http://bornatthewrighttime.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/tears-in-heaven.html?spref=fb
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The beauty of Creation
I love that working nights means I get to really appreciate the beauty of creation I love looking at the trees and the sky and the flowers, the stars and the moon or the sun as it starts to rise, I love that I can enjoy all that’s around me in silence that there’s no real traffic that its before the chaos of the day, I love hearing the birds chirp in the trees, I don’t think I could even describe how beautiful I find it all, I really find it breathtaking that the same God who created all this, created us and loves us!
Striving to be like my Saviour.
Lately I’ve been so so desperate to know more of the Lord the more I read the more I want to be like him, after all we’re called to live like he did right?
So, in my quiet time I’ve been asking God to help me be more like Jesus and I’ve done some research into some of the traits he has (please correct any you disagree with or let me know of any others I’ve not added – note this is just my opinion!).
Jesus had the attitude of a servant, he came to serve not to be served, (‘For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many’ Mark 10:45)
Jesus was forgiving, we see him forgiving people over and over but even as he was hanging on the cross he still forgave (‘Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”‘ Luke 23:34)
Jesus was obedient to God’s will even when he didnt want to be (‘….and prayed saying “O My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will”‘ Matthew 26:39 then repeated in v42)
Jesus was compassionate (‘But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd’ Matthew 9v36)
Jesus was also loving (‘Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus…’ John 11v5) and patient/long suffering (‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance’ 2 Peter 3v9).
They’re 6 traits that I’m working towards, I know its not easy but the more I read up on Jesus’ forgiving basisnature or how compassionate he was the more I desire to be like that, I know its a conscious action and that I have to choose to be more loving/long suffering/obedient on a daily basis but I know I can accomplish this in the Lords strength!
A love so incomprehensible
“If you took the love of all the best mothers and fathers that lived, all the goodness, kindness, patience, fidelity, wisdom, tenderness, strength and love and united all those virtues in one person, that person would only be a faint shadow of the love and mercy in the heart of God for you and me” – Brennan Manning –
Whenever you feel low, worthless and looked down on by man, remember that God loved YOU enough to send his precious son down to die for you on the cross; Jesus didnt die for the winners of this world or for the perfect people, he came and he died for the sinners, for the lost, for the imperfect, for the losers, for the broken, for the you and me’s of the world.
He died for you! the punishment for sin is death and he took on what we deserved giving us an incomprehensible freedom, allowing us to be forgiven before we even commit the sin, THATS how much he loves YOU!
To Him, we’re more precious that any jewel for he knows each one of us, he could tell you everything about you because he knows every hair on your head, every thought that you have, every want and need, every desire, every emotion. He created you fearfully and wonderfully. Thats how much he loves you!
A love so strong that can break chains and tear down walls of darkness, a love that floods light into the deepest depths of our lives; a love that is so incomprehensible and that will blow our minds over and over again. A love that we never have to earn, a love that shines brighter than any star but that will never fade; A love that chases us, saves us, protects us and defends us. A love greater than no other.
Whenever you feel low, worthless and looked down on by man, remember that God loves you. Dont forget that…..
Blessed beyond belief
I wanted to take a little bit of time just to really share how thankful I am.
I’m thankful for all the basic simple things that we take for granted like a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, clean running water, food and clothes.
I’m thankful for life’s luxuries- the iPhone that’s glued to my hand, Internet, technology. I’m thankful for the people that serve me daily through there jobs, for doctors and nurses that cure sickness, for the bin men that collect my rubbish, for the people that drive our public transport enabling me to get around, for people who ensure our supermarkets are stocked. I’m thankful for the beautiful weather we have, for parks and beaches, I’m thankful for how beautifully created nature is, for the flowers and the birds. I’m thankful for medicine, for herbal remedies.
I’m really thankful for my amazing close friends, I love how despite all the crap life throughs at Louise (www.louisefallonfrood.wordpress.com)she still praises God and rocks life with a huge smile on her face and is always laughing, I love how Kathryn’s so arty and can make something out of nothing, I love how she always put others before herself, I love how little Esh is just my favourite little person, I love how Bernie’s always crazy, I love how the family I work for are always still smiling and positive despite the daily struggles, I love how they’re so inspiring . I’m thankful for my favourite boy who always knows how to cheer me up and is just downright fab, I’m thankful that I have a family that loves and supports me even if they don’t agree with choices I make, I’m thankful for all my friends that just make life better, I’m thankful for all their talents, for all the things that make them special and unique. I’m thankful for all the people that have hurt me, let me down, caused me general crap, I’m thankful because they’ve strengthened me as a person, they’ve taught me lessons and they’ve spurred me on. But more than anything I’m so flipping thankful for my Heavenly Father who created me, who knows me in the most intimate ways, who has an amazing plan for my life, I’m thankful for my Saviour who died bearing all my sins so I could have eternal life and live freely. I’m thankful for every person Gods used and will use to speak to me through, I’m just so thankful and blessed that even these words don’t really even begin to express how I feel.
