What love do you know? By Keturah L.

An interesting conversation I had a couple weekends ago resulted in this conclusion about objects and what they mean to us:

"It is impossible for something to love you, but you CAN love something."

Now, isn't that a thought worth pondering over?

But I think this calls for another question: what is love?

There are many definitions of love.

There is a love that is pure, selfless, one that loves sacrificially and purely. Of course this love can not be applied toward objects, though, as it's a love we are not strong enough to truly act upon with out the strength of God. This sort of love is one that we show to others - to other people.

The word love can be selfish and centered around sentiment and the desires of ourselves. When we love an object, or even a human being with this sort of love, we are liking them because of what they mean to us, what it (or they) do for us. This sort of love is very much a "me" love.

This last love is not the ideal love. It is not the love that is talked about in 1 Corinthians 13. It is not the love Jesus (Yeshua) showed to us when He died and covered our sins with His own blood (1 John 4:9-10).

It is sad that most of us can only love and understand love according the the standard of loving an object. Most of us love another as if they were an object for our own pleasure, not one for us to serve and give unto.

We that follow God should be above such selfish love. We should love as God loved us, giving every ounce of ourselves toward the better or another.

John 13: 34-35  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Love, By Joy Wie-Addo

Love

By Joy Wie-Addo

1Samuel 18:1-4, John 15:11-14

Love forgets mistakes, but “nagging about them parts the best of friends” says Solomon in Proverbs 17:9b.

Overlooking offenses is necessary in any relationship. We should be willing to forgive others’ offenses against us. It’s quiet tempting, especially when there is misunderstanding, to recall all the offenses the other person ever committed against us.

The greatest evidence of genuine friendship is loyalty. We should love our neighbours and friends at all times and be available to help in time of need and distress. Do not be a fair-weather friend. Fair-weather friends get close when the friendship helps and they leave when they are not getting anything out of the relationship.

The love of a true friend is constant. Think of your friends and asses your loyalty and love to them. Your company may help someone feel at ease, your smile may be a source of encouragement to someone; it may be soothing to the depressed soul of a friend. Your actions may just calm down rising anxiety in a friend. You need your friend and your friend needs you. Are you being the David or Jonathan of your friendship?

Be the model of the friend the Bible encourages.

Loving Him and Loving Others Are Our Greatest Commands, By Chadia M.

Loving Him and Loving Others Are Our Greatest Commands

By Chadia M. 

I am aware that when I’m talking about loving God and loving others, many of us feel like they already do that. However, I’ve been living through times where God calls me to re-examine my love for Him, and especially for others. Ask yourself, what is the first thing/ person you think about when you wake up? Is it yourself? How “you” are going to do in that test, how “you” are going to dress up, where “you” are going to go for shopping with “your” friends,… Or when you find a picture of you and your friends/family, who do you look for first? Isn’t it you? Here I’m not judging anyone. It is normal to act this way, that’s what everyone does, it is in our nature. In everything we want to be first; yes we make sure that the people we” love” are fine and satisfied but even unconsciously, we check on ourselves first. But is this what God prepared for us? Is it conform to his awesome plan for us? I don’t think so. God has always wanted us, from the beginning, to be selfless and to put others before us, at the example of Christ who didn’t spare his life because of his love for us.
Lately, God has been asking me to tell people at my school about Him. I am new at the school and as I am from a French speaking country, my English is not very good. However, I accepted, knowing that He would do the work anyway because it’s not by my might or by my power that anything is done, it is by His Spirit. So I prayed for the mission and I went, selfless, trying to bring to Jesus as many people as I could. But I realized that the zeal I was putting in talking about Jesus is not the zeal that people were using to respond. In fact, people were starting to change their opinion about Christ, but they were not willing to get saved. That’s then that Jesus told what was wrong. I was not loving and praying for them. All that time, I had been praying for myself, for the strength to go to them, but I was not praying to God so that He would change them. I was not loving them as I should have. I was loving myself more than I loved them. That’s how I learned my lesson. From then on, I constantly examine myself, trying to put other people’s interests before mine and you know what, yesterday, one of my atheists friends go saved after such a long time trying to bring her to Christ! Remember, it’s only when we start thinking, loving and loving others that God blesses our work beyond measure. John 12:26 says that the Father will honor those who serve Jesus and this is the truth. (Read John 12:25-26)
I just want to encourage each of you girls, there is more joy in giving to others than in receiving. Christ is all about giving even when we are undeserving. Let your love for the Lord and for others consume you and become less at the same time, as Christ become bigger (John 3:30). Then you will be truly amazed by all God can do through you.
Verses to read:
 James 1:27
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
1 John 3:11-18
 “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister* is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don't have eternal life within them.
  We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister* in need but shows no compassion—how can God's love be in that person? Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”
1 John 2:7
Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.

