to know His voice

I have lived with my roommate for only a few months, but I already know her. I know her voice, her quirks, the things she struggles with, the people she loves and respects, her tendencies and habits. Her character, her personality, her ways. I have a few other friends that I know in the same way: their character, personality, how they think, and even sometimes what they think. Some people I can read as if they were an open book to me. Others I can read like a VCR manual, I understand the words, but the way they are put together doesn't make much sense.

The same is true about my relationship with God. Over the years, I have learned to hear His voice, to recognize His touch, and to understand some basic truths of who He is.

There are so many revelations of God in His Word. The Bible boasts of His greatness, glory, honor, and character. We know that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8), that God's grace is sufficient for every repentant heart, and that His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We know that His name is above all other names (Philippians 2:9), that there is no other like Him (Jeremiah 10:6), and that His wisdom holds secrets that are hidden from before time began (I Corinthians 2:7). And for as much as we know about the LORD, our knowledge of Him is but a fraction of a grain of sand as held up to all the beaches on earth.

Though He is the mysterious master Creator who hung each star in the sky and calls them by name, He wants us to love Him, to trust Him, to know Him, and to worship Him. That thought alone sets my mind to wonder! God invites us to participate with Him in a vibrant dance of abundant life through His Son, Jesus Christ. Our amazing Heavenly Father bids each and every one of us to come to Him with questions, to be held by His love, to find peace, hope, and healing in His Son. He calls us to seek Him through prayer and to experience new revelations of Him through His Word and through the Holy Spirit.

The voice of all of creation shouts His praise! I encourage you to pause in this moment to consider Him...to respond to Him...to meditate on His glorious splendor. As you do, He will increasingly become the all-satisfying desire of your heart, while at the same time, He will stir up a hunger in your soul to know Him even more.

now is the winter of our discontent...

I'm finding myself discontent lately. I didn't know it was happening until recently. I knew something was a little... disconnected, but I didn't know what or why. Now I know. Even though I'm surrounded by friends, family, and people that love me very much, I find myself discontent with the state of my life. Quite frankly, it's a little lonely.

But why? Because I'm not married? Because I'm not in the stage of life I think I should be in? Because I might secretly blame God for keeping me in one place too long and that's apparently a bad thing? Or because I blame myself, as if I had the choice to move on to the next stage of life and I passed it up?

E: All of the above.

I want to be married and I'm not. That's that. I see people who are the next stage of life and I want to be there. I'm tired of the problems that come with my current stage and I'm ready for new challenges. Yes, I do blame God. He's in control, isn't He? This is His show after all. And yes, I blame myself. I've had two distinct opportunities to move on to the next stage of life and I didn't.

But here's the thing about all that: if I'm not faithful with what I have been given in this stage, I won't be given anything new. If I'm not content with God in my current stage of life, I'm not going to be content in the next stage. Yes, God is in control, and He's a lot wiser than I am and He knows that moving me too quickly through life isn't going to turn out well for me. The decisions I've made in the past, I made after consulting a wise counsel and had a peace about them. Blaming myself now for making the right decisions then just seems silly, but you just saw me do it a paragraph ago.

The point is this: we, as humans, are pretty much stupid when it comes to what is best for us. Yeah, we make a right decision every now and then, but statistically, we're not good at running our own lives.

While I have been searching for contentment, the thought of asking God for it hadn't really entered my mind until today. I mean, praying for God to help me be content in Him... it just seems kinda wrong. Shouldn't my own contentment be something I can handle on my own? No, that's the point! We can't handle it! Something as huge as our own contentment, we cannot, nor should we try, to handle!

Here's what David said about it:

Psalm 62:5-8

⁵ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. ⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. ⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. ⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

David pretty much ordered his own soul to find its rest in God and then told it why God was worthy. David then moves from his own soul to all his peoples souls. Basically, David says "do this, because God will never let you fall." Is that a good enough reason to find my contentment in God? Simply because He's trustworthy? I can honestly say that I have tried to find my contentment in things other than God and have ended up very disappointed and discontent with myself and the world. But shouldn't I find my contentment in God because that's where it really is? Shouldn't I rest in God because I love Him and He loves me? My human heart doesn't always understand that.

