Category: Grace

Tough Day?

I can relate to having a tough day. In fact, I’m in the middle of several all strung together, and I’ve had a lifetime of disappointment and shame. I have been relying on a man for 2 years instead of relying on my Lord, and find myself betrayed, lied to, and disrespected…. again. Still, I choose to believe in and hold on to these verses in the psalms:

“He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our LORD! His Power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!” – Psalms 147:3‭-‬5 NLT

Knowing this doesn’t make my life, or my day, better. It does, however, bring me a measure of peace. You can know this peace, too, if you want it. Jesus came for everyone, even the ones who have hurt us. He suffered horrible things, and He allowed Himself to be brutally murdered for those who hurt, AND for those who hurt us. That’s hard to hold on to, especially when the wounds (physical or emotional) are fresh.

“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” –
2 Corinthians 5:15‭-‬17 NLT

There are many seasons in life, and it seems that some of us are stuck in the muck and mess of this world when others just seem to skate over it, unaffected. (I know they are affected, bjut it’s difficult to see sometimes when you are trying hard to just keep your head above water.) I’ve stated many times over the past couple of years how blessed I have been to have a man in my life who loved me and (seemly) wanted to spend his life with me. It’s rough to be told it’s over. Despite my feeling of hurt and betrayal, I am compelled to pray peace for him. My human point of view is flawed, so in order to keep from spewing ugliness in my hurt, I have to look through God’s eyes to see His child. Feelings will change and the hurt will recede, eventually.

“King David said this about Him: ‘I see that the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts His praises! My body rests in hope. For You will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. You have shown me the way of Life, and You will fill me with the Joy of Your Presence.’ ” – Acts of the Apostles 2:25‭-‬28 NLT

Amen.

It’s Snowing!

In central Oklahoma, snow is not the norm for the cold winter months. We have lots of ice, generally, and cold, windy days, but not much snow. Today, it is snowing gentle flakes, coming down with hardly a breeze, and there is a light dusting sitting on my holly bushes by the front windows. I am sitting on the couch, cozily situated with a blanket, my two pups sprawled across my lap, and a steaming cup of coffee at my elbow. The Christmas tree is sparkling across the room, and a fire dances merrily in the fireplace. Cozy and warm. Does it get any better than this?

There won’t be enough snow for a snowman ⛄, and it shouldn’t affect the roads. The kids will be sad, and the adults will be thankful the roads probably won’t be slick. Not like the mountain states with feet of snow, or back east where they have been having blizzard conditions. I am thankful for where I live.

Days like this have me checking my gratitude list. Notwithstanding my lack of a job and the dismal state of my finances, there is much to be grateful for. I have a home that has heat and running water. There is my vehicle, sitting in the garage (I have a garage!), food in the pantry and refrigerator. I get to care for my pups and my cats, and I receive unconditional love and acceptance from them. I have a man who loves me, and family and friends who love me in spite of myself. Most of all, I have a Savior Who gave His Life in order for me to spend eternity with Him. Does it get any better than this? I don’t think so…..

The Day After

Did you survive the chaos? Maybe you are depressed and discouraged by all the hoopla. It’s so easy to lose our way in the aftermath of the Christmas celebrations. The adrenaline rush and the endorphin high are wearing off, and the realization that the bills will soon be streaming in is beginning to sink in. The excitement and anticipation is gone. The kids are getting bored with their presents. It’s too cold/wet/stormy/hot ( 😁 ) to send them outside to play, so they are stampeding through the house and screaming bloody murder. Schools are out until after the new year, and parents are pulling their hair in frustration.

Sound familiar?

“Listen in silence before Me, you lands beyond the sea. Bring your strongest arguments. Come now and speak. The Court is ready for your case. …. Don’t be afraid, for I AM with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I AM your GOD. I will Strengthen you and Help you. I will hold you up with My Victorious Right Hand.” – Isaiah 41:1‭, ‬10 NLT

As difficult as it is to sit still and listen, it is crucial to our well-being that we do it. We don’t have to be in a great cathedral, or even a simple, humble little chapel. To escape the noise, it might have to be in a closet with the door closed, and part of your prayer could be that the house is still standing and in one piece when you come out. Take a few minutes today, and tomorrow, and the next day, Ad Infinitum…. We need the proclivity to continue this practice. I believe that after a few days of spending quiet prayer time with the LORD, you will feel bereft if you try to go through a day without it. The best resolution we can make is to carve out a few minutes of every day to spend with Him. You don’t need any accoutrements, or any specific place. You just need Jesus, and He will do as He promised. He will never leave us to make it on our own, unlike any human man or woman.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Campbell in Big Sur, CA.

