"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else." 1 Thessalonians 5:11-14
These are some super packed verses. Insecurities, judgment, fear, belonging, trying to be something we are not, pride, expectations. Us ladies can be so tough on one another. We make lousy friends and encouragers at times. Guys even tell their friends to, "stop being a chick" and this got me to thinking. God calls us to encourage each other building one another up to be better people. He doesn't call us to compare ourselves with other ladies or knock down the mama next to us because her child is just not as perfect as our own. We are designed to fellowship with one another not just for the occasional girls night out but to make one another better.
I heard a speaker at my MOPS group a few weeks ago. She was asked a question about what to do when our kids are picked on and teased. When she talked about how to handle a girl in this situation she said to be quiet and hug her. She went on to advise us to be honest with our girls letting them know that while teasing and drama are not right, it doesn't ever end so get used to it. She was so right. You leave junior high thinking high school will be drama free. You move onto to college believing the women must be more mature and that certainly college women are above all the nonsense. Nope. Then adulthood comes and there's is still judgment, gossip, and other nonsense. Finally, one enters motherhood and watch out; the attack of women on one another is rampant.
It doesn't have to be this way. In Proverbs 27:17 God Word says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." I know who my iron sharpeners are. Ironically, one of the women in my life isn't saved but man, she sharpens me mightily at times. I know the women in my life that will encourage me spiritually and on life's journey. As I got older and as life got busier with each kid, I did a friend inventory. May sound harsh but a person in my life told me how she did this years ago and somehow it stuck. We all know our limitations, what we need, and what we can give. I needed people in my life that were going to be honest not only with me but with themselves. I needed people that could give of themselves in the friendship and not just take. I needed women who understood and weren't offended when my God, husband, and boys came before them. I needed friends who would and will push me to be better even when it hurts and I don't want to hear it.
Many times, when we are living in sin or not the way God intends for us and we don't want to change the last thing we are going to do is hang with the people who challenge us to look at the reflection and stretch us to be more than we are in that moment. It hurts too bad and we convince ourselves it's too hard. I need women in my life that will push me over the edge into the best version of myself to reflect the Creator. I want women in my life and to be a woman that will do exactly what Paul asked of the Thessalonians: to encourage, build, have a grateful spirit, who seek peace, who challenge and push, who love on, are patient, forgiving, and humble. I pray for the women of our generation. We have a voice and power in Him that I pray we don't take lightly and use wisely.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
These are some super packed verses. Insecurities, judgment, fear, belonging, trying to be something we are not, pride, expectations. Us ladies can be so tough on one another. We make lousy friends and encouragers at times. Guys even tell their friends to, "stop being a chick" and this got me to thinking. God calls us to encourage each other building one another up to be better people. He doesn't call us to compare ourselves with other ladies or knock down the mama next to us because her child is just not as perfect as our own. We are designed to fellowship with one another not just for the occasional girls night out but to make one another better.
I heard a speaker at my MOPS group a few weeks ago. She was asked a question about what to do when our kids are picked on and teased. When she talked about how to handle a girl in this situation she said to be quiet and hug her. She went on to advise us to be honest with our girls letting them know that while teasing and drama are not right, it doesn't ever end so get used to it. She was so right. You leave junior high thinking high school will be drama free. You move onto to college believing the women must be more mature and that certainly college women are above all the nonsense. Nope. Then adulthood comes and there's is still judgment, gossip, and other nonsense. Finally, one enters motherhood and watch out; the attack of women on one another is rampant.
It doesn't have to be this way. In Proverbs 27:17 God Word says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." I know who my iron sharpeners are. Ironically, one of the women in my life isn't saved but man, she sharpens me mightily at times. I know the women in my life that will encourage me spiritually and on life's journey. As I got older and as life got busier with each kid, I did a friend inventory. May sound harsh but a person in my life told me how she did this years ago and somehow it stuck. We all know our limitations, what we need, and what we can give. I needed people in my life that were going to be honest not only with me but with themselves. I needed people that could give of themselves in the friendship and not just take. I needed women who understood and weren't offended when my God, husband, and boys came before them. I needed friends who would and will push me to be better even when it hurts and I don't want to hear it.
Many times, when we are living in sin or not the way God intends for us and we don't want to change the last thing we are going to do is hang with the people who challenge us to look at the reflection and stretch us to be more than we are in that moment. It hurts too bad and we convince ourselves it's too hard. I need women in my life that will push me over the edge into the best version of myself to reflect the Creator. I want women in my life and to be a woman that will do exactly what Paul asked of the Thessalonians: to encourage, build, have a grateful spirit, who seek peace, who challenge and push, who love on, are patient, forgiving, and humble. I pray for the women of our generation. We have a voice and power in Him that I pray we don't take lightly and use wisely.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
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