Hello Friend! Day Eighteen

Hello Friend!

I suspect that those easy things to love can come from within me. I can be nice. I can be pleasant. I can even be tolerant.

We are all unloveable at times, especially myself. And when I am in a situation that goes beyond my own ability and strength to love, I know that I am tapping into God’s resources. It is then I know I am getting to that “true love”. It goes beyond my own limitations and comes directly from the heart of God. When I rely on my own capacity for love, I will fall short every time.

A lack of love in one’s life might explain unloving and ugly behavior, but it doesn’t excuse it. We have opportunities each day to show love to those around us in both simple and complex ways. Even though it is easy and requires little effort, let’s not just love the loveable. That isn’t very challenging — it doesn’t demonstrate God’s ability to transform our hearts and expand our capabilities. God’s love, through us, enlarges our hearts. And this is the love the world needs!

Beloved, let us love one another! 1 John 4:7a

Love,
Liz

Hello Friend! Day Sixteen

Hello Friend!

Have you read through Hebrew 11? Here is a snippet:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ²This is what the ancients were commended for. ³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. ⁴By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous…

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know about God or believe in Him and His love and provision for me even though we didn’t always go to church when I was growing up. Part of that was because my mom was very discouraged and frustrated by the political games that happened within the church.

Hmmm. That sounds familiar!

But I haven’t really had an issue with God. Life hasn’t always been easy but and yet He has always been there for me. And yet, I haven’t always behaved like a child of God! I have had times I deliberately did the wrong thing, the ugly thing. And still I never questioned God’s love for me.

By the same token, when ugly things happened TO me, I never wondered where God was in the situation. I never thought He was behind evil nor did I blame Him for allowing evil to cross my path. It just feels like I have always known that He will right every wrong — and that He will transform me, if not my circumstance, and that it will all work together for good — eventually.

I am so thankful for this faith. I don’t know how I would have survived so far without it. But even more important is God’s faithfulness! Clearly, I have not always been faithful. But He always is. I can rest in His faithfulness!

Love,
Liz

Disappointment

There are many things to be disappointed about in this life. We are set up to strive for “more” with all of the promotions and ads and marketing that bombards us every day. We often chase after things, people, positions, experiences, or degrees hoping they will bring us happiness and are surprised when, after we achieve it we are still feeling disappointment.

Or maybe we have experienced disease, death of loved ones, and other things that occurred through no fault of our own and now we are left to deal with daily reminders of that loss. Life can be so hard.

What is our response when things don’t turn out according to plan? Where do we turn? Who can understand? How can our heart and mind accept the situation and move forward?

It is important to allow ourselves time to adjust to the new circumstances, of course. And that time of grieving and the process of grieving looks different with every person. Talking to a friend or counselor or pastor can be helpful. I also like to pour out my heart to God and ask for His peace and patience while I navigate through the “new path” that He is allowing me to travel. It may not be what I would have chosen but it can have beauty and peace all the same.

Sometimes I need to adjust the way I view my circumstances.

Instead of asking “What is going on here?” or “What am I doing here?” I can ask,

“God, what are You doing here?”

“God, open my eyes to see what You want me to do or see here.”

I don’t want to suffer or endure difficulties but those things can strengthen me if I am looking to Jesus for His strength and perspective. That strength not only allows me to endure future disappointments (because they will continue coming) but to be a source of encouragement to others. There are others who are also suffering and enduring difficulties and, sometimes, the only way for me to see those needs and share the Love and Mercy of God is to be in those hard places. I don’t love to be in “hard places” but I know God is there.

And He wants to be my Rock.

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. {Romans 5:1-5, RSV]

May God bless you as you work through your disappointments!

Liz

PrayerPrompt: TREASURES

PrayerPoints ~ Friday, March 25th

learn content_w. copy

Today’s PrayerPoint ~ Psalm 109

“But you, Sovereign Lord,
help me for your name’s sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.” Psalm 109:21

God’s means for our deliverance was put in place since the beginning of time. Here we are to Good Friday where the scriptural accounts and the dramatizations help us understand a little bit more each year as we struggle to comprehend the magnitude of God’s love, His provisions, and Jesus’ sacrifice.

Lord, it is only through Your Name’s sake and only out of Your goodness that I can be delivered from sin and death. A broken and contrite heart you will not despise. Because of my sin, I am beyond broken but I am not too far from Your reach. Thank you, Jesus.