It's God's Love #25

This is the Christmas post for my Sunday Series.



Each week I have featured a Bible verse graphic to concentrate on the Love of God.


Today I also want to share a very short video.

Perhaps you will think of a verse around God's Love as you watch the video

or perhaps you will think of God's Love extended to you and your family over the years

        whichever it is

I pray you know the true meaning of God's Love this Christmas.

Because Christmas started with a Baby

And Christmas is still all about that same person

Jesus

Our Saviour

So as well as giving and receiving gifts this Christmas why not

Merry Christmas to you all and may you know the love of Jesus as Saviour which is the real gift of love this Christmas.

It's God's Love #24

On Sundays I write a short post consisting of a Bible Verse around
the topic of God's Love and we are coming near the end of this series now.

Thank you for joining us today.

God's Love

is simply 

the character 

of God

because the 

Bible 

tells us that 

God not only loves us 

but

 God is LOVE. 

I'm thankful

to know that

because we have

trusted in God

we have His Love in us

and we will be able to share His Love

with others.


They will know that we are Christians by our Love

which is God's Love.

It's God's Love #13

This Sunday Series is all about God's Love.

A simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

Which man laid down his life

for all his friends?


The man Christ Jesus.

God

in human form

gave

His Life

for

you & me.



There is no greater expression of Love than this.

It's God's Love #12

This Sunday Series is all about God's Love.


A simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

We are in the world

but the Bible tells us that 

we should not be of the world.

God's Love

cannot

be in us

if we love

the world;

if we put the things of the world

before God.

Therefore

God's Love

has nothing to do with

the world;

it is not determined by anything of this world,

but is unique

to God.

You are welcome to copy the Bible Verse Graphic above and any of the others that will be in this Sunday Series on God's Love.  Please use it as it is with no editing for your own personal use including on social media but not in any commercial way. 

With regards to any other pictures or graphics - please contact me. 

Thanks.

It's God's Love #11

This Sunday Series is all about God's Love.


A simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

God's Love to us

is such an intimate love.

How do we know this?

Because He calls us His Sons and Daughters.

Do you

know

this

intimate

love

of

God?

You are welcome to copy the Bible Verse Graphic above and any of the others that will be in this Sunday Series on God's Love.  Please use it as it is with no editing for your own personal use including on social media but not in any commercial way. 

With regards to any other pictures or graphics - please contact me. 

Thanks.

It's God's Love #7

This Sunday Series is all about God's Love.

There will be a simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

Without Love we would not be true followers of Jesus

The Love of God 

must

reach out 

to others

through us.

Love is

the

Fruit of the Holy Spirit

given by God

for us

to

live for Him.

It's God's Love #2

This is the second week of my new Sunday Series.

There will be a simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.

Can we be good without having Love?

God is Love
&
God is Good

Forever & Forever

He will love us



Forever & Forever

He has already loved us

Thank You God

For your Unending Love.

I love Hearts - A Dose of Encouragement

As I sit at my desk......Last year I started a blog post with similar words but no I am not repeating myself.

As I sit at my desk in the study I just simply have to glance to the right of my laptop and I get the first example of hearts that can be found around our house.


Some hearts are decorative but these ones have a useful purpose as well.


They are the Love Heart coasters that I use each day for my coffee mug or glass in the study.

Yes I love hearts


BUT


That does not mean we are a very soppy couple because we are not - I just like hearts.



They are not the only hearts in the study.

There are also hearts as tiebacks for the curtains

There is also a heart decorated box.

   (It is really just decorative as I love boxes too and this one is quite small so is not used to hold anything at the moment anyway.)

Oh and two more boxes!!!

Oh and a heart shaped one!!!


There is also a heart decorated wooden Tissue Box Cover.


And I mustn't forget the  "Home is where the Heart is" Hanging Decoration.


Then there is the Fred & Sandra Christmas decoration that just somehow didn't get put away with the other decorations one year because it needed to be repaired and then when I did get it fixed I just hung it on the door of my craft armoire.


And of course the heart cushion that I lean against each day when I sit on my computer chair.


Oh I nearly did forget the 2 hearts with HOPE and FAITH that I couldn't resist buying earlier this year and don't know where they are meant to go yet so they are just sitting on one of the bookshelves.

That is just one room


There are other examples


A small heart garland hangs on a chest of drawers upstairs

A heart shaped clock is waiting to be put up on the wall of the Dressing Room.

And my heart shaped Friends Cushion that sits in the Sun Room.

Someday I should try to count up all the heart things I have.

I may collect hearts but I can't collect a real heart.

I cannot take someone's heart or make anyone love me.


Fred loves me and my children love me and there are others who love me but I did not make them love me, they chose to do that themselves.

We cannot make people love us, there are no special words to say or things to do.

We also cannot make God love us.

We cannot ever be "good" enough to make God love us.

It has nothing to do with "how much" we might love God.

It has nothing to do with "how much" we might try to get His attention.

We cannot make God love us.

Because He already does.

He has always loved us.

I am very thankful that God first loved us.

He loved us before we even thought about loving Him.
(see 1 John 4 v 19)

He loved us so much that even though He could not have us sinful creatures in His presence He made the only perfect way for us to be united with Him.
(see 1 Cor 15 v 3&4)

HOW?


He gave us Jesus.

Have you ever tried to make someone love you?

Have you ever thought or planned what you could do to change your life so that God would love you?

Do you feel that you would never be good enough for God to love you?

Don't think any longer just acknowledge the fact that you can do nothing to earn His love you just simply have to believe that He loves you and accept the gift of Jesus.

Jesus is the only one who can take our sins and give us His righteousness so that we can be in God's presence.

This can happen as soon as we admit that we are sinful and decide to turn to God and away from that sinful nature.

