everlasting love

"I love you with an everlasting love, which flows out from the depth of eternity. Before you were born, I knew you. Ponder the awesome mystery of a love that encompasses you from before birth to beyond the grave." Jesus Calling

Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to Him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have drawn you with loving-kindness."

Lamentations 3:22-23 The Lord's loving-kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness.

*****

Before we were even conceived, God knew us and loved us. He is constantly drawing us to Him with His loving-kindness. What is our response to His love today: will we ignore it, or worse reject it, or will we bask in His love and love Him in return?

326. hot chocolate and a warm fire

327. a beautiful day for Christmas shopping

328. Christmas outfits for Amelia and Asher!

329. God's everlasting love

what am I responsible for?

"Problems are part of life. They are insecapable: woven into the very fabric of this fallen world. You tend to go into problem solving mode all too readily, acting as if you have the capacity to fix everything... Don't weigh yourself down with responsibilities that are not your own...Rather than trying to fix everything that comes to your attention, ask Me to show you what is truly important." Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Luke 10$1-42 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

*****

My counselor Mary once told me "You can only be responsible for thing that you have the authority and ability to change." How much time do we waste worrying over things that are not in our control. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't care about others and their problems, but that we should care enough to take it to Jesus and let Him work in their lives. Then we are free to spend time with God and to do what God has asked us to do! What is God asking you to trust Him with today and what is He asking you to do?

one thousand gifts

323. Dad, Mom, and Pat coming to meet Asher Thomas

324. family gathered around my dining room table

325. freedom from responsibility for thing not under my control

water in the desert

"In this age of independence, people find it hard to acknowledge their neediness. However I have taken you along a path that has highlighted your need for Me; placing you in situations where you strengths were irrelevant and your weaknesses were glaringly evident. Through the aridity of those desert marches, I have drawn you closer and closer to Myself. You have discovered flowers of Peace blossoming in the most desolate places.

Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

*****

It is easy to look back on the desert places in my life and see how God cared for me and carried me through, but I think it is harder to recognize God's care when you are in the middle of the desert. Is that where you are now--at the end of your strength and overwhelmed by your weaknesses? Take time today to feel God's presence in your life and recognize how He is providing living water to your parched soul.

one thousand gifts

321. Tom feeling better

322. a visit to my chiropractor