Category: Blessings

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Birthdays

I recently celebrated my birthday (the entire month), during which I considered the blessings of an amazing husband, phenomenal children and grandchildren, terrific sisters and brothers, wonderful nieces and nephews, adorable aunts, and uncles, and the legacy of parents and grandparents.  I also pondered the blessing of having an enormous extended family and friends from across the country and around the world.  Their lives created splendid gateways, and bridges of faith and love which strengthened, and sustained me, even through some of the hardest and darkest times of my life.  So, instead of looking for gifts, I took the opportunity extend blessings to this community of love.   Overwhelmed with gratitude for each of them I shared “blessings.”  I wanted them to know how deeply honored and privilege I am/was for them being part of my life.  It is already February, and I am continuing the process, which I suspect will continue for some time.  But as a dear friend told me, every day you wake up on this side of glory is your birthday.

Birthdays are fun and special.  We look forward to those milestone birthdays, like becoming a teenager, or that special present.  Like Christmas morning, we wake up and can’t wait for the party, presents, and all the attention lavish on us on our special day of the year.

Birthdays are fun, special and a blessing.    And blessings are gifts as well as promises from God which enable, enhance and enrich life.  In the OT, a blessing was the “essential component to the covenant relationship God has with man and with nature.” He blessed nature (Gen. 1:22), and humans (Gen. 1:28), and mankind serves as vessel of divine blessing to others.  In the NT, blessings became more than material items; they transcend to the spiritual, the eternal and from one person to the body of Christ.  Christ gave us the mandate to share the Good News and equip the body of Christ.  In other words, show others the way to Christ and thereby be a blessing.  Through our gift giving of Christ,  those who are living in darkness can receive and experience a “new Birthday.”  The day in which they become a “new creature”; a “new creation” in the family of God.

Yes, birthdays are truly wonderful to experience and share.  Maybe today is your birthday or the birthday of someone you know.  That person may be just a phone call away, or perhaps gone on to be with the Lord.  However, somewhere on this planet, or within your community is a person who needs you to let them know this is their “special” day – their birthday.  Share the love of Christ by telling them how much they mean to Christ and to you.  Enable, enhance or enrich their day.   Your message may be that “once in a lifetime gift” that will restore hope to their weary soul, and enable them to receive the blessing of Christ.

If it is your birthday, may Almighty God bless you and yours abundantly in health, in knowledge of Him, and in the labors of your hands and heart. May His glory shine upon you, and make your home a safe haven. May His joy be your strength, and protect you from all hurt, harm and danger as you follow the Him all the days of your life.  Happy Birthday.

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Living Water

You may have heard about the chemical leak in West Virginia impacting 9 counties. As a result, those affected can’t bathe, drink, or even wash their clothes or dishes.  It has created a demand for clean water.  And although emergency resources are being mobilized, we don’t know how long it will take to rectify the situation.  So in the meantime, schools, restaurants, and some businesses are closed, and people are scrambling to find water.Picture2

My husband drove 25 miles to find bottled water the first evening of the disaster. As we were consuming our precious commodity, he noticed the label on one of the bottles.  It read...”Enon Springs…replenishes your body with the thing it needs the most, H20. Drink it straight up or on the rocks. Just drink as much as you can get your hands on because let’s face it, without water, you’re dust.”

How prophetic and so true.  Water is a precious resource that quenches and hydrates the body.  It cleanses us and our environment.  Water makes things grow and provides nourishment.  Water is life and we need it.  But we also need the living water of Christ. It helps us become like a tree planted by His water bearing fruit in due season. (Psalm 1:3 NLT paraphrased)  Drinking the living water Christ provides, we never go thirsty again.  For His blessed water is a fresh, bubbling spring giving us eternal life. (John 4:14 NLT paraphrased)

Without it, our leaves fall, our seeds don’t take root, our connection to the Living Vine is severed, and we become a valley of dry bones, animate objects of reproach, carcasses devoid of life. Oh, but the marvelous, living water of Christ heals, restores, empowers and makes ready the harvest.  So have a good, long drink of Christ’s living water. Get as much as you can each and every day.  Because without, it we are dust.

