Blessed are you when...

Recently there was a very difficult situation in my life.  It made me reflect again upon my heart, and helped me to grow deeper in my trust of Christ through this difficult situation.

Thank the Lord my husband was there by my side to encourage me and lift me up, redirecting my sorrow to joy in Christ.

To briefly describe what happened, I had been praying for a friend for at least 6 months (about this friend's spiritual condition) because even though I don't have a deep relationship, I care about this friend a lot because of the amazing faith I have seen in this person in the past.  I decided to write this friend a letter of encouragement.  The letter was filled with scripture and I tried to lovingly tell my friend that what is posted on facebook, etc reflects what we are interested in and what inspires us.  I encouraged this friend not to write and post about so many worldly things, but to direct posts and pictures to Christ, so as to make a bigger impact for the kingdom of God.

I prayed about sending this letter for probably the last 5-6 months and recently decided to send it, and prayed that it would be received well.  With friends who I have lovingly rebuked in the past, things went over well, and we were both stronger in our faith because I had the desire to help them.  Unfortunately, this wasn't the case.  My friend immediately accused me very harshly of being judgemental and driving people, like this friend, away from Christ.  It was extremely shocking to hear such words come from a professing believer, and I'm sorry to say that this friend had now completely disconnected all communication with me because of this letter.

Maybe this friend jumped to conclusions too quickly and didn't really understand the purpose of the letter, or was so struck by the scriptures that the heart couldn't handle the sharpness of the word of God.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

I can't judge what's in the heart, only God can, but it's very sad to me that some believers can only receive loving words that make them feel good about themselves, but they reject all words that even slightly rebuke any part of their character or actions.  It seems that this friend did not even consider one word that was said as helpful or encouraging, but took on the defense, springing back with accusatory and unloving words in response.  It's true that I don't know this friend as well as I would like to, but I only made observations from what I have seen from the outside, and the response was an unfortunate effect.  It is very sad to see how easily disunity can be created in the church because of simple, loving rebukes using the word of God.

Anyways, after talking with my husband, we know it is best to continue to pray for this friend and hope that if this friend is really a believer, that disunity can be overcome in the future.  In the mean time, I am checking my heart constantly to fight any ounce of pride or judgement toward other believers.  I have always carefully evaluated myself before taking such actions to help friends, and will continue to do so if I have such a conversation with another friend.

My husband told me I did the right thing.  That is was good of me to pray for and be concerned for my friend's spiritual condition.  My husband reminded me of Jesus' words in Luke 6:22-26

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn
 your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!  
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their
 fathers did to the prophets. 
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  
“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. 
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to 
the false prophets."

I am truly blessed that God enables me to not respond to a harsh rebuke with hateful 
words or thoughts.
I am truly blessed that not everyone loves me when I say something that is not what
 they want to hear!
I am extremely thankful to God that he allows me to still love and pray for this friend, 
even though is seems this friend now wants to be my enemy.

Here's another verse that I was meditating on yesterday, even before I heard the reply from 
my friend:
 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,  for each tree
 is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes 
picked from a bramble bush.  The good person out of the good treasure of his heart 
produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the
 abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:43-45

Jesus's words make perfect sense.  I hope they make sense and resound in your heart too.
"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love." 
1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Snow in Kiev in Spring

Hello! Sorry I haven't updated you all in a while!  It's been quite busy around here with life and work, and now the weather!

To give you an idea of what we experienced this weekend, you can watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D-NwY6zgp5o


They actually shut down all public transportation, and especially in certain parts of the city there are absolutely no buses running, so people are all walking.  Almost no one is driving because even if you can dig your car out of the snow, it is almost impossible to drive on the roads.

It seems that the government just doesn't have enough resources to handle the meter or more or snow we've had in the past 3 days in Kiev.

All this has got me thinking about God more and more, and how He purposefully gave us this weather.

I read recently from Proverbs, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Prov 19:21

And also "That people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things." Isaiah 45:6-7

I often look around at people when I'm outside and think about Ukrainians, and how most of them believe that they are in control of their own lives.  Even professing Orthodox believers live in ways that show that they don't respect or believe in God's sovereign control of their lives.  This plain idolatry makes me realize more and more how much people in Kiev need to know who God really is!  

My husband and I know that God gave us this weather for a reason, and that is most likely, we think to show His power and control of everything to the people.  We know that even in such an amazing storm as this people will still not realize what God is telling them, but we hope and pray that we can reach out to some people, especially in our english club, and talk about the real meaning behind all these events, and what they mean for us.

Pray for us that the weather will clear up soon, and even if it doesn't, please pray that we will still have the opportunities to share the gospel with people in Kiev.