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“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”-Lamentations 3: 22-23

God’s Goodness is Amazing ?.  His mercies are new every morning.  It matters not what we did yesterday, any sin that we asked for forgiveness in Jesus’ name, is already forgiven.  And so we start every day “new”.  And God’s Blessings are new every day.  We just have to look for them!  And if we are having trouble seeing them, we can just ask God to help us ?

And God’s Faithfulness can be trusted. I don’t know about you, but I know despite my best efforts, sometimes I fail to be there for the person that I love, but God does not. God is ALWAY there and He ALWAYS will be 🙂

Sometimes difficult things happen to us in this life on earth, but God Promises us that: “…that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”-Romans 8:28. This is such a comfort! There is something infinitely comforting and good in knowing that any pain that we have will somehow be used to the good 🙂

My best friend shared this verse with me, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”- Psalm 51:12.  Life can be so hard, and it can be tiring, but God never meant us to feel sad or tired for too long.  So If we are struggling to overcome either, it is good to ask God to Restore Your Joy, I promise, you will be glad you did ?

It is difficult to be grateful and unhappy at the same time.  So we need to count the Blessings in our lives, for a  grateful heart is pleasing to God because He loves us. 

So please, take a moment, look around at all the Blessings that do surround you, and say Thank You to the one who provided them to you.  For all good things come from Lord. Thank You Lord! ?

“For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.”-Isaiah 41:13

Some days are just hard.  Someone we love leaves for Heaven, our children grow up and move on, we lose a job or a home, someone we care about hurts us deeply, the list is endless…And although others may feel their hardships are harder than ours’, our hardships are hard to us!  But through it all, Jesus walks with us.  And at times, when needed, He carries us ?

One important thing to remember when we are having a difficult day is that some things are supposed to be hard.   And we are supposed to feel badly about them because they are hard.  But if we let them, they often bring us closer to God.  And that is the silver lining ?.

“Wrestling with our deepest pain is hard.  But if the Bible doesn’t hide stories about suffering, neither should we.”-YouVersion 

I’ve struggled with a series of serious health issues most of my life.  Too say that my younger years were difficult would be an understatement.  To say that my older years are difficult would also be an understatement.  My youngest daughter just moved to her own apartment.  It may be exactly what she should do, but it is still not easy. For 28 years, I have had a child at home, this will be a big change.  My mother is in hospice and I just lost my job…And this is only a partial list! But when we share some of the difficulties we have faced, we let others do the same!

I share this because through all these “hard” days, God has never left me. And I share this so each person will know, hardships are not an indication of God’s Love. God loves me!  Jesus has walked with me and carried me when needed and the Holy Spirit has comforted me.  And Mary has hugged me And I am so very grateful!  ?. 

Hardship is not a “sign” that God has left me (or anyone else), He’s right here, walking through it all with me.  And I am deeply grateful, for the “silver lining” that has always been the Faith that God has given me.  For when we lose one thing, God gives us another-if we let Him ?

Do not fear hardships.  Thanks to God, for those who follow Christ, they will always lead somewhere beautiful and good – because God loves us ?.

A great friend sent me this, I just had to share 🙂

“With all the chaos, violence, unrest, disease, fear taking place in the world today, one does not find good deeds and God’s Love being shown in the news very much.

Truly, good deeds and God’s Love are happening MUCH more than all the bad news and evil put together. Acts of kindness and generosity come in SO many different forms. God’s Love IS also reflected in SO many different ways. Both have the ability to touch us VERY deeply and stick in our memories and spirit, that makes sometimes even small gestures of kindness and sharing God’s Love, a powerful and lasting force in our lives.

IS it not inspiring to witness someone, going out of their way to help someone else who has needs? IS it not also inspiring to witness someone sharing God’s Love openly and without shame or hesitation? Good deeds and God’s Love have no age limit or restrictions. One may clearly see that in the generosity of very young people, especially in their imagination of ways to help others. Sometimes one may receive God’s Blessings, in their darkest hour, when looking for hope. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “One of the most beautiful compensations in life is that no man can help another without helping himself.” Goodness and God’s Love have a way of coming back. One doesn’t have to do good deeds or share God’s Love for a return. It just happens. The lessons out of good deeds and God’s Love remain to inspire everyone to do the same. God’s Light stands out as His Beacon for others to follow. United together, with our Heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are stronger. Evil attempts to disrupt this Union of faith by clever and widespread scams, that are making God’s Children distrust each other more than ever.

ALWAYS go to God for His Direction, to reach out and help others, whether in needs or sharing Him. Do NOT hesitate in action, when His Holy Spirit stirs your heart. Praying with someone or for someone, who may be scared or worried about their future, is VERY important too. Live to give!!

My thoughts and prayers are that you live to give. That you share good deeds and God’s Love ALL the time! That you respond with kindness and be like Christ, even when confronted with cruel words and evil. That you represent Him well and inspire others to do the same. In Jesus’ Name. Thy Will be done. Amen. Peace”

Psalm 84 is a wonderful prayer! Not only does it remind us of how wonderful God’s House is, it gives us a prayer to say when we just don’t have any more prayers to offer 🙂

“84 How lovely ^[b]is Your tabernacle,
O Lord of hosts!
² My soul longs, yes, even faints
For the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young—
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You. Selah

⁵ Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of ^[c]Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with ^[d]pools.
⁷ They go from strength to strength;
^[e]Each one appears before God in Zion.

⁸ O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
⁹ O God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your ^[f]anointed.

¹⁰ For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather ^[g]be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.

¹² O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!”-Psalm 84

With Great Love. The pain they are suffering may not be apparent, but it’s there.

