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I think I’m missing something. There used to be a “reply” choice under each comment. Now I don’t see it, just a “like” or a “report”. How do you reply to individual commenters?
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Thanks for the encouragement as always, Smeshque!
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Gershun- that's one of the things that make you a lovely lady. Making sure your words don't hurt others. Lovely.
I would like to think that all here, know that is never your intent. 🌸🤗
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Send, Smeshque, Shell, everyone on here. I in no way meant to imply that you shouldn't quote scripture. Of course, it's a beautiful thing. Keep it up. It's not my style but to each his/her own.

To God be the glory, great things he hath done.
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Gershun: You're such a kind person as are so many others on here -Smeshque, Send and Shell among many others.
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What has happened here on the Believer's thread might be the only bible any non-christian will ever read.

No apology is needed if anyone took offence or did not like it.

There are so many encouraging scriptures in the bible that one can now look up online by themselves. If one enters "Bible how to be saved", something will pop up for you.
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Smeshque: Thank you for your encouragement. I really appreciate it. I had a large tooth extracted and bone graft placed. Later on I felt like I was going to pass out and DH stayed with me. I pray you're getting through your heavy loads with the help God.
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Mikkim, sometimes all it takes is one post to touch the right person who needs to hear it.
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Gershun- I forgot to say I am happy that you were blessed with your new home, and that DH got to see the blessing.
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I am blessed by all your posts, and the love, encouragement and help you all give to one another and to me. May God bless you with the things that you need to endure through your journey. And I am not going anywhere, I hope you all don't either. Much love and prayers for all of you.

Send- Thank you for being you. :)Thank you for the scripture, always good medicine. I am glad to have started the thread, but I take no credit, just trying to be an instrument of the Lord, and the contributions of all who post here have been continued this little light. I was so torn with that balance of spirituality and light in the darkness. So I was desperately hoping there were some believers on here who understood the challenge. And thank the Lord there is and Oh how you all have been such a blessing to me.

Isthisreal- Thank you for the words to that song. It is a beautiful reminder of hope and and love. I thank you for ALL your encouraging words.

Gershun- I have learned that it is not so much in spitting scripture at others as it is the way we live, the way we speak, the way we act.

Shell- I grew up in the church and I left it for a long while. I saw too much hypocrisy and wanted nothing to do with that. Christians are not perfect that is why we need Jesus. But I know now, there are those that strive to do right and those that strive to appear right. But once one tastes Jesus, and knows truth, one really strives for executing Love as in 1 Corinthians 13, in every aspect of there life. Not just appearing to be that way, I believe that is not Christianity.

LLama- I do hope you are being comforted and strengthened during your difficult times.

Frazzled- I thank you for your last post, for saying what I did not have the words to say. You summed it up very well.

Lu- Thank you for being an encouragement and inspiration to all around you, and for being you.
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Shell, I understand how you must have felt unwelcome and that does create a very challenging situation.

I tell people that I have invited to church that they should always keep their eyes and hearts focused on Jesus, because if we look at the people we will always be disappointed, because we all have our stuff.

But my Pastor taught us that we bump into each other's stuff and it smooths our edges and sometimes it smooths theirs and sometimes it cuts us. I have found it easier to love because I know that whatever is happening it is shaping my character and smoothing my edges and all things work together for my good, because I love The Lord and am called according to his purpose.

As are you.
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Send, I try to love people and hate the sin. I was just stating my experience as a youngster who loved Jesus, but was treated poorly by Christians.
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While I try to love everyone, in all honesty there are people I in my life who I truly don't like let alone love. In fact, I feel real hatred towards a few people in particular. And yet, I consider myself a Christian, a God loving person.

I think we do the best we can, we ask God for his help and we carry on. Those people I dislike I treat kindly when I'm around them and the rest of the time I try not to be around them. I pray that God helps me to change my feelings towards these people and carry on.

What I truly dislike are people who profess their love for God but can't seem to speak in their own words when it comes to professing that love. It's all fine and well to quote the Bible. That's admirable. But if you can't express your faith and love for God in your own words then how do you expect the average non Christian person to relate to you at all. My Hubs is a non-Christian and if I came at him with a bunch of scripture I know it would turn him off entirely. Instead, I try to use examples of how God has helped us when explaining the love of God to him. For instance: We recently were home shopping. Ideally we wanted certain things. A larger balcony, easy assess to public transit, something bigger than a postage stamp. We wanted a new place. So we looked at a lot of places that were new but tiny balconies, no access to transit, totally unaffordable for our budget. We decided to forget new and look for older places. We saw a few that we convinced ourselves would be great and suitable for us. We prayed a lot on this. I even got Hubs to pray with me. Then we had one more place on our list. We went to see it. It was perfect, huge balcony, 5 min. from transit, a great view and brand new. Because the original purchaser had changed his mind we got it for a cheaper price cause even though it had been bought already it was new cause it had never been lived in.

So, we trusted God, lowered our expectations and still got what we had originally wanted. I truly see God's hand in this. I use this example to remind hubs that even though we sometimes don't get what we want, God has something even better in mind for us if we just trust him.

