What Has God Rescued You From?

04.03.2018 by Tracy Stella //

Welcome to April with its promise of fresh spring flowers soon to follow. I’m looking forward to seeing new blooms bud, green grass come alive, and sunshine rays to warm my skin. You too?

I (Tracy) pray you had a beautiful Easter and are still basking in the hopeful glow of resurrection Sunday. Because Jesus died and rose from the grave defeating death and sin, we have good news to look forward to every day of our lives.

His resurrection rescued me and you, not just for yesterday and today, but for all time.

Heaven with Jesus sounds a whole bunch better than hell!

My grandma would have said, “The world is going to hell in a handbasket.” According to Wikipedia, that phrase describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately.1

Hell is a disaster. However, it IS fully escapable.

Christ died so we wouldn’t have that dreadful destination in our future.

We all sin. We all need a Savior!

Maybe you are like I used to be. Easter meant chocolate bunnies, dyeing eggs, and baskets with way too much candy. Those things are all fine, of course, but they miss something very important. Rather, Someone. Jesus. The One who died to cover our sin. The One who died to save us. The One who loved (and loves) the world. Each and every one of us.

Periodically, as a little girl I would go to mass with my grandparents. I’d hear the adults echo the priest. “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us.”

I followed along, not knowing what the refrain meant.

Lamb? What’s with the lamb? And why does grandma make that little lamb cake anyhow? I was always fond of its creamy frosting and coconut shavings, not to mention its moist, melt-in-your-mouth texture. We’d gather in her sunroom. She called it her solarium. Family tucked around the table, views of the farm on three sides, and weather permitting, a nice warm breeze through the open windows, sure to let the dust in from the over-sized U-shaped gravel drive.

Grandma cut into that cake and my taste buds danced in delight once its yummy goodness met my mouth.

At best growing up I was a Chris-Easter, and that not even every year. I went (sometimes) because that’s what people do on Christmas and Easter, even if they don’t understand why.

The little lamb cake symbolic of THE Lamb of God who took away our sin. If you haven’t dove deep into the old testament, you may not know that Jews had to sacrifice animals to atone for (a “fancy” way of saying cover) their sins. When the Israelites sinned, they needed to sacrifice an animal. (Gross, I know!)

I go into all that because I had asked someone who went to mass most of his life what the Lamb of God meant. He didn’t know either. We can’t assume just because we hear something, even repeatedly, that we know what it means.

Sometimes people do things merely because that’s what people do. Like follow the leader, everyone does it.

But God wants us to be critical thinkers. After all, He designed us with brains. He wants us to ponder. To dig in. To learn. To grow. To grow to know Him in and through it all.

The Lamb of God is Jesus. He was sacrificed on a cross. His death covered all our sin. All! Everything every one of us ever did (or will do). Nothing and no one is beyond the reach of His redemption.

Yes, He saved me from hell. But He saved me from so much more than that! Hell is significant, so I don’t want to skip over it. No one wants to go there! It’s a place of torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:27-29). Our worst day here on earth is microscopic in its misery compared to what hell will be like for those who do not choose to surrender their lives to Jesus.

However, it’s His love for us that so clearly spells all that out in the Bible. He wants us to know, because He doesn’t want hell for any of us! Remember His proof? He was willing to die as proof of His love for us. (John 3:16)

He wants us safely tucked with Him as heaven descends upon earth and we spend all eternity with Him. No more sin. No more tears. Peace. Productive. A city bustling with activity. Toss any images out of your mind of floating on a cloud strumming harps. They’re just not true. But music is allowed. Oh, there will be music!

Read the Bible. Sit down with a friend. Process what you are learning together. Again, think critically. Ask questions. I still have some. It’s okay. It doesn’t mean I don’t believe in Jesus. It just means some things about faith are confusing … and they require, well, faith.

Imagine me sitting tucked under a blanket in a rubbed worn chair near a pile of books stacked precariously high, coffee always close at hand, and a journal handy to jot down prayers and process my thoughts. My feet propped on the chair’s partner, matching worn footrest, because sometimes it’s good to sit awhile. Oh, and I can’t forget my little dog Enoch who gets some quality cuddle time with me as I explore God’s Word each morning, reflecting on what it says and what it means in my life.

