God’s Thoughts Toward Us

I asked: “Lord, what are Your thoughts toward me right now?”

And He replied:

You are My Beloved

You are My chosen child

You are cherished by Me

I am well pleased with you

You are pleasing to Me

I am delighted in you

You are delightful to Me

In response I experienced:

His rejoicing over me

Embraced in His bosom

Gentle embrace

Warm hug

Fierce embrace

Firm hug

Tight squeezes

Cradling me in His bosom

Rocking me in His bosom

Swinging me in His arms

Twirling me with His arms

Dancing with me

Leading and coaxing me to follow

Waltzing

Free-style dancing

Throwing me up into the air and catching me

Laughing with joy over me

His eyes light up

Laughing eyes

Eyes glistening with delight and favor

Eyes crinkling with 

Smile

Laughter

Delight

Over His

Enjoyment 

of me

Whispers of love

Whispers of sweet-nothings

Cooing over me

Delighting in me and in my company

Pure delight

In me

His beloved

His creation

His reflection

Yes 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made

And I know it full well

Because God made me

Out of His own heart and love

As His reflection

To cherish

To enjoy

To shower His love

And to take JOY 

In

Me

 Heart’s Soil

It’s so easy to read the Bible for others

Listen to a sermon thinking of others

How this truth would be helpful for so and so

If only so and so reads or hears this

So thoughtful 

Thinking of others

Wanting to share with others

Wanting to bless others

This can apply to that person’s situation

This is just want the other person needs to hear

Meanwhile

Our own heart’s soil can be hardened

Thinking we are all good

These truths don’t really apply to us

We’ve got it

We’re in good standing with God

We’ve got no real struggles

Life is easy-peasy 

It’s what others need

We don’t have these struggles…

The problem of the elder son who

Stayed faithful serving his father

Never even asking for a party 

He kept his head down and hands to the plow

Dutiful

Diligent

Unable to enjoy the journey

Or pause to receive his father’s approval 

Unable to 

Stop

Rest

Delight 

Contemplate

Always working

Always serving

Missing out on the Father’s pleasure 

Working and not stopping

Giving and not receiving 

Missing out on the 

Tender 

Gentle

Heart of the Father

Some downsides of those who do right and have not faltered much are

The temptation to be 

Self-sufficient

Self-confident

Self-assured 

Of our own righteousness 

That our hearts can become hardened

No longer able to 

Hear the sweet whispers of the Holy Spirit of

His desire to pour His love into our hearts

Or allow Him to celebrate us

Soften our hearts O God

Melt our hearts

Cause our hearts to be like streams of water in Your hands

Where Your Sweet Holy Spirit can freely reign

and redirect our hearts 

Back to Your bosom

Back to Your gentle and firm embrace

Back to Your passionate love

Back to Your whispers of love

To gaze intently on Your loving face

To receive from You 

Your pleasure 

Your approval

Your enjoyment of us

Bring us back O Lord

To sweet fellowship with You

Back to the circle of love between

God the Father

Jesus the Son and 

The Holy Spirit 

Back into Your circle of love and fellowship

Joining You in 

Your Triune community 

Of 

Love

The Potter and the Clay

“Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” (Romans 9:20-21)

God is the Potter and we are the clay

After He designs us

He forms us

Shapes us and

Makes us into His perfect creation

We see His handiworks in everyone

Some we see as beautiful vessels

Some not so attractive to the eye

Some seem to glisten in the light

While others appear dull

Some appear to be for practical use

While others might appear ornamental

From our human mindset

It makes sense for the beautiful ones

The glistening ones

The ornamental ones

To be on display

Front and center

For the useful ones to be placed in readily accessible spots

In God’s Kingdom

Yet

In what we see and experience

This is not always the case

It appears as if God tucks away

Some beautiful ones

Some glistening ones

Some practical ones

On a shelf

Away from the light

Not being showcased

Not being used

Yes we know that

“God uses the foolish things of the world 

to confound the wise

God has chosen the weak things of the world 

to confound things which are strong”

We get that

It is about God’s sovereignty

He is after all 

The Potter

And we are merely the clay

But Lord

What’s the purpose of making a beautiful vessel

And not display it

Why create someone who is gifted in something

And not place the person 

In the right spot to use it

If You have made the person into a potentially useful vessel

Why not put the vessel to use

Why leave it on a shelf

Or only partially use it

Oh the confounding thoughts of God

Oh the confounding ways of God

Your ways are higher than our ways

And Your thought higher than our thoughts

Will You then enable me to see 

Through Your eyes

Help me to see the world 

Through the unique set of eyes You’ve made in me

That my eyes might be a channel of 

what You see 

of my corner of the world 

Take my heart and make it Yours

That my heart might be moved and broken

According to Your heart

In my sphere

In my life

In my little corner of the world

Not according to my expectations

Not according to my desires

Not according to the giftings I see 

In whichever corner or spacious spot

You place Your vessels

Make my thoughts Your thoughts

Make my heart Your heart

That You might have Your way

First in me

Then in my loved ones

As I

As we

All 

Surrender to 

Your thoughts

Your purposes

Your ways

That 

Your Kingdom come

Your will be done

On earth

In our lives

As 

It

Is

 

