Cause of Death

Revelation 1: 17-18 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades." 

"Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"

They all said, "Let Him be crucified!"

And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves," (Matthew 27:22-24).

On Golgotha, the hill in Jerusalem where crucifictions took place, Jesus bore His cross, hung from the beams by stakes pounded into His flesh. His previously fileted-open back sticking to the splintered wood, blood dripping from the crown of thorns smashed down around His head. Naked, bleeding, suffering, suffocating...Yet enduring the Cross, the Will of  the Father God.

Because it was soon to be the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could take care of Jesus's body. Pilate gave the permission. (Matt. 27:57-58). His body was wrapped in strips of linen most likely soaked in aloes and myrrh. Placed in a donated tomb, Pilate made sure that His body was guarded, secured, as well as a seal placed on the tomb.

No coroner showed up, no hearse, or mortuary...

~~~

A few weeks after my son passed away, I received his death certificate in the mail. It read something like this: Cause of Death, multiple organ failure do to kidney disease and other maladies.

I remember thinking in my deep grief, how could someone sum up his death in just a few short words? It involved so much more, so much I needed to see explained on that piece of paper as if that might justify everything...give me closure.

 I began my process of grief by proclaiming a "Life Certificate," of my son's and my own.

What would Jesus's death certificate say?


Cause of death: 
lying, stealing, coveting, lust, greed, idol worship, hypocrisy, disrespect, gossip, slander, impurity, wrath... 

Racism, poverty, enslavement, starvation, murder, rape...

War, Terrorism, the Halocaust, Genocide, 911, Syria...drug cartels, political anarchy and brutal regimes...

Every disease known and unknown, brought into existence by the deterioration of this world since man made the choice to desire his own will apart from God. 


Jesus died for every sin this world, you and I ever commited--every sin, the blatant and the underlying condition of our hearts, since the beginning of time. Though Pilate "washed his hands," his sin still infiltrated his soul. God sent His Son to right Humanity. Humanity has a way out of eternal separation from the Almighty.

Unfathomable--Yet I believe, because He has given me His Life Certificate.

What did Jesus die from? His Cause of Death?

One Word, one word only...

LOVE.

Lord, Although I write many words, my Life Certificate really says one clear statement--
Reedemed by Grace. Your death on the Cross that Good Friday 2000 years ago, conquered the sin in my life--everyday! I am forgiven, redeemed by Your shed blood, allowing me access to enjoy an intimate relationship with My Heavenly Father. I am thankful Lord, for the gift of the Holy Spirit which gives me Your direction and guides me through the days I am alive in this broken world. In the darkness that covers our lives today, at these hours that are now weeks, may You Jesus, the Light of the World, fill our homes and our hearts with Your Hope. I sing and praise You Lord for Easter morning, when our belief in the Resurrection assures us that we, too, will have eternal life abiding with You into Eternity, victory over sin. Amen.

Sequestered or Sanctified?

Psalm 118:8 :It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man."


A lot transpires in a week. (since last week's post). Emptier shelves, Longer lines and minute by minute updates interrupt our stream of conscious causing us to reassess life. 

Cancelled, postponed, shut down, off limits, unavailable. The anticipated events in our lives are deleted from the calendar. 

Major and minor league sports, high school sports, concerts, conventions, meet-ups, church meetings, assemblies, public amusement parks and historical sites...even school! 

The list goes on. 

We are told to communicate virtually, isolate, hunker down, socially detach, board up the house...well, not quite that. 

When we are told to shut it down, God reminds us to sanctify. 

John 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth."

When we are told to forget about doing this or that, God tells us to have faith. 

Mark 11:22-24 And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whooever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 

When we are told things are without precedent, unpredictable and the pressure is on, God gives us peace. 

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

God's is for us; His will and sovereign plan remain steadfast. He, the Lord is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. We can go about our daily walk with Him in the midst of our side-lined days, our self-quarantine and cancellations. 

God shows up. Always. 

Will we? 

Maybe you have abandoned plans to know God more. Maybe you have postponed, set aside that talk you needed to have with Him. Maybe your hurt and pride have become like a virus, a venom allowed to keep surging through your veins. It hardens the heart. 

