Changing Me First, How God Built Me, He Can Change You Too

As I was exploring Hub Pages Forums and questions, I came across the most interesting question. I do apologize to the asker, I can not recall your name or even the exact forum..... but it was to the effect of , " what is God doing in your community" ?

My answer was swift to come, and perhaps even curt.....I did not mean it to appear so, sometimes that is my downfall. I am straight to the point, ask me a question and I give you an answer. That may be why I am so drawn to writing, I have that chance to command my words.....

Spoken words, and those given in haste do not afford us that luxury.

When I was younger, I asked God for world peace and to end hunger.

Then I asked God, for peace in my home and enough to feed my family.

Today, I ask God for enough to share with others.

God has been developing me.

Develop me, my neighbor, my community, my state, my country and then the world.

I did not truly honor the question, the asker or God. I hurried through it, and haste makes waste.

My purpose here at Hub Pages is not debate. That time has passed for me. I am confident in my God, in my faith, in my understanding, and in myself.   This was to be " my time".

Nor is my purpose here for converting others. God knew there would be those who refused Him, those who chose false gods, those who trusted their own paths, and God knew there would be " reprobates".

I have learned that I am not the saviour, there is only one Saviour, and His name is called Jesus.

Yet, despite my resistance, I am drawn to these things.......spreading the Word, Accepting, Leading, Planting, Growing, Harvesting.......and then I falter.

Christians are some of the vessels in which God works through. He also works through non Christians ( Rahab, anyone) I did not always understand that, I thought that if I prayed for a particular result , long enough and hard enough, God would perform a miracle and I would have to do nothing.

That is not so.....We are His workers. We are to be Brothers and Sisters in His mission. We have a cross to bear also. We have a part. We have a duty. We can not simply dismiss our part with a halfhearted attempt at prayer and expect to command His will.

I had to learn compassion and mercy, I paid a dear price for that lesson. The price was so high for me, that it dared to break my spirit and my heart. But, I did live on.......and I learned compassion. I learned that hurting........well, it hurts! It hurts others as deeply as it hurts me.

Comfort did eventually come.....but the scar remains, just as they do in the nail pierced hands of Jesus.

I learned that life is not about me......it is also about my neighbor . All of my neighbors. Those who offered me comfort, those who rejoiced in my pain and those who chose not to look at all.

I learned about unity. Uniting with others who have been broken. Uniting with another link in the chain. I learned about tensile strength.......you know, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. I learned how to add to the strength of that weak link, rather than to blame it.

I learned that by strengthening me, my sister was made stronger. In turn, by lending strength to my sister, I was stronger. I learned to build and to rebuild.

As we build each other, we build a community. A community can accomplish what multitudes of self serving individuals can not dare.

I learned to add to the community. As the community grows and supports the individuals, you end up with strong cities. Strong cities can influence the state. States influence the nation. The nations build civilization.

The first change was with me..............before, I could do anything in the world, in the nation, in the state, in the community, I had to let God develop me.

 While, I paid a price for the learning, I did not pay the greatest price. 

Relationships are not about keeping score, and neither are communities, cities, states, nations and the world.

There comes a point when we simply must let go of past hurts, disappointments and work together.

God will not bless us in our greed, our selfishness, our sins......we must let go of those things.  We must get past ourselves, let Him guide, one person, one family, one community at a time.  He will not come into an uninvited heart.  He will not perform on demand.

We can not beat others over the head. It is ineffective. It turns our neighbors off. It shuts off communication. Jesus did not do these things. He went, among sinners, He offered His Salvation and then He went about His business. He did not ever "hound" anyone........there is not a single account of Him trying to "convince" someone. In fact, He quietly refused to " prove" Himself to the Pharisees.

In the past, I have been called everything that you have: Bible Thumper, Indoctrinated, Brainwashed, Bible Belt Barbie, goody two shoes, mythological believer,........I have heard the terms, bid daddy, sky daddy, big guy in the sky.......etc, etc, and etc...........

It hurts because it is simply disrespectful to our Lord.

Don't you think the ridicule, the mockery, the flogging, the "trial", the Crucifixion were hurtful and disrespectful? Don't you think it hurt Jesus?  How hard it must have been for Peter, Simon and Mary, the Mother of Jesus to witness.  How His early followers must have wept.  What names they must have been called.  They may have suffered physical attacks.

They persevered because they understood the change (s) that would come. They paid the price. It was a great one.

Change does not come by the millions, it comes by the individual.

God changed my community by changing me.

Before we ask, " what is God doing, perhaps we should ask ourselves, " what am I allowing God to do with me?"

Do as you conscience leads you, look where you may, but please do not be among those that refuse to see anything. Jesus, the Christ, went, saw, and looked, . We, as Christians, owe Him that much in return.

To be aware of something in the distance is not to look at it. I recall, my first trip to Philadelphia. Sure, I knew that there were homeless people, but it was, there, in the " city of brotherly love" and " the birthplace of our nation", that I saw, humans, people, desperate people living in cardboard boxes, in streets riddled with crime..............A powerful city, rich in history, of great importance, a thriving and vibrant city, in a state of many resources, a beautiful state......gorgeous even, highly populated, high tax revenue, museums, Philadelphia Hall........,the LIBERTY BELL,..........is a city of cardboard boxes.

My husband, held me as I wept...............

I can't house the residents of Philly, and I can't feed them all.  A very heavy heart followed me out of the city.

But I can take a plate to the elderly next door, in my own community.  I can make sure that she has a warm coat and a blanket in the winter. I can buy gas for the stranded traveler trying to get home. I can give a break to a stressed mother and offer her reassurance, as she doubts her ability and effectiveness.   I can help her acquire school supplies for her children.

I can be a modern day Samaritan, in many small ways.

By allowing God to change me, God is changing my community.

Fullerman5000 8 weeks ago

The part about relationships are not about keeping score and if the past hurts let it go. this is so true, yet im just now learning this.