Happy Saturday!
Are you ready to continue our LOVE TALK?
As promised, today, let's chat about AGAPE LOVE.
The essence of agape love is goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love.
Agape love is sacrificial and unconditional.
That's exactly how WE want to BE loved.
But remember, this series is how WE can DO love better.
And that's what we will focus on today.
Coming up!
You are listening to The Anna Szabo Show, a podcast for Christian women where we have
conversations about God, Gospel, and the matters of life.
If you enjoy this episode, please consider posting your review today.
Love is the thing we all desire the most.
I remember when Michel and I were recording our wedding video a few days before the actual
wedding in May of 2016, he said: and I want to sacrifice myself for her as Christ loved
the Church.
I was so impressed.
I thought: what a mature Christian man I am about to marry!
Lucky me!
Here's what Michel promised as were entering into an eternal marriage covenant in May of
2016:
Of course, if you've been listening to my podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or iHeart
Radio, you know that Michel abandoned our marriage right after the wedding and filed
for a divorce twice in our first year.
But in the midst of his divorce filings, I was realizing how much I wanted TO love Michel
with agape love, sacrificially, but I didn't know how.
So I asked God.
And before I share with you what God taught me about agape love, let me invite you to
connect with me daily on my YouTube channel at YouTube.com/AnnaSzaboJDMBA
Again, it's YouTube.com/AnnaSzaboJDMBA
I publish a new video every single day there for you.
I started on Christmas Eve and haven't missed a day, so check it out.
In the meantime, out podcast community has been growing!
I'm so inspired to watch you, guys listening.
The most downloads we have in the US followed by Canada, Ireland, Australia, United Kingdom,
Sweden, Japan, and South Africa.
And then after these, we have a few downloads in other countries I shared with you.
I'm so grateful for you, keep listening, keep sharing this podcast.
Thank for all your reviews.
One thing about reviews: unless there are 3 reviews posted for just your individual
country on iTunes, no reviews will show up for that country.
Also, you don't see any reviews for any iTunes podcast, BUT the reviews posted only
in your country.
So, that being said, I know you, guys, posted more reviews than what I can see here in America
and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
If you want to share the screenshots of your podcast reviews you posted, send me a message
on Instagram at AnnaSzaboJDMBA
Ok, let's continue with our Love Chat!
Oh and the lessons learned will be posted in the description of this podcast episode
on YouTube, so you can get those if you need them.
So, now let me share with you what God taught me about Agape love.
I spoke to God through prayer, journaling, weeping from grief and sorrow, and worship.
God spoke to me though poetry.
The day of our divorce meditation, out of the blue poems started coming to me and there
are 45 of them now.
As you know, I framed them and put them on Amazon.com for you to but for your home decor
or prayer room, I will link to them in the podcast notes or you can go to Amazon.com
and search hashtag #PoemsFromGod
Through enduring Michel's nonsense, staying committed to him, driving 5 hours a day to
go to work, remaining in our marital residence at Adair Park in Cumming and not giving up
on Michel or our marriage, I also got to take care of him when he was sick in bed with the
flu.
I realized that loving someone is a privilege.
You get to be Christlike toward them and what is a better way to glorify God?
Here's the first poem I will share with you today as we discuss Agape, Sacrificial,
Selfless Love:
"What Love Is"
Love is not a temporary feeling.
Love is a commitment and a behavior choice.
Love is a mindset of intentional healing.
Love is that kind and patient inner voice.
Love allows for acceptance and forgiveness.
Love allows for plenty of mistakes.
Love is an action, it's courageous and fearless.
Love never fails and never forsakes.
Love always honors and does good to others.
Love is selfless and expects nothing in return.
Love perseveres, even when it suffers.
Love is a skillset we perfect as we learn.
Love is a privilege for those who experience it.
Love is a journey and a special pursuit.
Love is challenging but it is resilient.
Love is the first and foremost of the Spirit fruit.
In my marriage with Michel there was so much to persevere THROUGh and so much suffering,
but the lessons I've learned from that devastating experience are certainly the lessons of love.
Here's the second poem I will share with you today:
"How To Love"
You asked us to love one another.
You taught us the details of love.
Instructions you gave us are thorough, But knowing them isn't enough.
To love one another with kindness Means dying to flesh every day
And also surrendering our blindness, While choosing in Spirit to your Word obey.
To love one another with patience Acceptance requires and yielding,
And selfless forgiving in all situations, In prayer each other uplifting.
You told us that love is not proud, Not arrogant, it's rather humble,
And so you requested each other we honor, In hope persevere we when stumble.
Your orders of love are high-maintenance, But trusting in you, I surrender.
I'm learning to love with kindness and patience To glorify you in your splendor.
Now, high-maintenance might be a funny word to describe God's request of love but that
was the word Michel always used to describe ME dismissively.
High-maintenance is the opposite of laid-back.
I am not
a laid-back person and God's requirements of how we must love are NOT laid-back, that's
why I used the phrase high-maintenance.
The main request God has for us is that we must love one another unconditionally.
We must forgive and accept one another.
And here's the 3rd poem I will share with you today:
"Unconditional Love"
Unconditional love is not easy.
Unconditional love is hard work.
Unconditional love is soul-cleansing.
Unconditional love is responsibility, not a perk.
Unconditional love is the opposite of ego.
Unconditional love is a selfless gift.
Unconditional love is exciting and intriguing: I'm always curious to
see what else God enables me to give.
To love unconditionally, we must practice.
We must remember Christ and His sacrifice.
We must choose kindness when ego attacks us.
We must give without expectations - ego is love's price.
And when we fail at it, often or seldom, We must reach out for God's grace
And start all over, being intentional and not random,
And just remember why we decided to love in the first place.
I had to remind myself daily WHY i decided to love in the first place - and it was because
I said YES to Michel's marriage proposal.
I agreed to marry him for the rest of my life and even though he completely misrepresented
who he was, I did vow to love him forever in front of God, church, and family with friends.
And that's why I started Love Dare on Michel.
That's what we will be diving into next week, so if you're not subscribed to this
podcast, make sure you subscribe and go to YouTube.com/AnnaSzaboJDMBA and subscribe there,
I also have a playlist there for this podcast that you can bookmark for your
convenience.
All the notes will be there.
Have a blessed day!
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét