Still a Dreamer / Anything Can Be Made New

Yep, that’s me…still a dreamer, just like it says in the lyric in the song below. No matter what life throws my way it will always be the case. Hard times, pessimism, setbacks, and all the rest of the things that try to get in the way of peace and happiness…go ahead world, do your worst 🙂

I don’t have every answer in life but I’m trusting You one day at a time, because You can make a weak heart stay alive forever.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

What about you? If things aren’t going the way you thought they would in your life right now, believe that it will get better. It will! Don’t buy into the all of the negativity that’s out there in the world. Never stop dreaming or expecting the best for yourself 🙂

To quote Andy Dufresne’s character in the movie Shawshank Redemption:
‘Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.’

Don’t believe the lies that say there is no hope, that miracles don’t happen, that you don’t deserve to be happy, that you don’t deserve love or forgiveness, that worthwhile things aren’t worth it, or that you can’t change for the better.

I believe anything can be made new through the power of God’s healing – people, health, relationships, behavior, outlooks on life, you name it. He can make anything new. He’s been doing it since the beginning of time.

Have a great day everyone.

(The members of Sanctus Real, the band that performs the song I included earlier in this post, gave some personal testimonies in a separate video they produced for their YouTube channel. Thought it was worth sharing here, especially the part from 1:14 to 1:37. Even when things aren’t working, God is there and He always will be.)

Perfect Clarity

How many times have you wanted this? I know I have…many times.

Things don’t always make sense in this life. The answers do not always come when we want them to and it can be pretty confusing and stressful sometimes.

The longer I am around this place we call Earth, the more I believe there is only one way we’re ever going to find perfect clarity.

1 Corinthians 13:12
Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Even though I don’t know what’s ahead in my life down here, I believe that God does know up there…and I believe that He has something good planned, whatever it is. That belief has always been enough for me, no matter what the situation. The more I trust in Him and the less I trust in anything else, the better off I am.

If you’re going through a time where things don’t make a lot of sense in your life then I hope you will read the verse above and the one below to see that your happy ending is being written right now, no matter what the trial is that you might be facing at the moment.

Jeremiah 29:11
“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.”

Good things are ahead 🙂

Believe in a better tomorrow and in the meantime, don’t forget to celebrate what you have today. Chances are if you take a minute to think about it, there is a lot more in your life that is worth celebrating and being thankful for than you might have been allowing yourself to realize.

God bless.

Psst…It’s Almost Christmas

Just a little reminder in case you’ve forgotten 🙂

What an amazing day and what a reason to be happy.

I can’t think of anything better than the birth of a Savior who came to take away our sins, our fears, our struggles, our stress, and our pain and who came to show us the way to everlasting life. Now that’s a gift right there! Try to top that, iPad…see if you can do better than that, big screen TV 😉

There are so many other great things about Christmas too. It’s one of the best days of the year for a lot of reasons. During the course of my life Christmas has always been a very special time for me and it still is. There’s nothing like it.

As I would say to my sister at 4 in the morning when we’d wake up as kids (ok, more like when I would go in her room and demand that she woke up) — ‘It’s Christmas!!’

Not much more that needs to be said, really. It’s Christmas. Enjoy it everyone.

The Solid Rock

When my world falls apart and the light turns to dark. When the clouds gather ’round and the storms overwhelm. When my heart breaks in half and my strength cannot last.

The world is going to flat-out bring you to your knees sometimes. Dreams don’t always come true, things don’t always work out the way you wanted them to, plans get changed…and on, and on, and on. It happens.

Do you have a solid rock to stand on when this happens? Did you know you have a loving and merciful God who created you, knows everything about your past, present, and future, who has a plan for your life and who will be that solid rock for you and so much more? He’s there. He loves you. He’ll never leave you.

Just wanted you to know that, in case you didn’t know. Reach out to Him and He will be there.

If things are going bad, they’ll get better. Hope you have a good day today.

He Did Not Complain

I’ll be honest, I wish I had read this earlier today but nonetheless I’m glad to have read it just now. So much to be learned from this passage – take a look for yourself.

Isaiah 53

1Has anyone believed us or seen the mighty power 
 of the LORD in action?
²Like a young plant or a root that sprouts in dry ground,
 the servant grew up obeying the LORD.
 He wasn’t some handsome king.
 Nothing about the way he looked made him attractive to us. 

 ³He was hated and rejected; 
 his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering. 
 No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, 
 “He is a nobody!” 

 ⁴He suffered and endured great pain for us, 
 but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. 
 ⁵He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; 
 by taking our punishment, he made us completely well. 
 ⁶All of us were like sheep that had wandered off. 
 We had each gone our own way, 
 but the LORD gave him the punishment we deserved. 

 ⁷He was painfully abused, but he did not complain. 
 He was silent like a lamb being led to the butcher, 
 as quiet as a sheep having its wool cut off. 

 ⁸He was condemned to death without a fair trial. 
 Who could have imagined what would happen to him? 
 His life was taken away because of the sinful things 
 my people had done. 
 ⁹He wasn’t dishonest or violent, 
 but he was buried in a tomb of cruel and rich people. 

 ¹⁰The LORD decided his servant would suffer as a sacrifice 
 to take away the sin and guilt of others. 
 Now the servant will live to see his own descendants. 
 He did everything the LORD had planned. 

 ¹¹By suffering, the servant will learn the true meaning 
 of obeying the LORD. 
 Although he is innocent, he will take the punishment 
 for the sins of others, 
 so that many of them will no longer be guilty. 
 ¹²The LORD will reward him with honor and power 
 for sacrificing his life. 
 Others thought he was a sinner, 
 but he suffered for our sins 
 and asked God to forgive us. 

The part about not complaining is something I really need to take to heart right now. I’m struggling with a situation and finding it all too easy to complain and act in a negative manner. And so, I am thankful for these words this evening.