One of the best questions I have learned to ask is this:

What is that saying, God?

I pray before I read, asking for God’s help to understand what the Bible is saying, and what He is saying to me through it. I pray before writing these blog posts, because He knows who will read them and what each reader needs (and He knows what I need in the writing of it). Because I trust Him, I trust that process. And I trust the outcome to Him as well.

As I sat in my scruffy chair, the word stagnation came to mind as I thought about what God has saved me from.

What has God rescued me from? Stagnation! It kept surfacing. Then, the Pool of Bethesda (although I didn’t know why).

I sensed they were related. Stagnation. Pool of Bethesda.

What are you saying God?

God’s insights and instruction are good things to ponder, of course.

Putrefy, decay, rot

Synonyms for stagnation.

God saved me from decay and rot. A graphic picture of what His goodness has delivered me from.

Stagnate means

To cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc.
To be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.
To stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing.
To be or become sluggish and dull.2

As I mulled these ideas over, I visualized a yellow-green, slime covered body of water. Without movement and current, water grows stagnant. It loses life. And stagnation can take life too. Little by little life loses vitality if we aren’t learning and growing.

I learn so much about who God is through Scripture’s pages. I also learn much about who I am and what He has for me as I read the Bible. Through its pages I receive healing and comfort, wisdom and direction. Life. I receive fresh life each day through its pages.

Sometimes, I walk away from my quiet time knowing I was changed because of what I read in Scripture that day. Sometimes, I walk away not knowing the significance in that moment. But when the need arises, I know the truth in God’s Word. I can draw upon His thoughts that live in the core of my heart and mind, because He placed them there a little at a time while we had coffee together each morning as the sun ushered in a new day.

Thoughts like, the Pool of Bethesda.

I’d read about it before. Lots of times. But I didn’t know what God wanted to say to me and you through it now. Fresh. Alive. Anything but stagnant.

You can read the entire account of the healing at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:1-15. I encourage you to (even if you’ve read it many times). I’ve shared an excerpt below.

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie─the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”─John 5:1-6 NIV

Several things stood out to me as I read through this text. First, Jesus attended a Jewish festival. There’s lots of debate in the commentaries as to which one, so I’ll leave that lie for today. Jewish festivals in general, though, were religious celebrations. Easter is a religious celebration. Interesting timing that God would bring this Scripture forward to use in such close proximity to our Easter celebration.

There were five covered colonnades where the disabled used to lie─the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. Think of the five colonnades as an ancient infirmary. Commentaries referred to a medical hypothesis that the five areas were used to separate patients.3 Disease has a way of spreading. Sin too.

So, we’re situated near this ancient infirmary near the pool of Bethesda where a great number of disabled people used to lie.

When I think of my story, I think of how long I lay near the pool of Bethesda desperately in need of healing, but not ever grasping for the healing God was handing out to me. Salvation. My life preserver. But it took me awhile to grasp it.

But I eventually did. I used to lie near the Pool of Bethesda.

I used to lie there.

Eventually, I wanted healing. God helped me into the pool of His mercy. That’s what the Pool of Bethesda means, house of mercy.3 God’s mercy is not just a one-time deal. He extends it over and over to me (and you too). As I learn and grow with Him, He keeps teaching me. Stretching me. Stirring up the waters.

He asks this question: Do you want to get well?

Do you want to get well? For your soul’s sake. For your eternal destiny?

Do you want to get well? So you can be assured of who you are? Of who you are to Him?

Do you want to get well? So you can make a difference in others’ lives? Healthy people help people.

Do you want to get well? Because just like I copied my grandma not knowing why, our children and grandchildren DO follow our example.

Do you want to get well? Because you know in your heart life isn’t meant to be lived the way you’ve been living it? (Whether you know Christ or not.)

Do you want to get well? Because peace and healing has been purchased for us all by Jesus’ sacrifice.

