The Gift of Love

Featured ~ dailypicsforlife ~ 2 Comments

Today, I’m late finishing the Christmas Conversation series I started for the advent season of 2020.

The week before Christmas my husband and I were diagnosed with Covid-19, and with the phone call that relayed the positive test result, our celebration of Christmas and the end of the year took a turn down an unexpected path.

While we were thankful to have mild cases, I found the anxiety that comes with the presence of the virus and the fatigue which accompanies it was enough to keep me from finishing what I had started.

I also struggled with the impact that Covid-19 had on our Christmas plans. We missed it- entirely. All of our adult kids who were planning to be home had to redirect and celebrate elsewhere. Our loss of smell and taste kept us from enjoying even the simple pleasure of food and goodies thoughtfully left at the door. The headaches and congestion made it hard to concentrate on the basic disciplines of quiet time and prayer.

It was a time to rest in the grace of the greatest gift ever given-

The Gift of Love, the incarnate Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh- who came to dwell among us and for us!

And a time to know that nothing in this world has the power to cancel Christmas!

The Gift of Love has come, and Romans 8:35-39 was still true- nothing can separate me from the great and powerful love of Jesus Christ!

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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.

A week into 2021, I’m grateful to be safe and secure in the great love of Jesus Christ!

The troubles of 2020 have not disappeared with the calendar change, so I’ll close today with two PICs that I’m praying often.

I pray that in whatever you are facing, you will know that God is for you-

And I pray you’ll join me in loving others well this year by intentionally praying for their health and well-being.

Thank you Lord Jesus for loving me enough to come so that I could know how much God loves me and is for me. In 2021, root me securely in your great Gift of Love– in Jesus. Be alive in me as you dwell in me this year. Help me to face these times with courage and confidence in you. I want to love others well, showing that I am yours.

The Gift of Joy

Featured ~ dailypicsforlife ~ 3 Comments

As I’ve worked back through the study, Fight Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg, I have replanted the memory verses from each week in my heart and mind. Memorizing and praying God’s word is a powerful tool that always accomplishes good in those who are trained by it.

The most difficult passage to memorize has been Habakkuk 3:17-18, but the message God has planted in my heart and mind from it is quite powerful-

Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.

The word here is that even when circumstances are difficult and there is no evidence of fruit, God’s provision of joy is present because He himself is the reason we are glad. He is the one who has saved us. He is our strength. He leads us over the heights that seem insurmountable before us! Continue reading “The Gift of Joy” →

The Gift of Peace

Featured ~ dailypicsforlife ~ 4 Comments

Today as I asked God for help and direction to write about the second gift of Advent- PEACE, I took a few minutes to look back at a post I published on March 10, 2020- One Word is PEACE.

I read back over my words and was struck by how little changed over the course of the year-

Weather patterns brought suffering to many through an uncommon number of hurricanes and wildfires.

Even though I’ve spent more time at home, my to-do list is never complete, making rest a challenge.

Unexpected death and disease have uprooted families, leaving them with broken hearts in places they don’t recognize.

The election is over, but the country remains divided by hyper-partisan politics and strife.

A vaccine is right on the horizon, yet lockdowns and virus cases still bind people in fear and uncertainty. Everyone feels the anxiety of what a new normal will look like post-coronavirus.

Markets are up and then down- businesses and livelihoods marked and lost in ways that make restoration feel doubtful.

It seems PEACE slips further and further out of reach, especially if I add my dad’s dementia- it’s one thing the virus hasn’t slowed; he’s slipping away as days of quarantine lengthen, and if I allow my mind to dwell too long here, I become frantic and angry over this lost time we won’t get back.

What I wrote in March still rings true today- PEACE slips farther and farther out of reach if I continue to look for it in all the wrong places- circumstances, people, things, control, the absence of storm . . .

So as I did in March, I’m reminding myself of truth today- the second gift of Advent is PEACE. Jesus brought peace to this world when He came as the way for world-weary souls to be right with God.

In Jesus there is peace even in difficult circumstances.

His gift to me is peace.

So today, I will open The Gift of Peace by reminding myself of what I know is true-

He knows the way I take. (Job 23:10)
God is my help and keeper. (Psalm 121)
He keeps me in perfect peace as I keep my mind on Him. (Isaiah 26:3)
He is present, holding my hand through this day and ones to come. (Isaiah 41:10-14)
He knows what I need, and I can trust Him- He’s got this! (Matthew 6:25-33)
He has given me love, power, and a sound mind for living life in this world. (2 Timothy 1:7)
He invites me to pray about everything and to be thankful. (Philippians 4:6-7)

And today I will cultivate The Gift of Peace with some PREPLANTing for PEACE by following Paul’s instructions in Philippians 4:8-9, and I’ll put my mind on what is-

Pure
Right
Excellent
Praiseworthy
Lovely
Admirable
Noble
True

And the God of PEACE will be with me-

And you . . . because-

The One who has promised is faithful!
(Hebrews 10:23)

Today, will you join me and choose to encounter this uncertain world by trusting and rejoicing in The Gift of Peace we celebrate this Christmas- Jesus!

The Gift of Hope

Featured ~ dailypicsforlife ~ Leave a comment

During the first week of Advent, we celebrate the gift of HOPE. The prophets foretold of the Messiah who would come as the HOPE for God’s people-

In a previous post- One Word is HOPE, I wrote-

While the word HOPE seems to rest in the realm of the unseen, when present it actually prompts activity in the realm of the seen. HOPE is the fuel that prompts waiting, enduring, and continuing until an expectation comes to pass. When applied spiritually, HOPE results in obedience during the in-between of the promise given and the promise fulfilled.

I don’t often stop to think about how much our world today mirrors the world of the Bible, but when I do, I see that so much now is as it was then. We too are a people living in darkness. This year it’s come in the form of disease, uncertainty, and sometimes violent discord among people. As the calendar approaches the celebration of the first advent of Jesus, many long for his second advent- when He will come and make all things new. Suffering and death will be no more. Every tear will be wiped away.

As people who live in-between the Advent promises, we find common ground with the ancients- we are weary and in desperate need of HOPE. While we may be tempted to misplace our hope and look to a vaccine, a leader, a plan, or a resource to restore all that’s gone wrong, we need the reminder that our only HOPE is the gift of Jesus.

Scripture teaches us-

HOPE is in the name of Jesus! (Matthew 12:18-21)
Jesus is the HOPE that saves. (Romans 8:24-25)
HOPE in Jesus will not disappoint. (Romans 5:5)
This HOPE is an anchor that keeps us secure. (Hebrews 6:19)

Scripture calls us to be filled with HOPE-

As hope-filled people, we wait, we endure, and we continue with God, and our testimonies point to the living hope we have in Jesus.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of your salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-5