Wisdom Wednesday

~A God-Shaped Life~

When you're kind to others, you help yourself;
when you're cruel to others, you hurt yourself.

Bad work gets paid with a bad check;
good work gets solid pay.

Take your stand with God's loyal community and live,
or chase after phantoms of evil and die.

God can't stand deceivers,
but oh how he relishes integrity.

Count on this: The wicked won't get off scot-free,
and God's loyal people will triumph.

Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful face on an empty head.

The desires of good people lead straight to the best,
but wicked ambition ends in angry frustration.

The world of the generous gets larger and larger;
the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed;
those who help others are helped.

Curses on those who drive a hard bargain!
Blessings on all who play fair and square!

The one who seeks good finds delight;
the student of evil becomes evil.

A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump;
a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.

Exploit or abuse your family, and end up with a fistful of air;
common sense tells you it's a stupid way to live.

A good life is a fruit-bearing tree;
a violent life destroys souls.

If good people barely make it,
what's in store for the bad!

Proverbs 11:17-31 The Message

Yep, every. single. time.

Happy Monday, everyone! I pray the sun came up and found you blessed this morning?!

Well, since it is Monday, you know what that means, right? Think music!

This isn't a new song...it's been around for a few years now. But I still love to hear it. And when I heard it recently, it was like I heard it anew. Ever had that happen to you before? Suddenly the words have new meaning for you? Yes, it was like that...

I realized exactly how true these words are in my life. How close I feel to my Savior; how faithful He's been in all His promises. And how much closer I feel to Him with every. single. breath. And that He IS a marvelous God. And I AM so in love with Him. Good feelings to have, I can tell you...

*Please scroll down and pause my player before watching video*

"wrapped in Your mercy, I wanna live and never leave..."

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:4-5 NIV

This I do believe

I have so many words locked up inside that I could say about this...but I think for now, I'll just let the song do the talking. Maybe one day I'll do a separate post. Or not.

Just know this: I DO know how it all ends. I DO know where I'm going. And that is such a comfort! All of this is temporary...

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. Romans 8:18 NLT

Prayer request

Please keep my good friend, Kimberly, in your prayers...her Daddy went to be with the Lord yesterday afternoon.

Lord, I know Heaven got a little bit funnier yesterday upon *Denny Crane's arrival!

*Kimberly and I always referred to her Daddy as "Denny Crane" after William Shatner's character on Boston Legal - they both kept us in stitches!

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
1 Corinthians 15:55 NIV

Can't wait!

I'll be attending this conference with a fabulous friend and I simply cannot wait!!! I just know we are going to be so profoundly blessed by all we hear and see!

And I just LOVE that I keep seeing my focus word over and over again...

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Wings

My Beloved Bride

I know your heart longs to dream. Don't lose sight of your hope, My beloved; I placed that passion inside you to do something great while you are reigning here on earth. I want to be the one to life you up in My appointed time. If you are willing to wait on Me, I will take you to a place where dreams come true. Let Me be the one who gives you your wings, My Bride. I alone can lift you higher than you could ever fly on your own. You will see the world from a whole new point of view when you soar with Me.

Love,
Your Prince
who lifts you up

But those who trust in the Lord
will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

My Prince

You are the wind that takes me where I want to go. You are the sweet incense that makes my life so sweet. Yes, Lord, I will wait on You to give me my wings. Please prepare me for my appointed time to soar. Please be my strength, that I may run this race and never give up or grow weary while waiting. Thank you in advance for my wings.

Love,
Your Bride
who longs to fly with You

Now all glory to God, who is
able, through his mighty
power at work within us, to
accomplish infinitely
more than we might ask or think.
Ephesians 3:20

Waiting on my wings...

From His Princess Bride: Love Letters from Your Prince

Tumbling down

It's Music Monday time again. I don't hear this song very often, but when I do it speaks to my soul. It's not a "surface" song for me. It gets under my skin and makes me truly think about what it is the Lord is doing in my life. What I need for Him to do in my life...

And just like Jericho, the walls need to come down.

Walls like "I can do everything for/by myself" and "I'm okay" (even when I'm not).

So, I guess I really do need Him like a hurricane. To wash everything away and allow me to rebuild...sigh...

**Please scroll down and pause my player before watching video**

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. Hebrews 11:30 NIV

God just hears the melody

You know, as I listened to the words of this song for the first time, I thought how true they may be...there is so much pure honesty in our rawest emotions. Perhaps that "pureness" really is a melody to the ears of the Lord. What do you think?

**Please scroll down and pause my player before watching video**

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest. Lamentations 2:18 NIV

EMPTY!!!!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:1-6 NIV

HE IS RISEN!!!!

For God so loved the world...

Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed. "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.

"Barabbas," they answered.

"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.

They all answered, "Crucify him!"

"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"

All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.

When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah." Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.

The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Matthew 27:15-63 NIV