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The end
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The end

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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.

As the trumpet calls
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As the trumpet calls

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Do we sometimes forget that Jesus is coming back?
As we go through our days it can feel like this world is forever spinning and never ending. It’s easy to forget that there is a greater purpose than this. It’s easy to get so caught up in the day to day that our minds completely lose focus on the fact that tomorrow, the next day, tonight, right now Jesus could be coming back. Jesus himself said that He did not know the hour that He would return. As the world and it’s forever spinning seems to be forever spinning off its axle I see people starting to fill with fear, that or they were full of fear already, because the world is a mess. I’m sorry but it is. Yes, it’s partly our fault, but we don’t need to look at this world with the fear that we will be here forever till it ends. When the world is finally burned up there will not be a single Christian on it. No matter if you are pre tribulation, mid tribulation, or post tribulation in the end when the world dies we will not be here. Let me repeat that we will not be here. Jesus is coming back. If you knew nothing else in your entire life except that one fact you would know the most important thing you need to know to survive. If there is no Jesus, there is no point. But we know there is a Jesus, our Jesus, and He is coming for His people.

Blind, but still alive
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Blind, but still alive

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Blind, but still alive.

Are we waiting on Jesus for the things we don’t yet see?
As I often quote some of my Stormie Omartan readings in these posts I am sure I have mentioned her book, ‘just enough light for the step I am on.’
Sometimes it feels like I am completely blind to what is in front of me and all I can see is where I am right now. In these moments it’s easy to give up on looking to the future and simply living in a day to day existence.  I always loved being a dreamer when I was a kid. People would tell me that my goals were too big or didn’t jive and they were probably right. As I got older I somehow slipped from ‘dreamer’ to ‘realist’ and that sucks. Living in a world of reality. Boring. Because our reality isn’t God’s. He sees far into the future and has thoughts and ideas we can’t even begin to comprehend. Even when you can only see your year as dates on a calendar Jesus sees far beyond that to a glimmering dream world beyond what you can fathom.

That’s what Jesus does. He gives us dreams that are a size too big so we can grow into them- Max Lucado

It may seem pointless to keep on dreaming beyond where you are and onto where you want to be but Jesus makes it feasable. Your impossible dreams have an amazing God who makes the impossible possible. You may be blind to what is coming, but you are still alive, so live and dream without fear.

Hello Mrs. Sunshine
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Hello Mrs. Sunshine

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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.

What do we bring?
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What do we bring?

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What gifts do we bring Him?

The Shepherds brought their time.
The Magi brought their riches.
The disciples brought their lives.
His parents brought their faith and obedience.
So what do we bring Jesus?
He gave us everything we have. Hope, joy, healing, sustenance, peace, grace, love. He gave His dignity and His relationship to God. His pain is ours to unwrap, His grief and suffering, His sorrow. We can untie the bows on His glory and goodness. We can shake the box full of His kingdom and receive all He has given us. So, what are we giving Him?

What part of us does He ask for? All of us. Our heart, soul and mind, right? It can be a difficult request to fill, but isn’t that what He brought us? His heart, His soul, His mind. Ask and you shall receive, so maybe what we should ask for is the will and ability to be like our Savior. If we are more like Jesus then perhaps we will be able to bring Jesus more.

Love you all!

May your season and year be filled with Christ’s peace, His hope, His love, and His joy!

Merry Christmas

Open heart
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Open heart

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Open heart

We all have a seed inside our hearts. A part of us that is undiscovered and trying to grow. A potential. A dream left to the wear of time and long since forgotten. Deep down in your heart, however, that dream left a seed. We all have someone we want to be. A chef, a weatherwoman, an accountant, a movie star. But to fulfill a dream takes hard work, good people, and a bull dog drive. Stats say that over 90% of people give up on their dreams instead of seeing them fulfilled. I think that is very sad. A dream is something important to us, and things that are important to us should be things we fight for. Sometimes we dream of being something that other people say we can’t be. An artist who can’t draw, or a musician who doesn’t know how to play. It is possible that maybe that means your true seed is growing into something else. Perhaps a music teacher or an art studio director. Don’t drop your dreams where you stand and move on. Sometimes the true dream is a vine of the original one. Fight for your dreams and water them. See what your seed grows. Like buying a surprise packaged of flower seeds at the plant store. All you can do is scatter them in the dirt and care for them. You know you want a flower, but what that flower looks like is entirely up to the seed. So you care for it and as it grows you love it more and get more excited to see what it will be.

Let your seed grow, and never give up on it.

