Heroes, Heroines, and History: An Afternoon of Art (The Dayton Art Museum): By Linore Rose Burkard Grab a cup of tea and enjoy some eye candy this month. (Pretend you've actually taken the time to drive down...
Heroes, Heroines, and History: An Afternoon of Art (The Dayton Art Museum)
Heroes, Heroines, and History: An Afternoon of Art (The Dayton Art Museum): By Linore Rose Burkard Grab a cup of tea and enjoy some eye candy this month. (Pretend you've actually taken the time to drive down...
Shedding the Weight of Bitterness
This short devo is from The Christian Pulse and such a great reminder that I wanted to share it with you. All too recently I've been here--allowing bitterness to take root without my truly acknowledging it--or repenting of it. It's always a good idea to keep short accounts with God--and others. Don't let things simmer...the pot always and only gets hotter.
Vacation Declaration
Posted: 18 Mar 2016 01:11 PM PDT
By Cindy Martin –
On
a recent family vacation, during a time of casual conversation, our 13
year old daughter made the following spontaneous declaration, “I tried
holding a grudge once, but it was too much work.” The manner in which
she expressed herself caused us all to chuckle enthusiastically.
Revealing her deep desire for meaningful relationships, she followed up
by saying, “I just wanted to talk with my friend”.
While her little pronouncement has brought me much amusement, it has also challenged me to reflect on the high cost of unforgiveness. Hebrews 12:15 reads, “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many” (NLT). We learn in this verse that by withholding forgiveness, we are depriving others and ourselves of God’s grace. It also reminds us that the choice not to forgive results in many unexpected and destructive happenings in our life. While forgiveness leads to peace, unforgiveness leads to misery and our misery poisons those around us. Many of us have experienced the harsh stinging words or attitude of someone else’s misery. Perhaps, we’ve been the ones extending misery instead of grace.
Forgiveness is not forgetting, denying, approving of or excusing another person’s actions. Rather it is an active choice to be a conduit of God’s grace. Refusing to forgive is choosing to stay tied to someone in a link that is sometimes stronger than steel. God’s work of grace in our hearts to extend forgiveness is the only pathway to release. When we choose to forgive, we are untying ourselves, freeing ourselves from an often suffocating weight in our lives.
Matthew 6:15 explains another way we feel the weight of unforgiveness in our lives, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (NLT). Whether it’s the weight of being tied to another person (or persons) or the heaviness of our own unforgiven sin, my daughter was right, “it is too much work.” The load is overwhelming and the loss of intimacy in our relationship with our heavenly Father stifles His work in and through us. God never intended it to be this way. He modelled ultimate mercy and pardon so that we could enjoy the life giving lightness and freedom that forgiveness brings.
Prayer: Lord, please show me if there is any unforgiveness in my life that is weighing me down. If there is, I ask You to do a work of grace in my heart. Help me to choose to follow Your example of mercy and forgiveness.
Verse: “Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Colossians 3:13 NLT).
 |
| How much unforgiveness are you carrying? |
While her little pronouncement has brought me much amusement, it has also challenged me to reflect on the high cost of unforgiveness. Hebrews 12:15 reads, “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many” (NLT). We learn in this verse that by withholding forgiveness, we are depriving others and ourselves of God’s grace. It also reminds us that the choice not to forgive results in many unexpected and destructive happenings in our life. While forgiveness leads to peace, unforgiveness leads to misery and our misery poisons those around us. Many of us have experienced the harsh stinging words or attitude of someone else’s misery. Perhaps, we’ve been the ones extending misery instead of grace.
Forgiveness is not forgetting, denying, approving of or excusing another person’s actions. Rather it is an active choice to be a conduit of God’s grace. Refusing to forgive is choosing to stay tied to someone in a link that is sometimes stronger than steel. God’s work of grace in our hearts to extend forgiveness is the only pathway to release. When we choose to forgive, we are untying ourselves, freeing ourselves from an often suffocating weight in our lives.
Matthew 6:15 explains another way we feel the weight of unforgiveness in our lives, “But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (NLT). Whether it’s the weight of being tied to another person (or persons) or the heaviness of our own unforgiven sin, my daughter was right, “it is too much work.” The load is overwhelming and the loss of intimacy in our relationship with our heavenly Father stifles His work in and through us. God never intended it to be this way. He modelled ultimate mercy and pardon so that we could enjoy the life giving lightness and freedom that forgiveness brings.
Prayer: Lord, please show me if there is any unforgiveness in my life that is weighing me down. If there is, I ask You to do a work of grace in my heart. Help me to choose to follow Your example of mercy and forgiveness.
Verse: “Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Colossians 3:13 NLT).
New, New, New!
It takes faith to be resilient.
Now that an EMP has sent the United States into a seeming Dark Age,
society has fallen apart at the seams. Andrea, Lexie and Sarah must
survive despite the loss of technology, electricity, and worse, the
threats of marauders and lawless opportunists. The appearance of FEMA
camps might be reassuring except that the military seem determined to
force civilians to enter them.
Is the US government also a threat?
And can the country recover from the loss of technology before everyone--and everything--is destroyed?
And can the country recover from the loss of technology before everyone--and everything--is destroyed?
"I was here. I saw beauty. I embraced it." KARA TIPPETTS
Take a look at this inspiring book.
