I have read "The Shack" (as loyal readers here know) and I think it really showed how loving Jesus is. It's something that I often think about. Maybe I'm blasphemous or some might think I'm too full of myself and maybe that's so, but when I meet Jesus I don't have these visions of falling at His feet as so many people say they will (maybe I will, I don't know), but more of Him hugging me. Holding me so tight while I sob on His shoulder. Just comforting me. I don't know if that's the way it will happen but I know that having that vision comforts me here and now.
When I think of Jesus I think of a loving man. Trying to live my life as Jesus would inspires me to (try) be loving, caring, full of grace and mercy.
A lovely friend of mine just told me something in an email (you know who you are, I won't say who just in case) that just really sounded beautiful about Jesus.
You know, I've always wondered about Jesus weeping when He got to Mary and Martha and they told Him that Lazarus was already dead. Why did He cry when He knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead? I think perhaps part of the answer is that He felt sorrow for their sorrow and was letting us all know that it's okay to be down sometimes, knowing that there is joy behind the sorrow and that there will be victory in the end.
How beautiful is that? He really does love us. REALLY.
So I'm going to share some pictures of Jesus that make me see the love He has for us. I hope the pictures say more than a thousand of my words.
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God ALWAYS answers our prayers.
Just not always in the way we want Him to. ;)
When the idea is not right, God says, "No."
No-when the idea is not the best.
No-when the idea is absolutely wrong.
No-when though it may help you,
it could create problems for someone else.
When the time is not right, God says, "Slow."
What a catastrophe it would be if God answered every prayer at the snap of your fingers. Do you know what would happen? God would become your servant, not your master. Suddenly God would be working for you instead of you working for God.
Remember: God's delays are not God's denials. God's timing is perfect. Patience is what we need in prayer.
When you are not right, God says, "Grow."
The selfish person has to grow in unselfishness.
The cautious person must grow in courage.
The timid person must grow in confidence.
The dominating person must grow in sensitivity.
The critical person must grow in tolerance.
The negative person must grow in positive attitudes.
The pleasure-seeking person must grow in compassion for suffering people.
When everything is all right, God says, "Go."
Then miracles happen:
A hopeless alcoholic is set free!
A drug addict finds release !
A doubter becomes as a child in his belief.
Diseased tissue responds to treatment, and healing begins.
The door to your dream suddenly swings open and there
stands God saying, "Go!"
Excerpted from the Book: "Positive Prayers for Power Filled Living"
by Rev. Robert H. Schuller
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This is an excerpt from a book (title below) which I received in an email from Zondervan. It is a great way to find out if you might like a book or not, and to also hear some of God's wisdom right there in your inbox!
Anyway, I found it so true. So I'm sharing. :)
The Quandary of Love
Abandoned. Rejected. Abused. All of these are difficult to endure. Perhaps the most difficult, ironically, is feeling loved.
Giving up on, walking away from, or sabotaging a good thing-these are all easier options than loving. Truly letting someone in entirely and enduring their desire to love you, knowing they will love so imperfectly, is really very difficult.
We will let each other down terribly. We will hurt each other in the process of trying to love each other. We will have to endure flawed love. This is quite a dilemma.
I find an ounce of peace when I realize Jesus' twelve best friends were a bunch of narcoleptic, betraying doubters whom he loved and stuck with despite their shortcomings. He saw the good in them beyond the bad, and he let them sit very close to him, even though they asked dumb questions and were generically annoying at times.
That is grace, the most primary and necessary ingredient in love.
Loving has nothing to do with getting it right all the time. Loving-the real deal that only God can help us do-always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. That kind of gracious loving never fails.
-Leeana Tankersley, Found Art
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I've had one of those bad days today, when you are just in a foul mood and you just want to swear (not that I do these days) and throw things and just tell everyone to go away. Not for any particular reason, just "because".
So I decided to go through a folder I've had sitting on my desktop for ages that I keep popping video's (like the last one posted) or articles or documents that I want to read at some stage but don't have time when I find them.
Another such thing are these notes on FORGIVENESS that a friend gave me. She had heard Alan & Helen Meyer speaking or seen a DVD or something like that, and shared her notes with me.
I'd like to share them with you. And keep them here where I can read them over and over!
Forgiveness Notes (from Alan & Helen Meyer)
Careforce Life Keys Sessions
"Forgiveness breaks the shackles that have held us prisoner and allows us the freedom to become the person God intends us to be."
Forgiveness is a process and there will be times in your life when forgiveness takes two - God and you - especially when the cost is staggering, the pain unbearable and your own justifiable anger is swelling.