In

Heaven

The Faith of the Sinner

Luke 7: 36-50

The woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears

wiped them with her hair and kissed His feet

and anointed Him with ointment from an alabaster flask

This sinner

Had faith that Jesus has forgiven her of her many sins

She had not yet asked for forgiveness

But she knew

Her sins were forgiven by Jesus

In response to this forgiveness which she has not yet asked for

She was filled with 

Gratitude

Love

Joy

And she demonstrated her gratitude

By her tears of gratefulness

By her kissing of Jesus’ feet

By anointing Jesus with ointment

For she knew her sins were many

And Jesus’ forgiveness was even greater

All before she asked for forgiveness

Jesus

Saw her faith

Knew her many sins

Was pleased by her faith

as demonstrated by her gratitude

Out of His compassion

And pleasure in seeing her faith

Granted her 

Forgiveness

And blessed her with

Peace

“Your faith has saved you

Go in peace”

You and Me

Jesus promised 

Whatever we ask for in prayer

Believe that we have received it

And it will be ours

Forgiveness

God the Father can’t wait to grant us forgiveness 

He is bursting at the seams waiting for us to ask for it

Forgiveness

Through His Son Jesus

Who died for us on the cross

Even before we repented of our sins

God saw our every sin

Before we committed even one

Before we asked for forgiveness

Jesus went to the cross

In anticipation of our asking

So that when we do ask

God’s forgiveness is awaiting us

The punishment of our sins fully paid for

Faith is the Key

Do we have the faith of this woman in Luke 7

Do we have the faith that 

Even before we ask

God has already granted us forgiveness

God rejoices over us with singing

Angels join Him in the heavenly realm with ruckus celebration 

When each of us come to faith

Hold on to Who God is

His love for us

Demonstrated by Christ’s death on the cross

His grace and mercy poured out for us

as His side was pierced and blood flowed out

Christ died on the cross in anticipation of our sins

Christ rose from the dead 

To demonstrate His power and authority

To forgive us of our sins

Forgiveness is waiting for you

Now

Take it

Total Surrender

Lord, here am I

Send me

Lord, show me where You want me to go

and I’ll go

I’ll go

Now show me where You want me to go

Subtle differences?

This was a huge paradigm shift for me

I’ve always wanted to know first

Where God wants to send me

I can then negotiate 

and consider

What I wanted

What I’m willing to do

But to first 

Commit

To God

And being willing to go wherever

Without first knowing where

This is a game-changer

Total commitment

Total surrender

to God’s will

Giving God the blank check

Where-ever

What-ever

How-ever

Which-ever

Now and 

When-ever

Lord have mercy

My conditional obedience has been exposed

Lord have mercy

Help me to step down from the throne of my life

And give You 

Your rightful place

You

Sit and

Reign 

On the throne of my life

You call the shots

You set Your agenda

You determine the 

What

Where

When

How

Total trust in You because of 

Who You are

The Creator Who formed me in my mother’s womb

The Ever-Lasting God Who saw 

my every day before one day came into being

The All-Knowing God Who knew

my every thought before I had each one 

The Ever-Present God Who was with me

In my darkest nights

And my highest heights

The Perfect

Loving

All Powerful

Wonderful

Attentive

Heavenly Father

You Who love me and call me 

Your very own

Your beloved

Your precious child

Your masterpiece

If You love me more than I can possibly love myself

If You have the power to create the world

And to place me

In such a time as this

In such a place as this

Why wouldn’t You possibly

Have Your perfect plan for me

as You so generously allow me to 

Take part in Your Kingdom

Take part in Your Will

May I

By Your mercy

Respond

To Your love

Your calling

Your will

Step down from my self-importance

Step down from my own control

Step down from my self-will

Step down from my selfish desires and wants

Submit finally

Now

To Your will

Lord have Your way 

In me

By Your mercy

Increase my faith

For I do believe

But help me with my unbelief

I do desire to do Your bidding

Help me with my holding back

Lord

Have 

Mercy

And

Have Your way 

In me

“I’ll go. Now show we where you want me to go.” Renaissance Church. (2021, August 16). What it means to be human [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/zBK0b2bR0Ao?t=1408

