Tied to a Rope

Have you ever felt like your heart has been tied to a rope and thrown out to sea? Then out of the blue someone comes along and loves you. I don't mean necessarily a romantic love? I mean just overcome with love for someone? It could have been for a grandmother, a teacher, a mentor, a Sunday School teacher. Even a best friend. Through their love you become the very best you can be. THey believ

e in you. You lose yourself. THe focus is not on you. You are just alive, and happy and full. You even go and love other people better. You forgive. You build others up and encourage them. You love being with them. They just make your day. They form your character. You become and want to be more like the things you see in them. THey give you value and worth. Your eyes are on them with adoration. It makes everything you do wonderful. You enjoy even the simplest of things in life. You try new and exciting things. Your problems seem smaller and they seem more important. Because you are loved.
If the love from another person and our love for them can give us this kinda life. Make this much difference in us. How much more is our love for Jesus and His and the Fathers love for us change us. This is just a shadow of the life in CHrist and our union with Him. It is just a taste of the unconditional love of God.
We are Jesus to others. He life lives, His love loves, through us to others. He builds our community. Stretches our hearts to people we have never known before. We reach out instead of turning in. We accept and cherish others instead of analyzing or judging. We build up and encourage. We believe for them when they can't believe. We pray when they can't pray. We hold their arms up. We tell them about Grace and our Savior and His love for them. God uses us to help set the captives free. To bring them into the body. To journey along side them. To let them see joy and peace they have never seen before. We give them life when we give them Jesus. He is life.

Do I listen?

People need to be valued. They are valued by God but our role in love relationships with them. It is a give and take a take and give...a dance.
Do you listen? Do I listen? I am asking myself.
Or am I thinking about what I have to go do. Do you just wish they would hurry up and finish their story, you are busy. Too busy to listen right now. I will come back to them tomorrow. Surely this ca

n wait.
Or are you thinking? OMG what a mess they are in. What am I going to say to them. I can't listen to this I have no answers. So worried about what you are going to say you don't listen to what they are saying.
Maybe you are thinking. I can't listen to this. It is too painful for me. I just can't feel this pain right now. I have enough problems of my own. What do I do with all this pain...theirs and mine.
Jesus stopped what He was doing and He listened. He felt their pain on the cross. He has compassion. He catches our tears in a bottle. He is our comfort. He knows the Father gives Him the answers. He gives them Jesus. He is the answer.
Each individual story has a unique way to Jesus. To the love of the Father. That is where we come in. To partner with the Spirit in showing them the way. He promises to make the way straight. He levels the mountains and raises the seas. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the way to true love and relationship with the Father.
Don't be afraid to love. It is the most wonderful thing God does for us is give us His love in His Son. You can't keep it. Give it away.

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Run Don't Walk

Run Don't Walk...

In this marathon with God, He has been teaching me to run by Faith. I have felt like Forest Gump, when his enemies were chasing him. He was trying to walk fast. Then Jenny yelled out as God does to us, "run Forest run". He began this awkward run because of his leg braces. Then they broke lose. They fell to the ground. He looked down once or twice. Then He ran and ran and ran.

.

No matter what our physical limitations maybe, God wants to teach us to walk by faith. To run by faith. And to rest by faith. He moves into our world. Tares down our walls of protection from pain and the world. He reveals His love for us in our inner most being. We begin to feel we have value. Our past, the cry of our soul, is healed. We are humbled and we learn to receive all our heart has longed for He gives us.

So this love has to go somewhere. We cannot contain it.  It is like you pouring into a glass and keep pouring and pouring and pouring.  It overflows.  So we begin to love in new fearful, exciting, and wonderful ways. Ways we have never loved before not only those who are like us but those oh so different.

Because of His faithfulness to set us free we begin to trust Him. Not just in the big things in our life. But the everyday, moment by moment, happenings, relationships and circumstances that enter into our unpredictable world. We move from our comfortable little lives, to a world full of life, love, excitement and yes, even failure at times.

But we take the falls, the times we fail, seriously.  But ourselves lightly. We repent quickly. Our conscience is kept clear because of the forgiveness of the cross on our past, present and future failings. It all has been dealt with in Christ.

We realize this God, who loves us, does not just live among us but He lives in and through us. We become more of who we truly are. We are united with Him and nothing can ever separate us.

The Father sent His Son to come get us to join the party. It is for the family. For the bride of Christ, we the church. We thought it was after we died but actually the celebrations start now. In this life. It is a Spiritual, magical, intimate relationship, abundant, rich and full, with the Father and Son. We are the reason He endured the cross. We are the joy that was set before Him.  And oh what joy it is...

