2 Corinthians 2:5-11

"validation"

⁵Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. ⁶For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, ⁷so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. ¹⁰Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, ¹¹so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

2corinthians2:5-11

i think i've struggled with this all my life. Validation. I've said before in many many many different posts, how i've talked about how i dont feel loved, i dont feel important. On the topic of having the spiritual gift of caring, mums and i have both agreed that having this gift is really lonely sometimes. People take you for granted, and they use you because they know you'll do it. Yes, we arent supposed to expect anything in return, but "treating others the way we want to be treated" doesnt seem to happen sometimes. And i can honestly say that i think its one of the reasons why slipping into sin becomes so easy, because one doesnt feel loved, Satan comes around and you feel like he's the one that loves you.

I do admit that im starting to see love more from others, and the bolded verse above really hit me. Reaffirm your love for him/her. Your brother/sister in Christ, your other friends, let them know that you love them and that they're important to you. And i beg you, no matter who you are, do this to those around you, everyone wants to feel loved and important, and i want to make it a life goal to have everyone around me know that they mean something to me. It can be a simple word, a hug, or letter, they will feel the love, but make it more evident. I easily feel the love from my kids at camp this summer, as they ask me to help them with something, or run up to grab my hand, its the best feeling in the world. If you're reading this and you know me, we're friends, i hope you know that you've somehow, big or small, but no matter what you've still made an impact on my life, you've done something that has moulded and crafted me to who i've become today.

this isnt exactly fully relevant to the passage, but i really needed to get it out. Sometimes, it takes forever for me to somehow see how someone loves me, but its never direct, its through a friend or through a sibling, and although it sucks to have it come from the side, when i hear it, it fills me with joy to know that something as simple as "you thought of me" happened.

verse of the day: John 15:12-13

¹² "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.