Quoting scripture is wonderful. I know God speaks to us through his word but I also believe that we need to speak in our own words sometimes too to really get through to non Christians.
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Thank you Smeshque, for starting a "Believer's" thread.

Here is my contribution today, comment #991....

Suffering as Christians
11 If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.…
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Shell,
Your comment about people loving others, and the Lord...

Jesus was invited to dinner at the home of a pharisee. In came a woman who loved Jesus....

"Luke 7:44
And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head."

The pharisees criticized Jesus, accusing that if He was truly a prophet, He would know what kind of a woman she was...{and reject her}.

Church is often like that today, people are like that still today. They reject anyone who is not just like them. And a person does not need to be a "harlot" to be rejected. A person can be rejected for doing good, believing in Jesus.

As a christian, many believe it is better to love the sinner, (like Jesus did), but hate the sin.
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Margaret, I think I understand what you are saying, regarding the idea of putting others first vs. putting yourself first. I know the Bible speaks of loving others as you love yourself, and serving one another, as in Christ's example. I've sometimes been conflicted about where to draw the line between loving and serving others and establishing good boundaries for my own self-care.

I don't believe scripture means for us to neglect our own self-care in the process of caring for and about others. I can't love my neighbor as myself if I don't love myself in the first place. But on the other hand, I don't think it means to be selfish and not consider others' needs at all. Know what I mean? It's just a balance, one I as a Christian strive for, and one I often fail at. God understands that we're going to fail at times, which is why He gives us His grace.

I don't think secular viewpoints always conflict with Biblical ones either. What I take the thread title to mean is that so often the examples we see in the media and in society are negative ones that exemplify selfishness, greed, entitlement, etc. The question is just how do we find the balance? For me, it's often trial and error, and a LOT of prayer. :)
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Gershun,
I would have to agree! I concerned myself as a Christian for a long time because I was treated so bad by them when I was a teenage server that I thought to be a Christian means that your holy than thy and I just couldn't understand why they were like that when Jesus himself taught and walked and loved the people who not only sinned but was concerned low class. But I have always loved Him--just didn't like the people to much!

But because of my experience I try to never look down on anyone...not saying I'm prefect...because I'm not!
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MargaretMcKen, you can go into your profile settings and unfollow any thread you want to.

I think that you should start the thread you would like to see. Since you have the idea of what that would look like. I am looking forward to seeing it.
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Trust me, you do deserve the accolades. I have learned a lot from you. I know others have too.
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Needhelpwithmom, although I truly appreciate the compliment I don't feel I deserve the accolades.

Also, this incident that happened wasn't at a Church that I attended regularly. It was a referral of sorts. I had thought I might join this particular Church if this had not happened but as it turned out...........well.

But thx for the nice comments.
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Isaiah 40:31
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
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II Corinthians 4:3

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
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Philippians 2:2-4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
2 make my joy complete [a]by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing [b]from [c]selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
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Gershun,

Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s an important one and you aren’t alone. There’s good and bad in all professions, including clergy. It happens and it is truly unfortunate when it does.

I wish it hadn’t happened to you or anyone else, but the flip side, people will learn from the wisdom that you have gained from this experience.

You took a negative, turned it into a positive and I admire and respect you greatly for that. So many times hurting people hurt others. We all have to work through things. You are an inspiration to all of us.
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Gershun: I am sorry that happened to you in your house of worship. That must have made you feel badly and that is just unacceptable. I, too, have had first hand witness of similar actions. It made me rethink the actions of own church's pastor and possibly finding a new church. Prayers to you.
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Need: You're welcome. I'm on my last ounce of strength, too.
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Here are the lyrics that are such a prayer and blessing in my life. Hope you all enjoy the same blessing.

Sometimes life seems like words and music That can't quite become a song
So we cry and sigh then we try again
And wonder what could be wrong
But when we turn to the Lord at the end of ourselves
Like we've done a time or two before
We find His truth is the same as it's always been
We never will need more

It's not in trying but in trusting
It's not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord
It's not in trying but in trusting
It's not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

He's all we need for our every need
We never need be alone
Still He'll let us go if we choose to
To live life on our own
Then the only good that will ever be said
Of the pains we find ourselves in
They are places to gain the wisdom to say
I'll never leave Him again

It's not in trying but in trusting
It's not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

It's not in trying but in trusting
It's not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

It's not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord
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Smeshque, I found the song name. Finally. Slight variation on some of the words, but definitely the song. Probably my hearing is the challenge.

The Strength of The Lord
By Larnell Harris
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Smeshque,
You are known as sweet and kind, and always giving of yourself.
I hope this thread continues to 3000 or more.

And I do not mind at all if anyone gets offended into the kingdom of God along the way. You have done very well to not be exclusionary or judgmental.

As for me, I cannot live up to biblical ideals, that is why I needed a Saviour.
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Gershun- If you go to a new church and are judged for being alone, you know that is not the church for you.

I thank you for your kind words. HUG
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