Friendship, By Lauren L.

Friendship 

By Lauren L.

What does friendship mean to you? Does it mean having someone there for you through tough times someone to be your wings when you forget how to fly? Does it mean having someone who knows your mistakes knows everything about you but still loves you and accepts you for who you really are?  Does it mean having someone who you know will always be there and will never let you down? Does it mean having someone in your life who always wants the best for you? If I asked you to write a list of qualities that your perfect best friend would have would you your list look like this?

1. Faithful
2. Caring
3. Genuine
4. Trustworthy
5. Loyal
6. Loving
7. Encouraging
8. Forgiving
9. Thoughtful
10. Understanding
I personally think friendship is a very important and special part of life. All the things I have written about above are things I look for in a friend. All my life I have been searching for a best friend just like I have described above but I never found one like that however now I realize that my best friend has been waiting for me all my life, His name is Jesus and He has all the things that I could possibly  want in a friend and I know that no matter what happens I’ll always have Him. I have friends that have some of the things listed above and I know I'm lucky to have them and I always thank God for them. However, I know Jesus is my ultimate best friend. I just needed to open my eyes and see that He has always been there, just waiting for me to let Him be my best friend.

Jesus is my best friend because I can be sure He will never let me down and I can talk to Him about anything because He can relate to me through everything He went through on Earth. He can understand when I am hurt, sad, lonely, happy, joyful, isolated, disappointed and excited because He has felt all these feelings Himself; He is just like us - when He was here on Earth He wept. So when we weep, He will be able to relate to us and feel our pain.

This is a wee song to go with this article…enjoy!

http://youtu.be/EcXURC_nNhc

Love… or not! By Kaylee S.

Love… or not!

By Kaylee S.

My mom died when I was 4 years old.  Jesus knows how many nights I spend crying in my bed before I go to sleep.  Sometimes it takes me a long time to get to sleep because I would be praying and talking to my mom.
I would ask her how she is doing, and that I know she’s very happy being in heaven with Jesus.  She doesn’t have any more pain or sorrow, and she’s not infested with sin anymore!  I am so happy and sad at the same time when I think about her.  I’m happy that she's happy being at home with Jesus, but I am so sad because I miss her so much!  Sometimes I think that I’ll never be able to stop crying.
But I’m still here, in this sin infested world.  I pray so much that Jesus would take me home too, but I  don’t know… I might live to be a very old lady.  Me and my dad had a big talk yesterday cause I didn’t have school and I told him everything.  I did that!  I had to because I’m so tired of not saying anything to anyone… well I mean except Trish my BFF.  But I don’t tell anybody anything.
He told me I have to stop carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.  But I don’t think I can.  I mean when I go to school and see all the girls gossiping, and swearing and calling each other really bad names it hurts me.  I don’t know why it just does. 
But I was reading my Bible this morning before school and I read this verse:

Matthew 24:12  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 

And the word lawlessness bothered me.  So I got my dad’s Hebrew/Greek dictionary and looked it up and it said “lawless, wicked, the lawless one.”  And I think there’s some place in the Bible where it says Satan is the lawless one and that really scared me!  And I was thinking that when we’re lawless we’re just like Satan. 
And since Satan is the opposite of God, and the Bible says that God is love, Satan is hate and that’s what I see a lot of in school… hate!
So if we’re Christians we should know that God is love, and if we are God’s children, we need to stop fighting with each other, and hating each other, and love everyone.  It just makes sense I think. 
I mean if God is love, and God lives in us, shouldn’t we be loving everyone too?  Like the song says “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love!”

Love in Bad Times! By Kaylee S.

Love in Bad Times!

By Kaylee S. 

