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Yes – “The More We Live – Let Go” – music therapy of this song is therapeutic to writing about modeling Jesus, for the forgiving Jesus… Lots of new to me YES songs are very enlightening… Cool…

Let Go

Forgiveness… “Let go”… Jesus says forgive others as we ask (ok beg) God to forgive us… It’s tough, it’s going to take time… But it’s necessary… Maybe we don’t want to forgive others, maybe we just don’t know how… For people we don’t know, it can be easier, walk away and forget… Like the road rage incident I had, I was fine, the car was fine, he was in severe emotional pain which wasn’t my fault (see previous writing, I saw it over his face… pain… anger… frustration… I felt so sorry… Now if he had hurt my beloved blue Subaru window, when he punched at my face behind the window, this might be a completely different essay, one of a forgiveness that would have taken much longer, but it’s not… and I am fine, because the armor of God and armor of Subaru saved my face, and my faith, and I can forgive, I turned the other cheek and drove away… still scared, still aware, still I can see his face, but it was a need for giving forgiveness to him (and to myself for not being extra careful driving)… yeah maybe we more easily forgive IF incidents don’t hurt…

But what if they do? What if they hurt directly or someone we love? Recent or even if it’s twenty plus years ago? What if I would not personally want to, or seem to be able to, forgive them anyway??

It sounds easier said than done to forgive, and actually it might have to be a ripple effect forgiveness we seek… “Forgive me, oh Lord, because I find it hard to forgive this situation, this person… Forgive them Father for they know not what they do… Forgive them Father especially since they know what they did was wrong”… It’s easier to hear Jesus utter those words then for it to come out of our own mouths. Maybe God hears HIS children cry in pain because there is no glee in forgiveness, only tears in forgiveness – Jesus’s tears – Jesus wept – His cleansing tears for washing our souls… Jesus a gift for our salvation because he can walk the walk and talk the talk of asking God to forgive those people – which also means to forgive us, because we are unforgivable to some others too…

This level of forgiveness might work if whom pained you is someone your see daily, weekly… Maybe you can’t forgive them yet, yet you can try. Even if you are not there yet, God’s asks you to try and God has a mediator in place regardless… Jesus is the mediator – this ripple effect forgiveness might be your only hope: “Jesus help me forgive them for sake of my own forgiveness too – please Jesus ask God to forgive me”.

So this YES song, matches these forgiveness thoughts with the phrase: “Wanna change the world?”…    “The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.”

That is forgiveness in a nutshell… The more we FORGIVE, the more we grow… Likewise, the more we shed light on the dark spots of our hearts, the more we ask forgiveness for, the more we grow… The more we move towards modeling Jesus the more we obtain the harmony God desires…  eternally in God’s house is where HE is calling all of us together, reassembles what was shattered at the biting of THAT apple…

Yea, we share the world, it’s up to us, we carry God’s burden of forgiving the snowball effect of man’s sins from eternity…

And we will help Jesus by forgiving, LET GO….

And we will help God by picking ourselves up, and moving forward… LET’S GO…

LET GO of the past, LET’S GROW because that’s what God desires…

LET GOD work us over

LET GO

——–
YES
The More We Live – Let Go

“You and I can change the world;
The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know.
From this moment on we share the world;
The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.
The spirit of imagination can lead us through the dark;
The more we see, the more we try, the more we show.
The evidence of our confusion, life has left its mark;
The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide.
As we walk into tomorrow
(Turning away from the path we know)
Holding the future with our hands
(We carry the weight of the world we go)
It’s up to you and I — We hold the key; we hold the answers
All our thoughts of doubt and fear are leaving one by one
The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know.
For each of us the road is clear and life has just begun;
The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.
It’s time to reach the goals we’ve set for ourselves;
The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide.
All we need is just to believe in ourselves;
We face the truth, we see it clear, with no disguise.
Cast away our doubt and sorrow
(Turning away from the past we know)
The Universe at our command
(Conserving the fate of the world we grow)
Together you and I, we hold the key to all the answers
Let go
Let go
Let go
Let go
Let go”

——
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant – Matthew 18:21
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

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Faith in the Flow – Only Tears, Only Love, 05JUL

I attended the funeral of a 64 year old last week but I actually didn’t cry as I didn’t know him at all,  instead I laughed at the amazing stories of his eccentric character… my spirit was joyfully filled and re-fortified with spirit at the sermonist’s sharing proclamations of spirit.  I REALLY appreciated how much life this “flash in the pan” had lived in crazy fun… an earthly life beautiful, flawed, and broken, now at REST. I have faith that he has flowed to heaven.