Can life be celebrated, even when it doesn't turn out how we planned? This book will challenge your way of thinking: http://bit.ly/1QO439A |
|
Book info
| |
 About the book:
And It Was Beautiful: Celebrating Life in the Midst of the Long Good-Bye (David C Cook, March 2016)
"I was here. I saw beauty. I embraced it." -Kara Tippetts How do you live out extravagant love in the everyday moments? How do you celebrate grace when your life turns out differently than the one you dreamed? Kara Tippetts discovered how to find joy in the small moments of life. She learned how to hold tight to hope even while battling intense physical and emotional pain. And she lived out the truth that God can redeem any story. In her final book, Kara offers gentle reflections on living and dying well. She invites us to cultivate soft hearts even when we face great disappointment. Her ideas for living are hard-won, wrestled with in the crucible of family, illness, and faith. And her constant reminder is that whether we are in the midst of dark days or mundane moments Jesus is always there, life is surprisingly beautiful, and God is forever good.  About the author:
Kara Tippetts was the author of The Hardest Peace and the co-author of Just Show Up.
She blogged faithfully at mundanefaithfulness.com. Since her death in
March 2015, her husband, Jason, has been parenting their four children
and leading the church the couple founded in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Live and die well. If you've never read Kara Tippetts' story, her final book is a must-read: http://bit.ly/1QO439A @David_C_Cook
| |
The Sword and Spirit : How Writing PULSE Changed My Life + Book Giveaway
The Sword and Spirit : How Writing PULSE Changed My Life + Book Giveaway: Today we welcome L.R.Burkard , author of the compelling YA/Suspense drama, PULSE, which is the first book in The PULSE EFFEX SERIES. So, ...
Click on through to enter the
giveaway! If you've read the book already, you could win a copy to give
to someone else. Books make great gifts!
Click on through to enter the
giveaway! If you've read the book already, you could win a copy to give
to someone else. Books make great gifts!
Small Town, USA (A Snapshot) & Book Giveaway!
Heroes, Heroines, and History: Small Town, USA (A Snapshot) & Book Giveaway!: This month I offer an essay as my historical post. It's a tribute to growing up in a small town within the shadow of Manhattan. Life was...
Novel Rocket: Contest Mavens--An Author's Secret Weapon
Novel Rocket: Contest Mavens--An Author's Secret Weapon: by Linore Rose Burkard We've all run into them. Readers who seem to enter every free book contest on the internet, leaving short co...
Novel Rocket: How to Be an Editor's Dream Writer
Novel Rocket: How to Be an Editor's Dream Writer: by Linore Rose Burkard Wouldn't we all love to be an editor's dream writer! But what does that mean? Perhaps it will be useful t...
Human Faithfulness vs. Divine Resolve
Do you take sermon notes during church? I do.
While I was reviewing them recently, I realized they could be encouraging to more people than just myself--if I shared them.
Here, then, are notes from a sermon given by my pastor, Steve Bice, earlier this year. The text is Mark 14:26-52. Be encouraged!
"The gospel is our hope; we need to be reminded of it over and over."
The resolve of our Savior trumps man's faithfulness.
1. The faithfulness of man (is fundamentally flawed)
Peter wants to be faithful; he anticipates being faithful; he PROMISES to be faithful: "I will never abandon you!" he tells Jesus. All the disciples said the same thing: "We'll go with you even to death."(And they meant it--they thought.)
But vs. 50--they all left him. Not days or weeks later, but HOURS later.
In moments of revival, excitement or passion we make promises of faithfulness that we don't live up to. Our promises prove to be empty because they're based in emotion--not truth.
vss.27-28. Jesus declares that he will be raised again, but the disciples gloss over it, missing it. HOPE would have helped them face the fear of the passion--but they missed the hope--and their faith proved fragile.
What if they had PRAYED in the garden of Gethsemane instead of sleeping? vs. 38: Jesus nailed the problem: "The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
"It is the plight of mankind to be faithless and weak in ourselves."
"Prone to wander." We should, of course, TRY to be faithful, but the point here is that we NEED God's faithfulness. HIS promises are not empty.
His promises are not overcome by fear or temptation, as ours are.
Jesus knew the end from the beginning; He knew what was coming. He was fully cognizant of His coming suffering, but He remained faithful. He even knew his disciples would not. ("You will all fall away." Zech.13:17, Mark 14:30)2. The Faithfulness of God (The Resolve of our Savior)
He was fully human. Not unemotional about what he was doing. But he also knew he would be victorious. He remained resolved because he knew the outcome.
He knew he would be betrayed, but went to the garden anyway. He met Judas, not even trying to avoid him. "("Come, my betrayer is at hand.")
Jesus's resolve to remain faithful was not grounded in emotion. (He sweat drops of blood.)
Jesus felt every bit of sorrow, anguish and abandonment that could be felt on the Cross. His only fear--being abandoned by God--happened. But he endured the cross for the joy set before him.
It is because of Divine Resolve that we have any hope in this life.Everything in Jesus wanted to escape the fate that was coming, but everything in Jesus resolved to drink the cup.
Hope for eternity.
Hope for growth right here and now.
We forfeit comfort when we ignore God's Word.
Pray for heart understanding as we hear or read God's Word. Pray not to read or listen carelessly.
Final Thoughts:
Unfaithfulness to God is treason against the King; punishable by death.
But God sent His Son
To take our punishment
He was resolved to do it;
and He did.
It is our only source of hope.
God is faithful in our place.
Heroes, Heroines, and History: Regency Christmas: Then Vs. Now (& FREE DOWNLOAD)
Heroes, Heroines, and History: Regency Christmas: Then Vs. Now (& FREE DOWNLOAD): I could not settle upon the best way to highlight a Regency era Christmastide because, well, there is so much that CAN be said abou...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)