Yep, It’s That “LOVE” Day Again!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!❤️💗

Do you love it or do you hate it? 

No matter how you feel about February 14th on the calendar, it is a day to be reminded of your most important LOVE!

God loves you so much that He didn’t just say He loved you, He proved it! He not only proved it by sending His son to pay the price for your sin, so that you could feel His LOVE every day even into eternity, but He also sent you a valentine!

We talked about God proving His love for you last week on the blog. If you missed it just read John 3:16!

Today we are going to talk about God‘s valentine to us, His Word, the Bible, His Love letter to us!

Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite days! Not just because of the chocolate, although that’s a great perk, but more than anything, because of the Valentines, a.k.a. LOVE notes, that we get to send and receive!

I have shared on my Blog before that

“Words of Affirmation“ is my Love Language! In a nutshell love language simply means the way that I best give and receive LOVE.

So, naturally, I love giving and receiving cards! Especially when someone takes the time to think about what they are writing on that card, and express love through their words to me! Just as much as receiving those cards, I love giving them!

I remember how excited I would get when my mom would take me to the store to buy valentines for my class!

I could hardly wait to select the perfect box! 

I couldn’t wait to receive the class list with everyone’s name on it. Then I would search for the perfect pen, preferably red or pink and then I would fill out and sign every single card one at a time! It was a really special year if I had a valentine sticker to place on the outside of the envelope!  

The only time I would pause was when I would begin to fret over selecting just the right valentine for each and every person. It had to be perfect.

Then would come the time when I would literally agonize over the perfect or “proper,” valentine to send to that one person I had a crush on.

Would it be too much or too little to convey what I was really feeling? Should I send it to them or not? Should I take the risk and muster up all the courage I had to share my true feelings?

I mean after all, it was quite a risk to take. The feelings could be returned or rejected. It would actually be easier and much safer to simply keep them inside, send that “generic“ valentine card and avoid the consequences!

Problem is…If we never take the risk we never have the relationship!

I am so thankful that God was willing to take the risk to tell us that He loves us through the best valentine we will ever receive!

Gods Valentine to us is His Word, The Bible, His LOVE letter to us!

TRUTH BOMB

THE BEST VALENTINE YOU WILL EVER RECEIVE IS FROM GOD!

Gods Word is his valentine, a.k.a. love letter to us! Look at how much God loves us and wants a forever love relationship with us…

“Then the world will know that you sent me,(Jesus), and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  John 17:23

Then in verse 24 he takes it even farther…

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

God loves us so much that he wants to be with us forever in a love relationship!

God loves us, sent his son to prove it, and wants us to be with him in heaven forever! 

That’s what I call TRUE LOVE!

Valentine’s Day can be the best day ever when we realize that we have received the best valentine ever from the God who loves us most!m. Then we can celebrate that love by sharing it with others!

Ephesians 4:32

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God for gave you.“

“Beloved, (or Dearly Loved Ones), let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not live does not know God, because God is LOVE.”

I John 4:7-8

Unlike sending those valentines back in grade school, when we share God’s LOVE He takes the risk for us! We are already loved by God and secure in our relationship with Him! It is only a WIN when we share God‘s love with others. What they do with it is up to them!

So, HAPPY LOVE DAY EVERYONE!

You are loved by the creator of the universe and He sent you a valentine to tell you so!

Speak Truth Love

That’s right…. It’s LOVE month again!

Please notice I did not say it’s valentines month. Even though I happen to be a huge fan of Valentine’s Day! The legend of Saint Valentine is a wonderful one! It does not denote a romantic connection to the day, but instead a true brotherly love connection!  

But that is not what this Blog this month is about. 

This Blog all month long is about God‘s love and how we can take the opportunity to share it with others!

So welcome to love month here on the blog… Lovingly referred to as LOVEUARY!💕

The most famous love chapter in the Bible is first Corinthians 13. Most people love to skip the first several verses and move right into the long list of what love is. But I think we miss out on what love truly is, if we neglect to understand what love isn’t!

