What we are freely given...

We use the term 'heart' quite a bit; 'I love you with all my heart', 'broken heart', 'I give you my heart'. Our heart is not our own. Our physical heart is part of the body God has loaned us to house our spirit while we are here. Our spiritual heart, once we come to Christ, is also His. I find comfort in this.
I picture my heart, and though it is the spiritual heart, I 'see' it as the physical heart that our bodies possess, in the loving hands of God. He knows how tender our spiritual hearts are and when they are the most vulnerable. Mine has been extremely vulnerable to attack recently. Had I tried to care for it on my own, it surely would have become hardened. But I gave it to my Father, and he carries it in the palms of His hands. He not only protects it, but cares for it lovingly. Therefore, that spiritual heart of mine is, and will remain, tender.

I'm asked a lot lately why I'm not bitter over the recent events of my life. I can't be bitter when my heart rests in the hands of a loving God. I honestly believe that what we are given, we are to freely give away. We've all known , or been at times, that child that when given a gift will not share it...will not allow anyone to touch it but yet loves to show it off. That is not of God. God has given us a loving spirit, an unselfish spirit, His Spirit. God has blessed me with so much kindness, so much love, so much mercy and so much forgiveness that I can not, in all good consciousness, not share it...not pour it out to others. I find myself at His throne of grace daily. You can not approach His throne with a hardened heart, with a heart full of bitterness or resentment. I would rather be able to kneel before Him than live a life where He can not reside, and He can not walk in bitterness, resentment or unforgiveness, for He is HOLY.

We are here to love one another, not ourselves.

This day, September 11th, is a day of remembering and honoring in our country...and around the world. There are still, today, so many questions, so many tears. I have no answers. I am in awe of the way the worlds people continue to turn on themselves, but there are answers, I'm sure of this. One day we will have them, and until that day all we can do is wipe those tears of others and lift them up in prayer.

There is a song, I don't know the name or the artist, but the words are something I repeat over and over and over:

My Savior loves, my Savior lives, my Savior's always there for me.
My God He was, my God He is, my God He's always going to be.


I've been blessed in my life. I've faced walls but was able to climb them, the only times I've ever been homeless was by choice and though there have been times of hunger, I've never starved. I've loved, I've been loved and I'll be loved again. Regardless of circumstances, past or present, I know that I am blessed.


Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for my sins, Lord. Forgive me for the times I let my mind focus on me rather than the needs of others.
I thank You, Lord, for Your mercy that is beyond our understanding. I thank You for Your love that is unconditional and never ending.
I ask, Father, that You would remind us to wipe the tears of others before we feel sorry for ourselves. I ask that we follow who You are, Your example, and not the examples that we, or the world, has set before us.
I love You, I'm thankful for You, and I praise Your holy name.
In the name of my Lord, Jesus, I pray. Amen.