I Create

Isaiah 65:17-25



Look and see, I am going to create a new Heaven and a new Earth.
The former things will not be remembered nor come into your mind.

You will be glad and rejoice in what I create.
Weeping and crying will no longer be heard.
No longer will there be an infant who lives for only a few days.

They will build houses and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They will not labor in vain.
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of my people.

Before they call, I will answer.
While they are speaking, I will hear.

The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
They will do no harm in all my holy mountain.

Workmanship

"For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and it doesn't come from yourself.
It is the gift of God.
It is not the result of your good works,
lest anyone should boast.

For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand so we would walk in them."

Ephesians 2:8-10

If someone buys a beautiful house, unless he was its architect, and builder, he knows he had nothing to do with its creation. He didn't design the intricate moulding around the doors. He didn't lay the foundation or tile the roof. He received the house the way it was made and was happy about the workmanship.

So it is with our lives. When we give ourselves to God, he becomes the builder and architect. He is the one who makes our heart good, who changes our thoughts and leads us on our way. We cannot boast, for we have done nothing. We can only thank God for working on us - for as the Bible says, "We are his workmanship."

Knowing God

"And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:3


Knowing God and Jesus - this is eternal life. For if you know them, you begin to see the real meaning of life: Love.

Not love as the world sees it, but as they see it. Love for all people and all living things. Love in every circumstance. Love that comes from them, enters into you and then moves out to others. Pure, true love that takes a lifetime to learn and a lifetime to live.


"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous. Love does not brag, is not arrogant, does not act badly nor seek it's own way. Love is not easily provoked and does not take into account a wrong suffered. Love does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"I Am With You Always."

About 10 years ago my husband was at the hospital having a test done when something went wrong. The doctor had punctured something and my husband had to be admitted into the hospital to be watched. One morning I came to see him and began to talk to him.

He looked at me and asked, "Who are you?"

I went out into the hallway and started crying. A nurse came running and asked me what was wrong.

"My husband doesn't even know who I am," I replied.

She ran in his room, paged someone and soon his room was filled with doctors. One of them came out to me and told me they were going to put two tubes in my husband's side. If bile came out, he would be alright. If blood came out, they would go immediately to surgery and the outlook could be grim.

Thank God, it was bile and he was home in 10 days. But what was interesting was that even though my husband didn't know where he was, who I was or even who he was, he said he remembered God and Jesus. He knew they were with him so he didn't feel afraid.

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:38-39

The Vine

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, neither can you unless you abide in me."

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing."

John 15:4,5

My mother's friend (I'll call her Laura) lives in a nursing home. She is a Christian too, and they often pray togeter. One day my mother got a call from Laura, who was frantic and crying. She begged my mom to come and see her.

It turned out a nurse's aide had insisted on putting some salve on Laura's open wound. Laura had told her it was the wrong salve and that it would cause her pain. The aide didn't listen and slathered it on anyway. The pain was intense and that is why she called my mother.

Laura asked my mom to pray with her, and as they prayed Laura told God she forgave the aide and then prayed for her. After prayer, Laura felt better and not ten minutes later the nurse's aide came into the room and apologized. She admitted she had made a mistake and was sorry.

Forgiveness is a great gift from God. Without this gift we would be full of anger, hurt feelings and even revenge. Thank God for forgiveness.

But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."
Luke 23:34

Life's Lessons

My granddaughter Cherish took a year off after graduating from high school. She worked for six months and saved her money for a trip to Europe with friends.



When she returned, I asked her what she had learned from her travels. She gave me an answer I wasn't expecting.

"I learned patience," she replied.

"Patience?" I said. "What do you mean?"



"You know how I love my alone time, Grandma. And I didn't get any for three whole months. I've never been with my friends or anyone else for 24/7 and so I've had to learn to have patience with people."



What a wonderful gift from God to learn when she is only eighteen.


James 1 "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience."

John 3

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.


This is the judgement, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
Why have you become distubed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him.
For the help of his presence. Psalm 42:5

My mother was praying with me yesterday about something I was feeling sad about. We were sitting facing each other and holding hands. As we prayed, we both began crying and I felt her tears fall on my feet. I remembered the tears of Mary on the feet of Jesus. Sometimes tears can be a beautiful thing to be remembered forever.


The Lord will wipe tears away from all faces.
And he will remove the reproach of his people
From all the earth. Isa. 25:8


And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Rev.7:17

Isaiah 40

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
And marked off the heavens by the span,
And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?

To whom whould you liken me
That I would be his equal? says the Holy One.




Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these,
The One who leads forth their host by number,





He calls them all by name,
Because of the greatness of his might
And the strength of his power,
Not one of them is missing.