Love is not something we just speak about without putting action behind it.

Love is not something we prove to someone by our abilities and knowledge.

Love is not something we earn by giving away everything we possess.

The first three verses of first Corinthians 13 are much less quoted than the ones that follow, yet they hold incredible truth and wisdom on what love is not.

This gives us a beautiful and clear picture into what God’s love truly is!

“If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and if I deliver at my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”  

I Corinthians 13:1-3

Love cannot be earned and cannot be measured by the words we say or our actions alone. All of the gifts that we have to offer are worthless without love! God‘s love is supreme because it lasts forever. God’s love is even greater than the sacrifices we make!

TRUTH BOMB

God’s love is given freely not earned!

IF WE ARE TO LOVE OTHERS WELL, WE MUST ALSO FREELY GIVE OF OURSELVES!

This is only possible when we understand how much God loves us.

Let’s start with the strongest LOVE of all…. When God demonstrated His LOVE for us by giving us what mattered most to Him, His own son!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not die but live forever.”  

John 3:16

God did not just speak about loving us, He showed us!

God did not just tell us about this great plan He had to love us, He sent His son to prove it!

And finally, God did not tell us we had to do or give away anything to earn it, we simply have to believe!

So, weather you love Valentines Day or not, you can still love “LOVEUARY” and freely love the “others” he has placed in your life!

God’s LOVE is Free, so let’s freely give it!

Happy LOVEUARY!

Speak Truth Love

On this, the last day of the first month of 2023, I am going to close out this month of blog posts with a first. This Blog is not brought to you by me, but by my first granddaughter, Camdyn Kaylyn. 

It was a little over a month ago that I started getting text messages from my daughter around 8:00 p.m. She was telling me that Cami, as we call Camdyn, was asking me to pray for her because she was having trouble falling asleep. I responded back immediately saying that of course I would pray. If you read my blog last week you know that I have dealt with issues of falling asleep at night since I was a little girl. 

I went to sleep that first night sad that my precious granddaughter was struggling to fall asleep but confident that God would fill her little heart with peace, and soon she would fall asleep.

The texts from my daughter continued each night, and eventually Cami called me herself… “Please pray over me Mamma. I know God is with me, but I cannot fall asleep.”

My heart was breaking, my daughter’s heart was breaking, our sweet girl was trusting God and crying out to Him and still sleep and peace were avoiding her.

A few weeks later I was able to make a trip down to visit my daughter and granddaughter and family. I arrived on a Friday and we were going to our Happy Place, Disneyland.

Cami cut her teeth on Mickey cookies and wore Minnie ears before she wore a baby bonnet. She now has a collection of Mickey ears and t-shirts that rival any influencer on social media, the girl is Disney through and through.

It was about halfway through the evening, standing in the churro line when tears started to stream down her beautiful face. She tried so hard to wipe them away but they just kept flowing! We were all so startled and alarmed at first, what could have happened.

This was our Cami Cakes, the happiest girl on the face of the earth, at the Happiest place on Earth and out of nowhere she is standing in a churro line crying uncontrollably.

What could this be? Has someone said something awful to her? Was she sick and trying to hide it from us so as not to spoil anyone’s fun? What could possibly be making this sweet girl cry?  It took her some time before she could compose herself to get the words out.

“I know I will be alright tonight and tomorrow night because you are with me, but after that I do not want to face the pain again of not falling asleep.”

The anticipation of the agony she was enduring was overcoming her and destroying her good times as well as her bad ones.  

“Pray with me Mamma,” she pleaded again! We sat on that cold, hard bench at Disneyland and we prayed.

The next morning her Mommy and I were going to a Women’s Conference. She asked if she could come along and just sit with us so she came along!

She loves worship and she loves God’s Word and she just sat quietly, held my hand and soaked it all in!

She stayed through the sharing of personal testimonies and then left at lunchtime to be with her daddy and brother. She squeezed my hand goodbye and walked quietly out.