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Love so amazing...

Are you paralyzed by the past? Stunned by the present? Fearful of the future?

Love so Amazing...

There is a love so amazing so divine. 
There is an unbreakable union between Christ and mine. 

My body is his dwelling place. 
He is the Faithful one in every case.

 He took up residence deep within me.
 I am a child of God, how can this be?

 His Son hung on a cross to set me free. 
His thoughts were of the Father and 

of me.

 He gave me the gift of Life for eternity.
More glory and grace than man can see.

He humbled Himself to come and serve.
To give me a life I don't deserve.


One of hope and love and peace and joy.
That no man, spirit or thing can destroy.


He is the one faithful and true.
He created me in His imagine and made me bran new.


 He chose me before the beginning of time.
That His love and inheritance would be mine.


Now this life I live by His faith.
He rescued me when I could not escape.


My heart will sing His praise forever more.
This life with Christ I have come to adore.


The Fathers love was poured out on me.
The day Jesus was crucified on calvary.

He love me from the beginning
When he set His eyes on me.

Jesus made the way to relationship with the Father.
For love and peace and tranquility there is no other.

Our Creator's Glory

Our Creators Glory.  Within a breath it was gone.

I'm Alive

I am so excited about life!  No my circumstances haven't change a lot, but some.  I am excited about what the Spirit has been teaching me today.  I am excited about Christ life in me.  There are old truths of scripture that I have heard for 20 years and they have come alive today through the eyes of my heart.  Christ is living in and through me and I am to live this life by the faith of Jesus who died for me.  It is not a bunch of rules we must keep. It is not trying hard to be good and please God.   It is a personal, vibrant, receiving, guiding relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit. It is trusting and leaning into Christ.  This is not new to me.

But I see to have guilt, shame, condemnation, fear, anxiety, depression, judgement, anger and unforgiveness is to separate myself from faith in what Christ did for me at the cross. The gifts the Father gave me through Christ. I must repent when this happens.  My faith may fail but His faith will never fail. Remember Peter denying Christ three times after spending three years walking with Him.  Being taught by Him.   His truth will never change.  I am valued, loved, accepted, forgiven, righteousness and have faith in God's provision and protection and control over the people and circumstances of my life.  I can trust Him.

I can love Him and reciprocate with the love He has given me.  I can have faith and reciprocate with the faith He has given me.  It is all things in and through Him.  It is a Spiritual dance between Father and Son.  It is a mystical, reciprocating dance.  And they have brought us in.  Paraphrased from my friend Chris.  It is an invitation into more joy, more peace, more love than we can comprehend.

You may say...well He is not teaching me.  I don't feel His presence or His arms around me.  I pray and pray.  I feel nothing.  I hear nothing.  I see no answers to prayer.

I think God by His word wants me to tell you don't give up.  It is the darkest before the dawn.  Remember in the dark what you knew in the light.  Keep the faith.  Be persistent.  Draw from Him strength like you have never done before.  From deep with in you.  It is there.  Repent of your unbelief.  Tell Him you believe help your unbelief.  He that has named the stars cares for and about you.

Lastly sit in His presence.  He is a good Father and He longs to just sit and love you.  Talk to Him if you will.  But just quiet your mind and heart of all voices but His.  Let Jesus love you.  You are His bride.  We are His body.  He lives and breathes and moves in and through you.  You are His righteousness.  You can give up the struggle.  You can rest.  Rest in the gift of your Father, His one and only Son to now make you a son of God.

Galatins 2:20  Go to www.biblegateway.com and type in the verse and then the translation is the Message.  Hope it blesses you.

Don't Worry?

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7 

Is not worrying, as simple as "take it to the Lord in prayer"? Can God really turn a troubled heart in to o

ne that fully rest, fully trust in Him. Can He lift our burdens where the weight is light? Really? talk to Him. Tell Him your worries. Share your heart. Then something supernatural happens. You begin to trust Him and rest that He is able to do what He will without you. Then all is well, all is well with your soul. There is a peace and a joy that comes beyond understanding.

I had a situation with someone I love, where we did all we could to help. Then all we could do was stand back and pray and watch as God provided all their needs. Sometimes we have to get to the end of our resources to trust God. We can actually stand in the way of Him working to where He just waits til we quit trying to do it ourselves and depend on Him and His power to show His stuff! That is His glory. Sometimes the best thing you can do is get out of the way.  Your partnership with Him is to believe.

Love lifted me.  Love lifted me.  When nothing else could help.  Love lifted me...