But God! He is our refuge! He remedies, redeems, revives us from ourselves, our sin, our apathy, our fear. For God is Love for our condition, our very critical condition if we do not recognize His sacrifice, accept His perscription for Hope. 

Lord, A national and world-wide pandemic is a scary and very serious thing. This virus continues to mutate and move in ways we do not yet understand. Lord, I pray for those gifted to find ways to halt it, cure it, sequester it, be given grace and wisdom in the process. I pray for Your protection and for our patience during this outbreak. I pray for those most vulnerable. Encourage us Lord and guide us to encourage one another, serve one another and be creative in the ways we can do, be good to one another and continue to be about Your plan. May understanding and compassion, fellowship and furthering Your Gospel be foremost on our minds and hearts as we approach Passion Week and Easter morning. Lord change us, mutate us to transcend all that this world wants to destroy, All for Your Glory, Amen. 

Spell "One Another" Please

Acts 2:42 “And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teachings and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Breaking news: 14 year-old Karthik Nemmani from Texas, won yesterday’s (May 31st) 2018 National Spelling Bee with the word “koinonia.”

What? I came back into my bedroom to listen to the morning news anchors repeating the word, giggling while admitting they didn’t know the meaning much less the spelling of the word. “Well, I looked it up, it means a spiritual gathering of like-minded people,” said one newswoman.

Some words have tremendous power behind them. We hear that every day. Twitter, a popular social media of 140 characters or less, catapults them out 24-7. We watch and see where the direct hits land and the collateral damage. 

…and one 14-year old boy spells ONE word that can change the world. Would you have known it, recognized it--have you experienced it? It is only one word, yet is speaks volumes. 

Koinonia. K.o.i.n.o.n.i.a. Koinonia.

It’s Greek to me. Well, it is Greek, literally. More than just being like-minded, “koinonia” means united for a purpose, devoted to one another, serving one other, praying for one another, honoring one another, encouraging one another towards love and goodness…did you catch all the “one anothers?”

Koinonia results when a true, pure fellowship, authentic and intimate in words and love, takes place with one another because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for every one of us on that Cross. The Holy Spirit manifests Himself through this word. Koinonia cannot be summed up in 140 characters, but in continuing love and action to those who heed the call to be Christ-like and Christ-minded. To those who do not settle for just a salvation story, but want to break bread and trust together for the right words to reflect His glory, koinonia moves mountains. It instills hope, brings healing and spells out the divine purpose, that together as one Body in Christ, great things in love can be accomplished. In each of us as we encourge Koinonia, we learn and grow in our walk with God...and with ONE ANOTHER. 

Now that you know how to spell koinonia, go and discover it, be a part of it, read about it in the Acts and other books of the New Testament.

In gratefulness, Lord, I know that as a Christ follower, I was never meant to be alone in my beliefs and in my growth, but to fellowship with one another, discuss, study, pray, worship and minister together. Thank you Lord for all the opportunities to do that in Your Body of Christ and in koinonia. I hope to share these same experiences out to a broken world. They say a child shall lead them. Thank you Karthik. I pray you too, will know the fellowship of the saints and that God will use this word and your correct spelling of it to enlighten others to a greater calling. Amen. 

Courage, Dear Heart #love4lexi

Psalm 73:26 "My flesh and my heart may fail, but my God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 

A young teenage girl, the middle daughter of three lovely daughters from a local family, lies in a hospital bed, kept alive by a machine, awaiting a bittersweet miracle. She needs a heart transplant now. Her name is Lexi. Her favorite color is purple. She loves the Lord.

#love4lexi. 

Everyone is thinking about hearts. It is February after all. #love4lexi

A community is praying for Lexi,for her family, for this miracle. #love4lexi 

Her classmate and local phenom basketball player, LaMelo Ball dedicated his 92 points scored in one game to her this week. That made national news. #love4lexi. 

As I walked onto my high school campus (work) this morning, the signs were everywhere. BULLDOGS SUPPORT LEXI, #LOVE4LEXI 

She attends the other high school (Chino Hills High) across the valley. 

Huge prayer circles formed on both her campus and ours. Students bow their heads and hold each others hands, crying out to God for one of their...our own. She is everyone's #love4lexi. 

