Showing posts with label gift of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gift of God. Show all posts

Sunday

It's God's Love #1


This Sunday Series is looking at 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 to take some time to reflect on this each Sunday.









 Today I would like to start with a very well known verse that I have often taught children.


John 3 v 16







Love of God

through the

Son of God

is the Gift of God with

the cross at the centre and

offers us 

NEW LIFE 

with God.




The main theme through the whole of the Bible (Yes, including ALL of the Old Testament) is Jesus.



God's Word points to the Saviour of the World at all times, focusing us on the only one we should put our trust in because of God's Love for us.











Wednesday

Who's the Bestest Boy in the World? - A Dose of Encouragement



Okay!  I know there is no such word as "bestest". 

 I even knew that before my spell checker 
told me so.







We have 2 boys and a girl in that order.




JONATHAN  was born 5 years after we married and was named for Jonathan in the Bible because we felt God telling us to do this as Jonathan had been the right friend for David.

DANIEL was born 2 years later (well just 2 weeks short of 2 years) and was named for Daniel in the Bible because we felt God telling us to do this on the morning shortly before he arrived.

LINDA was born 3 years and 3 months later and was not named for anyone at all, we simply only felt led to this one girl's name.



JONATHAN  means  GIFT of GOD

DANIEL  means  GOD is my JUDGE


LINDA  means  BEAUTIFUL





You could not imagine the number of times Linda has said  


"How come the boys got Bible names and I didn't?"  

but more often than that she has been happy with her name and what it means.  



When Jonathan was still a small baby I started to say  


"Who's the bestest boy in the world" 

and lift up his two arms above his head and say 


"Jonathan is"


It always got a smile from him and soon he was able to lift his hands by himself as soon as he would hear me say the familiar phrase.

So when Daniel was born we did exactly the same thing with him and got the same reaction of 


"Daniel is"

while Jonathan would shout 


"me too"

and eventually we had two small boys running around reacting to the phrase together. 


 Never really with any queries about how the two of them 
could both be the best.



Then when Linda arrived, we naturally had to make a slight change and say 


"Who's the bestest Girl in the World".


It was simply a little "in phrase" that was special to the five of us.

But at the same time it was something that I sort of secretly hoped would show them how much we believed in them and inspire them to believe that they were of great worth.
       
Did it work?

    Well one thing I have always been so happy about in our family is that there was never any competition between the children, they all accepted that we thought they were all the bestest in the world and they seemed to have thought that about each other too.  They are each proud and supportive of what the others have done in the past and are doing at present.

    All three are unique individuals with some very similar interests but also some very different interests and always have been.
  

Jonathan is a Pastor, also working on his Phd in Theology and lives in Leeds in England at present.

Daniel is the manager of a Church/Charity based Cafe and the Sound Engineer in his church.  He is now married and living in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Linda is an aspiring writer, has written a novel (unpublished) and working on a novella but also teaching English as a foreign language in Gangneung, South Korea at the moment.

All three of them are saved, love worship music and play the guitar, as do Fred and I but it has to be admitted that the 3 guys are better on the guitar than us girls.

All three of them love babies; I know most people do but they go to the extent of having to take many pics & videos of their cousin's little boy and share them with us all.








Were we telling them the truth when we used that phrase with them for years?


Strictly speaking - possibly no!



But to us parents, YES.  

We thought of each of them as being the best because we loved each of them the same.


They were good children but probably not the best children in the whole world.
And also who are we to judge who is better than anyone else.
But this phrase meant a lot to us and to them and I do believe that it made them feel loved and happy and accepted and contented all those years ago.



At the Grand Canyon while we were living in the US over 20 years ago



Of course that phrase is not the only thing that would have led them to grow up with love and acceptance but then there are always a lot of factors in the formation of anything.


All I know is we loved them greatly and they knew they were loved and they loved us and each other.  Then later they grew to know about God and the salvation he has offered us through His Son Jesus and they each acknowledged that they needed to ask God's forgiveness and accept this gift from God.


Who inspires you?

I would like to think that if our children had been asked this question when they were young they would have included Fred & I in the answer.

If you ask me that same question today my answer would have to be, my 3 children Jonathan, Daniel & Linda for the people they have turned out to be, not dependent on us, not intimidated by others and taking a stand for God. 

What more could parents want in the lives of their children?

I am thankful to God for the husband and children He has given me.