We are, after all, only human.

Hello again! It's been too long since I left off, oops.
Let's go back back to that letter. I really love that letter. :)
So this great letter talks about how God loves me. Let me start with that. God loves me. Have you ever just taken a moment to sit and just feel God love you? Do it now, just let Him wrap you up in His presence and love.
It's easy for me to do right now as the bright sun is shining on me, a relief from the cold, dark winter days. But when that sun goes away, when life gets rough, it's easy to forget that God loves you.


I read a devotion today, out of a book called It's a Wonderful (Imperfect) Life by Joan C. Webb. The heading was titled "Precious to God". The verse she incorporated was Matthew 6:26...the one about the birds, who don't sow or reap, or store anything away, because our Heavenly Father feeds them. It also states that we are even more valuable than the birds.
It was a simple devotion and cut right to the point, our Father loves us and will provide for us. That's all we need to know. The thing is....we get all caught up in worrying...about anything and everything! What good is it? We have already been promised that God will take care of us...
A few pages later there's another devotion about Accepting My Humanness. In other words, weakness and the verse for this one was 2 Corinthians 13:4. It goes like this, "Jesus was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in Him, yet by God's power we will live." Is it our need to avoid weakness that we try to depend on ourselves? Why is it so hard for us to accept that we are, in fact, human? I honestly have no clue what the answer to that is. Maybe it's pride? But it seems even deeper than that. I do know that it wears on us, trying to be more than we were wired to be. I also know that a person is at their finest when they have given up on themselves completely. I don't mean given up on life, I don't want everyone to walk around all depressed, but I mean, they've come to terms with their abilities as humans. They realize their own limitations and have learned that God is most effective in their life when they are on the ground.

Let me finish up with this letter, if I keep writing about every little aspect I could write a book! What an idea. :P

I love when He says, "Let no man be the judge of your heart for I know your love for Me." I know it says in the Bible that man judges what's on the outside but God judges the heart....but I think sometimes, people perceive actions as intentions and judge us based on that. I know I've made mistakes that make me look bad. But like I said earlier, we are only human. We've all seen the movies where one character is trying to make things right, but ends up creating a huge fiasco....sometimes that's how life is. There's nothing we can do about it but just accept that we slipped up and live with it. But what about the people that start throwing accusations around, how do we deal with that? I think that by letting people judge our hearts, or intentions, we end up living up to their judgments. We become bitter, don't you think?
Another example....I'll use a personal experience. I remember awhile ago, I had been getting stressed out for some reason or another. Well I ended up withdrawing a bit, or alot....haha. Either way, I spent quite a bit of time holed up in my room and barely said two words to my mom. Well, when she confronted me she said things like "I didn't really love God, or I would be showing it".....stuff like that. Well of course I loved God! And at the time, I was mad; I let her judge my heart. I actually felt guilty, and started thinking maybe I didn't love God. This is what He's talking about, don't let them judge your heart. God knows we love Him. He understands that we're human. It's OK.
So don't give Satan that foothold when others throw accusations around. Be confident that God knows.

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.

So as I was cleaning out the closet today, I came across a letter from my DTS last year. The words are in my handwriting but it was a word from the Lord. I'll share it now...

"Look upon all the injustice, the injustice within the injustice. Does it ever end?
Where do you start?
You start with ME. For I am the Lord and Sovereign still.
I choose who I will use and YOU are not forgotten. Be still, listen to MY voice. This is where you will find me leading you. I am your guide.
My child, I love you. I will not let you be harmed, though sometimes you may be scared. For you are of Me, not of this world. Let no man be the judge of your heart for I know you love Me.
Never forget my sacrifice. Is that not proof that I have saved you from the greatest harm that could come to you? What then are these tings you worry over? It is just like a little stub of your toe.
Always remember my sacrifice because it is proof that I love you more than my own life.
I love you."

I don't actually remember this letter and I don't know if I even shared it with anyone. I do know that it speaks to my innermost part though.
One of the biggest things I hate about this world is injustice. I can't stand it. It makes me sick. You may think, "What did that first little bit have to do with the rest of the letter?" Ya, I thought that at first too...
But it has everything to do with the rest of the letter. The only solution to curing injustice is by Jesus' love, the love that led Him to the cross. The pure, raw love that He holds for all of creation. Is it any wonder, then, why there is so much injustice in this world? I may be out of line here, but I don't think most people truly understand that concept of love, let alone put it into action.
And the reason is probably because they don't see the depth of the sacrifice. When Jesus died, he bore the sins of the world. It wasn't just a sacrifice, that would be too easy. I'm sure alot of you would shove a loved one out of the way of some oncoming traffic. Truth is, it's instinct. But how 'bout this. Let's use Hitler as an example 'cause he's a well known "bad guy". What if you lived a perfect life and then had to take responsibility of every single thing that Hitler was responsible for. Would you ever do that willingly so that he could live a glorious life? I wouldn't. Honestly, how many of you would? Here's another example, at work there's this one guy who doesn't do anything. It makes me pretty mad, because I, along with the other few people there, have to pick up his slack while he doesn't get so much as a talking to.
But Jesus, he is just incredible. He not only took care of all my sins, and took the full weight of them, but also of every other single person in the world. Right now there are an estimated 6,897,700,000 people alive on the earth. (At least that's what Wikipedia told me.) That's alot right? Well multiply that by however many times each person has sinned. Now think about how many people lived for the 2,000 years before now and multiply that number. And of course there are the future generations...
Have you ever done something bad, and you just felt so awful about it...
Just imagine how Jesus felt. I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say it's impossible to fathom.
Let's keep moving or I'll go off on all sorts of rabbit trails.... haha
So now I know where to start with the injustice. We have to get to the heart of God, we have to experience it and share it. Everything else follows.
In the letter, He says He chooses who He will use. He has chosen me! That is an honor, I know it's hard to think of it that way because every other child of God has a purpose and a job from God. But He chooses you specifically to do a job that noone else can do. Only you are fit for the job God has for you. There can't be ball hogs on God's court.
And please don't ever forget that God has created you for something epic. I forgot that once, my whole life fell apart. Even if you don't know what it is, just know that He loves you and He's whispering into your ear how much He loves you and has great things planned for you. You just need to listen.
I'm going to finish this up in a second post as I have more to say than I originally thought. I appreciate your time for reading and any comments are completely welcome!