Unconditional Love

God gave me this commission two weeks ago and He wanted me to share it with you, (that is anyone who is willing to read this).

You see, God loves each of us unconditionally. While we were still SINNERS, Christ died for us. It can be hard to love unlovable people. People who are mean, rude, uncaring, don't attract our affections. But God loved us, while we were this way, enough that He was willing to die for us so that He could be with us for all of eternity.

God, told me that Sunday a couple of weeks ago, that He wants me to begin to practice this kind of love toward all the people in my life. First my spouse and children. Then my extended family, friends, and acquaintances. And last strangers that I will run across. Unconditional love. What does that mean exactly? To me, the purest definition is love with no strings attached. It means I choose to love you no matter how you act toward me. You may disappoint me, irritate me, or completely fail me and I will still love you. It means actively loving by serving you, praying for you, being compassionate and kind toward you, and by always giving you the benefit of the doubt.
So with the Grace of God and to the best of my ability in Him, I pledge to love those in my life unconditionally. I hope you will too.
Lastly I want to share an excerpt from the devotional book I like called God Calling.
This is God directly talking to us.
"Never judge. The heart of man is so delicate, so complex, only its Maker can know it. Each heart is so different, actuated by different motives, controlled by different circumstances, influenced by different sufferings.
How can one judge of another? Leave it to Me the unravelling of the puzzles of life. Leave to Me the teaching of understanding. Bring each heart to Me, its Maker, and leave it with Me. Secure in the certainty that all that is wrong I can set right."

Isn't that profound? I love it! I choose to love unconditionally! Will I ever mess up? Yes! And I hope you will still love me unconditionally...

Stellan

Today, I am thinking of baby Stellan and his family. Stellan is a 5 month old baby who is going into a very risky heart surgery right now, even as I type. His is an amazing story of God's grace. If you want to check out his story here is the website http://mycharmingkids.blogspot.com/
Wow, I just can only imagine how is parents are feeling right now. His parents were told that he would die in the womb! But he was born seemingly very healthy. Lately his heart problems have come back and his case has been practically untreatable. So the doctors decided to do a heart ablation. It is something they normally don't do on babies. But it has come to the last resort.
So a few minutes ago a young mother had to say goodbye to her beautiful son, knowing full well the risks of the operation. She had to say goodbye totally trusting God and putting Stellan's life in God's hands. What a great place to put it though.
She says she is totally at peace. God's supernatural peace is surrounding her at this moment.
All we have to do is ask and the peace of God which transcends understanding will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Thank you God! Thank you that you are always there when we call. Thank you that you are a simple acknowledgement away, always forgiving when we ask, always loving unconditionally. Be with this family today God and show yourself strong on their behalf.

Truth

Real truth is based on the Word of God. The Word of God is the standard we look to when determining what is true and what is not. Who or What has the final say in your life? Oprah? Channel 5 news? Your emotions?
We cannot even trust our emotions to tell us the truth! We cannot trust our bodies to tell us the truth. Our bodies might be screaming, "I'm sick!!!" But the Word of God says, "By His stripes we WERE healed!" I know, it's hard to make sense of that sometimes. But by meditating on the Word, we can get a revelation, and all of the sudden "know" the truth. "By Golly, if God says I am healed then I AM healed!" For God is not a man that He should lie!
T.V. and newspapers constantly blare doom and gloom and scary things. This is when we have to focus on the truth, the Word of God and the thousands of promises for us that are in it!

Philippians 4:8
Whatever is noble, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Without This I am Nothing

1 Corinthians 13 says:

If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Wow. This verse really hit me anew when I read it this time.
I have been praying and asking God for a lot of things. I have been earnestly seeking after a lot of things lately. I have asked God for more faith. I have asked him for health. I have asked him for finances.
I asked God to lead me in my Bible reading last night and this verse is where He led me.
Basically, He was saying to me, You can have all these things, Kristi, but without love YOU ARE NOTHING.

The first step for each of us is to receive God's love for us. How many times have we heard, "God loves you"? I think it kind of just bounces off of us we've heard it so many times. But how many of us really know that God loves us and accepts us? We have to receive His love, and then we will be able to truly love Him back. And then our lives will be about love. God is love. Our lives will be about loving God and others. Our lives will be about God.
This is the thing we must seek first. And then the rest will come.

Fix Your Eyes of Jesus

Thanks to my sister, Joni, for leading me to this verse today.
Life has been stressful lately. Too many times, I look away from Jesus, who is my peace, and set my eyes on my circumstances.
God has shown me time and again that the only way to keep my peace is to keep my eyes fixed steadily on Him.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hallelujah! What a terrific verse. It's all about perspective friends! What perspective are you looking at life from? Are you looking through the perspective of fear, doubt, worry, and stress? Then you have your eyes on your circumstances! We all do that at times. We have to train ourselves to keep our eyes on Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith!

Psalm 91

When I moved to Austin with my husband and children, I felt like I was loosing everything that ever made my world solid. I had to leave my family, my church, my friends, and my new house. I had to give it all up and venture into a world unknown. It was terrifying, to say the least.
I spent my days before the move mostly crying.
When we were driving down there, God spoke to me in my spirit through a Bible verse. I clung to that verse like a drowning man would cling to a hand held out to him. It was God holding His hand out to me, saying, "Hang on daughter, just hang on to me."
The verse was Psalms 91:1 -
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I would say that verse over and over. I remember it the most when I was in my car. My kids would say, "Mom, why do you keep saying that verse?" But it was my safe place. God became my safe hiding place. Our stay in Austin accomplished a lot. I was able to do some growing up, learn that I could survive without my family. Danny got his culinary degree. We made a lot of great friends and so did our kids. But most of all I learned that God was my safe hiding place! I learned to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. It's the best place on earth.
Whenever I start to fear I know that I have left my safe place and must run home. I have to find my way home in order to survive.
I went on to memorize most of Psalm 91. ( Unfortunately I have forgotten a lot of it) The whole chapter is amazing! I would encourage you to read it. Even every day if possible. You will find jewels of great worth in that chapter.
Let God be your safe hiding place! Seek to dwell in the secret place of the Most High God. Do what ever it takes to get there. Sell all you have and buy the field of great worth.

Waiting

There is a Godly kind of waiting that the Bible speaks of.
Psalm 27:14 says:
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Isiah 40:31 says:
Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up on wings as eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

When most of us think of waiting, we think of sitting around twiddling our thumbs or something like that. That is not the kind of waiting that God is talking about. I've been listening to John Waller's song, "While I'm Waiting". It is the most amazing song. I highly recommend it! If you can, go listen to it. You can get on utube and type in John Waller and some choices will come up.
This song talks about the Godly kind of waiting, it says, "I will worship will I'm waiting, I will serve you while I'm waiting." It talks about being patient and taking every step in obedience.
You see, God's promises are true and when you pray God's will then He will work in your life. It may not always turn out the way you want it to but He will always work for your good. One thing I have noticed about God is that there is almost always a waiting period. When we pray for healing, for finances, or a loved ones salvation usually God is going to give us some directions, some steps to take and we are going to have to be obedient. And then we are going to have to wait. Sometimes we wait a short time and sometimes until it almost seems too late. But God is never too late, He is always right on time.
So how long do we wait before we give up? God says, "As long as it takes, my child, as long as it takes."
So serve Him while your waiting! Worship while your waiting!