Tag Archives: encouragement in Christ

The Photo Album

Christ's rest, Christian encouragement, Discouraged Christian, Encouragement for Women, Jesus Christ, Love of God, Spiritual Encouragement, To Rest in Christ, , , , , , , , ,

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The Photo Album

Several years ago I had the opportunity to meet an aunt and cousin.  They were actually my husband’s, but they still were “mine”.  Through a series of events and searching by my aunt, she located our name.  Through some unfortunate circumstances we had never met, much less knew of each other’s existence.  

We met for lunch and talked as though we had known each other for years!  It was the sweetest thing.  We had shared some similar experiences, loves, hopes and dreams.  We shared photo albums, marveling at the physical resemblance of generations so long ago.  It was simply delightful.

What joined our hearts so quickly?  It really wasn’t a biological connection, because technically I did not have one.  But we figured it out…we connected our hearts because we all loved Jesus so much!

I saw in my mind’s eye the Father opening his photo album.  He turned the pages ever so carefully, pointing out the characteristics of each of his children.  He told stories of what the pictures meant…”Here my daughter found her first seashell, she was so excited…see her smile?  She was thinking about my creation…how sweet is that?”  He pointed out the resemblance of each of his children.  “Sara loves on the sick children at the hospital.  Jonathan sat at my feet in this picture as we talked.”

Can’t you see the smile?  Can you feel the pride he has over his children?  He continues to look, page by page…picture by picture.  There are millions of albums, and he tires of none.

1 John 4:7  “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  This is just one of many scriptures that shows how powerful the love of God is…there are so many more.

What connected us at lunch? What connects all of us right now?  Jesus.  It is quite simple..JESUS.  Our hearts are one when we know Him as our Savior.  Could it be practice for our heavenly home.

I have to go…I have some photo albums to look at.

Be blessed~

IN CHRIST ALONE

Isaiah 55:8-9

*google image, NIV*

 

 

Give Up!

Christ's rest, Discouraged Christian, Encouragement for Women, Freedom in Christ, Grace, Hope, Jesus Christ, Spiritual Encouragement, Surrender, To Rest in Christ, Trials, Troubles, , , , , , , , , , ,

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I had to Give Up!

I have told a number of “storm stories” due to the fact that: a.) we’ve lost our home twice to storms b.) there are great analogies about storms and life, c.) everyone experiences them at one time or another.

That being said, spring has sprung and with it those lovely spring storms, (note my sarcasm ). We have a funny story from our 25th Wedding Anniversary, and I hope we don’t have one from our 35th coming up, but I do have one from last Thursday!

 It was our son’s birthday and we were at his home celebrating. We had to drive from his home in another town, to ours.  We had kept track of the storm system, or so we thought, and knew we were in the clear.

Well, we weren’t in the clear.  We drove down back country roads with water covering them and the rain was falling so hard my husband couldn’t see 2 feet in front of him.  I know, we should have turned around, or pulled over…but we were concerned that with the rain falling as hard as it was we had better keep going!

Now, people who love us are understanding of my apprehension in storms, so my text messages began to arrive in the midst of it all!  Basically to ask how I was…only to find out rather than taking refuge in our closet,  we were driving in the area where a “rain wrapped” tornado was aloft.  And since all the power was off in this area…the only light we had was the horrible lighting and our headlights.

So what do all good storm watchers do?  I scanned the sky for that rain wrapped tornado!  And of course, with every flash of lightning I saw one!!( not really) Although we both appeared and acted very calm, my heart was sending me another message.

“Give Up” was what I heard in my spirit, and what I said out loud.  We began to laugh and figured that “third time might be a charm” and there was not a whole lot we could do about it anyway.  We just kept driving through it and gave it up.  

A peace fell over us like I cannot describe.  It had not stopped, but our fears were surrendered.  We laughed.  We got home safely, only to see our poor pup at the window of a very dark house. He seemed no worse for the wear.  

But we gave up….I gave up.  I surrendered.  

