Addictions

This is a poem I wrote back in 2003.  I used to go to a lot of 12 step meetings trying to “find myself”. As a result of that, I put a lot of labels on who I thought I was.  I was wrong. Today I let God define who I am. These are my … Read more

Dance with a Limp- Reblog from Ken Burkey

Dance with a limp – just keep dancing! 🙂 Check out all of Ken’s Posts, you will be blessed, and called for more…

A Gift to us from Maria (www.christianfantasyforwomen.com)

I totally love Maria’s poem “An Allegory of Love and Hate”. I have felt both of these emotions, and sometimes at the same time! Check it out for yourself…

Just waiting

Just waiting,  God is faithful.

But those who wait for the Lord (who expect, look for, and hope in Him) shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up (close to God) as eagles (mount up to the sun); they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint or become tired. (Isaiah 40:31 AMP)

Anxiety

anx·i·e·ty (from Dictionary.com) 1.distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune: He felt anxiety about the possible loss of his job. 2.earnest but tense desire; eagerness: He had a keen anxiety to succeed in his work. 3.Psychiatry. a state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring in some forms of mental disorder. Synonyms 1. fear, foreboding; worry, disquiet. See apprehension I battle with fear and anxiety.  Today I am losing the battle.  Will I always be anxious? What am I afraid of? I don’t get it some days.  I battle with trust.  Just when I think I am winning the battle, something … Read more

ARISE (Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward)

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. This is my entry for the … Read more

Worship

Worship opens the door to His goodness. Today I will worship God despite my fears, despite my circumstances. “When we ascend into the heavens, the atmosphere in earth changes. The land transforms.  A gate opens for our revelatory access…When we worship, we ascend, and heaven becomes a reality in the earth.  God has always had … Read more

Better Than a Hallelujah

This one made me cry, get the Kleenex first….

BETTER THAN A HALLELUJAH

by Amy Grant

God loves a lullaby
In a mother’s tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes

God loves the drunkard’s cry
The soldier’s plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

The woman holding on for life
The dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes

The tears of shame for what’s been done
The silence when the words won’t come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

Better than a church bell ringing
Better than a choir singing out, singing out

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

(Better than a Hallelujah sometimes)
Better than a Hallelujah
(Better than a Hallelujah sometimes)

Transformed

TRANSFORMED Transformed from glory to glory, as the LORD renews my mind. Restored by the image of God, through Jesus Christ my Lord. I’m changing from day to day, as I behold His face. I’m just a reflection, of His Spirit in me. I’ve been planted by the Master Gardner, with the seed of the … Read more

Hope

DAILY PROMPT

Write about anything you’d like. Somewhere in your post, include the sentence, “I heard the car door slam, and immediately looked at the clock.”

HOPE

© 2012 Diana Rasmussen
(PSALM 62/Matt 12/Romans 4)

My soul waits silently for God,
My expectation is from Him.
I pour my heart out before Him,
He is a refuge for me.

His name is the Hope of all the world.
I will trust Him at all times.
He is my rock and my salvation,
I shall not be moved.

Even when there is no reason for hope,
I will keep on believing,
God is more than able,
To do what He says.

I woke up with this song in my head this morning. And the verse “God’s mercies are new every morning”…hmmm.

Sometimes I think I limit God by what my expectations are. I have lived in the chaos (the desert) for so long, that is what I got accustomed to.  It was familiar.  And even though I didn’t like it, I knew what to expect – nothing. When you expect nothing, you get nothing.  Nothing changes, everything stays the same.  Predictable. Boring. Not healthy. Staying in the desert with my victim mentality meant that it was always someone else’s fault. I could blame others for their bad choices while I failed to make any new ones for myself.  I did not take responsibility for my own life – I was too busy telling everyone else what to do.  Then I didn’t have to do anything.  I didn’t have to change, or make a new choice. I learned this was ‘criminal thinking’ at its best.  And I was robbing myself of a better future.

There are times when you are at the edge of a new season, and you admit to yourself that you can’t go back. But you are hesitant to go forward. Almost like time has stopped. And then

I heard the car door slam, and immediately looked at the clock.

from free-hdwallpapers.com

I am still here.  Time has not stopped. I survived.  My life will go on. I don’t need all the answers to take the next step forward. It will be ok.  Today is the day to say “Yes” to God.  I choose to be healed.  I will be made whole. God promised to help me, so I am going to let Him.

In the valley of decision, I admit that my hope is not based on my ability, nor the things others do or don’t do. My hope is not based on my failures.  My hope is not based on my past abuse.  I am no longer a victim. I can make a new choice.  I will get up.  My hope today is anchored in what the Word says

GOD’S PROMISE TO YOU:

hope

” My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him.  He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be moved”.  (Psalm 62:5-6)

It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.

They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.

The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him. (Lamentations 3:22-24 AMP)

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27 NIV)

MY PRAYER FOR YOU:

Dear Lord,

Thank you for slamming the car door and waking us up.  Thank you for shaking what can be shaken to see what remains in our lives.  We admit, we have tried to live without You, and it hasn’t worked.  You are our Hope, show us a new way Lord. We choose to trust in You. Refresh our souls. Renew our minds.  Restore our lives, in Jesus’ Name.

MORE POSTS ON HOPE:

http://unshakablehope.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/more-than-just-a-dream/

http://anewcreationtoo.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/one-thing-remains-his-love/

http://hopethehappyhugger.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/why/

http://hope4usnow.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/hopes-not-hurts/

God’s Love

image

Yesterday I shared about what love is NOT.  All of that pain led me to Him – the Healer, the  Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Jesus.   He is faithful, and true.  He is what love looks like. I poured out my pain as I cried at his feet.  It was not wasted.  It mattered.  It was costly.  He took my head in His hands, and looked in my eyes.  For the first time, I felt loved.

“If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there;
if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.” (Psalm 34:18 MSG)

GOD’S LOVE

V1
God’s love is faithful,
He’s forever true
He loves me with mercy and grace to be new.
His love has no ending,
His covenant stands.
A promise between us,
and I’m in His hands.

imageCHORUS
God’s love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things,
God’s love never fails for me.
God’s love never fails for me.

V2
How great is the love Father lavishes on me,
now I am called a child of God.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived what God has for me!

REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGEimage

My God is love,
I now live in God,
and he lives in me

REPEAT CHORUS

© 2102 Diana Rasmussen

GOD’S PROMISE TO YOU:

“And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

“But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

MY PRAYER FOR YOU:

Dear Lord,

Thank you for your love today.  You are faithful and true.  You loved us even in our darkest days.  You are close to the broken-hearted, and will bind up all our wounds.  We are putting our trust in You, in Jesus’ Name.

TOO BUSY?

TOO BUSY?

I first saw this video about 5 years ago. There are many versions on the web, but all the same message…

It is rather “haunting” – but true…

GOD’S PROMISE:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. ”  (Matthew 11:28-29 AMP)

A Psalm of David; when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.

“O God, You are my God, earnestly will I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.”(Psalm 61:1-3)

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding.

He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound].

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted;

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

MY PRAYER FOR YOU:

Dear Lord,

We confess, we have put other things above spending time with You.  We confess, we have built idols of knowledge for our own pleasure.  Forgive us Lord, and purify us from all unrighteousness.  We know You are for us, and You are the source of all good things – even wisdom and knowledge.  We turn back to You today, in Jesus’ name.