Love- so deep

...that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge -- then you will be filled with all the fullness of GOD.  Eph 3:18,19

     Our church has been going through a sermon series discussing the context of family that GOD has designed for His creation and His church.  We have been adopted as children, and He is our great and loving Father.  This process of seeing Him more rightly has opened my eyes to false beliefs that I have subtly bought into.  Beliefs not of an adopted daughter but of an orphan, a fatherless child believing somehow that I'm striving more for Him than He is for me, that I desire Him and have to reach out for Him in hopes that He'll turn His love and affection and desire toward me.  How easy in the midst of life's struggles or our seeking to slip into a belief system that we want more of Him than He wants to give us of Himself.  Beloved, He has ALREADY FREELY given us ALL things.  IF we could but comprehend an inkling of the Father's love for us, we would be so rooted and grounded, so all fired

up confident in His love that we would most naturally walk in the fullness of His Godhead and power.  We would be unstoppable, fearless in the light of His affection and the COMPLETENESS of His salvation and our sonship and present inheritance of all that is HIS.  Oh to grab hold of this fully...my head could never really be downcast, my heart filled with fear, my desire feel unsatisfied, for then I would KNOW that I can only reach out for Him because He is already holding me close to His heart.   I can comprehend better His love and the mystery of the GOSPEL and its complete transformation and place of belonging and affection it gives, but I can't be brought closer or made more whole than what He has already accomplished on the cross through His Son.  

This is the other hymn I would often sing my children to sleep with.  May it wrap them and you, and me in a deeper comprehension of the LOVE OF GOD.


Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus
1 Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
in its fullness over me!                                      
Underneath me, all around me,
is the current of thy love -
leading onward, leading homeward,
to that glorious rest above!

2 Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus -
spread his praise from shore to shore!
How he loves us, ever loves us,
changes never, nevermore!
How he watches o'er his loved ones,
died to call them all his own;
how for them he's interceding,
watching o'er them from the throne!

3 Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
love of every love the best!
'Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
'tis a haven sweet of rest!
Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus -
'tis heaven of heavens to me;
and it lifts me up to glory,
for it lifts me up to thee!



We had worship dancing at our wedding. There is something moving, stirring, beautiful and worshipful about it.  This version of the hymn is videoed with some beautiful worship dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH-EEwcmnjM

Brief but insightful story behind this hymn:
https://austinbhebe.wordpress.com/hymns-directory/redeeming-love/o-the-deep-deep-love-of-jesus/

To EVERYTHING there is a season

It was a pleasure to have Margaret Hutchins, founder of our homeschool support group organization, come and share with us about her journey and how to extend God's grace to yourself in the varied seasons of life.  She related the fact that just after starting the support group, multiple close family members became ill and then died in a very short time frame including grandparents, her step-father and then her mother.  In the craziness and heartache of that season, it seemed a very inopportune time to have started an organization, and yet, God had ordained it for her that in her time of need, she had support from other women that helped carry her through this very difficult time.  She reinforced the fact that we need each other and should bear one anothers burdens which also includes allowing others to step in and help bear your burdens.  This requires humility, vulnerability (to allow others to see/know your needs) and grace with yourself to know and accept help, accept that sometimes you can't do it all or that even if you feel like you can do it, allowing others to step into your life and be helpful extends a blessing to them and allows God to bless you.  Sometimes we forgo God's blessings because we aren't willing to humble ourselves to allow others to bless us.  It also robs them of being a blessing.

    She talked about how important it is to sow God's Word into our children.  It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict and bring them to GOD but our job to teach them good disciplines and habits of faith and to seek GOD so that His Word and these habits will not return void in their lives but will surely be used of GOD to draw them to Himself.
   Finally, Margaret shared with us how our lives reflect the varied seasons.  As with plants, we need nutrients/soil (God's Word), light and water (Jesus) and oxygen (Holy Spirit) and we go through seasons - planting seeds, growth, fruitfulness and dormancy.  In every season we need to be fertilizing with God's Word in our lives and when seeds are being planted in us, not to worry about fruitfulness or growth - just fertilize and that will come.  When we are growing, that is exciting, but don't be anxious about the rate of growth because all plants grow at a different rate- keep fertilizing and trust God for the fruitfulness.  When we are being fruitful, be thankful for the season, keep fertilizing and trust God for the increase and the grace for the busyness of that season knowing that dormancy, rest is coming.  During dormancy/rest, don't worry about fruit/growth - God is still at work, just fertilize with His Word and your communion with Him.

   One of the things she reiterated is that all of us are different and rather than trying to be like someone else (what they accomplish, how they homeschool. how clean their house is) rest in how God made you and remind your children too when they wish things were different that this is how God made you and He saw fit to give them to you and vice versa. So, we should rest in God's gifts of each other and learn from one another and if our kids want to do things differently than we have, they are free to do that as they grow independent. :)

    So, I encourage you all to rest today in what God gives, how he created you, and what season you may be in right now - and find joy in it because whether you feel fruitful or in a dark winter of the soul, GOD has not forgotten you. He is at work and is faithful to complete His work and is more zealous over producing good in and through you than you are even yourself!  Also, if you are struggling, broken hearted, overwhelmed -- please reach out to someone and let them pray with you, help you and bear your burden with you.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
	“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”   Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—     “Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!
	Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
	Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlF-U1WFmF4 Story behind the hymn http://gaither.com/news/%E2%80%9Cgreat-thy-faithfulness%E2%80%9D-story-behind-hymn

Hope...

