… But God will not take away a life; he will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from His presence.
2 Samuel 14:14
I read this today and was filled with gratitude and thanksgiving that He is in charge, the master plans are His! I love that He changes them, adding and devising new plans with new paths to bring us home into His presence.
Thank You sweet Father for leading us home!
He who does not know TIME – came up with the idea for TIME. This alone should awe us into silence and yet there is so much more.
He designed an amazingly wonderful plan for creating soul filled beings that could learn, change and grow within TIME. It is in these few moments that we have here on this earth that we have an opportunity to grow. Watching as we learn, change and grow, greatly pleases Him. We amaze Him as we strive for and grow in Holiness, and we bring Him great sorrow when we don’t, yet He is always cheering us on, giving us many more chances and opportunities to grow by giving us TIME.
When the final bell tolls on our life, our opportunities for change and growth end too. It is this final state of our soul that is grafted into His infinite, eternal moment, and determines the depth of joy and pleasure we will be able to hold as we dig deep and explore His infinite love and goodness.
Oh my sweet Lord – please let the rest of my life be a prayer for all of my brothers and sisters to fully surrender to Your Holy Will so we may all grow in love and holiness as we journey through TIME. Please teach me how to be Your gardener!
John 9:4
As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
Have you ever been flipping through the channels and come across the end of a preacher’s sermon as he asks you to accept Jesus into your life?
When I was little I was in the kitchen eating a snack and a preacher was on our TV. I started watching and became quite engrossed in the show. At the end he asked everyone who truly believed to stand up and say it. I stood up right there in the kitchen and said it. I was little, but I truly believed it in my heart.
Am I saved, am I filled with the Holy Spirit? Many would say yes you are saved and this is all that must be done, but in the many years since this incident I fallen over and over again. I have let false gods dominate my life many times, even now. I have wandered far from God to the point that I have completely forgotten about Him for long periods of my life.
Yet through all of this, I have come full circle and again believe the answer to this is a resounding Yes! I have strayed far, but looking back I see that Jesus has brought me back. I have fallen, but looking back I see that Jesus has picked me up. I have sinned and still sin often, but so gently Jesus shows me my sin helps me to see how it is an assault against Him, a thorn in His head, a slash on His body and a nail in His hand, and I know any desire to repent and change is inspired by Him for me.
For almost 3 years I have been asking you to say, live and believe “It is our best life” with full faith that if we do this then it will be!
I am now asking you again with full faith to literally say (Out Loud)
Dear God I know I’m a sinner and I want Your forgiveness!
I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins.
Please wash me clean from all sin, shame, and guilt.
Jesus come into my life to be my Lord and Savior.
I ask this in your name Jesus.
Amen!
If you pray this prayer or another prayer of surrender from your heart then I believe it is not the end of your story resulting in an immediate and easy road to your salvation, but instead the beginning of your part, your role to be played, within God’s great story in The Book of Life with Jesus as your Lord, your Savior, your Friend, your Beloved!
Say it out loud my friends! We can’t even imagine the awesome power that our God has entrusted us with even before we decide to follow Him.
I have forever struggled with how God selected the names within The Book of Life. Why would my name be written instead of anyone else’s name, how could He choose one child over another? As I have written this blog, I think I am finally starting to understand!
He has given us the power to add our names to The Book of Life. Through a prayer of surrender, we surrender our individual stories that we have been writing and we add our names to His book so He can begin writing our stories within the grand story of His Book, The Book of Life!
I started praying a new prayer for my girls a few months ago.
Dear Lord, please let them be holy. Protect them from my sins, vices and falls and guide them home with Your Holy Light keeping them pure and white and making them holy.
Guess what, since beginning this prayer He is changing me again! I have fallen in love with Our Blessed Mother, Saint Mary. I was drawn to a book about her and now I long to pray to her, I look to her as a guide, a mentor and as the perfect example of mothering.
I didn’t tie these two events together at first, but as I think more about it I believe they are connected. How could I, a person loaded down with baggage filled with selfishness, greed, unkindness, and sin ever hope to raise children who are holy?!?! Alone in my greed, selfishness, and ever growing pile of wrong doings, it would not be possible, but with God leading the way anything is possible.
Thank You My Love for opening my eyes once more to one of Your Own Beloved, Your Queen, who so desperately wants to show us the Way, Your Way, Yahweh.
In Mark 11:24 Jesus says
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
I love this statement in the Bible. It has been very close to my heart for a long time and it is one of the reasons I so strongly (and selfishly) believed and prayed for My Best Life for so long and this statement again held true when I began believing and praying for Our Best Life.
I am starting to find it very interesting that the more we believe and the more faith we have, the less we ask for in prayer. Jesus knew about this beautiful change that happens within our hearts when we believe and He buried this wonderful secret deep within His statement for us to find as our faith and belief increase.
Lord please help me to remember every day, every hour, and every minute to believe and to have faith in Your Will so that my prayers of request decrease and my prayers of love, thanksgiving and gratitude increase despite the weather within my life.
Lord thank You for Your Divine Will… it is full of love and goodness for EVERYONE.
Please let this be my prayer…
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, my Love.
Since I first thought, prayed and wrote about Our Best Life, I have changed, I am different… I think I am becoming new. I have told friends that I don’t know why this change has come about, but I am starting to realize that I do know why… it is because of Him, and only Him.
When I first starting praying for Our Best Life, someone very close to me was going through two very difficult and life changing events. Her suffering and pain finally opened my eyes to my own selfishness and allowed me to step outside of myself for a moment and begin thinking of and praying for others by praying for Our Best Life.
This changed my direction, but He in His infinite humility still didn’t step in until I invited Him in through a prayer to be the seed that has been sown on good soil.
He heard my prayer and came running to help me. Regardless of how much work there is to do in me, He pushed up His sleeves and began working to make me new! Anything kind, loving, patient, thoughtful, considerate, generous that I do is because of Him… it is NOT me! There is still so much to be done, but He is here and my thoughts run to Him as I talk with my husband and my children, work on homework and play with my children, read, listen to music, wash dishes, fold and iron clothes, clean our home, make our dinner and even while kneeling on the floor a few weeks ago to clean up my daughters vomit.
Thank You My Love for being here with me… I do not just need You, I desire You from the depths of my heart.
I spoke with a friend today whose family was recently rocked by some very difficult news. She told me that when the Doctor delivered the news she said, “Life as you know it will never be the same.”
I have been thinking a lot about this tonight. A short 24 hours earlier, Jesus and His best friends were sharing a meal, then everything changed in a moment and life was never the same. Just one day after the death of their Friend, their God, Jesus; shock, fear, grief and anxiety still ruled and the disciples could not yet accept that, Life as they knew it would never be the same. They did not yet know the secret that even from a change in their lives this terrible, this earth shattering, something GOOD would come and Life as they knew it would never be the same!
Life will never be the same… still grieving but now slowly understanding and accepting the change and the magnitude of Your gift. Thank You and I love You so much Jesus!