My verses

Php 4:5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Php 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

(I can not have a gentle spirit when I have picked up things here I should not carry. In my times of darkness and strife I remember I can thank Him for providing a way for me to put them down. I give Him all my grief, misery, need, lonliness, dispair, anger, jealousy, hurt, sadness, pain and fear.

He does not just take them from me, He takes them from me, in His great love, gladly. Why He is glad to have these things I can't fully understand. I think it is that they are part of me that I willingly share with Him.

We learn more of each other when I bring them to Him. I show Him why I think I have them and He shows me more of Him and His love when He shows me how to let go of them.

He is not glad for the nastiness of them, He is glad to know me better and to teach me more of Himself. I like the learning of it but I keep picking things up when I should leave it to Him.

I give Him my desire to help when it seems I can't help at all. I give him my joy in the beauty of the day, a song, time with my friends and my thanks that I have had them. I learn more of Him then, too, as I see He does not just love them for themselves, but He loves to see I love them.

Like getting the perfect present to a friend, your joy is increased by their joy in the gift. He is really good at getting perfect gifts! I am getting better at expressing my joy in them.

When I walk with Him and know my steps are right I have the peace He gives that I can not explain to another, I can only say it exists for me and I am thankful for it.)

Col 3:12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

(It takes His love in me to keep me like that. When I am only 'myself' I am, in all things, a pitiful excuse for a human. To keep myself remembering to be guided by His love first is difficult at times. I'm learning. But as one of His own I have to do the best I can to live to show I believe He lives and His love is with us here.)

Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye.

(Forbear means to resist doing something. {The act of forbearing. Tolerance and restraint in the face of provocation; patience.} When I feel hurt by something someone has done and I do not respond with anger, but try to stay calm and reach an understanding with them I have practiced my patience. It needs the practice!

To seek to forgive myself is hard. To ask forgiveness is harder. That is to admit I have done something that needs forgiving. I don't like to hurt others, I try very hard not to. When I have done something wrong I don't like confessing it to them. I don't like feeling ashamed of myself.

It has to be done so I understand what harm was done by it. Not just harm to them but the hurt I did to myself by being careless or less than truthful. I have done a thing that brings Jesus pain when He stands in for me. That hurts, too.

Jesus forgives each and every wrong I have done - how can I not know that to forgive is only a little less important to life than love. He forgives me, I forgive because He gave me that gift and I know the value of it.

Bearing a grudge only hurts the heart that carries it. To forgive frees your heart to love more. Better yet, it frees the one you were angry, too.

To try to be truthful in all I do is my goal. I don't know that I can achieve it. Sometimes, it seems, I don't know even my own feelings well enough to be truthful in them. I go back to him for understanding.)

Col 3:14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

(Wear Love, now that would be a gown to shine in! United with all that are His, loving each unique one as they are in Him. That will be His kingdom here. It is a goal I seek to aid.)

Col 3:15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

(Peace is so hard to hold to. It slips away at the least bump in my days. I grab at it to hold it and it just escapes. But if I stop chasing after it and stand still where I am it comes back and lands on me like a wild bird on my shoulder.

I am thankful that I can know peace in my life again. He has called me to be one of His own people. I see their love and joy in Him and I am not alone anymore. I give and receive encouragement, prayers, smiles and care. I love Him with them. I am thankful for all I meet that love Him.)

1Jo 3:17 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

(This one is so simple to me. If I can help, and don't how do I sleep at night? Sharing is so much more fulfilling than "having". Those who know me know to ask me, if I have it, it's theirs. If I can find it I will bring it. There is a special joy for me in helping my friends get what they need. )

1Jo 3:18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

(I try to not just say I care but to show it in how I live. I try to not just say I believe, I try to show it by how I live. I try to do it like he showed us, care, give, heal, comfort, teach, love)

1Jo 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

(If we know we have done something wrong we "beat ourselves up" with it. God's love is greater than ours and He can forgive not only what we have done that we are ashamed of, but how we treated ourselves about it. He will forgive that we did not bring it to Him.

He knows all things and that means He knows us, not just where we shine, but where we will screw up. He can even cover our mistakes and still love us. He will teach us to do better for Him.

A heart of shame can be forgiven and the deed make right when you ask Him to forgive you. His power will not allow one to be lost or plucked from His hand. )

1Jo 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

1Jo 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

(If one has not known or seen or been shown any love here, how can they know God loves them? How very important it is to love all the ones He give us to the best of our abilities. It may be the only love someone has known is the love that you show them from your heart and in His name.)

1Jo 4:12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

(Here we can not see God. His brilliance would destroy us. We can see His love reflected in each of us by our actions. When we act lovingly we are in His divine will. When I care and love any one here, I am loving and caring for part of Him, the love manifested as the life in each one I meet.)

1Jo 4:13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

(His Spirit is love, life - our spirits are of His spirit but the world mars them - going back to God restores them and they love again. You know one of His own because you see His love in the way they love. )

1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

(Live and love and do what you know is right for each you meet. It is up to Him to sort out who needs what, not you. If it is brought to your attention your choice, in my opinion, is do you lovingly respond to the need you have seen or do you not? I do, if I have the means.

All I have is His and from Him. If I have the means to help, He provided it to me. I will not keep for myself what He gave me to give in His name. To me that would be wrong. If I don't have what is needed I ask Him to fill it for them and I ask my family and friends if they can help.

I see the needs get met in His time and love, not because I fill them but because He knew of them and already provided for them. I love the way He does that!

When we witness a need do we fill it as a caring neighbor or use our own judgement to decide if our help is "deserved"? I don't have the wisdom to judge rightly. I have the heart to care and try to help. It is up to Him to provide the increase to Him from my care of them.)

This is a little like the way I think when I try to read the scriptures. Perhaps you can see why it takes me a while to get through it. I find that if I read the same place on another day there is more I have not understood in it. I think it's going to take me awhile to get through all of it.

These are some of the verses that comfort my heart. However you see it, in your eyes, is just right for you. I am no scholar of the Book. This is just my opinion, one way to see it and all in my misty view.

It kept my mind on that which is good today. It is where I want my mind and heart to be; On all the good that He has brought to me and all those I love. I thank Him for each gift.