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My name is Anna Bakalárová.
I'm from Prešov and I have been growing up in this community for years.
Living in the community is a strange thing
because it's a group of people who probably wouldn't have naturally connected with each other
but they are united because they know Christ.
Christ said that the whole world would know that we are His disciples because we would love each other.
Other places in the Bible speak about us encouraging each other and telling the truth to each other.
I don't know about you but for me these two things didn't go hand in hand for a long time.
I thought that I could either love a person or criticize them.
I was afraid to tell the truth to someone,
to tell them when they had made me angry, when they had hurt me
or when I had noticed something inappropriate about them.
Once I was walking home from school and I was thinking about one person
and his reactions that were hurting me.
I didn't know how to tell that person or whether tell him at all.
So I just confessed to God that I needed His help and wisdom in all of it.
Suddenly it started to snow.
I was delighted because I like snow very much and
I was catching the snowflakes and looking at their structure.
I noticed that even people around me were very happy.
And then it hit me.
Snow is the same water as when it rains.
But when it rains people use umbrellas and they don't want any drop to fall on them.
But when it snows people are happy.
And it's the same with things we say.
There is the truth which is like water but the form in which we tell it is very important.
It matters if we tell it in the form of snow or rain.
In one sermon, pastor Michal Findra said that
the truth without love is legalism and love without the truth is naivity.
We need the truth as well as love and put them together.
So how to snow?
God taught me that firstly I have to ask Him to show me how He sees those people
and to let me see them the same way.
When I'm angry, hurt or disappointed next thing I need to do is to give all of it to Him,
confess that I'm angry, hurt or disappointed and ask Him to fill that place with His love.
Then try to tell people the truth with love.
The last but most important thing is to remember that we all are equal under the cross.
All of us are just pardoned sinners.