Later, David says this:

Psalm 86:11-12

¹¹ Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. ¹² I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.

David has to ask to be taught God's ways. He had to ask for an undivided heart so that he could love God as God should be loved and that he could fear God the way God should be feared.

My prayer today is this: that God would see fit to give me this undivided heart so that I can long for the things God longs for in my life. So that I would be able to see how He sees and help people and glorify God the way God should be glorified. I stink of humanity and sin and that hinders me from praising the Eternal God the way He should be praised. But that doesn't hinder me from asking that God make my heart whole so that He can use it for His glory.

I think I'll work on a drawing/painting to illustrate this "whole heart" idea...

With who's voice do you speak?

Last night was our first night of prayer for Genesis and the Tacketts. There were eight people and God. It was good. And a few things were revealed that night. Some to me, some to Lewis. For Lewis, the power of prayer in his life and in the life of his future pastor came to a new light and he felt compelled to do something about it. I smiled at the man of God I saw in him last night. And while Lewis was talking about God doing something, although he did not know what, God was whispering in my ear and showing me a glimpse at what the end result will look like in both Lewis and CT's lives. I'm pretty sure I giggled.

For me, it was something different. Yes, the power of prayer, but also the voice with which we as Christians speak. We can speak with our voice and things get accomplished. But Psalm 29 talks about the voice of God and all that it can accomplish.

³ The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.

⁴ The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.

⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶ He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷ The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.

⁸ The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

⁹ The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

All this is accomplished simply by His voice! What a voice it is! What could we accomplish if we spoke with the voice of God? Meaning, how would lives, our own and of those around us, change if we spoke only what God told us to speak and then speak it with the power and authority that He has given us? How would our own lives change if we listened for the voice of God before we listened for the voice of Oprah or Dr. Phil to tell us how to live? There is a truth in the voice of God that is unparalleled!

Last night I prayed for Genesis, Craig, Brittany, and Tyler. I prayed for the people in the room with me, I prayed for people that were not there, and I prayed for myself. I prayed that I would be able to see the truth in the people around me, that I would be able to see truth like a shining light and run from any darkness. I have recently been fighting against a disillusionment that I had with a few different pastors to whom I listen. It bothered me for a while that what they were saying was not original, that it came from some other pastor. I think it bothered me most because they seemed to own what they were saying to such an extent that I hadn't even thought for a second where they learned it. But God reminded me that there is nothing new under the sun and just because they didn't personally think up these good things, that does not devalue what they were saying. The voice with which they spoke was so powerful, I didn't even stop to think where the information came from, only that it was right. Part of that scares me and prompted me to pray to see truth. The wool has been pulled over my eyes in the past and I have no desire to reenact that scene. God has given me a lot of discernment over the years, but I know I need to be closer to Him, to be engulfed in Him.

Here's a song that's been speaking to me a lot lately:

Burn Us Up by Shane & Shane

There were three
Before the king
There were three who wouldn’t bow to him
For when you heard
The music play
And you were standing you would burn.
They looked at him and said…

Burn us up! Burn us up! Burn us up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire
We give up! We give up! We give up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire!
Won’t you throw us in the fire!

The king enraged
At what they said
Sent the three away to find their death
The palace stopped in unbelief
When the guilty raised their hands to sing
They looked at him and said…

You are able to deliver from the fire of affliction
It’s the declaration of my Lord
You’re not an image of gold
You’re the God of old
You have made us
Come and save us
We are Yours
But even if You don’t, we will burn!

Thoughts On Tuesday Night

"Love, Hate, Cling" This was how our Tuesday night C&C Bible study began. Love. Hate. Cling.

Here a just a few highlights:

Romans 12:9 (NIV) "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good."

When we ask "how are you?", do we really care or are we fulfilling a social expectation?

Romans 12:9 (NLT) "Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them."

"We are all like the moon, we all have a dark side we don't want anyone to see."

