Wow is all I can say about today! Just to forewarn you this might get a bit lengthy but please stick with me! I promise what I have to say will help you in more ways that I can describe!  The church that I go to down here in North Myrtle Beach is absolutely amazing!  It blows me away how applicable his sermons are to our everyday life.  His sermon today is what I want to tell you guys about.  The pastor began with 2 reasons why people don't go to church.  First reason is because they say Christians are hypocrites.  Second reason is because Christians are always fighting each other.  The second reason is what the topic of the sermon was today.  I love the way that the pastor does his sermons.  He puts it in an able to understand way.  The title of today's sermon was: 5 tools to live in Harmony.  I am going to "let you in" on these 5 tools because they are the key to resolving conflict in any relationship, in any situation.  We ALL have conflict and to be able to live in harmony with each other is what we are called to do.  In 1 Peter 3:8 it says to live in harmony with each other and to not give nonbelievers a reason to persecute you.  We are called to show God's love to everyone so that they in return may know our loving God.

Now, I am going to go through the 5 tools. The 1st tool is Sympathy.  To have sympathy, you have to have the same emotions as someone.  Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.  The pastor told a cute story of how a mother was waiting for her little girl to get back from running into the grocery store and her little girl was late.  When the little girl got back, her mother demanded a reason as to why she was late. This was the conversation:  The girl said, "I stopped by the curb because a little girl was crying because her doll was broken."  The mother said, "Oh, so you helped fix her doll?"  The girl said," No, I was crying with her to help her cry."  How awesome is that story?! We need to be slow to speak and quick to listen.  We should try to understand the circumstances that shape the ones we are having conflicts with .  You have no idea what they are going through.  Don't jump to conclusions! Wouldn't you want someone to do that for you?

The 2nd tool is Loyalty.  Romans 12:10 says something along the lines of have brotherly love and be devoted to each other.  We should stop attacking each other and start fixing the problems.  When we have a problem with a person that is close to us, we think how dare they?!  Again, we may not have an idea what they are going through so its so much better to try to figure out what the true heart of the problem is.

The 3rd tool is Generosity/Compassion.  This is about loving in action.  This is about showing people our love--God's love instead of just "telling" our love to people.  Sometimes showing our love means more than any words can say.  1 John 3:18 says Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. 

Hang in there! We have 2 more left!! ;)

The 4th tool is Humility.  Basically, humility means to be humble.  Every time you get into an arguement there is pride involved.  When you have pride it takes away the focus of what the true problem is.  Having humility is being honest about our failures and weaknesses.  The pastor gave another story about a couple who was going in for marriage counseling.  I'm not going to tell the story word for word but it went something like this:  The wife said that she can't be with someone who won't apologize for anything he did wrong and show no love for her.  The marriage counselor asked the husband if he ever apologized and he said no.  The marriage counselor asked the husband if he was willing to set everything aside and apologize right now to save it marriage. He was like "Right now?!"  He agreed and said how very sorry he was for everything he did.  When he was done his wife ran up to him and tears just started pouring down her face. When they came back for a follow up he said that everything is going fantastically and its like they are on a honneymoon all over again!    Actually saying to the person you have conflict with, "I am so sorry!"  "I was wrong."  It is amazing what happens when you put aside your pride and apologize.  Along with apologizing there comes in forgiveness.  Forgiveness in itself can be a hard thing to do but God forgave us of wronging Him.  Why can't you forgive someone who has wronged you? 

The 5th tool is perhaps the most important tool.  It is Mercy.  Sometimes we need to give people a break.  The pastor told this amazing story of how a little Korean boy was beaten up just because he passed croths with a grop of unruly teenagers in Phildelphia.  I think the little boy was there for something with education.  Anyways,  they beat up the little boy with a lead pipe, their feet, and their hand.  The police found the little Korean boy in a gutter.  Everyone in the city was in an uproar and the DA's got the permission to try these teenagers as adults so that they could get the death sentence.  They wanted those teenagers to fry for what they have done.  Not too long after the teenagers were in custody, the police got a letter from the parents.  It went something like this:  "We have met with the rest of our family and we decided we want the teenagers who committed this crime to have the lightest sentence or consequence possible and when they get out we want to save money for them to go to a religion school.  If we could be so bold to say, our Savior forgave us from our sins so we need to forgive those who sin against us."  How shocking is that?!  Their little boy just got beat up by a bunch of boys who most likely didn't have a future and they want them to get off with the lightest sentence possible and they want to pay for them to have the opportunity to know God and be saved?! Can you even fathom that?!  This exact story is what we should be living as.  Jesus calls us to seek peace and pursue it.  If we fight back, we are no better than the ones who oppose us.  Don't take the easy way out, and treat others how they treated you.  It takes guts to live in peace!

Ill tell you what the pastor advised us to do.  He told us to take these 5 points and ask yourself every day how are you doing.  Everyone needs help with this.  Everyone wants to live in Harmony. 

Thanks so much for reading this novel!  I really hope you got as much as I did out of it! I promise the next one won't be as long!! Miss you all!! :)

In Christ,
Amy :)