You know, one second I am reading about Moses on Mt. Sinai, and the very next second I am wondering where my black yoga pants are and why my mail is now being delivered at 3:00 instead of noon! Can I get a witness?

Sometimes focus is hard.

So, here is an easy (and by easy, I mean easy) way to stay focused as you read Scripture.

As you read, keep the 4 C’s in mind — they will serve as guide rails to keep you focused and guard rails to keep you from veering off your path. And, using the 4 C’s will also help you apply what you read.

1. C for Character

When you read a passage from Scripture, ask yourself and the Holy Spirit:
“What does this reveal about God’s character?”

It may be a story from the gospels you are reading. If so, it really is easy to see what Jesus says and how He responds to situations — this clearly reveals His character.

And, if you are reading in the Old Testament — maybe in the Minor or Major Prophets, for example — you get God’s words to His people right from His mouth! You can hear His words of forgiveness. You see when He is patient. You are right there when He holds His people accountable. You get a front row seat to watch His behavior and see His heart. This too clearly reveals His character.

But, even if you are reading through an Epistle in the New Testament with no “red letters” or “thus saieth The Lord” verses, the same rule applies. You can see God’s nature and character revealed in the Apostles’ teachings if you open your spiritual eyes and look.

So, whatever you are reading, read with an eye to see God more clearly. And then thank Him and praise Him for who He is.

2. C for Condition

When you read a passage of Scripture, ask yourself and the Holy Spirit:
“What does this reveal about the condition of my heart?”

Everything we read in Scripture clues us into the condition of the human heart. For example, as you read about the ten healed men who didn’t thank Jesus in Luke 17, you see their hearts’ conditions and it serves as a mirror to see your own. Am I like the one who returned to say thanks, or like the nine who took their healing then went on their way?

In the Old Testament, you can do the same thing as you read about the Israelites. The point is, people are people! Thousands of years haven’t changed our basic nature and character tendencies.

So, find your own condition in the verses, teachings, and stories you read.

3. C for Change

After you read Scripture, ask yourself and the Holy Spirit:
“How do I need to change so the condition of my heart matches up with the character of Christ?”

That’s a simple question, but it requires some hard consideration and prayer. Our goal for studying Scripture is not simply to gain knowledge, but to know God better and become more like Him.

So, as you read and begin to notice God’s character and your condition, ask the Lord to show you if you need to change.

If you only applied three C’s, you would stop here with a spiritual to-do list and probably a heap of guilt or a trifle of pride. That is why there is one last and most important C.

4. C for Communicate

As you are reading Scripture, ask yourself and the Holy Spirit:
“Am I taking time to truly communicate with God? Am I listening to Him, thanking Him, and talking to Him, or just rushing through it?”

Communicating with God is the ultimate goal — your reading and study of God’s word lead you to communicate with Him more intimately. Sit and listen to God while you read His word and again after you read it. Don’t just close your Bible and come up with a spiritual strategy of how you will change. Communicate with your Heavenly Father. Thank Him for His character. Let Him remind you of the condition of your heart. Tell Him the areas you feel you need change and listen for His voice. Receive His power to change as He fills you and changes you.

God loves to be with you. He longs for you to hear His voice just as He loves to hear yours.

So, don’t stop discovering His character, the condition of your heart, and communicating with the God who created you!

Go ahead and give it a try. Apply some C’s to your Bible study and see how it can make your experience with the Bible an A+!

Any other easy methods you use to read and study the Bible? Leave them in the comments.

When I think about this past year and the changes we’ve seen, I am thankful that one thing will always be true from year to year – the faithfulness of God. He is so good!

And you know what else I’m thankful for? You! Maybe you have been joining me here on the blog for a long time, or perhaps we’ve only recently begun having java together. Either way, your presence here is a gift and encouragement to me. So together, my java friends, let’s take time to look back on the blog posts that you shared most in 2017.

And if something you read today inspires or encourages you, pass it on to someone else who may need it. Simply click on the title to read the post. Ok, sister, here we go!