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

“For this is how GOD Loved the world: He gave His ONE and ONLY Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have Eternal Life. GOD sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. …. And the judgment is based on this fact: GOD’s Light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the Light, for their actions were evil.” – John 3:16‭-‬17‭, ‬19 NLT

Incomprehensible. That’s the best word I can conjure up to explain how I see this.

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him IMMANUEL, which means ‘GOD is with us.’” When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the LORD commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.” – Matthew 1.23-25.NLT

Miraculous, no matter what you think. GOD, Creator, Almighty Jehovah, Yahweh….. left everything to be born into a human family. He went from a place of unimaginable wealth and comfort, to be laid in a manager full of straw, in a stable full of animals. Know any really wealthy people? I do, and the thought of any one of them giving up one of their children to be laid in a stable and raised in poverty….. well, it’s beyond my imagination. They just wouldn’t do it, yet the GOD Who owns the entire universe, the earth, moon, sun, and ALL of the planets and stars, put His Son, His ONLY Son, in just that place. See, it’s incomprehensible. Almost unimaginable, but true.

Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday, JESUS!!

The Blessings of Christmas – Day 3

“Oh, how Great are GOD’s Riches and Wisdom and Knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways! For who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give Him advice? And who has given Him so much that He needs to pay it back? For everything comes from Him and exists by His Power and is intended for His Glory. All Glory to Him FOREVER! Amen.” – Romans 11:33‭-‬36 NLT

Celebrate His Power, His Mercy, and His Grace this Christmas season! Give Praise to the Father for His Gift, His sacrifice, and His Glory! Without all of these, there wouldn’t be a holiday season, Or anything to celebrate. What can we give Him; what can we give JESUS during this season to celebrate His birth day? We may be the shepherd, who had nothing to offer the new baby except their homage. We could be like the wise men, the Magi, who brought the little King of Heaven the most precious, most expensive gifts. Maybe you are like the angels and the heavenly host, singing in perfect voices, “GLORY to GOD in highest heaven, and Peace on earth to those with whom GOD is pleased.” (Luke 2:14 NLT) – or the little drummer boy, who had nothing to give except his music.

Whatever we offer the baby boy Jesus, let it be the most important gift of the season. The thing He wants most from us – the ONLY thing He wants from us – is not the most expensive thing we can find. Remember, Heaven is His home, and He already is in the midst of the most beauty and wealth that you can imagine. MORE than you can imagine! Riches don’t impressive Him. All He wants is to know that you love Him above all else; that you accept His sacrifice and let Him into your heart. Then we can worship Him with Thanksgiving and Hope. Gratitude.

The Blessings of Christmas – Day 2

THE ENEMY DECEIVES US – by Billy Graham

Many jokes are made about the devil, but the devil is no joke. If a short time ago I {Billy Graham} had talked about Satan to university students, they would have made light of him, but no longer. Students today want to know about the devil, about witchcraft, about the occult. Many people do not know they are turning to Satan. They are being deluded because, according to Jesus Christ, Satan is the father of lies and the greatest liar of all times. He is called a deceiver. In order to accomplish his purpose, the devil blinds people to their need of Christ. Two forces are at work in our world—the forces of Christ and the forces of the devil—and you are asked to choose. I have chosen to serve You, my Lord Jesus. Give me Your strength to battle the deceptions of Satan. (From the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. For more information, please visit: http://www.billygraham.org )

I know you are asking how in the world this story from Billy Graham relates to the Blessings of Christmas. The enemy deceives us! How many people do you know, including Christians, who get so wrapped up (pun intended!) in the buying of presents and the rounds of holiday parties, that the reason we are even celebrating gets pushed aside? Oh, yes, it’s Jesus’ birthday….. the deceiver, the father of all lies, makes it so easy to forget. We should be focused on the Who, the What, and the Why of the season.

“O Sovereign LORD! YOU made the heavens and earth by Your strong Hand and powerful Arm. Nothing is too hard for You! You show unfailing love to thousands, but You also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the GREAT and POWERFUL GOD, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and You give them what they deserve.” – Jeremiah 32:17‭-‬19 NLT

That last sentence scares me ….. He gives us what we deserve – yikes! I know there are a lot of people, the vast majority, in fact, that hold to the belief that they “deserve” to be happy, they “deserve” that fancy new house/car/toy, they want the bliss of getting. Get the picture? We don’t deserve anything other than punishment and death, and that brings us straight back to the Blessings of Christmas! The focus of our celebration needs to be on the Who, Jesus Christ; the What, His miraculous birth; and finally the Why – He came as a babe to live as a human, and to die, the ultimate sacrifice to save us from the deceiver and what we deserve.

