Tag Archives: Bible verses

Faith, Literature

The New Jerusalem

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And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said said, “I am making everything new!”  Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  He said to me: “It is done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.  He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

-Revelation 21:3-7

Faith, Literature

Forgiven

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Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written.  But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God–the LORD, the God of his fathers–even if he is not clean according  to the rules of the sanctuary.”  And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.  -2 Chronicles 30:18-20 (emphasis mine.)

Just shows you the nature of our God.  HE makes rules, and we break them, and HE forgives us–repeat that roughly two trillion times, and you have a simplified version of the history of the world.

And then people say that God isn’t compassionate. . .

Life, Literature

Spring!

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The waste-land and the dry land will be glad.
The desert will be full of joy and become like a rose.

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Many flowers will grow in it, and it will be filled with joy and singing.

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The greatness of Lebanon will be given to it, and the  beauty of Carmel and Sharon.

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They will see the shining-greatness of the Lord, the wonderful power of our God.

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Give strength to weak hands and to weak knees.
Say to those whose heart is afraid,
“Have strength of heart, and do not be afraid.”

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-Isaiah 35:1-4 NLV

 

 

Faith

New Life

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St. Patrick’s Day finally out of my way, I feel freed up to post about Easter! 🙂

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I’ve heard Christians say that they don’t like Easter, because they don’t like the way we celebrate it.  And really, how did we get here?

Just as Christmas has somehow become about Santa Claus and presents, Easter has become about eggs and this guy called ‘the Easter Bunny’.

By the way, could anyone tell me what in the world the Easter Bunny looks like?  Didn’t think so.  Because nobody knows.  It’s different in every picture-book.  At least Santa Claus has some hard-and-fast characteristics that everyone agrees on!  I mean, what color his gloves are and how long his beard is and other such details are arguable, but everyone agrees on the over-all big picture.

So, I understand where the egg-thing came from–new life and everything–but how did we get to the point in which they’re hidden by a rabbit whose only steadfast virtue is his bunniness?

Easter is about Christ.  Which is what we’ve been trying (with a little translation help) to tell Lucy.  We’re trying to communicate that it’s about new life, new things.  New birth.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!”

Luke 24:5, 6a

Faith

As I have loved you…

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So, when I posted on Valentine’s Day I decided I wanted to end my post with a Bible verse.  And I didn’t want to do the typical first-Corinthians-thirteen-thing.  I mean, those verses are great, but everybody uses them!

And something in me wanted to be unique.  Maybe it’s because I never “fit in” when I was little(r), and so I have a problem with it now.  I mean, I went years without a TV in my house, I didn’t play the popular video-games, I didn’t watch the popular movies, I didn’t wear the popular cloths, etc.  So I went unique.  I picked kind of randomly, but that made me think.

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“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” -John 15:12

I have been praying recently that God would give me HIS heart, and help me love as HE loved me. I realized recently what this means–the extent of what I was asking HIM.  I realized it was probably one of the most risky things I’ve ever done.  But I still do it.  I can’t say why.  Probably because I want to love.  I just want to.

When told to ask for anything, Solomon asked for wisdom.  I started wondering what I would ask for, if I was given that choice.  I decided I’d  ask for HIS heart–HIS love.

I have this “thing” with love.  Probably because I gave up on the whole wisdom-thing a long time ago.  Probably because I know if I love, it will motivate me to do what I can–which might not be much, but I know it’s a whole lot more when I’m motivated by something.

Loving is dangerous.  Begging to be able to love like crazy is reckless.  And I don’t even care.  I get defiant about love.  I say “I don’t care” a lot.  So maybe I don’t.

I honestly don’t know why I have this love “thing”–I don’t know where it came from.  But I want to love anyway.  I just do.

This probably sounds crazy, but I don’t even care!

Literature

2 Samuel 22:34-37

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He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.  He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.  You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great.  You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.

 

 

Emphasis mine, naturally. 🙂

Adoption, Life

Home, Sweet Home!

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I thought I should just check in and tell you that we all made it home in one piece… well, four pieces actually, all of us.

Only there’s SEVEN (7) of us now!  Five kids… that’s kind-of a big family.  I mean someone called our family big once when we only had 3 kids; but even I’ll admit that 5 is kinda’ a big number.

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China was great, but I was homesick before the first week was even out!

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

I forgot to bring my Bible to China 🙁 so I’m trying to get back into the swing of reading it daily.  I’m currently in Deuteronomy, which I didn’t really have the brain cells to read today (or thought I didn’t) so I just flipped around and landed in Psalms.  I found these two verses which I previously underlined, and I thought I’d share them with you:

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delgithful inheritance.

-Psalm 16:5,6