A family waits and prays; sleepless, drained, anxious, hopeful, fearful, faithful, and loved, held up by strength from the God they know is good and loving as well as caring family, friends, neighbors, church body and strangers. 
#love4lexi

...and I hear the words from many, because it is a fear of every parent to ever have to sit, pace, wait in the darkness of things, to watch their own son or daughter suffer, to know the odds, to place every ounce of their own heart, blood, soul and faith in their Heavenly Father and rely... out of default on the Holy Spirit to do your bidding because the numbness sets in, articulation is foggy at the least, adrenaline keeps our own breath too real and our thoughts and dreams... too intense. 

those words..."I can't imagine how (the family) they are feeling."  

And I don't answer that one, because this time... it is not about me. Let it always be about Love. 
#love4lexi

What I do know is that this is a family who knows the Lord, wherein lies their hope. What I do know is that God is good and His will is Good and Perfect. If Lexi lives, His will is Good and Perfect, if Lexi does not, His will is Good and Perfect. God's plan is good and perfect. Lexi is a miracle in the making. Lexi's purpose is for God's glory. 

And so we pray for Lexi, her family and for our own hearts. #love4lexi. 

The world's heartbeat skips and flutters away from a Holy place of surrender, but one heartbeat struggling, makes us catch our breath and refocus outside our own body. One hand joins another, one ball is continually passed to another, and lives touch other lives and Lexi touches ours as we bow our heads and hearts to a sovereign, loving God. 

And if we tell one another that God is love, and if we SHOW one another that God is Love and if we hold onto one another and encourage each because God is Love and if we humble ourselves before Him and allow Him to Love us too, we can know that God is Love, that He is good as we pray for His will, pray in His will.  #love4lexi. 

It still hurts, because love hurts too. Jesus experienced all the emotion of love, the deepest of hurts so He can love us in the deepest, most perfect way and then heal our own failures by teaching us how to love like Him. Though some things remain a mystery, His love is the portion of our heart that sustains the hope within us and gives us that eternal perspective-- a love-light seen through the gaps of our own the broken places. 

#love4lexi.  

Father God, we humbly come before you and ask for divine strength and healing for this young girl struggling to regain a heartbeat. We understand that one heart will be taken so that one can live. We pray for Your will in this. We ask for this family of faith, for your comfort and mercy in all the unknown days to come. May Lexi's life always be for Your glory and for our own reminder that our time is never promised but what IS promised...Your Love that is everlasting and Hope that heals. #love4lexi, #pray4lexi, Amen. 

Splendor At The Door Of My Own Heart

Mark 13:29 "Even so, you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door."

With Valentine's Day behind me, I now sit and reflect on things marvelous, wonderful, miraculous, incredible, beautiful, and very personal;  things laid in my path on that particular day of love.

I am in humble awe.

As if God and I had divine appointments all day long, He showered me with gifts from Heaven. Hearts appeared and Heavens sang His praises and possibly more. Seeing all these signs, I captured them in photos. The last "heart" of the day is such a wonderment, that I have chosen to share it only in real time, one on one.

Recognizing that God is near for a very long time now, He continues to give me new revelations, adding to my stories of His grace upon amazing grace. I missed my son that day as always, sending Him a Valentine love wish that morning in a post, now almost 9 years since his passing and returning Home. God heard my prayer and lavished on me, allowing me to see what others may not see, what some take for granted, or do not recognize, what some just want to ignore.

But God tells us many times in scripture to be on the alert, to be on guard.

It's not only for discernment and demon-watching, but I also believe and know it is to see His mercy, His forgiveness, His grace, His hope and His beautiful love for us, reaching down, across, up, through-- in such personal ways.

One unique BELIEVER'S heart, underfoot on a pathway where I worship, fellowship and connect to others, saves me, for I gave my heart in belief to Him long ago and I choose to obey Him by serving and worshipping Him within the Body of Christ.

A second SANCTIFYING heart, pools around the thorny rose, pruned back numerous times, but continuing to explode each spring in a bounty of beautiful buds and spectacular blooms. It's the word picture, the many parables of Jesus, sewing and reaping, planting in good soil and on a firm foundation, expecting a harvest and planning for more.

