On my walk this morning with Molly, we came across a butterfly on the ground that looked like it had a broken wing and was having trouble flying. It made me very sad to see and I contemplated about how many of us have those same broken wings. We used to fly, but lately have just become a broken mess. Sometimes it doesn't take much to break us in this life and when we are broken we feel alone and abandoned and have to ask if GOD is near.
Feeling alone doesn't have to be when we realize that GOD is close to the brokenhearted. Psalm 34:18 says: "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Abiding with HIM and gazing upon GOD'S goodness for HIS children is vital to a restoration of that very brokenness.
Isn't there a way that we can be broken together? Surrounding someone who is broken with love and compassion is not that difficult to do......prayers help, but what about just being WITH them? What about just listening and loving? Sharing in people's brokenness is living out what CHRIST did in HIS ministry. HE had a way of restoring any one's broken situation and no person who was in HIS presence ever left HIM the same way. They were healed and transformed. We have the ability as the Body of Christ to come alongside and lift each other up more than we realize.
When it comes to encouraging each other or loving on each other, never discount what you can do. Sometimes the simplest gesture can mean the most to someone. GOD has HIS way of using us on this earth to comfort and sustain......to show grace and mercy......and to love with an unconditional love.
When we are broken, we either want to run away or we try to stuff it thinking we are strong enough to withstand our circumstances. But without our GOD and the borrowed grace and hope from others, we will continue on that broken path for a very long time. You can't go it alone when you are broken and some people try to do this! When you ask someone, "how are you?" pay attention to the ones who say "fine." Are they really? I like to say then, "no really: how ARE you?"
Because HIS mercies are new each morning, we need to be still and wait. We can wait and expect someone to come to our aid, and eventually someone will. But the LORD is always there, always available to us in our brokenness. HIS comfort can be immediate, all we need to do is ask.
We are the Body of Christ, therefore, let us notice those who aren't or those who are suffering or broken. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." This is where we can be broken together, love together and comfort those who are hurting......GOD doesn't ever ignore brokenness in HIS children, and neither should we.
PSALM 147:3 "HE heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
A few days ago as I was sitting in my backyard I could hear the peck, peck, peck of a woodpecker somewhere. It took me a bit to find him, but finally I spotted him way up in a palm tree and his pecks were like this: 1.....123.....1.... 1234 and so on. It reminded me about the number of our days and how GOD has those days in HIS good book. HE alone knows how many we each have left on this earth and it probably is a good thing that we don't know or else we wouldn't get out of bed each morning! As I grow older I am learning not to waste a day to something meaningless, but to live each day in the present and to live it to the fullest!
JOB 14:16 says: "For now YOU number my steps." GOD knows the number of my steps taken daily so why wouldn't HE not know the number of my days? I wonder how we grieve HIM when we spend our precious time on worthless events or things? Investing my time in the things that matter for eternity is all about living each day with intention. I can choose to live my life for HIM or for myself. My investment here, my living in GOD'S will, can make a difference in eternity for sure.
PSALM 90: 12 says: "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." I want to have a heart full of wisdom, but not mine, because only GOD'S wisdom is certain and true. I pray that each day I gain a little more from HIM by living in HIS grace and learning to have more of a heart just like JESUS. But living one day at a time to the fullest takes practice in keeping your eyes on the prize. Living with a thankful heart makes each day full because of HIS gifts and numbering them, just like numbering our days, becomes an intentional act of worship, love and hope. As I number......I worship with praise.
I pray the next time you mark another day off of your calendar that you see the day for what it was: an incredible gift of love from our Creator who never leaves us or forgets why HE loves us. HE sends us a new day each morning with possibilities and grace for us. Let us love the number of our days, with intentional living.....living with much hope, much love, and even the joy that each day can bring. Since the LORD numbers our days, may we number them even more with intentional living and continually abiding in HIM with every step we take!
JOB: 38:37 "Who can number the clouds by wisdom?"
I don't know about you, but some days I feel burdened by all the hard stuff in life. Sometimes I have to ask "why LORD?".......why does life have to be so hard for some and so easy for others.
I also ask what can I search for that will outweigh all the evil burdens of this world.....whom or what? The whom, our LORD JESUS CHRIST, is only an arm's length away from me. So why do I push HIM away sometimes when HE is the only answer?
This time of year with Easter only a day away, we should be focused on the Cross. All of our searching for answers ultimately leads us there. The Cross and all it stands for is the answer for all that is broken in this world. This side of Heaven is only that: brokenness.
