Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Do You Love Me? Yes? No? Circle one!


I found a book a few days ago that was filled with love! It was a book that was only a few inches in size but the love in it could not be measured. My daughter, Nealy at age 6 scrawled how much she loved me and would miss me when I went to the hospital to have my “babby”! I was pregnant at the time with my fourth child and I am sure she was thinking of the days that I would be gone from her and her sisters. She pledged to help her dad while I was gone and to help me when I came home. And at the end she wrote “Do you love me? Yes? No? Circle one!” Of course I circled “yes”!

This morning, I hold in my hands another book filled with love! It is God's word! I hear many people say that the bible is so hard to read but when you take the time to read it you will find how much God loves us. I love to read the “love” chapter in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 it tells of a love that is patient, kind. A love that is not proud or dishonoring, not selfish, easily angered or a keeper of records of wrongs. Verse 13 says; And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

….For God is Love. 1 John 4:8

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. Romans 8:38

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

The scriptures on “love” are too numerous to put here today but believe me they tell me that the God of the Bible is the God who is LOVE!

And God says to each of us, “Do you love me? Yes? No? Circle one!”
 
 
May God's grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 6:24
 
 






Sunday, August 11, 2013

Be Careful For What You Pray!


O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do. Now that I am old and gray, do not abondon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. Psalm 71:17-18

Loving and making Psalm 71:17-18 my life verse, I decided several weeks ago that I needed to start praying more indepth for my grandchildren. Not that I had not prayed for them before, but I needed to be more purposeful about it. I prayed for immediate needs but also their future needs. I prayed that they would know the Lord and do His will always.

I few weeks ago my grandaughter Catherine Grace was called to be a missionary in Ecuador for over two years. Yikes! Did I pray for that? Yes, I prayed that my grandchildren do the Lord's will but forgot to mention I wanted it to happen close to home. What would we do without our sweet Cati? It all sounded good for someone elses grandaughter but not mine. Being the fair minded woman that I am I decided to pray the ole “open door” prayers. You know the one. Lord, open doors if it is your will but close them if it isn't. Only my prayers went something like, “open doors if it is your will (which I am sure it's not) but close doors if it isn't your will”. But still the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach persisted!

I even took it upon myself to spread my wisdom and tell Cati of my lingering doubts in a message. I let her know that if she didn't feel peace she could call this whole thing off! She answered me back with “I feel at peace and know that this is what God wants me to do”! She ended her message with “I love you, Mama”

Now, what's a girl to do? I started to pray in a whole new way! I praised God for the opened doors and for the dedication of my dear grandaughter. And finally I felt peace! Will I bawl my eyes out when she leave? Certainly! Will I miss her like crazy? Oh, yeah! Do I know that Cati is in the will of God? Yes! Thank you, God for the answers to my prayers for my sweet Catherine!

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct I love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12

Te Amo Cati!