What Holds You Back?

What holds you back from loving Jesus?

Is it 

SIN…

DISBELIEF… 

FEAR…

LIES…

APATHY…

NEGLIGENCE…? 

Whatever it is, these things are not worth it. He loves you, and He waits for you to come to Him. He waits patiently, and He waits lovingly. He waits wth anxious anticipation to show you all He has. 


In Him, you will find unconditional love and unending grace. You will find unmerited favor and undeserving mercy. You will find rest. You will find peace. You will find strength, and you will find HOPE. Without hope, our hearts grow weary and our lives grow dim. Without hope, we all persish. 

He Knows Your Name

Some people struggle with remembering names and faces of people whom they meet. Some people never forget a face, while others never forget a name. Personally, I work hard to remember both. 

You see, I work extra hard to remember a person’s name, not because I’ve got some “great gift,” but rather, because I know what it means to my heart when someone remembers mine. I have a very difficult name to remember, especially my full name, and so, often, people might mispronounce it or just ignore it all together. In school, so many made fun of my name that, when I entered college, I just decided to go by a nickname. Those scars of being made fun of, eventually healed, but they caused me to realize how precious a name can be to someone. 
I have not mastered this goal of remembering names, but I can say, I work hard on it. When someone asked me the other day if I remembered their name, my mind went absolutely blank! My eyes went to the “deer in the headlights” mode, I broke out in a cold sweat, and I couldn’t have remembered the person’s name to save my life! 

I could remember the last name. I could remember the spouse’s name. I could even see the spouse’s FB page in my head, but that first name just wasn’t going to break through the mental blank my mind had created! Ugh! What a terrible moment! I wanted to cry…yes, literally, I wanted to crawl away and cry. Remembering someone’s name means that much to me. 

Later on, this moment caused me come to a wonderful revelation. One that I know very well; however, in those hard moments of life, sometimes, my heart will try to deceive me to believe I don’t know this truth: Jesus knows my name!

He not only knows my name, but He knows every intricate little part of me. He knows the number of hairs on my head. He knows my likes, my dislikes, my hopes, my fears, my doubts and my dreams. He knows every time I’ve cried, every time I’ve laughed. He knows every sin I’ve committed and every aspiration I hope to have. He knows my name, and He loves me!!


You know else, He knows yours, too! He knew you before you were even born. He knew what you were going to look like and where you’d be right now. He knew what your life would be like, and He knew what your name would be even before you received it. He loves you so much, and He longs for you to know Him. I encourage you today, give Him a chance. I promise you, He will not disappoint. 

Friday’s Friends #4

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Today is Friday, and that means I have something special to share: A New Friday’s Friend! I do hope you are enjoying these each week, and I hope you are finding some new “friends” here within the blogosphere. 🙂

I’d like to share with you a blogger who has touched my heart with the story she shares. BeautyBeyondBones has an incredible testimony of how she has lived in the depths of despair and came out shining on the other side with hope. Her story inspires me and encourages me to look beyond the smile that someone has and really look into their eyes to see if their soul is truly full of hope.

I do hope you will go and visit her, and I hope you will find her story as encouraging as I have. I love that her latest decision has been to completely live by faith, to live it radically and for a greater cause than herself…this is truly beautiful!

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Breathe Again

Life can feel like a heavy blanket resting on your chest, soaking up the rain, getting heavier and heavier. You can choose to get lost under the weight, dwindling down to nothing, expelling all the air from your lungs. You can close your eyes and simply allow the pain to wash you away in the storm. 

Heartache and grief is bound to come to each one. If it hasn’t visited you, just hold on, your hour will come when reality slams through the door like a hurricane, and you wonder if the sun will ever shine again. Those days, the air can become so suffocating, as if your house is on fire, and you’re caught within the fumes and the smoke, grasping for one more chance to breathe again. 

In that moment, in that lapse of time, you have to choose to breathe again, even when it is a struggle. Those are the minutes you will have to fight to survive. If it takes clawing your way out of that pit, then claw you must, but never give up. 

Never lie down and give up the fight so easily. Never roll out the red carpet for death to seize your mind and your soul. Never let the reaper consume you with hopelessness and despair. He will try, and he will scream horrors upon horrors to make you see him. Don’t let him win. 

There is Hope. There is a better way. Hope will bring light into the darkest night. Hope will return the song to the wind. Hope will chase away the clouds in due time, and Hope will help you to breathe again. 

Just take one tiny breath. Take one tiny step forward, and whisper His name, “Jesus.” He will answer. He will give you breath to breathe…


Tears Flow Like Rain

Sometimes, you just have to let the tears flow. Let them flow like rain. I’m not talking about manipulative water works here, those kind of tears found springing forth when a person is trying to work their own way in a situation they do not belong, or the kind of show that is selfish, ambitious, full of jealousy and greed.

No, I’m talking about drops of rain that rush forth from a broken and contrite soul. Tears which flow from a heart that is humbled before a righteous God.Tears can purify our thoughts as we allow His Spirit to wash over our soul. Tears can cleanse a wound and bring healing to the mind. Tears that are mingled with the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit can bring repentance, forgiveness, clarity and wholeness to the heart.