It will take all the strength to love and forgive that you can absorb from God. (Read Hebrews 12:15 & Colossians 3:13)
Remember… If you are not there right now, it is okay, but you need to work towards forgiveness. There is a power and strength beyond ourselves that enables us to forgive, but we must choose to move towards forgiveness to find the help God offers.
What forgiveness is NOT:
1. Forgiveness is not simply forgetting. Forgiving involves moving on to focus on others things, which means the event is less likely to enter our conscious thoughts.
2. It is not an occasion - it is a lifestyle. It means continually walking in grace. We need to remind ourselves that we forgive others as God has forgiven us.
3. It is not based on feeling - it is obedience. "I do it because the Lord commands me to." Acting first exercises the will. Emotions will follow, although a delay is consistent with the grieving process.
4. It is not earned. It is not conditional. It does not demand that the other person change before we forgive.
5. It is not pretending. …. that the event never happened.
6. It does not mean the other person was/is right. Forgiveness is not to surrender the truth, but a letting go of the power the circumstance or person has over us as long as we choose unforgiveness.
7. It does not mean the pain is instantly removed. You may still experience some emotional pain, but the bee sting will be removed. While your memory remains… the pain will diminish over time as healing occurs.
8. It does not mean the other person controls you. It does not mean personal boundaries are surrendered. Rather, healing through forgiveness enables healthy boundaries to be clarified and can provide strength to apply them to end manipulation and control.
What forgiveness IS:
1. Forgiveness means you are no longer attributing blame, but are willing to try to understand the dynamics of the events. Forgiveness is willingness to love through the offence.
2. Forgiveness means you no longer see the offender as indebted to you.
3. Forgiveness means giving up defending yourself.
4. Forgiveness exercises God's strength to love and receive the other person, without any assurance of complete restitution. We cannot control another person's reactions or behaviour, but we can choose our own.
5. Forgiveness is when love accepts - deliberately - the hurts and abrasions of life and drops all the charges against the other person. We recognise that life is not always fair….. so we lay aside the right or need to seek revenge.
6. Forgiveness means moving ahead with your life, rather that being controlled by the past.
7. Forgiveness is freely given. The greatest example of forgiveness is the cross of Jesus Christ. It is also our greatest source of comfort and helps us to move from our sense of justice, to an attitude of forgiveness.
Checklist for indicating if I HAVE actually reached a place of forgiveness….. or need to do some more work:
* Have I stopped secretly hoping they will get what they deserve?
* Have I stopped talking about them to others?
* Have I stopped replaying my revenge?
* Have I stopped frequently thinking about them and what they did?
* Am I glad when something good happens to them?
* Have I stopped blaming them for the outcome of my life?
* Do I feel sorry when something bad happens to them?
* Am I more at peace and comfortable with my feelings?
Pretty challenging, hey? I know it is for me.
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He Lives Within You
by Max Lucado
The virgin birth is more, much more, than a Christmas story; it is a picture of how close Christ will come to you. The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep within Mary for an answer.
Better still, look deep within yourself. What he did with Mary, he offers to us! He issues a Mary-level invitation to all his children. "If you'll let me, I'll move in!"
Proliferating throughout the scriptures is a preposition that leaves no doubt- the preposition in. Jesus lives in his children.
John was clear, "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them" (I John 3:24 NIV, emphasis mine).
Christ grew in Mary until he had to come out. Christ will grow in you until the same occurs. He will come out in your speech, in your actions, in your decisions. Every place you live will be a Bethlehem, and every day you live will be a Christmas. You, like Mary, will deliver Christ into the world.
God in us! Have we sounded the depth of this promise?
God was with Adam and Eve. God was with Abraham. God was with Moses and the children of Israel. God was with the apostles.
But he is in you. You are a modern-day Mary. Even more so. He was a fetus in her, but he is a force in you. He will do what you cannot.
Can't stop drinking? Christ can. And he lives within you.
Can't stop worrying? Christ can. And he lives within you.
Can't forgive the jerk, forget the past, or forsake your bad habits? Christ can! And he lives within you.
From Next Door Savior Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2003) Max Lucado
I love the way Max Lucado has written this. For some reason I always seem to relate most when I hear stories related to mothers and parenting (probably because I am both LOL).
My first big epiphany, when this blog started, was from a sermon that included one small comment about the "breast", and this devotional spoke to me similarly. God makes Himself tangible for me in ways that He knows I will understand. I feel ashamed that I struggle so much with my faith... believing... trusting... when He CLEARLY goes to so much trouble for me. Thank God (literally) for His grace. I pray that one day I can see why He loves me as much as He does.
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