I Am Not Forgotten

The other night, my dad took me to a Watoto concert where African children sang and danced. singing the praises of our great Lord! It was great!The song that touched me the most was "I Am Not Forgotten."

I Will Not Forget Thee

Sweet is the promise “I will not forget thee,”
Nothing can molest or turn my soul away;
E’en though the night be dark within the valley,
Just beyond is shining an eternal day.

Refrain:

I will not forget thee or leave thee,
In My hands I’ll hold thee,
In My arms I’ll fold thee,
I will not forget thee or leave thee;
I am thy Redeemer, I will care for thee.

 

Trusting the promise “I will not forget thee,”
Onward I will go with songs of joy and love,
Though earth despise me,
Though my friends forsake me,
I shall be remembered in myhome above.

Refrain

 

When at the golden portals I am standing,
All my tribulations, all my sorrows past;
How sweet to hear the blessèd proclamation,
“Enter, faithful servant, welcome home at last.”

Refrain

 

~ Charles Gabriel

So Much in Common

There is something I don't understand. It is why any Christian would not get along with any other Christian. I didn't understand that before my accident, and I understand it less now. God loved each of us when we were His enemies; and now that we are His friends, He loves us even more! I don't understand how you can love somebody more than your love in dying for people, but I guess it's possible! :)

The Bible calls on us to "love one another," so every true Christian, I'm sure, at least wants to and cares when he does not. Also, if we don't get along because of our sin, we are clearly in the wrong and are the ones that need to change. Or if it's because of someone else's sin, we should forgive like God forgave us. Have you read the parable of the man who was forgiven his great debt and would not forgive another man's little debt? We had a huge debt which God forgave, and other people's debts to us can never begin to compare!

We have so much in common! We are all in the same family (human) and some of us are more closely related. We all have the same needs. We need God to take care of us, other people to pray, angels to protect, and food and water and air to keep us alive. We all call the same planet home, and some of us the same city, state, country, or space shuttle. :) And for Christians, there is more. In fact, we are all brothers and sisters with the same Father and the same Guidebook and Home.So every Sunday, church is like a family reunion; and Christian family squabbles are just as offensive to our Father as regular family squabbles are to our earthly parents.

I used to fight a lot with one of my brothers (he is one of my best friends now), and my parents tried everything they could think of to try to help us. They gave us paper, and said to keep a tally of all the nice things we said to each other, and said that they would take whoever said more to Golden Corral as a reward. Then they took us both. Regularly, they had us sit next to each other silently for a long time and hold hands. One time they washed our mouths out with soap. Just so you know, none of their methods were successful at completely curing us from arguing.  God did that when He was ready! But it gives an example of the lengths humans will go to in order to help their children get along. That is how much God cares when we don't get along with our Christian brothers and sisters! If you don't, and you are my friend, I am afraid for what He might try in order to change you.

If the reason you don't get along is not because of either of your sin, I hope you can see how petty that is. And I hope you can find it easy to say sorry, put away grudges, forgive, or whatever you need to do to change your relationship for the better. If it is because of someone's sin, I've already ponted out to you what the Bible says. If you don't care that you don't get along and don't want to change, I seriously doubt whether you have ever tuly encountered the love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace of Jesus. If you think otherwise, maybe you think wrong or maybe you can explain to me why I am wrong. An explanation would help me greatly, because I really don't understand.

One last thing: I hope as you read this you were thinking more of yourself than of anyone else. If not, maybe it would be wisest to put these things into practice by forgiving that person and reread it for your own benefit. I will just keep praying for those of you who don't; and want to remind those people of the great love that God has for them and that if I were to meet them, I would try to love them no matter what they said or did to me. And I know for a fact that I am not perfect (I am not in Heaven) and I am not the strongest person alive. I cannot even walk right now without something stable to hold onto with both hands!

Times of Suffering

I used to think car accidents were bad things. Until I had one. I am reminded of a similar circumstance when I was in Bible college. All my friends got their summer assignments together at my first choice, where I had worked the previous summer. I was assigned instead to my second choice, "alone." Although I was a little depressed, my RA encouraged me, "At times like these, we to get to eagerly await the wonderful surprises that God has in store." Looking back, that summer was when I got to apply everything that I had learned, and it was the best part of my year!

Similarly, God used something as "bad" (good) as a car accident to bless me. I don't remember that day or the months immediately following, so then none of the pain. All I know all the good things that came out of it. Some of these include the following:  a greater appreciation for the passages about Jesus healing people, more in common with those people, the cessation of an old addiction, greater love for all people, greater appreciation for and anticipation of each day, the name of someone I don't remember ever meeting or hearing about, but who needs prayer, a greater burden for prayer since there is little else I can do, and probably other blessings I have yet to think about! Oh, like now, I am allowed to have dessert at more meals each day! :)  Because, apparently, I need to gain weight and say "Ho, ho, ho." 

I am reminded of the song, "This Good Day" by Fernado Ortega: It seems to match how I currently feel about life. I hope my life can be an encouragement to someone who is having a physical or emotional "time of suffering" that God loves us, and He has a good purpose for everything He sends!

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Here is the song:  http://youtu.be/1rbKumMtnuA

If You Need Abundant Mercy

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).

Have you felt inadequate lately? Unworthy? Have you felt like your life is a hopeless mess, or you've failed too much and are too far gone?

Have you wondered if you will ever get past that sin-hump and grow to new heights with Jesus? Have you wondered if you're really His, or if He really loves you, or if He could possibly have any use for you?

Good news: Our Father has an abundance of mercy, and He has begotten us not to despair, but to a living hope. How - what foundation is there for this hope?

He raised Jesus from the dead. From the dead! A God who can raise the dead can heal the sin-sick, can change the leopard's spots, can melt the heart of stone, can do anything!

Appreciating Women

Women are half of God's image.

"And Elohim created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27).

Every person on this planet matters to the Father, and that includes women. So this month, as we're thinking about breast cancer awareness, remembering loved ones lost to the disease, encouraging the women in our lives to be careful, and generally "painting the town pink," let us remember also the women of all ages, around the world, who face deadly dangers of all varieties, like these little girls in India.

Celebrating Happy Days

Music!

It wafted up from the cafeteria, and my feet followed its strains out the door of art history and down the zigzag steps to the side of the hall, where I joined the crowd of a couple hundred students smiling while peering over the railing.

Down there in our own beloved cafeteria, bereft of the typical tables and chairs with laughing groups of students huddled over laptops, textbooks, and TV dinners - down there a ring of people surrounded the spacious, spontaneous dance floor where a score of individuals flowed danced to the Cupid Shuffle!

I looked around quickly - was there anyone I knew well enough to talk into joining the dance? I couldn't go by myself, not in front of all those people, but maybe if there was one person . . . but there wasn't, so I shrugged and immersed myself in the watching. Aahh, the joys of dance parties! =)

An international student from Africa joined us at the railing. "What?" Her face expressed confusion as she gestured toward the dancers.

"They're dancing, just for fun." I smiled.

"For fun," she nodded as she turned back to gaze at them. A few moments later, "What are they celebrating? They are just having a happy day?"

I laughed and nodded, full of the jubilance of the moment.
"A happy day, yes."

What further reason do we need in order to celebrate?
It's a happy day!
Let's dance.