This week, a BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL but BROKEN 56-year old dear friend is nearing the end unexpectedly. I weep so much,  so many of us are, it bubbles up from our deepest soul pockets, my inbox explodes with messages, these are prayer warriors who have both unparalleled sorrow and collective knowledge of the complete healing that we know the Lord could and will provide. The truth is it’s a miracle either way – either a miracle beyond medical belief in Earthly healing or a miracle because of her belief in Jesus Christ – Jesus saving each of us now and eternally. It is a miracle whichever way – both ways – ALL ways… Always SPIRIT moves in miracles…

Thus this week our collective and individual weeping is our gifted spirit flow because of both miracle paths, because we know of the deepest sorrows of a life cut way too short and we know the highest joys of a life filled with seizing the opportunity to live life under His wing of LOVE.

Our weeping is like spreading the wealth of sorrow – our dear friend cannot medically or physically cry,  so we cry for her. She cannot speak the words of her immense pain,  so we call out for her.  She cannot laugh, so we giggle in our memories. We are the little holes of spirit flow that take over when a big flow is stoppered…. put your finger in a garden hose to stop the main flow and the water will shoot out the sides – maybe a couple or maybe thru hundreds of holes – that’s us – our connective brokenness makes for spirit flow in every way it can. God’s main flow of love is split and sent thru us… Our brokenness brings purposeful healing flow and we become a powerful witness – we have faith in the flow.

The Lord connects us children on Earth in non-random ways, seemingly coincidental but not. Conduits of spirit flow are purposeful in life – and purposeful in life after death – there’s a twisting lever on a garden hose – it’s not a back and forth toggle in real life, it’s one way… So which network of spirit flow that you are connected to will eventually switch over – from life to death – a communion of heaven and saints in Christ – the flow of the spirit is re-vining the garden now – the flow of the spirit might get clogged with earthly mud – but no worries, the pressure buildup will push the flow further down new paths… Have faith in the flow.

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  Galatians 6:2

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 1Corinthians 1:3-5

You and I take on the burden of pain and the blessing of tears from (and for) our dear friends, who are finishing their races on earth. God connects us to share our burdens and our joys. We replace their tears with our own. We comfort others because we have been comforted. We love because we are loved. We cry for the same reasons. Our tears are because of LOVE. Our spirit will use our tears for healing our brokenness from within to push the flow thru the vine to better hydrate the fruitful branches… We grow and heal because of God. We are filled with His LOVE. We have faith in the flow.

Amen

Be God’s Glitter, 02JUL

My Friend, you put the BIG letter G in Glitter. The big G of God.

My Dear, you ARE God’s Glitter.

Your witness to your faith Glitters, you remind us that it is God who holds us TOGETHER. You show how God glues our very finite dust particles TOGETHER for His purpose. And He shines us, sparkles us to Shine HIS LOVE.  God places Glitter on His beloved children with their shining SMILES.

My Dear, how many Glitter specks have you spread? How many faith seeds did you plant?  How many children first heard of Jesus’s saving LOVE because of you? Immeasurable!

How many families and friends faithfully saw the light of Christ shine thru you? Immeasurable!

How many lives were saved by your work being God’s hands and feet and especially God’s Glitter? Only God knows… My Dear you spread the Good News as fast as Glitter could be shaken out of a can… You Shine.

God glued you TOGETHER My Dear to Glitter.

Someday a forgotten box will be opened and Glitter will fall out. That’s God’s Glitter – because you taught God’s child to glue it. Perhaps it created a sparkle in a grandparents’ eyes to receive such a precious homemade gift, a gift that was made with LOVE. Perhaps it Glittered on a photo of a child’s shining Spirit. Perhaps the glitter covered a slew of gluing messes – no matter – it’s the HEALING shake of Glitter that catches our eye.

Glitter My Dear – you know Glitter, you know God – you witnessed that God glues us TOGETHER no matter how broken we are. You taught us to shine thru the tears because Jesus loves us, and that’s all that matters… JESUS CHRIST LOVES US.

Perhaps someday the floor tiles will be replaced and Glitter will ooze out of the cracks – and we will say that God was there. The leaf blowers will never clear all of the Glitter spread with happiness on this Earth.

And we will take up our own Glitter work for you My Dear, because we will Glitter because of God, we will glue, heal, teach,  learn,  love because of God.

We will SMILE because of God.

