Do you believe that God rejoices over you, watches over you, and secures you and your loved ones ~ in his forever-hands? Show me someone who knows she is love-covered, and I’ll show you someone who knows how to love. People say, “you can’t give what you don’t have,” but neither can you give what you don’t know you have. How free can I be if I don’t know I’m free? How can I experience the fullness of God’s love if I experience it in my heart, but not in my mind? Heart Imagery Jesus wants us to intentionally remember the …
Who’s The Judge?
[box] The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. John 5:22-23[/box] The apostle John got me thinking… What could be a better way for the Father to show how much He loves the Son than for Him to give the Son the power to judge the world? Digging into this verse, I saw several things… The Father honors the Son. Love always honors and prefers another. The Father …
Everything Happens For A Reason?
“How can it be possible that everything happens for a reason? Some things are too painful!” Has a hurting friend ever said this? How did you respond? [box] “In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15[/box] As Christians, our hope isn’t based on feelings and circumstances; it’s based on God’s character, Sovereignty, and unshakable love. The bright Jewel of heaven went through hell for us. Why? Because He’s all about redeeming our broken places. Look How …
Prayers for the Undeserving
[box] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 [/box] As I have loved you. You must love one another. Quite the request, Lord. It was in your heart all along, wasn’t it? “Love my people. Do unto others. Feed my lambs.” It’s a breeze to love you, Lord, so perfect and kind. But people? Even the best pastors, leaders, teachers, people who know better… They fail. You want me to love them with complete, sacrificial love? Pray for those who hurt me? Forgive them deeply …
His Valentine
“I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Jeremiah 31:3 Tripping through life, tossed and torn here and there, we manage to lose it, to leak it. Where’d it go? Where’s joy? Instead of bubbling out, it fizzles flat, leaving us without a wave or a pat. We’re dry, needing a tune up in order to bloom up. Maybe we need to wake up, inhale the rush of salvation. Christ’s resurrection power pushes us passed death, into the new garden we neglect too often. We’re saved! No matter what’s wrong, there is a Holy Ghost song. Earth is just a …
Put on your Dancing Shoes
The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand. Psalms 37:23,24 About that disappointment you’re feeling… God’s working behind the scenes to make it a God-appointment. That’s Sovereignty. There are no missteps, only his steps; no detours, only God-tours. Rejoice in the Lord! Shout aloud! One blast of Jesus-joy, and say goodbye to those heavies. Remember how he called you? How he flipped on the music, reached for your hand, saying, “May I have this dance?” You said, …
God’s A Planner
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 Satan is our disaster-planner, but he’s not the writer of our future. God is. Best of all, God is into the details, right down to our cellular level. Consider the word disaster. An “aster” is a star-shaped structure that forms during cell reproduction. It’s formation is crucial to sustain all future life. We know Satan “disses” or disrespects all things “life,” especially Jesus, the author of life. That’s why …
Can-Do Attitude
The power of positive thinking jumps to a whole new level when we add the Christ-factor. “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Phil 4:13 When we’re in His will, He strengthens us to do everything. What could be more positive? Some say, “I know He wants us to love all people, even difficult people, and to praise him in the midst of all circumstances, even crazy family circumstances, but do you really think it’s possible to stay Christ-like, self-controlled and patient when life falls apart?” As a sensitive, easily-rattled person prone to ask this herself, …
A Time To Die?
