Divine Romance

1 John 4:9, 10, 16,  "This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.....And so we KNOW and RELY on the love God has for us."

I enjoy reading romance novels where boy and girl meet, become acquainted, fall in love, and at the end of the book declare their love to each other and marry.  However, there is always some obstacle to their love at the beginning of the book, and this forms the suspense part of the story.  Often the problem is that the boy and girl, although secretly crazy about each other, do not know whether they are loved in return, so there are doubts and fears and misunderstandings until the end of the book.

If we could know only one thing about God, it should be that He loves us.  He has written us love letters in His creation, in His Word, in His invitation to come boldly to His throne of grace and converse with Him about our needs, in His daily provisions for us, and, above all else, in Jesus' death on the cross.  We have no reason to ever doubt God's love or to fear evil from His hand or to misunderstand His intentions.  We can have complete confidence in His love for us as we give our love to Him in return.

Father, I pray for us in Paul's words from Ephesians 3:17b-19,  "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."  Amen.

Life's Little Frustrations

I'm out of supplies and I need some more,

So I must go to the grocery store.

Which part is hardest?  Is it loading the cart,

Unloading, putting up, or just getting a start?

Perhaps the most difficult part of it all

Is the price we must pay as we make our haul!

Rejoice in Today

Psalm 118:24,  "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

      Summer is my favorite season of the year.  I love its casual, relaxed, laid back feeling.  I always have a sense of sadness and loss when it is over.  Certainly fall is fun, with the crisp air that energizes us to step more briskly, the excitement of football season, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  But I dread the thought of January and February, with cold, dreary days, long nights, and runny noses. 

However I am determined this year to have a welcoming attitude toward all the days ahead and be open to all the things that each one of them brings.

      After Bob Tweedy was paralyzed as the result of a fall, he and his wife Carolyn started each day by saying together,  "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice ad be glad in it."  They chose to rejoice in their circumstances.  They recognized the fact that each new day is God's special gift to us and received it as such.

      Our joy and peace do not depend upon the season or the weather or our circumstances but upon the presence of God with us, and He is there for us through all kinds of weather and all kind of circumstances, through every season of the year and every season of life.  We can always rejoice in Him.

Father, may we be grateful for each new day You give us and rejoice that You will walk through it with us.  Amen.

Life's Little Frustrations

I change baby's diaper, and then

I turn around, and he's wet again!

The House of the Loard

Psalm 23:6b, "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

John 14:2-3,  "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."

Revelation 21:2-3,  "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,  'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.'"

Revelation 21:22,  "I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple."

     We will hear beautiful sounds from the heavenly choir.  We will see amazing sights.  The centerpiece of heaven will be God on His throne.  From the throne of God will flow the river of life, and a tree of life will grow on each side of the river and produce twelve crops of fruit.  The city will be surrounded by a wall whose foundation will be decorated with all kinds of precious stones.  There will be twelve gates, each one composed of one gigantic pearl, and the streets will be paved with glittering gold.  The things which God has prepared for those who love Him will greatly exceed anything we could ever imagine.

     Our loved ones who have died in Christ are there, and I expect that they will greet us when we arrive.  What a joyful reunion that will be!

     We will dwell in this wonderful place forever and ever, never to leave.  It will be a place of "no mores"--no more sickness nor sorrow nor pain nor death nor tears nor struggles.

     But the most blessed part of heaven is this: our Heavenly Father will dwell there with us, and we shall see our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, face to face and have the opportunity to praise Him and thank Him for the cross.  It will be God's eternal Presence with us that will make heaven so very special.  The destination will make everything we have suffered in the journey of life worth it all!

Father, I think of Corrie Ten Boom's words, "The best is yet to be," and I thank You for all that You have prepared for the eternal future of all those who love You.  Amen.