The third, an ETERNAL MESSENGER heart, empowers me to continue on by doing what I am doing, seeking more, surrendering and trusting in the known and the unknown, praising Him and giving Him the Glory for every beat and pulse that moves me forward, giving me opportunity and providing my every need.

Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy Name in all the Earth, who Has displayed Thy splendor above the heavens!"

All of it is an affirmation, right at the door of my own heart. God is Good, He is on the Throne. He empowers us to share our lives in belief, to live our testimony and grow in sanctification, and to be His messengers of love to others whose hearts are crumbled and broken, whose lives are dry and root-rotted, for those who need to see to believe and/or exist as if hope is lost.

Father God, in Your sovereign plan, You already gave each one of us our own miracle. Your Resurrection redeems us so that we can partake in communion again with You and have a relationship in Your grace. These insights and gifts Lord, are Holy; where what can be seen and felt, moves me to pure worship and humbles me to unspeakable joy. Thank you for these gifts this week and may I be prepared and ready, on guard looking continually and intently along my path, walking it with intention. Help me see those in need of life-giving water, and those just needing to reconnect to the Heavens and find Your powerful face of forgiveness and love. Amen.


Please listen to this song and its story. "Tell Your Heart To Beat Again," Danny Gokey.

Love is Bigger!

I Corinthians 13:13 But now abide faith, hope love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.  


Valentine's Day and love is in the air. Sweethearts shop for diamonds, marriages are officiated, boys steal a kiss, girls blush, moms buy the coolest Valentine's for the classroom and kids learn to draw hearts and eat candy with silly words stamped on them. Husbands spend their whole paycheck on a dozen red roses and a box of Sees...well, maybe not. (A nice card and your good cooking is sufficient). 

What is your action, your visible sign, your gift of love to show those special in your heart your affection?  

The leadership students at my high school where I work spent several days writing each classmate's name on a sticky note, color-coded to their grade, and placing it on a several signs that spelled out LOVE. Labor-intensive and creative, each were placed around significant viewing areas  of campus, encompassing the student body in a message of hope. You Matter! You are Loved! Love is bigger than a bully, bigger than failure. Love creates community. 

Mrs. Weiss and her students 

A personal sign of love gave me a hug today. My teacher shared with me a moment she had with one of our special students while returning from an off campus outing yesterday.  I walked ahead of her with another group while student "K" walked beside her. He noticed a butterfly decal on a car. He said to her, "That is for Miss Coleene... that car and the butterfly is for Coleene!" 

When she told me that today, adding "that some think our kids don't get stuff, but, Oh, how they do," I had to sigh and feel the emotion, that a butterfly-love moment reaches beyond boundaries and limitations one might consider, but  transcends and touches every human mind. He knew and felt my heart when I told him a tiny version of a butterfly story, how they come to remind me of a special one in heaven. He remembered the love. Love is bigger than obstacles we can't control or disabilities that challenge us. 

Love is powerful, more powerful than any negative emotion, especially if we feed it and live it and seek to make it grander. 

This morning, I viewed a wonderful story of love and courage combined. Please click on the video below and watch the story of an example of love for mankind exhibited by Mr. Andre Mary. This story should touch your heart with hope. 

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/79-Year-Old-Man-Rescues-Girl-Freeway-Overpass-368582691.html

The Lord is Love, for God so Loved, He gave his only Son. Think about the Cross and imagine, every human that ever lived having a sticky-note with their name on it, stuck to its rugged exterior, Christ's blood trickling down, runnng through every name.  It creates a big  picture viewed from eternity, one that spells love and grace. Find your name, see it and believe He knows you and redeems you. Allow that love to fill you with worth. Love can silence the "bullies" in your life and can transform them as well. Love is patient and kind, and God's Love is perfect and good. 

Love remembers and has hope that inspires others. Love is a story we can all tell in our own way. Love never fails. 

Love bears all things. Even at 79, love climbs on a freeway overpass and believes, triumphs and saves. Love is enduring and selfless. 

