November 14, 2021
This past week was a week of joy and a time of loss. We were able to spend a couple days in Spearfish, SD with our granddaughter who is a Senior at Black Hills State University studying photography. She had some of her beautiful work on display in the gallery that we were able to see. While we were there our great friend, Clifton, graduated to heaven. That is hard. We will be going to Indiana later this week where Ed will do his service. He and Geri are such precious friends and we will miss him. I am so thankful we were able to spend a few days with him in Jay, OK a few weeks ago. That was a gift from the Lord.
As I’ve continued fasting and seeking the Lord, He has showed me so many amazing things. It may be one sentence in a devotional I am reading or a paragraph He gives me when I go to my heart. Either way, He is showing me treasures that I don’t always pay attention to. While we were in Spearfish, we had a mishap with our hotel room and I didn’t seem to handle it too well. Someone on staff had reserved a room for us by phone that didn’t even exist. I like to find accessible rooms for Mom so she can enjoy her stay without extra hassle. We ended up with 2 rooms instead of a 1-bedroom suite and I was pretty upset. It all worked out. Ed had a room across the hall and the room was very easy for Mom to move around in. I was upset with myself for throwing a fit (just in the parking lot and only Ed saw me😊) and started seeking the Lord to show me what the trigger was that made me so upset. In the end, I think it was just being lied to about the place but still I could have handled it differently. Tears flowed too easily and caused stress for Mom and Ed.
As I sought the Lord, He asked me to ask Him this question, “What is on My heart?” Don’t think I have asked Him that before. I have asked Him to help me know what was in my heart. So, I asked and this was His answer, “My heart is for you to know how much I love YOU. I’m not focused on your little fit, your impatience, your plans. Even though I will guide you when you ask for guidance that isn’t my focus. Do you truly know I love you? Do you know My love deeply? Do you feel My love pouring over you? You cannot take credit for the love you have for Me. You have MY love because you have Me. Care for My love in your heart like a precious treasure. Protect it, guard it, fight for it. Don’t let other thoughts and ways cover it up. Let it shine! Don’t blend in with the world to avoid persecution. Shine! Smile My love through your lips. Breathe Me and My love into others lives. Hug others with My love. Touch others with My love. My love will go through you to them. My love is in you because you know Me. You have all my love so let it out. You already received My love so believe the truth that you already have it. It’s impossible to have My mind without experiencing My heart!”
Wow. That sat me down and I saw His heart. What is on His mind? That we all know how much we are loved. We say we know but we haven’t even begun to experience the depth of His love for us. That’s all I am going to say right now. Spend time seeking Him and putting His Word in your heart that talks about His love for YOU. I have shared a few verses about His love. This is the place we are to go to KNOW HIM. There’s no other way. Spend time with Him this week.
“For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him[b] will never perish but experience everlasting life.”
John 3:16
“Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him. The one who doesn’t love has yet to know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
“The light of God’s love shined within us when he sent his matchless Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins. Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life!”
1 John 4:9-11
“We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love he has for us.” 1 John 4:16
“Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything! So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!” Romans 8:37-39
“Even if the mountains were to crumble and the hills disappear, my heart of steadfast, faithful love will never leave you, and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken,” says Yahweh, whose love and compassion will never give up on you.”
Isaiah 54:10
“But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!” Romans 5:8
“My old identity has been crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine!” Galatians 2:20
“Give thanks to the great God of the heavens! His tender love for us continues on forever!” Psalm 136:26
“But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy. Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace!” Ephesians 2:4-5
“But Lord, your nurturing love is tender and gentle. You are slow to get angry yet so swift to show your faithful love. You are full of abounding grace and truth.”
Psalm 86:15
“The Lord your God is in your midst, A Warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with joy; He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins],
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” Zephaniah 3:17
“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize him.” John 3:1
“For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.” John 15:13
This past week was a week of joy and a time of loss. We were able to spend a couple days in Spearfish, SD with our granddaughter who is a Senior at Black Hills State University studying photography. She had some of her beautiful work on display in the gallery that we were able to see. While we were there our great friend, Clifton, graduated to heaven. That is hard. We will be going to Indiana later this week where Ed will do his service. He and Geri are such precious friends and we will miss him. I am so thankful we were able to spend a few days with him in Jay, OK a few weeks ago. That was a gift from the Lord.
As I’ve continued fasting and seeking the Lord, He has showed me so many amazing things. It may be one sentence in a devotional I am reading or a paragraph He gives me when I go to my heart. Either way, He is showing me treasures that I don’t always pay attention to. While we were in Spearfish, we had a mishap with our hotel room and I didn’t seem to handle it too well. Someone on staff had reserved a room for us by phone that didn’t even exist. I like to find accessible rooms for Mom so she can enjoy her stay without extra hassle. We ended up with 2 rooms instead of a 1-bedroom suite and I was pretty upset. It all worked out. Ed had a room across the hall and the room was very easy for Mom to move around in. I was upset with myself for throwing a fit (just in the parking lot and only Ed saw me😊) and started seeking the Lord to show me what the trigger was that made me so upset. In the end, I think it was just being lied to about the place but still I could have handled it differently. Tears flowed too easily and caused stress for Mom and Ed.
As I sought the Lord, He asked me to ask Him this question, “What is on My heart?” Don’t think I have asked Him that before. I have asked Him to help me know what was in my heart. So, I asked and this was His answer, “My heart is for you to know how much I love YOU. I’m not focused on your little fit, your impatience, your plans. Even though I will guide you when you ask for guidance that isn’t my focus. Do you truly know I love you? Do you know My love deeply? Do you feel My love pouring over you? You cannot take credit for the love you have for Me. You have MY love because you have Me. Care for My love in your heart like a precious treasure. Protect it, guard it, fight for it. Don’t let other thoughts and ways cover it up. Let it shine! Don’t blend in with the world to avoid persecution. Shine! Smile My love through your lips. Breathe Me and My love into others lives. Hug others with My love. Touch others with My love. My love will go through you to them. My love is in you because you know Me. You have all my love so let it out. You already received My love so believe the truth that you already have it. It’s impossible to have My mind without experiencing My heart!”
Wow. That sat me down and I saw His heart. What is on His mind? That we all know how much we are loved. We say we know but we haven’t even begun to experience the depth of His love for us. That’s all I am going to say right now. Spend time seeking Him and putting His Word in your heart that talks about His love for YOU. I have shared a few verses about His love. This is the place we are to go to KNOW HIM. There’s no other way. Spend time with Him this week.
“For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him[b] will never perish but experience everlasting life.”
John 3:16
“Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him. The one who doesn’t love has yet to know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
“The light of God’s love shined within us when he sent his matchless Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins. Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life!”
1 John 4:9-11
“We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love he has for us.” 1 John 4:16
“Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything! So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!” Romans 8:37-39
“Even if the mountains were to crumble and the hills disappear, my heart of steadfast, faithful love will never leave you, and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken,” says Yahweh, whose love and compassion will never give up on you.”
Isaiah 54:10
“But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!” Romans 5:8
“My old identity has been crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives his life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine!” Galatians 2:20
“Give thanks to the great God of the heavens! His tender love for us continues on forever!” Psalm 136:26
“But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy. Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, he united us into the very life of Christ and saved us by his wonderful grace!” Ephesians 2:4-5
“But Lord, your nurturing love is tender and gentle. You are slow to get angry yet so swift to show your faithful love. You are full of abounding grace and truth.”
Psalm 86:15
“The Lord your God is in your midst, A Warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with joy; He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins],
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” Zephaniah 3:17
“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize him.” John 3:1
“For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.” John 15:13
