Thought I would write a blog about my sister, tonight, since she was on my heart. I love this girl so much and it's all because of Jesus that we are as close as we are. Until we both gave our lives to Christ, we were pretty hateful towards each other. I was a completely selfish sister. I slapped her in the face on many occasions, called her fat, envied the "attention" that I thought she got more of and in general, took advantage of and took for granted the kind, sweet, loving and beautiful little sister that she was. Until I moved out of the house and started attending church on my own and adopting a faith in Christ for myself, understanding what God intended when He created us and how I could never measure up enough to earn His grace...I really could have cared less about Aly. The more I learned about how much God loved me and commanded things of me like forgiveness, putting away malice, thinking on things that are pure and right, etc., etc., etc., the more I learned that it was nearly impossible to love God and treat her that way. It didn't matter what I thought she "did to me" or "thought of me" or even what I "thought I deserved"...no...all that mattered was that either I "loved God" or I "hated Aly and didn't love God"...but I couldn't do both...they were mutually exclusive.
At times, I thought (in my self-righteous state) that I was doing her a favor...that she was better off if I was nice to her...but really, in my pride, I should have realized that she was never better off with me at all...she was better off with Jesus. I thought that by me doing what I was doing was changing her behavior and all the while she was seeking God and trying to follow Christ on her own and that was what was changing her heart. She was working on forgiving me and I was working on my relationship with God which was in a way forcing me to love her. Funny how God's commandments are things that I think I don't want at first, but they're always the things that (in the long run) bring me the most joy...who would think that the creator of the universe...the one who thought up brain cells and photosynthesis would know how to ultimately bring me joy. hah...who woulda thought? I know I sure didn't.
God has worked on both of our hearts and through lots of prayer, sanctification and encouragement to grow in the Lord, Aly and I have come to have a loving, healthy relationship where we encourage each other to love God and in turn he has used her MANY times to bring me joy...what an awesome God I serve. I LOVE MY SISTER!!!! :) *Double trouble* :)
