forever

Sunday Psalm: in the depths

Karla LeesLeave a comment

In the depths
where we hide our hearts
the deep cries are made

In the heights
of Heaven
Your tears at our plight
were great

For You so loved us all
You decided to send
part of Yourself
to meet our need
with the gift of Your son
merged with our DNA

Such depth to Your love

That very same babe
free to be a Rabbi of renown
who spread Your Words of love
as He walked through our towns
speaking peace to our hearts
and life into our hidden places

No matter to You
was too large or too small
You touched each of us
with the greatest Love of all

Such depth to Your Love

Never ending
Your love will go on and on
Forever
Your heart will beat for me
Drawing me out
from where I’ve hidden away
into Your embrace
which restores each day

Such depth to Your Love!

#SundayPsalm

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evermore

Karla LeesLeave a comment

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

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unstoppable love which never ends

Karla LeesLeave a comment

I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable— absolutely nothing 
can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Romans 8:38-39 MSG

Nothing can separate us from. God’s love.

Ever.

Nothing.

I got a graphic glimpse of this revelation when I watched the movie The Passion of the Christ.

A love which didn’t let
pain,
sorrow,
temptation,
religion,
politics,
hard hearts,
abandonment,
betrayal
or misunderstandings
turn Him away from the path that lead Him to the cross.

A death which separated God from part of Himself, because He couldn’t stand being separated from US!

Think about that. God so loved us… part of His own family was put to death for our sin, because He couldn’t show us His love in any other way but the best- setting us free and taking back the keys to His kingdom. Demonstrating that love in a display so amazing and so powerful it ripped the separation between us forevermore!

Lavish love poured into a womb, poured out on the cross, then poured into our hearts for eternity…

What love!

We people tend to use the word love a lot in ways it was never designed for…. I love potato chips, I love that…

Love is not such an easily exchangeable word once you encounter His love.

Love comes with a price: being vulnerable before the one you love, and opening yourself up to the fact they may not love you in return.

This love God has for us? This love Jesus displayed for us? This love Holy Spirit stirs in our hearts?

God loves all of us, each and every one of us, whether we receive it or return it, always.

Imagine loving, and knowing who will love you in return.

How my heart aches knowing He loves every single person ever, died for each one, and knows that despite all His efforts to reach us with that love, some will ignore Him, brazenly break His heart with their actions and deliberate turning from Him.

No lover enjoys when someone turns away from you, changes their mind, cheats on you or abandons you.

No parent relishes the pain their kids go through when they refuse your help.

The weight of His love must be huge in its enormity, yet His love remains unstoppable in His pursuit of us all.

Once you decide to accept His love, there is nothing that can change His heart for you.

You become His, forever.

Nothing, ever, can change His love for you.

There is no place you can hide or run where His love won’t find you. He will have already run to greet you there with wide open arms.

If you are His, you will be loved by Him now and into eternity!

Once God decided humanity was in His plan, He never looked back from His love for us.

Take a moment today, and think over the cost of His love for you today.

Lent is a season of seeking Him, and historically giving up in order to see Him anew.

Give up your false belief that you are not worth His love this Lent.

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Love’s value is based on the depth of love in the heart of the giver, not the recipient.

Oh how He loves us!

You are His beloved, and He will never stop singing that love over you, showing it to you or pouring it into your heart for the rest of your life, and into the next!

#lavishlove
#hopeinHisPresence

soul custody

Karla LeesLeave a comment

Our souls were never designed to be in the tug of war battles we find ourselves in.

They were designed
to be pursued by One
and pursue only One.

And ever since that lie
in the Garden
where perfect oneness
had existed between man, woman & God
the enemy has continued
to speak poison to our souls

You are not worth it
God isn’t enough
no one loves you
why bother
give up
stop trying
you aren’t special

And we tie up our resources trying to soothe our souls from the effects of believing those lies:
overeating
undereating
addictions: sex, shopping, porn, alcohol, gambling, drugs

When we fail to get to the roots of what is growing in our souls, which is evident from the fruit we produce, the poison continues to mutate and grow stronger as it increases in strength.

Our souls were never meant to be soil for the enemy. We were not designed to be his playground.

We were meant for oh so much more.

God designed us to hear His voice, in response to a longing we may have difficulty putting into words, but exists regardless.

That deep down heart’s cry desire to be known.
But not just known:
Accepted.
Adored.
Appreciated.

We long to connect at the core of who we are to the One who created us with this God sized vacuum only He can fill.

When we settle for less than the best for our souls, they will go along for a while off road, but the road starts getting bumpier, muddier and further away from where we thought we should be.

Our soul cries out for sole custody in our Maker’s care.

The battle for our souls has been being wager since that lie was spoken, enticing Eve & Adam to want more than they already had.

What God had spoken of as not just good, but very good.

The same God who walked alongside them in the Garden wants to walk beside you.

Not only does He offer Himself as your escort, He offers to set you free from the lies and pain that affects your soul. He came not only to tell us He loved us, but show us just how much He does as well.

If you are showing the signs of an inner battle being waged, and are tired of fighting on your own, please know God is waiting for you to say the word.
Help.

And He will come, this Father who is longing to adopt us into His forever family, heal us, give us our freedom, and pour out His love into our battered, weary souls.

We were designed for sole custody.

Let Him be all He was meant to be for you: mind, body, spirit, soul.

Life as you know it will change, when your soul begins to become whole and find its resting place, its true home in Him.

The only holding up this custody battle is the child in question.

God has already won the ultimate battle, and the enemy knows it.

Don’t let him win.

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cry

Karla LeesLeave a comment

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.

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(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…