When we don’t experience the good things of God as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to come back to Him each time and say, “Lord, help me to step into the Pool of Bethesda. I want to get well.”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”─John 5:7 NIV

When the waters were stirred at the Pool of Bethesda, that’s when the healing happened. If circumstances feel stirred up in your life, God wants to bring healing, comfort, and mercy to you too.

If you ever feel alone in your struggle, know that you are not. God is with you. He will help you get into the Pool of Bethesda when the waters stir. Trouble in our lives has a way of stirring us closer to Christ Jesus. Let Him extend His merciful hand to you. He’s stirring the waters of healing even now. Will you get in?

When the disabled man finally got in the pool, God healed him “at once”.

When I think of how quickly God has brought healing in my life and how far He has traveled with me, it makes my eyes water with emotion. Nothing short of a miracle how far He can bring a wounded soul. Not idle. Not strumming harps. Sometimes jumping hurdles. But a really good place. I’m grateful!

And I know He wants that for you too!

He brings us into His peaceful presence. He accepts us as we are but loves us far too much to leave us that way.

The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who made him well.─John 5:15 NIV

I pray that is our story too. That we would each share how Jesus has made us well. It’s a process, not requiring perfection, but not settling for stagnation either. Whether we are saved six days or 60 decades, let’s not settle for stagnation.

Let’s step into the Pool of Bethesda, God’s house of mercy. If you want, we can wade in together.

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.

1 To hell in a handbasket. (2018, March 11). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_hell_in_a_handbasket

2 Stagnate. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/stagnate?s=t

3 Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

What Are You Desperate for God to Do?

03.06.2018 by Tracy Stella //

Welcome to Facets of Faith. Whether it’s your first time reading or you frequently join the conversation, our team hopes you’ll stick around to read the other perspectives for this month’s topic. Jennifer and Kim will share their hearts as to what they are desperate for God to do, and we have a new guest writer coming up in week four. The beauty of writing with a team is one of our perspectives will likely hit home with you. We pray God ministers to your hearts and minds as you read what God puts on our hearts to share with you. Be blessed sweet friends!

Have you ever had one of those days? You know the kind. The ones you think it would be so much easier to throw in the towel. Mentally you resign yourself, wanting nothing more than to check out and let someone else deal with the situation, project, or person.

I have never felt that way.

Not even once.

Ha!

Not true!

Some days I am full of joy and zest for life, passion overflowing, spilling upon everyone around me. I like those days. I like myself on those days. Sunny side up. Lots of yellow to brighten spirits, mine and others’.

But what about the days when I feel downcast and discouraged?

Those are the days when I need extra doses of God and His love for me. Those are the days when I don’t care what any human being has to say (no offense intended). Human voices may be the very ones who discouraged me most that day.

Oh, I know intellectually where the source of that discouraging voice comes from. The enemy is on the sidelines gloating when he sees any of God’s children gloomy and discouraged. Perhaps he enjoys it the very most when he thinks he is interfering with God’s plan for our lives. He deludes himself into thinking he can win. But he’s not on the winning team!

Some days I need to remind him – and myself – of that fact.

According to Merriam Webster, discourage means

1: to deprive of courage or confidence: dishearten

2a: to hinder by disfavoring

2b: to dissuade or attempt to dissuade from doing something

Recently, discouraging words were spoken within my earshot. It wasn’t a word or two. It went on and on for an extended period. The longer the conversation continued, the more I withered inside. Unbeknownst (at first) to the person, little by little the lies of the enemy began to drown out the sweet still small voice of the Lord. Each word the person spoke stabbed at my heart. I wanted to leave, but I felt trapped.

Chisel, chisel, chisel … the words chipped away at my heart and my spirit. I went from excited about what God is doing in my life to disheartened.

Not because of anything God had said or done. This wasn’t the voice of encouragement, or even quiet correction that God might need to give. No. This voice was downright discouraging, intent on stealing every ounce of courage and joy within me as I embark upon a new endeavor.