God made women and men and we, as Christians, know that. When people become confused and seek to change that, it causes them great pain! And to deal with that, they need great love. Great love does not have to be given and received through sex. There are many, many ways to give and receive love! 🙂

Because we are a compassionate people, it’s very easy to get lost in the society that we live in. For example, how do we treat the transgender person who was operated on when he or she was a minor and now regrets that choice?

The answer is easy: With Great Love and Kindness! But the answers on some of their future activities are more complicated. For example, women’s sports. Imagine if a man had an operation at age 15 to become a woman. Should he/she play college supports as a woman? No.

God made that person a man for a reason. To play as a “woman” would continue the sin. A person who had transgender surgery as a minor may not be able to reverse that, but they also do not have to continue to sin by playing sports as a woman or getting married as one. Because God made them a man for a reason.

Some look at a 15 year old who had transgender surgery as a victim of child abuse. And I do to. It seems unfair that a 15 year old might pay the price for something that was done to them at age 15. It seems unfair. But life on earth isn’t always fair.

Childhood illnesses, childhood abuse, car accidents, poverty, drug addiction…often effect us for the rest of our lives. God does not say, go ahead and sin. God says, let me help you.

We all suffer. Some more so than others. But God is always there to Help us, if we let Him 🙂

“Living Hope” is Christian a song by Will Morrison and is so helpful for today.

The news headlines scream about the horrors occurring in our country. From graffiti that says “Death to Scotus”, to protestors in front of the homes of our country’s Justices, to the Christian pregnancy center in Colorado that was blown up, the list is endless…

But that is exactly when we need to pray. For our Help and our Hope comes from the Lord. And He always Keeps His Promises.

The future may look bleak, but I assure you it is not. Jesus is coming for us; He will not let us down. As Facing The Giants said, “Don’t give up and Don’t give in”! Jesus IS coming 🙂

“⁴ The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” – Isaiah 50:4

Our current society has, sadly, much that is evil. It’s a confusing and scary world that we live in! We need to love and help one another. Especially in today’s world!

Help can come in so many ways. Encouragement, a hug, a listening ear or a bag of groceries… The important thing is to make sure that no one feels alone. We need to share with each other that God is with all of us, (and so are we).

One way we can do that is to encourage one another. God gave us the “tongue of the learned” for a reason. So that we could “speak a word in season to him that is weary”.

There are a lot of “weary” people among us, and there will be more. The kind of courage that it took to overturn Roe vs. Wade is exhausting. To have thousands of protesters outside of your home is intimidating! To have young children forced to live in the midst of such evil is incredibly frightening!

But daily life too can be tiring. Going to work every day in the face of such inflation. Raising your children in such an evil atmosphere, forced to attend schools that would teach them and surround them with even more evil! Then there is the constant onslaught of evil out of Washington…It seems to surround us and the list is endless, and it is exhausting….

That’s why it is so important to encourage one another! To remind each other to hold on. Jesus is Coming and we are going Home to Heaven!

And to remind each other just how wonderful Heaven will be! There will be no more tears, only Joy! No more strife, only Peace. No more fear, only God.

There will be people that we love and deep friendships and deep hugs :). Rivers, homes, flowers, beautiful sights…they truly await us, in our Forever Home in Heaven.

God awaits us in our Heavenly Home! And together, we will meet Him. We need not fear today’s world on earth, for it will not effect Heaven!

Because thanks to Jesus’ Great Sacrifice, we are going Home. And our Home is in Heaven 🙂

The relationship between the Gospel and the Law can be confusing. There are many who think that the Gospel, in a sense, replaces the Law, but it does not.

If one truly believes in Jesus and seeks to follow Him than one also seeks to follow the Law. If we love Jesus and believe what He says, than we want to follow all that He did during His time on earth!

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”-Matthew 22: 38-40

Notice that verse 40, the last verse, says, “on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”. It does not say that the Law and Prophets don’t need to be followed anymore! Nor does it say the words of the Prophets no longer have meaning. The Bible contains the New and Old Testament for a reason 🙂

We will always need both the Gospel and the Law. Praise God that He gave us both 🙂

“There is no point upon which men make greater mistakes than upon the relation which exists between the law and the gospel. Some men put the law instead of the gospel: others put the gospel instead of the law; some modify the law and the gospel, and preach neither law nor gospel: and others entirely abrogate the law, by bringing in the gospel.”-Charles Spurgeon

He is so right! The Gospel does not replace the Law; the Law still exists! We were sinners before the Law entered the world. The Law simply shed light on our sins and helped to show us right from wrong!

But as hard as we try, we all sin. Thank God, truly, ” Then comes the mission of the gospel: “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”–Charles Spurgeon.

Jesus died for our sin so that we wouldn’t have too. He loves us that much!

We’ve all heard the story of the Ten Lepers that Jesus healed. They begged for mercy, and He gave it :). Healing them all!

To know just what a wonderful gift His healing was, one has to know a bit about leprosy. It’s a horrific illness. Sores cover your body, including your face! In those days, if you had leprosy, you became a complete outcast, even from your family. No one wanted to catch it! Some became paralyzed; some became blind. It was a horrific disease!

To be healed was truly a miraculous gift that not only healed one physically, but brought one back to their family and friends! Can you imagine how incredibly filled with joy they were?

And yet, only one of the ten healed lepers returned to thank Jesus. He was a Samaritan. And Jesus said to him:

“¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”-Luke 17:17-19

But where were the other 9? And how often do we ourselves forget to thank and praise God for the wonderful things He gives us?

Praise and thank God today! No matter where we are in life, there is much we can be grateful for! Gratitude is a choice; given to us by God Himself, choose wisely 🙂