Letters of Paul

I have been struggling for a while with having time with Jesus...

It is usually evident in my frequency of blogging and as you can see it has been quite a while since I last blogged.

Since my last blog things have changed so much from the direction I thought things were going. I am simply trying to walk with Him. And I have some important decisions to make.

In my time with Jesus the past week or two, I have been reading Philippians, and the letters written by Paul, although mostly Philippians. I can't remember which study I was doing that led me to Philippians but I was taken by the introduction and closure of his letter. Something I usually breeze over, because I see it as boring...just being honest...lol.

So, as I was reading, I was taken by his relationship with the people he wrote to, and their relationship to him. I love that he prays for them and was so connected to them even though he couldn't be with them all the time! I feel this way about many of my friends that I left in Kentucky...so much so that I just teared up writing this. I miss being there, miss being included in birthdays, births, deaths, zumba, coffee, dinners, worship, and the tears and laughter we all shared.

I miss them but I know God has a place for me here and now, and may move me somewhere else in the future though the timing and places are unknown...

My thoughts and prayers often turn toward friends and family from home. I want to be more intentional in my prayers for them. I want to be more intentional in keeping in contact with them and encouraging them in the Spirit as Paul does.

The specific passages that spoke to me are lengthy, so if you would like to read them in full, they are:

Philippians 1, 4
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
1 Corinthians 16

Otherwise, I leave you with these words by Paul:

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in the knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God."

Philippians 1:9-11