I know why that happened. God has plans for my life. They are good. They involve others. I feel like there are amazing things He has on the horizon. My strategic brain can see His fuzzy plan in the distance. Not every step mind you, but some strong hints at where we’re going. And it’s good. It’s awesome. And the enemy wants to discourage my heart in the infancy of this new endeavor. He wants to silence me before I’ve barely gotten started.

The enemy wants to steal my courage. Remember, that’s what discouragement is, a stealing of our courage. The enemy tries to steal, kill, and destroy us at every turn (John 10:10). Discouragement is one of the tools in his arsenal of weapons.

Because the enemy has been defeated, he attempts to make us walk in defeat.

Our task is to not let him, to be spiritually aware enough to shake off his slimy words intended to weigh us down.

Many of you have probably heard that God’s Word tells us 365 times not to be afraid. In other words, to take courage. Not to be discouraged.

In moments when I feel discouraged, I am most desperate to hear God’s voice.

In moments when I feel discouraged, I am desperate for God to encourage me. I NEED His encouragement. He knows EXACTLY what words I need to hear in any given moment.

I am DESPERATE to hear God’s sweet, encouraging words. He is always in my cheering section!

Yes! This way My dear! Don’t let anyone discourage you. If you need to borrow courage, I will give you Mine. You discern correctly. We are going somewhere really wonderful together. And we will do good things together. My love for you will drown out the deceptive voice of the discourager. Take courage, dear heart. Take courage. Through My encouragement, take courage. You know how it says in My Word that the humble come to Me and I hear them? I hear you. I hear your desperate cry for encouragement. I hear your silent prayer, from your heart, for help. I hear you, dear one. I hear you.

Maybe you needed to hear those words too. Are you desperate for encouragement? Know that God hears you. I pray God speaks the words your heart needs to hear and that you absorb them into the very fiber of your being. I pray you take courage from God’s encouragement to you. Because He’s got something good for you too!

God understands our needs and desires. He understands our desperation. I am grateful for His insight and understanding. I am grateful for His still small voice that continues to speak in the midst of our despair and discouragement, The Voice that guides our heart back into alignment with His view of us and our situation.

This doesn’t mean God will never correct us, but His voice isn’t the one condemning and chipping away at our courage. Never would God speak to us in that tone. Never!

For consider Him who endured such hostility against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.─Hebrews 12:3 NKJV

As I think about Jesus and His assignment to come and save the world through His death and resurrection, I wonder how discouraged He must have felt. He was on assignment from God the Father. He was sacrificing much! Ultimately, His life. But even before that, He gave His time, talent, and attention to those around Him. He ministered from a deep well of love. Yet He experienced hostility against Himself.

If Jesus can go to the cross for my sins and your sins too, can’t we consider Him and what His Word says?

Any sacrifice I am making is nothing compared to what Jesus sacrificed (obviously). Nothing! I heard some words that I wish I wouldn’t have. But I (none of us) has endured hostility anything like what Jesus had to endure as a result of people’s sin. My sin. Your sin.

If He can utter, forgive them Father for they know not what they do as He hung from a cross, what is left for me to consider? (Luke 23:24)

I have sinned. I have been given God’s free gift of forgiveness as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice. His death and resurrection conquered the hostility that came against Him and each of us as His followers. His death conquered MY hostility toward the gospel, because I didn’t ALWAYS believe. And even as I believe, I still do things out of alignment with God’s heart. I need to forgive, because I’ve been forgiven.

If we are His children, He left us with the greatest encouragement of all. One day, heaven will come down to earth and we will abide in a peaceful dwelling with Him for all eternity. Words of discouragement and deception will not exist. Sin, mine and others’, will not exist.

Until that time, we can take courage.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.─Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV

Jesus, who came to do good encountered great hostility and yet He still finished His assignment. He wants us to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares (ours and others) in order to run our race with endurance. God is the author and finisher of our faith. Let His Word encourage you when others’ words attempt to weigh you down. Nothing can weigh us down when we walk in the fullness of understanding of God’s truth. Our inheritance is to be seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). Nothing the enemy tries to say can change that. Nothing!

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.

