratitude is low.

 

4)  Grateful people can find a blessing, enlarge a blessing or create a blessing ..... in almost any situation.  Ungrateful people can find a burden, enlarge a burden or create a burden ..... in almost any situation. 

 

5) Do you feel burdened or blessed?  I Chronicles 4:10 " Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!  Let your hand be with me, and keep me from hard so that I will be free from pain.'  And God granted his request."

 

  The result of this prayer is changed lives or missed opportunity; changed lives or comfortable lives.

 

WHERE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE BEGINS WITH GRATITUDE.

 

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