Today, I pray the Blessings of Christmas, Christ’s birthday, on you and your families. Amen.

The Blessings of Christmas – Day 1

“Whatever is Good and Perfect is a gift coming down to us from GOD our FATHER, Who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” – James 1:17 NLT

What a beautiful verse to describe JESUS! HE is The Good and Perfect Gift, the Light of Heaven, given freely to us (thus, the gift) so that we may find salvation from our sinful selves. How cool is that!? Even before you were born, God knew you, and wanted to love on you and have fellowship with you. Before we were even a thought in our parents minds, and before they were born, or their parents, all the way back to Adam and Eve. That’s pretty incomprehensible to me. How could God know me, even before He spoke the universe into being? That is one of the questions I want to ask when I get to Heaven, but it and all the others questions will have to wait until after I get through greeting my Daddy and my Grandma and most especially, my JESUS, Who died for me. I get so excited, thinking of that day!

Oh, what a Blessing He gave us, and what a privilege to be able to say, Merry Christmas!

The First Christmas

The following is from “Prepare Your Hearts: Christmas Devotions,” day 10, available on YouVersion, the Bible, at https://bible.com/bible ….

“Your First Christmas”

Christ’s first coming surprised everybody.

Zechariah was surprised. Mary and Joseph were surprised, first by the angelic announcements and surprised again at the terribly inconvenient time that Mary’s labor pains began. Third-shift shepherds were surprised by the sound and light show that they alone experienced. As they knelt at the manger and peered in at the little bundle on the straw, their worship of God would never be the same.

I guess you aren’t surprised at the coming birthday celebrations this December 25–you’ve had all year to prepare. But what you may not have expected is the satisfaction that comes from worshiping Jesus as though this were your first Christmas. There before you, wrapped in his little strips of cloth, is the ultimate paradox: God and man, Co-Creator and yet begotten, helper and helpless, frail and mighty, brand-new and ancient. There before you lies your salvation–the One who would put himself, his body, between you and death. How can you not love him?”

Do you think much about how the first Christmas came to be? Before anything else could happen, GOD had to make the momentous decision to walk away from heaven, where angels and celestial beings worshiped Him constantly. He made the choice to leave the perfect place and existence, to become human. He didn’t even come as an exalted son of a king, born into a palace, so that He could be pampered in this life. He came as the child of a poor carpenter, to be born in a stable and facing a life of physical hardships from day one. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t give up luxury to live in poverty if I had the choice….

“Though He was GOD, He did not think of equality with GOD as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to GOD and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, GOD elevated Him to the Place of Highest Honor and gave Him the Name above ALL other names, that at the Name of JESUS every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the Glory of GOD the Father.” – Philippians 2:6‭-‬11 NLT

Just as Jesus surprised everyone by the time and method of His birth, He will surprise us all when He returns, even though we have had millennium to prepare.

“…. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with Power and Great Glory… However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the SON Himself. ONLY the FATHER knows.” – Matthew 24:30‭b,36 NLT

Celebrate His birth with gratitude and thanksgiving, and spread the word that JESUS has come, and that He will return for His people…. soon. Amen.

Go Tell It On the Mountain

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” –
CSLewis

“For we live by believing and not by seeing.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7 NLT

Did you grow up singing carols and goimg to Christmas performances? If you did, you are probably familiar with the words of the song “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” but have you ever really thought about it? According to Wikipedia, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers. It is considered a Christmas carol because its original lyrics celebrate the Nativity of Jesus. I’ve sung hundreds of times, and I’m not sure I’ve eve paid attention to the last verse:

He made me a watchman
Upon the city wall,
And if I am a Christian,
I am the least of all.

Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

If I believe this, then God has made me to be a watchman, a crucial role in His Kingdom. The prophet Ezekiel wrote tha God said to him: “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from Me, warn people immediately…..” We are charged to be watchful, and to tell people about God and His Son, Jesus. We are to warn the people away from the temptation posed by the enemy, and the death that awaits when we fall for his charms. We are responsible to share the Good News, from the walls and the watchtowers and the mountaintops. Read Ezekiel’s words closely!

“If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed Me. “If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too.” – Ezekiel 3:17‭-‬21 NLT

This job is not one that Christians should take lightly. We are celebrating the most momentous gift in the history of mankind. Now is the season for us to take the Good News, and Go, tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born!