Friday, December 5, 2008

Oh brother... and sister

Hey all, this is Allie 
I'm just here wanting to talk about siblings and how they can be a joy, and yet at the same time, a bit irritating (sometimes ;))5 siblings, one older than me, and 4 younger! I feel like the oldest though, because my older sister, Bethany is severely handicap and can't do much, keep her in your prayers :) Anyways... siblings can sometimes be annoying, or we can be annoying to our siblings. :P But really that's not how God wants us to act towards them, neither be annoying or be annoyed... God wants us to LOVE our siblings by caring for them and also caring about their souls! "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." 2 Thessalonian 1:3 (esv) We not only need to love our brothers and sisters and care for them, but thanking God for them too! Sometimes, it seems hard to do, but that's probably the time we need to be thankful for them the most! If you're ever upset with your siblings, I would suggest just writing down everything you're thankful for about them and why you love them :) I'm sure that you'll be able to do this :) I want to share a story from a good friend of ours here at One Way Up, Jenna C, she has a good example of how God showed her how much she really does love her sister:
...so i used to get mad at my little sister all the time.  she would do things (that if you really stop to think are actually pretty reasonable) that angered me so much that one time i even prayed that somehow my parents would give her up for adoption. i really dont like to admit this, but at times she made me so mad that i would sit in my room afterward grinding my teeth thinking "i hate her". yes, that took a lot  for me to admit, but its true.
one night i had a dream that she was going to die. but this wasnt just a normal dream - it seemed so real, more real than any other dream ive had before. it was a dream that she was dying. but only a few hours before the doctors said she was supposed to die, i got to tell her how much i loved her. it felt like i was digging so deep into my heart. but deep down there, i found so much love for her. love that i hadnt known until the hour she was going to die.
when i woke up (it was like 4:00 in the morning) i was in a cold sweat and had tears running down my face. at that moment i prayed with all my heart that it wasnt a real dream. i was so happy i couldnt believe it the next morning! she was alive!
since then, God has taught me so much patience. but God didnt just teach me patience with my little sister; everything that made me mad beforehand the LORD has helped me to deal with it. its like i cant even get mad any more! praise the LORD!
two verses i think associate with this subject are:
1 John 2:7-11 -
Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
 
2 Timothy 2:24 -
And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil...
 Jenna, thanks so much for sharing this! I believe that this is a great example of finding why you love your siblings and how God helps us do this! I encourage you all to find good reasons why you love your siblings and I also encourage you to, as God helped Jenna, pray to God for help to deal with the things that bother you and pray for your siblings, and pray for God to work in them and that the'll become closer to God! And also, encourage your siblings!! See what God is doing in their life and tell them how it pleases God, even if they aren't believers you can still encouarge them and try to show how God is working through them even though they don't believe. Anyways.... Sorry this is such a long post!! Thanks for reading all the way to the end :D 
P.s. If you have any stories that you think we might be able to use on the blog don't hesitate to email us at onewayupcast@gmail.com, and we'll see if we can use it here :)
P.s.s if i'm correct, our first episode will be the christmas special! :)

13 comments:

Dave said...

That is AWESOME! Well done Allie and Jenna.

one way up cast said...

Great post allie!!!

I tend to get very irritated with my little brother Ramil, because he was adopted from the Philipines and he doesn't understand a lot. This post was such a great reminder for me! Now when I'm irritated I can think about how much I love him, and how I should be understanding to him because of the language barrier!

Thank you!

In God's grace,

~kylie

The Ordinary said...

Wow! Great post! I know exactly what you mean. My brother, Nathan, has severe siezures and brain damage so he is handicapped. He is 15. Your mom knowes alot about him.


GREAT POST!


-Robert

Jenna said...

whose mom? my mom? allie's mom?

Elizabeth Kelley said...

My siblings aren't handicapped, but they can be annoying (I'm pretty sure they learned the art of annoyance from me). But here's something about which to think: James (as in the author of the book of James) says that fights and quarrels come from within us. "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." (James 4, ESV).
Oooh. So, rather than "He was messing with my stuff again and I've old him not to 10 million times and he's so annoying," maybe it's more like "I want what I want and he's not treating me like the wonderful, perfect person I am." If you put it that way, sin is revealed as the rediculous, self-exalting monster that it is.
Just a thought. Cheers!

The Ordinary said...

( Mr.s herbert, thats who im talkin about)

My little brother Michael can be a pain at times, but when i is, i pray for God to help me and he does! and i agree with what you said Liz!


-R. A. Galbraith

Daniel Garay said...

Good job guys...

Question... When did this idea to have a webshow like this come?

Dave said...

At 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. LOL. I don't know. Kylie?

The Ordinary said...

I'd like to know as well!

Elizabeth Kelley said...

Hullo, mystery. (I know exactly who you are, because of your picture. :-) )
Wanderer, do NOT call me Liz! I have a whole data bank of names I could pull out on you... O.o
Quite frankly, I have no idea. It was inspired by... Allie or Kylie... or both. Which one?

one way up cast said...

Oh!

well early this summer I came up with the idea. I was watching iCarly (a tvshow based on a webshow) and i thought, 'a webshow is a great way to reach people all over the country, all over the world even...so what would happen if we put a cross centered message on a webshow?'

I had this idea before the rebelution, but when I went to the Rebelution, I felt like it was a creative way to get through to people and it would be a great project to start with friends. so I prayed about it, then let david know and the rest of the cast and

BOOM!

One Way Up.

In God's Grace,

~Kylie

ps. we should start filming the actual webcasts soon, but in the meantime I hope you all are enjoying the posts.

The Ordinary said...

lol. i love these posts!

Elizabeth Kelley said...

Well, don't look at us. The only reason this is half-decent is because a very, very great God (THE God, in fact) loved us enough to grab us by the shirt tails while we were running to hell.