I hope this New Year finds you safe and well. I thank the Lord for bringing us safely through 2020 ~ a year unlike any other known to most of our generations. My heart goes out to the millions affected by the awful pandemic. Our thoughts and prayers are with them all.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to be regularly blogging. In life, we can often have wonderful hopes, plans and dreams of things we would like to pursue, but, as we’ve seen, unexpected events and circumstances may postpone things, and sometimes greatly.
BUT – by the grace of God, I’m thankful to be here at this start of 2021 sending you this little note and, by His grace also, hope to continue blogging on a more regular basis.
I pray your year will be blessed and that you will know total health, protection and the wonderful presence of God, our Heavenly Father.
As I meditated on the precious love of God, I began to get carried away in deep thought about the vastness of His love and just wanted to share these reflections with you …….
We’ve probably all experienced unrequited love in one way or another – through friends, loved ones, etc. Many of us know what that feels like and how painful it is – giving love, opening the door of our hearts, hoping for relationship, only to experience coldness or rejection – and so does God, especially as He has oceans of love for us.
Even if we have a relationship with God, through Christ, sometimes our erring ways can cause us to actually move away from Him, from that close fellowship we should have, because we know He is holy, and when we fall short we feel we have failed Him .. yet again.
It can be the case that instead of running TO Him, we may find ourselves missing out on those special times of closeness in His presence. The love of God, being unfathomable and pure, reaches out to us in mercy. Again and again, He lovingly calls us to draw near to Him, in so many ways: perhaps through a song, a word of scripture, encouragement from a friend, a sermon, even through circumstances. God patiently waits … with oceans of love … but are we always aware?
There have been seasons in my faith life when things were going along nice and smoothly, then, at some point, a situation may occur in which I felt I’d failed God again in one way or another, and (feeling defeated) would think to myself, `He must be tired of me constantly coming back for forgiveness’. As my relationship with Him grew, however, I became reassured by the reminder that it wasn’t any good that I had done that made me acceptable to God – but the righteousness of Jesus alone. Thank You Lord!
We are encouraged in scripture to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, NKJV). We are saved by grace through faith, and not by our own works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Although we are saved FOR good works, we’re not saved BY them. When we realise this, we can not only ask for forgiveness when we’re in the wrong, but can forgive ourselves and others too. It’s all about the life of Jesus being lived through us. It’s all about Him, not us! Through the everlasting love of God, that same saving grace is available to us for daily living.
When Jesus sacrificed His life for us on the cross, He paved the way for those special words that He uttered to be fulfilled – “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). The transaction was done in terms of God. He “SO loved the world that He gave ..” (John 3:16). God’s oceans of love caused Him to give. He did His part. After that, it was our turn to respond to His gift, so that we could experience this forgiveness and the vastness of His love.
It’s continually our turn to respond to His heart of love which extends beyond the cross, however. As we seek to follow the Lord in our daily walk, we can experience more and more the reality of His love, and continual cleansing and forgiveness, because of our fellowship with Him (1 John 1:7-9). His sacrifice makes us acceptable; His perfection covers our imperfection.
Against the many distractions, trials, temptations and struggles in our journey with God, His eternal and holy love beckons us to keep on coming. God is love ~ rich and free. Love calls us ~ love awaits us. Isn’t that precious?! Tears fill my eyes just to think about this fact. That love is unconditional, forgiving, full of mercy, continually reaching out to all the world, looking for an inlet into human hearts. What a treasure we have in our hearts as believers!
Prayer: Thank You Heavenly Father for your fathomless oceans of love, shown to us through Jesus, Your Son, in His sufferings, death and resurrection. Thank You that this precious love made it possible for us to draw near to You, to come before Your throne and find all our needs met, because of Your heart of mercy and forgiveness. May the love You continually show .. fill our hearts daily, and may that love be poured out through us to others also ~ for Your glory and praise, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Here is a beautiful song about the love of God (a song I love) written by Graham Kendrick entitled “Such Love” …..
Happy New Year dear friends!! As each New Year begins, while we look ahead to the new things God has in store, it’s good for us to look back with thankfulness. I would not be where I am today without Him. Through the years, the Lord has been my rock. Just wanted to share this poem of gratitude ~ one of those He blessed me to publish in my book, “Forever Grateful”. Thank You Lord!
Just Want to Say Thanks
I looked through the window of life each day
When the burdens were great and I hardly could pray
If someone would ask of me how I fared
With an answer, I’d smile, but I just couldn’t share
When the tears wouldn’t cease and I felt I had failed
You came through with peace, Your kindness prevailed
You lifted me, Lord, and helped me to stand
On a rock, and You sheltered me there with Your hand
Your Holy Spirit brought comfort and peace
In the midst of my sorrow and gave me relief
Of the pain and the anguish that weighed like a stone
You always were there, I was never alone
Oh Jesus I love You, I love You so much!
So precious to me is Your comforting touch
Your wonderful peace, You always impart
Just want to say “Thanks”, from a grateful heart –o0o–
Tenderly, You look into my eyes
Lovingly, You help me to arise
And when I hear the words You speak to me
You banish all my fears and I am free
In all my yesterdays, I’ve seen Your hand
And all along, You’ve helped me Lord to stand
Lord, I can face each day because of You
Propelled by love that’s faithful, kind and true
When burdens weighed me down and heavy loads
You gave me grace and strength along the road
You bid me hand them all to You in prayer
What peace I felt when, at last, I left them there
I hope and pray that you are well. It’s been a VERY busy year for me, yet again! I just wanted to write this short post to let you know of some changes taking place with my blog site.
FIRSTLY though …. can I say a big “THANK YOU” for visiting my blog and for your support over the years. I pray that the blessings of the Lord will be showered upon you.
I truly thank God for His precious love which continues to amaze and fill me with awe. His love continues to inspire me with more poems (and reflections too) and with a love and desire to share them, in the hope they will be a blessing.
But with even the very best of intentions, our plans often don’t work out the way we want do they? Or WHEN we want them to happen. But that’s okay really – when we remember how God’s word says that “all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and them who are the called, according to his purpose”.
With all good intentions, I tried to have a separate blog to share inspirational reflections. As many of us can testify, the demands of life can be such that it’s difficult keeping up with things we plan. We just can’t have our hands in too many pies or be like an octopus! So…. with the thought in mind that I’d rather try to give more focused attention in few places than no attention in many, I intend to keep both my POETRY and REFLECTIONS here on this blog. Yes – by the grace of God, I’ll still be here!
However, this site name will soon be changing. I will update you shortly with the details. You’ll still be able to locate this site should you use the current URL also.
Have a wonderful and blessed day … and I’ll write back soon!
