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Devotional ~ Precious

👋 Hey there! Do you ever hit pause and really stop to think about how precious you are to God? Websters Dictionary defines precious as of great value or high price; highly esteemed or cherished. Cherished. You are so special to the One who created you. Who breathed life into you and oh how He loves you! If you could count the grains of sand would you be able to comprehend how loved you truly are? The depth of His love for you is far more than you can ever imagine.

God’s love is amazing, exceptional, never ending, words on earth probably don’t even begin to touch on how truly precious we are to Him. When I think about God and His love, it is humbling to know I am precious to Him. You are precious to God and you can have comfort knowing that He is watching over you. What an amazing, awesome, and wonderful God we serve. I pray that your day is blessed beyond measure and the you will see God at work in and around you today and every day. God bless. ❤

Devotional ~ Expectation

Expectation. Have you ever expected something to happen only to be disappointed when it didn’t turn out the way you thought it would or even should? Maybe you had plans to do something and those plans fell through. Or someone said that they would do something and for some reason didn’t. When our expectations fall on man’s shoulders or even our own we can’t have the assurance that everything will always work out all of the time.

There have been times when people have said that they would do something and for one reason or another didn’t follow through with it. That feeling of disappointment thinking that whatever didn’t happen was somehow my fault. I also remember times when I have done the same thing unintentionally, and how I felt to disappoint someone. It is unfortunate and uncomfortable when it happens, that feeling of letting someone down. And while it isn’t a good feeling, I’m certain I’m not the only one who has felt that way at one time or another.

But when we put our expectation in God, we have the assurance that He will not disappoint. He is our rock and our salvation. He delivers on what He says He will do. He is our defense and He will keep us protected. With God as our protector we can rest in the knowledge that no weapon formed against us will prosper. 

O God, You are my rock, my salvation. You defend me from the attacks of my enemy. I wait on You, O God, for I trust in You and my expectation is in You alone. Man cannot move mountains, create a world filled with beauty, or speak life into an empty void. But You did that and more. You planned for man's redemption through the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ. May I always honor You in all that I do. Create in me a clean heart, daily renew a right spirit in me. Abba I love You with all that I am and I trust in You. I thank You for loving me and praise Your holy name, in Jesus name amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

God bless and have a wonderful day! ❤

Today’s Devotional~

Jesus is our peace. His peace is all encompassing. His love for us is without fail beyond anything that we can imagine. And if you know me, I have a pretty good imagination. If you are like me, you can probably make out all types of interesting shapes, objects, and animals in the clouds or even in plants. One year, I found the face in the dying flower of a Christmas cactus.

And in that regard, try to imagine if you will just how deeply loved you truly are by the Father. By Jesus.

This peace that the Lord gives us, He willingly chose to bridge the gap, by tearing down the wall that separated us from God. By giving us a way to the Father, He gave us a way to an everlasting peace unlike anything we can imagine. We need only to accept it.

I pray that your day is blessed and that you will find peace, and joy in the little things around you. Look beyond the material to what is eternal. God bless!

Hidden Beauty~God Sees Our Inner Beauty

Not long ago my sister sent me some photos of flowers in her garden for me to paint. When I first saw this flower I was struck by the vibrant color and unique shape. Usually a flower’s beauty is seen immediately and not hidden.

Sometimes the uniqueness captures our curiosity causing us to pause and check it out. Isn’t it amazing how God will create something with a unique shape, a vibrant color, or both to capture our attention? When I see a flower like the first one above, that’s unique and different, I want to flip it upright to see underneath it. As I studied this hidden gem, I thought about how God sees our inner beauty. But what do we see? Do we see the outside of a person, their cloak that hides their true beauty? Or like God, do we see the inner beauty of a person? I’d like to say I always see the inner beauty of people but unfortunately that isn’t always the case.

Usually when I meet people, I’m friendly, non-judgmental, and accept them as they are. However, there have been times I’m sad to say when I’ve seen someone and judged them based on appearance. When I’ve had to ask for forgiveness because of my attitude. I think it’s called being jaded. When you’ve seen the uglier side of life, it can happen. You base your opinion on past experiences instead of the present. It can happen to anyone not just people who’ve seen the uglier side of life. Regardless, it’s inexcusable considering that we as God’s children aren’t supposed to be that way. Not anymore. Not when we are a new creature. When we’ve put away the old and put on the new. We are to have wisdom and discernment and sometimes, we’ll feel that nudge from the Lord cautioning us to be careful, that’s when we need to listen. But when we look at someone based on appearance, that isn’t of the Lord and that’s when we need to repent of our judging attitude. Jesus tells us

Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Luke 6:37

He also said,

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

John 7:24

But unfortunately it happens. If we only see with our eyes, and not listen with our ears, we’ll miss out on the true inner beauty of the person God created them to be. When we do we are the one to miss out on a hidden gem. God bless!

I’m Waiting…

Have you ever shared something with someone and before you could finish speaking they interrupt you by talking over you to tell you something that they or a family member did was better? Or maybe you’ve walked up on a group of people standing around talking and it was as though each person had a better story to share, a better item, or their child did such and such and well, you get the idea. I can remember walking up on a group of people talking all at once trying to make themselves heard and of course no one could hear what the other people were saying.

I wonder. How does God feel when He is talking to us, and we interrupt Him talking over Him, and simply not listen to what He is saying? I can almost envision Him rubbing His chin deep in thought and then stepping back holding up His hands and saying something like okay when your ready to listen, I’ll be over here waiting for you and then He steps back. I can almost see the Lord strolling by stopping next to His Father, waiting with Him as He prays for us, interceding on our behalf. Can you hear the Father sighing and Jesus responding with a light chuckle saying something like You did send Me to save them and God replying with a remark similar to this…I did and I love them dearly but do they realize they’re acting like children? Can you hear the deep belly laughter as Jesus agrees and continues to intercede?

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

John 17:9

Jesus goes on to say in verse 20

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word

John 17:20

That’s you and me! If Jesus was willing to die for us because God asked Him to do this one thing that we might have a relationship with Him; and Jesus did it out of obedience to His loving Father, shouldn’t we stop and listen to what the Father is saying to us? To grow and mature and not stay as children? I can almost see the smile as His children pause and run back to Him saying…Forgive me for not listening to You earlier, please teach me, tell me what You want me to know. I pray you will take the time to stop and really listen to what God has to say to you. God bless!