Earlier this week,  the10th of February marked the one-year anniversary of my father-in-law's passing. It rained in the afternoon after his memorial service and God gave us a double rainbow on the drive home. Wednesday afternoon, I glanced to the sky and a  "rainbow" of colors reflected in a scattering of light clouds on a rainless day. Later that evening, I ran an errand to the grocery store. In the sky, a group of birds flew in formation, dipping and bending in a circular motion, maybe even a heart. Lord, you are a good God and I thank you for the reminder that Your Love is powerful and transcending, personal and bigger than all our sorrow, our lacking, our confusion, our mistakes, our negativity, our doubt. Your Love is powerful and recharges perserverance, insightful and amazing. Thank you Lord. 

Father, I am grateful and blessed  for Your Love that gives life-saving hope. Help us Lord to love like You do in all circumstances, in our speech, in our actions, in our posts and tweets. Thank you that my name is on a sticky-note on the Cross of Your salvation and that I am remembered. Thank you Lord for showing us Love in rainbows and butterflies, in Your marvelous creation and in Your people. I know I am loved by Greatest Love and that I can forever trust in that same Love for my today and all my tomorrows. Amen

Happy Valentine's Day!  

When Words Don't Work

Psalm 90:17 "And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and do confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands."

A student today:  "I met this kid from China at lunch and I was trying to explain to him what 'stuffing' was.  It was hard to explain. He just didn't get it."

Finding the right words sometimes to articulate or describe something totally foreign to another person, doesn't always lend itself to a clear visual. How would you tell someone about stuffing, because it sounds...well, less than appetizing. 

You take stale bread, cut it in cubes then mix in some celery and onions and stuff it into the crevices of a  foul...oh,  and maybe add some herbs.  

Even as a writer, I rely on tools to help me bring my sentences more energy, provoke a feeling in a paragraph, convince someone in a blog. 

Words, words, words--not the only thing that communicates. 

I'll bet if my student invited this new friend over for a taste, for a demonstration of the making of stuffing, he'd see it, taste it, understand its power on the palate and the desire for a second helping. 

Sometimes, our words don't communicate. Nothing makes any sense. Someone needs a visual, a hands on demonstration and a taste of what is good before a revelation occurs. 

---And that, just might require us putting our own words in action, a step into obedience, a trust of the unknown. No more words. 

The Lord Himself did just that. He demonstrated love, by becoming flesh, living and ministering for 33 years and then continuing His obedience and God's salvation plan by going to the rugged Cross. His own blood sets us free.  How can we place that visual, give that demonstration, bring someone to the "table of His grace" so that they too can "taste and see that the Lord is good?" 

In this season of giving, of charity, of meeting needs, I encourage you to not just say the words, write the words, repeat the words...but demonstrate, provide a visual, sharpen your tools for hands on communication of the power of Love. What once you thought stale, God transforms into minstry, not only revealing insight but inspiration for your own soul as well. 

Lord, thank you for all the opportunities You give us to serve, to bless You, to bless others. In that, we become the visible love of Your servant heart. Thank You Lord, for those that have blessed me with hands-on love as well as their kindness in words. You go before us. If You so desire for our actions or our words to go forth, we only have to be obedient and trust You in our doing. Lord, give us that trust, give us that desire to see the opportunities and/or create the way to be Your hands and Your feet in all that we do. Confirm the work of our hands Lord, to know You and make You known. Amen. 

Reflection: How are you preparing to give to others this holiday season or seasons past? How can you continue to use more than words in every season?  

K.I.S.S.

"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13 

Love seems complicated for some.  The words don't come easy, or they come way too easy and the proverbial "cart before the horse" moves down a rocky, unpaved path. God gifted us with a passionate soul, one in which longs for love to fuel it as well as a companion to share the journey with, hopefuly "'till death do us part." It may seem like a puzzle,  pieces seem to be missing or just not fitting, or like a word-search that is backwards, forwards, side-ways...or in texting!

There is an acronym I like for Valentine's Day!

K. I. S. S.   

Keep It Simple Stupid, Silly!  (Let's be Nice, it is Valentine's Day)

A year after our son died, before blogging and Facebook, I wrote "newsletters." Maybe you received a few of them.

