Megan Dennis: February 2018

Love Part 4: The Best Love

February 25, 2018

Love Part 4: The Best Love

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-6

Here we are. The final week of the series. I can’t believe how fast this month has gone by. It feels like yesterday when I sat down and wrote the first part, and now here we are at the very end. If you haven’t been keeping up, here are the first three parts:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

I decided that I didn’t want to spend a whole post talking about everything going on in the world right now. I even wrote a whole post about it that was separate from the series but decided not to post it because I want this blog to be a place that’s not full of sadness and negativity. I think it is important that we do recognize all the tragic events that happen, but we cannot let those things control our everyday lives.

If we really want to fight this evil that has taken over the world, we must show no signs of fear or sadness. The scariest thing to Satan is love. He HATES seeing kindness and positivity. So therefore, that is our greatest weapon. And that’s what I’m going to continue doing here. I’ve recently been hit with a case of depression this week because every time I look at my phone I see bad news everywhere. And I don’t know about you, but it really puts me down. I get that it’s important to know what’s going on, but sometimes I think we let the media control our lives and let it take our focus away from the good and positive things.

So that’s why I’m here today. I’m here to tell you about a love far greater than anything else we’ve talked about in this series. It’s a kind of love no one else can give you, because it does not come from another human. No, this is God’s love and it’s a way no other person can love. Because we (humans) are imperfect. We anger, we hurt, and we have feelings. Sometimes our pride can get in the way of our ability to love and help others.

See, God doesn’t have those problems. He is fully committed to loving us no matter what our faults are or how many times we’ve sinned. God loves you even when you sin. Since He is our father, he is disappointed when we do wrong things, but God always forgives. In Romans 5:8 it says “But God demonstrates his own love for us while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

I’m going to tell you a short story about my life if you don’t mind. I always love hearing these powerful conviction stories about how people come to know Jesus. Mine is probably nothing special to anyone else, but it is to me because it’s part of my story. So I’ve been a Christian pretty much all my life, when I was growing up I was surrounded by believers and positive influences of that sort. I attended youth group on and off for a long time, and I always thought I was the ideal “good-girl Christian child”.

When you consider yourself a pretty good kid, you never think you might do something to change that. When I was younger I used to laugh and say “never!” when asked about doing things other kids my age were doing. Then I discovered the internet. I didn’t realize exactly how far off I really had gotten until about a year ago when it was too late and damage had already been done. Damage to that good kid I always thought I was. The thing is, when you think so highly of yourself, you don’t really plan for situations where you might be faced with a dilemma and end up compromising your morals.

When I went through what was probably the hardest time in my life so far last summer, I was hurting and I was also really lonely. It didn’t feel like the people around me cared, and I was too ashamed to talk to anyone about it, so I just kept to myself. And then one night I just started praying, letting out everything I was feeling and talking to God like He was my best friend. I asked for forgiveness, I asked Him to make me strong again, to help me through what I was going through. And He did. That’s how I became so connected with my faith again and ever since then my life has changed. A good change.

See, people will always come in and out of your life. People will hurt you, be angry at you, and let you down. But no matter what the situation is, you can always depend on God. He is there for you, He cares about you, and He will forgive you. If you don’t have Jesus in your life right now, let me just ask, what are you doing? What are you waiting for? If you’re roaming the earth looking for this kind of love that I just told you about, I’m just going to help you out and tell you that you won’t find it until you know Jesus. Because God made humans to be imperfect. We fail, we make mistakes, even Christians. A Christian isn’t just like a favored student, a Christian is someone who knows what they have when they have God. And if you don’t have God, you won’t ever know what the perfect kind of love looks like because this is not a kind of relationship you can have with another human, it’s something that’s only possible when you have God.

“For God so loved the world that he gave is one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

love

Love Part 3: Relationships

February 18, 2018

Love Part 3: Relationships

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18

By the time this post goes up, it will be passed Valentine’s day, so I hope you had a wonderful holiday (is Valentine’s Day considered a holiday?) but even though Valentine’s Day is over, we still have two more posts left in the love series and today we’ll be continuing on with part three. If you haven’t caught up with parts one and two, you can catch up by clicking on the links below:

Part one

Part two

So today is all about relationships. Whether or not you are or aren’t in one currently, this post applies to you so don’t skip it just because you’re sitting there thinking “well I’m single so I don’t need to read this”. I hear you, but please stick around and hear me out.

See, relationships are tricky. I had a hard time trying to figure out what to write about for this post, because no matter what I say or no matter what you read on the internet, it really comes down to you. I can’t tell you how to obtain a perfect relationship because every relationship is different, and there really is no secret recipe to having one. Sure, there are things that can help keep a relationship healthy and good, but you shouldn’t shape your relationship or a future relationship around what you read on the internet or hear from other people.

