WHATS LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

CAROL MONK shared the following thoughts during THE EVENT yesterday morning:- I have been asked to tell you about the difference God's love in me has made in my life, and is still making in my life. I thought I would start by finding out what love is. First I looked in a dictionary, and found this definition:- love is: affection, a strong liking, goodwill, benevolence, charity and devoted attachment to one of the opposite sex and passion. This is of course a worldly definition, so I looked in the Bible, in Corinthians chapter 13, and there Paul lists the things that love does and does not do, it says:- love is patient, love is kind, love is never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, love is not arrogant or rude, love does not demand its own way, love is not irratable or resentful, love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and love never fails. So, as GOD IS LOVE then He does or doesn't do these things.

I always thought that I was a Christian and that Jesus was in my life, and I thought that I was doing what God wanted me to do. In 2003 we had a change of officers and Ian and Sue came to lead us. Soon after they came I realised what being a Christian was all about, and that I had never really let Jesus in my life, and I started to go deeper and learnt about the Holy Spirit. In 2005 we had a retreat at the William Booth College in London. It was there that I really felt God speaking and telling me that I needed to change the way I was serving Him, so I gave my life to Him and told Him that I would change the way I was serving Him. This meant that I had to stop helping at the Kent Association for the Disabled Lunch club, and start help at our own community drop in, called GLOW. I found it very difficult, but after a lot of prayer I wrote and told them that I would not be going to the lunch club anymore, because I felt that God wanted me to do something else. Since I started doing what God wanted me to do, I really feel fulfilled in what I am doing. When I am making the tea and coffee, I can also talk to the people about their families and things that are going on in their lives, this is something I used to find very difficult before I gave my life to God and knew this love in me. I also found it difficult to testify in meetings. I knew what I wanted to say, but something seemed to stop me. Now I find it easier because God gives me the strength to do it.

Something that really needs changing in me is my temper. I am really trying with God's help to stop snapping at people when they upset me. God is changing me all the time, but many times I fail Him, by not doing what He wants me to do, or doing something which I know is wrong. But He is always there and forgives me, and gives me another chance. I would say, love has everything to do with it especially God's love, because we sometimes sing a chorus which says; God's Love is wonderful, So high you can't get over it, so low, you can't get round it, O wonderful love. So you can't get away from it!