by Sharon O | Jan 26, 2017 | Uncategorized
This verse has been playing over and over in my head.
[I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Jeremiah 31:3]
The context of the verse is about Israel but I think we can also allow it to mean the same for us.
Many times we have failed God and many times He remained faithful to us.
Many times we have not done what we know is right or required of us yet He is steadfast and sure.
Let’s break this down, to what we can learn from this verse.
Everlasting means: lasting forever; eternal: incessant; constantly recurring: wearisome; tedious: eternal duration; eternity: the Everlasting, God.
Now read it again slowly and take it into your heart as you read it.
I the Lord God, love you,(insert your name) with an eternal, incessant, constant, over and over with eternal duration, lasting forever tedious wearisome love.
He doesn’t get tired of us OR frazzled by our lack of relationship with him.
Isn’t that a wonderful warm fuzzy promise?
It is constant. Nothing we do can change that. Nothing we do will erase HIS love for us.
It is about choice too, it is purposeful.
I have loved you therefore as a result of that love for you I will remain faithful.
It is powerful. I hold onto it when I feel unsure.
Nothing is required of me for me to receive his love, other than for me to accept it truth.
The almighty, all powerful, all knowing and eternal God loves me.
The other part of that verse when talking about Israel it says,
[when Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from afar.]
I thought of the prodigal son story when the son came into his presence the father met him.
God made it known they were not alone. He saw them at a distance and welcomed them.
In the message version it shows us another perspective.
[Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!
God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again]
He was looking for them just like He looks for us.
What a wonderful exciting promise.
by Sharon O | Jan 22, 2017 | Uncategorized
The bible refers to the word change, 71 times.
I find that both interesting and significant because we cannot move forward without change.
In the book of Daniel: 2:21
[He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning (or scholars).]
We have a new President of the United States.
Set up and assigned to take care of the people and the law of the land voted by the people through the process of election through electoral votes.
He is not a king but he is in authority and has power through the nature of his job and his assigned duty.
Many do not like him or feel he will do a good job, but we must wait and see and give him a chance.
Change is not easy on anyone.
We are promised if we change our direction God will heal our land.
[If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.] 2 Chronicles 7:14
We have the chance to make our ‘nation’ strong again.
He said he would work towards that goal and I believe that is why many people voted for him.
We can complain or we can encourage our leaders to do the best job they can in leading us and keeping us safe.
I choose to wait and pray for the ones in the positions of power.
We cannot change the course, or the new direction set before us.
We cannot grumble or protest for that would have no positive affect, if anything it can make matters worse than they already are for our ‘USA’.
Some try to create disturbances and they really don’t succeed in anything other than great chaos.
Let us accept this change with a wonder and excitement of a new direction for our nation.
Let us say together, “God bless America, land that we love.
Stand beside her and guide her.”
With pride in our hearts and a prayer in our voice.
Let’s accept this change with an attitude of hope and trust that our freedom and our patriotism is always a topic of pride.
by Sharon O | Jan 19, 2017 | Uncategorized
As I sit here in this room looking at the ocean through the rain drop covered windows it reminds me of the power of our great and mighty God.
With a force that is in continual motion.
I pause. I listen. I breathe.
The rain is thundering on the roof top and it’s sound is almost deafening.
There is a powerful force within the dark and moving clouds.
It is a cleansing and a wintery part of the oceans season.
A tree fell down and men are chopping it up and removing the old so the broken parts of it are not in the way of spring grasses and children’s camps.
It is not too different from our lives where the old broken parts must be removed so new life can rise within our spirits.
A new year means change is coming.
Tomorrow we will inaugurate a new President of our United States.
A definite new year of change and passing the baton of responsibility from one leader to the next.
Change is hard, we often walk into it with hesitation and uncertainty and our minds are full of questions.
We move without knowledge of what will happen in the new months.
A new experience can be a positive for us if we are willing to receive with open arms and without reservation.
It is a trust process for sure.
It is a reality that after every storm there is a calm.
After every new change we soon adjust and get familiar with what was unknown to us.
Our daughter starts a new job soon.
She will walk away from the old and begin a new learning process. It is both scary and exciting for her to begin one more time but that is what life is all about.
The storms and the rainbows.
In Ecclesiastes 3 of the Old Testament
[There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,]
A new year is a new beginning.
Will we embrace it and wait with anticipation of what will come?
Or will we fight it with arms folded and never allow anything new to take place.
by Sharon O | Jan 11, 2017 | Uncategorized
Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
Oprah Winfrey
As I have been thinking of my word of the year and processing what it means for me.
I was reminded of the time many years ago when I was in our Lamaze class preparing to have our first baby.
The instructor told us, when a contraction comes close breathe through it as you count, relax and breathe.
I have found myself doing that pretty much all my life since then.
Breathing in, a cleansing breath and breathing out the old.
It is both relaxing and good for one to slow down just enough to breathe.
In fact when it was time for me to deliver our daughter who is almost 39 years old, I remember clearly the breathing I did.
All night long, I felt it was not time to deliver but just a lot of pressure.
Breathing, in and out, deep cleansing breathes.
When we arrived at the hospital I was very close to delivering her and I didn’t even know it because I was so relaxed and so focused on the breathing process.
I think that is what we all need.
To focus, slow down and breathe.
It has been cold outside in our area in fact snow fell last night and the air was very cold when we were outside.
We went for a walk and I found myself focusing on the cold air, breathing in and breathing out.
I found it healing in a way for me to not only walk for health but to also focus on breath.
I could feel it, and I kind of felt like I needed an inhaler to help me, but the air was cold and it was so good as I kept walking.
As we focus on breath let us remember this one thought.
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6
by Sharon O | Jan 5, 2017 | Uncategorized
Every year for the last five years or so I have received what is called, “my word for the year.”
Last years word was REVEAL.
I wasn’t sure at first why that word, but as the month’s moved on, it became very clear to me.
My best friend was diagnosed with a life threatening illness and I was diagnosed with early diabetes.
Major life choices and changes had to take place for both of us, revealing the necessary disciplines we both needed to get the help we needed to learn how to take care of ourselves in a better way.
It is strange how a word just fits. It became a life challenge.
Reveal – exposing what is hidden. Maybe one could even say a rude awakening?
It has been hard to hear the news about my best friend, my prayers are with her.
In reality diabetes can also be life threatening if not taken seriously.
The new word I have sensed for this year, is simple but very necessary.
It has depth of meaning on many levels.
We sat in a room one time with a man who was dying.
His labored breathing was the indicator of how soon, he would be leaving.
It’s strange how that is, what we listen for when a baby is born.
That cry, that first breath. That pours oxygen into a little soul or in the case of someone passing,
that last gasp from the lungs.
Without it we cannot live.
Without it there is no spirit connected to soul.
In Genesis 2:7 it says:[He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.]
(Reminding me of what takes place when CPR is done.)
Life…giving measures.
When Jesus was with the disciples in the New Testament, it says in John 20:22
[Then he breathed on them and said, “receive the Holy Spirit.”]
It all involved on thing. One purpose. One life giving measure.
In Daniel 10:17 we read: [‘”My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.”]
While we were in the room with our dear friend who was dying, we had turned the tv down to almost a mute tone while we watched the quiet screen in front of us. Then one of the ladies said, “silence”… we sat in the quiet while she counted, One, Two, Three.
Three deep gasps and then he was gone.
In Psalm 144:4 It says: [They are like a breath of air, their days are like a passing shadow.]
In the book of Job in the Old Testament, it says:
[But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.]
It was just like that. He was no more the man we remembered.
In a moment in time we saw life then we saw no life, all because of breath.
My new word of the year is breathe.