Revelation 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Revelation 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

I would be so scared if Jesus showed me that!  Jesus showed the apostle John things about the end of the world.  I hope and pray that I’m not here when that happens.  I think if Jesus would have shown me all the things he showed the apostle John, I think I would go crazy! 
I think a lot about Jesus coming back to earth and healing everything… and making everything right.  I keep forgetting that a lot of bad things are going to happen before Jesus comes back.  Families and friends are going to hate each other and kill each other because we believe in Jesus.  And there’s going to be wars with the antichrist… very scary!
That’s why I think it’s so important that we love each other so much - that we pray for each other, be with each other, help each other, and love each other!  We have to be strong!  So many people need help right now with jobs and money.  We just have to try and help them any way we can.  That’s what Jesus would do, right?

Our Loving God, By Kaylee S.

Our Loving God

By Kaylee S.

Good morning ladies!  It’s 4:30 in the morning and I don’t know why I woke up so early, but I thought I would write something that’s in my heart right now.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

How wonderful to have such a loving God!  Our heavenly Father loves us so much that He sent His own Son to die for us.  To take death away from us all and transfer that death to Jesus, our Father’s only Son, is a love that escapes me in its beauty.  A love that is so far beyond and above our limited and sinful minds that is so wonderful, and beautiful, and graceful, and loving, and peaceful and so many other things… it really boggles my mind.
I’m sure I get this from my dad, but I get so far into the deep things of God, that sometimes in the summer at night I’ll go outside and sit in the back yard, and gaze up at the stars and just pray and think about Jesus.  What is heaven really like?  I’ll talk to Jesus for a while and then I’ll talk to my mom, and I know that one day Jesus will take me to go to heaven to be with Him. That’s exciting for me and I can hardly wait.  To think that one day I’m going to be with Jesus!

So, I know we live in a world where there is evil, but I try to think of the good things that Jesus does for me, like giving me my BFF Trish who I love so much and I know that she loves me a lot, and when I think about eternal life that Jesus gives me… I am so lost in His love!  But I was thinking what other Scriptures can you find that talks about how much God loves us? 

Write us what you think of at godlygirls@yahoo.com !
Remember to put the subject as, "How much God loves us."

For Real-Love and Hurt, By Lizzy

For Real-Love and Hurt 

 By Lizzy B.

Girls today are hurting. For real. 

We hurt because our parents are fighting. We hurt because a loved one passed away. We hurt because that really cute guy likes our best friend. We even hurt because our best friend lies to us and talks behind our backs. There are so many things in today's society that bring us down. What's a girl to do?   

Everyone gets hurt sometime or another. That is what God is there for. God is the one that is there to pick you up, dust you off, and set you back on your feet. When you hurt, tell him. When you feel like no one cares, tell him. When you feel like life has hit you like a 300 pound linebacker, by golly tell him. Do you feel me on this?    

HA-no not yet because this is just the half of it.   What do we do after God's blessed us? Do we just put God back in the magic lamp? No....  God isn't JUST there for a band-aid, he's also the Neosporin. What we all tend to do is ask God for that blessing, to remove that burden, to make it all go away, to set you free from sin, but once he does we don't say thank you.    

You may be scrathing your head about the Neosporin thing. Neosporin helps speed the healing process and keeps the "owie" from becoming infected. God takes the hurt away a lot quicker than any boy,drug,or other worldly thing ever could. FOR REAL    

That's another thing we tend to do. Sadly, some girls just walk out on God and go after that guy or alchohol and leave their faith behind. No no no no no!!!  

We have to stick with God! He stuck with us. Romans 5:8 "But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him." (The Message)      

Okay so let's shorten this up. God still loved us enough to sacrifice his son for us when we were absolutely worthless sinners. I kid you not, for real he did it!   A hot guy can only do so much for you and then leave you hurt again. God will never leave you or hurt you. For real.    

So let's sum all of this up (I know I've jumped around so much but I promise I have points).  

1. We all get hurt emotionally and God is there to help you back up

2. Praise God through the tough times

3. Praise God through the best times

4. God heals us,makes us whole,and works faster than boys,drugs,or alcohol ever could

5. Stick To The Faith

6. God loves us so much,and we should show him that love through hurt,and the joy!!! 7. Lizzy overuses the phrase "for real"  

Love, Princess Lizzy-Daughter of The Most High King

How to Reach Out to Others – With Love, By Hillary-Beth

How to Reach Out to Others – With Love 

 By Hillary-Beth Koenig

Part 3: Overcoming the Excuses...But...