Personally,  I have always been the kind of person who can “cry at the drop of a hat,” not because I make myself, but rather because it seems I don’t know where the shut of valve is. 😂 Honestly,  there are times when that can get really annoying! Haha!😂 There was a time in my life when I hated crying, because I thought it made me appear weak, without strength or stamina; then, there were a few times I’d relish in those droplets that flowed, because I noticed the compassion that often followed. Over the years, I think I’ve just accepted them as my way of allowing God’s Spirit to cleanse mine.

I have concluded, it’s just a part of who I am. Tears are a part of my human make-up, and unless, I become hardened, bitter and mean, tears simply come with the territory of me. I suppose, I’d much rather be tender, sensitive and quick to shed a tear than rigid, barbed and hateful. At least this way, I can still fight the enemy with tears streaming down my face, and remain steadfast until the end, rather than becoming a robot, simply going through too much pain to even process and further damaging those within my sphere by my lack of empathy and love…

Love Me Challenge #21

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I am so proud of my God!! He is something else! If you haven’t met Him, you should, because He will change your life!! ❤

and I’m so proud of my husband and our boys! They are so incredibly awesome, and I truly don’t deserve them; however, I am so thankful God brought them all into my life!! ❤

(this, of course, is a younger pic of them, but they are growing into such fine young men!)

Sometimes, you must STAND!

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NEWS FLASH:  Unlike the propaganda that is given to too many young Christians and to those who do not yet know Christ, this life of Christianity is not a bed of roses and land filled with lollipops and yellow brick roads. Serving Christ does not automatically make our lives change to perfection, nor does it make every problem, every temptation and every vile thing in this world to somehow magically disappear. I surely wish it could be so, but it’s just not how this thing works, and if you got saved believing this, I am sure you have wondered more than once why on earth you began this walk of faith…

I can assure you, you will have trials. You will have troubles. You will have tribulations. While Jesus was on this earth, He told us we would. He doesn’t lie, and His Word is always true: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 Yet, the first part of that Scripture is on what we must focus: in Him, we will have peace. With His peace that surpasses all understanding, we will be able to stand at all cost.

When we rely on Him, His strength, His power and His might, we will be able to withstand no matter what assails us. Too often, we grow disheartened, either because we have forgotten the proclamation of hard times, we have forgotten His promise of peace, or we simply get tired of fighting and walk away from the destiny that is just across the battlefield. He called us to finish this fight, and He has destined us to win! …and I can assure you, when you stand through the fire, you will come through stronger and wiser for it! 😉

All we must do is keep standing until the end. Will you stand with Him and fight?!

*Personal note to the reader: if you find yourself in the middle of a battle in this life, fighting the enemy, no matter what that enemy may be: drugs, alcohol, lust, pride, vanity, rage, depression, loneliness, abuse, rebellion, lying, cheating, stealing…the list could go on and on… If you find yourself battling, and you want to win, but you don’t know how, just call on His Name! He will answer!! Once you call on His Name, “call out” to someone you know who is stronger than you who can help you, too. Sometimes, God delivers instantaneously, and sometimes, God decides the best deliverance will not be instantaneous but rather a process. Sometimes, you will have to walk a road of recovery. Sometimes, you will have to rely on the Body of Christ to help you through. Trust God to show you. He will guide and direct you as He uses His people to reach to you and help you carry the load…    “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal. 6:2

 

 

Love Me Challenge #19

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Something I feel strongly about…

There are few things for which I will live and die, but these are a few…

My God

All He is to me, all He’s done for me, and all He has promised

He has created my world. He sustains my world. He is my world.

 

My Loves

Who they are and what they mean to me

They are my world.

 

PS. Just as a side note… too often, in today’s culture, there are too many “fighting and dying” for so many things of not much value and not much “reward.” When you choose to ‘feel strongly’ about something, and you choose to fight for it, just make sure it is truly something worth fighting for, not just the latest trend or the latest, greatest and loudest scheme of the politicians or other agenda driven group to get your attention! 😉 …There are things for which to fight, and there are things for which to sacrifice a life, just make sure you are certain those things are right! … okay, that is all. 🙂

 

 

 

Love Me Challenge #18

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This.

This feeds my brain…

Books, Books and more Books.

…and this, this is the best food for my brain and my soul…

More Valuable Than Gold

 

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I wonder, sometimes, what do we truly value in this life? There is a story in the Bible, in the book of Luke, that tells the story of a woman who lost one silver coin out of ten that she had. She lit a lamp and frantically searched the whole house for the coin, even going so far as to sweep the whole house in her search. Then, once it had been found, she called all her friends and neighbors to celebrate the goodness she had found. This parable is in reference to salvation, and the truth revealed in God loving us so much that His search for us when we are lost is even more so than this woman.

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!” Luke 15:8-10

However, the parable also brings to mind the thoughts of what we hold valuable in our lives, what we hold dear and precious to our hearts, and what would bring us to the point of extreme desperation at the loss of it. What we consider of value displays our true character. What we value sets our priorities in place and determines our perspective of significance.

I wonder what it might be in your life?

I wonder what it is that you hold cherished and valued in your life?

Is it your children? your job? your money? your possessions? What is it that sets your priorities in right order? What might it be that places your perspective and your ponderings on a particular sight, person or concept?

Those of us who call on the name of Jesus as Lord should pause a moment and consider the truth of this reality. Is it really the message of Jesus that we hold dear? Do we cherish Him as a treasure? Do we consider Him that valuable? Do we seek Him as expensive gold? Do we place everything aside simply to be with Him and to know Him more each and every day?

Do we share Him with those around us as the good news we have found?