Why? Because I used to do that. All the time, whether I had one or not, I was obsessed with reading those posts on social media that say things like “how to know if you have a good boyfriend/girlfriend” and “10 signs you have an unhealthy relationship”. I would use those things to shape my idea of what a relationship was supposed to be, and not based on my beliefs or what the Bible says.

If you really want to know exactly what a perfect relationship looks like, the answers are in the Bible. A good example is in Ephesians 4:2-3 which says, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. All of those things are qualities you want to have in your relationship. Love does not exist without patience or gentleness.

As for what to look for in a significant other, the only person that can tell you that is yourself. I strongly disagree with people who think they know exactly who they’re going to be with forever when they meet them. I mean, sure it may be possible for some people, but really you don’t know someone you just met. They may have a good first impression, but that impression doesn’t always last. That’s why dating is a thing. If everyone just married the person after seeing them one time, can you imagine how high the divorce rates would be then?

The thing is that it takes time to REALLY know someone, and to really know if you want to be with them for a long time. I don’t think it’s possible to know that after a few days. You have to love everything about them, even their flaws, which isn’t always easy. We tend to not like flaws and try to change someone, instead of just embracing them for who they are. I think that’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned over the years, because no one is ever perfect and part of loving someone is accepting their flaws.

The hardest part is probably the waiting. This is something every person will have struggle with. It’s that period of your life when you’re looking at the relationships around you and wondering when it will ever happen to you. Everyone’s been there at one point or another. The reason for that is because during that time, God is preparing the perfect person for you. If you’re an artist, you know it takes a long time to create something amazing. That’s a lot like how it works during the “waiting period”.

I realized something a few months ago that changed my view on relationships. When you’re young, relationships can be fun and all, but after a while, you’ll get tired of it and want something “real”. One day I sat down and said to myself “why would I just keep putting myself through the same situation over and over when I could just save myself the trouble and wait until I have that real one”. That’s what I’ve stuck to ever since. I don’t want to be in a relationship just to put it as my Facebook status and snap a few pics. It’s not worth it to me when I can spend that time growing as a person and enjoying life while I wait for that special person to come into my life.

Honestly it’s one of the best places to be in. I can’t lie and say it’s not hard sometimes. There are definitely times when I feel down and lonely, but that’s just part of the process. I’m a dreamer and I loveeee to fantasize about what my future will be like. It’s one of my favorite things to do. For a long time I used to put certain people in those dreams, but now whenever I daydream it’s like just an outline of someone I have yet to meet, and that’s the best part about the dream is thinking and dreaming about the day when that figure won’t be an outline anymore.

The most important thing is to be content. Be content with where God has you now, and know that He has the best plan already sketched out for your life. You’ll spend a lot less time stressing and worrying about your life if you let Him guide your path and trust in His plan. Just as it says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

emotions

Love Part 2: Friendships

February 11, 2018

Love Part Two: Friendships

“Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20

Welcome back! As you probably already know, today I’ll be continuing my series on love with part two. If you missed last week’s post, check it out here.

Last week I went over some things about what this series is, defined love as put in the dictionary, and talked about loving family. Today we’re going to continue along those same lines, but today we’re going to talk about your friendships.

In case you forgot, I’ll go ahead and insert the dictionary definition of love again.

Love- an intense feeling of deep affection

Of course one of the things we’ll be doing throughout all of these posts is to not only look at what the dictionary and society say about love, but see what God’s Word says. And maybe by the end you’ll even have your own definition of love.

Mark 12:31 says “love your neighbor as yourself”. Neighbor means your peers, the people around you. When we love other Christians around us, that means we are loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, which pleases God. It’s important to build friendships with good people. If we surround ourselves with good company, that will make a more positive impact on your life and you’ll be much happier.

Some people make friends easier than others. For me, making friends has never been easy. I’m a very shy and reserved person, not outgoing like others. But one thing I’ve learned is that it doesn’t take a lot to make a friend. Sure, it does involve stepping out of your comfort zone a little, but let me tell you a little story. So about a year ago, I was at youth group and we divided up into small groups of about five or six people. In my group one night we were going around and introducing ourselves and after I introduced myself this girl looked at me and said “you’re really really pretty”. Ever since that compliment, we’ve been friends.

You don’t have to think of a super impressive thing to say to someone. It can just be something simple like “hi, I love your hair”. I think sometimes we overthink and it prevents us from talking to people because we can’t think of something really good to say. Another thing I’ve learned when trying to make friends is to make yourself approachable. When you surround yourself with people you already know, there’s a less likely chance that someone new is going to talk to you because they assume you already have your group of friends.

I like going places by myself. I’ve found that by going alone, it reduces the stress of having to “impress” your friend or whoever you’re usually with, and it makes you more open to other people around you. It takes some getting used to, but you’d be surprised what all you miss when you’re busy with other people.

