Who hasn't longed for Jesus to come on back to the earth NOW and take us where our real home is? I mean let's get sensible ..... Heaven is a PERFECT place filled with no sorrow, no pain, no fear, no sin and unimaginable peace in every sense of the word! But it doesn't just stop with those wonderful things, it also indwells our Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Father and perfect best friend who we shall finally be able to see face to face. We not only shall see him, but feel His warm embrace of a hug that is just our size! No longer will his words be said in our hearts and souls, but now they will ring clearly in our very own ears! And that, my friend, is just the tip of the ice-berg as they say!
In my openess and honesty with you - for that is who I am - I will tell you that I have struggled with some very real fears in the past as I shared with you in a blog "If you read no other story - read this one" back in September. Fears of what I would hear or what I would read causing me to think my life is somehow not right with God or right with others. Fears of doubts that my struggles in my mind would always be there and not get better causing me to think "O no, something is not right with me!" Fears leading me to seek my sweet David as my wise and loving cousel assuring me once again that all is well and I had nothing to fret and worry over. I truly believe without a doubt in the world that the song Dave Barns sings "God gave me you" is so extremely TRUE. God gave me my David to see me through not only the good days we share, but also the storms of life we share.....I am SO BLESSED! No matter how many days in a row or how often in those days I would come to him seeking his reassurance of the truth I knew was right, but still needed his reassurance, he ALWAYS has been there to give it. I think I'm beginnig to ramble though - - :)
I think I have a point in here somewhere.
God has been doing some amazing healing in me and it hasn't been all at once, but rather at His always perfect pace. In that healing I have seen where God has allowed me to be able to settle my thoughts or maybe I should say let HIM settle my thoughts more often and not worry about what I may hear or read. Letting Him show me that it's really alright....nothing can take away from or add to in my life if God doesn't choose to. Anytime we feel that something is out of our control....it's ALWAYS under God's control. I'm the type of person who wants absolutely NO CONTROL whatsoever of my life....so God has it all.
As I started this Blog I was referring to heaven and such and how that we long to be there. I think as we grow older and we experience more and more of this world we live in it does have a very real way of causing us to just wanna go home....afterall that's what we were created for....this world is just a temporary dwelling place. As it has been said .... we are just pilgrims on our journey home. :)
In sharing all of this, I will tell you that yesterday I had read in a story about how a friend was telling another friend if you start having thoughts of feeling depressed or wanting to end your life then call me......and then I hear on Tv how that you need to stop taking this med for smoking IF you should start feeling depressed and want to end your life. And so goes the thinking....."O no! what if when I was struggling moreso back in the past and had thoughts of just how much easier it would be in Heaven....what if that meant I was depressed?!!" You see how the mind takes off with stuff! Or maybe I should say my mind! Ha! I think that satan know the things we struggle with and can have a great time IF he can keep us focused on our doubts and worries! But God is in control of him and he can do NOTHING that God doesn't allow for my own good. I mean who really gives a care of how I was or what I was or who I was?! God is my healer and helper and is continually making me into the person He desires of me. He knows my weaknesses and fears and He is greater that them all. And today.....I still know and still believe that it will INDEED be a much better place in Heaven and I still long for Jesus to return TODAY!!!!! Call me whatever you want, but I know God calls me ...... His own. And I will NOT fear.
So let God settle all those crazy thoughts, fears and doubts you may feel today. He can, He will and He does. :) And remember - - Peace is not a feeling, but rather the knowledge of knowing that God IS in control, no matter what you may feel!!!
C'MON JESUS!!!
May your day be beautiful on the inside today!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
"I don't deserve it....do you?"
Grace. . . simply put by a friend - "Grace is a gift of undeserved and unmerited favor."
Although I suppose today's message could have been about Peace and although I did not agree with the definition given for such. . . the word that caught my attention was GRACE. By the way, it's quite alright to NOT agree with the Pastor as it has taken me MANY years to accept this fact. Just a little tid-bit of advice for free. :)
Grace. . . like so many things God gives us is so undeserved. And yet He gives it willingly, gladly, completely and with no strings attached. We all know that grace is given for the sinner at the time of salvation. Once he was empty and now he is full....full of God's grace, forgiveness, mercy, healing, love. But sometimes we forget that grace is also for the one who has received Christ. For those of us who know too well the taste of failure, it helps to remember that even the great ones of the faith failed, yet God continued to use them, often in a deeper way AFTER their fall. Some of David's greatest psalms came AFTER his greatest mistakes. God calls him a "man after his own heart" 1Samuel 13:14. Peter, who was the very head of the disciples, denied even the very knowledge of knowing Jesus not once but three times. And yet we see God lovingly giving grace, pulling him back in and restoring Peter so that he could continue his work for the Lord. Abraham lied to save himself and yet he is the towering example of faith and is called "God's friend" James 2:23. The very disciples themselves, who walked, talked and loved Jesus would doubt, fail, sin, have weaknesses, as well as deny Him in public were still loved, forgiven, accepted, healed and made right with a loving God. And they were led to continue on even after their failures. God knew they would fall - - and yet - - He loved and forgave them still.