Who Do You Love?

02.06.2018 by Tracy Stella //

Don’t instantly check out as you see our topic at FACETS this month. Yes, it’s about love. But perhaps God wants to speak something new to your heart through the words He has given Kim, Jennifer or myself. And you’ll definitely want to see what my friend Zolei shares on the topic of love in week four!

February. The month of love. But what if we aren’t in the mood? Sometimes that’s the case. Right? We know we should love, but we just don’t want to. We know we might be missing out, but we might avoid the muddy mess of it all too.

Who do you love?

Do you even want to? Or are you sick of trying? Maybe all you want to do is snuggle up with your dog. Show me an animal lover and you may see someone who’s been deeply hurt and finds it difficult to trust humans. (I may know a thing or two about that.)

Let’s face it. Love can be stickier than cotton candy. Love can melt our heart faster than chocolates left in the car on a hot summer day. Love can be messy! Love can leave a stain that makes us think to ourselves, “Perhaps it’s easier to just steer clear.”

Maybe your line sounds something more like this, “I’ll just deal with this empty, dry, loveless relationship until death do us part. I’ll endure it, but I won’t enjoy it.”

Friendships that sour and leave a bitter taste in our mouth. Loves lost, but not before first leaving us scarred. And scared. Familial love that didn’t look like it does in the bedtime stories of children safely nestled in their beds, mama and papa tucking them in before the child drifts off in dreamy slumber.

Love is not always easy. Love is more likely almost always hard. Love is work. Love isn’t the stuff of romantic comedies or fairy tales. Love is the stuff of in the trenches digging in and doing what’s right. And getting up the next day and putting loving well on repeat, not missing a beat. When we get it wrong? Fess up! Ask for forgiveness. A – pol- o – gize

Love is leaning in with intention. Love isn’t leaving when the going gets tough. I didn’t always know that.

My hope and prayer for everyone who finds this blog is that you realize while love isn’t easy, it’s possible and even necessary. Please, please don’t close yourself off to the idea of love. It’s not too lofty for anyone. It’s not too late.

Hope for authentic love is not lost. Whether that love you so desperately desire is for a partner, a friend, a child, a parent, or someone else, love is possible for you. But it will take some work on your part. I’ve done some work in that area myself.

But lean in to hear this…

It was worth it!

The hard work was absolutely worth it! I’ve walked through some love land mines. I could have been blown to bits, but I’m here. Still breathing. And smiling. Most days, heart full. And when it’s not, I run to Jesus and let Him fill me with His love, so I can operate from a place of confident boldness. I am loved.

I am loved! Which makes me able to love!

You are loved! Which makes you able to love!

If you haven’t received Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are loved!

But!

But you don’t have access to His power and ability to love others well. It’s only when we accept Jesus into our hearts that we are given the Holy Spirit (God in us). We don’t have strength to love the difficult people in our own power, but in God’s we can.

And you aren’t in your pursuit of love alone. God is love. God desires love for all His children. We were made to love, because we were made in His image.

If you want to receive Jesus into your heart, pray a simple prayer of surrender. “Jesus, I want to know You and Your love. I want to know how to love others well. I want and need Your power to do so. I give You my heart. Please help me to receive Your love and guidance for my life. Help me always to remain in Your love, power, and soundness of mind. Help me to be bold in my faith and in my love for You, myself, and others. Give me confidence and the ability to overcome my fears. In Jesus’ name, amen!”

Most of us are probably very familiar with the greatest commandments to love God and love others as ourselves. (See Matthew 22:36-39) Love coded into our DNA by design. When we go against love, we go against the grain of God’s plan for each of our lives. If we resist love, we resist God Himself.

By the way, one can be IN a relationship but not act in a loving way. I know we are all aware of this, but it’s worth mentioning. Just because we are partnered up with someone romantically or just because we are in a friendship with someone, doesn’t mean we are in a love relationship with them.

We can treat our friends less than loving. We can be unloving to our spouse. We can show our worst side to those closest to us as we show our sparkly, shiny selves to those further off in the distance.

