Author: Dawn

The love of Jesus will never fail you. Thank you for visiting my blog.

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always been fascinated by the heavens. I remember spending countless hours sitting in the middle of the floor, with those green and beige encyclopedias that most people had in their home. I would read over and over again about our solar system. I was in awe of the planets, the sun, and the moon. I couldn’t get enough of the amazing mind blowing facts surrounding these celestial bodies. The enormous sizes and the unimaginable distances and speeds were so hard to comprehend, and they still are. To think as I type this, our planet Earth is traveling through space around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour is beyond me! When I was 9, my parents saw my love for astronomy and even purchased a telescope for me! I was really excited. I was also 9 years old when I gave my life to Jesus Christ that was quite a year for me!

Fast forward to today, and I still have the same excitement and fascination for the heavens that I had back then. I still keep up with things that are going on out there in space. The difference is that since I’ve grown older, I now realize the reason I love these things so much.  It’s because at the center of it all, is the God who created it all for my enjoyment. He crafted and designed the marvelous things in the universe to reveal to me his glory, as it says in Psalm 19:1. The beauty I see in creation, is only the beginning of the beauty that is within our God, the true Artist behind it all. He used a vast space of nothing, to show us something amazing about who he is.

On August 21, 2017, most of us witnessed an amazing heavenly show, The Solar Eclipse of 2017. I watched via live stream, and wow how beautiful it was!  Earth, Moon, and Sun all in perfect alignment. As the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about this event, he reminded me about the perfect alignment of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three who are one. During the moments of totality, all went dark and then all of a sudden the sun’s corona and chromosphere broke through displaying a beautiful light for all to see. I was reminded of John 1:5 where Jesus says, “His light shines in the darkness”. I thought to myself, during times of darkness, I can see God’s light the best. No matter whether it’s dark or light, his light is always there, it’s just a matter of taking the time to see it.

When we heard about the coming of the eclipse, we prepared in many ways so that we could make sure we see it. Some people traveled to another location to see a better view of it. Some people went from store to store to find and purchase the solar eclipse glasses, so they could venture outside to view the eclipse. The same way we had to take time and prepare for the eclipse, we must take time to put on our spiritual glasses to see the Lord and his perspective.  When we do, things begin to look very different in our lives and the world we live in. Nothing is quite the same when you are looking through the lens of God’s eyes. He faithfully holds the universe in place by his power every single day.  The universe has a perfect design from a perfect God, and that same God has a perfect design for the life of every person who is willing to submit to his plan. He designed you. He knows you inside and out. He knows your personality, your frustrations and disappointments, your strengths and weakness, your gifts and talents, your successes and failures, and he knows your hearts desires.

Ephesians 3:20 says, “He can do more than I can ask of imagine according to his power that is at work within me”. It doesn’t even take a grand event like an eclipse to see God at work. We can see him in the daily things that mean so much, like having a safe drive to work every day or being able to care for yourself and those you love. The good news is, that when it rains and it’s cloudy and we can’t see the sun or the moon, we know they are still there. When it rains in our lives and the view is cloudy, God is still there. However, we must put on our spiritual glasses so we can see his light shining in the darkness.

One Sunday I was in church, and God spoke to my heart and said look up and see my light and feel my love. When you are in doubt about who God is, or in doubt about his goodness in your life or the world around you, look up! When you wonder if he loves you, look up! When you wonder if he is aware of your problems, look up! When you wonder if he is in control, look up! When you wonder if he knows people are mistreating you, look up! When you wonder if he knows you need more money just to make it and pay your bills, look up! When you are sick in your body, look up! When you are mourning the loss of a loved one, look up! When things are going great, remember he is greater and still look up! Whatever you are going through, look up!

When we look up and see God’s majesty and power through his creation, we are reminded of who he is. The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the works of hands. He is always faithful. He is always true. So look up!

Precious Father,

How we adore you! How amazing, and mind blowing, and miraculous you are! There is no way we cannot praise you when we look up and see your glory manifested through your creation. Your word says that even the heavens declare your glory, and they absolutely do. Thank you that the same way you bring order and beauty to the universe, you bring order and beauty to our lives. Please help us to look up and see your light wherever we are in life. We give you all the praise, thank you for all you do for us every day! In the name of Jesus. Amen.

 

God is Always Faithful to Forgive

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

When I woke up this morning this verse came to my mind and I begin to meditate on God’s forgiveness. There have been times in my life when I struggled to receive his forgiveness when I had sinned even though he was faithful to forgive me as the scripture tells us. I remember some time ago the Holy Spirit begin to teach me through the Word of God the importance of accepting God’s forgiveness in order to move forward in life and walk into all that God has for me. As he taught me,  it was as if he was illuminating the beautiful sacrifice that Christ had made on the cross and what it really meant for my life. I begin to see my own selfishness and pride for not fully accepting the finished work of Christ and I begin to understand the fact that his blood had indeed covered the very sins I struggled to forgive myself for. There was no amount of “works” I could do to compensate for my sins, only his blood could get the job done. When we struggle with unforgiveness against ourselves for sins we have committed we hinder the work of God in our lives because we can’t see past ourselves and the wrong we did. Even now today, I am learning to quickly repent when I sin and to just receive God’s forgiveness. Whenever I find this to be a struggle, I simply ask him to help me and he does. He will always give us the help we need when our motive is to do his will and give him the glory.

Sin, no matter how big will never be bigger than our Savior, Jesus Christ. When we confess our sins to him he is faithful and just to forgive us.

