30 Days Of Gratitude…Day 20…In All My Brokenness

“Can I really stand here unashamed
Knowin’ that Your love for me won’t change?
Oh God, if that’s really true
Then let the truth be told” (truth be told lyrics)

We are all broken. Dictionary defines ‘broken’ this way: fragmented, torn, damaged, ruined, weakened in strength,spirit……and to deny that, well, we’d only be lying to ourselves, wouldn’t we? Yet, while we may be lying to ourselves and everyone else, we can’t lie and hide from God. But, and I insert a HUGE BUT here! There’s good news, really good news. God. Still. Loves. Us!

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

As I continue my Christian journey, I feel God quietly calling to me. In order for me to break free from the chains in my life and the lies I tell myself, I know I need to draw closer to Him. And, as I spend more and more time with Him, the clearer it becomes that God loves me in all my brokenness.

Jesus came to save the lost and broken. I admit my weaknesses, my brokenness, and accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. He saved me!

30 Days Of Gratitude…Day 13…Jim’s Words

FROM THE BEACH

The Mystery Of Life can not be more clearly explained then by

comparing Human Life to an Ocean Wave.

Human Life begins as does the Ocean Wave, mysteriously beyond

the horizon and out of sight.

Yet, from the time of their creation, we know they exist. In their

infancy they are recognized as a miracle, a gift from our Creator

and watched with awe.

As they grow, they are affected by the elements and forces of

nature which cannot be; controlled, contained and at times

explained.

In maturity, they can be warm and gentle or cold and forbidding:

productive or destructive.

As they pass maturity, they both strain to hold on to their

individuality and existence.

The Wave, after crashing onto a beach, surges in a froth, spreading

more and more slowly until it can no longer continue, in ‘death’, it is

forced to retreat back to the Ocean, its universe, to be reborn as a

new Force Of Nature.

Man, when no longer able to sustain a worldly existence, in death,

retreats back to his universe to be reborn as a new Force Of Nature, A Child of God.

Life Is Precious…Life Is Eternal.

©JF_June2008

All I Can Do Is Say Thank You…Day 1 🙏

~Psalm 23:5~

A Prayer for a Thankful Heart

Lord, teach me to offer you a heart of thanksgiving and praise in all my daily experiences of life. I long to bring pleasure to Your heart daily. Break the power of the enemy in my life. Defeat him through my sacrifice of praise. Change my outlook and attitude into one of joyful contentment with my present circumstances. I thank You for… [Name a difficult circumstance in your life presently and thank God for it.]

Jesus, I want to be like You who obeyed the Father without complaint. You embraced the chains of humanity when You walked this earth. Convict me whenever I complain or compare myself with others. I know that Your truth dwells in a thankful heart.null

‘I will give thanks to the LORD because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens’ (Psalm 7:17-18:1). In Jesus’ Name, Amen.” (Debbie Przybylski.)

Thursday Morning 🙏

the LORD appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Jeremiah 31:3

Heavenly Father, I Thank You for loving me with an everlasting love that will never cease. May Your loving-kindness flow into my spirit, my soul and my body. I pray for Your guidance and help that I may experience Your love in a deeper way. Let nothing separate me from Your love. I pray that my heart may be grounded in Your love. In Jesus’ name, I pray, AMEN. 🙏

Seasons Change…Your Love Remains

My time on the island is drawing to a close, and while I’ve sat with friends and reminisced, soul strolled the beach and remembered the wonderful life Jim and I shared, I’m looking forward to getting home. Yes, the grief still visits, but it has softened. I’m leaving here in peace. It’s a peace that has come with time, but it has also come with growth. God’s Love has grown me in ways I can’t even explain over the last year, which has made this visit all the more transforming.

“ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

(The natural rhythm of the seasons applies to our lives and knowing there is a natural rhythm, a “time to weep and a time to laugh,” gives us permission to let go of perfectionist expectations of our lives. It lightens our burdens by giving us hope for the future in the midst of trial and prepares us for times of struggle – until the day comes when there will be no more winter and no more tears. ~Sarah Phillips)

We can’t have just one season, one life of endless summers….on this chilly, windy, autumn October day, 4 years and 3 days since Jim died, I’m accepting and embracing my season and I’m going home.

Merciful God, We praise you because you know all things, see all things, and remember us. Thank you that we can depend on your presence with us in every season and situation, that each time has purpose and meaning. We are grateful that each season is orchestrated by you, even the harder ones. Help us to see your hand and guidance in our lives as we go through changes, the highs, and the lows. May we grow in trust and persevere in the valleys. How great you are, oh God, for being so intentional to care for us in every season. For even when things seem glum, your light continues to shine on us in mercy and grace.Amen.

❤️