I’ve read so much negativity lately that I just wanted to express how blessed I am and take a few minutes out to appreciate all the positive things in life 🙂
I want what they’ve got! – a post for my non Christian friends
Today I was praying and felt a real stirring to write a little passage about being a Christian. I don’t know about you but before I was saved, I used to think that Christians were people who wore socks and sandals, had some form of beard and moustache and watched songs of praise, boy was I wrong! I met a group of Christians when I was at high school as part of an outreach programme, the more I got to know these people the more I saw they had this joy, regardless of their circumstances they were always smiling, I definitely wanted what they had. Maybe you’re curious about what being a Christian actually is? Perhaps you want to know more, Perhaps you want freedom and joy?
Being a Christian simply believing and accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour.
A Saviour is the one who rescues us from our sins. A sin is an act that defies God’s way of living, an offence to his law of love but don’t go thinking that you’re the black sheep because this behaviour has almost been built into us, sin most certainly isn’t a new modern day thing our ancestors have been sinning for years. But this is where Jesus comes in, God, our creator and heavenly father loves us so so much he sent his son down to earth to receive the punishment for our sins for us and this was through his death on the cross, not only are we cleansed of all our past, current and future sins but we are offered eternal life in heaven when we believe and receive Jesus as our Saviour – “For the wage of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” – Romans 6:23.
Salvation brings us peace, joy and freedom in our lives and it’s a gift from God, we cannot earn it nor can we earn his unconditional love for us, we can just accept it. There are 3 simple things we do, I find it easy to remember these things through using the ABC method:
A – ADMIT: Simple! We have to admit we’ve done wrong, acknowledge that we’re sinners; we’re never going to be perfect and that’s ok as long as we’re sorry when we mess up! No-one is perfect and everyone has sinned, “…All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23.
B- BELIEVE & RECIEVE: We need to believe that Jesus took our on sins, died in your place, was buried and resurrected. – “For God so loved the world that gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” – John 3:16.
We receive Christ by personal invitation, Jesus is always nearby and waiting to be invited to come into our hearts and lives. – “Hear I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him and him with me” – Revelation 3:20
C- CONFESS: “Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation.” – Romans 10:9-10; Its important to have pride in our faith and not deny our salvation, Jesus said “Therefore, everyone who acknowledges me before people, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 10:32
Being a Christian isn’t just a Sunday thing, its not just about rules and regulations its about a relationship with our Heavenly Father! 🙂
Walk freely in his love
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about The Fathers love for us and felt really compelled to write a little bit about it, of course I’m still learning about it, still trying to accept it and believe it’s for me so I am definitely no expert! 🙂
We are all born with the capacity and the desire to love and to be loved, the words ‘I love you’ evoke such a huge joy in us and I believe that only when we experience Gods love and let it fill our hearts we will be truly happy and the more we obey God the more we feel this amazing love.
My favourite bible story has always been the story of the Prodigal Son (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2015:11-32&version=CEB) but only lately has it really hit me how much it displays Gods love for us, even after the son had made a real mess of things, his father still welcomed him with open arms and threw a party for him and that’s exactly how our heavenly father is he still loves his children who’ve strayed and every time a child returns home to him he throws a huge party in heaven – he even continues to love us when we’re disobedient.
I’m not a parent but I have friends that claim to not be at all maternal/paternal but then suddenly when they’re holding their new baby in their arms that totally changes, they talk of this overwhelming love at their amazing creation, they talk of how beautiful their creation is. Well we’re Gods children, he created us, he knitted us in our mothers wombs, he knows every hair on our heads (Psalm 139) so that tells me that his love is more than words can describe if he knows every intricate detail about us, we all no that no love can ever compare to the love a parent has for their child, its that love that only wants the best and like a parent his love nurtures and disciplines us.
God loves with agape (which means selfless, sacrificial, unconditional.) this is the love that we read about in 1 Corinthians 13:
Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. As for prophecies, they will be brought to an end. As for tongues, they will stop. As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end. We know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, what is partial will be brought to an end. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child. But now that I have become a man, I’ve put an end to childish things. Now we see a reflection in a mirror; then we will see face-to-face. Now I know partially, but then I will know completely in the same way that I have been completely known. Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love.
