Thursday, January 29, 2009




Galatians 6
1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted
2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

This scripture woke me up this morning. When our natural body is wounded, the whole body goes to work restoring and healing the wounded part. We do not seperate it and cut it off from the rest of the body, but our whole system goes to work and surrounds and protects the wounded part and the healing process happens.
We are the body of Christ. When we see the our brother or sister is taken in a fault or is wounded in some way, we must do the same. We cannot afford to critize and cut off the member, but we must rally around them with support and resources. We must love them and surround them, never gossipping about them, thus cutting them off from the love and support they so desperately need, but ministering TO them.
I feel this strongly this early mornig.
God has awakened me several times this week with thoughts about our realationship with each other, about true friendship and true love. I have been convicted for myself and heavily burdened for people I dearly love.
We don't want to create a culture of gossip for ourselves and our family and friends.
It causes us to walk the low road where we create shallow relationships. Ones that lack loyalty, trust and support. There can be no trust, no feelings of safety, no love. It binds us with low self esteem and depression and isolates us.
We need to get off of this road and start creating a circle of love and support for each other. We need to become the kind of friend we want others to be to us. We need to show the kind of love that can listen and empathize, but then go on to give sound, Godly advise. We don't want to use our friendships to vent, but to share our struggles, not to find someone to sympathise with us and make us feel better about what we are doing, what we are tempted with, or how we are feeling ( especially when it involves others), but to honestly be looking for sound advice that will help us be overcomers. We want to be the kind of friend that will help our friends overcome instead of helping them wallow in anger, hurt, jelousy, etc. This just leads to gossip fests and a downward spiral. Be the kind of friend that is trustworhty, the kind that people feel confident that thier business stays confidential at all times, the kind of friend that will tell it like it is when your thinking is off course or your emotions are out of control, ( in kindness of course), that will pray and encourage and love. Don't be the kind that will try and pull down to your level. Let's build a strong foundation of love, safety, loyalty and trust for our brothers and sisters. Let's show our girls how to be Godly women not ugly, gossipy, bitter, nasty young girls. This is the will of God and if we obey His word, then our lives will be blessed and enriched. If we become this kind of woman we will attract others of like mindedness. We will grow in grace and Godliness. Let's walk the high road.

PS Just a side note: The more we can get our minds focused outside ourselves and on helping others, the happier we will be. Self absorption is misery. Don't live your life where everything you do is to gratify something in yourself. Sometimes even the good things we do is self gratifying because it makes us feel good about ourselves. That is fine to a degree, but it is best and much more enriching to make pleasing God and loving others our goal and the rest will fall into place. Just a thought.

I know this is kind of a jumble, but it is early and I wanted to get some of my thoughts down before I got up and started the day and forgot about what I was feeling. I hope this can be a blessing and an encouragement to someone.
I have lots of other thing rambling around in this head, but it will have to be another post. I've been thinking to do a series of post about what it means to be a christian. Maybe I will, and this could be the first in the series. (Don't gaossip, be true. Search for truth not a rason to justify your actions and feelings)

7 comments:

Lisa said...

Amen Sis. Tina!

I have been feeling the same way and getting the same message from God in the past few weeks. Thank you for listening to your heart and blogging it.

It is time to lift each other up in Christ which also lifts Him.

God Bless you!

Katrina Holmes (Tina) said...

Thanks Lisa
I prayed as I was about to write this that God would confirm this with a comment if He wanted me to blog about stuff like this. So thank you for your comment as well.

Janell said...

Sis. Tina, this is very VERY VERY true!!! Relationships are the very most important thing we have in life...our relationship with God, with our spouse, our family, and our friends. The body of Christ should be loving to one another, kind, uplifting, and edifying in conversation.
If you can't have real trust, loyalty, real friendship in the church, where can you get it?
Thank you to you and your family for being real friends to me. I love you lots! (And I hope we get to hang out again sometime soon!)
Have a fantastic weekend!! =)

MERBEAR said...

Great post Tina, you definately sparked me to living a more
Christian life. Thank you.
I haven't been checking blogs very much lately. But, I always look forward to reading your posts.
Thank you again!!

Jessica deLeeuw said...

Sister Tina, that's an amazing post! Pastor has said unity will bring revival and that's what I've been lead to pray for in my life, our youth, and the church.

I admire you from a distance, you have a beautiful attitude & spirit. Truly, a virteous woman.

God bless!

fonda said...

One of my most treasured virtues that I believe I received from my mother is 'how to be a true friend'. I take pride in it, I value it, I work hard at it and I have gathered great friends in my life because of it. I am thankful for all those scoldings I got when mom would find me getting tangled up in girlish gossip, I am appreciative of the fact that I witnessed her kitchen table talks over tea and toast with her best friend to be uplifting and suportive. Although at the time I didn't realize what I was eavesdropping on (as I played barbies on the floor) was teaching me a life lesson on friendships and relationships in general.
so..... having said all that, I am glad your my sister, I am glad we had the mother we had, I look up to you...oh yeah and i miss you...and I am crying like an idiot at my desk at work so I am signing off now. Love ya bunches!

Katrina Holmes (Tina) said...

Fonda,
You are so right. I also remember Mom visiting with her friends and I don't ever recall them talking about others and running them down. It was always uplifting talk, supportive talk, helping each other and talking about God. I can remember one instance where someone was talking about the pastor and Mom saying how wrong that was. Another time I had repeated something someone else said on the way home from a fellowship meeting and how Mom and Barb Swan got so quiet and got to lecturing me about touching God's annoited. Those are really good memories. Mom was never a gossip. She did teach us well about how to be true. Although I know I have probablly not been as good an example to my children as Mom was to me, I have tried and I do feel terrible when I participate in gossip or bad talk and do get upset when my children gossip about others or have a bad attitude toward others. It is the opposite of sweetness and I want me and them to be sweet and kind. Bearing the fruits of the spirit. The kind of individuals that are good friends to thier friends. Even as a teenager I really wanted to do what was right and be nice and not gossip. I remember one time when some of the youth at Ken's church were talking and I came up to see what they were talking about and one of them said " you don't want to know, you don't like goosip" or something to that effect. I can remeber the rejection and at the same time feeling so elated. I could take you to the spot it happened. It was the biggest compliment I had been given and it is one memory that has stuck with me (Ronda knows about my memory)and when I have participated in gossip, I remember that instance and feel like I have been untrue to myself.
What a ramble!!!
Anyway, I am glad you are my sister too and I look up to you as well. You are a true friend to all of us amd I love you too and I miss you too and you had me crying before I even read that you were crying!! We sure are our mother's daughters!