I’ve been in ministry long enough to see, one never knows what goes on behind closed doors. If that’s you, sitting behind a door that you’d be completely embarrassed if someone peered behind and saw what really goes on… love is not too late for you either. Promise! It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. Redemption ALWAYS is!

No relationship. No disillusioned love is beyond hope. Hearts still beating? Hope’s still lingering! If there are old wounds to clean up, do so. It might be more work than if you were a newlywed, but God will help you. HE IS BIG ENOUGH! Don’t give up! Don’t throw in the towel when God is fully capable of cleaning up any mess we make!

Bounty may be the quicker picker upper, but God is the master cleanser and restorer. He not only cleans up. He makes new. Somehow better than when we first began if only we’ll hand our mess over to Him, and follow His lead as He helps us love well.

How do I know?

He’s done it for me! And He does it for me! (Because it’s a daily thing.)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.─2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

Some of you may know my story, that I was married before – and lost everything. Everything. But in the losing of─well─my life, I gained everything.

The gain was instant and gradual all at once. I was flooded with God’s love. A love so genuine, sweet, and authentic that it felt foreign – false almost. You know. Too good to be true. Only thing is … it wasn’t. God was (and is) good for His word. That felt foreign. Someone I could trust. But I could. And I can.

In the beginning I was terrified to trust God, or anyone else. I’d always trusted myself – trust your gut – until you find out that’s not the most reliable source.

I was so afraid to love, I almost lost it!

FEAR LIMITS LOVE

My fear of getting hurt by another human almost left my heart walled off from receiving a sweet gift from God. I have been gifted a wonderful second chance in a godly marriage.

But it almost didn’t happen.

Almost seven years down the line, I’m glad it did! And I’m so glad God understood my fear (and its source) and in His mercy and goodness made His plan for my life abundantly clear.

The Scripture above says God didn’t give us a spirit of fear.

Fear is from the enemy who wants to keep us isolated and alone. Love is from God. He is the source of our love. He gives us the power to love, on the days when it’s easy. And on the days when love takes work. Real life is made up of both.

Sometimes we can’t love in our own power. Those people that grate on our very last nerve. Like nails on a chalk board. The ones that aren’t easy to love are still lovable in God’s sight. Who do you love? You love them too!

That’s the kind of love we can’t do in our own power. That’s supernatural love.

Our scripture goes on to say God gives us a spirit of power. His power. We’re not in the business of loving the prickly ones in our own power, but His! I may have muttered quietly in my head a time or two, “Help me love this one well, Lord. Because if it’s up to me …. well, I’m pretty sure I’m going to blow it!”

An excerpt from the Message 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.”

“God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.”

When’s the last time you thought of love as being sensible? A gift? Perhaps. Bold? Sure. Sensible? Huh?

Sensible love is a gift.

Long after the adrenaline subsides and relationships settle into pleasant companionship, relationships of genuine concern, love roots in sensible plots of land. Flowers bloom from season to season. Soil fertilized well. Relationships fortified. Forged strong from some rough patches weathered well together. Fragrant blooms of fresh cut flowers still … because love and life aren’t assumed but invested in.

Who do I love?

I love God. I love others. I love myself, because not doing so is a form of insecurity and pride that is rooted so deep in fear that can strangle out love’s possibility for growth.

And I want love to grow.

So I’ll weed and water, preparing the soil of my heart to be ready to give and receive love.

In God’s power as we love others, we are not only giving gifts. We are receiving them too. For almost certainly what we plant, we will harvest. The more love we plant and nurture, the more love will grow, and the more we will receive. Pressed down. Full to overflowing.

I pray bushel baskets of love filled to capacity for you, sweet friend! I pray you are able to access God’s power (because it’s there for the asking) to love others well. And I pray when you do the hard work of loving others well, you see a bountiful harvest. And if you’ve been deeply hurt and are afraid to love, really love, that you are given a boldness and discernment from God to know who to trust with your heart. I pray God gives you spiritual eyes to see who will love you well. (Because God showed me and He was oh-so-right!) In Jesus’ name, amen!

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