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In both Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, God is sitting on His throne. In Genesis, we are reminded once again that He created the universe and in Revelation we are reminded that God will end this earth and bring us to Heaven, a Heaven that He created 🙂

We can’t really, truly comprehend the true power of God. Just as we can’t really comprehend how much He loves us.

Many writers say that “Holiness is to be set apart”. And truly, God is set apart. He is our King and our Creator. He is the one who Loves us beyond what we can understand. And all we can do is Pray that God will enable us to love, as much as possible, as He does.

C.S. Lewis once said, “One of the most important attributes for understanding God and ourselves is God’s holiness. When we catch a vision of God’s holiness, we can regard many things in our lives as holy. When we lose a sense of God’s holiness (as many have), then we lose the realization that anything is holy or unholy. In this latter case, we also lose a sense of our own sinfulness, our need for God’s grace, and the desperate plight of our culture.”-CS LewisA

Have we lost our awareness of God’s Holiness?

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” – Philippians 4:8

Someone asked me the other day, if you can’t believe the news, or the politicians or the pundits, who and what do you believe in? How do we know the difference between truth and fiction?

We believe in, Jesus; We believe in the Holiness of God and in God’s Mercy and Justice. We believe in the goodness of men and women. And yes, there is still great goodness in our fellow man. And we have faith in ourselves…

That is the truth!

We believe that persevering in our faith in Jesus will always gets us where we need to go and bring us Home to Heaven. That obedience to God is always wise and worthwhile! We believe in the promise of tomorrow and that hard word does indeed pay off. We believe that loving others is always the right thing to do. And we believe that we should always forgive others as God has forgiven us. We believe that being kind and encouraging helps both the giver and the receiver. And that lending someone a helping hand is its own reward.

And remember, we still have smiles and hugs, children and puppies… We can still dance and sing and take a walk in the park. We can still gather with those we love and sit by the water. Is the world changing? Yes. But God is not. God is still the same and He loves us. And remember what Jesus said:

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.””-John 16:33

Realizing that people can let you down and may not always be completely honest, is part of life. A painful part. Broken trust is always painful.

But Trusting God is always safe, because God never changes. And God will never leave us, ever. And He will always help us!

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”-Isaiah 41:10

So no matter how the world changes, we are, in many ways, safe. Keep Praying. Encourage Others. Show Love and Kindness to all. Forgive everyone. Keep Working. And Pray some more.

And after that, we will meet in Heaven for all eternity 🙂

Sometimes, we just get tired. Bone tired. The kind of tired where everything seems kind of dull. We just feel too tired to be excited about anything

And as we rush through our day, whether it is filled with errands and housework, or whether we are working all day just to come home and work some more. There is only one answer.

Pray. And then pray some more. The greatest advice my Dad every gave me is to never stop praying. No matter what.

Tell God you are mad. Tell God you are struggling to believe in Him. Tell God you are tired. Tell God you are hurting. Just keep talking to God, no matter what and morning will come, along with its newness and light.

God loves us. But this is still earth. We will all see our share of hard times. But in the end, if we keep praying, morning will come. The Light will shine again and our hearts will be lifted up once more 🙂

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”-Matthew 18:3

A child’s heart is soft. It loves, it trusts…But somehow as we grow up we sometimes, in the busyness and hardness of life, allow our hearts to harden.

A Soft Heart is so important. Crying at sad movies, crying for no reason. Crying because we are happy. Crying when someone dies or when someone is in need. It’s all good! Jesus wants us to have a Soft Heart. He can enter a Soft Heart and be with us in a very special way.

But Jesus can not do the same in a hard heart. While there is no doubt that a Soft Heart experiences more pain. But a Soft Heart also experiences So much Joy and So much Love. A Soft Heart brings us to Jesus, and keeps us there.

We need to continually pray that Jesus will soften our hearts. Life can harden them, but they don’t have to stay hard. Jesus can Soften them for us. Just ask Him too 🙂

Remember also, that sometimes simple “busyness” can harden our hearts too. We need to give ourselves time to feel and to pray. That time is not a want, it’s a need. So take some time for yourself. It’s important.

And if you feel the slightest hardening of your heart, ask Jesus to Soften it right away. And He will 🙂

My Mom died last night leaving a host of complicated feelings. Hearts hurting as they mourn. Hearts at Peace because they know she is finally at peace. Finally not suffering.

But there is a real difference when someone we love dies, for those who Follow Jesus. We don’t hope the person we love is in Heaven; we know. We know to the very bottom of our hearts, we know throughout our entire being that the one we love, is in Heaven.

Finally in the Garden of Eden. Finally with God and finally free. Filled with the Joy and Peace that only God can give.

And we know throughout our entire being that this is not good-bye. It’s see you later.

I used to tell my children that we are our memories. And we are our choices. Warm chocolate chip cookies on a cold snow day off school. Making snow angels. A Daddy-daughter dance. Mom sitting on our bed reading us a wonderful story before sleep. Movies and popcorn. Coloring on the couch. Worm farms made by little boys. Favorite foods. The first day of school. The first day of college.

Dancing by the Christmas Tree with our husband. Decorating the Christmas Tree with our children. Road trips with our families. Fires in the fireplace. Planting our garden together. Learning to swim. Teaching our children to ride bikes. A walk in the park. Vacations…

And before we know it, our children are married with children of their own. And Christmases suddlenly grow larger. We spend time looking at the photo albums that our children made. Making their own memories.

And through it all, we realize that Jesus was always there. Helping us through the hard times and helping us make the memories that we so treasure now.

Thank you Jesus. Really Thank You. Couldn’t have done it without you 🙂

 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”-John 16:33

Waiting can be so hard sometimes! Especially when it is a truly difficult season. Jesus warned us that “we would have troubles”. And we do.

Sometimes all we can do while we are “waiting”, is to remember that Jesus is with us and will carry us if we need, because He loves us. Always!

A Pastor from Ohio used to say, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty and in all things charity.”

But what are the “essentials”? That really is the question of our day isn’t it?

And it is a question worth praying about.

Ask the Holy Spirit, He will be so glad you did. And you will be so glad you did 🙂

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13

Once a year we set aside a day to remember all of those who loved us and are gone from our lives. We also set aside this day to especially remember all of those who willingly and selflessly gave their lives to create and protect this country.

There really is no greater gift that someone can give, than to lay down their life so that we might keep ours!

Having a three day weekend is a great thing. And we are meant to enjoy it! But sometime during our 3 day weekend, we need to make time to pray not only for those who gave their lives, but their families as well. And we need to pray for all of those who serve in our armed forces, because they may one day lay down their lives! And we need to pray for all of their families that worry every day about the safety of their loved ones.

It is this kind of selfless courage and sacrifice that built this great country. It is also God’s Blessing and Protection that has made us the country that we are today and we need to remember that and thank our Lord!

“And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.” – Leviticus 20:6

Today, the world of occult and those who follow it has changed and grown. Many people follow witchcraft, astrology, divining…But God’s instructions have not changed! They are the same as they were yesterday-don’t! Participating in the occult is a sin that can lead to hell.

If you are participating in any of it, Repent!

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!