God is our help…

I always love it when I my oldest daughter comes home.  She brings back so many wonderful memories of being a new parent, of raising children, of God leading us to different places and ministries, and my own childhood.  Being a firstborn child isn’t easy for them, or for the parents.  There are challenges, but there are also wonderful traits.  Firstborns tend to be reliable, conscientious, structured, cautious, controlling, and achievers.  They also bask in their parents’ presence, which explains why they act like mini-adults.  My firstborn mirrors these traits and I am so grateful for her uniqueness and her personality.  Psalm 139 says, “you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.”  God knew what He was doing when he created my firstborn.

The other side of being a firstborn is being the experiment, the new parenting ideas, and the trial and error.  I thank God that He has been there the whole time as we raised our girls, trying to teach them about God’s incredible love and forgiveness.  Hopefully helping them understand that we are all firstborns, striving for perfection and to please our parents, or our Heavenly Father.  I am not always perfect, I fail often, but I daily strive to please my God and Father.  I know that parents are suppose to teach and lead, but my firstborn has taught me so much about faith and leaning on God.  It is not easy being a firstborn, but God has a purpose and plan for you, and for me, and for all firstborns.

I believe that God’s intention is for all of us to be firstborns.  The Bible says, ‘you must be born again”.  Born again means being reborn into His purpose, being willing to step out in faith, living a new life for Him, and being diligent in following Him.  Another thought mentioned about firstborns is that they excel at winning the hearts of their parents.  She has won my heart, just like I strive to win my Heavenly Fathers heart.

Thank God for your firstborns, they will teach you a lot about faith.

I love you Brianna.

John 14:21 English Standard Version (ESV)

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

I love this verse!  It reminds me that 1 John says, “His commands are not burdensome.”  I have never felt like they were a load or too difficult to follow.  I guess I have always had a desire to please God.  That doesn’t mean I have always pleased Him, in fact, there have been many times that I have disobeyed and not kept his commandments.

I do love His commands and strive to keep them, hold them, and follow them.  I cannot count the number of times that they have brought me comfort, peace, knowledge, and direction.  Most of all they have drawn me closer to God, and into a relationship with Christ.  And as I have fallen in love with the Savior, I have a deeper relationship with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Then the relationship grows, because our Savior loves us and wants to manifest Himself to us.  He wants to show Himself, He wants to reveal Himself in a way that is generally not known.

He will bring change and difference in our lives, simply by keeping His commands.

It was the same month, the same conference, the same hotel, here I am again. It was April of 2011 that I received a phone call from my dad. I remember standing in a hallway of the hotel talking with him, almost with a sense of knowing he was calling me to let me know his life was running out, like he knew that he only had months.
It is really sobering to be here again, to be in the same place at the same time of the year. Even these past few weeks I have wished to talk to him, to have him praying for me, and just to even know that he had already been praying for me.
I am grateful for the memories of my father, even the difficult ones of his last months on this earth. I believe memories are God’s way of reminding us that His love for us is eternal. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow, His love continues, it never misses, it is always. He reminds us, we can look back at many things and many moments and see His pursuit and desire for us. We can remember His constant care and blessings through people, situations, and through pain, we have great memories. Memories that will last this lifetime and take us into His eternal arms, and for me, to be joined once again with my dad.
I miss him, but I have great memories of his love for me, just like my Heavenly Father.

Thanks for the memories…

I was reminded today of how special my family is to me.  We know Christ as our Savior, a relationship passed down to us from my abuelita who prayed and read her Bible daily and passed it on to her family.  We love each other, a love that God has blessed and protected.  We like being around each other, we always enjoy the time we have together, we laugh, we cry, and we are thankful for those special moments.

We are not perfect, and there are times we struggle with life, but when we stop to think about how to move on, we always call on the family.  We are always amazed at how God uses our family to draw us closer to Him, deeper in our walk with Him.  There are also times that we see ourselves in each other, an action, a gesture, a smile, something that reminds us of each other.  A reminder of God’s hand on our lives through our family.  I am so glad my daughters have their mothers looks, but I also see myself in many ways through my girls, good and bad.