When Christ left the disciples HE told them to "go" and be a light in this dark world. We who are filled with the Holy Spirit should shine above all others in a way that those who don't know CHRIST will want to have what we embody. In order for us to shine we need to be a GOD CHASER.....let us seek HIM with all our hearts and all our souls. Try to be that JOY that someone needs to see today. Keep seeking HIM and HIS HOLY SPIRIT will fill you up with what you need to shine to others.
When we are looking for what outweighs the tough stuff of this world we will ultimately see that it is the CROSS. At this time of year let us never forget why CHRIST died for us. HE died to take away the sins of the world. Let us take comfort and joy from that fact! And let us shine for HIM every day and for HIS HOLY sacrifice for us all!
HAVE A BLESSED EASTER!
PSALM 67:1 "GOD be merciful to us and bless us, and cause HIS face to shine upon us."
When most of us think of treasure we think of something like the picture above......a treasure chest full of wonderful and beautiful treasures that are worth something. Recently GOD has been showing me that there is a secret lifelong treasure when you are seeking and looking for HIS gifts given to you each day.....it is a type of "sleuthing for HIS glory" as Ann Voskamp would put it.
She says the best way to do this is to "name" those gifts......like writing them down in a notebook and making a list. We really don't see or notice how much our GOD gives us daily until we start naming and listing with pen and ink.
I have made mental notes, a type of mental list, but then after a day or two, who can remember? It is the listing of the gifts, the intentional writing them down, that gives those gifts meaning and it is the thankful worship of those gifts that makes the whole process HOLY. HE gives daily and I need to receive and thank daily. My thankfulness to my GOD becomes a HOLY worship in and of itself. May you start each day with this kind of thankful worship of HIM.
As I move along in my walk with GOD, HE continues to convict my heart to search and see and sleuth for HIS love and glory. How many of us just go through the motions each day? When you have nothing to show for all your work at the end of a long day, except exhaustion, something is wrong with the way you are living out your day. You may say, well, I just didn't have time to list the gifts. But I say, GOD took the time to send you those gifts and when you don't list them, you miss them because you don't really stop to "see" them.
I have a sign above my kitchen window that reads: "Remember the day's blessings, forget the day's troubles". If I love and rely on my GOD, then HE takes care of those troubles since each day has enough trouble of it's own......so what am I left with? Blessings, for sure!
I challenge you then to make your own list using a notebook......naming takes practice and listing takes conviction. But I'll bet before you know it, your list will be long and wonderful and you will realize how much GOD'S hand is on your life, one day at a time, and one gift at a time. A thankful heart is a full heart that worships GOD wholeheartedly! GOD loves us so much that HE gave the ultimate GIFT, HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. How much more will HE give you as you live your life? And how much more HE gives us with the ultimate gift of eternal life!
1 Corinthians 7:7 "But each man has his own gift from GOD; one has this gift, another has that."
Blessings,
One of my most favorite things to do is to meet a girlfriend at a quaint coffee shop for some girl time and yes coffee. Somehow it always tastes better to me! Coffee time becomes a time to reflect and the face time with a friend is a treasure to me......so is the laughter!
Recently I read the following: "Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction. Break the habit.... talk about your Joys instead." Wow, that kinda hit me like a brick!
So I had to take stock and look at myself to see if I really was a complainer and addicted to talking about my problems. I must admit I have had my moments as we all have and I know that talking about my problems as if they are more important than my joys must be displeasing to GOD. I wonder what HE thinks when we complain about our lives in general, when in reality we already have everything we need. Shouldn't we want above all HIS forgiveness and love, HIS grace and mercy?
Have you noticed though, that we really have turned into a society of complainers? People will find something wrong with a stick! It's that "yeh but" that gets me. The flowers are beautiful, yeh but, it's going to rain tomorrow kind of thing.
I feel more recently that GOD is showing me every JOY that comes across my path. I started to look and count these blessings as small touches from a HOLY GOD and something changed within me. Viewing the world around me and myself through a GOD lens takes some practice. It is the art of noticing those small gifts.....gifts that become HOLY when you realize WHO they come from: our HOLY and awesome GOD.....the ALPHA and OMEGA of the universe.
Have we become so turned within ourselves that we have forgotten how to look up and around? What about making eye-contact with each other. The eyes are supposed to be the windows to our souls......whose soul have you really looked into lately? Really noticing someone by looking into their eyes is a gift of love to them.....and it will bring you joy by realizing you connected with someone.
I'll bet if we took note of all the HOLY JOYS GOD surrounds us with, then we wouldn't take anything or anyone for granted. We only get this one life, this one time in history to "see" the joy around us. We shouldn't hold so tightly to the material things of this world that we miss what is important. What will we remember at the end of our lives? I believe it will be all the wonders and blessings and yes, joys.
