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The end

Those fabulous last words that you place at the end of a story. After struggling, working hard and emptying the drug store of it’s caffeine content, you finally have the right amount of pages, the perfect centering, every title centered and highlighted, every art peice’s name placed on where they are to be inserted onto the page. Now you write. The End. And you take one final breath before sending it off.

The end. Jesus said it more eloquently when He stated, ‘it is finished.’ After all His struggles, all His suffering, all His hard work, now everything perfect to the writer as He closes the book and states. “It is finished.”
It is finished. There is no longer a curtain, no more need for a high priest to pray for us, no more need for sacrifices. It is finished. We have Jesus fully. We have God. We are in dwelled by the Holy Spirit. Heaven is now our prize too. It is finished.

Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · Jesus · searching

A day of tears

Day of tears

‘Today is my day to sorrow’, thought the tiny flower growing beside a rock. ‘Last night a great trouble came over me as a man, or something more than a man, sat by my side and wept. His tears were so great that when they splashed upon me I felt sick and my roots were weakened. I tried to reach out to the man, but I am just a flower and cannot draw attention to myself like a bird can with her song. He cried and screamed and begged and pleaded, but no peace came to this man. I hoped that He would look at me and I could make Him smile. He left and then returned, even sadder when He came back. All I could do was sit with Him. Then I sensed a resolve in His being and He went to stand once more. He stumbled and His hands landed near me. I tried to be radiant to bring Him comfort, finally He saw me, He smiled very gently, then He rose to His feet. “Thank you my radiant flower.” He said, then He left.
  I feel that something great and tragic happened that night. Today I feel as though a friend is calling out for mercy. Today I feel sad. But being a flower, I know that tomorrow will bring new joy and hope.’

Blog · Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · Jesus

Hello Mrs. Sunshine

Today feels like spring. I got up and took my dog for a run in the sunshine, the snow sparkling all around me as the sun warmed my back. My dog took out over the fields with his tail going like a prop. The birds were singing loud and happy. The best thing was that this beautiful day is a Sunday. It felt like a day where the whole world would be smiling. I know that that isn’t true, but it is still a great feeling.
If you had said you saw pansies popping up through the ice I wouldn’t be surprised.
It’s funny how just a tiny bit of sunshine can fill the whole heart. Like how a tiny sprig of peppermint can fill the whole mouth, or a single guitar can sound like a symphony. It amazes me how it takes a big amount of darkness to throw us off, but just a tiny bit of light to make us smile. Jesus wants us to be happy, so I suppose He made happiness easily attainable by tiny things that He sets in our everyday lives. Birds singing, ocean waves crashing, sunshine, blue skies, sparkles in the snow, a dog wagging his tail. Pain and anguish is real, but so is joy and happiness, you just have to look for the things that make you smile.

Blog · Christianity · Christmas · Devotional · Jesus · searching

Listen to the voices of the stars

Star

The cold mountain air burns the lungs of the young astronomer as her eyes take in the night sky. Orion winks at her playfully and her gaze swings as she grins back at him; she sees a star larger than the rest and her heart takes her back to a time when a similar star drew men from far and distant countries to a small town called Bethlehem.

These days we don’t have a star to help us find Jesus, but we do still have guides. The Bible, word of mouth, pastors, musicians, artists. God sends us ‘stars’ to guide us. Little lights that show Jesus.
Many say to look to the sky for your answers, read the stars, listen to their voices. I am no astronomer, but that night when God sent a special star to guide people to the stable must have been wild. Angels dropping from Heaven into our night sky and praising their God?!? It would have been a light show like no other. Look to the sky to for your answers? why not? Look up and see 100 billion or more Galaxies and hear them answer you. ‘Yes! There is a God, and He made all this… and He made you!’ Follow the stars around you to the stable and find Jesus.
Life, Death, and Resurrection all held within this baby’s tiny hands.
The very first Christians led to the stable, by a star.

Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · Jesus · searching

A letter to all the heart locks out there

Dear lock on my heart

It has been so many years we have walked together. Thank you for always keeping me safe by always keeping everyone out. Because of you I have felt less pain of betrayal than I would have if you had not been there. I have noticed that you are looking tired these days my lock, you have scratches and tarnish from where people have tried to break you, you are rusty from years of wear and your silver coating is chipping in places. You have been so very faithful. But now that I am old enough to understand the pain this world leaves I think it is time you took a break.
As I grew older I noticed something. If you keep the world out than you can’t help it’s occupants. To block your heart from grief you have to block it from people, when you block it from people you don’t care enough anymore to help them, in fact, you probably don’t even notice them.
Gentle heart lock, we are both tired of the fight and I think it is time to give your key away. Let us give it to Jesus. Let us hand Him your key and see who opens you to. Let us see who we can help when we let the people in.
Oh yes, there will be pain. Probably lots of it. But our scars will help heal the scars of others.
Thank you dear lock for your service. Now take a rest and let Jesus handle my open heart.

