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Loved

3 AM Musings

by TerryLema

It is 3 AM and I am wide awake in my bed. I just woke up from a crazy dream about buying a lift ticket in another town with a friend, but the friend disappeared, and I missed the lift. At the same time part of the song “I Speak Jesus” was running through my mind. I was also in the middle of a hot flash. Strange night.

As the hot flash dissipated, I realized I was in one of those early morning sweet spots – one of those times when I had no pain. I knew that if I moved or got out of bed that sweet spot would disappear, so I just stayed right where I was.

I began to think about what might be causing my extreme fatigue – but that is a fruitless search. There are so many things, and the doctors just can’t quite nail down the cause (or causes as there could be many contributing to it). Then I began to think about the wonderful blessing God gave me recently in seeing the Espanol church come to life in CFC Middleton.

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by how much God loves me.  I could not help but wonder why? I am nothing special.  A little girl from Pennsylvania, raised in a dysfunctional family. A rebellious teenager. A woman headed into overwhelming dysfunction also until Jesus intersected my life.

Why God would want me is beyond comprehension. Why He would love me as He does is beyond amazing. Why He would answer prayers, give me desires, and then fulfill them – and allow me to see them fulfilled – is so abundantly glorious I have few words to express how I feel.  I silently wept as I thought about those things.

Everything I am and everything I have is from Him. God loves me. And the glorious thing is that He loves you the same way!

“For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?” [1 Corinthians 4:7 HCSB]

 

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The Christian Life

by TerryLema

Just a final thought out of Colossians. There is a paragraph in Chapter 3 that talks about the Christian Life and what it should look like. You’ll find it in verses 12-17. If you get a chance read it today.

As I started to read that paragraph, I got stuck on how we are described in the beginning of verse 12. We are “God’s chosen ones, holy and loved.” [HCSB]

We are God’s chosen. Not because we are something special, but solely by the grace of God. We responded to an invitation to come to Him because we were weary and weak and worn and bankrupt.

We are holy. Not by our own efforts but because “He [Christ Jesus] has reconciled [us] by His physical body through His death, to present [us] holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.” [Colossians 1:22 HCSB]

We are loved. Not because we are lovable, but because He is love and has showered His mercy, grace, and love upon us. In fact, He loved us when we were His enemies, when we were rebellious, when we were shaking our fists at Him and shouting that we would not have Him rule over us. Still, He loved us.

Now we have a choice – to live like we are chosen, holy and loved.

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Loved

by TerryLema

A friend posted a meme on Facebook the other day. It said, “If you understood how much God loves you, you would break down and cry.”

I replied, “I do. And we only grasp a little bit.”

I think the Apostle John could have posted that meme, as well as posted that reply. His entire first letter is all about loving God, loving each other, and being loved by God Himself.

By coincidence, the day before I read that meme on Facebook, I was reading through John’s first letter, I drew up short at the beginning of Chapter 3.  “Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children.” [1John 3:1 HCSB]

I could barely get by that first word, “Look.” The KJV translates it as “Behold,” and it means “I see, look upon, experience, perceive, discern.”

Wow! We are to look upon, as well as also experience the great love the Father has given us. The great love the Father has given us is not just to be something we know as truth in our minds. It is to be experienced throughout every part of our lives.

That great love is to govern everything … the great times, the difficult times, the times of success, the times of failures, the time of joy and the times of sorrow. It gets down in the trenches with us. It travels with us through grief and regret. It lifts us up when the world seeks to press us down. It causes us to thrive in times of tribulation.

Look, Experience, that great love the Father has given us.

Today: Thank you Father for calling me Your child.

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