O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
(click here to listen)
This is one of my favorite songs. The author George Matheson wrote it in 5 minutes and felt divinely inspired as the words just fell onto the page. To me, this song sums up the message of Jesus, the Gospel: His Love will not let us go. There is nothing we can do to avoid God's love. No matter what we have done or how little we may deserve it. We cannot escape it.
LOVE...
God is Love.
We cannot escape His Love.
His Love compels us (2 Corinthians 5:14).
Whoever doesn't Love doesn't know God (1 John 4:8).
We are able to Love because He Loved us (John 4:19).
And He came to save us because of Love (John 3:16).
One of the most humbling passages to me is in 1 Corinthians. It says if I could speak all languages of the earth and of angels but did not love others, I would be like a noisy cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom mysteries and have all knowledge and faith that can move mountains but I do not have love, I am nothing. It says if I sell all my belongings but I haven't loved, then I gain nothing.
Love keeps no record of wrongs.
Love never loses faith.
Love endures through every circumstance.
Love rejoices when truth wins.
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous, boastful, proud or rude.
Love always protects.
Love lasts forever.
LOVE...
This is really the only commandment we have to focus on. Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37). Then the second is that we are to love others as ourselves. There is no greater commandment above these (Mark 12:31).
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
WAIT
Isaiah 40:31
But they that WAIT upon the LORD
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.
Lately, God has been showing me how impatient I am. I was driving back from visiting family a couple of weeks ago and there was lots of traffic on 45. I saw the right lane was moving so I try to move lanes and of course as soon as I finally got over, the left lane started to move. I did this two more times until I realized I must be the deciding factor in which lane would move....whichever one I was in stopped! So I decided to exit and take the feeder that looked like it was moving nicely. But after a little time of cruising on the feeder, it stopped moving. Of course then I saw how now the highway was the place to be. If I had only been more patient, I would be moving instead of sitting!
Wait...I say this word a lot, mainly to my dog. I tell him to wait when he tries to get me up when my alarm goes off in the morning and I want to snooze for five more minutes. Wait, I tell him to before eating his food or getting a treat. Or when we are crossing a street. Or before leaving the house.
So I have noticed God slowing me down and telling me to wait as well. I want answers right away, but God says wait. I want to know how is everything going to turn out, and God says wait.
I remember something my grandmother said to me a month before she died last year at 100 years old:
"When you have God, you have everything you need. Everything else is just a surprise."
As I am waiting for things in my life and find myself being impatient, these wise words give me perspective and help me slow down. God has blessed me with His peace and His presence and has given me a new life. If I can wait and hope in the Lord, then I will be able to hear and follow Him.
If I can live with anticipation instead of expectation, then I won't be disappointed or in a hurry.
Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God.
But they that WAIT upon the LORD
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.
Lately, God has been showing me how impatient I am. I was driving back from visiting family a couple of weeks ago and there was lots of traffic on 45. I saw the right lane was moving so I try to move lanes and of course as soon as I finally got over, the left lane started to move. I did this two more times until I realized I must be the deciding factor in which lane would move....whichever one I was in stopped! So I decided to exit and take the feeder that looked like it was moving nicely. But after a little time of cruising on the feeder, it stopped moving. Of course then I saw how now the highway was the place to be. If I had only been more patient, I would be moving instead of sitting!
Wait...I say this word a lot, mainly to my dog. I tell him to wait when he tries to get me up when my alarm goes off in the morning and I want to snooze for five more minutes. Wait, I tell him to before eating his food or getting a treat. Or when we are crossing a street. Or before leaving the house.
So I have noticed God slowing me down and telling me to wait as well. I want answers right away, but God says wait. I want to know how is everything going to turn out, and God says wait.
I remember something my grandmother said to me a month before she died last year at 100 years old:
"When you have God, you have everything you need. Everything else is just a surprise."
As I am waiting for things in my life and find myself being impatient, these wise words give me perspective and help me slow down. God has blessed me with His peace and His presence and has given me a new life. If I can wait and hope in the Lord, then I will be able to hear and follow Him.
If I can live with anticipation instead of expectation, then I won't be disappointed or in a hurry.
Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
HE GIVES AND TAKES AWAY
Last November I wrote this story about what God was teaching me through my dog...and I'm so grateful that God healed him and that he is sitting by my side right now, one year later, in perfect health!
As I write this I am on a plane on my way to Omaha to visit my 5 month old niece, a trip I almost cancelled multiple times because my dog has been sick and it has put my life on hold. I had no idea how much I loved this 8 pound Maltese until I watched him start to slowly die; it just broke my heart. I asked God to either heal him or please take him, quickly. But He did neither. I had to face the unknown every day, and it was almost too much for me to handle as I struggled with the lack of control I had over the situation.
Day by day he got worse. After a bone marrow biopsy and a blood transfusion, he started to improve. But he wasn't quite the same and the effects of the strong medications he was on made him extremely hungry and thirsty. I was up all hours of the night some nights feeding him or taking him to the bathroom. I had a friend come let him out during the day because he started having accidents. I began to have extreme fatigue and often doubted that I even made the right decision to 'save' him. I remember crying in church one week as we sang the song "He gives and takes away...but I still choose to say, Oh, blessed be Your Name." And my eyes were opened to what God was trying to show me. I was hanging onto my sweet dog, and I knew I had to let him go and give him to God. He wasn't mine to keep forever.
