Posts by Bethany Wilkes

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What did you do for Valentine’s Day?  Did you get something special?  Did you give anything to other people? Do you spend a little extra time on Valentine’s day thinking about love?  Valentines day is so fun to celebrate, and it is so fun to share love with other people.

Why just one day of the year? Our whole lives should be centered on love. So we should make effort and take time all year long to spend a little extra time focusing on love. It is incredible how loving other people and doing special things actually fills you up yourself. We live in such a give to receive and consumer world that we think we will only feel fulfilled and good when we get stuff. But have you experienced the blessing of sharing love? That feeling is the true goodness of experiencing real love. Real love doesn’t focus on just one day of the year, it doesn’t focus on what it is receiving, it doesn’t focus on an exchange, it doesn’t keep score, it doesn’t live centered on never enough.  Real love is fulfilling, it is good, it is real, and it lasts forever.  Don’t settle on just one day of the year. Think about ways you can incorporate more love into your life all year long. Whether its writing notes, buying someone a Starbucks, calling a friend, telling someone you are thankful for them… it doesn’t have to be extravagant, just do something. 

Don’t focus on what you think you deserve. Focus on what you can do for others. Focus on the love of God. Focus on the gift God gave through his son Jesus to come and take away what we truly deserve. Through his mercy and grace we experience life and love in …

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We love alot of things. We love sports. We love stuff. We love food. We love the things we do. We love people. We love pictures. The word love is tossed around every day, for little meaningless things. But we can’t let that take away from the significance and the depth and the power of the word love.  And love isn’t just a word. It is a feeling. It can be a choice. But most importantly, it is an action. Love lived out has the most power and the most potential to make an impact. What have you done lately that has shown love? What has someone done for you?

What do you love? What do you really really love? Who do you love? How do you show them that? Do you do extra things? Do you tell them you love them? Do you tell them why?  There is power in words and actions. Be intentional in how you love. Be descriptive in why you love. Don’t just love someone to say it or check it off the list, love someone to make them feel loved and purposeful and on top of the world. This is what love really is….

Do you love this way? Or do you love only so you get something in return? This Valentine’s season, be filled with love, not to get something back, but to be overwhelmed in the feeling and the action of true true love! Live out love in action. Love not just with feeling, but with everything you are. Love big and love loud and love to make a difference!

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We always think of lying in terms of saying something that is not true… But sometimes, avoiding being honest, manipulating the truth, not saying enough, or just not saying anything is a form of a lie. Yes there is a time and a place to keep your mouth shut… but other times, its time to speak up. If you are in the middle of processing through something and it’s better to keep working through it before you say anything… you can say “I need more time”.  If you are going to speak out of a reaction rather than a response, maybe think about counting to 10…  But the worst thing you could do is bottle it all up, let it ruminate, let it turn into bitterness, and let it EXPLODE a few days later.  Be honest with yourself, be honest with others, be honest with the Lord.  Don’t keep it all in. We weren’t created to figure this life out by ourselves.  Even in the context of prayer, ask for help. Yes the Lord already knows what we are going to talk about. But still ask, still pray, still be open.  The Lord still wants the honesty, the worship, and our awareness.  We can’t hide anything from him.  But we still try.  So why not be real with ourselves and be honest with God.  He knows exactly what we are thinking, exactly what we are going through, and exactly how it ends.  In terms of relationships, sometimes being honest hurts a little bit at first, but it always ends up better in the end.  When something is brought up weeks later it comes as a shock to the person on the receiving end. Sometimes even a shock to yourself to realize you have been holding it all in …

January is often focused on goals, resolutions, new things to try, old things to bring back, revamped disciplines, create new habits, break old ones… and so on. We focus so much on what we want to change, which can be a really good thing. People either get invigorated by this dreaming and goal setting, or they get paralyzed because they don’t think they will succeed. Sometimes people get even discouraged before they ever start… But that is the habit we have to break.  So you may not be able to stick to it forever… don’t let that stop you from trying. So you may do something for a few days, then lose track, don’t completely get off the saddle. Get back on a few days later and keep trying. I know for me, I so easily get discouraged. And my idealism of wanting to be perfect and setting goals and actually accomplishing them keeps me from even setting goals to begin with. I need to stop that negative and destructive thinking. I have to believe that it’s okay to just try things. It is okay if things are just for a season. It is okay if I am not perfect.

And the amazing thing that I have that I don’t even realize is the people around me to support, encourage, stand by me, and spur me on to accomplish these things. We were created for relationships, to work together with other people, and to be there for one another. And more important than that, I was created for a purpose even bigger than goals or dreams or efforts I make. I am in a race, on a journey, that is far bigger and far greater than anything I can even imagine. So may I not be my own worst enemy, …