No Crows Here

Several years ago I was sitting outside enjoying the beauty of a Big Sky Montana summer morning. It was a beautiful morning and I was dwarfed by the panoramic views from our yard; 360 degrees of unobstructed, bright blue sky filled with large white puffy clouds.  God’s creation is glorious!

I noticed circling high above my head a dark spec on this brilliant blue background. Getting lower with each circling pattern, it didn’t take long to identify this seeker in the sky as a crow. He finally descended to the ground, having spotted his morning’s meal from such a lofty perch.  I couldn’t see what he was pecking at but no doubt it was the carnage left from a coyote’s kill the night before.

I told our daughter, “Imagine how disgusting it would be to spend your life eating what something else had killed and left to rot in the field.”

By now you must be asking yourself “where is she going with this? I thought she was going to write a message. Oh, but I am. Sometimes it takes a while to get through the introduction to the meat of the message but here it is.

This crow reminded me of the raven on Noah’s ark.

Forty days later Noah opened a window to send out a raven, but it kept flying around until the water had dried up. Noah wanted to find out if the water had gone down, and he sent out a dove. Deep water was still everywhere, and the dove could not find a place to land. So it flew back to the boat. Noah held out his hand and helped it back in.

10 Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. 11 It returned in the evening, holding in its beak a green leaf from an olive tree. Noah knew that the water was finally going down. ” Genesis 8:6-11 CEV

Noah and his family had been on the ark for over 5 months. The rain had stopped and the ark rested on the top of the mountain. No more floating! Noah waited a bit and then he sent out a raven, which the Bible says went to and from until the waters dried up. Noah also sent out a dove “to see if the water had receded but the dove found no resting place” so it returned to the ark.

Why didn’t the raven come back?

The raven had a ready food source. The bodies of the animals and the people who had drown provided him an unlimited food supply. They also provided him with a place to rest. He could sit on their decaying bodies and didn’t need the trees or the ground.

The dove on the other hand needed life – green shoots and seeds to sustain its life so it returned to the ark. Noah waited 7 days and sent the dove out again. It returned that evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah knew that life was returning to the earth. He waited another 7 days and sent the dove out again. This time the dove didn’t return so Noah knew it had found a place to rest and food to sustain it.

I’m so glad that  Father God used a dove to symbolize the Holy Spirit and not the raven or the crow.

“So Jesus was baptized. As soon as he came up out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. 17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.” Matthew 3:16-17

The Scriptures tell us that when John baptized Jesus that the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. A dove, bringing signs of life – a dove resting on the One who is the giver of life! That really blesses me. The Holy Spirit has been sent to infill and empower each believer as a sign of our new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus said he was the bread of life , living water  and that the Holy Spirit would cause rivers of living water to flow from us.

Christ promises that we will have full and abundant lives when we are following him.  He came to give us life and not just life, but life more abundantly.

So I am not the one living now—it is Christ living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in[a] the Son of God. He is the one who loved me and gave himself to save me.” Galatians 2:20 ERV

This wonderful life is a free gift from God. The term  “dirty, rotten sinner” is oh so true because a life of sin is death (crow’s food) but our new life is a gift from God – abundant and free!

 Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 ERV

Our life is to be filled with fruit, life affirming attributes that the Holy Spirit brings; love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness and patience.

So I encourage you today to make sure there aren’t any ravens circling over your head. Be a vessel of life and let the “dove” descend and fill you with peace!

“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6

Further reading: (John 1:32-34; John 4:10-14; John 6:48; John 7:37-39; Luke 3:21-22; Mark 1:10-11 and Matthew 3:16-17)

Don’t Forget to Call

With our most recent road trip only days behind me I stopped to consider this morning what really made it special and different from past trips.

It was the conversation.

Dave and I have traveled probably traveled hundreds of thousands of miles on the highways of the western United States in the past 25 years and this is the first one that was really filled with conversation.

Now don’t get me wrong, we spent other trips talking but it was generally about the work we had ahead of us. Making final mental notes of the preparations that needed to be completed, tweeking the last minute details of a trade show or streamlining the daily operations of our jobs was the general topic.

Take those moments and interject computer work, goggle searches for extra information, talk radio or the latest country hits and our time was gobbled up minute by minute without really listening to each other’s hearts.

This trip was 25 hours of enjoying each other’s company!

Have you noticed how text messages and twitter have reduced our conversations to brief snippets and how our cell phone conversations are disjointed and distracted? Does it bother you that we don’t just sit and talk?