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?



I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the
Lord
In the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.


One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek;
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to meditate in His temple

Thanks

Sandy and Christine.

Remember I had been praying earlier for money for Christine? Well, she got a check for $1,800 today from the mortgage people because they had made a mistake. I am so happy for her. This will help for a couple of months while she takes a course in Medical Transcription. She wants to work from home. Thank you God.

Come to Me.

While doing some work in the back yard, I saw a small bird hopping around in the bushes. I could see it was hurt and so I decided to save it. I slowly crept towards it, but of course it was afraid of me and hopped deeper into the shrubs. I bent down low and called softly to it, but it kept running from me until it went through the fence into the neighbor's yard.

All my intentions had been loving. I only wanted to help the little bird, but it didn't understand. I knew it would eventually die.

I thought about God at that moment, how he chases us and calls to us in order to save our lives. Yet few trust him enough to stop, listen and let him heal us. His intentions are all loving, if only we could believe that.

"The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost." Revelation 22:17

Prayer

Prayer can be tricky. I was praying for something today that I want so much. But as I was praying I wondered, "Do I want this if God doesn't think it is best?" After 40 years of being a Christian I know I do not. Even if I think something will be good for everyone, I know I can be wrong. God has shown me that.

What I have been asking God is to give money (somehow) to my daughter Christine so she won't have to go back to work. Her family needs her home and she needs to be home for her own reasons, but the economy in North America is such that both parents need to work.

I also know that when Christine has a job she is a huge help to people. She has helped people die in peace in place of fear. She has brought joy to those who are bored and suffering. She lights up any room she enters. She is a nurse.

I know God has used her in the past and he may want to use her again. She will only have to work part time. But she is my child and I don't want her to be so harried and overburdened by life. Because when a woman works she still has to clean the house, cook dinner and make the kids happy. There is homework, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, driving the kids around, and doctor and dental appointments.

I just want my daughter to have some peace for awhile. So, what if God says no. I have to accept the fact he has a better plan, and maybe a harder plan for Christine. After all, life is pretty hard for everyone. It's just that to me Christine isn't "everyone."

The Toughest Love of All

Nearing sunset one day, I was sitting on a bench at the pond close to my house watching the birds. A mommy duck was paddling towards the shore with her brood behind her. Midway, one of the ducklings broke out of formation and turned to go the opposite direction.

After taking the remaining ducklings to shore, she turned around to get her prodigal son. Quacking ferociously, she flew up a bit and came down with a huge splash right on top of the wanderer . She quacked some more, but the duckling kept paddling the wrong way. She jumped on him again and then again. I thought the baby might drown, but he kept resurfacing. Finally, having learned his lesson, he followed his mom to shore.

I know a man, I'll call him Carl, who became a Christian while in prison. A young inmate had ratted on some people and Carl heard that three fellow inmates were going to beat him up and perhaps kill him. Carl told one of the guards that they had better move the young guy to another prison. He was to be moved the next day.

Carl went to the three other men and said, “I heard you are going to beat up ____ before he leaves tomorrow. He’s just a young kid, don’t do it.”

“He needs to be taught a lesson,” they replied. They were determined to do it.

Carl became angry and pointed at them, “If you hurt him, I’m going to kill all three of you.” They knew he would carry out his threat, so they left the boy alone.

I thought at first that God would not have wanted him to say those words. But then I remembered Jonah, and how God used him to tell the city of Ninevah that they were going to die because of their evil ways. They repented, and God didn’t have to carry out the sentence. I guess God uses tough love too; like the duck and like Carl.

Many people call out to God when faced with death. Since this is so,perhaps the threat of death is the toughest love of all.

The Many Facets of Christ

I was looking through my Bible Concordance for a verse that I thought had the phrase, "...of Christ." I couldn't find the verse I was looking for, but I was amazed at how many varied descriptions of Jesus there were. I decided to make a list and here it is:

The Works of Christ
The Spirit of Christ
The Love of Christ
The Judgement Seat of Christ
The Mind of Christ
The Blood of Christ
The Body of Christ
The Sufferings of Christ
The Sweet Savour of Christ
The Glorious Gospel of Christ
The Gentleness of Christ
The Obedience of Christ
The Truth of Christ
The Power of Christ
The Proof of Christ
The Faith of Christ
The Cross of Christ
The Mystery of Christ
The Riches of Christ
The Love of Christ
The Gift of Christ
The Kingdom of Christ
The Day of Christ
The Work of Christ
The Afflictions of Christ
The Word of Christ
The Patience of Christ
The Reproach of Christ


You can learn so much about Jesus by just reading these short descriptions of him.