Leaves litter the ground, reminding me how seasons bleed, one into the next, as quick as a blink, while God waits for us to catch new vision. I kick back on the swing, crunching my feet in fresh crisps of color as I mull over memories of my dear Aunt Shirley. How strange I can’t call her anymore. As sudden as a Minnesota temperature drop, her brain aneurism leaves my own brain reeling. I crumble squeeze a bright orange leaf, blink away pictures of us splashing together at her cottage, of us wizening from sun and water, coming out smelling …
The Beautiful Choice
Choices…. [box] God could have made us robots, marching to His heart, forced to love completely, obeying from the start. Instead He made us separate, with built-in modes for choice, so love would prove more precious when we finally hear His voice…[/box] I wrote this as a young teen in the trenches of a choices… I was the girl who believed if someone didn’t like her, there was something terribly wrong with her. Have you ever met someone who was so insecure about relationships that she sometimes controlled, manipulated, and strangled them? Love, by nature, can’t be forced; it necessitates choice. …
Secrets & Mysteries
I love talking to God in the morning when everyone’s asleep and it’s quiet, except for my husband’s snoring, (which reminds me how much I need to talk to God in the first place! <grin>) You can’t put a price tag on prayer. We get to connect with the God of the universe ~ the mysterious Father who gave us the Son who gave us the Spirit so we can connect back with the Father! “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” Job 11:6-8 Millions of books have been written on God, …
The Empty Fix
Lord, I marvel because… You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar… Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? Psalm 139:2,7 Jesus whispers: I am your greatest fan, but I do more than cheer you on, more than weep with your tears and shout with your victories. I celebrate you. When the world tries to empty you dry, I bathe you in living water, reminding you that in Me, you posess everything. I was stripped of My glory so you could wear My righteousness. In my …
When Misjudged
How would you feel if you embodied perfect love towards the people you created, and instead of them acknowledging you as God, they judged you as satanic? How patient would you be? Wouldn’t you want to get ‘em – or at least sit on their lunch!? That’s not what Christ felt, yet He was disrespected like no other. In response, He kept to His mission of loving, serving, dying and saving…. to make us more like Him. Did you know that you’re on a mission to make a world difference? If you bear the name of Christ (Christian), it’s not …
Are You a Fast Forgiver?
Someone once told me, “Never pray God makes you a good forgiver. He’ll bless you with a ton of practice opportunities!” And you know what? They were right. Forgiveness isn’t for cowards. It’s for those who want to be like Christ. I’m a fast forgiver, but (confession time), I’m also a fast pick-up-the-offenser! How do you let it go? By practicing. You need to keep letting it go whenever you “accidentally” pick it up. The voice of offense comes from the evil one, the “accuser”. The minute you hear it, you declare, “No! I choose to forgive as Christ forgives …
God Daydreams
Think your mind’s coursing with highways of thoughts? Imagine God’s. Only they’re not heavy thoughts. He’s bursting bright with light, beautiful thoughts of YOU! The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 Ever watch a mother sing over her newborn? Cradling him in her arms, she gazes at his tiny form, and washes him with the sweetness of her lullabies. Mostly he’s asleep so he doesn’t know it. In a rare moment of …
Naked Shame Reversed
One day when I was a kid, I saw a mother at the mall accidentally drop her baby. Strange, how these precise moments of horror permanently press themselves in our brains. I’ve never seen anyone actually step on a baby, but I’ve seen the next closest thing: someone step on grace. Like an innocent, valuable, vulnerable baby, the gift of God’s grace was both painful and costly; but we step on it whenever we sin. Why do such a thing? For the same reason many deny Christ: selfishness. The pull of sin is great. To accept Truth means to submit …
Pregnant with Empathy
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Isaiah 53:3 Hundreds of years B.C., the prophet Isaiah predicted Christ’s gruesome suffering. Unlike Christ, we humans rarely choose pain. We flee from it. Mothers accept pain to produce children, but have you ever noticed pain doesn’t stop then? Physical pain turns emotional when our beloved children make poor and costly decisions according to their “free will.” Jesus was pregnant with this type of pain as He gazed over the city, crying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to …
I AM with You
I squeeze this verse for comfort. Fear’s a menace to my mind. I’m no stranger to its power; Fierce, it lies me down half-bind. I’m no stranger to My Savior, whose right hand upholds me tight. As I grope for hope, half-doubting, trusted Love remakes me light. “Why are you downcast, O my soul? … Put your hope in God” Psalm 42:11 Talked to your soul, lately? David needed to remind himself that his loving, Sovereign God was with him. God wants you to know He’s with you too: I’m with you on the operating table. I’m with you in …
Divine Presence
In whirlwinds of confusion when cold questions press you tight, ask Me close and I will hold you by a love surpassing sight. You’re my treasure, bright with promise, and I live to see you reign. As we cross this bridge together, I will lead you through your pain.