As it is in Heaven.... Hillsong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So97pmyDbVw

Revelations 21:4.....John 14:2

"Whether now or then, death is not my end. I know heaven waits for me."

Since the passing of my friends husband, this song has always brought me so much comfort that I want to share it with anyone else going through the pain of grief. The lyrics are POWERFUL and TRUE, if you believe.

I know without a doubt that God brought our friendship together years ago knowing the pages of our life would collide in many areas. She has mentored me all through my marriage. Always telling me that this life is not about being comfortable, but becoming holy and knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more and more in every situation. Now that the page of her life is the lose of her husband, I can be there for her since I have turned that page.

When I called Mary several times through Ozzie's stay in the hospital, I could hear the strength of the Holy Spirit in her voice. There is no other way to explain this when you know your husband is dying. Now Ozzie being moved to hospice, and the last conversation I had with her before he went to his new address, John 14:2, she said, "The boys and I are going to see Ozzie to say goodbye." All in a normal tone! Like he was going on vacation. Well really he is. But one that he doesn't have to come back to life's reality, like we all always say after vacation is over. 

Revelations 21:4, He is in a place with no more sickness in his body. Where no prison walls can hold him, and he sings because he is free! He won't come back to this place. But we as believers will meet again when our eternal vacation day comes.

But while we wait, we're really not waiting, because heaven lives in us. We just don't have the full view yet, but we will when the last page of our story and purpose for being here comes to an end.

"So I will sing like I will there. In the fearless light of glory. Where the darkness cannot find me, and His face is all I see."

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Kim D

Christ alone Cornerstone.... Hillsong

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvLxZEU02uI

In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil....

I was talking with my daughter Danielle, and showing her my potted plants and wondering if they would come back. They sure looked like they wouldn't. Every leaf was off. But she told me to break a branch and see if there was any green, even a hint of green, and they would come back. Now I'm breaking branches everywhere I go LOL.

But really, that's what the enemy does. He roams like a lion looking for who he can devour (snap), 1 Peter 5:8.... He knows who is firmly planted, and he knows who he can snap into. Trials are going to come.

I love this verse, John 15: 4, "Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine".... How we look in our trials tells a lot of what we cling to. I pray that I can bear much fruit from the things I've been through, and will go through, so I can help encourage others.

Just like outdoor plants need water and proper sun light and temperature to survive, I need Jesus. In Him alone I place my hope and trust in all things. Even the things I don't understand, and don't like very much. It may be dark and confusing to me, but He shines the light, and in time things become clear. This only happens when you remain IN HIM, in His word, spending precious time with Him.

So how firmly are you rooted in Jesus? Do you just seek Him when you need Him? Maybe just on Sunday? Is He just a part of your to do list? What kind of relationship do you call that? It's definitely not a love relationship.

I can tell you this, even His beautiful creation speaks. A plant that has been firmly planted in the ground for 4 years at my house was able to take the freeze and hard weather we had. They looked dead on the outside, but full of green on the inside of the branch when I snapped it. Then the ones I planted in a pot 6 months before that freeze snapped with not one spec of green on the inside. not even down to the root. I was able to pull them out so easy and throw them away.

I may get shaken at times and look pretty bad on the outside, but I will rise. I will not be overcome. So how are you planted? How is your love relationship with Jesus? How thirsty are you? You will find out when the hard weathers of life beat down.

Jesus is my living water: Isaiah 49: 10..Isaiah 12: 3...Jeremiah 17: 8...Psalm 1: 3....John 4: 13-14....John 7:37....Revelations 21:6....Revelations 22: 17.....

 

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Kim D

Awaken Love.... Kim Walker Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2ik58hK

If I've learned anything of great importance and brings such peace is: Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. Don't be chained by your worry or control of things.

Matthew 6: 21-34

I personally need to be reminded of this daily. The worries of this world, the business, it will only choke out the life God is desiring for me to rest in. The most important thing is my love relationship with Jesus. Everything else will fall into place.

Jesus knows everything about me. Not one thing goes unseen by Him. If I am allowing the concerns of my life to come before Him, I will not have the peace He desires for me to have. These concerns start off small, but if I don't realize what's happening I become blind to what it can do to my relationship with Jesus. Quiet time can become something I check off the to do list, rather than really being desperate to sit in His lap and love on Him through His word. The deceiver knows how to creep in, and a good sign he's done that is your peace is like a roller coaster.

When I really do a heart check on Matthew 6: 21-22, I know that God understands our humanness, but He also wants us to understand His Holiness. Family, husband, wife, children, grandchildren, material things, nothing should come before our love relationship with Jesus (Luke 14:26). "For where my treasure is, there my heart will be also." I want my whole body to be full of light. Than I can rest in the Lord with things that come my way. Jesus wants to be, and is my treasure.

How about you? Do you have peace and rest that passes anything you can understand? Even if you are battling an illness, a busy life, loneliness, prayers not being answered the way you wish they would? If not, do a heart check. Ask Jesus, is He placed in your life where He desires to be.

Is He your first love? "Awaken" to what is really of importance. A heart completely His.

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 Kim D