Another Love Song...

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Another Love Song...

I've been thinking about the true love that we all crave in our heart of hearts. It's a love that we only get glimpses of in this life in this broken world.

So here's another love song (remember the last post?)...one that we usually connect romantically and emotionally to that favorite someone. But again, truly...if we listen to the words...can we really sing it to another human being? I suspect that if I really honestly sing a song like this one to someone on this earth, then I would probably be making that someone a "god" in my life.

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Findings in the File: Memoirs from days gone by

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Findings in the File: Memoirs from days gone by

A few years ago, I did a series I called "Findings in the File." As I was making an attempt to clean out files (which still hasn't totally happened), I found treasure after treasure buried there. And  just the other day, I had another "finding in a file"... ok, notebook, hidden in one of those infamous files. It was such fun to find. 

Since I'm working on sharing my spiritual journey with a new Bible study group soon to begin, it was a delightful "trip into yesteryear" when I found this -- a "life story and favorite things." It was a presentation done with a small group of precious friends back in 2007, who shared their memoirs also. And then we celebrated each other's lives. What joy!

And so now I thought maybe I would just share my "outline"found in that notebook, in that file...just for fun of it and to encourage you to think about your own life with the "mind of Christ" and gratitude for the treasure that is YOU!

But first, something that came at the end of my outline, but I don't want you to miss if you have just a few minutes to read -- truths still most precious to me. I hope they encourage you too.

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This Day, This Bread

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This Day, This Bread

I'm receiving Christ's fullness as my daily portion, morning by morning, day by day.

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
John 1:16 NIV

And so as I embrace HIM for my day, moment by moment, I'm also revisiting some of my previous meditations.

Would you like to join in and relearn with me? I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded often of that which I already know. But I need to know it today ... in my real life ... now.

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Grace upon Grace ... Bread upon Bread

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Our Father ... give us this day our daily bread.

I love my word for the year, daily bread. (You can read the story behind it here). But it wasn't always so. In fact, would you believe that after embracing it as perfect for the stress I was feeling, I began to feel cheated. 

Cheated? How could that be?

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A New Word for the Year ... a renewed confidence for each day!

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A New Word for the Year ... a renewed confidence for each day!

Have you heard of choosing a word for your year? Several years ago, there were some well known authors who encouraged the practice. But to tell you the truth, no matter what I chose, it wouldn't "stick." I had to work too hard to remember it and why I even chose it in the first place.

Until last year, 2016! Bingo!

 

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Facing the New Year without Regret

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Facing the New Year without Regret

Another year, another 365 days to accumulate regrets! Loved ones have passed into eternity; opportunities have flown by because we have delayed too long ... and on and on. So I'm sharing this, one of my most visited blog posts over the years. May we all be able to face the fresh regrets of 2016, many of which are valid, and place them in the loving arms of our Savior. Amen.

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Advent Devotions: the WITH-ness of our God {His Presence in prepositions}

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Advent Devotions: the WITH-ness of our God {His Presence in prepositions}

Isn't it wonderful when someone wants to spend time with us?  Not just a token, obligatory, "showing up" to either fulfill an obligation, salve guilt, or ask for something...a real wanting to be with us.

As special as it is in human relationships, think how amazing it is when we realize that the Sovereign God of the universe has wanted to be with us!  Yes, US!  and according to the Bible words used, we see that in Jesus, our Emmanuel, He is with us on every level possible.

In the original language of the New Testament, there are three Greek words that can be translated with.  With is one of a group of many words we call prepositions.  Don't worry about the grammar of it all.  Just keep in mind that the key idea with prepositions is relationship.

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Social Anxiety? This is the time of Year!

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Social Anxiety? This is the time of Year!

So here we are...at a time when it seems that all social occasions(all right, slight exaggeration) are squeezed into, at best, a four week space...your spouse's office Christmas party, the kids' school programs and parties, neighborhood open houses, family in-law, and what may be worse, "out-law" gatherings, and what did I miss? But you get the picture.

And all of this on top of our own preparations of cleaning, decorating, cooking, shopping, wrapping...

And did I mention the heart preparation of Advent, peace on earth, joy in the Lord, scripture, song, prayer?

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There's Something to say for Caring and Commitment -- 45 Years Together

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There's Something to say for Caring and Commitment -- 45 Years Together

Marriage is a curious thing ... each year can be very different than the one before. This has been no less true for us and this, our 45th year of marriage.

An interesting year, this 45th. It began with my 91 y.o. mom's home going (so hard!); then the publication and launch of my book The With-ness of our God (so exciting!); and in February, retirement ... for both of us (the jury is still out!)

Smooth sailing at first, then upheaval over a home renovation project going south, house in total disarray because of the work being done ... feeling like never ending. On top of it all, the "new normal" impossible to find.

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An Unexpected Grief

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An Unexpected Grief

There I was, sitting at the stop light. All of a sudden, an overwhelming grief ... not primarily for my mom who died an exact year before, almost to the day. No, for my dad ... who had died in 1983 right before Thanksgiving.

But why am I grieving now ... why this year, when I hadn't thought of him at this time other years?

I tried to track my train of thought and realized that my thoughts had gone from grieving over my mistakes in my parenting to the difficulties in my own childhood home.

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Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder

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Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder

... God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

During a recent visit with our lovely daughter and family, I was walking on "my path" on the Dover Air Force Base.

I love my path! There are walkers and their dogs, playing children and military "manifestations" (like signs written in military rather than civilian time), and best of all, safety and well-cared for walking areas. But for as many times as I have walked my path, I wasn't prepared for the delightful, though shocking, surprise on the day in question.

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"All of God in all of me"

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"All of God in all of me"

In recounting her journey to Christ as a young college student, Jill Briscoe tells of a little nurse who led her to the Lord during a hospital stay. The night Jill was saved and every night thereafter,  that wise little nurse encouraged her to go to sleep saying:

All of God in all of me.

Jill says, as a result of that truth etching itself in her mind and heart, she never doubted that when she received Christ, she had gotten all there is of God. 

... If the spirit is a person, then you can't receive a "bit" of the Spirit, just as you can't receive only a part of a person. So I had been given all of God I was going to get ...*
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Craig's Song: I Am Waiting for the Dawning . . .

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Craig's Song: I Am Waiting for the Dawning . . .

The beauty of aging is that long-term memory starts to kick in (don't ask me what I had for breakfast!).

And that's what happened in the midst of a hard time, a sweet yet bitter time, when many gathered to share our corporate sadness, yet rejoicing, at the graduation to glory of our dear brother and friend Craig Steffen.

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Touch Jesus . . . Touch Life

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Touch Jesus . . . Touch Life

Years ago I had a mentor-friend named Donna.  She was the one the Lord used to usher me into experiencing Christ in me as the One who does the doing in the Christian life!  Her key phrase was (as I remember it) "God does it."

Then by the Spirit of God came the realization that my indwelling Lord Jesus Christ is my All in All!  He is the Father's Ultimate Gift to me...no-thing else, no-thing more!

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

 

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The Stabilizing Focus of a Morning Prayer

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The Stabilizing Focus of a Morning Prayer

Oh, life has been full of losses lately...deaths, illnesses, failures. And these during and after times of refreshment with loved ones and beaches and the simplicity of Amish peaceful countryside. 

As a result, I am reflecting, revisiting, and responding in new ways to previous thoughts...some of which have already been shared. Forgive me. But if you would like to listen in, here is my meditation:

Life is a mix, a conglomeration.
There is confusion and clarity, flailing and focus, excruciating pain and exquisite peace.
There is bitterness and sweetness, strength and fragility, "rugged seas" and "smooth sailing."

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