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5. You Can Stop Trying to Fix It

When we really trust God, we won’t have to try to figure out and fix what doesn’t make sense to us. But, when we ignore Him or don’t trust Him, we spend all our time and energy trying to figure out and fix the situations in our lives that aren’t working out like we hoped. In this post, I shared how God reminded me that I can stop trying to fix it. And you can, too.

4. God Hears Your Unspoken Broken

We all have it. It’s that thing in us that we don’t talk about because we don’t know how to put words to it. It’s that feeling that rises in us and makes our throats tighten and our voices tremble. It’s our unspoken broken. And in this post, I shared three prayers from the Psalms to give your unspoken broken a voice.

3. When You Need to Be Cradled in God’s Compassion

We don’t often think of long-lasting trials like time in the safety of a womb — times in which God grows us, protects us and nurtures us. But, God can use those long-lasting situations as places where He cradles us in His compassion and care. This post encouraged each of us with the reminder that every unending minute we suffer or struggle, God’s compassion is holding us.

2. Are You Stealing From Yourself?

Sometimes, we think of our tendency to worry as just a harmless habit — just the flip side of how much we care and want to fix and have a bit of control. We rarely think of it as a masked intruder that we invite in to steal our joy or peace or contentment. But, that is exactly what happens. When you wring your hands, wondering what will happen, you rob yourself of joy. In this post, you learned how I turn worry mediation into a truth meditation instead – and how you can do it, too!

1. 3 Scriptures to Help You Stand Strong: The Battle is the Lord’s

I love that this year’s most shared blog post was all about Scripture – because that’s all any of us really need, right?! We’ve all had situations in our lives when we just want to fight back, right? If you’ve got a battle, you can either stand still and trust that God will fight for you, or you can freak out and possibly make it worse.

Sometimes we just need to get out of the way and under God’s will and watch Him bring victory. In this post, I shared three Scriptures that will help you to stand still and strong when facing a battle in your life.

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Wow, God has been so good this year, right? Looking back at these posts, I am reminded of some of the great truths He has been teaching me throughout 2017. I’m so glad you’ve been journeying with me – and I can’t wait to see what He has in store for us in 2018!

What about you? What is one thing you learned this year? Share it in the comments below.

I still remember his creativity and boldness in choosing the many, many, many, many items. I smile when I think back to the wintery day he asked to get out my laptop and type out his Christmas list for him. He stayed serious and thoughtful as he dictated each item.

When I found it recently, I laughed out loud and thought you may get a kick out of it too.

Connor’s Christmas Wish List – December 2005

– Pokémon cards

– White cheetah with black spots

– Dinosaur bone

– Gumballs for gum machine

– Shells

– Nintendo DS

– Fake fire ball

– Recorder-flute

– Gemstones

– Sly computer pen

– ROBO RAPTER

– Boomerang

– Fake bombs

– Electric guitar

– Hovercraft that you can ride on

– Skateboard

– Scooter that has a fire boost

– Massage chair

– $69.00 to buy stuff

– Fake Chinese dragon

– Neopets Cards

– Pokemon Sapphire game

– TV for my room

– XBox 360

– PlayStation 2

– PlayStation 3

– Super Smash Bros for GameCube

– A puppy

– Hot Wheels

– Cars stuff: Mac truck, Ramón’s House of Body Art, Luigie’s Casadella Tires, Sarge’s Supply Hut, Flo’s V8 Cafe, Cozy Cone

– Nintendo Wii

– Wheelies shoes, size 2

Wow, right?!

I would love to dream like that from time to time. Wouldn’t it be enchanting to live with that kind of wonder and sense of potential? I want to be led by pure joy and creativity rather than self-imposed limits and small thinking. Don’t you?

What if we all learned to dream again like we did when we were six?

What if, this coming year, you jotted down a wish list and handed it to God in prayer? What if you were creative and bold? What would your list look like?

Better yet, what would your life look like?

C.S. Lewis once wrote: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Do you live “far too easily pleased?” The reason Connor was willing to ask for a dinosaur bone, a fake fire ball, $69 for “stuff” and a hovercraft is because no one told him those things were beyond the reach of his imagination and his parents’ desire to bless him.

My friend, nothing is out of God’s realm of ability and no request is beyond His desire to bless you.

So, wanna learn how to dream like a six-year-old?

