We laid my grandmother to rest yesterday... and I awoke thinking about heaven...my Father...my grandmother.... those who have passed before me.
And I kept thinking of this passage of scripture...
Psalm 27:8 Your face, LORD, I will seek.
Sure I want to see my loved ones..but really....
I WANT TO SEE MY HEAVENLY FATHER!!!!
my earthly father and I are very close. He loves me, he protects me, he gives me Christian concil and he has been my biggest supporter.
I can only imagine what love will overflow from my heavenly father...I just can not fathom it.
I have been blessed with a great dad. For that I am eternally grateful.... because his love for me has shown me just a glimpse of the love God has for me.
And so, when I pass from this life into Glory.. the very FIRST person I want to see is my heavenly father......... Isaiah 46:3-4 (New Living Translation) 3 all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. 4 I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.
The feelings of excitement and anticipation seem to quickly fade after Christmas. After the gifts are opened, the meal is eaten and the love expressed.....life returns to normal.... I'd rather my normal be filled with excitement, anticipation, and love every day of my life..not just on Christmas.
How can I accomplish this?
As I did during the holidays...thinking of others, sharing, and spending time with family and friends.
Most importantly, being grateful for my Savior. Remembering the source of all hope... Jesus Christ.
God has blessed me so much throughout my life. I have had bad situations as well, but when I focus on the negative I'm stealing my own joy. when I focus on the positive, and acknowledge them as blessings, I have peace, hope and joy.
Not to say that maintaining a positive attitude is easy, because it is not...some days it just seems impossible.
But, when I talk to God, when I read his Word...I change. My heart changes. My attitude changes. I can't change the nature I was born with without Christ. Will I be negative, sure...I'm human. Will I be sad, sure I'm human..
But:.......I know who to look towards to help me through those times.
As Christmas ends, and the New Year begins, I am challenging myself to be more focused on Christ, others and the positive...and cast negativity aside. This is my challenge to myself...but I hope its affects are far reaching.
5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. 9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:1-10
Praise GOD! His GRACE is MERCIFUL to the SINNER .....
......(in all of us).
If I measured my faith, my love, my devotion, by human standards....well, I am sure I would fall very, very short or the mark.
But humanity is not the measuring stick.
Romans 2:6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done"
GOD is my MASTER.
See, I was once one of those... judgmental, holier than thou church-going Christians. I was looking real good ........to myself. I could spot the faults of others a mile away! Oh, and I loved to make them feel guilty for it as well. I would say, "I'll be praying for you." knowing full well that after I left the church service (and the eyes of those I was attempting to impress) I would no further pray or even think about the person I just saw. My mind was all about being SEEN as a perfect little Christian. When in fact, I was thinking about where we were going to eat lunch.
It wasn't until God took me to a place of brokenness ........that God was able to reveal HIMSELF to me as He revealed MYSELF (mercifully) to me.
God has to show me the very core of who I am (human, sinful, imperfect)......so he could show me WHO HE IS (righteous, holy, perfect)!
It was at that moment, GOD gave me what I needed.......
Grace
Romans 5:18 "Well then, as one man's trespass [one man's false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so one Man's act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men."
Because of Adam there is SIN........ Because of CHRIST there is ATONEMENT!
IT IS BY FAITH WE ARE SAVED THROUGH GRACE....
I have heard that preached over and over and it did not mean to me THEN.................what is does NOW.
"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."ROMANS 5:10
If you have read much of any thing I have blogged about then bless you for sharing in a journey with me of God's GRACE over the past year in my life. It has been an amazing ride. One that I can say.....has been very needed and has been worth it in the end.........because I have a closer relationship with Christ.
Let me share these verses I have been studying with you.....
"Not only so, but wec also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
I am just beginning to get it now........ what Christ has done for me (for us all)...... Sinners saved by GRACE.