Later that night we decided that we were going to pick something up for dinner and she quickly spoke up and blurted out, “Mamma and I will go pick it up!”

It was raining cats and dogs, but I would not have wanted to be anywhere else but in that car with my girl! Tears started to pour down her cheeks again, and I expected her to tell me that she was anticipating me leaving the next day. Through the sobs Cami spoke faith, strength and trust to my heart. 

Here’s Cami’s Story:

“Today at the Women’s Conference I sat quietly and asked God to heal me from not sleeping. I started to listen and I heard, Kathy, Ella’s Mommy, tell the story of God healing Ella from a battle with cancer for 3 years. Then daddy came and picked me up and he was playing worship music in his car. The song, ‘Same God’ by Elevation Worship was playing. I immediately felt God speaking to me. The SAME GOD that healed Ella from cancer will heal me from not being able to sleep.”

Cami and I sat in that car together and cried as we began to name all of the times in the Bible that that, “SAME GOD” healed and provided and answered His people again and again and again….Moses, David, Esther, on and on and on, until we came to JESUS!

We both held hands and said together, “The “SAME GOD” that raised Jesus from the dead has given us His Holy Spirit and He will heal us from whatever we need healing from.

Cami and I do not live as close together as we wish we did, and that is hard for us!

But we promised each other that we would trust the “Same God” to do for us what He has done for His people faithfully over and over and over again.

She is still waiting for complete healing. But she knows her God is with her and she is never alone!

Those are our code words to each other now anytime we struggle, “SAME GOD!”

“JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER.”  HEBREWS 13:8

TRUTH BOMB

THE SAME GOD THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD LIVES IN ME AND YOU!

We all struggle and healing may come sooner than later, but He is the SAME GOD for you each and every time you hurt. The SAME GOD that healed the blind, parted the sea, and raised the dead is there for you!

Speak Truth Love

This is the final week of January 2023 on the Blog.

All month long we have been talking about RESILIENCE!

This week brings me to my most difficult challenge in being RESILIENT.

FEAR!

What are you afraid of?

Does the fear of heights paralyze you?

Does the fear of spiders or snakes make you cringe and run the other way?

Does the fear of speaking in public make you feel like you’re the one in your underwear?

While I wouldn’t jump at the chance to walk across a suspension bridge between two tall mountain peaks, heights is not a great fear I have.

And even though I do not love snakes, I have squashed many a spider in my days for my son who is very much fearful of them. 

And while I do get butterflies in my stomach and can’t eat before I speak in public, when God gives me a word to say, He has given me the ability to speak it!

But I do have a fear I struggle with. It has been a struggle for me since I was a very young child! I always thought that I would outgrow it. I have taken it to God over and over and over again, yet it still remains a very real fear for me.

I am afraid of the dark and I hate being alone!

There, I said it. It is not easy for me to admit this fear! Much of the time I am shamed with it by the fact that it is more commonly a fear children have. But for me, it is a very real fear!

Rick Warren says,

“The revealing of feelings is the beginning of healing.”

This week as I was facing writing my final blog on RESILIENCE, I was challenged to face my greatest fear.

I don’t know about you, but it never fails for me that when I am on a mountaintop experience with God, I soon come plummeting back down to the valley!

I was blessed two weeks ago to be able to not only visit all of my children and grandchildren, but to also attend a wonderful women’s conference with my daughter and my best friend! It doesn’t get better than that, right?

But that very night, as I called my husband back home to share what a wonderful experience the conference had been, he gently broke the news to me that I would soon have to stay alone by myself overnight at home.

When I use the term, “break it to me,“ I mean, break it to me gently. He knows my fear full well! He knows that I have struggled with it and have tried and tried to over come it. He was going to be gone at a pastors prayer conference, and I would have to stay overnight at home alone!

My first response was to frantically figure out any way I could get out of spending the night alone.

Could I make a trip back to Southern California? There must be a very good reason! Was there someone, anyone who could stay overnight with me? 

Was there anywhere I could go?

I panicked. Which is the first human response to fear! 

