Walk On Clouds

I wish I could walk on the clouds
Feel the cool air hit my face
The soft clouds billow around me
I imagine somehow I would feel lighter
Somehow I feel like sorrow
would fall off of my heart like drops of rain
Somehow I feel like only love
would be able to hold me up
And regret would be something of the past
The sky would be my dance floor
I could run as fast as I desire
or just sit and ponder
The sky would be mine to have
It would support me as I float upon it
If only I could walk on the clouds
Maybe life wouldn't feel
like its holding me down
I would lay as I watch the sky become a darker shade of blue
And the stars appear like music
being played in the sky
I would make up a song as as they twinkle
I would use the clouds as a blanket
to keep me warm
As the evening breeze gets cooler
If only I could walk on the clouds

Love Letter

I am sitting in my room- meditating on life, on God. As I think I am spoken to softly. 

“When you are in love you read their texts and letters over and over again, thats how My love letters should be read.” 

It is true. The Word of God has been called His love letter to us. We are called His bride, yet we tend to read past His letter quickly so we can engage in our earthly loves. (whatever that may be, people, work, material possessions…)

That first true love letter we receive becomes tattered and worn because we pull it out every moment we can to reread the sweet words from our new lover. We keep the words they say on replay and chew on them over the course of the day.  

Yet sadly, and I confess, I do this too, my Truest of Loves, my most faithful friend, the man that died for me, this Love has been sadly cast off so I can case after another. 

May our Bibles, our love letter from God become tattered and worn, may we desire to reread it over and over again, meditating on His words to us. Playing the music of His heart throughout the day. May my truest of Loves be the One who first loved me. 

Whisper Words of Wisdom

  

  To love at all is to be vulnerable. 

 Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. 

If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little    

 luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or  

 coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, 

 motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will    

    become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

  To love is to be vulnerable. 

                         

 C. S. Lewis 

Becoming Like A Child

                                      Becoming Like A Child


Matthew 18:3 
"And said, 'Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

   The older I get and the more I observe children, I am understanding why God says we are to become like a child.
As we get older we become more worried, stressed, preoccupied, cynical of life and full of a undeniable pride. We tend to reserve ourselves and we often become ashamed of sharing our faith and find it hard to express the truth in love.

   Now take time to observe a child, think of your children or nephews, nieces, little brothers or sisters...
Children are humble in many ways. They have no way to take care of themselves and are solely dependent on their parents or caretakers. They are free spirited and carefree. They don't worry about if they will eat or what they will wear or even what they will do that day or the next, because they trust in their loved ones to take care of them. They speak honestly, even when we don't desire to hear it... "What's that red dot on your face?" And say and do the most sensitive loving things when it is unexpected and undeserved.

   They also forgive and forget. If a child has been hurt by someone, they have this uncanny way moving past it and forgive easily. And most often than not you won't hear about it the next day or even the next minute after the offense. 
   Children also have this way of seeing the world as a big adventure yet see the joy in small things. 


   We have all had those moments where we wished we were children again, not having to worry about the stresses of life. We may not be able to go back in time,and honestly I'd rather not live through some of those younger years again. But God doesn't only say we are able to, but should become like children. We are to strive for that. We have to become humbled and remove our independent pride and learn to trust The Lord as our provider. We are to live carefree (in a sense) so we are not full of worry and doubt. We are to express the truth (in love) and shouldn't be ashamed to speak up and share the faith. We need to forgive and forget easily. And we should daily see this world as something to discover without looking past the joys that can be found in the little things. 

Observe a child and learn from them. They can teach you more than you ever imagined!

Happy New Year!

It's a new year! It may just be another day, but to me it truly feels like a new beginning. A new chapter in my life. A clean slate. 2013 was good to me in different ways than I had expected. I wish the lessons I had learned in that year were easier and without the pain I had faced, but I know by God's grace I went through some difficult storms and came out stronger and with a renewed perspective.

