evermore

The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 121:7-8 ESV

Evermore.

That is the kind of God You are.

You are eternal, forever.
You were, will be and always will be, you guessed it, evermore!

Evermore,
You are for us.
Not in a flighty, come and go as You please fashion,
but evermore!
You are protecting us, loving us, guiding us, providing for us, healing us, loving up on us, cheering us on,
evermore,
into eternity,
from the moment we first breathed You in until we enter the forever
Home You have waiting for us.

Evermore.

Lord, help my faith love beyond my awestruck wonder to deeply make the truth of who You are sink into the deepest levels within me.  I am delighted to know You are with me forever, that evermore is the Truth You are, and offer to Your beloved!

#wideeyedandmystified

God guards you from every evil, He guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, He guards you now, He guards you always.
-Psalm 121:7-8 MSG

image

Sunday Psalm: Your Love ran red into eternity

You did it.

You planned it all,
down to every single interaction from beginning to end.

You knew in the first Garden
that the second would come into play, leading You to the third & final garden.

In the first, we broke Your heart.
In the second, You bent the knee.
In the third, You broke the chains.

Eden,
Gethsemene,
Golgatha.

The fragile EGG over time You knew would need to be cracked
broken before it could be restored.

You did it.

Beyond our full understanding,
You rose from the grave
You lay in after the beating of the cross.
You rose to the fullness of life.

For You are the Living Word.
What You speak, comes to pass!
What You break, only You can rebuild.
What You love, is loved forever.

When You revealed Yourself to Mary, You lifted her to see Your face.
When You revealed Yourself to Peter, John & Thomas, You let them touch You.

Whenever You reveal Yourself, hope enters the room or situation.

Hear the bells ringing?
They are singing You have risen from the dead!

And You have not stopped bringing the dead to life ever since!

Your Love could not be contained by the earth or the enemy.

The love that ran red
ran deeper than any could know.

It ran right into eternity!

image

#snapshotsalongtheWay
#HeisRisen

Reason #3 to Give Thanks: Because He Cares

Today, I was ready for a day to myself. To worship, soak in the tub, do an online course and a bunch of writing.

God interrupted my plans with two kids unexpectedly home under foot, a phone prob, and updates to project work…not the day I had expected to have on my day off this week.

Yet somehow, as I intentionally made time to spend in the Word throughout the day as I could, I could sense God with me in a different way than usual.

By purposefully making space for Him to move in, He showed up with a calming peace I wasn’t expecting.

I am learning that His Presence with me all the time is awesome, but its more than just knowing I am not alone.

God thinks I am awesome, and continues to pour out the wild & passionate love of a fiance to me.

When my hubby and I were first dating, we spent our first summer apart. I was at sleepover camp up north, he was on a summer mission trip through the Maritimes. He wrote me every single day. (I wrote one long letter every week, coz I could only post once a week). Whether a post card, a mushy card, a cheesy card or a letter, he poured out his heart for me…and helped me fall even deeper in love despite the distance.

God is love. He didn’t need us. But he wanted us. And that is the most amazing thing. 

 ~ Rick Warren

God has done the same for us.
Not only did He die for us, He wrote the best love letter in history for us to catch His heart for each one of us.

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.  ~ Augustine

And that love, that amazingly astonishly awesome passionate breathtaking deep pure abandon He sends our way, is worth thanking Him for every moment of every day, and on into eternity!

 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the LOVE of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great LOVE with which he LOVED us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ; by grace you have been saved…

Ephesians 2:4-5

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his LOVE; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast LOVE and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:15

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast LOVE with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations…

Deuteronomy 7:9

Psalm 136 repeats the chorus after every line of thanks or praise for who God is: “His love endures forever!”

I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

Jeremiah 29:11

Knowing the God of the universe loves ME? Back then, right now and for all eternity? Cares about me? Wants to bless me with good things? Is always with me?

Anytime now becomes the right time to give thanks!

image

freebird

lifted hands
raised in adoration
humble heart
bowing down in praise
joining the forever chorus
of One body
worldwide
One heart beating
to the rhythm
of Your Love
One mind united
in devotion
to the Son
as we are
intertwined with
One Spirit
in the love dance
of the ages

the more I lay me down
and lift You up
the freer I become
both able to soar high
and stay close
to Your Presence
as I align my will
to Yours
so Your Kingdom
can reign in me
and receive
all the Glory
Honour
Praise
Worship
Adoration
You are due
for ever and ever
Amen

image

Image from:
http://wallpapers.pupazzo.org/animals/Soaring%20Free_%20Bald%20Eagle_%20Alaska.jpg

get back

A chorus of a famous Beatles song just flashed through my head a moment ago as I lay down on my sofa to ease my back.

Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.

Most of us would give almost anything to get back to a part of our past we would rather not have experienced.

But God’s plan is even greater.

He wants us to get back to Eden.
He wants to restore us all to His design, so He sent Jesus to clear the way for us.

Wherever you have headed, HP’s is waiting to bring us back.

Back to communion with Him.
Back to where we were meant to be, wrapped in His Presence in an embrace that can carry us through this hard life, all the way into the Eden of eternity that awaits us.

I dunno about you, but I am tired of looking back at my past.

I am choosing instead to Ru. hard after God, and get back to Eden.

The best part of Eden is not the garden, or even creation…but the One who walked with Adam & Eve in it, who waits to walk along us today.

As the song lyric said, get back to where you once belonged.
We were designed for Eden.

Its time to make our way Home.

image

when the beauty fades

Over time, almost everything loses its luster. Rust spots, fraying strings, parts breaking down, wrinkles and age spots begin to appear…and what we think of beauty begins to fade.

There are two exceptions.

Although our bodies may age, begin to falter and decay, our spirit or soul does not.

It grows richer and deeper as it is cared for over the years. Faith, wisdom and experience are banked up and gain much with the passing of time.

Some of the wisest people I know don’t look like much to the eyes. Unassuming, they pour their resources into others’ lives – for they know their legacy is not in money, property or stuff, but in those they can help, train and bless along the way.

What makes them so noticeable is the character that shines through. When they smile, ponder the words they share before speaking, listen without judgment, they prove their value to be more than gold, more priceless than jewels.

When they spend time with the Eternal One, whose bloom will NEVER EVER fade…they in turn radiate Him.

And that glow is more attractive than the other packaging that houses it.

The more I spend time getting to know God, the more attractive, glorious, mighty, holy, awe inspiring and loving He becomes…

and the more I want to spend more time with Him. The one who never changes. Ever.

So if you are seeing new crinkle lines by your eyes, a few hairs that have migrated from their origins, and your skin has lost some of its youthful glow, draw closer to True Beauty.

Being changed from the inside out last forever.

I would rather glow for eternity than worry about aging while I am here on earth.

Each day I celebrate I get to live another day here, and i have another day to get to know God better before we meet face to face.

image

cry

My soul chose that moment to do something it hadn’t done in longer ago than I could remember. It began to cry.

#TheMercifulScar

I am not known as a crier.
In fact, I am mostly cheerful and pleasant to be around.

But every so often, when I have let my emotions and stresses build up for too long, I find myself close to tears.

Sometimes I give in to them, and I have a good cry. And I tend to feel a bit better afterwards by releasing my emotion through those tears.

Occasionally, I have a hard awful gut wrenching wail, usually with an unexpected passing of a loved one.

What does God think of tears? Specifically, my tears?

You would figure that busy as He is, there might be more important things on His mind…until one reads this verse:

Psalm 56:8 (MSG) You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.

image
(Image by:Republic of You-Tears & Fragility, Pinterest)

Really, God? You know each night we/i have had a hard time sleeping? You make a note for each tear we/i cry, each pain we/i endure?

Wow.

God truly is involved aware of every aspect of our lives.

But He waits for you, and me, to invite Him to converse with Him…about anything and everything.

The Bible is full of people who brought their concerns to God- fear of bring murdered, barren. Those who felt alone, deep loss, intense pain or in bondage. Needing healing, hungry, even to pay their taxes.

God met them in those conversations.

He already knows what is going on, in fact God really knows everything, including intentions.

He knows your husband just broke your heart.

He gets that money is getting really tight, because you are still waiting for work, or more work.

He understands when you feel like you can’t take anymore.

He sees when you are sobbing because you suddenly just lost the person who most got you on earth, and you didn’t make the time to tell them how much you loved and appreciated them before they passed.

Each aspect of our lives has value to God.

Because HE values US.

There is nothing you can do that will make Him stop loving you. He may not like your behavior, but He will ALWAYS love you.

Jesus died for you, out of forever love.

He wants to spend eternity WITH us.

Wow.

And the Bible also says in Revelation 21:3-4:
I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.”

There are good times coming.

Try to keep that promise in mind next time you have a cry in the moment.

It is just a moment, or a few strung together compared to the eternity awaiting us.

That thought is almost overwhelming enough to make me cry…