Tag: mercy

New Every Morning!

This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.  “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”  The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him.  Lamentations 3:21-25 NKJV

God is forever making things new. New seasons. New revelation. New possibilities.

We should follow our Father’s example and move into the new things He would do with us. It is possible to free yourself from the grasp of your past without losing those lessons learned. Our past actually supports us when we gain knowledge from our experiences without allowing ourselves to become trapped by them. 

Like the hydrangea, our past makes our future possible. We don’t gain wisdom and experience without going through some “stuff.”  Those blooms wouldn’t be possible if I’d cut the old ugly wood off in the winter. The barren and ugly stems that survived the harsh cold are necessary for the plant to bloom.  DSC_0638 (2)

We would miss out on some of the beauty in our lives if God readily cut away those things (situations, experiences, trials) about ourselves that are sometimes “ugly and unattractive.”  Because our God is merciful and His faithfulness endures, He doesn’t allow our “ugly” to consume us. Instead, He allows it to build us into better people. Usable people who eventually fulfill our purpose and bloom.

Our transitions from old into new require that we seek and serve the God who can make us new. Many of us  propose to seek God. But are we really willing to serve Him? Turn ourselves over to Him?

God can renew our minds, hearts, spirit or whatever we have that is in need of fresh blooms. We must seek Him and often wait on Him, but to those who hope and wait on the Lord faith is rewarded.

If yesterday has you looking back and you find yourself feeling stuck or trapped, look UP instead.  Allow God to transform you into something new.

“A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills–From whence comes my help? My help comes form the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1-2 NKJV

 

 

Sour Puss!

I have another blog, God,Autism and Me where I posted months ago about how a stray cat we named “Lucky” made quite an imprint on our lives.  “Mr. Lucky” has been with us ten years this month and was not at all impressed when another cat recently made her way to our front door.

“Greystone,” as my oldest son calls her, appeared roughly a year ago. She didn’t start off as a permanent fixture, but rather dropped by occasionally at her leisure.

I wasn’t going to fall for it again. I don’t even like cats. I remind our one cat in residence of that fact constantly.

Well “Grey” had kittens. I noticed her in the neighbor’s yard across the street over a month ago. She was lounging in the driveway with four kittens romping about happily.

Then I didn’t see them again for nearly a month. I figured maybe someone took them in and they had been adopted. Later, I worried that something happened to them. Guiltily, I put food out “just in case” they were homeless. Sometimes the food was eaten, other times it remained. I wasn’t quite sure what was eating the cat chow I’d put out but I finally caught her in the act of eating. But there were no kittens in sight.

Today I saw Greystone and she wasn’t looking so hot.  She now has only two kittens with her. She is definitely malnourished even though I suspect I’m not the only person in the neighborhood trying to help her out. I’ve tried to coax her closer on other occasions and she has maintained her distance until today. She came up to me, purred, rubbed and contemplated actually coming inside the house until…Lucky hissed at her!

Greystone took off running!

I could have slapped that Lucky cat!

Now before all of you animal lovers come a calling I did not.  I did, however, pick him up and give him a good talking to about his inhospitable actions! I have absolutely no doubt he understood every word I said. His behavior made me think about how we humans behave with our “selective amnesia”.

You see, Lucky appeared on my steps years ago one October just like moma cat. The very steps he chased Grey down today are the very same steps he crawled up one morning desperate for food. Lucky was once cold, hungry and lost just like her.  Now, years later, Lucky is warm, comfortable and considerably overweight due to his life of luxury. You would think he would want moma cat to come inside too.

Just like my cat, many people, “religious folks” especially, tend to forget that they were once shut out, downtrodden, dirty and homeless in some form or another once the years distance them from their prior circumstances. Some people may not have been physically homeless or broken in body, however, the mind, soul and spirit were once just as battered! Often when a person finally get’s his or her life “somewhat together,” instead of showing people the same door where they found grace, there is instead presented gossip, rejection and disdain.  Unfortunately, many people tend to reject others with the very same traits once found in themselves.

Sometimes when we are comfortable in our accomplishments and are no longer in the state we once were, our comfort turns into condescension.  Some people having attained a certain level of accomplishment, success, or recognition (especially in religious circles) tend to forget what it feels like to be where they once where. Their hearts become hardened as their memories and the pain once suffered fade away.

Where there should be an open door to welcome the “unchurched,”  the less fortunate and people who really could use an encouraging word, there is often a closed door that reads, “do not disturb,” “I made it so why can’t you,” or “I’m too busy right now.”

This isn’t the case for everyone, but it is a reality for far too many.

Time can surely dim our memories but we shouldn’t allow it to harden our hearts. We are to encourage one another which means that we should actually do something in the circumstances where we can made a difference.

“Thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,”  James 2: 17 NKJV. 

Those of us who say we should “keep the faith” need to actively “keep it”  by actually doing those things or works that make a difference! Opening the figurative doors of grace and mercy, showing empathy for others who are now where you were, and allowing  your battle scars to teach you compassion is one way to do that.

I will continue to keep an eye out for Moma Grey and her kittens and attempt to get them to the vet… as soon as I can catch them!

But in the meantime, I will allow this afternoon’s adventures to remind me to keep an open door to my heart and the memories of my trials and failures always near. May I always remember that I am blessed by God’s grace and mercy. He took ME in!

Prayerfully, I will do this, less I become as guilty as the cat!

“Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy,” Matthew 5:7 NKJV

A is for Abundance

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance,” Isaiah 55:2 NKJV

Most of us are always in the pursuit of abundance. We are often looking for ways to have an abundance of something or another. For many people it is money or opportunities to earn money. Some people may be in pursuit of peace. And for others it may be joy. It may even be a combination of things, yet most of us at some point have pursued abundance in every way but God’s way.

The preceding verse reflects our society as it stands today. Apparently, not that much has changed since Biblical times. They were spending money on things that failed to satisfy them as well.

Our society spends billions of dollars yearly seeking “abundance” yet still those dollars don’t satisfy. A new toy or gadget may be entertaining for the short-term, but it only takes the next electronic device or innovation to leave many longing for a “feeling” that quickly fades. Unfortunately, many are unaware what they truly crave can’t be purchased.

Many of the most affluent nations also suffer from the highest rates of depression. People are working themselves to death. Many have an abundance of “stuff” but fail to delight themselves in Who really provides peace, joy, and contentment. There is often a continual search for some “thing”, experience, feeling, or promise that guarantees joy, happiness, success, or status. When one “thing” fails to provide the “high” people are looking for they are on to the next, placing more faith in false advertisements and sales pitches than in the very Words that offer an abundant life.

A lot of us have not enjoyed God’s abundance as we could because we failed to listen to God. We believe we have it figured out, know what is best for ourselves and want to control our own destiny. That approach has left most people still searching, hungry and frustrated by their own failed efforts.

When we listen to God as instructed above, we can eat that which is good and delight ourselves in God’s promises. To listen requires that we hear and obey.

Some of us are struggling in distinct areas in our lives due to our own disobedience. We even know what God says about certain strongholds or areas yet we continue to suffer or lack because we refuse to yield those areas over to Him. We often know what to do but fail to do it for an array of reasons. Pride, fear, and the opinions of others are just a few reasons that leave people still searching for what only God can offer.

“Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart,” Psalms 37:4. NKJV

We are instructed to delight ourselves in the Lord, not the latest gadget, fashion, music, career opportunity or whatever else people are often hustling to obtain. The things people delight themselves in often fail to satisfy for any real length of time. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, He then gives us what we really want.

Sadly, many people don’t even know what they want. The concepts of peace, joy, and true love are foreign concepts to many. Money can’t buy happiness but millions continue to try time and time again.

“But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace,” Psalms 37:11. NKJV

That restless feeling many people suffer from is actually due to a lack of peace. People pursue money trying to buy the “things” they think will provide peace and joy. A lot of people go into debt trying to buy happiness and love and are instead left restless and distraught in their attempts to buy “a good life.” Their costly pursuits often have devastating consequences that people spend years trying to dig themselves out from under.

The “good life,” is actually free for all of us. Jesus paid the price so that we could have a good life, one that involves a relationship with Him!

“…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly,” John 10:10. NKJV

Jesus did not die for us that we may accumulate more “stuff.” That was hardly the abundance He had in mind. Jesus Christ died that we would have peace, joy, and a relationship with Him to fill our voids and satisfy our thirst. That is what we truly desire whether we realize it or not.

Have you been looking for love, hope, truth, grace or whatever you are yearning for…in all the wrong places?

“For You, Lord [are] good and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You,” Psalms 86:5 NKJV

“But You, O Lord, [are] a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth,” Psalms 86:15 NKJV

“Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3