Where does sincere love come from?

1 Timothy 1:5 (NLT)" The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith"

Sincere love comes from a pure heart, clear conscience, and a genuine or sincere faith. How do we come into posession of a pure heart?

Acts 15:8 (NIV) "God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us."

Only when we give our heart to God can He make it pure and put it back in us. But what is sincere love? What is our example to follow (here's a real kick in the pants!)

1 John 4:7-11 (NIV) ⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Read it again. God's love is how ought to love! Do we? Do we really? Not even a little. Jesus is our standard for how to love others and His love was always outwardly focused.

Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV) ³⁷Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

No where in there does Jesus say, "but make sure you take some time to love yourself". He didn't need to, we've got that down pat! We can love ourselves like no other creature on this planet! No, Jesus says that love should be always pointed outward. First to God and then to others.

Outwardly focused love and outwardly focused manifestations of that love, without hypocrisy.

Think on it, it'll blow your mind!!

something new for me

Genesis 18:1-15

The Three Visitors

¹ The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. ² Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³ He said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. ⁴ Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant."
"Very well," they answered, "do as you say."

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread."

⁷ Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

⁹ "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him.
"There, in the tent," he said.

¹⁰ Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

¹³ Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

¹⁵ Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh."
But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."

Some things I never realized about this passage until today: there were three men standing there, yet it says that the LORD came to see Abraham. Abraham bowed before all three and addressed them as one, yet he knew there were three men standing before him because he prepared three loaves of bread. Could this be the second appearance of our three-in-one God? (the first being in the first few verses of Chap. 1). Also, Abraham seemed to understand that all three men were God, all three were his LORD. How did he know this? Did God sit him down and explain triune theology and it just didn't get recorded? We're only in chapter 18 of the Bible and yet Abraham seems to know things he really shouldn't know. How is this possible? Am I reading it wrong? Please, someone smarter than me give some insight.

what kind of disciple am I really?

Last night was Rhythm (just in case some of you actually missed my facebook/twitter status proclaiming it) and Craig talked about the last supper. He showed images that are forever burned in our memory. Pictures of the Twin Towers, Pearl Harbor, Iwa Jima, and the Veteran's Memorial Wall. As a Navy brat with every branch of the military represented in my family, these pictures mean something special to me and most make my eyes well up with tears when I think about them. Craig's point was this: These pictures bring certain thoughts to our minds, we remember them. Do we remember the cross in the same way? Do we see the white sheet covering the cup and the bread in the front of the church and remember the sacrifice of our Lord? Or do we smile because we know the sermon today will be a little shorter than normal?

He also said this and it pinged my spirit: At the crucifixion, one disciple died, nine ran away in sheer terror, one made it halfway to the cross and then had to stop, and only one out of twelve made it all the way to the cross and stood by Mom's side as her Son was crucified. One out of twelve! Only John made it all the way. When the cards were down, only John was able to go all the way. One out of the twelve men who had walked by His side and saw His tears, His laughter, and His love first hand for three whole years! One out of twelve.

God asked me: what kind of disciple will you be? Will you let yourself take the easy way out and die? Will you run away? Will you not have the strength to make it all the way? Or will you follow me, even to the cross? With tears in my eyes, I answered, I want to be the one who makes it. I want to be at Your feet, regardless of whether they are bloody, dirty, or white as snow. I asked what I had to do to make it. And He said, clear as day, "stay at your post. read scripture. love my children. talk to me. use your gifts." (which by the way is straight out of 1 Timothy 4:13-16).

It was a great night, regardless of any peripheral things happening (and they did happen), God came, God spoke, and God changed my heart even more towards Him.

The podcast will be up here at some point.

Get real

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:19-24 NIV).

Are we brave enough to be real and honest with God? We might as well be; He knows our hearts inside and out anyway. A. W. Tozer, in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, wrote:

How unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us; or enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us.

God knew the real me before I even knew myself. David wrote, "Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD" (Psalm 139:4 NIV). Knowing what He knew and knows, it is a wonder that He even gives me the time of day. And to think, He gives us the time of our lives!