In Part 1 I talked about Viewing Others As God Sees Them; You do see their sin. You do see their worth as God’s creation. Then you choose to love them despite their sin, just as God sees us.
In Part 2 I talked about Letting them know what you think about them. This includes praying for those opportunities, making opportunities out of everyday situations and random acts of kindness.
Maybe you’ve read Part 1 and Part 2. And maybe you are thinking, “But…”
If you are, this part is for you.
But she is still so mean. But he still frowns at me every day. But she doesn’t try to get along. But she won’t listen when I’m trying to be nice. But nothing’s changing at home. But he doesn’t care about the things that matter most to me, even God. But she still yells. But she doesn’t deserve nice treatment. But he hurt everyone so badly. But she’s not sorry.
Do any one of those sound like the things you might say in your mind? Do you feel this way toward someone in your heart? Do you see no hope, no change, nothing new, and just give up?
There might be times in your life, and situations, where you need to separate yourself from some person or group of people because they really aren’t changing and they are affecting your walk with God. But, most of the time, God has the people He does in our lives for a reason; that we could point them to Him!
Even when you can’t see God working in their lives, you shouldn’t give up. Even when you can’t see any changes, you shouldn’t give in. Yes, that’s right – you still have the duty and privilege of showing them compassion. If they ask you why, you will be able to tell them about God’s compassion for you. If someone else makes fun of you for doing the right thing, or asks you why you would be nice to someone who is awful to you, you can tell that person about God’s love. You will be able to tell them that God wants to give them the same mercy and grace!
But…
You still are struggling to decide to do the right thing. There are so many excuses. But guess what? When you are before God, what decisions will you have wished you would have made? Make the right decision now.
First, get in mind the person or people who you are having trouble reaching out to.
Now, ask God to help you decide to think of them as He does.
Maybe get out a piece of paper, a journal, or something you can keep. You can write something like this: I have decided to think about X as God does. I have asked Him to help me in deciding this.
This is the next step: Ask God to help you see opportunities.
Maybe on that paper or journal you can write: I have asked God to help me find opportunities to reach out to X. I am not going to base my actions and feeling on what X does, but rather on God’s goodness and mercy. I have asked God to help me use these opportunities wisely, that is, so I will point to God in what I do and say. I’m not perfect, and I realize that. But I commit myself, today, to being godly. That is, seeking what God wills and living it out, by deciding to look past the sin to see the people God created.
Does that make sense?
Maybe not.
Because, if I got what I deserved…well, I’ve sinned. Sinners go to hell. Hell is real and some people die every day that aren’t saved. They go to hell. I’ve been saved. My heart cries out for people to turn to God. If I can do anything to help them see their way is not God’s way, and to lead them to God’s way or a little closer to God’s way, then I am doing my part.
I challenge you – commit yourself to God. Submit yourself to God. And reach out to others as He provides the opportunities.

What Does "Love" Really Mean? By Courtney

What Does "Love" Really Mean? 

By Courtney S.

Love, what does the word love really mean? On Bible Gateway it pulls up 695 verses of the Bible with love in it. One of my very favorite Bible verses, John 3:16 reads: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us. Webster's dictionary defines love as: A unselfish, loyal, and benevolent concern for the good of another. That is exactly how God feels for us. Even though we are sinful people he loves us unconditionally. He loves us even when we don't love him.

In the English language, love is used in so many different ways. I sign love, Courtney to my friends. I say, "I love yo," to my Grandma. On Valentine's day when you have to give cards to all the people in your class including, people you probably have never talked to, you sign Love, whatever your name is. I like how one of the CGC members named Allison signs her emails: Jesus Loves You! Allison.

I was on the Brio magazine website and I read an article that said how love was used way to carelessly. Star struck girls say: I love Zac Efron or I love Jesse McCartney. Do you really? How can you love someone unconditionally and unselfishly who you don't even know?  On movies, girls go on dates with the cutest guy at school and they come home saying I'm in love. The next day the guy, doesn't remember her. I don't think that is unconditional love. Do you? That just means the guy romanced her. In other words she bought into his flirtatious behavior. She fell for his trap. That is all that is.

