O Abba Father,
I am so grateful! You worked it out. Despite my sickness and hospitalization, you gave me the desire of my heart … to be at the high school graduations of our two oldest grandsons — in two different states, spaced 10 days apart. Amazing!
Read MoreIt all started a week ago. At first it seemed to be a severe cold compounded by allergies. But it was continually morphing throughout the week. I cancelled everything I could to rest and recover. Our two oldest grandsons would be graduating soon, though a week apart in different states, and we had plans to be at both.
Read MoreToday I witnessed the Ordination to the Gospel ministry of a young man who grew up in our church. It was a very moving experience. And it reminded me of a similar ordination I witnessed back in July of 2013 and the blogpost that I wrote in response.
The reason I would like to share that post again is a powerful truth that the Holy Spirit revealed — we children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ are ALL “ordained by God to minister (serve) for HIS purpose and pleasure while we are on this earth (Acts 13:36).
Read MoreHere we are again, sisters and brothers. Let’s think through afresh God’s “masterpiece idea” — us!
For we are God’s masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:10 NLT
There are lots of emptying in life … Motherhood, in particular, is filled with emptyings -- from the emptying of the womb in childbirth to the emptying of self in child-raising. The stripping is hard, every step along the way. And then there is an emptying that affects all mothers sooner or later -- the emptying of the nest.
I know. This is what we have been preparing our children for, right? The launch, the flight out of the safety, security, and nurturing of their childhood home, out into the excitement of what God has for them up ahead.
But who prepares moms for this?
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Please hear this.
You are not an obstacle to God.
You are His beloved child, His instrument to express His Life on this earth. You are His work of art, His '“poem” He is speaking into His world through you.
Others may think of you as an obstacle, but God is bigger than that. He uses you in your circumstances and relationships to express who He is. Yes, even in your mistakes and failures and fleshly ways. He can turn them around for your good and His amazing purposes today.
Read MoreRemember the wonders he has performed,
his miracles, and the rulings he has given.
Psalm 105:5 NLT
Each of us is on a unique journey and has a story to tell. Our journey-stories are filled with highs and lows, adventures and crises, and everything in between.
Read MoreI’ve come to learn over these years of walking with God that things aren’t always what they seem. The extraordinary is hidden in the ordinary. And let’s face it. You and I live quite ordinary lives. We compartmentalize our lives into secular and sacred. Then we go through each day wondering what this present life is all about. We don’t see the glory all around.
Read MoreLive while you are alive. (Patch Adams)
Each of us has a life … the life we were given. We didn’t choose our life. But I guess the issue is, “Are we living while we are alive?” Or, are we waiting till “things settle down,” or, “we lose ____# pounds,” or, “the kids grow up,” or ????, or ????, or ????.
“Things settling down” was always my trap in my early years of adulthood. But things don’t ever settle down, do they? Not for long anyway. They just change. And then the cycle begins again, and so then we never really embrace the life that is ours. So this is what I eventually realized: I need to …
…live the life I have, not the one I wish I had.
Read More… Happy Total Eclipse Day from Dayton, Ohio,
Just thinking out loud about the total eclipse here today. Amazing! What a unique experience! Surprised at the switch-flip to darkness that didn’t happen until the very last rays disappeared! Even saw one star come out during totality!
It is Finished!
But why are so many of us "guarding an empty tomb," trying to keep the shame of memories, regrets, sins of the past from impinging themselves on our present as if these offenses are still alive...and unforgiven?
Read MoreI have two younger sisters, Linda and Nancy. At Easter every year, our mom would dress us up in our ruffly Easter dresses, shoes, purses, and of course, bonnets. Since I am the oldest of the three, my Easter clothes were usually brand new. My younger two sisters, on the other hand, had hand-me-downs, but they were “new to them.” This was especially true when it came to our Easter bonnets.
Read MoreNow I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
So goes a traditional nighttime prayer taught by American moms to their children for generations. It may seem odd to us today that there would be the mention of death in a child's prayer. But scientists say that sleep is the closest we come to death while still alive. The Greeks even had a proverb,
Sleep and death are brothers.
However, in the first century, Jewish moms taught their children a different bedtime prayer...quoting Psalm 31:
Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.
Read MoreTetelestai!* It is finished! The death of Christ on the Cross is the HINGE of human history...and nowbefore He breathes His last breath... a cry of victory,It is finished!
What's finished? It must be something BIG,...look at what happened when Jesus died:
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
Read MoreI’m not Irish except in the sense that everyone is Irish on St Patrick’s Day.
So this week, I’m returning to a beloved “hymn”. Today more than ever we need the beautiful truths expressed in what is traditionally known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate.
St Patrick's Breastplate is a Celtic hymn, usually attributed to St Patrick, that is sung around his feast day (March 17th). There are many variations to this hymn.* But I have chosen a simple version to share with you.
Read MoreThirst is a primal need in all of us humans...more demanding even than hunger! We can go quite awhile without eating, but a very short time without drinking. Jesus on the Cross had refrained up to this point from satisfying His thirst. Instead He drank the Father's cup to the very last drop. He became sin for us...the Sinless One. Jesus took our place. Now in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus expresses His own physical need:
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. John 19:28-29 ESV
Read MoreAbandoned. With no Rescuer in sight. What happens next in the unfolding drama of the crucifixion of our Lord is a mystery. Let's watch it unfold...
It is noon.
Read MoreDear woman, behold your son...behold your mother. (John 19:26)
Jesus has a special love for His own. As we've already seen with His forgiving and saving attitude in the midst of excruciating agony, His concern was not with His own suffering. Rather His attention was next drawn to His precious loved ones at the foot of His cross, His mother and His beloved disciple John.
What agony Jesus must have seen on Mary's face.
Read MoreTruly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:43
Jesus seems to have a special love for lost people. I love the stories He tells in Luke 15. The first is the beloved story of the shepherd who has a hundred sheep but leaves the ninety-nine to look for the one that is lost. Then when he finds his lost one, he calls in his neighbors and friends to rejoice with him.
Read MoreChrist’s first saying from the Cross ushers us into our basic need as fallen humanity. Listen in and reflect on the amazing love and grace of our forgiving Lord …
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet, once said,To err is human; to forgive, divine.
So true...but we humans more readily echo what someone else has said,
To err is human, but to get even? THAT is divine.
We struggle so, with forgiving our offenders! Perhaps that's why we are amazed and awestruck to realize that Jesus' first words from the Cross were ones of forgiveness.
Read MoreJanet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
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