August 31, 2010 – 8:16 am
I was praying this morning and the song “Hallelujah (Your Love Makes Me Sing)” came to mind. As my voice quietly sung the refrain, I began to substitute the word “love” for other qualities such as grace, wisdom, and mercy.
Then a thought occurred to me: I love my life! Because, if my life had taken a different course, I might not know the love of God, or the grace of God. If I didn’t know Jesus, if I couldn’t hear His Words directing my steps, things would be very messed up.
It was a reminder to me to stay thankful and never take the free gift of salvation for granted. Jesus paid a heavy price so that I could be forgiven, so that I could feel the love and mercy flow down from Heaven’s throne. The only appropriate response is eternal gratitude!
And so, Hallelujah Father God! Your Love Makes Me Sing!
(P.S. The followup post to the last one “Surfacing” is still on the way.
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August 28, 2010 – 6:32 pm
In only a few weeks, my wife Rosemary and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary. Marriage is great. It’s so great that I’m glad I didn’t realize how great it would be before getting married or it would have been harder (aka sadder & more lonely!) to wait for “the One” to come along!
Some of the other stuff that has happened over the last year has not been so great — primarily in parental relationships and, like most folks these days, business/finance. In fact, I have been through some real struggles of trusting in God. There have been times when prayers tasted dry in my mouth. I thought God was hiding and I didn’t understand why.
But I’ve had to learn something all over again, something I knew before and had temporarily forgotten. God is always moving, and He is always speaking. We can’t hear sometimes because the volume of our heart’s cry is too high. But it’s those times when true faith is forged in our spirit because either God is good or He is not. If He is good, He will do right by us. Jesus asked us to consider that if even earthly fathers who are marred by sin want to good gifts to their kids, how much more will Father God give us good things?
But if God isn’t good, then…well, who is? Who else can we believe in? We have to decide.
We have to believe in God’s sovereignty and find peace there, because the alternative is sheer misery. I LOVE knowing that God has something up His sleeve, and seeing a few glimmers of light recently has been quite a source of smiles for me. I hope you too will see something to smile about right now as God’s hand reveals itself in a surprising and exciting way!
Be blessed.
P.S. My wife points out that in times of injustice, potent prayer in the name of Jesus has power to change things. I hope to talk this more next time around!
August 21, 2010 – 8:18 pm
Kickin’ the tires…checking the oil…all fueled up…hmm. Looks like it’s ready to roll!
Roadmap to follow soon…