I shared a story in the Feb. 2008 issue and I'm sharing it again today. I received a Valentine from God,  through a gift of a hand written note from my son Tim to his brother, Corey. Written at a younger time in his short life; I found it while looking for those old school-made Valentines. Searching through a bin of "saved" works of school writing and art projects, passing up all the construction paper and packets, I located a thick notebook paper folded about 6 times with light blue felt pen writing on the inside. I set aside everything else. Opening it, the words, all written neatly in capital letters spoke of a love between my son Tim and his brother, my son Corey.

(Unedited)...Corey You Are Fun To Play With Because You Are
My Only Brother. You Will Always Be A Good Brother
To Me Even When We Fight, Like You Care Alot
About Me Like When You Did'nt Want Me To Go In The
Sewers You Were Praying. That Shows That You Have Fellings
For Me. Love Your Faviorte (Only Brothr) Tim

(Just in case you are questioning my parenting..."the sewers?" --the catch basin for rain runoff a few blocks over where the kids liked to "explore." Boys will be boys)...


A Revelation

A Light Given.

A Tangible Gift, Expressed.

Received.

Simple,

Cherished.

                                                                                                 ~~~

"Ms. C"
The dashes around the picture?
He told me he wanted it to look
"sewn" on. 

My student busied himself today with a Valentine drawing he then presented to me;  from a simple mind but a heart that beats just like mine, capable of giving and receiving love, just like mine.

                                         ~~~

We long for relationship, passion, purpose. Love.  God made it simple. We are the ones who complicate things. His desire for us is, yes, to have faith, to receive hope. But even in those days when faith seems impossible and hope crumbles like so many candy hearts with empty words, His love never fails. God wrote in blood His feelings for us on the palms of His hands, set inside a tomb only to be opened, unfolded and treasured in our hearts when Love conquered death!  Receive His Love note, His Valentine. Cherish it. Serve Him, Serve one another. In that obedience, the hope and faith grows within us.  Let Love Abound. This world needs it.

Lord, You are the Standard, the Template, the Example of true and pure--Perfect Love. Man taints it, discards it, abuses it, kills over it. Your love REDEEMS all of that. Love is the most powerful of emotions. Teach us Lord to love uncondtionally, to love selflessly, to love as You so loved. May we glorify You in our love. We thank you for all the relationships of love You have given us. Thank you for our husbands, our wives, our children, friends and even our pets. Fill us with compassion for others and enlarge our hearts to receive more of Your Unfailing Love. Amen.

I Am...Thankful

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Some of us took on an assignment on our Facebook Status updates: 30 Days of Gratitude.  Postings require a certain shout-out to those “things” we probably thank God for every day, (well, we should anyways) like our family, our provision, forgiveness-- to the not so recognized, like a washed car, the Star Spangled Banner, angels.  I’ve enjoyed reading others’ posts while listing mine. 

In this season of thankfulness, I received a reminder. Let’s be thankful not just for our stuff, not for what we do, what others do, but just for the shear knowledge and humble thought of who God is.  For doesn’t all of that stuff, the doing, the receiving come from Him? 

Subtract, cross out, delete all the stuff, all the blessings, the job, even the people…your health, even your family…

Can Thanksgiving still dwell in your heart?

Let’s look to God and God alone in all His Glory; all His sovereignty and say Thank You!

because (and He doesn't need a because) 

…I AM.   

And If God received a “number?”

Three things you may not know about Me…

#1) I thought about you and loved you when I was making the Earth.

#2) I thought about you and loved you when My Father sent Me. I knew your name when as a babe, Mary beheld My Glory.

#3). I thought about you and loved you when I bled and died on the cross and because of those thoughts, that love, I conquered death…for you.

Thank you Lord, for you are All-Powerful, Beautiful, Caring and Compassionate, Divine, Enormous and Eternal, Faithful and Forgiving, Great, Holy, Hopeful and Healing, Indescribable, Just, King, Love, Magnificent and Mindful of us, Nurturing, Omnificent and Omnipresent, Powerful and Personal, Qualified, Renewing and Righteous, Saving and Strong, Trustworthy and True, Unveiling and Unwavering, Victorious, Wonderful, eXcellent, Yielding for us, Zealous to Redeem. You are my God, My Savior, my Portion, and my Deliverer. May I rest only in this knowledge and may it bring an eternal peace to my soul, whatever my status. Amen.  

 Psalm 95:2-3 "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God."