I would love to hear your thoughts please send your comments and questions!

Remember Jesus is love,

Courtney S.

How to Reach Out to Others – With Love, By Hillary-Beth

How to Reach Out to Others – With Love

By Hillary-Beth Koenig

Part 2: Let them know what you think about them

If you are serious about reaching out to others through God's love, you will learn to view them as God sees them, as we talked about in Part 1. Now that you know how to get your own heart right about this issue, we are going to talk about how to take some action!

1. The best way to find opportunities to share God's love, is to pray for those opportunities to come! Spending time praying for the person's heart, for your own heart, for the situations that could come up when you see them, and for situations to come about that makes it easy to point to God, are all very important. It not only shows your desire to serve, but it gives you a desire to serve. I guess God knew that sometimes it's not easy to do the right thing - in fact, sometimes we REALLY don't want to do anything but teach that person a lesson or two. But that's not going to win their heart to God.

2. The best way to use opportunities to share God's love, is to make opportunities! That is, if someone drops a pencil, spring over to pick it up. Does your little annoying sister like the blue skittles best? Then pick out all your blue skittles and give them to her! Does that teacher just keep frowning? Maybe bring her a note to wish her a good day. Does that kid look lonely over there now that he has no one to pick on? Ask if he wants to eat lunch over with you! You never know when your kindness might change someone's whole day, and a day can bring about a lot; it only takes one moment to realize need for God, only one moment to ask God into your life, but a lifetime of walking with Him to become like Christ. Maybe they are trying and just need someone to be nice enough to give them a chance. Maybe they don't know how. It's not up to us to change them, but it is up to us to give them the opportunity to know God can change everything!

By giving them your best, your time, your talents, your kindness...you are telling someone that they are worth it in your eyes. If they can see how much you love God, they are sure to see that God must think they are worth it. If they ask you why you were nice, why you paid attention, or why you gave to them, you can tell them that it's because Jesus noticed you, paid the price for your sins, gave up everything for you - and this thing you just did is nothing compared to what He can and does give!

In summary, the best opportunities, are the ones where God is the focus, your heart is in it, and you don't let excuses keep you back. Wait, that last part sounds like Part 3...that's next time ;)

How to Reach Out to Others – With Love, By Hillary-Beth Koenig

How to Reach Out to Others – With Love 

 By Hillary-Beth Koenig

Part 1: Viewing Others As God Sees Them

There’s the girl in class that always acts like a snob, the boy next door that always breaks stuff when he comes over, the man at the nursing home who yells a lot for no reason, the toddler that is so selfish she can’t let anyone sleep tonight, the old lady at the store that glares when she rings up the merchandise, the teacher that never smiles or answers gently, the girl at church who can’t seem to say anything nice, and the sibling that constantly teases and taunts in a way that frustrates and annoys...how do we love these people? Probably none of the ones in that list sound loveable! How do we reach out to them with God's love and show them the way?
1.       You do see their sin. God in His perfect love has to judge us against the Law, which shows we are sinners. He, being perfect love, does not act like we aren’t sinners; He does not act like there’s no problem, or like there’s no pain going to come from our sin. He tells us the truth, but He doesn’t leave us there. He worked through the ages to bring us hope – Jesus died for our sins, and rose again to give us eternal life, if we believe! Romans 3:23; Romans 5:21
2.       You do see their worth as God’s creation. God tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made! We are made in His image, and we are precious in His sight! He loves us so much that He cares about the details in our lives – like when we get up, when we go to bed, when we cry, even what we think about! He cares about us more than He even cares about the birds and flowers we see, and look how much He has provided for them in every way!  Psalm 139
3.       You choose to love them despite their sin, just as God sees us. That is, God chose to love us while we were still filthy, dirty, proud sinners. He gave it all for us – Jesus sacrificed His life for us, and willingly took on the sin of the world – along with the shame, pain, and awfulness of our sins. If God could give us such love despite how much we deserved the punishment, can we do anything but give all we can to show love to those He puts in our lives? It might hurt sometimes, it might get messy sometimes, it might take some sacrifices, but once we view others as God sees them, it will be worth it! 1 John 4:19
We have to see past their sins and to their souls.  We are just like the very people that hurt us, annoy us, treat us unfairly,  are selfish...we are sinners. If it were not for God's grace, we would not have Jesus as our Savior! It is an honor, a duty, and a blessing to tell others about this change God gives in our hearts when we love like Jesus does.

