Memories..

So yesterday I was leaving church and it was great.  It was our kick-off of Saturday night service and I enjoyed myself so much.  Not only was it a great night, but I also knew we would be praying for a really close friend of mine later that night.  Things were going great and I also decided to sign up for this dinner thing the church is offering next Friday.  I looked into it and saw that I could register online and create an account and so I did.  Well as I am going through the pages, the site prompts me to pick the person I want to purchase the ticket for and there at the top of the page right above my name is my mom’s name.  The flow of emotions that ran through my body was weird, and I felt a little drop in my stomach.  It often puzzles me how fast time moves, especially after you lose someone you love so dearly.  On the 23rd of this May it will be 3 years since my mom passed and I sometimes hate how I have just moved on.  Don’t get me wrong I know life keeps going and my hope is in Heaven so I know she is more than fine with Jesus.  It is just the emotional roller coaster we put ourselves through.  I am in a different and much better place now than I was even a year ago and I am not going to allow my grievous feelings to run me away from God.  Nope, this time I am sitting in it with Christ by my side and let Him comfort me as He sees fit and hopefully pick me up when needed.  Memories are awesome for the most part and I have a lot of great memories of who my Mom was and what she did for people while she was here.  I again pray that my crown of life will reach as wide as hers.  She touched so many people and loved them in her special way.  Her love for Jesus was awesome and it was something I did not pay great attention to while she was alive, but she stayed in prayer..  I think she got into a car accident once because she  was praying at the light and forgot to hold onto the brake.  No one was hurt and it was a little fender bender, but still she felt the need to pray at that moment and she did.  There are so many memories we have of the good and bad times we have experienced with our loved ones, but since we know this life is but a vapor let us make memories of Joy.  Take the time this week to overuse the word Love and tell all those in your life How Much You LOVE Them!!  It is something we show a lot of times by our actions, but there is something in us that has wired us to want to hear the words and be followed with a Hug.  There are always going to be Ninja type of attacks in our life to remind us of those we have lost, but if we center our life in Christ when those attacks come and try to bury us, God will lift us up and grieve and rejoice with us.  Selah!!

For Granted

I cant believe how much for granted I take our Lord and Savior.  I have been reading quite a lot lately and when I hear the passion of the Jesus they talk about, I wonder.  Why is it that I cannot let myself fall in love that way with him.  I hear of people who pray on their knees, until the point of scarring.  They kneel and pray for their loved ones, for those that are lost and for the world.  I sit back and I worry about things that really are not that important, but get frustrated if a prayer isn’t answered right away.  We take God for granted so many times and never slow down to think He has whats best for us in mind.  You know what friends there are going to be hard things we struggle with and for the most part they are not going to disappear from your life.  It’s not that the prayers don’t work or that God doesn’t care, it is because there is a bigger purpose for your life.  That struggle is something you can bare and you need to allow God to carry the burden of it.  Just because someone carries something for you doesn’t mean you still cant see it.  Our struggles are apart of our brokenness, but they are also the reason for our redemption.  Jesus is more than a savior, He is the great re-constructor of our faith and our alter.  We have to stop bringing God to our struggles and hope that something will change.  When I place myself in a safe place and hope my struggles won’t find me there because I am busy or “hiding” guess what, they will find you.  It is not until we stop taking our God for granted and take our struggles, hearts and lives to Him that we are in His freedom.  I have learned that this life is hard and not fair, but  I have also learned that my hope is in Heaven and in a God who wants to consume me with all of His love and grace.  When the tough times come, we will respond like we are supposed to, however, in our grieving and repentance there will be something that others will want.  Please be warned that when you choose to draw nearer and more intimate with Jesus, the heat is turned ON!!!  Stop taking Him for granted, stop just praying when you go to bed or in your car.  Treat Him like you treat someone you are in love with and create time for Him.  Get on your knees and pray, pray in submission and in awe of a Mighty and Powerful and Loving God.  Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you with the gift of God’s mercy and grace and let your life be His.  We are spoiled in America and we limit Jesus with are entangled thoughts and actions.  When you see Jesus outside of America, you see the Jesus that was in the Bible, People who have nothing seem to have everything because they allow God to completely fill them and change their lives.  They may live in a dump, but smile everyday, even knowing they may not eat because they trust and know in a God that loves them and steps into their darkness.  Even in the face of evil, they allow God to love them and protect them.  They make commitments and vows of Faith and guess what they come true.  Its not because they know Jesus better than we do, it is because they do not take Him for Granted! Selah

Easter Poem

Good Friday, Better Sunday

We call the Friday he suffered good
When nothing good occurred
He suffered like no one ever should
All of his Holy rights deferred

Jesus hung, dying and nailed to a cross
Allowing all darkness to come and reside
From their eyes this was the ultimate loss
Even one of His strongest disciples chose to hide

He called out to His Father and said
Forgive them for they know not what they do
This was moments before His body would be dead
Moments before we would all be made new

In the end, He almost could not take any more
Pleading with God for Why has he been forsaken
With His last breathe the temple curtain tore
He was indeed the Messiah this could not be mistaken

On the Sunday which was the third day
Jesus had risen and No he cannot die again
He was the Messiah, so dead he could not stay
This new covenant means the Lion of Judah will reign

Oh what a happy and better day Sunday was
For my cross I will never have to bare
The feeling of Satan’s unclenching claws
Causes me to surrender as I say the Lord’s Prayer.

Amen.