Tag: offer

love the one you’re with- 3 ways to show it this Valentine’s Day

Karla Lees

Love is a choice.

You may have heard that before, but this Valentine’s, may it sink in deep.

We show this love by how we care for those around us.

By choosing to love them, our love can be seen like an outer garment.

We choose to love.

How we express that love should be up to three key factors:

1. Listen:
Keep an ear out for how the person says they want to be loved, which is usually their primary Love Language.

My hubby is Physical Touch, so a long hug, hand hold or kiss he interprets as how much I love him. If we spend too long apart, those small touches remind him he is loved.

My daughter is Show Me. A spontaneous gift, a thoughtful card, going out of our way to drop her off or pick her up from school…those speak volumes too her of how much she is loved.

My son is Quality Time. Spending one on one, whether chatting, reading together, gaming or watching a comedy or action dvd reassures his heart that he is loved.

Mine is Words, or Tell Me you love me. I text, call or email loved ones regularly as a way of reminding them how much they mean to me. Hearing I was on someone’s heart or mind & they tell me about it makes my day!

(PS. Not sure what your love language is? Take the free test at:
Discover Your Love Language , it is so worth doing…for all your relationships.

2. Look:
How we see them show love usually reveals how someone wants to be loved.

It is likely no surprise that a writer & singer would love to hear loving, kind & encouraging words. Take the time to observe your loved ones as they express care & love to those around them. They will give you the best clue you need by how they show their love.

3. Get Equipped:
Learn how God says we are to love up on one another:
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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.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

This is a huge list to try & do on our own. Trying to love in our own strength leaves us exhausted and empty.

Feeling stressed about how to love like the list in 1 Corinthians 13?

The good news is God helps us to love others when we come to Him to be loved…

The overflow of His love through us is more than enough to express our love to others.

This Valentine’s, let your loved ones know how much you choose to love and treasure them.

Your loved ones doesn’t need our freaking out about what you should get them by the world’s standards.

Bigger doesn’t mean better if your wife hates the roses you get her every year, coz you think that’s how you need to show her extravagant love & that she is special on Valentines… if she really loved daisies (true story!)

If you can only afford:
a small well chosen token…
genuine affection & love poured into a card…
a shared moment over coffee…
a dance to your wedding song…
a poem about love you printed off the internet and put in a dollar store frame…
then be yourself and express your love however you can. The best Valentine’s I ever got were hand written cards from my loved ones, as they showed how much they loved me by loving me back as I love to be loved!

Its not about the monetary price, but the choice you make to invest your love into another’s heart.

Love is priceless, and will live on beyond beauty, objects and time.

Choose to love from the best Source of love there is, its Inventor & #1 Lover of us all!

Love is always worth the investment when you choose to love the ones He loves, revealing His heart as you do.

His love never fails,
never gives up,
never runs out on us.

That’s the love I want my loved ones to know I have as my source of love, and that i will model for them.

Love wants the best.

Loving your beloveds as they long to be loved is the best gift you can give, every day!

start with me

Karla Lees

I want to comfort, offer hope, lift up and be a help to those in need.

Where do I start?

It has to start with me.

I can’t lead someone where I have not been willing to let You lead me.

I can’t express the joy of freedom when I don’t turn to You to be unbound.

I can’t offer what I am not willing to take from Your hand.

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I can’t let the music well up within me when I keep myself dry and closed off to Your love.

Changing the world begins with allow God to change me.

So where do I start?

On my knees.

Asking Him to meet with me.

Seeking His word.
Seeking His Presence.
Seeking Him.

Resting in His promises.
Trusting in His ways.
Knowing He is for me,
with me,
in me.

When i pour myself out before God, He pours Himself into the places that make way for Him to enter.

As I give my burdens to Him, He carries them, lightening my load.

As I offer my brokenness before Him, He strengthens me to hold it together in the storm.

As I place my desires in His hands, He breathes new life and hope in my heart.

As I leave my pain at His feet, He touches me with more than enough for the day.

Want to offer a helping hand to a hurting world?

Say it with me, “Lord, it starts with me. Here I am. Use me, mold me, break me, fill me, move in me, shape me.”

And with unswerving faith and trust in the One I follow, I know He will.

He reminds us, “Start with Me.”

Today, Lord, start with me.

START WITH ME:
Meredith Andrews
You are air for desperate lungs
Water falling on the sand
Silence to an angry storm
Sight to a blind man
You’re still the God, a miracle
So if You’re gonna move again
The would You move in me?
Move in me

You’re the beat to a broken heart
Bread for a hungry crowd
A warm word from Your voice rings out
And the dead throw the grave clothes down
Cause You’re still the God of the empty tomb
The one who came alive again
So come alive in me
Come alive in me
Come alive in me
Come alive in me

chorus: My life is an empty cup
Fill it up, fill it up!
I wanna hear
every rescued heart cry
You’re enough, You’re enough!
Break what needs breaking
‘Til You’re all we see
And start with me, start with me

Whose arms hold the fatherless?
Whose voice do they hear?
Who sits with the prisoner
And stands for the one who fear?
You’re still the God of what is just
And You’re still the God who loves
So would You love through me
Love through me yeah
Come and love through me
Would You love through me, yeah

chorus

Your kingdom come
Your will be done
Lord let it be
Let it start with me, start with me
Yes, Your kingdom come
And Your will be done
Oh Lord let it be
Let it start with me, start with me

chorus

Meredith Andrews – Start With Me: http://youtu.be/b4izl8DjGHQ

kind words- health for the soul & body

Karla Lees

image

Kindness is essential to our soul and body.

You can connect with God, sleep right, eat well, forgive often & love your job, and still need kindness.

We all do.

We were designed to need encouragement.
Genuine praise.
Positive input.
A well timed kind word.

More than just a pat on the back or a cliche comment, kindness demonstrates to our soul that we matter.

We all have that burning desire to be known, to matter.

And in a world where so many of us are consumed with self, our stuff and getting through the day, we forget this key fact: we ALL NEED kindness. It isn’t an optional part of the package, like paying to upgrade to automatic.

Without kindness, we wither away.

Years ago, psychologists experimented on children in orphanages. Some were given positive touch and words; others only spoken to when they had to, and touched only in necessity, never in kindness.

The kids that were given kindness developed well. The children from whom kindness was withheld, did not flourish. In fact, many died of what I suspect were broken hearts from not feeling wanted.

Withholding kindness deeply wounds.

Offering kindness can open hearts, help restore and bind up wounds. Show them a glimmer of hope. To know that someone cares.

For many people, God is the kindest person they know.

I remember hearing Graham Cooke, British author and public speaker, share how he was basically hidden away from his father’s sight, never allowed to the table at meal times or ever to receive a birthday present, let alone a kind word. Graham ended up extremely angry, confused and in trouble. God stepped in, and loved up on Him that has radically changed Graham for life. He regularly shares how God is the kindest person he knows. Because for Graham, He was.

If you are listening to too many harsh words from those around you or the enemy, you need to withdraw to clear your mind within, and begin to listen for God to speak words of love, mercy, grace and kindness towards you.

Yes, you.

And it doesn’t stop there. As His hands, feet & mouth to the world, like the prophets of old, God may use you to speak something positive, encouraging, uplifting or kind to someone you know, as He whispers what to speak through you.

The bible reminds us that:

“Kind words are like honey. Sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”

-Proverbs 16:24

Offer kindness to everyone you meet.
You never know, your words can make the difference in helping someone feel they can go on for another day, because they are reminded they matter with your kind words.

For they don’t just matter to those around them, but to God.

Your kindness may be the missing piece for them to understand that God loves them.