Virtuous Young Ladies - Part 2, By Trish M.

Virtuous Young Ladies - Part 2

By Trish M.

Beautiful Ladies! What's up?

Oh I've missed you guys! Guess what? My mum's baby is due this month and it's a girl. How exciting. Well enough about me - how are you? I hope you are blessed! Okay so this is part 2 of the Virtuous Young Ladies Series.
If you haven't read the first part, this is a 10 piece series on 10 qualities I think all Proverbs 31 women of Valour should have. The first attribute is Faith. The 2nd trait is LOVE. Let me begin with John 13:34-15. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Girls, we need love. The world needs love. Have you ever been sitting with your friends and the conversation has turned into a gossip session about other girls? Yeah, stop right there. Stop. That's not love. Love is when you encourage each other. As Christians, God wants us to encourage and lift others up, not put them down. We are the chosen people, so, come on, let's act like it. I have heard so many stories in 2012 of girls (I speak of girls because this series is for girls) committing suicide and other horrible things like self-harm because they were bullied, and this bullying is usually verbal bullying that causes emotional and psychological trauma, from other girls. If we loved each other then we wouldn't hurt and judge each other so much.

I understand that judging is part of human nature. As soon as you see someone, your instinct is to judge what they are wearing, if you think they are pretty or not, the way they talk, etc. But the word of God says "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." That's in the book of 1st John 4 , verses 7-21. So instead of noticing how much you don't like the shirt that girl is wearing, why don't you notice and tell her "how pretty her eyes are." This will not only potentially make you amazing, lifelong friends but you will be fulfilling God's commands.

God wants us to love each other, so what better reasons do we need? The best part about displaying love is that you are also displaying a fruit of the spirit. In the Bible, in Galatians 5:22, the word of the Lord says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness." Notice how the first fruit of the spirit is love. Once you display love, it's an automatic that you're going to be joyful, at peace, patient, kind, good and faithful because you love. Another reason to love is because we as Christians are trying to be like Jesus. Jesus loved everybody and showed His love by dying for us ALL. Let's pace ourselves though, probably no need to die for anybody, but we do need to have that kind of love. The love that will die for others.

So how do we show love?

Let's be really practical and literal. We can show love by: Helping others! If you see somebody who needs help and it is appropriate to help, then just help. Another way we can love is by encouraging others! Instead of discouraging and disempowering people, lets encourage and empower people. As mentioned before, another way is to compliment people. I try to compliment at least 1 person a day because making people smile and feel good about themselves is great but we must do this genuinely. Yet another way we can show love is by being generous. This doesn't mean you have to give thousands of money to charities. You could be generous by buying something for your mum instead of those cute shoes you wanted. I'm just saying!

Anyways Ladies, please stay beautiful. I love you all!

The Love of God! Pt. 2, By Kaylee S.

The Love of God!  Pt. 2

By Kaylee S.
 

I am obsessed with Jesus!  He is life!  He is my reason for being!  He is my everything.  He is my love and He lets me cry on His shoulder almost every day.  He is my happiness and I laugh a lot at all the funny things that happen in my life.  He is my peace and helps me remember Him when bad things happen to me.  He is my Joy and makes me happy when I am sad.

So when I studied about Jesus crucifixion I was very very sad, but I am so thankful for what He did for me.  He died for me!!!  Well actually, Jesus let men kill Him for me, and for everyone in the world.  And His death was the most scary death I ever read about.

I really don't know why Jesus suffered so much when He died.  I mean couldn't the Romans just put Jesus to death very quickly?  I think they could have, but I don't know why they didn't.

Ladies, I have to say, that what I'm writing about is very scary and so sad, I cried when I was reading it and still cry about it.  But Jesus did this terrible thing for you and for me.  The love of God... what a marvelous and wonderful thing He did for us, but for Jesus, it was so very painful.

This is about Jesus’ death.

When I think about this first thing, I am just so bewildered how a person could let anyone do this stuff to them.  Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him! 