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The Gold and Ivory Tablecloth

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.
They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible tempest a driving rainstorm – hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.  The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.
By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. “Pastor,”she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?”  The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials ‘EBG’ were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria . The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten “The Tablecloth”. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria.  When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and she never saw her
husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home. That
was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike? He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again in all the 35 years between. The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.
Who says God does work in mysterious ways. His love is always with you. His promises are true, and when we give Him all our cares we know He will see us through.
So when the road you’re traveling seems difficult at best, just remember to say a prayer and God will do the rest.

“The Gold and Ivory Tablecloth“; it was written by the Rev. Howard C. Schade, pastor of the First Reformed Church in Nyack, New York; it was published in the December 1954 issue of Reader’s Digest; and it was anthologized in Alice Gray’s Christmas Stories for the Heart in 1998.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/glurge/tablecloth.asp#zBy8L0sUV3mFcRtI.99.

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Doers of the Word-A Gentle thought

In the book of James, chapter 1, verse 25, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

This day be a doer of the Divine Word of God.  Let the light of Christ fill each movement, thought, and action.  Breathe in our Lord this day.  Let your heart be willing and stirred to do the work set before you with dignity, and a grateful heart.  Do all to the glory of God.  Let your works be a testimony to His love.

Dear friends, look into the glorious light of love that is Christ, and experience His blessings and grace which are new every morning.  Shalom

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Charting Your Relationship with God

Charting your relationship with God opens your life to the beauty and love of God. How does one chart their relationship?
What does the Bible say? It said “seek ye first the Kingdom of God”; “love God with all your heart, mind and soul”; “love your neighbor”; “love Christ as he loves the church” and there is a lot more, but the consistent message is love.
I’ve shared lots of love messages in this blog through the stories of triumph, pain, sacrifice, suffering, and of hope. Loving God with excellence is my desire, and my course. I don’t meet the mark in every situation. Sometimes, I flat-out blow it. But I’m “pressing towards the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus”.
Charting our relationship with Almighty God is a daily journey of discovery, and restoration. It is our opportunity to hit the pause button, and see with faith-filled eyes His promise to never forsaken or leave us.
I encourage you during those moments of reflection, when the air is thick with gratitude or despair to sense His amazing grace and love. IN THAT MOMENT, put a pin in it. Yes, right there on your heart space. Pause. Wait. Don’t rush or turn away. Gently allow your spirit to kiss the hem of his garment, and receive the gift of Him. Breath in gratitude for the gift of love. You’re charting your relationship.

God waits for us in every moment of life confirming and reestablishing those divine connections. For many of us all it takes is one breath and one thought of Him, who is everything. Tell God you are turning your compass due north, straight back to Him. A little latitudinal adjustment is a good thing, when you’re charting your relationship with God- our bright and shining star.
Because it’s all about love.

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Confession of Hope

Hebrews 10: 23-24 (NKJV)
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”

My husband and I just finished a whirlwind trip through two states seeing family and friends. At every encounter, I was reminded of God’s faithfulness, and provision, particularly during some of the most difficult periods in our lives. His grace markers were evident as I held hands with our first grandson, looked into the faces of family and friends, and saw the delight in their eyes. God has so blessed us. He has been faithful through all the trials and tribulations, and all the wrong decisions made. Through the Prophet Isaiah God said, “…Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me, Hear and your soul shall live;…(Isaiah 55:2b-3a). God promised his plans for us would give us a future and a hope. God promised to never leave us nor forsake us. God promised us to give us the desires of our hearts. These promises and more are a testament to the faithfulness of our Lord. His promises are true; because God does not lie. His grace is sufficient. Hold fast to your hope for our God is faithful. Listen carefully to Him.  Incline yourself to His word. Trust Him. Pursue Him with your whole heart, and encourage others to taste and see that the Lord is good.  For we have a hope, a magnificent hope.

