With All my Heart
12 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in 1
This was my devotional that was emailed to me today and I thought it was just a beautiful reminder of Gods deep love for us. Hope you enjoy!
“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.’” Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
“I’m giving this to you with all my heart, Daddy.” Annie spoke those words as she handed her daddy the wrapped gift. Dan opened the gift to find a small cardboard box, the lid had been torn off, mailing label still attached and a rubber band had been secured to fashion a handle. Dan scooped up his daughter in his arms and thanked her for his birthday gift promising to carry his new lunch box to work the very next day. Dan was true to his word and proudly carried the new lunch box to work the very next day.
Now how many people would actually carry their lunch to the office in a tattered and torn cardboard b ox? Talk about showing your love with your life in a world where talk is cheap and we value appearances over promises! Dan’s tender act of love toward his daughter touched my heart and brought this verse to mind.
1 John 4:16, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (NIV).
While Dan’s new lunch box fell apart within a day or two, Dan’s love for his daughter is real, personal and lasting just like the love God has for us. God’s love sees beyond our brokenness and sin and transforms our tattered and torn lives into something beautiful and precious.
Our heavenly Father’s love is not based on appearance or gender, education or wealth; it’s based on one thing: Love. It is God’s very nature to love. It is the love of self-sacrifice. God proved His sacrificial love by sending His Son Jesus to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. God draws us to Himself by forgiving us of our rebellion against Him, and by sending His Holy Spirit to dwell within us. God did this in spite of the fact that we did not deserve it. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NIV).
God’s love is personal. He knows each of us individually and loves us personally with all His heart. His love is a mighty love that has no beginning and no end. Why does God love us? It is because of who He is: “God is love.”
If you’re longing for the personal and individual love of a father and have never experienced the deep, rich, immeasurable love of God I encourage you to stop and follow these five simple steps.
1. Admit your sin and your need for a Savior. 2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent) 3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you. 4. Through Prayer, receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior. 5. Surrender your will to His, and ask Him to help you trust and obey His ways.
Dear Lord, I believe You are the Son of God. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask You into my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
I don’t know anything.
05 Mar 2010 1 Comment
in Thoughts
Well it is officially not my birthday anymore. (Not a invitation for more birthday wishes i promise haha) And I have been doing alot of thinking about the last year. I have learned and been through a whole lot but one thing I have realized is that I don’t know anything. The older I get the more I realize how little I know and how MUCH I need God. I mean seriously need God. Ive just felt so humbled and kind of broken lately. I think it all started last weekend when Cornerstone put on Serve Day. I opted to go with helping work on food packs for Haiti. I was apart of the 4th shift of folks to go so we only had 21,000 left to take care of. Sounds like a ton I know but it only took about half an hour of actual work to complete those. The rest of the time was training and clean up. (Our church did 140,000 total) And in working I stopped to look at the bags for a second and was blown away by the fact that one of those bags was six servings of food. So basically one meal for a 4-6 person family. For those who dont know the bag was pretty much some rice, soy powder, bouillon, and some dehydrated vegetables. I probably waste more food than that in a week. There is no other way to put it but I felt humbled. As I was coming home trying to plan lunch I was thinking about going to pick something up because I had “nothing” in the pantry and then I thought of the food bags…..I felt so humbled and broken for those people whose lives depend on those small bags of dry food ingredients and while I have a pantry full of food that classifies as “nothing”.
This whole week leading up to my birthday off and on I have just been feeling kind of heavy emotionally. Had some off and on days. The kids have been sick, I have had a ton of stuff to do and I am not sleeping as well as I could. So then yesterday when I was going through my bible looking for a certain verse for something I stumble across a verse highlighted in my bible that hit me like a brick in the face.
“But while knowledge makes us important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesnt really know very much.” 1 Cor 8:1b-2
Can I just say WOW!!!!!!!!!! I have been really chewing on this verse since yesterday. I know in this context it is talking about food sacrificed to idols but I think it definitely applies to other areas spiritually too. So I have been really chewing on it and meditating on it and here are some thoughts I formulated….
It is so easy to be quick to rely on our knowledge, our processes, and the cool things that we can do. I just started as a coordinator for Heartland at our church for a service hour that is desperately in need of volunteers so I have been trying to think of interesting ways to maybe recruit people to support the team I work with. So for me I felt like God was speaking saying….stop worrying about the “things” and just come pray. Love on people, encourage others in there faith, and the volunteers will come.
Along with this verse and some other things God has been showing me I feel like he has given me some new eyes for people. To try and see people how he sees them and not as I would and a heart that just loves them. I met a very sweet lady tonight who is the manager at Baskin Robbins. As I was putting change into a jar they hand on the counter to support Phoenix Childrens Hospital she thanked me for supporting them and started to tell me about a fundraising night they are doing next week for the hospital. I just casually told her that I love to support PCH however I can because my son spent two months there. And about how one of our pastors daughters is there right now fighting brain cancer. She then told me about how her 16 year old daughter has been there since October for a serious heart condition. She spent her 16th birthday on a helicopter flying to PCH where she has been since. Slowly I saw the face of the smiling clerk scooping ice cream disappear and I saw a lady who looked tired and whose heart hurt for her daughter. I dont know if she knows the Lord or not. I hope she does because I cant imagine fighting any health battle without Jesus, but I just wanted to reach over the counter and hug her. Just thinking about her makes me want to cry…. The managers name is Stacy by the way and her daughter is Samantha. Please lift up prayers for them.
So after chewing on this even more tonight I just feel like I want to just get together with folks and pray. I mean honest to goodness heart wrenching praying beyond words intercession. I think there is something really powerful in a group of believers getting together and being broken in front of the Lord together. Whether its on your face, crying laughing, dancing, singing…..however you feel the most open to God. To pray for our friends, for each other, for our ministries, for our leaders and pastoral staff, and for the broken people in our lives who need love so bad it hurts. Dont get me wrong I dont want to say this isnt going on in our church. I believe it probably really is. I have been seeing people all around me take steps of faith and growing more. Our church has wrapped its 32B series that discussed taking different steps to mature in our faith and i feel like this is another step God is wanting me to take. To stop worrying about “things” and what I should do and just rely more on him. I just want to be an open vessel for God to use. I want to be used for his Kingdom. To see other lives changed around me. Guys please share with me your thoughts on this or if God has been showing you something in particular. I would really love to hear it.
I apologize if my words are all over the place. Its late and to be honest I am just kind of typing it as I feel it. I am feeling very transparent at the moment.