So often phone conversations are one sided; I have to hurry and tell you all about me and when you start to talk about you, I get busy on my end doing dishes or folding laundry and I barely listen.

Important stuff like news stories have been reduced to snippets because the viewing public have shortened their attention spans and if you don’t catch my interest immediately I’m off to another channel. So everything appears to be a crisis or a breaking story.

Very few take time to show sincere interest.

The sad thing is I find that happens more often than I like to admit in my relationship with the Lord. The saying “quality not quantity” leaves us making excuses for our actions. But what’s wrong with quality and quantity. Spending time, our only unrenewable resource with those we love especially, our Heavenly Father, should be first and foremost in our actions.

You can be sure that anyone who serves the Lord faithfully is special to him.
 The Lord listens when I pray to him.” Psalm 4:3 ERV

The Father gives me my people. Every one of them will come to me. I will always accept them. ” John 6:37 ERV

Our heavenly Father has set an open-door, open-heart acceptance policy for us to follow. He listens when we talk with Him and He accepts us into His presence.

Should we do any less with those that we love?

Write a letter, leave a card, put a note in a lunch bag, sit down and focus when carrying on a phone conversation, turn the TV and other electronic devices off during meals and just visit. There’s a true expression of love in being listened too. There is a difference, a big difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is the comprehension of sound but listening is understanding  the heart.

The Father always listens – He waits for each word and His desire is that we take time to listen to Him as well. Jesus related this instruction to John in Revelation about Christians and lukewarm relationship.

“Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will eat together.” Revelation 3:20 CEV

Jesus is waiting to sit down and visit with you today. Do you have the time?

Summer is Time to Grow

Dave and I spent 13 hours in the truck driving from Arizona to Nevada. We enjoyed our travel time – we talked, looked at the scenery, talked some more and filled our day with the beauty of God’s creation.

I loved driving through the ranch country. We didn’t see a lot of cattle grazing but the alfalfa fields were filled with big square green bales. The thing I did miss seeing were the fruit trees. I guess the area we were in isn’t known for it’s fruit. But I always love how the spring rains prompt the blossom of the peach, apple, pear, cherry and apricot trees which lead to a full and bountiful end-of-summer harvest.

Summer is good for that – producing a harvest. I feel like I am going through, and growing in, a harvest season of my own. God is working in me, changing me, giving me strength and peace. I can see fruit developing and maturing.

There is a single verse in the Psalm 40 that I want us to look at this morning.

You, Lord God, have done many wonderful things, and you have planned marvelous things for us. No one is like you! I would never be able to tell all you have done.” Psalm 40:5 NKJV

Look at this phrase “many are the wonderful works which You have done”. Think about that for a moment – what WONDERFUL works do you see that He has done? Was it last night’s sunset or this morning’s sunrise? Was it the love and compassion you felt for a stranger who was in need? Or was it the unpretentious love and acceptance of a child? What did you experience just yesterday that you can see was a wonderful work of God in your life?

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalm 107:8 NJKV

“He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” Psalm 111:4 NJKV

“O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” Isaiah 25:1 NKJV

I like the verse above – God’s counsellors are faithfulness and truth. The things that are wonder – full are the things that have the character of God woven through them. Things like faithfulness, truth, love, forgiveness, peace, gentleness, patience, joy. When God’s love fills us, we begin to produce fruit.

In nature a fruit  tree produces fruit for the kind of tree it is. Apples – apples, oranges – oranges, bananas – bananas and so on – you know what I’m saying. When we grow in Christ we will begin to produce fruit that is consistent with the vine we are growing on – we will begin to produce godly character.

As we examine our lives we should see godly fruit is growing. The Father is wanting us to share the fruit that grows in our lives with others. He is wanting to use us to do wonderful things in the lives of those around us.

Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered. When you become fruitful disciples of mine, my Father will be honored. I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you. ” John 15:7-9 CEV

I pray that this summer we all produce a bumper crop! May God bless  you with an abundant harvest.

Set Free

As a young girl I grew up in Yuma, Az, home of the famous Yuma Territorial Prison.

It was a horrible place. One where they sent the worst offenders. I remember going to those ruins as a child. It was a tourist attraction, somewhere we took all our visiting relatives.

When I was in High School we continued to go up to Prison Hill to tour the buildings and the grounds. You see our High School mascot was a “criminal”. We were known as the Yuma Crims because when the High School was started they used the abandoned prison as its classrooms.

But as an adult I took time to think about the horrendous conditions those prisoners and guards must have endured. The heat, the darkness of the cells, the venomous desert creatures, the lack of ventilation. The heat!

