The Search for Significance stops here!

I had a friend over for coffee the other morning and she posed a question to me about a blog that I recently wrote and this is my response:

Question at hand: Are you searching for significance in this?

I believe that God has placed desires within me. I believe that when God is gracious enough to give me a passion and a gift for something that I should share it. Therefore, I share!

I have found my significance in Christ. I am a child of God. God breathed life into me. God sent his son to die on the cross for my sins. God has a plan just for me. God has a purpose just for me.

All of the above makes me very significant to one. The ONE called I AM, I am trying to please!

Thank you God for making me significant to you!

Living Loved and Freely,

Elizabeth

Birthday Present from.....

“...the door flew open, and he was looking directly into the face of a large beaming African-American woman....she engulfed him in her arms, lifting him clear off his feet and spinning him around like a little child...But something in the way that she looked at him and yelled his name made him equally delighted to see her too, even though he didn’t have a clue who she was. Suddenly, he was overwhelmed by the scent emanating from her, and it shook him. It was the smell of flowers with overtones of gardenia and jasmine, unmistakably his mother’s perfume...Meanwhile, this woman stood there with her arms outstretched as if they were the very arms of his mother. He felt the presence of love. It was warm, inviting, melting.” (The Shack, pg 80-81)

I love the picture I get in my mind when I read the above from the book called “The Shack.” It makes me remember a person in my life that makes me feel that way when I think of him. That person is my Grandpa Pelton. He was a very friendly, warm, strong, loving, and fun man of God. He passed away March 31, 1989. I was 18.

When someone you love very much dies there is a part of you that feels abandoned.

Today is my 40th birthday. A couple of months ago my mother gave me something that she found while she was cleaning out my grandparents things. It was a necklace that my Grandpa gave to my Grandma on their 40th wedding anniversary. It has an E on the front (because my grandmother’s name was Esther) and it has an inscription on the back. I left it in a drawer until today. I pulled it out of the drawer this morning and as I put it on with tears in my eyes it was like my Grandpa was wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was a huge reminder of my Grandpa’s warmth and a huge reminder that God will never abandon me.

I know that God loves me unconditionally and I’m so thankful for his love. People come and go and I’ll go one day too. I love how God has reminded me today through the gift of my Grandfather that he will never abandon me. This gift comes from God and this gift comes from one of the men that I viewed was as close to God on heaven as there will be.

Thank you God

for creating my Grandpa

Thank you God

for creating me

Thank you God

for giving me

Forty Wonderful Years

so far!

Living Loved andFreely,

Elizabeth

Fear, because of his Love for you

I called you so often, but you wouldn't come. I reached out to you but you paid no attention. You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered.

This is what happened at the beach. Her children were swimming out in the ocean.

She called them so often to come back in because they were going too far out.

So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you--when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you.

She saw her children getting too far out in the ocean again and now there is a decision to make.....

When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. (The ocean current).

They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. (Their mother's warning)

Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. For simpletons turn away from me--to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency. (Her children did not realize how small they were compared to the ocean and it's strong current)

But wait....there's more. Perfect loves drives out all fear. The decision was "I must save my children."

In a moment, a mother's love for her children overcame the fear of the oceans current, overcame the anger towards disobedient children, and she overcame the fear of loosing her own life.

Didn't God do this for us? his children. God came in human form. His name was Jesus. He overcame the fear of loosing his own life to save us, his children. He overcame his anger towards his disobedient children, because Jesus took our punishment for our sins.

Just like the mother in this story. She wanted her children to Fear the ocean and it's current for their own protection. God wants us to fear him so that we will listen to his wisdom. God wants us to know his love for us and know that what he is telling us is for our safety and protection.

But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.

All Scripture is italicized above and listed below:

Scripture used Proverbs 1:24-33

Proverbs 1:7 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 9:10 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom, Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgement.

1 John 4:18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

Never Alone Again

The moment you asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart is the moment when you no longer had to be alone again.

When Jesus died on the cross for your sins and was raised from the dead that meant that he was who he said he was. He is the son to the Father, God. When Jesus left this earth after he was resurrected from the dead he promised us an Advocate once he was gone. This Advocate is called the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit lives within you if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Therefore, the moment you asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart is the moment when your life became no longer solo.

As I was riding my bike today I was alone. Matter of fact from 6:45a.m. to 11:30a.m. this morning I was alone. Alone by human standards.

In reality I was not alone because I have asked Jesus into my heart. He is always with me!

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, he is with you too! Amazing and Awesome and not Alone!

Thank you Father!

Living Loved and Freely,

Elizabeth

I'm a butterfly

This time of year brings about butterflies which have always been a neat thing to me.

When I was a child I remember catching caterpillars and then putting them in a jar and waiting and watching them build a cocoon around themselves then all of a sudden after about a couple of weeks there would be a butterfly in the jar and I'd release it outside.

Now a days you don't have to catch your own caterpillar. You can actually order them here. We did this one time with our daughter.

What I just realized is that the transition of the caterpillar to the butterfly resembles accepting Jesus into my heart.

When I asked Jesus into my heart I was reborn. Like the butterfly. New creation in Christ.

Now I can fly and I sure am alot more prettier too! Not on the outside but on the inside which should reflect on the outside too.

So, from now on when you see a butterfly. Remember this, you too are a new creation if you've ever asked Jesus into your heart! You ARE a beautiful butterfly and you ARE being carried by the wind (the Holy Spirit) and you ARE allowed to flap your wings and fly!

Have a happy day through Jesus Christ!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!

Dear God,

Thank you for making me brand new and beautiful like the butterfly. Thank you for creating the caterpillar and transitioning it into a beautiful butterfly that can soar and remind me of what you did for me when you sent your son to die on the cross for me.

Amen

Living Loved and Freely,

Elizabeth