I love every holiday, but two of my favorites are Christmas and Easter! Certainly I relish all of the secular parts of the celebrations: Santa Claus, reindeer, gifts, Easter bunnies and hiding and finding eggs! Yet truth be told, the spiritual celebrations are what capture my heart and soul. One holiday celebrates the humble birth of a Savior, the other His resurrection and hold over death.
I look to Jesus for how to live my life. I look to Jesus for how to love others when I feel irritated and spiteful. I look to Jesus for how to forgive myself and forgive those who have hurt me.
My walk with my Lord is the core of who I am. It isn't a perfect walk, not even close. Yet what I know for sure is that without that daily walk...I would be far more selfish, far more angry, far more unloving... Far less hopeful, far less joyful, far less optimistic and far less forgiving. For me...it's a hard walk, a disappointing walk when I fall so short of what God wants me to be. It's a faith walk, it's a daily workout and daily training. It just is NOT easy. It's often a struggle. I'm often not very good at putting God in the very center of all that I am and all that I do. Sometimes this Christian faith thing is not very pretty. But the remarkable gift...is that even when, as Ann Lamot says, "Jesus must be so disgusted with me that He could drink water from a dirty cat's dish"... I am deeply and forever God's child. I am deeply and forever loved!
And that makes ALL the difference in who I am and how I love others!
I love sayings that remind me about who God is and how He works in the world and works in my life. Here are a few of my recent favorites from the marvelous book HOPE...pure and simple by Max Lucado:
Allow God's love to change the way you look at you.
Before you go anywhere else with your disappointments, go to God.
Confession is telling God you did the thing he saw you do.
He doesn't need to hear it as much as you need to say it.
God never promises to remove us from our struggles.
He does promise, however,
to change the way we look at them.
God has plenty of compassion
He doesn't think your prayers are foolish or silly.
You aren't an accident or an incident;
you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God.
If you think God's love for you would be stronger if your faith were,
you are wrong.
If you think His love would be deeper if your thoughts were,
wrong again.
The love of people often increases with performance and decreases with mistakes.
Not so with God's love.
We forget that "impossible" is one of God's favorite words.
Sow seeds of hope and enjoy optimism.
Sow seeds of doubt and expect insecurity.
Don't measure the size of the mountain;
talk to the One who can move it.
As heaven's advertising agency, we promote God in every area of life.
Try shifting your glance from the one who has hurt you
and settling your eyes on the One who has saved you.
Having trouble putting up with ungrateful relatives or cranky neighbors?
God puts up with you when you act the same way.
Our Savior kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives.
but rather than recoil in horror, He reaches out in kindness and says,
"I can clean that if you want."
When Jesus went home he left the front door open.
Any of these your favorite? I'd love to hear your response to any or all of them!
Have a blessed Easter. May your heart be open. May you see God's miracles every day in every corner of your life. May you know how deeply God loves you!
God bless! Love and hugs! Linda
I look to Jesus for how to live my life. I look to Jesus for how to love others when I feel irritated and spiteful. I look to Jesus for how to forgive myself and forgive those who have hurt me.
My walk with my Lord is the core of who I am. It isn't a perfect walk, not even close. Yet what I know for sure is that without that daily walk...I would be far more selfish, far more angry, far more unloving... Far less hopeful, far less joyful, far less optimistic and far less forgiving. For me...it's a hard walk, a disappointing walk when I fall so short of what God wants me to be. It's a faith walk, it's a daily workout and daily training. It just is NOT easy. It's often a struggle. I'm often not very good at putting God in the very center of all that I am and all that I do. Sometimes this Christian faith thing is not very pretty. But the remarkable gift...is that even when, as Ann Lamot says, "Jesus must be so disgusted with me that He could drink water from a dirty cat's dish"... I am deeply and forever God's child. I am deeply and forever loved!
And that makes ALL the difference in who I am and how I love others!
I love sayings that remind me about who God is and how He works in the world and works in my life. Here are a few of my recent favorites from the marvelous book HOPE...pure and simple by Max Lucado:
Allow God's love to change the way you look at you.
Before you go anywhere else with your disappointments, go to God.
Confession is telling God you did the thing he saw you do.
He doesn't need to hear it as much as you need to say it.
God never promises to remove us from our struggles.
He does promise, however,
to change the way we look at them.
God has plenty of compassion
He doesn't think your prayers are foolish or silly.
You aren't an accident or an incident;
you are a gift to the world, a divine work of art, signed by God.
If you think God's love for you would be stronger if your faith were,
you are wrong.
If you think His love would be deeper if your thoughts were,
wrong again.
The love of people often increases with performance and decreases with mistakes.
Not so with God's love.
We forget that "impossible" is one of God's favorite words.
Sow seeds of hope and enjoy optimism.
Sow seeds of doubt and expect insecurity.
Don't measure the size of the mountain;
talk to the One who can move it.
As heaven's advertising agency, we promote God in every area of life.
Try shifting your glance from the one who has hurt you
and settling your eyes on the One who has saved you.
Having trouble putting up with ungrateful relatives or cranky neighbors?
God puts up with you when you act the same way.
Our Savior kneels down and gazes upon the darkest acts of our lives.
but rather than recoil in horror, He reaches out in kindness and says,
"I can clean that if you want."
When Jesus went home he left the front door open.
Any of these your favorite? I'd love to hear your response to any or all of them!
Have a blessed Easter. May your heart be open. May you see God's miracles every day in every corner of your life. May you know how deeply God loves you!
God bless! Love and hugs! Linda
3 comments:
I love Easter! It's going to be a lot of fun at your party!
I love these quotes. One of my favorites is, "Don't tell God how big the storm is; tell the storm how big your God is!"
I'm in awe of the sacrifices that my God made for me. Sometimes it is hard to grasp the magnitude of His love.
Thanks for the reminders!
Love, me
Thank you for sharing your testimony. You have touched my life Linda.
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