Tell logic to take a day off every now and then! Allow your dreams to be as big as your God. Stop writing out your life story with an old, worn down brown crayon.

Instead, pull out the red, blue, green and purple and do something creative and bold with yourself! Dream like a six-year-old and you will grow in your faith and get younger and younger as you age.

What would you ask God if you were bold and creative?

But, I am not used to this yet! I feel like my brain goes in slow motion and words have to be coaxed out of me like a reluctant puppy when the car parks at the vet.

Is this a symptom of aging? Or maybe it’s just the result of an overworked brain? I just can’t multi-task like I used to!

I think my brain has too many windows open… and yours may too.

When your phone or computer has too many apps running — when there are too many windows open, you know what happens, right? It slows down because it’s trying to process all that info at once. You can tap and scroll and right click and tap and scream at the thing and it just will not — can’t — do all the tasks you want it to as quickly as you need it to.

The same thing happens to us too when we have too many “windows” open for too long!

Manic multi-tasking puts an awful strain on our brains!

This strain is even proven by research! Glenn Wilson (London’s Gresham College) discovered that our IQ drops as much as 10 points when we multitask. The impact of a 10-point drop in our IQ is the impact you feel when you lose a night of sleep. Fuzzy, slow, forgetful… oh brother, no wonder I can’t find my nouns when I need them!

And, not only do we feel the brunt in our inability to think, remember and process info, we take a hit physically when we have too many windows open for too long. When our brains shift attention from one activity to another it sucks out all our oxygenated glucose, which is the fuel that helps us focus. When that happens, we can feel disoriented and burned out. And, you know what most of us do when we feel that way, right? We run to the worst refueling station ever — sugar! Caffeine! Both! And, then the sugar crash and caffeine let-down happen and we are back where we started.

So, what should we do?

1. Finish one thing before starting another

I have started telling my people when they ask me to do something, “Not now. Ask me later.” Oh girl, this is hard for me because I am a recovering people-pleaser! I used to say yes to just about everything and then try to add that into what I was already doing. But, it adds to my stress and reduces my effectiveness if I just keep opening window after window.

Sometimes, we need to wear blinders. This means we don’t look to the left or to the right, but straight ahead. One thing at a time, sweet sister.

2. Close a few windows

We keep all our brain windows open, we multi-task, because we think we will get more done, or we think it is the only way to get everything done. But, researchers have also found that our productivity plummets when we have too many windows open.

Maybe that’s because our focus is on too many places all at once so nothing gets 100% of our attention.

Sometimes you need to have several windows open at once. You know, do the laundry while returning phone calls. It’s just practical, and doable, to multi-task. Maybe you need to determine how many windows you can keep open at once? That is what I have had to do.

If I can open just a couple of windows at a time, I manage just fine. I can deal with email while I check the laundry. When the emails are answered and the laundry is done, I can clean the bathroom and write the blog. Everybody has different operating systems just like our phones! So, just because your friend’s phone can speed through applications with a ton of windows open doesn’t mean that yours can. Mine can’t anymore!

“Teach us to number our days, (and windows!) that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

Where does this message meet you? Need to close some windows? Share with us in the comments below.

Introduce Yourself Here

When Jennifer brings two of her friends with her, God does some extraordinary things.  You can read event highlights and testimonials here.

Have you ever thought about being the one person God uses to bring Fresh Grounded Faith to your church or city?

It’s a lot easier than you think. In fact,

98% of the costs are covered by us.  Working together, we can create an incredible life-changing experience for women in your community, and generate funds for your women’s ministry or support a local charity.

Interested? It’s simple.

Introduce Yourself Here

How do you see the world?

In this time of fear and darkness and suspicion, it can be easy to see the world as depressing and scary. You watch the news or read the headlines and brace yourself, preparing to see the worst, right? I get it… I do — it can be pretty dark out there, but can you still see beauty and goodness and hope too?

You can if you are prepared to.  So, I ask again, how do you see the world?

I see the world more clearly since I’ve been blind. Or at least, I try to.

Not being able to physically see has opened my eyes to recognize how to really see — I mean that see beyond the sorrow and see hope within the tragedy.