I find the more I read about how HOLY GOD is, I feel so inadequate in my worship of HIM. Could my daily process of counting my joys be a way of truly thanking HIM? Could it be that we are SUPPOSED to notice these daily joys no matter how small, as an act of worship? Does counting HIS HOLY gifts to us help us to worship a HOLY GOD? The process of counting, of noticing, does mean we are seeing HIM around us.
We all are running out of time with the daily tick tick of the clock, but I'll bet if you start counting your joys, you will find that you never run out of them! These HOLY joys of HIS are new every morning. Start each day with an intentional looking for them......make it a habit to count.....all because GOD doesn't disappoint! Above all HE wants us to look.....HE wants us to notice.....HE wants us to thank......HE wants us to praise.......HIM!
PSALM 30:5 "But JOY comes in the morning."
Do you ever sit and wish that a moment would last forever? I am sure you have thought this on a beautiful afternoon you wish would never end. I have had a few of those afternoons recently since we moved to Arizona. The weather here most of the time is truly heavenly.
I live near a park where I can see beautiful green grass and the San Tan Mountain Range. All of it I can view out my front office window. This afternoon, the sun is streaming in, making my office golden in it's hue. There are gentle shadows on the walls, of my front tree, now swaying in the wind and I wish I could sit here and drink in this moment forever.
I have recently enjoyed our Church courtyard and felt as if I were in a tropical place, with the majestic palm trees and the birds singing. I didn't want to get up to leave as I enjoyed my hot coffee because I wanted to sit there with the sun on my face...... forever.
We all have memories of our children growing up and wishing those moments would never end. Why do they have to get older? One particular special moment for me I will never forget was sitting on my front porch and watching my little boy ride his bike as he said: "Mom, watch me!" Might this be a HOLY way of remembering? Is it realizing that these moments are a gift in time from above like none other?
I wonder if GOD gives us these glimpses into eternity this way: as hard as we try to stop time, we can't, because it marches on and forward whether we like it or not. Since our moments are just that, moments, are we to long for forever? And is that what Heaven with our LORD will be like? What will eternity be with an all-loving HOLY GOD?
GOD does put eternity into the hearts of men. We yearn for something better than this world and that wanting, that needing, is within us and put there by a HOLY GOD. HE knows what is best for us and HE knows we can't get it here on this earth, so HE shows us glimpses of what could be. When we seek HIM with all our heart, mind and soul, we find HIM and HE gives us those wonderful blessings, those forever moments, that are pure and glorious and memorable.
If you can, find a forever moment each day. One can be found if you search for it. It can be as simple as looking into the night sky or watching a glorious sunrise, stopping to see GOD'S hand in it just for a moment! Try to hold on to those gifts of HIS grace in your memory, never letting go of them, and never losing the wonder and the hope of it all.
ECCLESIASTES 3: 11 " HE has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what GOD has done from beginning to end."
If you are like me, then you love bread, especially when it comes out of the oven! I love it when it is soft and hot so my butter melts the instant I put it there. My husband would eat the whole loaf if you let him. And don't we just love the heavenly smell when it is baking?
Bread can mean so many things to so many......it can be life saving, a meal all to itself. It can mean comfort: "give us today our daily bread." When Moses journeyed with the people from Israel out into the wilderness of the Sinai, the LORD provided a daily provision of bread from Heaven for all. With this provision, the LORD was testing the Israelites to see if they would trust and obey HIM. But even with the daily manna, the people still wanted more!
Isn't that just like us......we are never satisfied. And isn't that just like our GOD? Doesn't HE provide for us on a daily basis? If you look at your life through simple eyes, you will see that HE provides you with food, a home, family, friends and a means with which to understand and study HIS word. Do we really need to ask for anything more? Aren't all of these simple blessings HIS daily bread of grace?
Someone once said, if you have the eyes to see, and the ears to hear, then you already have grace upon grace. Why is it then, that we can't seem to be happy with what we already have? HIS daily bread for us should be sufficient.......we really lack nothing at all.
When Jesus broke bread with the disciples, then that bread became a HOLY example of GOD'S love. Jesus said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from Heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of GOD is HE who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world." John 6: 32-33
Jesus also said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to ME shall never hunger, and he who believes in ME shall never thirst." John 6:35. Our Jesus is our life bread, a daily HOLY bread, which sustains, lifts up and is all sufficient.
Next time you break bread at your table and smell it's wonderful aroma filling the kitchen, remember that it is a HOLY reminder of HIS love and grace and sacrifice for your sins. And next time you partake in HOLY communion and the breaking of the bread, remember HIM, JESUS, our HOLY ONE, the true bread of this life.
Matthew 26:26 "And as they were eating, JESUS took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said: "Take, eat, this is MY body."
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