Category Archives: Blessings

Blessed are the eyes that truly see…

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On New Year’s Eve we had dinner with our family.  I love going around the table and giving everyone a chance to give thanks for something from the year.

As always when it was my turn, my eyes welled up with tears, my throat became tight and my sweet girls lovingly said, “There she goes again… Mommy’s going to cry.”  We all started laughing and as I was wiping away my tears and getting ready to speak, my sweet husband quietly spoke and said, “Sarah is thankful for the wind as it blows through the trees, a leaf that falls in her path, a bird that soars past our kitchen window, a caterpillar she finds in the backyard… she is thankful for everything.”

Sweet Lord, I love the little reminders You place in our paths.  My sweet love truly sees me more than I realize and in that moment I felt so deeply understood and loved.  Oh my Lord… I am so blessed that he is mine, I am his and we are Yours!

Thank You, thank You, thank You… in every moment and in everything – Thank You sweet Jesus!

Opposites

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I was talking with my daughter the other night before bed and she brought up heaven and hell.  She wondered why God would send anyone to hell?  It is such a simple question, and yet so deep that it has been debated by the greatest of minds.

It’s so interesting to me that in heaven there are no opposites.  The opposites of heaven exist only in hell.  For example, in heaven there is love, and the only way to describe the opposite of love in heaven is to say, “the absence of love”, because in heaven there is no word for hatred since it doesn’t exist there.

We live in a world where opposites co-exist, and yet our true home is in a world where opposites don’t exist.

I don’t think God sends anyone to hell, but it is almost as if heaven can’t hold us while we still contain the opposites of heaven within ourselves.  Maybe it is the great weight of these opposites within that cause us to fall from heaven as Lucifer did so long ago.  Maybe as we release them to Jesus we become light…

  • Free of physical weight
  • Electromagnetic radiation – some of which (waves within a certain portion of the spectrum) make things visible

And once we have become light (in both definitions) – there is no place that can hold us but heaven.

Oh my Love, my Lord, my sweet Jesus – the mysteries you have buried around every corner amaze me, excite me and fill me with great joy as I stumble upon them time and time again.

Faithful in the little things

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“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Luke 16:10

When I think of being faithful in the little things, I am reminded of “The Little Way” of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.  I am reminded of the image of seeking holiness of life in the ordinary and the everyday.

Recently I have been trying to be faithful in the little things by acknowledging that He is guiding me, directing me and teaching me through the little moments of my everyday.  As music plays in the background of my day and a specific song catches my attention, I acknowledge that He chose this song for me in this specific moment  and I thank Him and quietly listen for His message.  When my soul is pricked by a moment that has passed or something that has been said, I immediately turn inward to thank Him and attempt to understand the lesson buried within.  These faithful little moments have been such a blessing to me as I find myself thinking of Him, turning towards Him, leaning on Him, loving Him more and more throughout my everyday life.

I pray to continue growing in faithfulness in very little things so that someday He will grant me the grace to be faithful in much!

Know thyself…

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I have been back in the gym for four years.  I have lovingly come to call my time spent there my worshipful workout.  Today as I was climbing my never ending imaginary mountain I realized that my workout has become even more, He has helped me turn this time into a time of self reflection, of self knowledge and confession as He so gently reminds me of my mistakes, failures and sprinkles in the few triumphs when I have truly let Him work through and in me.

Over the past few years I have climbed about 2500 miles on the elliptical at the gym, but the strides He has given me the grace to take down the path of knowing thyself are infinitely more meaningful.

Sweet Lord, as I dig deeper into knowing myself the demons within surround me… You alone are my refuge and I beg you to please let every sorrow filled tear that falls be full of pure and true contrition, and every joy filled tear that falls be full of pure and true praise and gratitude for You!

A sense of urgency

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Some times when I am thinking of Him, reading about Him, listening to a song that fills my soul with Him… I feel a sense of urgency – a deep need to tell others of the great and overwhelming sorrow we will feel when we arrive at the foot of His throne and realize how little we did if anything and how much more we should have done to praise Him with every breath, every action, every thought during this short life of ours.

Then the moment usually passes and I slip back into the world, but NOT TODAY my friends.  Today is different… today I said a little prayer when this feeling came over me and I asked Him to give me the words to share.  Sweet Lord, I pray that these words are not from me, but from Your Sweet Holy Spirit.

Let our lives be nothing but the echo of God.

Tuned in to Him

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A few weeks before Christmas a friend told me that she was praying that her son would develop a preference for Christian music over secular music.  The comment came and went so quickly that I didn’t have time to really think about it, but since that conversation it has been on my mind and I think we should pray that her son and all of us will tune in to Him, regardless of the specific music we prefer.   It we are tuned into Him we will hear Him in all music.  We will hear His message in what is said, and what is not said.  His message will come through everywhere, in all moments, quiet, loud, joyful, sorrowful, peaceful or crazy and in all moments a whispered Thank You Lord will boom louder than thunder at the foot of His throne.

Thank You Lord, Thank You Lord, Thank You Lord – please let my heart and lips never tire of saying Thank You Lord!

Mother of God

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Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Mother of God, Mother – of – God, Mother —- of —-  God… as you pray stop here for a moment and think about it, meditate on it, sit in the silent echo of these words and wonder…

I was awed into complete silence as I sat meditating on these words – Mother of God

Not lost for just a moment…

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So often we are looking to work, to complete a check-list, to please, to earn acceptance, to earn approval, to earn our way, lost in our actions and He is always there whispering…

“You don’t have to do a thing,
Simply be with me and let those things go
They can wait another minute
Wait this moment is too sweet
Please stay here with Me
And love on me a little longer
‘Cause I’m in love with you”

Thank you Bethel Music!  Your song, A Little Longer, pierces my heart with the reminder to just be with Him, lost in His word, lost in His attention, lost in His love, and ironically when I do this… it is the one time in my life that I am NOT LOST for just a moment!

God’s Art

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In the last few years I have begun to develop an appreciation and love for visual art.  I was walking through a museum a few years ago when a light bulb suddenly went off in my head as I realized what billions before me already knew… each painting represented a moment in the life of a soul.  That day I saw that some had shared a moment of their pain, others had shared a moment of their joy, some shared a moment of their fear, and at least one had shared a moment of deep understanding, a moment when that soul dove into the infinity of their present moment and then translated it onto a canvas.

I cried that day as I walked through the museum feeling humbled and amazed by so many souls laid bare before me.

Tonight as I was reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, he wrote about God’s art throughout creation and interestingly enough I read about this a few weeks ago in Romans during a bible study.  Oh Lord please forgive my inability to quickly grasp what You are trying to tell me… tonight I think Your message finally broke through.

God has bared His soul before us… and oh how AMAZING it is!!!

What more is there to say other than – Thank You, thank You, thank You for the Grace to truly see Your Art, Your Heart, Your Soul!

Your shield of love

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It is so amazing to me that as we delve into a greater understanding and knowledge of another’s past slowly a shield of love is built around our hearts.  This is no ordinary shield, but seems to work in a very special way.

Any unkindness, anger, or hatred aimed at this shield by the other is transformed into love through understanding their past before being repelled back towards them, while any love or kindness given by the other is doubled as it freely passes and is returned back to them.

Sweet Lord please fill us with understanding, empathy, compassion and love for our neighbors so that we might be covered with Your Shield of Love!