Basically, I did everything I could to run away from it.

But then something happened! God called me to run toward it not away from it.

He spoke very quietly and gently, but clearly, 

“You will not be alone, I will be with you!”

My testimony the next morning is that I stayed in it, I was calm and remained alone with God in a big two-story house with a lot of windows. My praise and glory to God that next morning was that THE FEAR DID NOT OVERTAKE ME!

My God was right there with me! I did not sleep well, it was at two hour intervals, and at 3:30 it took me quite a bit longer to fall back to sleep. But I was calm and I was at peace and my fear did not overtake me! I stayed in it with my God. I was not alone, He was right there with me.

I was tired and I was weary from it, but I felt RESILIENT!

TRUTH BOMB

RESILIENCE COMES WHEN WE PUSH THROUGH OUR FEARS!

The scripture God gave me and always sustains me me through my fears with is,

“God is LIGHT, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”    I John 1:5

I would have loved for God to have worked a miracle in my life and caused me to fall into a deep, deep sleep and wake up the next morning with the sun shining feeling fully refreshed. After all, I serve a God of miracles!

But, I also serve a God who loves me so very much that he wants me to be resilient!

There is no TESTimony, without a TEST. It is through the testing that we become RESILIENT!

Am I looking forward to the next time that I have to be alone? No! But I do know that my God will be right there with me!

And whatever fear you have to face, God will be right there with you too!

Speak Truth Love

I read the most incredible Bible verse today! You would think it was one I had never read before. It spoke to me with such clarity and truth! It felt like God was jumping off of the page and giving me a big warm and fuzzy hug!

Actually, I think He was!

It wasn’t the kind of hug where I felt His warmth cover me from head to toe and melt my body into His loving arms.

It wasn’t the kind of hug that picked me up ever so gently, wrapped a warm blanket around me and sat me down in front of a warm fire! As much as I love that kind of hug.

No, it was a firm and solid hug that enveloped me in His Truth and Assurance and filled my tired soul with RESILIENCE!

The first verses I read were 14 and 15 from Psalm 91….

“Because he(in this case SHE), has set his/her love upon Me (Me is capitalized here emphasizing it is God), therefore I will deliver him/her…He/She shall call upon me, and I will answer him/her; I will be with him/her in trouble; I will deliver him/her and honor him/her.”

Psalm 91:14-15

I was always taught in literature to ask what the “therefore” is “there for?”

As I read the scripture this morning, I didn’t even need to ask what the “therefore” was “there for!”

I immediately felt God putting his arm around me, patting me on the back and encouraging me to continue being RESILIENT for His Name Sake, because He would answer me, be with me through my trouble, deliver me and honor me! Why, because I deserved it? Why, because of the great job I have done so far? Absolutely not! None of these reasons have anything at all to do with it! 

TRUTH BOMB

Only because I love God and have “set His love upon me,” will I have RESILIENCE!

It has nothing to do with me and EVERYTHING to do with Him!

I can not earn it, produce it or lose it.

I am RESILIENT in Christ Jesus my Lord because I LOVE Him! 

If you want to be more convinced of this Truth, read the entirety of Psalm 91.

It will wrap you in Truth like a waterproof jacket that protects and propels anything that comes against you from penetrating you and causing you harm. 

It will assure you of His love and care for you, His angels guarding and protecting you and His deliverance and honor of you.

It will increase and strengthen your RESILIENCE to stand strong!

Give your love wholly and completely to Him my friends! He will do the rest!

Speak Truth Love

This is only the second week of January and I have seen posts all over social media making light of trying, but already giving up on those “infamous” New Year’s Resolutions!

You did not see a post form me… 

Not because I am succeeding at mine, but because I just flat out don’t make them! 

I have tried and failed so many times that I have learned a vital life lesson.

I am weak and so very fallible!

One year I remember making a New Year’s Resolution to stick to a new diet!

The diet was called, ‘The Hard Boiled Egg and Hot Dog Diet.’  If you are around my age, you may be groaning with me as you read this, because you remember the popularity of it.

