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Ruth Marlene Friesen: Wishing You A Blest Christmas!
This site is like Ruthe,
the heroine of my novel,
Ruthe's Secret Roses
Ruthe is. . .
intimate with God,
prays a lot,
a bleeding heart for the hurting,
a big sister,
rescues friends,
has creative ideas,
likes to give
surprise gifts,
loyal to friends,
dreams of love and
marriage,
dreams of writing a book
goes the extra mile
So this site offers;
a good books to read!
help to become Friends with God,
The One Ideal Real Friend
a cure for loneliness
An Older Sister's Coping Secret
how to pray Panic Prayers,
& regularly/daily
devotionals,
how to grow in faith
Christian mentoring,
how to share your faith
character development
how to become a writer
Psst! I've got FREE taste treats of the novel ready for YOU! DOWNLOAD the first 3
chapters as an eBOOK in
beautiful colours, or read the first six chapters on this site, if you have time to stay a while. Go
to start READING HERE!
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How to Rebuke a Friend
© Ruth Marlene Friesen
Someone you know is doing something blatantly wrong. The individual needs to be rebuked. No one
else has the courage, it seems. You're the discerning one, so perhaps it is up to you to set him
straight. Do you know how to go about it?
Personally, I can only recall feeling awful each time I've confronted someone about what looked to
me to be a serious wrong. It made me sick to plan my rebuke, and the anger received afterwards made
me quite miserable.
Recently a friend was planning to do this to someone she knew, and I found myself reviewing some dos
and don'ts to share with her. I need these up front and center, and I think you might like to use
them too.
First, of course, let's remember that where possible, let's use prayer, kindness and forgiveness
instead of confrontation.
When that doesn't work, if the problem grows worse, we need to prepare for a confrontation that will
bring about a change in behaviour.
Do Prepare:
- with lots of prayer! For yourself as well as the person who needs the guidance. Make very sure you
are not planning this out of anger or revenge, but out of genuine desire to help.
- write a short script so you can plan your choice of words, but do not send this to the other
person. You need to be sure you use no hash accusatory words, and words that demean the person.
- but don't include other topics, or old wounds. You'll just mess things up! Then it will be harder
than ever to resolve the issues. Focus just on this one matter where you need to rebuke the friend.
- take on an attitude of caring for the friend and for your friendship, don't be the police, or
God, ready to slap on severe discipline and judgments.
- be braced for an angry and very negative reaction or a number of rationalizations that may be off
base. (Think; what's your first emotion when confronted?)
Do Present:
-. your rebuke in person, or if you must, by phone, but not in a written email or missive. Why?
1. because you want to communicate concern in your voice and body language,
2. because the other party may misquote you and distort your text and use it against you in ways
you can't imagine now.
3. because you've got personal responsibility for the immediate situation; you don't want a wild
fire.
- be as brief as possible,
- ask for a response,
- if you see the other party needs time to consider your words, say thanks, and leave.
Do Follow-through:
- with much earnest prayer! The miracles of repentance and reconciliation are still over the
horizon.
- with kind and thoughtful contacts a few days later.
- see if you can be more mature, with better self-discipline henceforth.
Yes, we do need to rebuke someone going the wrong way, but let's keep in mind that others have the
very same responsibility towards us. We are going to be at the receiving end sooner or later. Do
this as gently as you hope it will be done to you.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
Ruth Marlene Friesen makes friends wherever she goes!
Just like her heroine, Ruthe, in Ruthe's Secret Roses,
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/RSR.html Her friends
become her rare roses.
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com
Subscribe to RoseBouquet, her biweekly blog/ezine
http://Ruthes-SecretRoses.com/RoseBouquet/index.shtml
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
[Article may be reprinted only with this resource box].
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