It is those who have lived in the depths of failure that God gives the call to shepherd others. This is not a call given only to the gifted, the highly trained- for without a bitter experience of their own inadequacy and failure they are quite unfit to minister God's genuine forgiveness and grace. I mean who really wants to listen to someone who has never had children before tell/advise/lecture you on how you should raise your child?? Therefore how much MORE meaningful it is when God can use us through our own mistakes and failures to reach out to others who are hurting as well?? We see here that nothing and I mean absolutely NOTHING is ever wasted in God's kingdom of work!! Our weaknesses, our sins, our missing the mark, our failures are ALL used to accomplish in us something far more bigger than we could ever understand....how awesome is that?!!! We also see that when we have experienced failure...we began to be more patient with others who may also be slipping in one way or another.
I read in my devotions that too many times we live in a quid-pro relationship with God such as; "I've been faithful to you, I've worked hard, so please give me this or that." OR, "I've failed again, I can't expect any blessings." We FORGET that our whole life is all about GRACE: a gift of undeserved and unmerited favor! Too many sincere Christians, facing their failures, berate themselves unmercifully and keep asking God for forgiveness. Each of us should memorize, hang on the mirror, and repeat daily: "There is therefore now NO [repeat NO] condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1. Not only does He NOT condemn us; He even brings blessings from the ashes of our failures! Now who else could do that but GOD Himself?!?!? :)
My friend. . . God has an eraser unlike any that has ever existed. Man made erasers may wipe away the mistake, but sometimes can leave a smudge. God's eraser works perfectly everytime....no smudges, no wrinkels, no tears left! God wipes away ALL things we so bitterly regret!!
This would be a short blog for me....some may say "It's about time!"
I write to encourage others, to give hope to others, to strengthen others, to motivate others and to share always the Good News of what Jesus has done for me and for YOU.
So I leave you with this thought I read: "I do not ask for mighty words to leave the crowd impressed. Just grant my life may ring so true my neigbor shall be blessed." That says it all for me! :)
Be blessed.....for your living a life of GRACE, my friend!
Although I suppose today's message could have been about Peace and although I did not agree with the definition given for such. . . the word that caught my attention was GRACE. By the way, it's quite alright to NOT agree with the Pastor as it has taken me MANY years to accept this fact. Just a little tid-bit of advice for free. :)
Grace. . . like so many things God gives us is so undeserved. And yet He gives it willingly, gladly, completely and with no strings attached. We all know that grace is given for the sinner at the time of salvation. Once he was empty and now he is full....full of God's grace, forgiveness, mercy, healing, love. But sometimes we forget that grace is also for the one who has received Christ. For those of us who know too well the taste of failure, it helps to remember that even the great ones of the faith failed, yet God continued to use them, often in a deeper way AFTER their fall. Some of David's greatest psalms came AFTER his greatest mistakes. God calls him a "man after his own heart" 1Samuel 13:14. Peter, who was the very head of the disciples, denied even the very knowledge of knowing Jesus not once but three times. And yet we see God lovingly giving grace, pulling him back in and restoring Peter so that he could continue his work for the Lord. Abraham lied to save himself and yet he is the towering example of faith and is called "God's friend" James 2:23. The very disciples themselves, who walked, talked and loved Jesus would doubt, fail, sin, have weaknesses, as well as deny Him in public were still loved, forgiven, accepted, healed and made right with a loving God. And they were led to continue on even after their failures. God knew they would fall - - and yet - - He loved and forgave them still.
It is those who have lived in the depths of failure that God gives the call to shepherd others. This is not a call given only to the gifted, the highly trained- for without a bitter experience of their own inadequacy and failure they are quite unfit to minister God's genuine forgiveness and grace. I mean who really wants to listen to someone who has never had children before tell/advise/lecture you on how you should raise your child?? Therefore how much MORE meaningful it is when God can use us through our own mistakes and failures to reach out to others who are hurting as well?? We see here that nothing and I mean absolutely NOTHING is ever wasted in God's kingdom of work!! Our weaknesses, our sins, our missing the mark, our failures are ALL used to accomplish in us something far more bigger than we could ever understand....how awesome is that?!!! We also see that when we have experienced failure...we began to be more patient with others who may also be slipping in one way or another.
I read in my devotions that too many times we live in a quid-pro relationship with God such as; "I've been faithful to you, I've worked hard, so please give me this or that." OR, "I've failed again, I can't expect any blessings." We FORGET that our whole life is all about GRACE: a gift of undeserved and unmerited favor! Too many sincere Christians, facing their failures, berate themselves unmercifully and keep asking God for forgiveness. Each of us should memorize, hang on the mirror, and repeat daily: "There is therefore now NO [repeat NO] condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1. Not only does He NOT condemn us; He even brings blessings from the ashes of our failures! Now who else could do that but GOD Himself?!?!? :)
My friend. . . God has an eraser unlike any that has ever existed. Man made erasers may wipe away the mistake, but sometimes can leave a smudge. God's eraser works perfectly everytime....no smudges, no wrinkels, no tears left! God wipes away ALL things we so bitterly regret!!
This would be a short blog for me....some may say "It's about time!"
I write to encourage others, to give hope to others, to strengthen others, to motivate others and to share always the Good News of what Jesus has done for me and for YOU.
So I leave you with this thought I read: "I do not ask for mighty words to leave the crowd impressed. Just grant my life may ring so true my neigbor shall be blessed." That says it all for me! :)
Be blessed.....for your living a life of GRACE, my friend!
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