Firsts

My first time giving a public testimony for the Lord was fantastic. The Lord has been teaching me about Love and healing for a while now. So, when I spoke to a group of prisoners, I just delivered a brief message about what I felt God wanted me to share about Love. We had several speakers who spoke of overcoming tragedies, hurts, and experiencing miracles. There were singers, interpretive sign to song, and prayer. It was so neat to see how each person delivered a message and it was recieved by someone who attended. It was also neat to be blessed so much in return. I "knew" I was in for a blessing. I have heard many teachings on blessing the giver recieves is often better than giving the gift. I don't know how much is appropriate to say about the trip itself online, so that's all I'm going to say. I will write down a summary of what I said, though! Everyone is familiar with the Ten Commandments, but Jesus gave* us two: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ...[and]... ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Matt 22:37-39) There are three things here: Love God, Love your neighbor, (the same way you) Love yourself. 1. God Loves us so much... John 3:16. It is hard to imagine love like that when you have felt so unloved. God IS Love. He fills you up with love and teaches you how to love. 2. Love Yourself. You really need to learn how to love yourself. Give yourself a break. You are not perfect. God made you and he loves you. You do not need to be perfect so you should give your self a break when you fall short of how you wish you could be.* Jesus paid for our sin. 3. Love your Neighbor. You get God's love and learn how to love and accept yourself, you can understand how to love your neigbor as you love yourself. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Footnootes (Afterthoughts) ---------- *I should have said "summed them up with two" b/c he gave us the "go" commandment. *In context of what I said, I do not think anyone took what I said as permission to sin, so I hope the reader won't impose that view on this summary.