When I’m in the zone of self-centered pride, wanting nothing more than than to win and to get my own way, there are two things that soften my heart and nudge me in a better direction.
The first one is love.
When you truly love someone you cherish them more then you cherish your pride. Pride will never hold you close at night, or kiss you on the forehead after a crazy hard day. Pride leaves a path of destruction and doesn’t care what is caught in its wake. It feeds on temporal satisfaction and nothing more. Love on the other hand is lasting. It seeks the best for you. It never fails.
Love is always the best choice, whether it’s easy or not.
The other thing that softens my heart is God’s Word.
I’m thankful for parents who brought me to Sunday school. They also brought me to church, sent me to youth group, and opened our house for home Bible studies.
It was there that I studied the Word and memorized the Bible. What I didn’t realize at the time, was how scripture would help shape my marriage and the way that I parent my children.
One small choice has the potential to make a big difference–humility or pride–which one will I choose?
Resisting the devil, I turn to the Lord for His power and His strength,
Lord, help me to choose the way of our Savior. Help me to lay down my pride, to lay down my anger, and my self-centered thoughts. Help me choose well, Lord. Help me choose love.
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Tilling the Soil
Make every effort to choose love this week. If you feel like you’re failing and being led by your pride, stop what you’re doing and get into prayer. The Bible tells us that if we resist the devil he will flee from us.
Planting Hope
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:7-10, KJV)
Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
Instagram: @timewarpwife
Pinterest: @timewarpwife
Twitter: @timewarpwife
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife