Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Free Devotional


The purpose of Today is to Refresh, Refocus, and Renew. I stumbled across a few old copies and found them to be quite Biblical and refreshing indeed, and I just discovered that I can sign up to receive it in the mail- for free!


You can too. Just click here, and sign up.




Photo from Pinterest.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

"When the people see that you truly love them, they will hear anything from you...Oh therefore, see that you feel a tender love for your people in your hearts, and let them perceive it in your speech and conduct. Let them see that you spend and are spent for their sakes."
-Richard Baxter


Oh, because it's what He did for us. 
Do we not feel compassion, on those who have nothing to live for? Who live but to die? 


I don't, sometimes. On campus, a boy openly mocks my beliefs and remarks that he'd like to burn down Churches full of Christians. A professor, in response to learning I believe, plays a video on how Christians need to accept science and reality. At work, a boss revels in his position of power and uses it to put the rest of us down. A coworker belittles me. A customer is impatient and swears at me, and throws change at me, because the credit card machine isn't working. 


I don't feel compassion. I want them all to be hit by a train. 
But He felt it upon me. And He bled for me. And He makes me feel it for others. And then I see. And then I do things I wouldn't have done. 


The boy who wants to burn down churches of Christians, is brutally beaten by his father, and needs someone to listen to him. The teacher who ridicules me for faith, is actually starved for soul freedom. The customer who yells at you, needs to be prayed for. 


And the boy who wanted to burn down Churches is going to Church now. The teacher who ridiculed me, listened to me talk about Christ for so long that I missed my bus. And the customers who give me the worst time get payed for the most. 


We can't truly love them all by ourselves. We just can't. We want them all to be hit by trains. But He loved us. And he showed it. And not only can He change our hearts, but move our actions. We just have to go to Him. 


So whoever you hate today, bring it to Him. Pray out your hatred. Pray for forgiveness. Pray for love. Pray for life-altering actions that tell this world of unspeakable love.


Because when you listen to and share Christ with the boy who mocks you, when you respect the teacher who belittles you, when others learn that you pray for the customers who curse at you... they can't believe it. 


And they just might start to believe what they once couldn't.  






Compassion costs. It is easy enough to argue, criticize and condemn, but redemption is costly, and comfort draws from the deep. Brains can argue, but It takes heart to comfort.
-Sameul Chadwick 


-Photo 'Enchanted Path' from Pinterest. 

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Pinsperational Tuesday: Funny, Delectable, Quaint

Started by Jessica at Diary of a Beautiful Soul...



Funnies! Click to Enlarge. The Dog/Cat Diary is splendorous. 






Fairy Foods! Cheesecake in a jar, and mini berry tarts. Yum! :)



They have that feathery feminine Jane-Austen-Like feel to them! I'd love to waltz about an English countryside in these!



Here is the link to my Pinterest! Prayers and blessings, lovely friends! (Also, be expecting some blog updates quite soon!)









Friday, May 4, 2012

Quotes to give you Hope today


Do you need hope today? I did. And my loving Father brought me to these.

How hope can come to be...

Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.

-Augustine



What hopes does...

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us."
-Samuel Smiles



Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called "The rejoicing of hope" (Hebrews 3:6).

-William Gurnall

But what to hope for?


The best we can hope for in this life is a knothole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough. It's enough to convince our hearts that whatever sufferings and sorrows currently assail us aren't worthy of comparison to that which waits over the horizon.

-Joni Eareckson Tada

We hope for peeks into heaven. That is lovely. Yet, perhaps a bit vague? 

But we've a hope that need never be vague. We are loved by a Prince mad enough with love to die for us. And in time we will live in his enchanting land, with boundless happiness, boundless fulfillment, boundless friendship, boundless beauty, boundless love, and boundless Him. Forever.

'Till then? While we hope for that ultimate hope, we hope for knotholes along the way. We hope for glimpses of the boundless.