Drawing from that history, I have tried to think of what it must have been like to be imprisoned during Bible days. The conditions really couldn’t have been any better and in fact, may have been much worse.

Now think of those who were innocent and imprisoned. How hopeless they must have felt. Needing someone to believe their innocence and fight for their release. How could those conditions be anything but devastating? 

Paul & Silas had been beaten and imprisoned on many occasions for speaking about the good news of Christ’s saving power, the gospel.  In Acts 16 they are once again imprisoned. Once again they were praising God for being counted worthy to be treated with contempt for the Gospel’s sake.

And as they praised God, the place was shaken – the prison doors came open, their chains fell off and they were freed, they and all the other prisoners around them. The jailer was distraught and ready to take his life when Paul called to him out of the night and told him they were all there. No one had escaped.

Then Paul & Silas shared the Gospel with the jailer and he and his entire household were saved! Paul & Silas were always ready to talk of the love of Jesus and they were greatly persecuted for it.  But they also  saw great evidence of God’s power working on their behalf.

They could sing at midnight in a jail cell after being beaten because they knew nothing in their lives, bad or good, could even begin to compare to the love God had shown them through His wonderful gift of salvation. They didn’t flee from the prison cell when their chains fell off because they were already free – free from sin, free from man’s opinions, free to live a life in the power of the Holy Spirit.

After they had been badly beaten, they were put in jail, and the jailer was told to guard them carefully. 24 The jailer did as he was told. He put them deep inside the jail and chained their feet to heavy blocks of wood.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God, while the other prisoners listened. 26 Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the jail to its foundations. The doors opened, and the chains fell from all the prisoners.

27 When the jailer woke up and saw that the doors were open, he thought that the prisoners had escaped. He pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! No one has escaped.”

29 The jailer asked for a torch and went into the jail. He was shaking all over as he knelt down in front of Paul and Silas. 30 After he had led them out of the jail, he asked, “What must I do to be saved?”31 They replied, “Have faith in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved! This is also true for everyone who lives in your home.”

32 Then Paul and Silas told him and everyone else in his house about the Lord. 33 While it was still night, the jailer took them to a place where he could wash their cuts and bruises. Then he and everyone in his home were baptized. 34 They were very glad that they had put their faith in God. After this, the jailer took Paul and Silas to his home and gave them something to eat.” Acts 16:23-34 CEV

Father, show me how to sing at midnight. Let me praise You in my toughest moments. Remind me that in all things You have the power to open the prison door. I am free because You purchased my freedom.

So if the Son makes you free, you will be free for sure.” John 8:36 NLV

 

Promises Kept

Our life in Christ is a life of promise and blessing! The first promise we receive is forgiveness of sin and a new life in Him. That is when eternal life begins.

After Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples, he looked up toward heaven and prayed:    Father, the time has come for you to bring glory to your Son, in order that he may bring glory to you. And you gave him power over all people, so that he would give eternal life to everyone you give him. Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent. ” John 17:1-3 CEV

Eternal life is knowing (having a personal relationship with) God the Father and Jesus His Son. Eternal life begins now, not when we die.

The Apostle Peter wanted to make sure we knew how to live this life eternal so he gave us this instruction:

“From Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. To everyone who shares with us in the privilege of believing that our God and Savior Jesus Christ will do what is just and fair.
2 I pray that God will be kind to you and will let you live in perfect peace! May you keep learning more and more about God and our Lord Jesus. 3 We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness.

4 God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.   5 Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, 6 self-control, patience, devotion to God, 7 concern for others, and love. 8 If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful.” II Peter 1:1-8 CEV

God the Father has given us marvelous, great and precious promises so that we can live a life that pleases Him and reflects His glory here on earth. Can you imagine the joy that the Father gets when His kids take Him at His word?

Can’t you just see Him at the Saturday football game or the rodeo or the school play? He’s nudging the angels next to Him and saying, “Ya, that’s my kid! I taught Him everything he knows about life and godliness. I gave him my promises, I gave him my word. He’s a chip off the old block.”

Why is it so hard for us to imagine God the Father having a conversation like that?

Yes, He IS Almighty God but He is also Abba Father and nothing gives Him more pleasure than to see His kids imitating Him.

That’s what Jesus did.

This made them even more determined to kill him. They thought it was bad enough that he was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. And now he was saying that God is his Father, making himself equal with God!

