by Sharon O | Apr 28, 2011 | Uncategorized
Jeremiah 31:3
I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Hebrews 13:5
Never will I leave you or forsake you.
If I pray:
Open my eyes Lord and open my ears.
Show me your Love ~
Then I must read the above verses and understand they are the answer to my prayer.
When I feel abandoned ~
I can go to the word
and realize God will not go away.
When I am unsure of love ~
I can go to the word and realize his love is really all I need.
When I am unsteady ~
I run to the Psalms and they steady my path.
When I am searching and unsettled ~
I must realize
God is always after deeper healing for me
and deeper character with deeper transparency.
My prayer for us all today is this:
Jesus breathe life into us.
Breathe hope and healing.
Help us to know and experience and feel
your strong arms around us.
Only You
can fill our hearts that break
Only You
can heal the wounds so deep
Only You
can hold us close
Only You
Our Abba Father
Can breathe hope and life and love
into our hearts that are broken and tired.
Thank you God ~
we have so much to be thankful for.
by Sharon O | Apr 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
The stone was rolled away
The Lord
is risen
He is risen indeed.
HALLELUJAH
Morning begins a new day
full of hope and healing and life.
He is here for us.
by Sharon O | Apr 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
There is so much I have thought about.
From Thursday to Sunday.
What would have been like for Jesus to have dinner with his ‘best friends’ knowing one of them would betray him and in a few days he would be put on trial and led away to die.
I wonder what Judas felt like?
The word says he went out and hung himself after he gave Jesus to the people.
That meant his shame was so intense in his spirit he could no longer exist.
No longer live with himself.
Then there is Peter, who denied Jesus when given the opportunity to acknowledge his friendship.
He did not say, “I know him he is a good friend of mine.”
He said, “I have no idea who he is.”
Not once did he say that but he said it three times.
Only to realize after the questioning he failed his Lord miserably.
I wonder if that is in the word for a reminder for us all to know
in the heart of our hearts and in the best of our intentions.
We could do the same.
Then Friday was a good day?
The day of a trial that was unfair and then a horrible beating
then a walk down a rocky road
that was so horrible while carrying a very heavy cross.
He fell
He couldn’t do it.
They had to have someone from the crowd him carry it.
Can you imagine that man and his emotional state?
Not really realizing he was carrying the cross Jesus would be crucified on.
Then the pounding of the nails.
The gasping for breath.
The pain
The pain
The pain from his body and the pain from his heart.
FATHER…
And the silence fell upon his broken body.
Father…
And the silence cracked as the skies darkened above him.
Father…
As the blood ran and poured upon his broken and wounded body.
Father…
IT IS FINISHED
The word says he was taken down and placed in a tomb and a large rock was put in the opening to be sure no one would steal the body.
I wonder
I have wondered
What happened in those days in the tomb?
Was there perhaps a conversation between the Father and Son?
He was dead
The word said the stone was rolled away and the burial clothes were laid upon the stones in perfect form.
He rose as a perfect Savior.
He saw Mary weeping and asked her, “woman why do you weep?”
She was grieving her heart was heavy and broken,
“They have taken my Lord away.”
Then Jesus said, “Mary”
And the word said she immediately knew it was Him.
I wonder
I have wondered.
If he said our name would we know it?
Do we know his voice so well that there would be no doubt ~
It is Jesus.
Easter
A time of rejoicing.
Easter
A time of renewing our hearts and our love.
His name is Jesus
Do you know him?
by Sharon O | Apr 21, 2011 | Uncategorized
Our last look at the topic of hurt.
Pastor was saying last Sunday that our hurts often define us.
He said, “If we let the hurt and pain shape us then we allow the hurt to move into something good. Remove the negativity that is attached to the hurt and build on what could be strong in it.”
He said, “A survivor looks for sympathy. An over comer looks for majesty.”
That is a thought that has stopped me in my tracks a few times this week.
Do I look for the majestic moments in the ‘trauma’ of life?
How do we live our lives as over comers?
We pray.
“Lord shape me through the hurt, help it not to define my identity,
help it to grow me into a better stronger person
who can help others in the process of their pain and heartache.”
Can we allow ourselves to know that God’s heart breaks over our heart break?
He is sad when we are sad.
He weeps and keeps track of our weeping. Every tear is recorded.
Pastor said, “If you don’t see the opportunity in the midst of the pain ~ you loose the lesson.”
“Healing is like a moving target, it feels healed and then it is not, it feels settled then it is not. It is a continual process of deep internal work. Healing is not the absence of pain, healing is the step to wholeness that we desire through the pain.”
It takes movement on our part and trust too.
Pastor said, “If you do the possible, God will do the impossible. God will bless you through the hurt and he will join you in it, you are not and have not been alone.”
He said, “Being an over comer is allowing the hurt to strengthen and shape you.
The final result will be HOPE…
the only hope that comes from a healing caring God.”
by Sharon O | Apr 19, 2011 | Uncategorized
As we enter into the Easter week our pastor continued on the ‘hurt’ topic.
This time he focused on Peter, and the conversation he had with Jesus.
Remember when Jesus was in the garden praying and how he had asked for some ’emotional’ support from his ‘disciples’ and found them all resting instead of praying with him. His heart was broken deeply for he knew the pain ahead of him was not really what he wanted to experience. Remember he was God in flesh so the flesh would experience the flogging, the weight of the cross, the crown of thorns forcibly placed on his head. He knew the separation between himself and God would take place.
His heart was heavy.
He knew yet he chose ~ to love us.
He knew and He continued to press forward in obedience.
He knew the nails that would pierce his hands.
He knew hearts would grow cold against him and the hatred from the people.
In the courtyard in John 21:7 someone said to Peter, “You knew him”… and Peter said, “No I have no idea who he is” … “No I don’t know him”. Three times Peter denied Jesus.
Three times as Jesus had predicted to him and on the third denial the rooster crowed and Peter immediately remembered what Jesus had said, “You will deny me three times”…
his heart was full of grief and remorse and anguish because of what he had done.
After the resurrection Peter and the ‘guys’ were back to fishing. It was the only thing they knew to do.
A figure came near them in the water they realized it was Jesus. John 21:7 Peter jumped out of the boat to go to him. Pastor said his heart was so broken by what he had said that he ‘raced’ to go see Jesus even in the water. (Like a long lost friend returning) Jesus said to them in verse 12, “Come have breakfast.” The disciples didn’t have to ask who he was they knew it was the Lord.
Later on as they were talking Jesus said in vs 15, “Peter do you love me?” and Peter said yes.
Then Jesus asked again in vs 17: “Peter do you love me?” and Peter by now frustrated by the questions said, “Yes again” in the voice tone of …’I am hurt you would even ask me again.’
Then Jesus asked a third time, “Peter do you love me?” at that point Peter was hurt and sad over the fact that Jesus did not believe him. Jesus was restoring the relationship that Peter had broken. When Jesus needed him the most, when he needed the support in the most intense way.
Three times. He denied. 
Three times he was asked by Jesus ~ it was more like the question of, “where is your heart Peter?”
Jesus was restoring Peter’s identity to him. As a friend and as a brother who loved him.
It was a confirmation from Jesus that they both knew the significance of the three questions.
I am wondering if there was an opportunity between you and Jesus.
What three questions would Jesus ask you today?