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When Worlds Collide

When worlds collide
We are all in our own little world, so what happens when our world meets with other people’s worlds?

I have learned a new small pleasure; people listening.
When alone in a resteraunt I focus on the hum of the voices around me, instead of listening to music or playing on my phone.
Today I sat at a lone table with a window view of the street. As I sipped my Jasmine tea and played with my Dim-Sum I watched the world go by. I didn’t bother to count how many cars passed on their way to wherever, each in their own world, each oblivious to anything else. Some people walked by; a few were smiling, most held uninterested expressions. The one true happy being I saw was a dog being walked by a homeless man. A man on the otherside of the glass window. A man too far away to reach out to. A dog in his own little world, he doesn’t know he is homeless because his home is with the person he loves so he is happy.
We are all in our own world really. What would happen if our worlds collided? What do you think would happen if I ran outside and invited that man and his dog to join me for lunch? I would get kicked out of the restaurant, sure I get that, but what else? Would his day brighten? Would his stomach be happy? Would he see Jesus? Probably. What happens when our worlds collide? We change our perspective to a combined vision of ours and theirs. We see the world a new way and we ‘feel’ more. Jesus never lived in His own world. He always lived in the lives of others and in doing so, He helped thousands.
We need to let our worlds collide so we can envision a better world. For everyone.

Blog · Christianity · Devotional · Jesus

Music transcends language

One of my favorite songs is completely in Japanese. Eventually I saw the subtitles and could relate also to the words, but even without the words, the music touched my heart. I cannot help but wonder if that is why worship is so important. Music touches us, moves us, changes us. I have heard of missionaries going to non English speaking countries, having church and having people break down in worship to words that they don’t understand because they understand the passion of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves in music, I have seen it and felt it and it is amazing! When the Holy Spirit moves your worship then you are truly touching Heaven.

Blog · Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · Jesus

A caring touch

Why would the king, who has the finest flowers in His royal garden, care enough to climb through the forest to find a back woods rose like me and carry me home? He puts me in a crystal vase on His dresser and sets me in a place of honor among His royal flowers. He finds delight in me even though I am prickly and plain. He gives me special care because He sees my petals wilting and He makes sure that I always have enough of all I need. Why would a royal king dirty His hands to pack my roots with fresh soil? As He labours over all the flowers around me I see His sweat stained brow, I notice the mud smeared on His face and I see His hands bleeding from the thorns of the plants He loves. I feel unworthy to be sitting on His dresser as He works hard, but what can I do? I am simply a flower. He caresses my leaves as He walks by and smiles. What more is there for a flower to do but to bring joy to her master?
Perhaps sometimes that is all Jesus wants from us; for us to see all He is and to bring Him joy by honoring Him with all we can do. As a simple flower I can make someone smile with my sweet scent, as a common herb perhaps you can add flavour to a dish or become a healing medicine.
This is a fanciful way of saying we are all individuals, different and unique. Jesus loves us all for who we are and is brought joy when we use what we can do to honor Him.

Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · J.R.R.Tolkien · Jesus · searching

Dragons and kings

God is not like smaug, the great dragon from the Hobbit, where when we come into His lair trembling and say “I had heard stories about you but I did not believe them,” he stands back from us flexing the scales across his chest and blowing a snort of smoke out of his nose he proplaclaims, “and do you now?”
In contrast when we come up to Jesus trembling saying, ” I had heard stories of you my Lord, but I did not believe them.” He looks at us with love and responds, “I know, I have been waiting for you to come and see me for yourself.” Then He hugs us and all our fears and sins and scars melt away and not only do we believe the stories we now know the man they are about and we know He loves us. His gentle embrace following us everywhere we go until we get to live with Him in His kingdom. There is no dragon pride, just the gentle/powerful/all knowing/unending love of a king.

(Credit to owner for the cover image)

dreams do come true · encouragement · Jesus · searching

Rebel Child

I rebel against all fear within me
I rebel against all shame
I rebel against all past hurts
I rebel against the pain
I stand in defiance of the fear
I stand and lock my knees
I am immovable you hear
Hear what I have to say
Jesus is my king and friend and He is power beyond compare
So little imperfections in me how dare you show yourselves here
My savior cares not who I was and He guides me to who I can be
Whenever I stumble I never truly fall because my Jesus is in me

We all have little voices inside our heads that bite at us throughout our lives. Those little voices lie and taunt and yet for some reason we always seem to believe them. STOP believing those voices and begin to believe the voice of Heaven; begin to believe what Jesus says about you. You are worthy, you are loved, and most importantly you are worth dying for. Jesus never lies and His truth chases off those biting little voices inside our heads because there is nothing about us that can change the way Jesus feels about us. There is nothing about us that is unlovable because Jesus will always love us and we are beautiful because we are works of art from the master’s hand, and guess what we are pretty amazing because God made us to be amazing no matter what pur little voices say.