They Will Know You Are Christians By Your Love

Thomas is napping and I'm in the bloggin' mood.  Heaven only knows why, it's certainly not because my house isn't full of "to do's".
I want to share with you all some scripture that has seriously stopped me in my tracks over the past few days.
"Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil."
1 Peter 3:8-13

"Keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech".  "Seek peace and pursuit it".  WOW! Is it as tough for you to swallow as it was for me?!

I received an awful message about 2 weeks ago. It was a text message about me that was apparently not meant for me, but for someone else. It said untrue, hurtful, and just plain mean things about me and my family. The vulgar language was very offensive and I was cut to the core. Isn't it interesting and kinda sad how the words of those around us can cause such harm? For quite sometime, probably since my introduction, I have had an unexplainable "not good" "disingenuine" "bad vibe" feeling about this sender.  Have you ever been around someone who always fills you with peace, joy and laughter, is uplifting and encouraging? Think the complete opposite.  (as I'm typing this I'm thinking- Kasey, the Holy Spirit was in your intuition.... why didn't I see this coming? ) 

We all have people like that in our lives don't we? People that we don't want to love. People who seem the utmost unlovable. As Christian's God calls us to love the unlovable. 
John 13:35 says, "They will know you are Christians by your Love for one another"

Over the past year, God has convicted me about my transparency.  About how we can look like our lives are picture perfect but that's not reality. The real stuff is that we all struggle; we all sin BIG time; we all are completely and utterly flawed. We need restoration.  I urge you to do the same; watch your transparency...BE REAL.  We need "realness" in our brothers and sisters.

In this post, I'm just keepin' it real. Will you pray for me in this situation? Will you pray that I am so full of God's PASSIONATE love that not another evil word comes from my lips?  I will pray for you too.