First of all, Saturday was an all in all good day. But I had a lot of fun on Sunday! We had an amazing little church. In my opinion, it was the best we'd had in several weeks. I think the reason that I liked it so much was all of the worship time - we sang lots of songs yesterday and I really enjoyed it, even if the songs were just spur-of-the-moment, let's-see-if-we-can-remember-all-of-the-words-or-at-least-the-chorus. =D
Oh, and I had a really, really good quiet time a few days ago, too. =) In the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 8, Paul says: "We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know." I've heard the 'knowledge vs. love' part tons of times, but this time it really hit me. I've been praying a lot for the last few years about my control-freak-ness over my brothers - if that makes any sense. Basically, I tell them what they need to do - what they should be doing - ALL the time, and most of the time, it's not my place, even if I politely ask them. Constantly. I was telling my mom the other day, I know that I could just say, "OK, I'm gonna stop telling my brothers what to do." And I actually tried that. It didn't work. I needed a change in my heart, but I needed God to show me how my heart needed to be changed - I just didn't know! I didn't know exactly why I couldn't stop myself from telling the boys what to do when they so did not want me to. So I kept praying for His help, that He would show me what to do, what the next step was - though I could've been also seeking Him more throughout the day and searching His Word more diligently and prayerfully. But, anyway, He showed me in this verse what my first step is. To focus on love. I'm so focused on knowledge - I always think, "He obviously doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing, but I know what he's supposed to be doing, so I have to tell him what he's supposed to be doing." I know, it sounds so simple. But I didn't get it. But God did, and I praise Him that He showed me and is leading me through it! I pray that I will continue to learn to focus on love, which builds others up. God bless!!