If you would like to know some more about God's Love and how we can be saved from our sin just click on the  3 2 1 Presentation at the top of my sidebar.


Or you might like to have a look at my Sunday Series called "It's God's Love"

As I sit at my Desk - Coffee & Conversation

What view do you have as you sit at your computer?

Maybe you have a window to gaze through, maybe you have a wall with a family picture or some other nice thing to look at or maybe you have different views each time because you sit different places to work on a laptop.

I have a hutch shelving unit as part of the back of my desk and on the top of it I have a variety of notebooks kept in place by a set of teddy bear bookends, a picture frame and some videos between a set of bookends which have sections for notes and odds and ends.


I looked up from my chair today and was struck by what I saw (and I have seen this over and over again but today it just stood out more probably due to the way we had been praying at the church prayer meeting last night) so I really had to take a picture of it.

A bookmark I had received some years ago on a Christmas card just saying MIRACLE and a little bit behind it a greeting card from which I had torn off the front part because it has a picture of Noah's Ark (and I love Arks).

So today I was gazing at the phrase Wishing you a miracle and then there in front of it was that plain statement of fact in the bookmark.

How encouraging and inspirational is that to have to look up at as I sit at the computer?

I am just a bit disappointed that so many days & weeks had already passed and I hadn't been struck by those two objects being so close together until today, but I'm thankful I noticed it now.

I do believe God can and does do miracles!

Now I am waiting to see what the miracle (or miracles) will be,

                             because I do believe God can and does do miracles.

 Do you? 

What a Face! - A Dose of Encouragement

Having grown up (as some would have described me) as a Tomboy; I made it into my teens not too conscious of my looks or interested in make-up.

Then when I was 14 I met a boy!

    And I didn't change.

I met him at a youth meeting and decided he was the guy for me.
(There really is a bit more to it than that but that might be for a different story sometime).


 I didn't go to the youth meeting all the time but we got to know each other a little as friends over the next 2 years.  There were things I wanted to know more about from the Bible and he was the one I talked to.

Two years after we met there was a Summer Youth Camp for a week and I wanted to go.
My problem was the week before it I was going to be on a School trip to France arriving back into Belfast on the day the camp started in Bangor.  The Pastor of the church which ran the youth group approached my parents and asked if it would be ok with them for him to meet me off the boat in Belfast and take me to the camp and they agreed.  I was delighted and even though I had been promised for a few years that I could go on this trip in my 5th year at the grammer school I was now looking forward more to the camp than to the trip to France.

While on the school trip I found I had a little blister forming on my cheek but just thought it would be ok. By the time I arrived at the youth camp I was greeted with remarks about how I really should go to the chemist and get something for my face but it was Saturday evening and they weren't open.  By the time it got to Monday morning the blister had spread up my cheek and was not very nice looking.  Walking me along to the chemist were two of my girl friends and this guy I liked, but when I got there I just didn't want to go in.  I dreaded the thought of anyone touching this cheek and even though they tried to persuade me several times I would not go.

It got bigger and bigger and when I think back now I can't believe anyone would have wanted to be near me at all as it could have looked as if I was contagious with something.

Towards the end of the week this blister thing was quite a sight to see and was rather ugly.  I was not looking at myself all day so I didn't have to see the ugliness but others did.

Then there was the day that we all went to walk up Slieve Donard the highest mountain in the Mournes (I believe).  There was a bunch of us who got lost and headed the wrong way but had a laugh anyway.  I'm not sure that everyone else would have been too happy had there been any accidents; as I was carrying the First Aid Kit.


Well who was I sitting beside in the car on the way home?
You've guessed it, that guy I liked.


Well I sort of (cough, cough) fell asleep on the way home and whose shoulder was conveniently there for my head to slip down unto?
You've guessed it, that guy I liked.


All during that week I was in his company a lot but never alone, always with other friends.  Then the last night of the camp we did get the chance to be on our own for a very short time during which he told me he loved me.  Quick work for the quiet lad everyone thought he was.

When I arrived home my parents were startled to see the "thing" on my face.
The doctor was called immediately and he did a home visit.
Apparently I had caught a virus while sunbathing in France and it had caused my skin to develop several small blisters as it burnt and these then turned into a horrible scab.  I was prescribed an ointment which was very effective and the scab seemed to dissolve and most of it just slid down off my face.  My family were relieved that my face cleared up very quickly with no scars, while I was relieved that there was not as much pain as I had feared.  This virus still lies dormant under my skin and flares up now and again.


When I would think back to that time and tell our kids the story of how daddy told mummy he loved her before they even went on a date together; the main thing in my mind would always be that this was our special story.  But one thing that my sister had said to me all those years ago always made it more special to me in particular.  She said

She told me that she couldn't understand how I came back from camp with a boyfriend when I looked the way I did.

Later when I asked Fred (the guy I liked) why he hadn't been put off by my ugly face, he just told me that he thought I was beautiful and that something on my face didn't change his mind.

So you see all these years I have been very happy and extremely thankful that Fred loved me when I was looking ghastly and I never would have thought I was beautiful.  He wasn't attracted by my looks,  he was attracted to me, the person I was.

Maybe I should explain that 4 years after this camp I married Fred and we have now been married for 36 years.

Even as the years have passed and I have not thought myself to be pretty, Fred has often told me that I am Beautiful.  That has always helped me to feel special.  This is just one of the reasons I still love my husband.

A lot of the attributes of God are hard for us to see, or to understand because we think as humans but He is God.  When I experience the love Fred has for me and how he sees me it helps me to see how God can love me and see me as beautiful just the way I am even though I am far from perfect for which I can never cease to be thankful.


Do you know that God wants you to know that you are beautiful?

Do you know that God loves you?