So enough about making friends, let’s talk about keeping them. This is the real key to having good friends, because you want friendships that will last, right? As I said before, positive things come from being around positive and uplifting people. Believe it or not, friendships can be just as toxic as some relationships if you “hang out with the wrong crowd”. But if you have good, positive people as friends then this part should be a breeze.

The most important part of a friendship is to talk. All the time. About everything. Okay maybe not everything, but keeping secrets that you’ve told someone else from your friends is what leads to those dreaded fights. I think communication is the most important thing when it comes to friendships. If you don’t communicate properly with your friends, you’ll eventually lose connection with them and they’ll drift away which is pretty sad.

The last thing is to tell them how much you appreciate them. By letting them know how much you appreciate them being in your life, it shows them that you still care and are making an effort to keep the friendship lasting and going strong. I’m really bad at this sometimes because I tend to get upset whenever someone isn’t talking to me as much and I wonder why but then I remember that to keep any friendship strong, you have to let the person know that you still value the friendship. Even if that means texting them first (which is something I literally hate doing), or getting over your pride and being the one to step up and say “hey I just wanted to let you know how much I value you as a friend”.

God told us to love others as He loved us (John 15:12). He told us to walk with the wise, and forgive others if you have grievances against them. Obviously it’s hard to top God’s love for us, but if we clothe ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12-14), we attract people of the same character. That’s the real truth to making and keeping friends.

emotions

Love Part 1: Family

February 04, 2018

Love Part One: Family

“But if anyone does not provide for his own, especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

Hello and welcome! Today is a very exciting day because this is the first part of a series I will be doing for the month of February. Not only that, but this is the first series I’ve EVER done so I’m very excited.

I’ve seen other bloggers do this and I’ve wanted to do a series for a while, but I wasn’t sure what it would be about. I needed a topic that I would be able to cover in multiple posts and something that I’m passionate about . It came to me while I was lying in bed one night. I was thinking about Valentine’s Day and brainstorming for ideas of what I could write about for my blog. Then I thought “what if instead of one post, I make a series for Valentine’s Day?”

So here I am now. Over the next few weeks we will:

Look at what is love according to the Bible
Look closely at different connections with people in your life
Examine what it means to be loved by others
Examine what it means to be loved by God

This series will be weekly, so there will be a new blog post up every Sunday. Also, feel free to start a discussion in the comments. I would love to hear from you!

Now let’s finally dive into this thing called love. We’re going to start by defining love. First, let’s see what the dictionary has to say about it.

Love- an intense feeling of deep affection

Does this definition surprise you? I think it gets pretty close to the point. After all, love is a feeling, right? The thing is feelings are different for everyone. People also express feelings differently. Have you ever heard of someone talk about “love languages”? Love languages are how each person expresses love. For an example, someone might perform an act of kindness, like doing the dishes for your parents or cleaning the house for your wife. If you like to do things like that, that would be your love language. Some might like to give their loved ones gifts. That’s also an expression of love and a love language.

Some other common forms of showing affection (love language):

Words of affirmation
Physical touch
Quality time

Leave a comment below and let me know what your love language is! I’d love to know.

Now that we’ve talked about what love is and learned about the love languages, I think it’s time to talk about the real first topic in this series: family. I put family first because that’s obviously higher on the list than some of the others. Why? Because your family are the people who share your blood, who share your same last name (in most cases), that you probably live with, that you’ve grown up with. Your family is probably the people you spend the most time with. And let’s be real, we all get annoyed with our family sometimes. Okay, maybe a lot more often than sometimes. But that just goes to show that even families aren’t perfect.

What saddens me is that there are so many families that are torn apart in some way. Most of the time this is caused by the parents. Divorce rates are extremely high these days, and the worst part about divorce is that it affects the children just as much as the marriage. Children with divorced parents usually are more distrusting and tend to be more aggressive towards their peers (clearly this is not the case for everyone). There are other things that can tear families apart such as the military, and busy jobs or jobs with a lot of traveling.

A strong, healthy family is centered around God. The Bible says in Joshua 24:15, “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” If a family serves and honors the Lord, they will have a firm foundation in their home.

Love takes patience, especially when it comes to family. That’s why I think the two values go hand in hand. I’ll be talking a lot about patience in this series, so get used to it now. It’s just almost like you can’t have one without the other. Just as it says “love is patient”. It takes a patient person to love, and love requires a lot of patience sometimes.

Your family should come before anything else in your life, next to your relationship with the Lord. It’s something that you should treasure and put effort into. Not every family is perfect, but if you put God in the center and foundation of your relationship with your family, He will bless you with good things in your life.

Pages

Love Part 4: The Best Love

Love Part 3: Relationships

Love Part 2: Friendships

Love Part 1: Family

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