Hello my friend, I hope you and yours are safe and well!
I’ve been thinking of you and praying for you and have had so many thoughts about this topic of ‘finding love’ as I have visited with my clients and friends. Pretty sure we all need to be reminded constantly of this truth: Finding the source of love is the #1 goal when it comes to enjoying peace and harmony in family life.
Remember, the goal is not:
- to fix the kids.
- to clue-in your spouse.
- to get into the bigger house or lose the weight or find yourself in a new endeavor, although they can be nice goals.
The goal for happiness though, is to tap into the ever-flowing stream of love that God has for you and all His children.
Why?
Because your family needs to feel consistently loved by you!
Because, when they feel your love, they can learn from you, they won’t need many consequences and they will be loving toward you and each other, almost immediately. (You will know they’re feeling it when you see these fruits!)
But how and where to find the love, especially when there are so many things demanding your time and energy?
Where is perfect love when you need it most?!
I’ll share what I have learned from my experience.
When I first started reading the Real Love books by Dr. Greg Baer, I felt horrible! I could see myself more clearly than I ever had before and it was painful!
I mean, I kept saying, “Oh God, I’m sorry.” And I sincerely meant it every time.
Is it a good thing to be shown how unloving your behavior has been? Even when you did your best and thought you were being loving, at least with what you knew at the time?
Is it good to suffer a bit at the realization that you have caused harm to the innocent people you wanted to help the most?
Yes, for a brief time it is. And it can move us toward growth and progress if….
If, we allow it to lead us to humility. To asking for forgiveness. To being teachable and meek.
Now, here’s the golden ticket:
We are promised, as children of Christ, that when we are brought to that state of “awful awareness” and we respond by becoming meek and lowly and repentant, then will our debt be cancelled out or our sins remitted, and then will the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, visit us and
fill us with hope and perfect love!
That’s it!
That is where the love is!
The Comforter will fill us with hope and perfect love!
So, if you are raging around your house, frustrated to the hilt with uncooperative kids or a spouse who doesn’t seem to get what needs to be done, or any kind of anger or victim-type feelings, stop now.
We must repent, lay our feelings of victimhood at His feet, and ask for God’s help to see ourselves as the agents He created us to be.
We must be responsible for our behavior and not habitually giving our God-given power away to others by blaming them for how we feel.
In fact, victim mentality blocks our ability to feel loved and to give it!
I know very well how easy it is to be there!
But, I also know it’s a sincere, meek and penitent prayer away to get out. (Yes, this family thing is full of tears and apologies and forbearance!)
But then we get to watch love do it’s perfect work!
Your children and your spouse will respond beautifully when you start feeling and radiating love.
You may have to hang in there awhile before you see the effect or before they will trust that your heart adjustment is for real, but it will take effect.
It will take endurance, because we know that “love endureth by diligence unto prayer.” Keep praying, keep repenting and you will find that you will keep being filled with love!¹
May Christ the Peace-giver, be at the center of your heart this Christmas. May His love and light shine on your every effort. May you relax and if need be, snap out of the hurrying trance of so-much-to-do, and look around at the angel faces waiting for the thing they want and need most: your smile, your tenderness, your love.
The Never-Ending supply is there.
And it’s ours for the asking, when we make things right through our accountability and repentance.
The principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ “work.” And they work every time.
His grace is truly sufficient, even for tired moms at Christmastime!
I give all glory to His name, and send you my love!
P. S. Remember to print the free downloads of beautiful scripture verses, designed and photographed by Judy Sorenson, here on the Lioness website. Just look for “free downloads” at the top of the homepage. They are powerful declarations for your heart and brain training efforts!
¹ The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ; Moroni 8:26,