a great find on forgiveness!

Seven Characteristics of the Most Forgiving People in the World

1. The most forgiving people in the world have an exceedingly high view of God.
2. The most forgiving people in the world trust that God is all powerful, all loving, and always working for his glory and our good, even in the midst of suffering. (Gen. 45:4-7; Acts 2:23-24; Rom. 8:28)
3. ‎The most forgiving people in the world trust God’s promise that every sin will eventually be fully paid for, either through Christ’s atonement on the cross or through eternal judgment. (Gen. 50:19; Luke 18:6-8; Rom. 12:19)
4. The most forgiving people in the world see their sin against God and his forgiveness of them as being infinitely great. (Matt. 18:23-25; Luke 7:47; Ps. 25:11; Eph. 1:7)
5. The most forgiving people in the world see God as the true treasure of forgiveness and will do anything to have more of him. (Ps. 73:25)
6. The most forgiving people in the world see others through the eyes of Christ. (Col. 1:21-22; Luke 23:34)
7. The most forgiving people in the world depend utterly on God to cultivate the perspectives and attitudes needed to forgive. (Phil 2:13)

battling anxiety.

copy and pasted from here.

How to Battle Anxiety with the Promises of God

John Piper:

• When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I battle unbelief with the promise: “Fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God; I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

• When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with the promise, “So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not come back to me empty but accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

• When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9), and “As your days so shall your strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:25).

• When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

• When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, “If God is for us who can be against us!” (Romans 8:31).

• When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise that “tribulation works patience, and patience approvedness, and approvedness hope, and hope does not make us ashamed” (Romans 5:3–5).

• When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

• When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself; if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living” (Romans 14:9–11).

• When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promise, “He who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:6). “He who calls you is faithful. He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). “He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

NOVEMBER

going to san francisco with mae the 6th.

going to chicago to see alexandra the 17th.

if i could, i'd live here with caitlyn next year.

i like these.

defeating sin.

and soul food.

love.

What we need is to love without getting tired. How does a lamp burn? Through the continuous input of small drops of oil. What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking, of speaking, and of acting. Do not look for Jesus away from yourselves. He is not out there; He is in you. Keep your lamp burning, and you will recognize him.

No Greater Love by Mother Teresa



And then a tidbit from probably one of the best sermons I've heard at reality LA from Isaiah 49.

"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.'
[God's reply] Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you."
vs. 14-15

He listens to our groans and objections of God being distant. Then God uses the strongest imagery to show love, that being deep, personal attachment of a mother to a nursing child. A love that is nourishing, intimate, and unconditional.

Then when I think I've begun to understand this love, He blows me away with 'even these may forget, yet I will not forget you' a.k.a 'MY LOVE IS BETTER! stronger, more nourishing, more intimate, more unconditional.

Keep reading to verse 16 and God speaks of how we are engraved on his hands. If we were to have a tattoo on our palm, we would not receive, give, take, or hold anything without seeing that tattoo.

"Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are continually before me."


mmhmm.