If you are younger than I am you are probably laughing at the title of the diet, let alone the thought of such a ridiculous diet plan! 

RIDICULOUS is the right word! You were supposed to eat nothing but hard boiled eggs the first day, then nothing but hotdogs the second day, and then you switched back-and-forth, back-and-forth, back-and-forth. No denying you would lose weight considering you would be eating nothing else but hard boiled eggs and hot dogs, and then you would get so sick of them you ended up eating nothing at all. Great way to lose weight, but not a good way to sustain weight loss or be healthy!

Needless to say…oh I failed miserably! I literally got so sick on the hard boiled eggs day one, that I never even made it to Day Two! My ultimate New Year’s Eve Resolution Fail!

*Side Note: I did not eat hard boiled eggs for years and years after that. To this day I still much prefer scrambled or poached!

That New Year’s Resolution was an EPIC fail. However, I have had resolution fails over and over and over again. They all stem from the same problem….. ME.

I am weak and I fail!

I need an unfailing God to make me strong and RESILIENT!

Without Him I am weak. With Him I am strong.

Resilience is created when God takes a painful, difficult circumstance, not only heals it, but makes us stronger than we were before it!

Isaiah the prophet puts it like this;

“The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths fall faint and become weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:28-31

One of my favorite Bible Commentaries puts it this way;

“God never suffers setbacks, and He helps those who do!”

I love the accurate and succinct way that that sentence puts it. Such Truth spoken short and sweet!

WE FAIL, WE ARE WEAK, WE FACE TRIALS, TRIBULATIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ARE NOT JUST OR FAIR!

However, if we give them to God, truly release them completely and give them to God, then He takes our painful circumstances, heals us and makes us stronger than ever! 

TRUTH BOMB

It is not the absence of the pain that makes us strong, it is in the releasing of it to God who heals us and makes us stronger than ever!

That’s RESILIENCE my friends.

God wants that for all of us!

Speak Truth Love

Friends, I am going to start out my first blog of 2023 asking for forgiveness! You may have noticed last week, or you may have not noticed, depending on your week after Christmas climate, but I took a pause, actually a much needed re-set for my weary soul. I did not write my blog last week.

Some people book a flight to Hawaii or lay on a beach in the Bahamas.

Not me! My soul if refreshed, recharged and reset when I spend quality time with My People!

The ones who could care less what I look like in the morning, who ask nothing of me, but allow me to love them my way! The ones who don’t second guess my actions or motives, but always give me the benefit of the doubt. The Ones who love to move and have fun like I do, and eat healthy at every meal so we can indulge in baked goodies! The Ones who care when I am down and hurting and do everything in their power to bring me back up! The Ones who buy me the perfect gifts every time because they know me so well! The Ones who eat “healthy“ popcorn with me at night and laugh in all the same places as I do in the movies we watch together! They are the Ones who love me dearly and defend me fiercely all the time when we are together and when we are apart. They are My People, my husband, my children and my grandchildren. They are my gifts from God, my priceless treasures. I do not deserve them, but I thank God and praise Him for them!

When I am with them my heart and spirit is filled to overflowing! My soul is refreshed and re-set and best of all I am re-focused on God and His purposes! 

They do not coddle me, they love me hard, they hold me accountable and they accept me for who God has made me to be!

I am loved, accepted and challenged by each and every one of them! They are My people.

So, please forgive me for not writing a blog last week, but the week after every Christmas, is a week I treasure to restore from the past year, and get reset in my spirit for the year to come! It is not easy for My People, who are committed and busy, to carve out a week of time to spend together. But after Christmas is over, our family has an opportunity to sacrifice a week of time to spend together. I could truly not receive a greater gift!

Jesus had His people too. He got away with them when He needed to refresh, reset and recharge!

“Then Jesus said, Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.”  Mark 6:31

“Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain to be alone.”  Mark 9:2

TRUTH BOMB

RESILIENCE COMES WHEN WE RECHARGE WITH JESUS!

