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Sometimes we pray and we pray some more. And we feel in our hearts that Jesus is going to answer our prayer.

But sometimes there seems to be a delay. As our hearts feel a growing desperation, we cry out to the Lord. For 0ur Hope is in the Lord, always.

And yet, His answer does not seem to come.

We pray and pray again. And we pray again.

But we have to Trust that Jesus will choose exactly the right moment to answer our prayer. For our lives are but part of the tapestry of so many lives entwined. Jesus doesn’t just think of our needs, but of everyone’s 🙂

And so we need to Trust that Jesus will answer our prayers at just the right time 🙂

And we need to keep believing…

So often I think of how Heaven is waiting for me because of Jesus’s great sacrifice. But that is only half of His great gift to us 🙂

That I never, ever have to walk this earth alone is His other Great Gift. Because He loves us! Jesus not only built a Bridge for us to our Father God, He walks with us. Because of Him, the Holy Spirit lives in us!

What great joy, what great relief. No matter how difficult my path, Jesus walks with me. He holds my hand; He carries me when the path gets too difficult; He listens to my worries and fears, and He reassures me. So often, I simply sit in amazement that God even has time to notice me, much less comfort me!

It doesn’t get better than that 🙂

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

Create In Me A Clean Heart!

“I’ve let the world shape the way I think” – Elohim

Unfortunately, that is so often true. We let the world shape our worries and fears. Instead of calling on Jesus to shape our hearts and thoughts.

But we don’t have too. We do have a choice.

We can call on Jesus today! We can ask Jesus to help us to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). We can ask Him to help us to set our minds on“whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable,…” (Philippians 4:8)

Follow Jesus & Keep Praying; Prayer Changes Things!

We’ve all fallen at one time or another. Done what was wrong or failed to do what we should. And yet Jesus was there for us and carried us until we could walk again.

“I don’t know how we made it here” are in the lyrics of a song by Elohim. So true. I don’t know how we made it here. How is it that with so many lost, we are Saved?

It’s because we kept asking Jesus to Save us. We kept praying, even when we didn’t feel like it. Even when we were unsure of our faith. We kept praying to Jesus anyway and asking for His help.

And Jesus helped us 🙂

It’s hard to Surrender a worry, especially about those we love.

I wanted to share with you a little about how worry and surrender really work together, by sharing one of mine. Because I know that this type of surrender can sound a little “pie in the sky”.

My son-in-law has stage four sarcoma cancer. For a few months he was healed and my daughter and he were able to have the most beautiful wedding and honeymoon. And the precious gift of a few months to just enjoy each other and life! But the cancer returned this fall.

As I write this, tears fall. Their suffering breaks my heart, as I am sure it breaks theirs at times. Their courage and faith through all of this is truly inspiring. To give this burden to Jesus is difficult, very difficult. And I give it to Jesus, and take it back. And then give I it back to Jesus again.

You see, I want a certain outcome with less suffering. There are nights that I spend in worry and tears. But this is not what Jesus wants for me or for them. And so with almost a physical turning, I turn back to Jesus and give the burden of their care to Him. For I know that Jesus loves them even more than I do.

And although I pray for them everyday. And, of course, I pray for healing and less suffering for both of them. I always end my prayers with “If it be God’s Will. As I always do.

We can choose how we act. It can be harder to choose how we feel. But it is here that Jesus can help us. Just ask Him. Does that mean we will never feel sad again? No. But it does mean, that if we give our burdens to Jesus, He will carry us through 🙂

Surrendering to Jesus can be difficult. We want to manage our lives the way we want to manage our lives. We carry our burdens, we give them to Jesus and we take them back. It’s hard not to worry about those we love…And, of course, we want to fix everything immediately.

But that is not what Jesus wants for us. We were never meant to carry those burdens. We were never meant to “fix” everything. Jesus loves us and wants to carry those burdens that are hurting us-for us. Because He loves us.

And when Jesus “fixes” something, He may not do it as we would, but He does it the right way. Because Jesus knows not just today, but tomorrow. And only God knows what is really in the heart of a human being. What their True Needs are. We don’t.

And because He loves us, He understands us. And He understands just how difficult it is for us to let go. Jesus understands that it is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight, but through practice we grow closer 🙂

We Surrender and give our burdens to Jesus, and then we take them back. I do it, most people do it. But the really great thing is that we can give our burdens back to Jesus!

We can Surrender again and again. Surrender takes Patience, Trust and Practice. But one day we will Surrender completely and forever. And when we finally do, we will not worry anymore 🙂

We Can Surrender 🙂

Sometimes I want so badly to give Jesus something in return. Something to say Thank You for all that He has done for me. For the way He loves me so completely.

What can I give Jesus? Myself.

There is a prayer that I love so much and pray every day.

“O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, please take care of everything”. Thank you.

More than anything else, Jesus wants us to Surrender to Him, completely. To give ourselves to Him.

And so we can do that 🙂

“I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”-Romans 8:38-39

Jesus loves us in a way that is hard for us to understand because Jesus loves us unconditionally. But what is “unconditionally”? Does anyone on this earth loves us like Jesus does?

Unconditionally means that Jesus loves us no matter what. Our sin, our shame, our failures do not stop Jesus from loving us! There is no such thing as “not good enough”. There is no amount of guilt, no matter how overwelming, that will stop Jesus from loving us completely.

And the truly amazing thing? Jesus knows us completely. Our every action, our every thought, our every feeling…And He loves us anyway!

Jesus loves us “fully and deeply”. We are truly chosen. And Jesus takes such Joy in us and can’t wait to have us Home.

And I am so grateful that this is True!

Thank You Jesus 🙂

Sometimes, our hearts are just too heavy to carry. It can be something we ourselves are suffering. Sometimes it is the burden that someone we love is carrying. Sometimes we don’t even know the person, but we truly feel for them.

Sometimes, heartbroken and exhausted, we just can’t keep walking. The only prayer we feel capable of is “Help”.

But Jesus does not want us to suffer in this way. He wants us to lay our burdens at His feet. To let them go, and give them to Him.

Easier said than done sometimes, but it’s okay if we have to “relay” our burdens down a few times. Jesus loves us and He understands.

Sometimes something really horrible happens and our heart aches so much that there almost feels like there is a huge lump in the pit of our stomachs. It’s then that we can ask ourselves some very difficult questions and doubts can raise their ugly heads. And we can question Jesus’s Great Love for us.

But it is at that exact moment that we need to keep praying. For it is then that we make our choice. To keep following Jesus despite the pain or to walk a different path.

But Jesus loves us and we need to keep Following Him. Prayer is the way we can do that 🙂