Christmas Pics
I thought I would share a few pics from the Christmas parties we went to and from Christmas itself
This is our kickin Christmas tree!
My cute little niece playing with one of her presents.
Hanging at Mark and Amanda’s Source Group Christmas party. Had a great time!
Kickin it with Mark and Pastor Roy at the staff Christmas Party.
Me and my sweetie!
My girls holding up some of their presents
Jubilee was Mary in the Christmas Eve service at Journey
All the kiddies delighted with what they got for Christmas!
We had some of Dawn’s family over on Christmas Day. We tore up some turkey and ham!
Just thought I’d share some holiday pics with you guys. We had a great Christmas. Hope you had a good one too!
Kevin
Root of Bitterness Part 2
Hebrews 12:15) See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled
There are many circumstances that can plant the seed of bitterness. For brevity sake, I will only list a couple. I want to focus on the subtle more than the obvious.
- Abuse (mental, physical, sexual)
- Unmet needs and expectations (big)
- Past hurts
Sometimes the smallest comment or the most innocent action can be taken as an offense and thus begins a process that ultimately leads you far from God and you didn’t even know how you got there. Maybe your husband didn’t do something you wanted him to do and it goes from a moment of laziness to a characterization that your husband is a lazy bum. This is an example of how a bad decision on the husband’ s part can cause division and strife if an offense is allowed to take root. A stupid remark from a wife who is innocently joking about her husband leads to bitterness, rejection and an affair. This may seem extreme but if the root of bitterness is left to grow, these things can happen. If you were to ask couples who were divorced, if you could get to where the problems all began, you would find that it started with something very small, and it grew to ginormous proportions! There are people in church that do ignorant things sometimes too. Someone says something that hurt someone else’s feelings which leads to a split in the church and more people than original offended and offendee become affected. This is the nature of bitterness. It starts small in many cases and becomes something that it never should have become.
This is the nature of our enemy. How do you combat it? How do we make our hearts “bad ground” for the seed of bitterness to flourish and grow?
1) Self- Examination- we need to ask ourselves the questions we don’t want to answer. It’s not easy but an honest self-exam will keep the things we need to work on in front of us so they don’t sneak up on us from behind.
2) Prayer- If we have a relationship with God, He will give us the strength and vision to see those things and bring those hurts and offenses to Him before they have a chance to take root. The Lord’s prayer says to “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” .
3) Be Accountable- If there is a Godly person you can trust, stay accountable for the things that are going on in your life. They can help you stay on the path away from bitterness.
If you have let the root of bitterness creep into your life or if you need prayer, I would be glad to pray with you. Don’t let bitterness destroy your life. Be mindful and guard your heart.
Kevin