If Jesus needed times to refresh, restart and recharge, then who am I to think that I don’t?

Jesus loved all people and he lived and most importantly, died for all people! But He still had “His people,” those closest to Him, who allowed Him the refreshing that His spirit needed to keep going.

This has been a very hard lesson for me to learn! But one that I feel God has been impressing upon my heart for a very long time. I do not like to place limitations on my self. But the truth of it is… I have many limitations!

My favorite scripture says it all…

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  Philippians 4:13

I have quoted this verse over and over for many years! It is become my mantra! But I misuse it when I think it is in my own strength that I keep going! It is only in the strength of Christ Jesus my Lord that I am able to accomplish anything at all.

I am strongest of all when I am relying on His strength!

This past year of 2022 was a rough one! God got my attention and caused me to pause during the last week of it, focus on Him, refresh and recharge with “My people”, and reset my focus for this new year of 2023!

I’m ready! I have asked Him to show me The focus he wants me to take in 2023! I believe He has given it to me.

RESILIENT IS MY WORD AND PUSHING FORWARD TRIUMPHANTLY WITH HIM AS MY STRENGTH IS MY FOCUS!

Will you join me starting next week on my BLOG for a series on resilience? I can’t wait!

I do not know what your year of 2022 was like. But I do know that God wants you to excel in resilience in 2023!

Let’s do it together!

Speak Truth Love 

It’s only five days until Christmas! 

Are you frazzled, tired, weary, or worse, do you feel alone?

The good news of Christmas is that you are never alone! We have IMMANUEL, God is with us!

What the prophet Isaiah predicted has come true!

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. And they will call Him, IMMANUEL, God with us.”  Isaiah 7:14

What a mind blowing promise it was to the Jewish people and to all of us!

To the Jewish people God was someone who was over them. He spoke to them through prophets and on mountain tops. Now, through Jesus Christ, God’s Son, He wouldn’t just be above us, He would be WITH us!

He would identify with us on every level. He would feel hunger like we do, he would feel pleasure like we do and he would feel pain like we do. Yet, the miraculous would remain, He is God, and now He is WITH us!

We have a Savior who came at Christmas time as a baby in a manger, who by His life on earth and His teachings showed us the way back to God!

We are never alone. God loved us so much He came to this earth to show us the way to live with Him forever!

TRUTH BOMB

AT CHRISTMAS WE CELEBRATE JESUS BEING WITH US!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Speak Truth Love

Today’s ADVENT focus is my favorite! Don’t get me wrong…they are all AMAZING and powerful. Each holds a very important and crucial aspect of the ADVENT of Jesus Christ.

None is more important than another as each carries out its own vital role in the anticipation of Jesus’ arrival.

But today we talk about a young woman who has her entire life in front of her. As a young Jewish woman her life is just beginning. She has been promised, engaged to a young Jewish man, Joseph. Her dreams of being chosen and desired have come true. She is full of anticipation of a life filled with hope and promise.

Suddenly, that life is abruptly interrupted!  

“Gabriel appeared to her, (Mary), and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” 

Mary is going about her everyday life, planning and dreaming of her wedding day. She falls asleep after a full day of preparations to be awakened by an angel!

In the book of Luke, chapter 1 verse 29, it tells us that she was, “CONFUSED and DISTURBED.”  

Now that is an understatement if I’ve ever heard one!

I can think of a few more words to describe being awakened by an angel in the middle of the night…scared, freaked out, stunned…just to name a few!

The angel speaks words of comfort to her next and explains his visit.

“Don’t be afraid, Mary, the angel told her, for you have found favor with God.

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name Him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of The Most High.  The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David. And He will reign over Israel forever; His Kingdom will never end.”  Luke 1:30-33

Does any of this sound familiar to you? 

A visit from an angel.

A proclamation.

A miracle that only God could bring about.

Our friend Zechariah from last week’s ADVENT blog was also visited by an angel.

