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      IT HURTS 
      
      
      
        
      
      
      
      
      
      
      “Now Israel 
      loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old 
      age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw 
      that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, 
      and could not speak peaceably unto him.” 
      Genesis 37:3-4 
       
      Several years ago on Christmas Day, I sat in a hospital room with my 
      sister while our Mother was dying.  Mom would call out my sister's 
      name over and over, but she never called my name once and she knew I was 
      there.  I was hurt deeply and I cried myself to sleep for almost a 
      month after she died. 
       
      I was very bitter toward Mom and then one day God spoke to me and said, 
      "She is not to blame.  No one showed her My Love so she didn't know 
      how to show it to others, even to her children."  
       
      I am convinced that the reason that people act so terrible toward one 
      another and the reason that people kill, steal, and deliberately say 
      hurtful things to one another is because they do not believe that anyone 
      loves them.  
       
      Jesus has not been here for over two thousand years.   He has 
      left us to spread His Love and Compassion. Are you spreading the Love of 
      Jesus to others?  Do you feel the Love of Jesus for you? 
       
      I finally understood that it really was not my parent's fault that they 
      didn't hug me and tell me that they loved me.  It is because they had 
      not been shown love and so they didn't know how to express love.  It 
      is like telling someone how to go someplace that you have never been. 
       
      I urge you to open your heart wider so that Jesus can pour His Love into 
      it and in turn you can express the Love of Jesus to others.  You 
      never know, a hug that you give someone might literally stop him or her 
      from committing suicide. 
      
      
      
      
      
      January 30, 2005 
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