I usually don't write on Sundays but I wanted to make an exception today. At our church service today, the worship team sang the song "I Need You To Survive" by Kirk Franklin. Part of the song says, "I'll pray for you, you pray for me, I love you. I need you to survive. I won't harm you with words from my mouth... I need you to survive". I've heard this song many times but today I really got it. About a year ago my family and I were members of a church in which there were many people who we grew up with. Most the members had known us for years and loved us (we thought). Through circumstances that are unnecessary to explain, we were given a ministry position. This wasn't our first ministry position, but we were young and quite capable of making mistakes. Anyway, have you ever heard the phrase, "If you try to please everyone, you will eventually please no one"? Well, let me tell you, that is true!!! In our quest to do everything right, we ended up being hurt by a lot of people that we love. Mostly it was just nasty comments or criticisms masked by the phrase, "trying to help". My husband and I were at fault too. When you are in the ministry, God is supposed to be your "boss", not people! We often forgot this fact. Eventually, we resigned our position and moved to a different city (because of my husband's job) and are currently attending another church. Today, when I heard that song, I realized that part of being a Christian is realizing how your actions and words affect others. Would things have been different at our former church if everyone had followed the lyrics of this song? Praying for each other and being careful not to hurt people with words from our mouths may have bettered the situation we were in. I am very thankful for where those experiences have brought us, however, next time I hope to remember this song and put these words into action! Here is a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ioId0zSiQ