Falling In Love With Jesus!

When I was in high school, I fell ‘in love’ a number of times. It was very common for us to ‘go steady’, and for most kids ‘going steady’ could last for 3-4 weeks.

That special person could excite us and cause us to feel emotions that we had never experience before. One day we might be jumping with joy and the next day be full of despair. Emotions were always changing and seemed to rule our lives at that age.

We soon learned that love would only last more than a few weeks unless we made a commitment to the relationship and to the other person. True love goes hand-in-hand with commitment.

You choose to stay in love. You choose to be faithful. You choose to look for ways to keep falling in love with this person again and again. That is true love.

I was visiting with a dear friend last week, and she shared with me her experience of salvation. She told me that Jesus had brought her from such darkness that she fell totally in love with Him. The change He brought to her life gave her so much joy and peace.

She was overwhelmed by His love for her and she wanted more and more. She was hungry to learn more about Him and to feel secure in His love. She made a commitment to serve Him forever and never go back into sin.

Falling in love with your mate can bring ecstasy at times along with many other emotions, but none can compare with falling in love with Jesus. Words can’t describe the pure joy He gives!

Human love cannot love you totally and unconditionally like Jesus does. He loved each of us in our filth of sin so much that He chose to die in our place, so that we can have eternal life with Him.

My prayer for my kids is,
“God, let them see Your beauty and Your love for them. Uncover their blinded eyes to see their sin, and to know that Your blood covers them with forgiveness, when they repent and ask You for forgiveness. Lord, I pray that they fall in love with You with a passion to be in Your presence and to make a commitment to live for You.
Thank you, Jesus!”

Do you remember the song, “I Keep Falling In Love With Him”?
It was popular several years ago and we don’t hear it much anymore. I had a hard time finding it online as well.

The video below is not much of a video, but Henry and Hazel Slaughter are singing the song, and I’m sure if you listen to it, you will enjoy.

In fact, the song will probably get stuck in your head all day.
(Pause my Playlist at bottom of page first.)



Love and Prayers,
Carolyn

When God Unfolds The Rose!

"Unfolding The Rose"

It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
God opens this flower so sweetly,
Then, in my hands, they die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I have the wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in Him for leading
Each moment of my day.
I will look to Him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.

The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.

by Helen Steiner Rice

Not only do we need to trust God to guide our steps and direct our paths; to have complete faith in Him to unfold the rose petals of our lives, but to also trust Him to do the same for our children.

I think sometimes it is harder for us to surrender the plans we have for our kids to God, than to surrender ourselves.

We must remember that His plans for their lives is BEST and that only He can unfold the petals of their lives to their full beauty! Trust Him!

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!” Psalm 91:1,2

Please scroll down to bottom of page to pause my Playlist and watch the video.



Love and Prayers,
Carolyn

God Knows Our Need Before We Do!

We may say a prayer for something in our lives that needs an immediate answer. Yet sometimes when the answer comes, it is nothing like we thought and seems totally wrong. But in the end we find out God was right all along!

For Sheila, a mistake turned out to be a miracle.

I want to share this story that blessed me.
“A Divine Misprint”
By Sheila Corey, from the book “God Answers Moms’ Prayers”

It was our fourth move in seven years of ministry, and even in a congregation of 350 members, a new wave of loneliness swept over me. One morning as I dressed my two preschool children, a thought came to me and I got on my knees to pray, “God, I’m lonely. Send me someone who is lonely and needs a friend, too.”

I then began to scour the church directory in search of a woman with children who might want to get together for the day. After many unsuccessful attempts, I dialed the number next to a familiar name. A woman answered.

“Cheryl?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“This is Sheila from church. How are you?”
“Uh, I’m fine,” she replied.
“How are the kids?”
“They’re okay. A little wild today.”
“Well, I’m calling because I’m taking my kids to the pool today and wanted to know if you could join me.”
There was an awkward silence, and then reluctantly she said, “Okay.”

I asked for directions to her house and was surprised to find she lived on the same road as we did, just a couple of miles east of our block. She came out of the house when I pulled into her driveway, and I soon discovered that the woman I was picking up was not the woman I thought I had called!

I put on my Sunday face and welcomed her as if she was an old friend. I was, after all, a minister’s wife, and thought she probably knew me.

As we drove along, we talked about the church. She asked if I had met a particular church member yet, and I said, “No.” I asked if she knew another church member, and she said, “No.” In the course of the conversation, we eventually realized we were from two different congregations.

She asked how I got her number, and I told her about my search through the church directory. We discovered that she shared the same first name as the lady I intended to call, and that her telephone number appeared in the directory by mistake.

Amazed, I told her of my prayer that morning. When I finished, she said through her tears, “God answered your prayer. My husband told me recently that he had an affair. I don’t know who to turn to. I truly do need a friend today.”

Cheryl and I spent the day talking, crying, and at times even laughing with amazement at God’s way of putting two needy women together. After dropping her off at the end of the day, I went home, immediately opened the directory, and called her.

“Cheryl?”
She laughed and then replied, “Yes?”
“Just checking to see if you were real.”
“I guess our friendship really was made in heaven,” was her chuckling reply.
“Amen to that, my new sister. Amen to that.”

The church directory was printed a year before my husband and I arrived at our new church. God scheduled my moment with Cheryl through a misprint. He knew Cheryl’s need a year before she did! He knew, even in my loneliness, that He could use me.

I learned that day, as did Cheryl, that God knows the needs of His people. If we are available to Him, no matter what our circumstances, He will use us to meet those needs.

Love and Prayers,
Carolyn