I know, I know… it’s quite a jump to go from Ralph Waldo Emerson to an iPhone app, but stick with me!!

The app is called “Color Identifier.” It uses the camera in the iPhone to capture my surroundings and then it announces the colors it sees. But, unlike the color detector I use to identify my clothing, it has a huge, descriptive and downright fun vocabulary. My color detector simply announces “black” or “blue” or “light yellow” when I press it against fabric. It’s so helpful when it comes to knowing the colors of my clothing but it serves merely as a reporter.

The Color Identifier app, on the other hand, interprets what it sees like a bohemian artist or imaginative poet would! It uses names for colors like those creative people at Crayola do! For example, the sky isn’t simply “blue” it’s “Baltic Sea” on a bright day or “Gun Smoke” on a cloudy one. Lovely, right? According to the Color Identifier, my front yard is blanketed with tones of asparagus, avocado and Rangoon green! Can’t you just see that?!

My office is an inviting palate of amber, spice, mustard, bamboo, oregano, potters clay, sepia, nutmeg and creole! Isn’t that far more interesting and inspiring than “shades of brown?!”

Often all we ever see around us is bleak and dark because we’ve not looked deeper — we haven’t seen beyond and within our circumstances. We settle for “blue” when we’ve got Wedgwood, cobalt, Danube, cornflower or sapphire surrounding us, just waiting to catch our eyes and change our perspective.

Oh girl, I know. I’ve had to do a double tap on my heart to get a deeper look lately as I’ve spent time with my sweet Daddy in ICU. He’s in a long term acute care hospital and I tell you, even without sight, I can see the gray, drab, cold, metallic surroundings. It feels so harsh and hopeless and ugly. My viewpoint was truly coloring my perspective of that place where my dad will heal and recover. I was feeling hopeless and irritated and ungrateful, so I’ve had to pull up the Color Identifier in my heart and focus. When I do, it turns all that gray, drab, cold ugliness into “Chicago Skies, “Silver Tea Pot,” Morning Mist” and “Evening Fog.”

In other less colorful words, my heart can see hope. My eyes become grateful and I see the grace that surrounds him. When I take a deeper view, I see God’s mercy in the care he receives, God’s provision through the metal contraptions that beep and buzz and God’s beauty in every caregiver who helps him.

Every minute of every day can be sepia tones or it can be a rainbow of possibility.

Girl, we certainly can’t change everything in the world, but we sure can change the way we choose to see the world. And that can change everything for us.

Lord, open the eyes of our hearts so we can see hope. Make our eyes grateful for what we have so we can see the grace and beauty of Your provision. When we start to see only the dark and despair, tap us on our hearts and help us focus on the good.  Thank You Lord.  Amen.

I’ve felt discouraged for both reasons lately. I’ve felt overwhelmed and under-qualified to rise to the demands of ministry. I’ve fallen into a confidence crisis and just plain felt defeated. And, at the same time, my sweet Dad has been in the hospital, fighting pain and infection. My mom is worn out caring for him and instead of things getting better, they just seem to get worse. As soon as we see some progress, the next day, his fever spikes and our hope deflates. It is just downright discouraging.

I know you’ve felt discouraged too.

When you’re discouraged, what do you do? Do you find a friend to give you a pep talk? Or do you look in the mirror and spout some “you can do it!” kind of self-talk?

So, instead of randomly opening my Bible app to read something to lift me up, I created my own Scripture pep talk!  I intentionally found verses in the Bible that boost me when I’m down or fearful or worried and put them all together as one, big beautiful message!

So, if you need some courage, read this! Read it out loud to yourself so you hear it loud and clear! Print it out and read it over and over! Bookmark it on your phone so you can find it with the touch of a finger and watch how God’s Word is all the pep talk you need!

Scripture Pep Talk

“The Lord is with you mighty warrior! Go in the Strength you have… am I not sending you? I will be with you.

No weapon formed against you will prosper.

There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Your strength will lie in quiet confidence and the peace of God will keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against principalities, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the Lord your God, am with you.”