Jeremiah was a mighty man of God who was not afraid to be real before His maker. He wrote, "I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of His wrath. He has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not in light. Surely against me He has turned His hand repeatedly all the day. He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. In dark places He has made me dwell, like those who have long been dead" (Lamentations 3:1-6 NASB).

Jeremiah was mad and he was mad at God. As far as he was concerned, God was the cause of all his problems. He felt trapped and afraid. He continues, "He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chains heavy. Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. He is to me like a bear lying in wait like a lion in secret places. He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate...So I say, 'My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord'" (vv.7-11, 18 NASB).

Jeremiah was in a bad situation...mostly because he had a wrong perception of God. God did not make him to walk in darkness, cause his flesh to waste away, or break his bones. God had not encompassed him with bitterness or hardship. But Jeremiah had allowed his perception to be skewed by his circumstances.

Even though what Jeremiah had to say was incorrect and certainly painted a bad picture of God, he was able to be real about what he was feeling. Jeremiah did not feel the need to put on a holy mask before an all-knowing God. And you know what? God didn't strike him dead for being real and saying what was on his heart.

Before we leave poor Jeremiah, let's notice what happens at the end of his lament. He begins to remember all the times that God had been faithful. "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's loving kindnesses are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I have hope in Him'" (vv. 21-22 NASB).

Jeremiah cleaned the clutter out of his emotional closet and rediscovered the treasures he had forgotten were there. His circumstances didn't change. God didn't change. But his attitude and perception of God changed and his emotions followed close behind.


Let's Pray
Dear LORD, sometimes I whine and complain and blame You for all sorts of trouble in my life. The truth is, I live in a fallen world where bad things happen and I make poor decisions. Help me to remember that Your ways are always loving and always kind. Help me to recall Your great deeds in my life! Thank you that Your mercies are new every morning! Great is Your faithfulness!

In Jesus' Name,
Amen


Now It's Your Turn
Have you been complaining to God about your circumstances lately?

Have you been blaming God for the difficult circumstances and forgetting to praise Him for the blessings?

Stop right now and offer up a pray of praise to God for all the wonderful deeds He has performed in your life. The gift of eternal life would be a great place to start.

Joseph and Paul.... praying for others.... a big smile!

Of all the men in the Bible, of all the examples I would want to follow besides Jesus, Joseph and Paul are the top two for me.

I think what I like most about these men was their ability to allow God to shine through their own imperfections. Their lives certainly weren't perfect though: both men made mistakes in their lives, both were a little cocky during their younger years, both spend time in prison, both had unique talents that they used for God. Yes, they were clearly anointed men, Joseph interpreting dreams and Paul preaching the Word with such passion and insight. But they had other talents as well.

Joseph was extremely organized and an amazing administrator, he had to be. It's not easy running a country on the verge of famine, but he did it. God used Joseph's divine talent of dream interpretation to put him in a position to use the earthly talents that God had been cultivating in Joseph his whole life through working for Potiphar, and holding a position in the jail, even through working with his father and brothers. Joseph was cultivated from a very early age to understand the importance and the many nuances of the role of administrator.

Paul was just plain brilliant. The pure knowledge that man held in his head amazes me! He knew the law like the back of his hand, he knew traditions, expectations, rules, and regulations. And he knew God. And he knew which one was most important. When Paul became a Christian, he went and spent time with the disciples because he knew that he needed to relearn things. He understood himself and God enough to know how to position himself to best learn what he needed to know. Both of these men used their God-given abilities, both natural and supernatural, to honor, obey, and glorify God. While I'm on Paul, I read Eph 1 this morning and learned how to pray for my friends and loved ones! Check it out!

How to pray for your friends and loved ones according to Paul (Eph. 1):

1. Do not stop giving God thanks for them and their faith and love for God and for others.

2. Continually pray for them; for God to give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they can know Him better.

