1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; 

I discovered a long time ago that it is not within my on personal control to love as God as commanded me to love. Self-help seminars and books were very short lived; I tried to get outside assistance in changing who I was, but to no avail on my part. Self help seminars never worked for me. It all sounded good, but later I ended up more discouraged than before. 

What do I do? How can I love when I do not choose to love others? When someone hurts me, speaks lies against me, judges me inaccurately or throws stones at me when I fall short, how can I love that person?

In seeking God He always assures me that it is through the power of His Holy Spirit that I can love, conquer and overcome when I surrender my will to Him. Through a submission of the will, my faith always emerges stronger; I am ready to act out of obedience to Him and His endless love for me. 

The Greek word for God's love is Agape, it is that unconditional love that let's us see through God's eyes in every circumstance we face in life. 

Once the will submits and obeys what He has told us to do, it releases us to discover and develop what God has imparted in our hearts. Within the security of God's awesome power we discover in our innermost being a wealth of wisdom. It is a deep profound capability far beyond what the human nature can create. In the security of His love we are set free. It is not because there is an eternal law that makes me free, but because the love of God has been shed abroad in my heart. God's love frees and is liberating to all who will surrender. People are seeking for freedom, but it is God and God alone that sets our hearts free to be what we were put on this planet to achieve. 

The absolute fact of finding God's love was unbelievable. I must tell you it changed my World; His lifetime of promises leads me on to a life course that is continually changing my heart.

God has given me confidence, strength and freedom to do what I could have never done, had I not surrendered to Christ. I truly love because He first loved me.

Prayer 
"Father, we submit our will to you and ask that you wake us up to the things that are given to us by your Holy Spirit. Let us first learn how to love you so we can love ourselves and our neighbor. We agree with your word that says in 1 Corinthians 16:14, "Let everything you do be done in love." In Jesus Name. Amen. Mark 12:33 "AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." Romans 12:10 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;"
Matthew 5:44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 13:35 " By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 14:15 " If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Galatians 5:22 ”But the fruit of the Spirit is love….” Galatians 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love." Psalm 91:14 " Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name." Song of Solomon 8:7 "Many waters cannot quench love, Nor will rivers overflow it; If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, It would be utterly despised." Micah 6:8 ”He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? Luke 8:4-15 "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
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Real Talk with Joanie and Cindy is an encouraging, inspirational, and motivational faith-based podcast with co-hosts Joanie Buchanan and Cindy Hyde. You can listen to their podcasts and read their blogs at Real Talk with Joanie and Cindy. Joanie and Cindy are both Christian authors, motivational speakers, ministers, radio personalities, counselors, and coaches who share their love for God and His Word with practical applications that help bring hope and healing to their listeners. They are listener supported. If their ministry has touched your life please help them carry the Gospel around the world by donating today. Paypal.me/healingcenter Your donations are tax deductible through The East Texas Healing Center. 

​Joanie and I are excited to launch our new website. Visit us and leave us a message, sign up for our newsletter, and listen to our podcasts all on our website, and leave us your prayer requests. We appreciate our listeners.
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​Real Talk with Joanie and Cindy is an encouraging, inspirational, and motivational faith-based podcast with co-hosts Joanie Buchanan and Cindy Hyde. You can listen to their podcasts and read their blogs at Real Talk with Joanie and Cindy. Joanie and Cindy are both Christian authors, motivational speakers, ministers, radio personalities, counselors, and coaches who share their love for God and His Word with practical applications that help bring hope and healing to their listeners. They are listener supported. If their ministry has touched your life please help them carry the Gospel around the world by donating today. Paypal.me/healingcenter Your donations are tax deductible through The East Texas Healing Center. 

​"What if something happened to you that is so heart rending, so long lasting, and so traumatic that you find yourself giving it to God over and over but cannot move forward or find peace?" This is the question I recently asked on Facebook. The responses were so helpful and so good that I wanted to share them in one blog so they could be helpful to those who are hurting.

​Susan Reed replied: "Surrender is a difficult journey. It is a willful intentional choice. We don't usually think of Jesus experiencing trauma on the cross because He knew that love was what held him at the cross. Love never fails so love is where we have to be to be able to move forward. First and for most you have to believe God is good. All good things come from the Father of lights, but we all still have free will. Separate the light from the dark in your most horrific experiences and look for the good as God does. It may be as simple as I survived so I know my God has a plan for me. Use those experiences to find a way to encourage others. Use that trauma as a catalyst to move you forward. If we camp out in the past there is nothing gained. However, if we realize use the past as a teacher we can lay it down and move forward. There should be no judgement about yourself or others because that battle is Gods. He simply wants you to love Him and love your brother as yourself. Nothing more. Just love and live to the fullest. Just as the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, you have the ability to kill negativity. God will see you through till you rise victorious!"

Lisa Allums replied, "When I was young I learned to put them in boxes under the kitchen sink of my mind until I was able to pull one out and deal with it sort it or trash it...comes from having had to many hurts. But I learned it from a therapist book I once read. It works. Sometimes I can deal quickly but deep things get put under the sink kind of like a can of old cooking grease until I have time and energy to clean it out. Detachment probably but it worked. I now take it to God and pray until I know how to sort it. I keep casting it to God's kitchen sink till He says let's deal with this.

Cindy Hyde's reply: Trauma is real. In and of itself trauma is like a tear in our soul. The pain can be given to Jesus, the One Who bore our pain, through forgiving the one who hurt you. Healing for the traumatized part of our lives is a process. The enemy keeps coming at us in the same area to torment us and to try to cause us to have repetitive memories like a recording playing over and over. Forgiveness is a choice we make in obedience to God's Word. We make the choice and with some things or some people we must keep making the choice every time we relive what they did or what happened. Sometimes we get stuck in the trauma and need to be set free. Finding peace for your soul can be done through making the choice to forgive God, yourself, and others. As hard as it may seem to be, nothing is impossible with God, He will help you once you have made the decision to obey Him and forgive. He will begin a work in your heart, mind, soul, and spirit that will cause you to become whole.
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If you have been blessed by this blog please let us know. If you need help with healing the hurt in your life my book Making Peace With Your Past: One Choice at a Time is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and my website cindyhyde.com. Counseling is available worldwide through Facebook, phone (936)221-0838, text, and Skype.
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Real Talk with Joanie and Cindy is an encouraging, inspirational, and motivational faith-based podcast with co-hosts Joanie Buchanan and Cindy Hyde. You can listen to their podcasts and read their blogs at Real Talk with Joanie and Cindy. Joanie and Cindy are both Christian authors, motivational speakers, ministers, radio personalities, counselors, and coaches who share their love for God and His Word with practical applications that help bring hope and healing to their listeners. They are listener supported. If their ministry has touched your life please help them carry the Gospel around the world by donating today. Paypal.me/healingcenter Your donations are tax deductible through The East Texas Healing Center. 
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#HealtheHurt #CindyHyde #InnerHealing #FindPeace

​Real Talk with Joanie and Cindy is an informative and inspirational program with co-hosts Joanie Buchanan and Cindy Hyde. They are both inspiring women of God, authors, ministers, wives, mothers, faith-based counselors, and certified professional coaches who share over 60 years of combined experiences about real topics that will bring comfort, encouragement, help, and hope to their listeners.