I have a undeniable excitement for this coming year. My expectations are high as I look out into these untouched 365 days. I feel as if 2013 has catapulted me into this new year. That pain and suffering I had faced was only a tool to get me to where I need to be today. As I move forward I cannot see clearly what is to come, but I know in my heart I have a peace and joy about it. I know I want to become someone better than I was yesterday, in mind, body and Spirit. I am determined to make my life better and help this world in someway become better too. Of course I can not change the world or become this person I desire to be all in 2014, but just like that beautiful story about the boy by the ocean shore, after the storm brought in countless starfish, a old man saw him throw in one starfish at a time back into the ocean and called out to him saying, "you know you can't save them all..." And the boy simply replied as he looked down at the one starfish in his hand and said, "but I can save this one" and threw it back into the calm of the ocean.

Happy New Year!

Grace

 Grace. 

Its something so undeserving. We can not work for grace for it is given as a gift. It is something God gives freely. It was given when Jesus poured out His life for us. When we say we do not deserve grace. That our sins are too great. We are saying that Jesus' death was in vain. That His death was not good enough, that His death was not great enough to cover our sins. 

"By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace

 toward me was not in vain..." 

-1 Corinthians 15:10

Paul, a man who persecuted that church, who killed many because of their belief in God. This man, received God's grace. He knew how horrible his sin was. Paul was aware that out of all men he was the most unworthy. But Paul clung onto God's free gift of grace. He humbled himself and laid down his sins before God. 

 “ 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'

 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'

 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am! Send me.' ”

Isaiah 6:5-8

Isaiah, before God saw how unclean he was. But his lips were then touched by a burning coal,and the seraphim said to him after that his guilt was taken away, and his sin atoned for.

It is interesting to see how it was said his guilt was taken away. Many of us believe in God, we know our sins were taken away but we sense this heavy guilt that weighs us down. 

Isaiah not only had his sins atoned for but his guilt removed.

Then after that, when God asked who would go for Him... Isaiah did not take the grace given to him in vain.. but he proclaimed "Here I am Lord, send me!"

God takes our sins away, His grace given to us as a gift. 

Neither Paul or Isaiah saw this grace and said "No Lord, I am too unclean, my sin is too great!" 

But they took hold of this grace and ran with it. 

They both positioned themselves for service,saying, 

"Here I am Lord, send me!"

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect...Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

- Phil. 3:12-14

Paul did not consider himself perfect, even after receiving grace. But what grace allowed him to do was forgetting the past, and straining toward the future. To live a life worthy of the gospel. 

We too can receive the same grace of God. Our sins are not too great. We can be cleansed and forgiven, and our guilt removed.

 We too can say,

"Here I am Lord, send me!"

"...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow;

though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

-Isaiah 1:18

The Honest Lie

Revelations 12:10

"Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God, 

and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down."

Today you may feel it, the whisper of the accuser. The one who takes you aside and tells you the honest lie... 

"you can't do it."

Some of you may wonder what "honest lie" means. It does sound kind of contradicting. Let me explain. 

Have you ever asked someone "honestly, what do you think?" Hoping for a truthful answer?

Well, the enemy is that. He makes himself out to be your truthful friend. The one who gives it to you straight. But yet he is only telling you partial truths. 

You see the enemy leaves out the honest truth of salvation. The cross. The blood of Christ that was spilled because of our sin. 

See, Christ knows we are sinners too. Jesus knows how horrible our sin is, and He knows we may never get it right. BUT He had a plan. Because He knows us and loves us, He died. He gave us the power of salvation. So that by the Spirit of God in us, we have the power to conquer sin, to live a life for Christ.

The enemy will always give it to us straight, always bring us our ugly flaws. But he always stops short. BUT God, He keeps going, He agrees with the enemy that we have done wrong and have sinned, but He also reminds us that He has payed for that sin. He has given us the power of salvation so that the accuser may be shut down and that we may dwell with Christ forever.

Never allow the lie of the enemy to be the "truth" in your life, but allow the power of salvation to be the hope you hold onto.