What does your heart bleed?
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What does your heart bleed?

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What does your heart bleed?
Once there was a little heart wandering through a world of little hearts.
Everywhere she looked she saw damage. Scars and scrapes healed over; open wounds in need of help.
Many of the hearts were bleeding, but the blood was different for each one.
Some bled pain, some bled love, some bled sorrow, some fear, some anger and hatred, some confusion, and as the little heart walked amoung the drips of blood she noticed them sticking to her. She began to bleed what the other hearts were bleeding. The little heart looked around and bumbled into a heart whose wounds were already healed over, she asked
‘what do I do? All these things are sticking to me and causing me pain.’
The healed heart looked at the little heart and gave a small spin; In doing so the little heart noticed a thin layer of callus protecting the other heart.
‘Callus and you no longer feel; then the pain of others won’t stick to you.’
The little heart nodded politely and moved on. To not feel was not what she wanted. Suddenly a large drip landed on her foot. She looked up to see a heart that was bleeding love. The little heart was upset to be even more dirty, until she noticed some of the other drips washing off as the love ran over them. ‘Wait!’ The little heart cried as she chased after the love heart. The heart turned and waited. ‘Why? Why is your love helping clean my pain? It is still bleeding, you still hurt! But your hurt is helping me.’
The love heart smiled.
‘I hurt because I love. If I stopped caring then I would be healed but I would be living an empty life. I allow myself to accept the pain of other hearts and to help them heal. Truth to tell, when others heal because of my love I also heal a little bit.’
Suddenly the little heart understood. The dirt of others was okay to have on you if it meant you got close and showed them love and helped them heal, and suddenly that one drip gave her life purpose.
What does your heart bleed?

A letter to all the heart locks out there
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · Jesus · searching

A letter to all the heart locks out there

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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.

Se la ve’ is not a bad motto
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Se la ve’ is not a bad motto

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It’s hard to be caring and to at the same time not care. We’re supposed to care for one another but are not supposed to react or care when negative things happen. It’s an uncomfortable balance because it is very hard to maintain. If you don’t care you won’t be effected, but if you don’t care than you can’t be a helping hand. So what do we do? I am starting to feel that a certain level of se la ve’ should be a portion of our lives. Then we can have an ‘oh whatever’ attitude when negative things happen to us. That way we brush them off and at the same time we don’t lose the caring part of us that helps others. That same caring part is the one that makes us oversensitive. So if we can harness it to a level of carefree-ness then maybe we can become sympathetic without being easily hurt or offended.
Obviously praying about this is a necessity because the balance is too hard to find on our own. I suppose it takes us back to the B attitudes. Studying them and memorizing them should be helpful in this situation.
It is about being carefree and not care less. To let go of offense and not let go of people. To be like Jesus.
Jesus never held an offense against an offender, He let go instantly and helped those who were in fault to see their error and change. Without the Holy Spirit guiding us this is an impossible goal to achieve. But. With God all things are possible, even reaching the impossible balance.

THREAD BARE
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THREAD BARE

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Sometimes it feels like we are clinging to Jesus by a thin thread. Like we don’t have anything left but a desire to hang on. Standing on a dark expanse of crumbling stone and seeing nothing around to pull you out. The earth shakes and more of what you are standing on falls away into the pitch black below. All you have is a thread, not large enough to even hold onto. You know it will slip from your fingers if it is all you have to cling to so you wrap it around and around and around your hand until there is no slack left in it to keep wrapping. At that moment the ground gives way and you descend with the debris into the darkness. Suddenly the thread catches and you jerk to a stop praying the thread does not break. The thin material cuts into your hand as it holds your weight and the pain draws forth tears. You feel as though your one lifeline will slice right through you and drop you to the blackness below. Your eyes close as a light appears above. You feel two hands clasp upon your wrist and lift you up, the sting of the thread releases as it slowly drops away and you open your eyes to see that the pain of the thread that you thought would slice through you was the thread tightening as you were being pulled up away from the crumbling world below.
Jesus will NEVER let you truly fall. There will ALWAYS be a thread to cling to and that thread, no matter how painful it may seem at the time, will be helping you pull away from the discarded world that filled your view with darkness. Jesus will always be reaching down and drawing you up into His arms; trust Him, He IS there and He will not give up because of the pain we cause Him, because that same thread is wrapped around His hand as He draws us out, it cuts into Him the same way it cuts into us. Our hurt filled words that crush Him as we are dying inside will never make Him leave us. He stays and pulls us up into a healing hug and cries with us. Because He loves you. He loves us. He is love.