I am thankful today for a God who listens.

I am thankful today for a God who speaks.

I am thankful today for a God who loves without favorites.

I am thankful today for a God who forgives.

I am thankful today for a God who provides.

Blessed be His Holy Name...Great and Wonderful is He...
Light of the World and Lord of my Heart.
More precious than all creation.

Beautiful, beautiful

I just wanted to share the lyrics of a song I really like by Francesca Battistelli...

Don’t know how it is You looked at me
And saw the person that I could be
Awakening my heart
Breaking through the dark
Suddenly Your grace

Like sunlight burning at midnight
Making my life something so
Beautiful, beautiful
Mercy reaching to save me
All that I need
You are so
Beautiful, beautiful

Now there’s a joy inside I can’t contain
But even perfect days can end in rain
And though it’s pouring down
I see You through the clouds
Shining on my face

Like sunlight burning at midnight
Making my life something so
Beautiful, beautiful
Mercy reaching to save me
All that I need
You are so
Beautiful, beautiful

I hope it encourages you like it did me :)

Come to Rest

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30


I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Jesus speaking to me about learning how to live in "his rest".  I can honestly say that this has been such a new thing for me that I am still in awe, still changing, still growing!  I know that I have experienced "pockets" of his rest at different times of my life.  Some of those times I believe He just shielded me and put me there in my desperation because I did not know how to get there myself.  Other times, I allowed the Holy Spirit to guide me there but I did not realize that it was a place that one could actually stay and live.  I am sure that I have had a pattern of anxiousness and striving for about 40 years now and so I know that old habits are a little hard to break.  But you know...even in this last little while...I am aware.  Aware when I slip back into old patterns.  Aware that the peace and rest of my Saviour is always available. 


 Isaiah 30:15  "....in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."


When the weight of the world feels like it's resting on your shoulders...and your burdens seem too much to bear....when your heart is heavy and you can't sleep because your mind just won't stop worrying like a ferris wheel going round and round...when you strive and strive and strive to make things happen and it feels like waste...


Return dear one....Focus your eyes on the One who Redeems...the One who Saves...trust His precious heart that is full of grace and truth for you.  Give Him the burdens of your heart and mind...Repent and let go of what you need to...and take His hand.  Listen to His words....and let them sink in.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Your Love

Your Love

I rest in it

no more reaching

just resting

looking up

warmth shines

wind caresses

love surrounds

I float in it

breathing deeply

we both smile

God is my Rest

I have been seriously intrigued by this truth...that God is my rest.  I have been convicted, I have been encouraged and inspired even more to know this God and the "rest" that He speaks of.


This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
   “In repentance and rest is your salvation,
   in quietness and trust is your strength,
   but you would have none of it.  Isaiah 30:15


Oh, Father....I have lived so many years on a roller coaster of peace and anxiousness, up one day and down the next, my emotions controlled by my fears and insecurities.  I have not lived in the "rest" that you offer. 

You have been calling me to your "rest".  I see you as my Shepherd.  You call me into the sheepfold.  Inside, I am safe.  I am not confined.  I am not alone.  I can sleep and I can live without fear.  Because, You Lord, are the door.  Nothing and No one can get inside to harm me.  

Outside, my fears and my anxieties wait to devour me in their hunger.  Outside of your Rest...I am lost.  I am easy prey.

In returning to you...in repentance and your rest...I am saved.

In quietness and trust...You are my Strength.

I just fall more in love with you everyday.  There is always more wonderfulness of you to know.  I can't help it...I don't want to go back...to my old ways.

I want you Jesus.  I want to live in your Rest.  Everyday.

Hope and Rest

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.   Psalm 33:22

Julie quoted this verse in her post yesterday when she was talking about Jesus - our Hope.
This verse inspired such imagery in my heart as I read it.  Let's visualize what David is saying in this verse about God and us. We can do this together.

Picture this:  God's unfailing love resting on you. Sounds lovely doesn't it? It's not just lovely... it's absolutely true.

His love -
God's unfailing love ... His unfailing love ... His unfailing love
r e s t i n g  upon me!


What is God placing upon me?  His unfailing love.
Is that what you usually see God placing on you?
Do you sometimes see something else? What?

Listen to His heart and His words. It's not guilt; it's not shame; it's not judgement, and it's not blame nor anger. It's love. It's unfailing love based on Him and Who He is. It's not based on us. We often make it about us though, don't we? Sisters, it's not based on what we are prone to do/think/say or what we don't do/think/say.

God's unfailing love rests upon me.

Why?

Because we place our hope in God and we now belong to Him - through Christ Jesus. And because that's just the way He is - it's just Who He is. It's about Him after all.

Here again is one of my favourite verses that has helped me grasp this truth that it's about God doing and not about us doing anything but placing our hope in Him.

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength..."  Isaiah 30:15

Father God, I need your Spirit to lead me into truth. The enemy lies continually to me and messes with my head so that I don't believe in my heart that what you say is true. Holy Spirit, make my heart and mind aware when I'm buying into the lies that diminish who You are and what you say. I want to know You for Who you really are - for Who You say You are. You are gracious and good, loving and kind... to me. Thank You.

He is our HOPE

I met the most beautiful woman today while I was at work.
She was buying a little sign with the words Hope written on it.
I told her that I liked what she had picked out because we all need hope....and then I asked her a personal question.  I asked, if she had hope.
She looked me in the eyes and gently told me that she did have hope because she knew Jesus.
She then briefly shared a little bit of her heart with me and the painful journey that she has been on.

Ohhhh....what a divine moment it was for me and her to stand their together.  Two sisters...we don't know each other...but we know Hope....we know Jesus.  We know that He is bigger than every hurt in the world and that He is the only One that can save us.

When we feel like our boat is sinking and we don't know how on earth we are going to hang on...He's not only the lighthouse but he's the coastguard!  HE IS HOPE!

Listen to me sisters....whatever is going on in your life, Jesus is your Hope.  When trials come, and they always do, we think to ourselves, "well, if only this would happen, or that didn't happen, or if I had this, or I didn't have that, then everything would be better and I would be happy".  You forget that.  Jesus is our Hope.  We get stuck.  He is our only Hope of getting free.  We get hurt.  He is our only Hope of being healed.  We have needs.  He is our only Hope of true provision.  We are lied to.  He is our only Hope of truth.  He is Truth.

Jesus is our Hope.

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him."

Jeremiah 17:7

"My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word."Psalm 119:81


"Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,"Psalm 146:5


" May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you."Psalm 33:22

Let us keep our eyes on Jesus....the Hope of Everything.