Gods love for us is completely unconditional and undeserved its not based on what we do or don’t do, in fact we are loved so much that he died for us regardless of our sins; he loves us in spite of our mistakes, our disobedience, our selfishness, even as Jesus was hanging on the cross he cried out ‘Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing’ (Luke 23:34) if he can love the people persecuting him enough to forgive them then the love for us, his children is unimaginable!
There are still times when we struggle to believe that the creator of this amazing universe loves us, I decided to write verses that express his love to put around my room just to remind me of how loved I am by my heavenly father, I think one of my favourites was probably Zephaniah 3:17:
The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
I love this because when I read it I get an image of a child waking from a bad dream and the father just taking that child in their arms and singing and soothing them back to sleep.
I think sometimes its really important to have some quiet time where you just sit in Gods presence and just lay in his love, let it wrap around us and layer up. Gods love is so thick and tangible, it’s so overwhelming, and it personally makes me fill like I’m a cup under a tap and someone’s left the tap on- like I’m overflowing.
When we’re filled with His love we can fight off fear, forgive, renew strength and help others. The amazing thing is when we really accept these free gifts of love, when we take it and bathe in it we are forever changed.
Gods love frees us from condemnation and it breaks chains I believe when we fully allow God to love us we can walk freely in him and live our life to the full potential he has for us. So what are you waiting for? Let God love you, don’t try and understand it or analyse it or question why you’ve got this free gift, just accept it and walk freely in his love!
Do not fear for I am with you.
Today I made a huge decision to give up something thats been a huge part of my life for quite sometime. I’ve made half hearted attempts before but never really stuck it out and I think it’s because it was always done in my own strength rather than in Gods; today I was praying and over and over again I kept thinking of how sin separates us from God (Isaiah 58:2) and it was almost as if someone had dumbed it down for me and said “every time you put that joint to your lips youre building a wall between you and God, so at first the wall starts small and slowly grows bigger.” Now I believe that because God loves us despite our actions hes taking each brick away as we place it but even so we still turn our backs on God; so I was really feeling compelled to break the addiction but I began to feel afraid, for me breaking this habit is huge as has been part of my life for so long I started to think how will I cope, how will my friends find me stopping something that links us etc and i really felt God say do not fear because I am with you!…
Thats just it though isn’t it, we might not be strong enough on our own but we’ve got God! The creator of the universe who loves us, who knitted us in our mothers womb, who knows every hair on our head, he tells us in Isaiah he will strengthen and uphold us, I’m not saying it will be easy but when we have challenges to face we don’t need to be afraid because the dude who put the stars in the sky is on our side.
Unspoken Secrets
Unspoken secrets, we all have them, the things your too scared to share outloud, the secrets you push to the back of your mind hoping you’ll forget, hoping they wont creep forward. Ive been contemplating whether to post some of mine for quite sometime now and I feel like the only way to seek healing is to share, somehow writing about these are easier than saying them outloud I’m not really sure how to piece it together so you’ll have to make sense of the ramblings.
I’ve always been ‘pro life’ always had a very strong opinion that we arent to play God; I’d never meant to fall pregnant, I’d always wanted a baby but this wasnt how it was meant to be at all, I honestly must of peed on about 5 tests. Id had a gut feeling for a while, all the obvious signs but was in complete denial; It wasnt supposed to be like that, I was living with another family, how was I supposed to tell them let alone my family back home? My friend was insistent that I tell the guy I was sleeping with, I couldnt, I didnt know how – I wouldnt even use the word baby so how on earth could I tell someone else? Weeks passed, I’m not sure when something changed in my mind but we were laying in bed and suddenly I blurted the two words out “I’m Pregnant” he began to laugh and within the space of about 30 seconds his face turned from calm to raging, I can still feel the impact of his knee against my stomach over and over, the look of disgust as I began to beg him to stop, I felt lifeless, he continued to ‘fuck’ me.
Then like nothing had happened he rolled over and went to sleep, I could feel the blood trickling down my leg, I felt paralysed; I laid there for hours before I could move, trying to be silent so I didnt wake him. I didnt tell a soul, A week or so passed I moved out and stayed with a friend whilst I decided whether I return home, I felt so incredibly numb, I went to the hospital as arranged for a scan, I knew it was pointless but I was clutching on for hope – I remeber the Dr telling me I suffered a miscarrage at 15 weeks pregnant all I knew in my head was that I’d killed that baby I knew I should have trusted my instincts, In my eyes I may aswell of had an abortion. I remeber curling up in my friends bed and sobbing; That was 10 months ago and I still have nightmares.