(Judges 6:12-14; Isaiah 54:17; Romans 8:1; Isaiah 30:15; Philippians 4:7; Deuteronomy 31:8; Philippians 2:13;  2 Timothy 1:7; Ephesians 6:10-12; Joshua 1:9)

By the way… all those Scriptures come from different books of the Bible so if you want to experience more of God’s encouragement from Scripture, check out my new book “66 Ways God Loves You” and experience God’s love through every book of the Bible!

Here’s the back story:

In college, my friend Tony broke up with his fiancé – or maybe she broke up with him — I never really knew for sure.  But, what was for sure is that the jeweler wouldn’t give him his money back when he returned the engagement ring.  Bad for brokenhearted Tony. Good for supportive friend Jennifer!

Tony had store credit and he wanted to spend some of it on me. Wow. No, not on another ring or a piece of jewelry, he wanted me to have something very special — a Lladro. Have you ever seen one? They are stunning porcelain sculptures with a brilliant crystalline finish. What really sets a Lladro apart is the flowers. Each one is individually created, petal by petal so that every flower is a unique, unrepeatable creation.

Then, the sculpture stays in the kiln for about 24 hours at over 1300º!  The result is that the Porcelain vitrifies, varnish crystallizes and the Lladró’s true colors come to the surface. So, you can imagine why they are so beautiful and so expensive. 

Tony  and I picked out a Lladro figurine of a woman with slender lines, wearing a graceful hat with one of her pale hands hovering over a delicate vase of flowers. She was beautiful.

On graduation day, Tony and I hugged goodbye and I left college with a diploma and a Lladro!

The Lladro moved with me from city to city, apartment to apartment, home to home. No matter where we lived, I always showed her off because she was such a treasure.

One fateful afternoon though — uh oh, here it comes– our four-year-old son Clayton was playing hide-and-seek near the table where the Lladro stood. You know what happened, right? A bump of the table sent her plummeting to the floor, chipping the tips of the petals on her flowers. My husband tried to glue her dainty pieces back together, but her bouquet was never the same. I know, what was I thinking leaving her there on that table where four-year-olds roam?

(Don’t tell Tony!)

So many years have passed since my Lladro became part of my life. She still stands up tall on a shelf in my office. I often run my fingers over her broken petals knowing exactly why I treasure her so much.

She reminds me of… me.

She reminds me of you.

We’ve all fallen and been banged up by life.

We’re all broken and flawed. But, just like that Lladro, we are still incredibly special because God designed and created us.

He shows us His love in the way He individually and creatively fashioned us. He shows us His love in the way He lets us go through fire so our true beauty comes out.

He shows us He loves us by placing us on the top shelf of His Heart.

In every word, on every page, in every chapter and in every book, God tells you He loves you.

Like my Laddro, you may be broken and no longer as put together as you once were. But, like my LLadro, you are still treasured. You may not feel worthy of God’s love, but God thinks you are worth His love!

My sweet sister, I created a video to help you know how loved you are. I asked some beautiful, ordinary, imperfect women to read my take on how God loves us in Scripture — 66 ways God loves us.

Check out this video to see how God loves you through all 66 books of the Bible. And, share it with your friends so they will know how precious they are to God too.

Oh my friend, the love of God is bigger than your brokenness.  It’s stronger than your past regrets; deeper than any failure or fear you may feel.

When you watch the video, let me know which book of the Bible meant the most to you in the comments.

Married women: ever had one of those conversations with your husband where you get heated, he gets heated and then…bang! A full-blown fight explodes.

Moms: ever had one of those conversations with your teenager where you get heated, she gets heated and then…bang! A full-blown fight explodes?

Working women: ever had one of those conversations with your co-worker where you get heated, she gets heated and then… bang! Hopefully a full-blown fight doesn’t explode, but inside, are you an inferno?

None of us want that in our relationships.  So, what can you do to prevent it or break the “heat, heat, bang, explode” pattern?

Pour a glass of water.

Here’s what I mean.  Hold a full glass of water so you can hold a full conversation without things getting out of hand.

If you’re a potential over-reactor or nuclear reactor when it comes to conflict, to keep yourself from flying off the handle, hold a full glass of water as you talk about your issue.

If you start to become a volcano right before it erupts,  you’ll get that little tremor inside, your body will flinch and the water will spill. You get it, right? If  you don’t want water to spill, you’ve got to  stay steady and calm. This is a good way to tiptoe through the minefield if you’re explosive or the person you’re talking to is.

