God’s Love – Live the Crazy Life

Bible, community, love, Steadfast love, surrendering, surrendering

What kind of sign are you?

October 5, 2021 No Comments

Everyone is fighting for something these days. Whether it’s public safety issues like vaccines and mask mandates, to school curriculum content, to saving the earth. I think it is great that people are finally taking an interest in the laws and rules that affect their daily lives. My issue is not what you are fighting for but how you are fighting. Before you get all offended keep reading, and hear me out.

Two phrases keep rolling around in my head; one from the Bible and one from well known Bible study teacher Beth Moore. Beth asked the question in her Daniel Bible study “do you regularly wound the enemy?” That is a very thought provoking question. If I am honest my answer is no, not even close. I am a conflict avoider in the natural and most definitely don’t go looking for spiritual warfare. However it seems that spiritual warfare has found me. So the question stands ‘do I regularly wound the enemy’?

The second phrase is from Psalm 86:17 it says “Make me a sign for good, so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed. For you, ADONAI, have helped me and comforted me.” (TLV version of the Bible.)The word sign according the Lexicon means “a token for good.” In other words David is saying “Let me reflect goodness so that those that are not good will be ashamed.” Why would David pray that? I believe the answer is two fold. One so that his enemies would realize that they took the wrong side. And two that they might realize ADONAI is the one true God. The whole Psalm is about God who is slow to anger and full of steadfast love.

My question to you today is not where you stand on issues but rather how are you taking that stand? Are you allowing God who is slow to anger to show His steadfast love through you? Are you being a sign of the goodness of God as you fight for whatever it is? At the risk of offending you, have you asked God where He is at on the issue? Have you sought Him to see if this is the battle he wants you in? If you have, then I say go for it. If you haven’t asked Him, please do. So much more is at stake here, truthfully more than personal freedoms. How we represent God when we stand for a public issue has monumental effects. Are you allowing God to use you as a ‘token of good’? Or is it more about what you want? Are you allowing the steadfast love of God to influence your voice on the issue? Are you showing lovingkindness to those you are opposing?

Back to the Beth Moore quote. As you take your stand on your issue, what impact are you making in the spiritual realm? Are you regularly ‘wounding the enemy’? Or is he using you to wound others? My point in this blog isn’t that you stop fighting for what you feel is right. It’s that you do it as a believer who cares about the souls of those around you who don’t know Jesus, and that you are aware of the enemy’s schemes. You should be taking a stand for personal freedoms and injustice and school curriculum and all the other hot topics that are out there right now; but how you take that stand might be more important in the long run than what you are standing for. Matthew 16:26 says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole word, but forfeits his soul?” (TLV version).

There is a way to fight that honors God. You can take a stand and still be used as a ‘token for good.’ You can regularly wound the enemy (not your opposition but your true enemy the devil) and voice your opinion. If you yield your heart to the Lord on the matter and ask Him to use you, YOU will be a light in the darkness, and make an impact. As you fight for your issues ask yourself, “Am I being a sign for good? Who or what am I really wounding here?” Then in the words of 2 Timothy 4:7, go ‘fight the good fight, finish the race, keep your faith.” Be a lasting sign for good.

Bible, love, Memorizing scripture, Steadfast love

A Precious Love

March 6, 2018 No Comments

The steadfast love of God, how great it is. To live in the knowledge of a Savior who loves us unconditionally, with an unmoving, never-ending love is overwhelming and amazing.

You have heard of people having a word to define their season, or maybe they have a word for the year. I am not sure which mine is or both, but the word to define my life is STEADFAST LOVE. I guess it really is two words, but who’s counting. Steadfast love is a word I hear in my heart and mind daily. It seems to jump off the pages of the Bible when I see it. It recalibrates me when I get lost in the pain of life or the routine of the mundane.

So for the memory verse for the month of March, here is another one on steadfast love. Maybe it will be a year of steadfast love. Time will tell, but for now, it remains my anchor of hope in a stormy sea.

Psalm 36:7-8 says “How precious is your steadfast love O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.” Just take that first line, how precious is your steadfast love O God! The Bible ends that sentence with an exclamation mark, but it could just as easily end with a question mark. I ask God to show me how precious His steadfast love is. He reminds me of Easter. Of a steadfast love that gave His life for mine. Of how steadfast love clung to the cross, to the hope, to the redemption of my soul.

God’s love is not like man’s love. It loves when it is inconvenient – when the one being loved does not deserve it. It is always there through sleepless nights and sorrow-filled days. God’s love surrounds us if we take the time to see it.

God’s steadfast love is an abundance feast in His house. What a thought. God’s love creates a place for us where we are the honored guest. It quenches our dry throats with water from the river of His delight. It refreshes and restores our broken hearts. It reminds us that we are not alone. There are others God graciously gathers with us to join the feast, to help us celebrate who He is in our midst.

What a love. It knows no bounds, no limits, no hesitations. It gives freely to all who will partake of it. So I ask you, have you thought how precious God’s love is lately? Have you silenced your mind and your heart long enough to really appreciate the steadfast love God offers? If you haven’t you should. Take a moment and think about what God’s love is to you. Maybe you have never thought about the fact that God, the creator of the universe, is passionately in love with you. He is. He loves you with a steadfast love that will never fade. He loves you where you are right now in the midst of whatever your life is. He loves you because He created you. No one knows you better, and still He will always choose to love you. That, my friends, is a love worth daydreaming about. It is worthy of gratitude and thankfulness.