19 But Jesus answered, “I assure you that the Son can do nothing alone. He does only what he sees his Father doing. The Son does the same things that the Father does. 20 The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does. This man was healed. But the Father will show the Son greater things than this to do. Then you will all be amazed.” John 5:18-20 ERV

The Jews knew Jesus was saying that God was His Father and so He, Jesus, was the perfect representation of the Father on earth. This angered them greatly, it still does. When we talk about our Heavenly Father and His amazing love, grace, mercy and peace and that He has given us His authority to be ambassadors on earth, it will anger the religious people of our day –

“Who do you think you are?”

It’s time we let the world see that true believers aren’t preaching messages to condemn but to restore. God’s amazing love draws sinners to repentance. Jesus made no apology for identifying sin in a person’s life but His message was one of hope, one of freedom, one of new life!

I am an ambassador for Christ – old things have passed away, all things have become new and I have been given the message of reconciliation to let the world know that God isn’t mad at them. He has made a way, through Jesus Christ, for all to be accepted and made right (righteous) with Him! 

God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others.

19 What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. 20 We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God. 21 Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God.” II Corinthians 5:18-21 CEV

There is not one promise that God has made that He has failed to keep! He committed Himself to us through His word so that He could show the world His great love!

Confidence

There are some things we know we are really good at while others present more of a challenge.

That feeling is called self-confidence. It can be defined as a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s own abilities or qualities. Being sure of our talents and abilities is essential in our careers and daily life.

The Lord wants us to have confidence without being arrogant or self-prompting. He wants us to have our confidence is Him and HIs word. Our total dependence in Him keeps us from carrying the burden of winning approval and acceptance.

Since we have been talking about absolutes I wanted to share this verse with you. It gives us insight in knowing God’s will and provides us with “the’ confidence.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” I John 5:14-15

Knowing God’s will and praying or asking according to that will is a sure fire way to get our prayers answered with a yes every time. So what is God’s will and how can we know that we are asking according to it?

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7

Jesus put it this way to his disciples, if you abide or live in my word, then you can ask what you will and it will be done. We can conclude that God’s word is His will.

Some of us have written our last will and testament. In it we convey our final thoughts and desires and it is must be followed precisely by the executor.  It’s the same for God. He has listed His will in His testaments.

When we pray what we see in God’s word and are living by the instructions in the Word, we can have “the confidence” that God will answer in a positive way.

No more wishy-washy wondering of “you just never know what God is going to do”. Yes, we do! He’s going to keep his word.  He sent Jesus to tell the world what He was going to do and He’s not keeping secrets from us today – all we have to do is open the Book and we can find His will written in His word.

 Jesus says yes to all of God’s many promises. It is through Jesus that we say, “Let it be so,” when we give thanks to God.” II Corinthians 1:20 NLV

If God made a promise, He will keep it. He can’t lie.

Sometimes we don’t see the answer immediately and we begin to doubt that we’re “good” enough to get an answer from God. God’s never given us anything based on our own merit so we mustn’t fall into that trap.

If that were the case none of us would get born again because we certainly weren’t deserving of that. That kind of thinking comes from a sense of self-confidence or a lack of it. The confidence that we need comes from trust in God’s abilities not our own.

When we’re waiting to see God’s word come to pass and our prayers to be answered we need to follow the instruction of these verses:

Do not throw away your trust (confidence), for your reward will be great. 36 You must be willing to wait without giving up. After you have done what God wants you to do, God will give you what He promised you. ” Hebrews 10:35-36 NLV

Let “THE CONFIDENCE” in God’s word rule!

 

Paid It All

Keeping the focus on the absolute truth of God’s word again today.  

Here are a couple of verses that point out the absolute atonement that Jesus provided for our reconciliation with God.

“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” I John 2:2

Propitiation is an old word that meanings atoning sacrifice. Jesus is THE atoning sacrifice for sin. He freely gave his life so that we could be brought into right relationship with the Father.

And He’s not just the propitiation for a few but He died for the sins of THE whole world. He has made provision for ALL. No one is excluded or left out.

But why?

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:10

Jesus is THE propitiation – the atonement, the reconciliation, the reparation – for our sins. His death was more than enough to provide atonement for all that we have done.

“All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. 24 They are made right with God by his grace. This is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ.” Romans 3:23-24 ERV

Have you ever looked through binoculars? You know that when you focus in one object the ones around it become blurred.  We need to do that with Christ.

The focus isn’t on us but on Christ and what He has done.

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ERV

Everyone – there is another absolute – no one is excluded. Everyone is offered the gift of eternal life because the price of sin has been paid in full!

 

 

Absolutely True

Each morning when I wake up I say “Lord, speak to me. Father, speak through me.” No, I’m not vain enough to believe that every word I say or write is from the Lord – but that is my goal. The Lord has been dealing with me on absolutes.