God has great intentions for the family, mostly to remind us of His incredible love for us as children of God, heirs to God, joint-heirs to Christ.  A family is a gift from God, a place in life, a home, a comfort, and today, a rare gift.

Take some time to spend with your family, don’t miss those precious God moments of being with family.  They won’t last forever, but the moments we do have, remember, we are family… and that is special.

As I prepare to preach this coming Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Christ is still so amazing to me.  Amazing because I see the resurrection happen on a daily basis.  The old is gone, the new has come. Christ came to die, and we will die.  This earthly body will be no more, like a leaf falling from a tree.  This past weekend I raked up many dead leaves, and then looked up in the tree only to see new leaves, new growth, new life.

I also planted seeds this past weekend.  I buried the seed that had fallen dead and would be nothing more than a seed if not buried.  Buried to be raised, and scriptures says, buried in brokenness, but raised in glory, buried in weakness, but raised in strength.  I understand that my physical body will one day be done, I will be buried, but thank God I will not remain there.  The gift of God is eternal life.

Just as He died and was buried, He came out of the grave to give us life and to take on a new life.  I see it every day, especially as we have come into this season of spring.  Everything is blooming, everything is changing, things are growing, the dead grass is turning green, trees are budding, new life is springing forward.

He is not dead, He Has Risen!  Look around it is amazing!

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.  (Martin Luther)

People from all over the world come to the City, many people, and many languages. There were lights, shopping, Broadway shows, great food, and the City never stops.  As I had a chance to walk along side, bump into, sit with, and talk to people, I was reminded of God’s incredible love for His creation. Many of the people walking through the streets were walking aimlessly, maybe they were headed to jobs, to family, to their homes, to meet up with others, but many were probably living their lives without purpose, and without meaning.   You could see it, they were so consumed by the lights, the spectacle, the money, the distractions of life, that they has lost their real identity.

I understand that you can lose your identity anywhere, in the country, on a farm, as a truck driver constantly on the road, as a housewife, sometimes we just get lost. But in spite of how lost we get in this life, God, the Creator of all things, is still madly in love with us and pursues after us daily, on the bus, on the train, at our jobs, and on the streets as we are walking down the middle of Times Square.

He pursues after us to bring significance and to fill the longing we each have in our souls. A longing for something beyond ourselves, a deeper satisfaction than any lights and activities of any city. God has installed this longing in everyone of us, and the only true way to satisfy that longing is come to a realization that you were created and designed to bring glory to our Creator, not glory to the creation.

I am guilty…many times I am amazed at the creation, New York City was amazing! Then God reminds me that He sent His one and only Son to bring us life and significance.

It was a great trip to the New York, it was bright, it was fast, it was exciting, it was a reminder that God is pursue after His creation, you.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

 He knows the plans! I am sure glad He does, because there have been many times that I have wondered and worried about the plans. There have also been many times that I have planned and thought about what I should do, and how I should react. Then time and time again, I would begin to worry about tomorrow, sometimes even today. How am I going to do this, how am I going to lead my family, how am I going to hold on? I have plans, I have dreams, and I have hope for the future. It was only when I bow my head and pray, that God once again reminds me, “I know that plans I have for you.”

His plans have always been to prosper me. He has put incredible people in my life to lead and guide and direct me, men and women of faith, who are committed to following God. He has provided others to come along side of me, to pray, to help, to give, and to care for me. He has blessed me in many ways, a great family, a wonderful childhood, good health. I would say that He has prospered me way beyond what I deserve. He has not harmed me; in fact there have been times in my life that I have done the harm, but God has been faithful, He knows the plans for me.

He has plans to give me hope, and He knows there are many days that I need hope, encouragement, and contentment. I also hope that He will continue to lead my steps. I hope for tomorrow, I hope for others, my hope is in Him.  He knows the plans!

Plans for my future! He knows the places I will go, and people who will come into my life. He knows the ways He will use me, the lives that I will have a chance to impact. He knows the grandchildren that I will hold. He knows my future, He knows the days ahead of me, and in spite of my lack of faith, He knows the wonderful future I have…He declares, “I know the plans I have for you!”

I am so grateful for how God has used me. In spite of my anxiousness at times, He has remained faithful, and I have grown. I am just so glad He knows the plans.