Take time to tell God how precious His love is to you and how thankful you are for it. It will change your day. It will make a bad attitude better. It will remind you there is good out there and in you. It will pull you out of a funk and hold your hand if you need to cry. It is precious and profound, and it is yours.

How precious is your steadfast love O God!(?)

Click here for the March 2018 memory verse

Bible, Friendship, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day

All kinds of Love

February 6, 2018 1 Comment

Ah, February, the month of love. And since my word for the year is Steadfast love this is shaping up to be a great month! Of course, we tend to focus February’s love on those we love, but what if we included those we simply like in our focus this month? What if we shifted our focus to those God loves this month?

I woke up in the middle of the night with two thoughts on love running through my mind. The first stemmed from John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I called you friend for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Jesus, the one we are supposed to serve, changes that game and says while you are serving me I will call you friend. The word friend there has lots of meanings ranging from an acquaintance to a trusted confidant, held dear in a close bond of personal affection. This is where my thoughts began to run wild. Jesus – the one who loved me before I knew Him – that Jesus calls me a friend. I began to think of my friends. How do I treat them? Am I only friendly with them when it serves me? Do I seek out time with them when I am lonely and have nothing better to do? Do I love and honor them the way a true friend deserves to be loved?

As I lay there in the middle of the night with all these thoughts of friends – questioning if I am even a good one – my mind circled back to February, the month of love. What if I not only focused my love toward my friends? What if I told them how important they are to me? To God? What if I looked for small ways to tell my friends they are loved and valued this month? Some of my friends are going through some really hard stuff. I bet yours are too. What if God used me to show them his love? I began thinking of ways to do just that, expanding this month of love to include my circle of friends.

I wrote down a few things thinking that would help me 1) remember them in the morning, and 2) give my mind the peace it needed to fall back to sleep. It didn’t work. My mind transitioned from God loving me as a friend and me living that out this month to God loving those I don’t. God loves the unlovely. That is a heavy thought at 3:00 am. John 13:35 came to mind. “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

My restless mind, now almost fully awake, began to wonder, “Do I show the world around me the love of Christ? Would a stranger in the store know I was a Christ follower because of the way I chose to interact with them? Does giving the homeless man on the side of the road a granola bar as I drive by count as love? Could I do more? Is God wanting me to do more?”

I wrote down a few more thoughts on my paper by my bed hoping once more that by writing it down and planning to dedicate more attention to this in the morning that I would be able to fall asleep. It did sort of help this time. The final thought/prayer was what if I challenge myself and others through this blog to live these two verses out this month?

So here it is – February the month of love. I challenge you this month to look beyond those you “love” to those you like. Find a way to make them feel important, valued, and cared for. It could as simple as taking a friend for coffee or sending a quick text to let them know you are thinking of them. Then don’t stop there. Take that spirit of love to those who truly need to know someone cares about them. Do something for someone you find unlovable this month. Become someone who is known for the love they give to others. Share the love of God by loving on those around you, those you really do love with your whole heart. Then share the love of Jesus with those you like: friends, co-workers and neighbours. And then take a giant leap and share the love of the one who calls you friend with those who have no one to love them.

I have decided to make these two verses the memory verse for this month. You can pick one or the other.

Click here for John 13:35

Click here for John 15:15

Leave me a comment to let me know how your month of love is going.

Bible, family activities, family fun, Holiday, Parenting, Raising Teens, Valentine's Day

Remind them how much Jesus loves them this Valentine’s Day

January 29, 2018 No Comments

I have three teenagers and more than anything I want them to have a great relationship with Jesus; filled with the knowledge of His great love for them. With that in mind, I am always looking for ways to remind them of just how much Jesus really does love them. And with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I decided to use this holiday of love to focus on God’s love for us.

In the past leading up to Valentine’s Day, I have given them hearts where I have written why I love them. But this year I wanted them to know God’s love for them. I start on February 1st and every day for the next 14 days I hang one random heart in their room with a personalized Bible verse about God’s love. For example, I might write “For God so loved Aaron that He gave His only Son so that Aaron should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

A few days ahead of time, I started cutting out my hearts. I used scrapbooking paper that I already had, but you can buy heart themed paper, or red or pink whatever you want. I cut out various size hearts using different sized cookie cutters and tracing them on the paper – one for each kid for 14 days. For me, this was a total of 42 hearts. I also looked up all my verses ahead of time. I have a list of several scriptures you can use Valentine’s Day Activity –God’s love Bible verses. Just remember to personalize them! Then every morning for the first 14 days in February I would hang a heart with a verse on it somewhere in their room. If my children hadn’t mentioned anything about the hearts to me by dinner I would ask them if they found the one for that day.

Last year I even added my husband in this. I wrote why I loved him on 14 different hearts and hung them around our room. Most of which are still hanging in the same place a year later.

It’s a small thing but I pray the impact of these hearts will be huge. That they will remind my kids, on days when they feel like no one loves them, that even then God loves them like crazy.

If you have ways you have tried to help your kids recognize God’s love for them I’d love to hear about it. Leave your ideas in the comment section below!

Happy Valentine’s Day, and remember God loves you more than you can even comprehend.