Prayer:

Father,

Thank you for your faithfulness to forgive us when we sin. Help us to be quick to repent when we sin and to not make excuses or blame others for our mistakes. Show us areas where we need to repent that we may not even be aware of. When you show us help us to receive the forgiveness you offer and please work in our lives to bring the needed changes and help us to be willing to make the changes as you show us. Lord please also help us to forgive ourselves as you have forgiven us so that we can enjoy the life you have given us. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

His Strength is More Than Enough

2 Corinthians 12:9

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness…

This is a verse that many of us have heard and read many times but while driving to work one morning the Holy Spirit brought it to my mind in a special way. It was one of those days where I felt weary, one of those days where I was wondering what God was up to, how he was going to come through and what His specific plans were for me with several situations I have going on. As I drove I heard Him speak to my heart and say, “I need you to be strong and you can be strong because I am your strength.”  When I heard this my whole perspective begin to change. I thought to myself…Wow, God needs me!

I often cry out to God for help and tell him how much I need him  and what I need him to do. This is good because he tells us in his Word to make our requests known to him with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6), but in that moment when he said I need you to be strong I realized just how much God needed me. Joy begin to fill my heart and by the time I arrived at work I had a big smile on my face not only because God needed me to help fulfill His purposes but also because I was reminded He would give me the strength to do whatever He needed me to do. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength!

I hope that you will find joy knowing that God needs you to help fulfill his purpose here on Earth and in your weary moments be reminded that when you are in Christ you are a part of his plan and he has a special purpose for your life. No matter what you may be going through his grace is sufficient for you.  You can be strong because he is your strength.

Prayer:

Father,

How amazing it is to know that you are our strength and you need us your children to help fulfill your plans and purposes here on Earth. Help us to bring all our worries and concerns to you no matter how small but as we do that help us to also remember that you need us and that you are counting on us to live our lives in a way that will bring glory to you each day. You sent your Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could not only spend eternity with you one day but so that we could help shine your light into this dark world. Thank you so much for the joy and the strenght you give us!

In the name of Jesus,

Amen.

Thank God for His Restoration

Psalm 23:3

He restores my soul…

I recently had an incident where I could not remember the pass code for my cell phone. It was very discouraging but I had somehow drew a blank and just could not remember. So I prayed to God and asked Him to help me remember. After several hours of trying and having my phone be disabled, I decided that I would just have to go the dreaded route of using the recovery feature. The problem with this recovery feature according to the instructions is that all my data would be lost to include, pictures, notes, contacts, etc. and my phone would be reset to all the factory settings. But miraculously, as I went through the recovery process and my phone begin to exhibit signs of life again I begin to see my old information popping up and was given the chance to set up a new pass code! Once the process was complete everything I thought I would lose was still there. I was so thankful and excited! Instead of me losing my information as I thought I would, God intervened and my phone was restored to the state it was in went I first got locked out. I didn’t lose one single thing.

As I went through this frustrating incident, the Lord taught me some things. 1) Sometimes as we go through things and dread or fear the worst,  God already knows the end result and has worked things out for our good (Romans 8:28). We just need to trust Him. 2) Sometimes God may not answer our prayers the exact way we want (such as me remembering my pass code) but the way He chooses to answer is always best and can show us something new about how he works in our lives. If I had just remembered my old pass code I would have missed out on seeing his restoration in this situation 3) When we honor God, He loves to restore us when we lose things. He is always working to give us more than what we even expect (Ephesians 3:20). The Lord definitely gave me more than I expected in this situation and I am truly thankful!

Prayer

Dear Father,

Thank you for being the restorer of our souls. Thank you for working things together for good in our lives. Please teach us to trust you in all situations even the little things in life that can hurt us or cause great frustration. Teach us to pray instead of worry.  In the name of Jesus. Amen.

 

 

Developing Healthy Relationships

Proverbs 17:9 (NIV)

He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates friends.

Learning to forgive others when they offend us is an important key to developing and maintaining healthy relationships. Part of learning to forgive includes learning to not bring up the mistakes others have made or “not repeating the matter”. But as always Jesus set a great example by what He did (and still does) for us. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”. I remember a little over 2 years ago I told the Lord I wanted to have better relationships with people. I asked Him what I could do to accomplish this. Over the next couple of days, God spoke to my heart and He said two specific things to me. 1) He told me to read the Bible 2) He told me to apologize to a particular person with whom I had had a “not so great” relationship with in the past. Well I was really excited about starting to spend more time in God’s Word, but the second thing was a lot more difficult to do. However I wanted to honor God’s request, so I obeyed. The interesting thing about this situation is that I was not even upset with the person anymore and the person wasn’t upset with me because it had been a lot of years since the offense occurred. But there was still always that vague feeling in my heart that the person “owed me” an apology. That’s one thing about God; He knows exactly what is in our hearts. We can’t hide anything from the all-knowing God. But taking this step of obedience was well worth it! It brought me a lot of freedom and the person was very grateful and even offered me an apology in return. I also began to see a lot of positive changes within our relationship, and over the months God has allowed me to meet some really nice people and establish more friendships.

This experience was a great lesson for me in humility and allowed me to see that even though the person had faults…I did too! I was also able to repent for the pride that had been hiding out in my heart.  In our human nature we tend to think when there is a conflict, it’s someone else’s fault. But with God’s help we can learn to examine ourselves before we start examining other people. We can’t control others anyway, but when we are in Christ we have the Spirit of self control (Galatians 5:22-23) so we can learn to control ourselves and do what’s right. When God created us, He gave us a desire to be connected to others and learning to forgive will help us keep those connections strong.