Then, hold your glasses and hold a conversation.

If the water remains in the glass, most likely your temper has remained in control.  If it spills out on to your hand, it will be a quick reminder that you want to remain calm and steady.

Okay, okay. I admit that I know this because I can get a little sparky sometimes! This has helped me stay calm and aware when my feelings are starting to run off without my brain.  And, no… I know some of you are thinking, “yeah, and if it just doesn’t work, I can baptize the knucklehead!”  Down sparky!

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

In the comments, let us know if you have any good ideas for dealing with conflict.

But, can we be honest?  There really are some dear souls in our lives who seem to create conflict. They just plain rub us the wrong way! I call those dear souls sandpaper people! So, what do you do when that sandpaper person rubs you the wrong way?

Run?  Explode? Ignore?

You can’t always eliminate conflict, but you can keep from elevating conflict in your life. You can shrink it down to size and not let it ruin your day or your relationships by the way you deal with it.

Here are 4 practical, biblical ways to deal with conflict when the sandpaper people rub you the wrong way:

1. Remove your plank: Matthew 7:3-5

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matt. 7:3-5)

Why is it so easy to see someone else’s fault while totally overlooking our own? Well, I think it’s because we are often focused on the sandpaper person — what they did, what they said, and how they were wrong! When we are staring into their life with angry eyes of justice, we nitpick every little thing that is wrong with them.

The more that is wrong with them, the more that is right about us. That’s why Scripture tells us to look into our own life first before we do a total life analysis on the person we are in conflict with. In fact, chances are, when we look into our own hearts, we will find Mt. Everest-sized bitterness, pride, resentment, or unforgiveness. Jesus tells us to deal with our own mountain before we go deal with someone else’s molehill, so get real with yourself and get real before God and then get right with Him about your own stuff.

2. Clothe yourself in love: Colossians 3:12-15

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15)

When we choose to bear with one another, it doesn’t mean we ignore sin and avoid conflict, it just means we infuse it with some patience and forbearance. We don’t stomp into a confrontation with an agenda of the ways that person needs to change or apologize (even if they do really need to); rather, we clothe ourselves in love, we choose to be kind and show the same kind of patience with them that we want others to show to us. We don’t clothe ourselves in the armor of anger when we approach our sandpaper person; we clothe ourselves in the love of Christ. (Because even if you don’t feel an ounce of love for them because you’re so hurt or mad, Jesus loves them and you can ask Him to love them through you.)

3. Listen well: James 1:19-20

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear,slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20)

Be quick to listen and slow to preach! If you go into conflict with the intention to hear the sandpaper person’s point of view, you will lay the foundation for a healthy discussion. Acknowledge something good about the sandpaper person; tell them what is good about them and your relationship. Let them know you understand – as much as you can – how they may feel. And, then listen to their heart.

When you show the grace to acknowledge them and listen, then you will have a more willing audience to listen to you when you share your point of view. Remember, the goal is not to be right; your goal is to behave righteously.

4. Resist fear: 2 Timothy 1:7

…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Tim. 1:7)

Now, if you have removed your plank, put on love, chosen to approach your sandpaper person as a listener, then it’s time to just flat-out tell the truth! But, here’s the thing – we can get so timid when it comes to sharing truth.  My spiritual gift is prophecy and exhortation so it should be natural for me to spout truth when there is conflict.  Nope.  It is super-natural!

So, these are just 4 scriptures I go to when I am in a messy situation with somebody. Every time I follow the truth of Scripture rather than my own hurt-fueled agenda, the sandpaper person is far less abrasive and the result may not be perfect, but it is always better than it was!

What is the point of sandpaper anyway? It’s to rub the bumps and splinters away, right? Once you wipe away the dust the friction of sand-paper creates, everything is a lot smoother!

Lord, thank you for teaching us everything we need to know to live life abundantly! Thank you for caring about every detail of our lives, even showing us how to handle difficult people. Teach us to love them through You, God, and we’ll give you all the glory. Amen!

What do you do when confronted with a sandpaper person? Share in the comments below.