3. Pray that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (1:18).

4. Pray these things also for yourself.

Daily Verses: Psalm 56; 57:7-10; 59:16-17

Psalm 56 (New Living Translation)

 ¹ O God, have mercy on me,
      for people are hounding me.
      My foes attack me all day long.
 ² I am constantly hounded by those who slander me,
      and many are boldly attacking me.
 ³ But when I am afraid,
      I will put my trust in you.
 ⁴ I praise God for what he has promised.
      I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
      What can mere mortals do to me?

 ⁵ They are always twisting what I say;
      they spend their days plotting to harm me.
 ⁶ They come together to spy on me—
      watching my every step, eager to kill me.
 ⁷ Don’t let them get away with their wickedness;
      in your anger, O God, bring them down.

 ⁸ You keep track of all my sorrows.
      You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
      You have recorded each one in your book.

 ⁹ My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help.
      This I know: God is on my side!
 ¹⁰ I praise God for what he has promised;
      Yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.
 ¹¹ I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
      What can mere mortals do to me?

 ¹² I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,
      and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
 ¹³ For you have rescued me from death;
      you have kept my feet from slipping.
   So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
      in your life-giving light.

Psalm 57:7-10 (New Living Translation)

 ⁷ My heart is confident in you, O God;
      my heart is confident.
      No wonder I can sing your praises!
 ⁸ Wake up, my heart!
      Wake up, O lyre and harp!
      I will wake the dawn with my song.
 ⁹ I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
      I will sing your praises among the nations.
 ¹⁰ For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
      Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Psalm 59:16-17 (New Living Translation)

 ¹⁶ But as for me, I will sing about your power.
      Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.
   For you have been my refuge,
      a place of safety when I am in distress.
 ¹⁷ O my Strength, to you I sing praises,
      for you, O God, are my refuge,
      the God who shows me unfailing love.

Claim God's love and power for yourself every morning! It's not selfish, it's self-preservation. It's love, and love wins every time!!

Unbelievable Love

by Cindi Wood

Today's Truth
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" 1 John 3:1 (NKJV)

Friend to Friend
Last week our boys came home. They are grown, married, and live hours away from us, so it was a BIG DEAL that they were coming home for the weekend. The entire week before, I was busy preparing their rooms, shopping for little surprises, baking their favorite foods, and just pretty much consumed with the thought that we'd all be together having fun and just hanging out for an entire weekend. And that, we did! We bowled, ate out, ate in, stayed up late, played games, and sat in the den talking and laughing. For two and a half days, our entire purpose for being seemed to be enjoying each other's company. As we locked hands in prayer before they headed back home to their wives, my heart was about to burst with the wonder of love. Through blurred vision, their dad and I watched them drive away. "It's hard to believe how much I love them so deeply, so unconditionally, just deep down in the core of my being," I said.

Then God spoke softly to my heart. "That's how I love you, but more!"

It really is hard for us to believe God loves us unconditionally, isn't it? How can a perfect and holy God love someone like me? I am learning a valuable and life-changing truth. God does not love us because He is so lovable, friend. He loves us because He is love!

Today, celebrate the fact that you are a child of God, a son or daughter of the King -- and you are loved.

Let's Pray
O Father, I just can't get my mind around Your love. As deep as my love is for my boys, it's unfathomable to me that Your love is deeper. But I know it is. You love me -- even me, with all my junk, my failures, my sins, and my messes. You love me deeply, unconditionally, and from the core of Your being. You are God. You are love. And Lord, my heart bursts with love for You. Thank You, oh thank You!

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Precious friend, it's important that you accept the reality of God's love - for YOU! You may feel unlovable, unworthy, unclean, and undeserving -- but that does not negate His love. He loves you because you are His creation. Right now, you may pray this simple prayer to God your Creator. Dear God, I don't understand how you could love me, but I accept the fact that You do. Teach me more about Your love so that I may love others in the way You love me.

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

feelings vs. facts

You know, I've been through a lot in my life. I'm 28 years old and I feel like there's not a feeling that I haven't felt. But as I process this thought, I hope it's not true. I know what I have felt thus far in my life, and much of it wasn't all that great. I've been everywhere from suicidally depressed to so happy that words actually failed me (strange thought, I know). But I know that this cannot be all there is. It just can't be!