There are similarities between both announcements. Both did indeed receive a visit from an angel of God and both were also startled (Now this point seems obvious to me, they were woken up in the middle of the night by a heavenly being, but it is a similarity nonetheless)! Both were commanded to “Not be afraid,” and both were told they would have a son.They both also knew that this would be humanly impossible. It could only be accomplished by God!

The similarities are hard to miss. But it is the difference that makes this ADVENT story my favorite!

When Zachariah is visited by the angel and told he would have a son he basically asks for proof.

When Mary is visited by an angel and told she would have a son she responds with FAITH,

“How will you do it?”  Luke 1:34

Mary believes and demonstrates her FAITH with a FAITH filled question!

She does not try to weasel her way out of it. She does not ask what this will cost her. She does not question the God she knows and loves, she simply asks, HOW?

This announcement would cost Mary every dream and plan she had made for her life.

The angel answers her and tells her that The Holy Spirit of God will come upon her and the power of The Most High God will overshadow her in Luke 1:35.

Mary’s response to the angels answer is one of the most profound statements of Faith;

“Mary responded, “I am The Lords’ servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”  Luke 1:38

TRUTH BOMB

MARY RESPONDED WITH FAITH INSTEAD OF FEAR!

The trajectory of her life is forever changed! Her future marriage and livelihood is in jeopardy. Her social standing and credibility are ruined! Yet her FAITH is strong and firm.

What is our RESPONSE to Christmas? When we know that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ arriving on earth as God’s own Son to save us from our sins, how do we respond?

I pray that this year I will respond with greater Faith. I will cease to be overwhelmed and overcome by stresses, situations and sadnesses, and I will instead embrace the anticipation of Jesus coming and of His return!

Speak Truth Love

Last week we defined ADVENT as the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.

We further defined the meaning of ADVENT as it applies to Christmas.

“The anticipation of Jesus’ birth at Christmas time and the preparation we do as Christ followers for His second coming.”

So, given all of these definitions, we know that the first part of what we are “anticipating,” is more of a preparation of our hearts to celebrate the amazing event that already occured over 2000 years ago.  However, the second part, Jesus’ return, we do not know the length of time before its’ occurrence.  This can make the anticipation difficult.

How do we wait when there is no end date?  How do we sustain our faith when time seems to be endless? How do we stay positive when the arrival feels out of reach?

We take our example from a righteous and blameless couple before God; Zechariah and Elizabeth. We encounter them up close and personal in Luke’s Gospel chapter 1, in the first 25 verses.

The scriptures tell us that this couple was “advanced in years,” and “had no child.” To be childless in ancient Judaism was seen as a sign of reproach or sin. This couple had endured many years of social shame and disappointment. To compound the struggle they were enduring, they also had been living with 400 years of silence from God!

For over 400 years, God had not spoken to His people through a prophet or any other way. Yet this couple served God faithfully while they anticipated God’s Savior for His people. What a beautiful example this couple lived!

So we ask, How do we wait when there is no end date? We live a life of righteous obedience to our God even as our years advance and our prayers have not yet come into completion! That’s how? Is it hard? You bet it is! But God gives us faithful examples to follow as we wait.

The amazing part of Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story is they were able to experience the long awaited anticipation of their lives. God spoke to Zechariah, ending His four hundred year silence, and told him that, even in their old age, he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son, and that son would grow up and be filled with The Holy Spirit.

“And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of The Most High, because you will prepare the way for The Lord.”  Luke 1:76

The long anticipation they had endured would come to a beautiful fulfillment. 

First through their son John, and then through God’s Son whom John would announce.

“You (John, my little son,) will tell His people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give LIGHT to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”  

Luke 1:77-79

TRUTH BOMB

ANTICIPATION CAN INCREASE OUR FAITH IF WE CONTINUE TO BE OBEDIENT TO GOD THROUGH IT!

What a wonderful way for God to break His silence and bring forth His Salvation plan for the world!

Let’s commit to be faithful to God as we anticipate His birth and second coming!

HE WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD!

Speak Truth Love