God’s healing now and eternally can and will Glitter thru our souls.

God’s glorious children are made by His own hands, and His Almighty Hands are completely covered in Glitter.

AMEN

---

I wrote this for dear friend, I just looked at the VBS art frames she made with my kids – she was the one who started a Facebook group which triggered me to ask a mutual friend, a theology professor, important faith questions – I owe my knowledge of the realness of Jesus in part to the spirit moving thru her…

She was taken off life support last night. We have been praying for a complete healing miracle – I know that the Lord provides her and us the ultimate miracle of complete healing with Jesus – now and forever. I know the Lord glued her together from her brokenness and allowed her to serve Him in JOY – with sparkle – with Glitter…

I started weeping in the car driving and I had to stop to write this witness to her faith – I love her, I know she’s in the Lord’s miraculous hands, I pray that He heals her miraculously, I know He knows what is best. I trust in Him.

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Work It, Holy Spirit, Work It, 02JUL

Was great to have my son’s help lifting the heavy air conditioner into my window,  this annual occurrence is probably the clearest example of having to work TOGETHER – even if one strong person,  like my neighbor whom this year was out of town,  could lift it, the prep work and the guidance is still done best as a team…

It takes our coordination and often our humility to work as a team, to put aside our own way of doing things… ALWAYS we need guidance.   I’m not just talking about air conditioner placement, I’m talking about the Holy Spirit.

Yes my shoulder repair last year allowed me to lift that AC unit with no problem – YAY – but this year it was the first time this needed extra manpower came from a teenager, WOW how he has grown! YAY protein building muscles, for both of us! As you know, muscles not worked get atrophied weak… Yes this also us with the Holy Spirit. It’s not that the Spirit itself is weak, but our working of the spirit can be – we are in danger of not being used by the spirit for our and it’s full potential. Don’t let your branches wither and die…

But we can work it… The spirit urges us to move and be moved… the HOLY SPIRIT is here to work God’s plan… we should be thankful for the strength to work it too, because it comes from God with a purpose:

15  Jesus said: “If you love me, keep my commands.16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

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I decided to take a short vacation and work on my Mary… I planned this vacation to stop me from spinning my wheels and gathering no traction, I felt I was not even being a good Martha… So just me being me, I knew I could be a better me, if I recharged my batteries, took time for my kids, took time for myself…, if I looked for His hand to pull me up, if I prayed on a plan, if I acted and touched the robe. I knew…

So in front of a peaceful pool, birds singing, cardinals flying, teenagers sleeping, I stopped and wrote (with next morning edits) to thank the Lord for His Mercy, allowing me to tweak the system, my system… thank Him for His healing, both now and forever…

Tweak the System, 23JUN

In our daily travels, all signs point to Jesus waiting for us with open arms to help ourselves to His healing.

We have to tweak the system of our own brokenness to mentally let Him work thru us to heal… to heal ourselves and simultaneously bring His peace to the world. Thru that healing and for that healing we have to be willing to change.

I love the insight that author/singer  Michael Card gives for tidbits of scripture,  he imagines about Jesus’s first miracle of changing water to wine, at the urging of His mother Mary, that Jesus became willing to tweak the system… Even though Jesus knew God’s amazing plan, and said “my time has not yet come”, Jesus tweaked the system – He showed mercy on the situation – and/or knew that situation would come up and He made things happen… He came here to make the big plan happen and do small things too… Jesus is the Word made flesh therefore He spread the Word of God’s LOVE. Along the way, then and now, Jesus healed those seeking Mercy. He tweaked the plan. Maybe that’s the plan, do you think? For us to ask Jesus to heal us for our Father’s peace… Yes, the plan is all about PEACE.

That’s so true for our actions too – Jesus tweaks the system of us within us – and so can we… I bet you that’s the plan, the truth is that we ARE the plan. We need to tweak the plan too.

Jesus says don’t worry about all those unimportant tasks, yes, get them done but don’t dwell on them – instead focus on the most important tasks at hand… if we remember sisters Mary and Martha, we will understand that both had important ways to welcome Jesus: Martha prepped for all the visitors (very important) and yet was reminded by close friend Jesus to also be present (very urgent)… A reminder to be present… if Jesus is in the room, pay attention…

Invite Jesus to work thru your own temple so that you can worship and act on His behalf. Pause, pray, plan, praise. Tweak.

If life is changeable, then tweak it! Change what you can – create a new mission, existence, focus – all while listening to Jesus’s commands to LOVE – to seek justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly (Micah 6:8).