"I Shall Not Want" - Audrey Assad

"I Surrender" - Hillsong Live

"Here I Am Send Me" - Darlene Zschech

Christ Our Atonement

In the Old Testament

Offerings were made in the temple to rid people of sins

Sin Offerings for unintentional sins committed

Guilt Offerings for when one isn’t certain if one has sinned

Intentional sins are not forgivable

One cannot intentionally commit sin and offer a sacrifice after

Lashes are meted out and restitutions made

when premeditated sins were committed

During Yom Kippur

Forgiveness is sought between man and God

Since it’s the day when one’s name will be recorded in 

The Book of Life or Death 

According to one’s behaviors for the year

Practicing Jews ask for forgiveness from others

Make restitutions for sins committed

And ask to be reconciled with one another

So they could face God and be reconciled with Him

Ensuring their names be recorded in 

The Book of Life

For the year

Intentional sins however

Are not forgiven

Not even during Yom Kippur

The Priest offers sacrifices on behalf of the people

To postpone the eventual punishment for intentional sins:

Death

When one offers a four-footed animal as an offering at the temple

The offerer would lay his hand on the sacrificial animal

to transfer his sins onto the animal

The offerer then kills the animal

identifying with the punishment of his sins

The Priest takes over the rest of the sacrificial ritual

After the sins are transferred and animal killed

Holy God’s punishment meted out for our sins

Unintentional and intentional

The ultimate cost of our sins

Death

When Christ became our Sacrifice

He took on the punishment due us

He received 39 lashes on our behalf

He was nailed to the cross 

His body pierced 

His blood shed

He died on the cross

Holy God is satisfied

As sins are dealt with

And punishment meted out

Only Christ can meet God’s criteria of a sacrificial lamb

Christ the Perfect Lamb

Christ paid the cost of our sins

Christ the Sacrificial Lamb

God satisfied

Our sins atoned

Christ is our 

Sin Offering cleansing us of our sins

Guilt Offering easing us of guilty conscience

Peace Offering to reconcile us with God

Fellowship Offering to restore our relationship with God

 Christ the only Son of God

Christ the Perfect Sacrifice

Christ the Triune God

Has become our

Atonement

"Divine Exchange" by People and Songs

"Cleansed" by Christy Gayle

"Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb" by People and Songs

Pandemic Reflections

When the shut-down started

Time crawled slowly

Waiting with bated breath

For the shut-down to be lifted

Days went by

Counting weeks

As the months went by

Time sped up

Each day flew by quickly

How could it be the weekend again 

When it felt like Monday was only yesterday

My private practice picked up

Therapy sessions shot up

One of my Love Languages is Quality of Time

Meeting with my patients was spending time

Daily

All day and night

With people I enjoy

Time just flew

There were also downsides though 

No more bandwidth for ministry

Missed out on new Youth Group meeting times

Not available during new Children’s Church meeting times

Playdates with my spiritual daughters’ children over Zoom 

Were not so fun

It was the most difficult part of the pandemic for me

No more going to places with them

To play and to facilitate their play

Indoor arcades and outdoor playgrounds

Frequenting Barnes and Noble with my Addie

Grandkids hating Zoom

One of my granddaughters announced at the top of a Zoom date:

“I am over it!”

How I agreed with her

Missing out on delicious desserts and meals

when I met with my spiritual daughters over discipleship

That was a true bummer for me

We only got to watch each other eat 

instead of sharing one another’s food

Meeting over Zoom or over the phone though

Made meeting with adults easier

No more fighting traffic to drive from one place to the next

Just stayed home and spent time over teleconferencing

Friday night Bible Studies broadened 

With friends joining from different states

Worshiping on Sundays over Zoom

Catching up with everyone after the service

Seeing my extended families over Zoom

With opportunity to speak with my family members everyday

Margin of time was gained on the weekends

More time to spend with hubby

Picked up drawing and sketching again

Listened to so many more audiobooks

Stayed up late into the night binge-watching Netflix

Got addicted to K-Drama

Went away on vacation breaks

To experience changes of scenery 

And to enjoy nature

Refreshed and rejuvenated

Reset button pushed

Ready to face pandemic life anew each time

As we recover from the Pandemic

Great to see brothers and sisters again

Getting back to seeing people in person

Catching up with one another in outdoor venues

Worshipping with one another 

In person 

Inside church 

Again

New things to come

New normal to adapt to

Incorporating new lessons learned 

Hopefully 

From the pandemic

What Satan meant for evil

God meant for good

With positive and negative experiences and all