Relationships Matter!
Relationships matter for many reasons. Your relationship with your boss matters if you want to succeed in your job. Your relationship with your spouse matters if you want to stay married. Even relationships with friends are important to our social well-being. But not all relationships are easy, and some can be abusive.
Ever had a difficult relationship? I have. It left me feeling misunderstood, hurt, and even angry. And the guilt I felt for how it ended left me wondering why God allowed that person in my life in the first place. I would have dismissed that question if I only asked it once. But I didn’t.
Difficult people, whether family members, friends, or a simple passing of a stranger, kept invading my calm, happy life, and I didn’t like it. Their rudeness, mean spirit, and even abuse left me feeling angry and guilty over how I responded. Ever feel that way?
It wasn’t until God revealed to me in His Word that He allows difficult people in our life for a purpose. When I discovered that purpose, it opened the door to a new way of responding that prevented those feelings of hurt from taking root and growing into bitterness. And it opened the door to an opportunity to be used by God by being His light to a hurting person.
Scripture reveals that God seeks to reveal himself to the world, and as believers in Christ, we are His ambassadors, His representatives to people who need the light of His love in their life. God uses difficult people in our life for many reasons, and when we turn to Him for answers, He will reveal it. And often it has to do with something He is trying to change in us!
This principle of Virtue love allows us to respond to any person, any conflict, any suffering or abuse, in a way that prevents the pain from taking root by turning it into an opportunity for growth, for both you and the other person.
“But I don’t need to grow,” you say? “I just want them to go away,”
That is one way of looking at it. Although burying it might make them go away, there’s plenty more where they came from. So why not learn to deal with them in a way that keeps your dignity and benefits everyone?
Sometimes, that positive way is removing that person from our life. Often that is necessary, but using Virtue love helps us to do that and retain our dignity, all while preventing guilt and anger from rooting.
I believe in this principle so much that I recently changed my website to focus more on this critical need. But because Virtue love is grounded in our relationship with God, and our desire to grow and mature, I will continue to write about those principle that help is to do just that.
If you haven’t viewed the website in a few weeks, you can view it here.
One of my first resources was Loving the Unlovable, where I talk about Virtue love. I suggest you review it here, as it is the foundation of the focus I wish to share moving forward. You can overcome conflict in any situation for any reason, even when the conflict involves only you!
I pray you embrace this powerful principle and desire to strengthen your relationships. Because of the need to encourage one another, I invite you to join my private Facebook group Relationships Matter. I formed this to bring us together as a community of Relationship Warriors. Encourage and be encouraged. You can join Here.
Embrace Virtue love!
