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Psalm 143:8

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Psalm 143:8

Friday, October 19, 2012

5 Minute Friday: Look


Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community. 



OK, are you ready? Won’t you please give me your best five minutes on:::

Look…


When you look in your mirror, what do you see? Do you see someone beautiful? Or someone wretched and ugly and broken?

When you look at other people, what do you see? Do you see someone beautiful? Or someone you'd rather avoid because they look different or rough or dirty?


When you look at your children, if you have children, what do you see? Sinful, naughty little sprites who make messes everywhere they go? Or do you see your children...who you love more than anything else, who no matter what they do...you will always see through the eyes of love...

Once on a mission trip, we were asked to look at a collection of photos and think about the people in the photos. And I admit it....I looked and I saw some people I would be happy to hang out with. I saw some people I would rather not look in the eye. I saw some people who might have scared me if I had to pass them on the sidewalk. I saw some people who I would have felt sorry for, but might have turned away from. I saw some who I am pretty sure were much better than me. I saw some people who I judged...harshly. Just from a photo.


Then we were told to look at those photos again from a different perspective. From God's eye-view. To LOOK at them and see those people as God saw them.....
And then I saw...beautiful people. People of worth who need a savior just like I do. People who have hard lives and hard times, who need the love of God just like I do. I saw children of the same Heavenly Father who have the same needs I have.


God looks at us through eyes of love. He sent His Son for us. To die, for us. To cover our wretched, ugly, sin-filled lives with the blood of the Lamb. To dress us in the beautiful clothing of redeemed holiness. Because of love. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, God sees us as His children. He loves us no matter what. No matter if we can't be perfect. No matter if we make mistakes. No matter what. He sees us through the eyes of love...


Go take a look in the mirror again, or at the world again...what do you see? What does God see?

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Singing on Sunday: Live Like That

Sidewalk Prophets

"Is there evidence that I've been changed?
When they see me, do they see You?"

Friday, October 12, 2012

5 minute Friday: Race

Now, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..


Ready, set, go....

RACE

Hebrews 12:1-3

New International Version (NIV)
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.


"And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us...."  Some days that doesn't seem very easy...to persevere.   We're busy, busy, busy...just trying to get through the next five minutes, the next hour, the next day, the next week...  Always on the go, always racing for the next event or the next stop or the next...

But that's not really the race these verses mean.  The race marked out for us.  The race with Jesus at the finish line...waiting to welcome us to eternity.  Jesus, who suffered, bled and died.  Just for us.  Jesus who gave up EVERYTHING to win life for each person who believes.  Fix your eyes on Jesus.  The pioneer and perfecter of our faith...who for the joy set before him  endured the cross....

So what can we endure for that same joy?  What can we strive for to reach that joy at the finish line?  How will we run the race?  With anger, bitterness, fear, pettiness, shallowness?  Or with strength and endurance, with a heart fixed on Him, our eyes focused on Jesus?

Run the race, friends...run strong, persevere, focus!

Stop

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Of migraines and asthma and aching backs....and joy

Lately, I've had a growing number of migraines.  Two months ago, I finally went to see my doctor about them.  I got a prescription to take at the first signs of a migraine.  In two months, I've had 8 migraines...three in the last three days.  It's getting a little old.  But I am grateful that the medication seems to take the worst of it away, eventually. 

I was also diagnosed about a month ago with allergy induced asthma.  As I've been learning how to deal with that, I find I pay a lot of attention to my body and how it's feeling and reacting to things.  And I find I am a little discouraged with everything that is going on.

And to top it all off, my back and neck have been driving me crazy lately...a visit to the chiropractor yesterday seems to have calmed that down a bit.  Thank goodness!  Rest on my heat pad will help, too.

Sometimes, I feel like whining and complaining...and often I do.  But, I was reminded today that I can let these things bring me down...turn me into a grumpy girl...a whiny girl...focused on the pain and the illness and the depression that can follow....I can choose to wallow in a bad attitude, an "I'm so sorry for myself" attitude....

Or...I can choose joy.  I can choose to be grateful for the rest my body demands (which I don't take often enough), for the meds I have now that help keep the symptoms under better control.  I can choose joy.  I can choose what?  Joy?  In pain?  In an aching body that keeps me from doing things at times? 

I CAN choose my attitude.  I can choose to praise my God. I can sing to Him through my pain, through my illness...and allow Him to fill me with His strength, His joy, His attitude, His light.  In Acts 16, Paul and Silas, after being stripped and beaten and thrown into prison, sang to their Lord in the darkness of their cell.  They sang with the joy of the love of God.  Nehemiah 8:10 says, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.  I choose joy.  Will you?