A Living Hope, A Sure Salvation Because of Grace

Where do I start? Let me start with a week ago last Saturday. My great aunt passed away. She is in heaven and not in any more pain and for the first time in years is walking and jumping for joy and not in a wheel chair. I woke up last Monday morning about the usual time for a Monday (see I don't have to be at work until 11am Monday so I sleep in a little bit ), but I had this feeling that for a couple hours I couldn't put a name too......Finally about half or three quarters through my day I was finally (thanks to a conversation with a friend) able to put a name to the feeling. Unsettled. Unsettled was the word I was looking for to identify the feeling that I had woke up with. I also had this "I could cry at the drop of a pen" feeling on top of that unsettled feeling. Finished Monday with the same unsettled feeling I woke up with. Tuesday woke up with the same feeling . Unsettled. No idea why. By the end of the day Tuesday I had finally been able to deeply laugh (t...

103 days "Then sometimes we're like the apostle Paul who, when lost in the amazed wonder of what he was trying to communicate, took to writing. Perhaps none of his New Testament works is a better example of this than his letter to the Ephesians, which some scholars consider to be the pinnacle of all his writings. Go back and read it yourself. See if you can't hear him grasping and lunging for just the right words. He nearly runs out of breath tryin gto portray the greatness and grandeur of God, the cast scope of His wondrous acts, the hugeness of His love, and the wealth of our inheritance in Christ. Yet as beautiful as the wording is, as much spiritual ground as he covers, you still get the sneaking impression that human language simply does not have the descriptors for some of what Paul is wanting to say. In the first half alone---a bit more than sixty verses--- he takes us to "heavenly places" that stretch "far above all rule and authority and power and...

It's been a weekend of an emotional Rollercoaster. Work has been a cluster - more than usual. Finding out my dad's hear cannot take the intense heat/humidity at all-means a lot of emotions to process. With the support of awesome family and friends and all their prayers and time spent in God's Word, the peace that only Jesus can give is finally settling deep in my heart. When I think outside the box of my own problems and I concentrate on Jesus and seek His joy my whole day goes so much better.  Letting go and letting God and leaving it at the foot of the cross and not reaching back to pull it back into my life is easier said than actually doing. Surrendering all completely is one of the hardest things to do. The reality is I cannot fix it. As I am writing this I am waiting as my parents meet with on of the two teams of Dr's working to help my dad live several more years. I didn't know that today I would spend driving my parents to my dad's Dr appointments....

As I sat down to eat my dinner tonight, the song "Come to the Table" was playing. As I listened to the words of the song my fork slowly lowered to my plate....as the tears started down my face. I asked myself..."what breaks my heart?" I could write a list, of every time I have been mentally, spiritually, or physically hurt, left out, forgotten, shattered, when my world has fallen apart, my day didn't go as I had planned, when I was the after thought.....the list is endless. All these things break my heart, but they are the selfish part of me, wanting to throw a pity party, to live in my dis-spare, to wallow in the dreariness of my life. Then I asked myself, "What breaks Jesus' heart about me?" The list I came up with probably doesn't even touch the surface. My selfish desires, my self pity party, my complaining, and the fact that more often than not I don't "come to the table" to be set free with the redeemed, even thoug...

Only Jesus! Only Jesus! As I sit at my desk eating lunch, the words from the song we sang this morning in church keep resonating on repeat in my head. Interestingly these are the only two words that I can fully remember from the song(and it is an excellent song in its entirety). What thoughts those two words evoke though - Only Jesus-Only Jesus. There is a video series that the speaker talks about how indescribable God is. This speaker takes us out into space and shows us pictures of different stars. The last one he shows us is this. Only Jesus was willing to take my punishment for my sin.  Only Jesus was willing to create the world knowing He would die for the same world. Only Jesus can heal-physical, mental and spiritual. Only Jesus loves so deeply.  Only Jesus can fill the empty void.  Only Jesus will always be there for me and never leave me and never walk away from me.  Only Jesus! Only Jesus! What area(s) do I need to let Only Jes...

'Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.' James 1:2-8 Is my loyalty divided between God and the world? Am I truly listening to listen and not listen to give an answer? 'Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters:  You must all be quick to liste...

As we head into another week of the year that I truly don't care for I am reminded of so many things. Valentines day is coming and it is one of three times a year I don't care for. Its one of those holidays I have a love hate relationship with. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines day. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas because of the true meaning behind them both but in this day and age being a single young lady means I get match made for all the time during those three holiday weeks each year. So let me tell you what I am waiting on. First I am waiting on God. He knows the man He has chosen for me to marry and when I am to marry or if I am to marry at all. Second I am waiting on a man seeking after God's heart like I am. Third I am looking for a man who compliments me the way I compliment him. Not paying me compliments of how that color of shirt brings out my eyes or that I look pretty in that dress etc. Someone who makes me complete. Who fills the voids I prob...