But this I do know and what I really wanted to blog about: feelings do not change facts. I'll say it again: Feelings do not change facts. I may feel happy one day and sad the next, but that doesn't mean that God has moved away from me or that anything has changed in my relationship with Him. It just means that I'm a human female with fickle emotions.

I may feel like I'm alone, but that doesn't mean that God has gone away.
I may feel like no one loves me, but there is ample evidence to the contrary.
I may feel like scared about a situation, but doesn't mean that God's not in complete control of it.
I may feel down on myself, but that doesn't mean that I'm not still created in the wonderful image of God and He has created me a specific way for His glory.
I may feel unsure, but doesn't mean that God is not leading me by my hand.

Feelings do not change fact. Regardless of what you feel, God loves you, Jesus died for you, and wants nothing more than to have a relationship with you. And you can take that to the bank!

definitions of God's transforming love

Beside each one, write your own definition and thoughts.

We call it mercy - it is God's forgiving love.
We call it fate - it is God's caring love.
We call it kindness - it is God's accepting love.
We call it death - it is God's proven love.
We call it the plan of God - it is God's perfect love.
We call it heaven - it is God's rewarding love.
We call it eternity - it is God's unending love.



My personal definition and thoughts:

We call it mercy - it is God's forgiving love.

With tears of love shining in His eyes, God looked down on His daughter and knew that she loved Him through her imperfects, through her faults. She fell to her knees and begged for forgiveness for her weaknesses. He scooped her up in His strong arms and held her close, knowing that she would always be His.

We call it fate - it is God's caring love.

"Look at my hands, at my feet, at my side" Jesus said. "Look how much I love you! If I didn't love you, you would have sustained these wounds, you would have died and not risen." She fells to her knees at the feet of her Lord and cried tears of joy for His life, thankfulness for His gift, love for His love.

We call it kindness - it is God's accepting love.

She tired everything for love, searched everywhere- even in the wrong places. All she wanted was to be loved and accepted, was that too much to ask? She didn't think so. She had jumped through every hoop imaginable. She had done things she never thought she would do. She had changed everything about herself multiple times in the search for acceptance. But it never lasted. Sooner or later, everyone let her down. She came to a crossroads, which path should she choose? She sat in the parking lot at Walmart, not sure if she was going to go in a buy a Bible or the 4 bottles of pills that she would go home and swallow. She had the radio on some random station, anything to drown out the noise of her own thoughts. She laid her head back on the head rest and said to the ceiling of the car "Someone stop me". She closed her eyes, hearing the DJ on the radio, hand going to the key to turn the car off and go inside. Music started to play, "A choice is set before you now." One line of a song stopped her hand. "living or dying, blessing or cursing" She cried.

A choice is set before you now
living or dying, blessing or cursing
You know, the time has come around
to turn from your fighting
and rest in his mercy

chorus
Choose life, that you might live
the life that He gives
He gives you forever
Choose life, the way that it's true
from the one who chose you
your father in Heaven
Choose life

Trust the Lord with all your heart
all of your soul and all of your being
Hold on, listen and obey
surrender your life into His keeping

chorus

And the weight you're under
will be lifted away
And the world will wonder
what happened here today
then you'll stand right here and say

chorus

(Choose Life by Big Tent Revival)

She went inside and bought a Bible, a journal, and a Bible study book.

We call it death - it is God's proven love.

He looked down from the cross and saw her. In indescribabe pain, He closed His eyes and saw her, saw everyone. Every person danced before His amazing eyes and He loved them all. He lifted His eyes towards Heaven and, in His pain, called out to His Father. The Father stared at His Son, waiting for His human heart to stop beating before letting the Son continue His work. Love and sorrow flowed through the air as His body was taken from the cross and placed in Joseph's tomb. Love brought tears to the eyes of His followers as they mourned Him. Love sparkled in the air like electricity when He rose!

We call it the plan of God - it is God's perfect love.