You remember High School Math & Science – some things are absolutes.

The same holds true with God’s word and yet we often miss them because of their simplicity. The word “The” often links to an absolute; so for the next few days I want us to look at a few Scriptures that are absolutely true, whether we choose to believe them or not.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

THE way, THE truth, THE life – not a way, a truth or a life.

In coming to Jesus and having Him take us to THE Father we have his promise of being on the right way, having truth and life.

I read something a friend wrote the day about Jesus being THE WAY. It stuck with me. Imagine you are trying to call a friend. You put in the number and when it connects it’s the wrong person.  Embarrassed, you say, “I must have dial the wrong number. Is this xxx-xxxx?” To which the person on the other end says no, this is xxx-xxxy.

You’ve dialed incorrectly. 

There is one way, “the” way, to reach heaven.  It isn’t by our good intentions, living an honorable life, being well versed in world philosophy. No, there is only “the” way.

God’s Word is absolute. Everything else will eventually fail. I choose to stand with the Word as my firm foundation. 

Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock. 25 Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock.” Matthew 7:24-25 CEV

Focus on THE today.

True Freedom

“So if the Son makes you free, you are really free.” John 8:36 ERV

Our nation was founded by men who were seeking a better way of life; an opportunity to achieve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They trusted God to lead them and give them direction in the founding of this nation.

On this day of independence it’s important to remember that we are truly free through our relationship with Jesus Christ. We are no longer held captive or enslaved by sin because the Son, Jesus Christ, broke the chains of bondage and set us free!

Hallelujah!

Many of us have become disheartened over the past several decades at the decline of our nation and rightfully so. But one thing has not changed, God is still and forever will be, Lord God Almighty who rules and reigns in mercy, truth and justice!

We can trust Him and Him alone! He is our hope, He is our peace, He is our joy, the Everlasting God!

“Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Don’t tremble with fear. I am your God. I will make you strong, as I protect you with my arm and give you victories” Isaiah 41:10 CEV

The Jews of Jesus time were looking for their Messiah, someone who would come and deliver them from the harsh rule of the Romans. They wanted Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom and overthrow those who governed them.

Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it did, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jewish leaders. No, my kingdom is not an earthly one.”

37 Pilate said, “So you are a king.”

Jesus answered, “You are right to say that I am a king. I was born for this: to tell people about the truth. That is why I came into the world. And everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me.”                      John 18:36-37 ERV

Everything that Jesus taught and did reflected  the true kingdom of God. When the sick were healed, when children were loved, when sin was forgiven it was all attributed to the kingdom of God.

The Apostle Paul put it this way.

God’s kingdom isn’t about eating and drinking. It is about pleasing God, about living in peace, and about true happiness. All this comes from the Holy Spirit. 18 If you serve Christ in this way, you will please God and be respected by people.” Romans 14:17-18 ERV

So as we celebrate our nation’s independence today and focus on the freedoms that we enjoy, I encourage you to be mindful of the true and lasting freedom that we have received in Christ.

So if the Son makes you free, you are really free.” John 8:36 ERV

 

Write This Down

Ok, so you already know that I am a bit unconventional in my thought process when it comes to the way the Holy Spirit teaches me. Bear with me on this one.

I’m a big George Strait fan. Have loved his music for years and years. Got to see him in live concert once, own multiple albums and to me his music is timeless.

He has a song, Write This Down. It comes on and I can sing all the lyrics. Love it.

As I started my prayer time this morning, the Lord just brought up in my heart, “Write this down…I love you and I wanted you to know, so write this down.”

WOW! That’s the whole reason we have the Bible. He loves us and He wants us to know. Amazing that God the Father would go to such great lengths to remind us every day that He loves us!

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10:16-17 KJV

The difference in the Scripture and George’s song is this. The song says “remember what I forgot to say”, the Father has never forgotten to tell us how much He loves us. We sometimes forget but He never does!

Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. Those things were written so that we could have hope. That hope comes from the patience and encouragement that the Scriptures give us. All patience and encouragement come from God. And I pray that God will help you all agree with each other, as Christ Jesus wants.” Romans 15:4-5 ERV

“I’ll sign it at the bottom of the page, I’ll swear under oath
‘Cause every single word is true, and I think you need to know,
So use it as a bookmark, stick it on your ‘frigerator door,
Hang it in a picture frame up above the mantel where you’ll see it for sure.” by George Strait

So if you are having trouble remembering God’s words of love, write this down:

“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ERV

God bless you today!