He knew exactly what was going to happen so when He went to the Garden of Gethsemane and He was praying to His Father in heaven, He was sweating blood!  That is so gross!  I can't imagine somebody doing that but that's what happened.  That's where the soldiers arrested Jesus.

But I looked at pictures of the garden of Gethsemane and it is so beautiful!  There are lots of beautiful flowers there.  So pretty for something that was so ugly it made me think of the love and hate that was there that night.

Luke 22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Then I was thinking if I would do what Jesus did.  He knew the terrible death He was going to suffer, and He still did it... because of our sins!  Oh the beautiful love of God just amazes me!!!  So they took Jesus away and He was led around the city to see the chief priests.  With Jesus walking from here to there they think He walked about 2 and a half miles.  That is a really far ways to walk! 

So when Jesus was waiting to be put to death, there were soldiers there that were beating Him.  And they beat Him up so much He was bleeding because of them punching Him in the mouth and the nose.

Then they put a crown of thorns and His head and beat Him up some more.  I was thinking when I read this how many times I pricked myself with a needle when I was sewing something.  It really hurt!  But being pricked by a bunch of thorns ripping through His skin had to be extremely painful.

Then they made Jesus carry His cross.  And He carried it about one third of a mile, that's 1,760 feet.  His cross was in 2 pieces, the horizontal part and the vertical part.  The horizontal piece of wood weighed about 120 pounds.  They don't know how much the vertical piece of wood weighed but it was a lot, which is why Jesus fell one time.  He was so tired that He couldn't carry the cross anymore so the soldiers got someone else to carry it.

Then they came to the place where Jesus was going to be crucified.  Ladies I have to tell you that this part is so very ugly!  It is extremely violent so please check with your mom and dad to see if they'll let you read this.

First they stripped Jesus COMPLETELY!  I know we all seen a lot of pictures of Jesus crucifixion but I never knew that they did this.  Then they used a whip that was called a cat-o-nine tails.  It's a stick with 9 pieces of leather on it.  And they put little pieces of clay from pots at the end of the leather straps, then they whipped Jesus.  The cuts that the clay made were about 2 inches long.  They whipped Him 39 times because that's how many times they whipped all the prisoners.  Whipped with 9 pieces of leather with clay at the ends of them, 39 times... and each cut being about 2 inches long.  Jesus back was so torn up that the clay started hitting His bones.  After they did this they beat Jesus up some more.

The reason they beat him up a lot is because the soldiers didn't want people to live a long time when they were crucified.  That was their way of being merciful.  That is just so ugly and disgusting! 

Then they placed Jesus on the cross and pounded the nails into His wrists, not His hands.  If they put the nails in Jesus hands they would have ripped out because of how much He weighed.  That's why sometimes they used rope and tied the peoples' arms to the cross.

Then they pounded nails into Jesus feet!  After Jesus was nailed to the cross He would try to lift Himself up a little bit so He could breathe.  Because being crucified like that it was hard to breathe so He would lift Himself up a lot of times so He could take a breath.  So from the time he died on the cross until the time Jesus arose was about 36 hours. Doctors today say that Jesus died of suffocation. 

This next part just really bothers me so much.  After Jesus died, a soldier took his sword a stabbed Jesus in the side.  I'm pretty sure the soldier stabbed Jesus in the side to see if he had already died or not, and to fulfill certain prophecies (that his bones were not broken, as they had broken the others' legs to ensure a quicker death so they could no longer pull up to breathe).  The place where the soldier stabbed Jesus was in His side.  I don't know why I thought of this but, that's where God took the rib from Adam to create Eve.  I thought since Eve was the mother of all creation maybe that was the solder's way of killing every human being who loves Jesus!  

This whole thing is just so ugly and disgusting, but Jesus let this happen so that we could be forgiven.  Ladies Jesus did this for me… and for you!  I just can't imagine anyone letting people do this to them, but Jesus did, so that we could have eternal life!  When I was writing this I just started crying because I knew that this really happened.

I praise God so much!  Jesus love for us is so... unimaginable, so intense, so extreme!  Jesus loves us so much He let all these men do this to Him... so we could spend eternity with Him... forever and ever!  Such love totally amazes me, and I want that love so much!!!  Don't you?