     Subtle. Quiet. Almost imperceptible.  Sometimes like a fragile, fading flower which we cling to in desperation, yet not too tightly less we crush its faint existence.  A longing for what is not but what could be, for what one cannot see, but can't live without. A hunger for something more...a Savior, Deliverance. 

"Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It's not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. It is this hope, above all, that gives us strength to live and to continually try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now. In the face of this absurdity, life is too precious a thing to permit its devaluation by living pointlessly, emptily, without meaning, without love, and, finally, without hope."

Vaclav Havel

Hope is rarely thought or given consideration of when life is plodding away at a steady, pleasant pace with its little innuendos of ups and downs.  Consciousness of it is reserved for those desperate for change, something to adhere to when great desire has given way to great pain and answers aren't forthcoming, life has lost its sense of right or meaning and lies like a crumbled, broken down wall. When your life or circumstances seem passed over, neglected, forgotten amidst a world whirling, moving....never stopping its endless rush of LIFE when yours has just dashed to pieces on the floor and you're not even sure which pieces to pick up first or if you'll be cut and bleeding in the process with no one in this swirling mass of humanity to see it, turn, have compassion, notice and DO SOMETHING to help lift you up and make sense of the shattered brokenness.  

These are the times we desperately need HOPE to break through.
Hope, it's like a seed planted in the ground.  It's buried, must die to spring forth to life.  Through long winter months the seed lies dormant, waiting for the GOD OF ALL LIFE to breathe upon the soil, warm it with the faithful changing of seasons and rains from the heavens and as the seed is split apart, broken, therein life springs up, slowly at first, struggling to break through the weight of the soil, and then bursting forth on glorious day.  It is not an easy process but in the brokenness is fruitfulness, abundance and evidence again of God's great faithfulness and sustenance through the long, dark winter.

Psalm 3:2-6 Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” 

 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. 

 I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain. 

 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 

 I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

 "...And hope does not disappoint because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. Rom 5:5

     And so, we are embarking as a family on a journey to bring HOPE.  During passion week, we will be traveling with a team to a poverty stricken area of West Kentucky with Hope Boxes and entering 8 schools to pour out Love and Hope and share the GOSPEL.  We've been invited in to love on the kids in every grade and are looking forward to this rare and precious opportunity.  Would you like to be a part?  You can help fund us as I take the whole family on this Faith Adventure. https://www.gofundme.com/family-mission-2-kids-ofappalachia 

Wonderful, Merciful Savior

Wonderful, merciful Savior
Precious Redeemer and Friend
Who would have thought that a Lamb
Could rescue the souls of men                   Oh you rescue the souls of men

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
Spirit we long to embrace
You offer hope when our hearts have
Hopelessly lost the way
Ohh, we hopelessly lost the way

You are the One that we praise
You are the One we adore
You give the healing and grace                         
Our hearts always hunger for
Ohh, our hearts always hunger for

Almighty, infinite Father
Faithfully loving Your own
Here in our weakness You find us
Falling before Your throne
Ohh, we're falling before Your throne

You are the One that we praise
You are the One we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Ohh, our hearts always hunger for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FekKpKgq86k

Hope for Appalachia

https://hfavateam.com/

What banner waves over you?

His banner over me is love...

     People wave over us all kinds of banners - shame, inadequacy, or even a view of "having it all together" which can leave us feeling isolated, walking alone in the reality of our brokenness & shame, fear or not-enough-ness, all the while either trying to live up to or get out from under the banners waved over us.  Sometimes it's the banners we wave over ourselves - often depreciating the value God would place on us.  Waving banners of failure, inadequacy or shame and living daily under that flag, that statement which our heart has come to identify with and believe to be true.  

   Yet, Jesus' banner doesn't label us but declares who He is: love, ENOUGH, all-sufficient, glorious in power... qualities not only exemplifying who He is but what He bestows on us - right in the midst of our mess, of who we are, wherever we are.  He speaks, shouts, declares "LOVED" over us.  

  So, which banner are you living under?  That of your or another's making?  Shame?  Failure?  Inadequacy or under His banner declaring over you "LOVED".  "Wanted"  "Desired" "LOVELY"  If you are living under unhealthy banners, call them what they are - reject them as lies and enter into the JOY, CONFIDENCE, HOPE of living under TRUTH - HIS BANNER of LOVE.

The Banner of the cross

There's a royal banner given for display
To the soldiers of the King;
As an ensign fair we lift it up today,
While as ransomed ones we sing.

Marching on, marching on,

For Christ count ev'rything but loss!
And to crown Him King, toil and sing
'Neath the banner of the cross!

Though the foe may rage and gather as the flood,
Let the Standard be displayed;
And beneath its folds, as soldiers of the Lord,
For the truth be not dismayed!

Marching on, marching on,

For Christ count ev'rything but loss!
And to crown Him King, toil and sing
'Neath the banner of the cross!

Over land and sea, wherever man may dwell,
Make the glorious tidings known;
Of the crimson banner now the story tell,
While the Lord shall claim his own!

Marching on, marching on,

For Christ count ev'rything but loss!
And to crown Him King, toil and sing
'Neath the banner of the cross!

When the glory dawns, 'tis drawing very near,
It is hast'ning day by day,
Then before our King the foe shall disappear,
And the cross the world shall sway!

Marching on, marching on,
For Christ count ev'rything but loss!
And to crown Him King, toil and sing
'Neath the banner of the cross!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69bskwfjAA4