God is doing a new thing thru us!

19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43)

Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 10:28-30)

Freedom is freeing and intentional: to free up your burdens just give them to Jesus…

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2nd Corinthians 5)

We can tweak the system because we should… we are being given freedom to live, humbly we should be thankful, pray on it, and restart if we fail…

We can become whom Jesus needs us to be – which is simply a better version of ourselves – whom He knew we could always become…

Jesus tweaking the plan, lingering slow enough to let us touch His robe, inviting us to accept His mercy, it’s our faith that heals us.

Tweak your system – Be healed – Tell of His power – Change the World.

Amen

—-

Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Luke 8:46-48

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Just Need to Want Jesus, 17JUN

I just NEED Jesus, and I want to NEED Jesus, and I NEED to want Jesus.

I just WANT Jesus, and I WANT to need Jesus, and I need to WANT Jesus.

We all do, we just don’t all know that,

I surely didn’t…

I do now…

I LOVE that I know Jesus now, but I didn’t back when I didn’t,  how could I even know what I didn’t know?

I didn’t, but now I do…

Who told me I needed Jesus? God did.

Who told me God loves me? Jesus did.

So do I need more than Jesus?  Well no, but I’m human and humanly I want…

I WANT, because I’m human, therefore I WANT Jesus even more…

But do I REALLY need Him more then I already have Him? Well – No, because He has already been there for me BEFORE I even knew Him. Well – Yes, because He is still there for me to know Him more.

Yes, He knew me first!

So, do I really NEED Him if I already had Him?

Yes…

I still do…

I always will…

I always will WANT Jesus because He is a NEED.

I will always NEED to want Jesus.

We all do… We all do…  we just don’t all know that. But Jesus knows…

Jesus knows…

AMEN

Be the Dot. God is Drawing Us in His Plan, 01MAY-30JUN

God surely has a plan connecting us to Him, that plan is much bigger than we could ever see or imagine… We experience His LOVE – now how can we also be conduits of LOVING OUR NEIGHBORS? How can we connect to each other? How will God use His “connect the dots” plan? How can we BE THE DOTS?

We can be one of those encouraging dots… we can be one of those loving our neighbor dots…

We are able to connect with hundreds maybe thousands of dots of people for prayers… click click click…. dot dot dot…

Do you see all those dots that God is laying down? Can you see God drawing lines in between all those dots? Can you hear the Spirit moving? Can you feel His flow of actions and prayers passing thru us to help others? Oh that’s how God works…. we reach, we touch the robe of God fringe and His love transfers…

You and I are dots that God wants to connect…

I am not a solo lone or special dot, but all of us are HIS dots, made in ink, not just pencil…. God’s dots are all His own…. You are His!

Sometimes maybe it seems like my broken dot spills and splatters when the Spirit floods and flows… I reach for help and prayers whether I am strong or weak… My dot may be spilled out of it’s lines, but God still knows where I am.

Sometimes I open my big mouth to say “wow” at how God works, and maybe that’s the point,  we have to share however we share because God wants to use us as we are…. it’s ok even to be feeling lost and faded away, because God knows where He placed all His dots, and will find you when it is time to reconnect all His dots… (Psalm 139, God will hunt us down)

Weak or strong, faded or bold, ripped or rippling, convoluted or simple,  we dots are to be connected. God will re-light you and delight in you.

We do need to pray to be better dots too… we perhaps could strive to strongly hold the harp string of the harmonic sound wave that God wants to pluck and hear… and perhaps we can strive to create a trampoline bounce dot, so that new strings of praise can be bounced from our dot to new dot spots unknown…

Prayer is flow between the dots. Prayer is the SPIRIT travelling from your dot thru other dots and back and all around the net of life… God not only hears those prayers, HE MADE THOSE PRAYERS, God makes the SPIRIT flow from Him to within us and back to Him…

We can be His hands, feet, and dots… to do His work in His world.

BE THE DOTS, LOVE THE DOTS, look for the connecting stroke of God’s pen.

BE STILL to stop spinning and let God connect to you and thru you…

God’s timing, God’s puzzle, God’s plan

You are a chosen dot… Here is a fun thought:  “But you are a chosen dot, a royal dot, a holy nation of dots, God’s special dot, that you may strung together, lines drawn between, and you can bounce the praises of Him back to Him, who bounced you out of darkness and into His wonderful Light.” 1Peter 2:9 adapted

BE THE DOTS…

Amen