Of course this opened the door to many conversations I started having with God about death and why we all die someday. I didn't like death very much and told him so. My heart was hurting so badly and I realized I hadn't cried this much since my divorce 5 years ago. Ironically, I had been protecting myself from relationships to avoid this exact pain! But God gently showed me that I can't hide from pain in this life, because then I would also miss out on love. And loving my dog was worth all the tears.
Jesus says there will be heartaches here on earth. We aren't in heaven yet. So there are still tears, There is sadness and suffering. There is death. There is pain. But Jesus has overcome all this! He brings peace in the midst of our struggles. He is there with us through the pain. I don't know how this part of my story will end, but I thanked God for blessing me with a little best friend these past four years. I told God I trusted Him and that He knew best. The most beautiful part of this painful experience is that God used my love of a sweet white fluffy dog to show me more of who He is and His amazing love for me.
Thank you, Lord when you give, and bless you even more when you take away, for that is when we see you more clearly than ever before. And where we learn that you are enough.
Job 1:21
Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.
As I write this I am on a plane on my way to Omaha to visit my 5 month old niece, a trip I almost cancelled multiple times because my dog has been sick and it has put my life on hold. I had no idea how much I loved this 8 pound Maltese until I watched him start to slowly die; it just broke my heart. I asked God to either heal him or please take him, quickly. But He did neither. I had to face the unknown every day, and it was almost too much for me to handle as I struggled with the lack of control I had over the situation.
Day by day he got worse. After a bone marrow biopsy and a blood transfusion, he started to improve. But he wasn't quite the same and the effects of the strong medications he was on made him extremely hungry and thirsty. I was up all hours of the night some nights feeding him or taking him to the bathroom. I had a friend come let him out during the day because he started having accidents. I began to have extreme fatigue and often doubted that I even made the right decision to 'save' him. I remember crying in church one week as we sang the song "He gives and takes away...but I still choose to say, Oh, blessed be Your Name." And my eyes were opened to what God was trying to show me. I was hanging onto my sweet dog, and I knew I had to let him go and give him to God. He wasn't mine to keep forever.
Of course this opened the door to many conversations I started having with God about death and why we all die someday. I didn't like death very much and told him so. My heart was hurting so badly and I realized I hadn't cried this much since my divorce 5 years ago. Ironically, I had been protecting myself from relationships to avoid this exact pain! But God gently showed me that I can't hide from pain in this life, because then I would also miss out on love. And loving my dog was worth all the tears.
Jesus says there will be heartaches here on earth. We aren't in heaven yet. So there are still tears, There is sadness and suffering. There is death. There is pain. But Jesus has overcome all this! He brings peace in the midst of our struggles. He is there with us through the pain. I don't know how this part of my story will end, but I thanked God for blessing me with a little best friend these past four years. I told God I trusted Him and that He knew best. The most beautiful part of this painful experience is that God used my love of a sweet white fluffy dog to show me more of who He is and His amazing love for me.
Thank you, Lord when you give, and bless you even more when you take away, for that is when we see you more clearly than ever before. And where we learn that you are enough.
Job 1:21
Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
TAKE MY HAND, NOT MY LIFE
WEEK 6 on the sidewalk:
As I look to the right as I'm standing on the sidewalk, this is the billboard that almost seems to stare down onto the planned parenthood building: "Take my hand, not my life."
Today marks the end of the my first 40 days for life. Across the country people have joined in prayer. Prayers to end abortion. Prayers for our doctors. Prayers for the clinic workers. Prayers for the mothers and fathers. Prayers for our nation. Prayers for healing and forgiveness. Prayer for mercy. Prayers for the souls of the unborn babies.
And these prayers have been heard! Many babies have been saved because of the prayers of intercession. It has been so inspiring to see others with the same passion God has placed on my heart.
I want to take a stand for life is because I realize how precious life is...how precious each life is to God. The God of the Universe knows me...He made me in my mother's womb. Just as he knows the day he created me, he also knows when my days here on Earth will be finished. My days may be numbered, but His thoughts about me cannot be numbered! I am grateful to know that my mistakes in life have been forgiven because I have faith in the saving power of Jesus. He is always with those who believe in Him.
One day we will all face our Creator, and every tongue will confess that He is God. If you don't know Abba, God our Father, I encourage you to ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He wants to know you. And knowing Him will change your life.
Psalm 139:13-18
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
As I look to the right as I'm standing on the sidewalk, this is the billboard that almost seems to stare down onto the planned parenthood building: "Take my hand, not my life."
Today marks the end of the my first 40 days for life. Across the country people have joined in prayer. Prayers to end abortion. Prayers for our doctors. Prayers for the clinic workers. Prayers for the mothers and fathers. Prayers for our nation. Prayers for healing and forgiveness. Prayer for mercy. Prayers for the souls of the unborn babies.
And these prayers have been heard! Many babies have been saved because of the prayers of intercession. It has been so inspiring to see others with the same passion God has placed on my heart.
I want to take a stand for life is because I realize how precious life is...how precious each life is to God. The God of the Universe knows me...He made me in my mother's womb. Just as he knows the day he created me, he also knows when my days here on Earth will be finished. My days may be numbered, but His thoughts about me cannot be numbered! I am grateful to know that my mistakes in life have been forgiven because I have faith in the saving power of Jesus. He is always with those who believe in Him.
One day we will all face our Creator, and every tongue will confess that He is God. If you don't know Abba, God our Father, I encourage you to ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He wants to know you. And knowing Him will change your life.
Psalm 139:13-18
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
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