Why do we spend so much time worrying about what's going to happen next in our lives? Why do we plan so far into the future that by the time it actually rolls around, we've forgotten what we had planned? Women are really good at this. We love to plan things. We can see a total stranger across the room, like him, and in seconds, in our minds, build an entire life together. We can see the children, house, dog, and cat we would have together. Our imaginations can really fly when let loose. But why do we do this? Do we not realize that God's plan is better? Our plans are fueled with selfishness and greed, things WE want, people WE love, and a life WE want to have. But God's plans are fueled by a perfect, selfless love that wants to give us a hope and a future.

We call it heaven - it is God's rewarding love.

Where will you go when you die? Do you know? Do you care? I've met people who didn't know and were scared; people who knew and were scared; people who didn't care and felt nothing; people who knew and were secure in their knowledge, but should have been scared; and people who were secure and safe and right. It's easy to say, "yeah, I'm going to heaven", but why are you going there? Is it because of something you've done that was just so incredibly wonderful that God cannot possibly keep you out? Is it because you said a prayer when you were a kid and only think about it at Christmas and Easter? Or is it because of God's love that bathes you daily, showering you in His light? God wants that none should perish, His greatest desire is for us to know Him, I mean really know Him! But people will perish. It's a sad but true fact that people will die and go to Hell for all eternity because, even though God's desire was to save them, they did not let themselves be saved. Pride truly does go before the fall.

We call it eternity - it is God's unending love.

"How long is forever?" a little girl asked her grandfather. The man smiled at the innocence of his beloved granddaughter.

"Well" he began, pointing the far off blue mountain top just visible on the horizon. "You see that mountain way way out there?"

She squinted in the sunset, "Yeah, is it that far?"

"It's farther than that" he replied.

"How much farther?"

"Farther than we can see. What brought this on? Why are you thinking about forever things?"

"Well, in Sunday school this morning, Ms. B said that God will love me forever. I just wanted to know how long that was going to be."

He gently wrapped the little girl in his arms, "God will love you your whole life and then after you die, He will love you so much that He will want you to live with Him in Heaven."

The little girl sighed happily, "I like that."

Lamentations 3:19-33

Lamentations 3:19-33 (New Living Translation)

¹⁹ The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words
²⁰ I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
²¹ Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:

²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
²⁶ So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
²⁷ And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:

²⁸ Let them sit alone in silence
beneath the Lord’s demands.
²⁹ Let them lie face down in the dust,
for there may be hope at last.
³⁰ Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
and accept the insults of their enemies.

³¹ For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
³² Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.

Lamentations 3:19-33 (Shanna’s Personal Version)

¹⁹ Thinking back over my past, remembering my complete and utter loneliness makes me throw up my in my mouth a little bit. ²⁰ I will never be able to wipe the memory of those feelings and how I tried to hurt myself, of all the time I spent completely useless to God. ²¹ And yet, I can still have hope, because I know this:

²² God’s love is always faithful and never ending! His favor will always rest on me! ²³ His faithfulness to us is renewed every morning, it’s that great! ²⁴ I say to myself, “God is my prize; my heart and my hopes are safe with Him.”

²⁵ My God is a good shepherd, gracious to those who depend on Him, to those who are searching for Him. ²⁶ So I will wait expectantly for Him and for my salvation. I will not try to impress Him with my knowledge or good works. It’s not like that’s going to do any good anyway. ²⁷ I’m glad I began this journey when I was young, even though I went my own way somewhere in between now and then.

²⁸ I’m learning to sit quietly and not talk God’s ear off; I’m learning to listen. ²⁹ I’m realizing just how little I am; I’m learning how to humble myself before God. ³⁰ I’m learning to be meek without being a doormat. I’m learning how to love my enemies.

³¹ God has never left me and never shall leave me. ³² Even through the lessons He knows I need to learn, He shows such love and compassion on me! ³³ God doesn’t ever want to hurt me; it’s not in His character. He loves me, wants the best for me, and much like a parent, must teach the child for the child’s own good. I would much rather learn a lesson from a God who loves me than a cruel world who wants to kill me.