Close your eyes for a minute and just try to think about and remember the first secret you shared with someone that wasn't kept...what was it? Was it a second grade romance perhaps? Maybe you shared something with your parents only to have it broadcast to the entire family? Was it an embarrassing moment you shared with your best friend only to have it "leak out" and get around school? Or, as an adult, maybe you shared something with someone you felt you could trust only to have others brought into this intimate and personal problem?

Chances are that you remember a moment of betrayal from your past...maybe it wasn't even that long ago...and chances are that there is still a spot in your heart that is very tender from that memory...Understanding and thinking about this, it is hard to admit that maybe we have inflicted that pain on someone else....and if we are being honest...we know that talking about someone else's faults and weaknesses have made us look better...

Proverbs 17:9 says Disregarding another person's faults preserves love; telling about them separates close friends.

We should take the time to overlook the faults of others...because after all...isn't this what God has done for us? I'm not saying to condone their sin, I'm saying love them where they are at...See, God knows how weak and fragile we are...He knows that we are only dust...I'm so thankful for His UNFAILING LOVE towards me...He loves me regardless of how stupid I act...The Bible says that for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him...(psalms 103:11)

And guess what church...though I can never love you as much as He can, we have been made in HIS Image and we are called to be like and act like Him. 1 John 4:11 says that since God loved us THAT much (how much? enough to sacrifice His Son for you and me...enough that when I was filthy in my garments He gave me Grace and Mercy and sent HIS SON to the whipping post instead of me...enough to disregard my faults and love me for who I was, am, and for who I am becoming) then SURELY we ought to love each other...

And one of my new favorite proverbs is: 19:11 People with good sense restrain their anger; they earn esteem by overlooking wrongs...

So just love people where they are at...even though you don't understand, stick around a while and learn something...look for opportunities where you can disregard another person's faults and preserve love. Ask yourself and ask God what it is in your heart that makes you reveal the fault's of others...If you ask, He WILL answer...

Father, sometimes I am overwhelmed by Your Understanding...I ask that You once again forgive me for pointing out the faults of others...Help me to revel in Your Mercy and in Your Love...Lord, help me to offer the same to others and grow from glory to glory in You...Let me turn my head away to the things that don't really matter..and let my eyes be opened to the things that do...

May God Bless you,
                              Love,Daphne