All was well, but even if something had happened…it would have been ok.  It always has been, no matter what the storm brought before, it was always ok.  I didn’t say it was easy, pleasant or that I wanted to experience it again…but it was ok.

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-4: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..”

So what do you need to give up?  What do you need to surrender?  Might as well do it, it might be the season for laughing!

Blessings dear ones~

IN CHRIST ALONE

Isaiah 55:8-9

*google image, NIV*

Simple Grace

Discouraged Christian, Freedom in Christ, Grace, Hope, Jesus Christ, Spiritual Encouragement, Trials, Troubles, , , , , , , , ,

*This is the same post on my other blog, Teachermomalways.com, but I wanted to share it here as well, thank you for reading today*

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Simple Grace

I must be on a “simple” kick. My last blog was about “simple lessons”. All day today I have thought of the simplicity of God’s grace and how I have complicated it many times in my life.

If someone asked you to explain your faith, could you? What is faith after all? What is grace? Oh, I know all the scriptures. I could send you to them or quote them for you. But if you don’t believe the Bible is the word of God, what good would it do?

My faith is simple. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as my Savior. My one and only Savior. I am dependent on Him. I believe in His existence in my life right now, and tomorrow.

I cannot argue in apologetics, I cannot prove He exists. I cannot do anything but tell you about my life and how I have felt Him and seen Him work over and over.

My parents argued over and over in ugly ways and then divorced. I seemed to be right in the middle of them protecting my mom. Even when I was 12 and dealing with those issues, I really felt that “someone” was watching out for me. God was.

I was not sure of my future, and others around me doubting my ability to become anything with the circumstances that I was in…but there were two teachers who believed in me, and guided me and encouraged me. HE used them to love on me at a crucial time in my life. I went on to school and became a teacher myself. He was there.

I married and although I could fill a volume of books on how God was faithful, I will share only a few. After six years of marriage we had children. I had some issues the second time around and could have lost him. We did not. At one point one of them was not moving in the womb. We were close to delivery and I had to make a quick trip to the ER. It was a scary time, but the stubborn child finally moved and was born by c section days later. It was hard.But He was always there..

We lost 12 people to death in four years in the 90’s. I did not think I could survive through many of these deaths. HE was present. HE brought me peace. A supernatural peace that cannot be explained.

We raised our children. Many times while on my knees in prayer…He showed up. His presence was heavy, palatable, felt by me. I cannot explain it. But I know HE was there…

We personally went through the destruction of two homes in individual storms. In one, I felt that I should look at the window and step on the porch. That is when I saw the tornado. Inside, I would have not seen it and since our home was destroyed, we might have been also. The second storm I heard a voice, not audible mind you, but a feeling that I should get under the table. I did and seconds later a tree fell in on our table right where I had been sitting. It destroyed our home. He brought peace to me in a situation that I did not understand, we lost our home..again!!

It hasn’t always turned out the way I thought it should. Sometimes I have been disappointed and even mad. I have plenty of questions. We have had many rough times in our through these last 35 years, but, He never leaves me…even when He has every right to do so. I still trust Him.

I could go on and on. I cannot convince anyone that Jesus is real…anymore than anyone could convince me He isn’t. I am just afraid He has been given a bad rap. He simply has a gift to give. He wants us to have eternal life. He wants to be with us as we walk through this thing called life. He knows we are not perfect. He just wants the best for us. Sometimes we think that it is just a bunch of rules to follow. It is not. Moral codes maybe, but not rules. That is where the grace comes in.

I cannot get good enough, nor do I have to do so. His grace is for me, for us. “God’s riches at Christ’s expense” I have heard it said before. This is true.

I cannot prove He loves me, except for what I believe and what I have felt…..once you are in His presence, you know it is real. And you never want to be out of it. And I am in love with Him.

So that is it. Simple grace. His gift. I can accept it, or not. But I know it is real. It is that simple.

Be Blessed~

IN CHRIST ALONE

Isaiah 55:8-9