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Seed

I love old science fiction movies, and television shows.  The idea of creating something new, and exploring the unknown, and other worlds has always fascinated me.  Recently, I came across on Netflix an old series, The 4400, which is a story about a group of individuals returned to Earth after vanishing for years.  As the story progressed, it was discovered these individuals came back with specific gifts designed to help Earth’s future.  They were “seeded” or re-planted to correct present day anomalies.

When you go back and re-watch old movies and shows, you see or hear things that might have escaped you the first time.    What caught my attention this time was the term “seeded”  which has several meanings, including to plant seeds for growth.  However, in meteorology concepts, it also means to sprinkle with particles in order to disperse it, or to produce precipitation.  In sports, the term is used to describe the process of arranging positions, so that more skilled contestants meets in the later rounds.  Seeds brings up images of multiplication, growth, development or advancement.  Plants flourishing under the right conditions.  The more and more I thought about “seed, seeding or seeded“,  the more I began to draw an analogy to the church, and us.  In the Gospel of John, chapter 15, Jesus identified himself as the “true vine” and you and I as the branches of that vine.  We, the branches spring up from the “righteous seed” of Christ with a divine commission to first remain connected to the vine, and then to bear MUCH FRUIT.   As in the tale of the 4400, we are called to use our unique gifts and talents (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 27-31) to facilitate the building of His Kingdom on Earth, and share the gospel message. We were called to sprinkle or “seed” the Word of Life and Truth across the entire planet.  We were called to plant or “seed” ministries, churches, missions, schools, businesses all for the glory of God.  We were called to  “seed” or arrange ourselves and others to successfully meet the challenge of evil in these latter days, and show the world an even better way.  We were called to be “seed“; growing together in the love and admonition of the Lord, and staying knitted together in Christ.  By faith in Christ, we are the “seed” for the building of the Kingdom.   Isn’t it interesting how in the Great Commission, Jesus told his disciples to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the planet; to sprinkle the particles [the whole] of truth in order to disperse it, and to produce the divine precipitation upon the dry, desert of lost souls, so they too, can experience the life giving seeds of God’s amazing love.

This is not science fiction but a divine truth which can’t be ignored by us.  You and I were ordained before the beginning of the world to be “seeds” for the Master’s work.  If you don’t feel like you are a “seed”, read St. John Chapter 15, and 1 Corinthians 12, and let the Holy Spirit re-seed you today.  Amen.

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Freedom

“The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Galatians 5:1

A morning devotional by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

This “liberty” makes us free to heaven’s charter-the Bible.  Here is a choice passage, believer, “When thou passest through the rivers, I will be with thee.” You are free to that. Here is another: “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee;” you are free to that. You are a welcome guest at the table of promises. Scripture is a never-failing treasury filled with boundless stores of grace. It is the bank of heaven; you may draw from it as much as you please, without let [delay] or hindrance. Come in faith and you are welcome to all covenant blessings. There is not a promise in the Word which shall be withheld. In the depths of tribulations, let this freedom comfort you; amidst waves of distress, let it cheer you; when sorrows surround thee, let it be thy solace. This is thy Father’s love-token; thou are free to it at all times. Thou art also free to the throne of grace. It is the believer’s privilege to have access at all times to his heavenly Father. Whatever our desires, our difficulties, our wants, we are at liberty to spread all before him. It matters not how much we may have sinned, we may ask and expect pardon. It signifies nothing how poor we are, we may plead his promise that he will provide all things needful.  We have permission to approach his throne at all times – in midnight’s darkest hour, or in noontide’s most burning heat.  Exercise thy right, O believer, and live up to thy privilege. Thou art free to all that is treasured up in Christ-wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It matters not what thy need is, for there is fulness of supply in Christ, and it is there for thee. O what a “freedom” is thine! freedom from condemnation, freedom to the promises, freedom to the throne of grace, and at last freedom to enter heaven!

Amen.