I was reminded the other day of this sweet story of Hope, our Daughter when she was 3 years old. "We went to Disneyland during the Holidays, and while we waited in line to take a picture with Goofy, Hopie tried to go up out of turn. We had to remind her to wait, while we were all in line. Finally the time came where she could go up and touch Goofy.
‘Mind you, Hopie loves animals. She's always the last after all have left to be petting the dogs or cats. So she gave Goofy a Hug and he bent down as she touched his face, and looked him in the eyes, and petted his nose. We took our picture- and she continued to stay with him as he stood there. She hugged him again and grabbed his hands- Goofy never leaving her gaze.
She hugged him lastly, one more time and said lovingly, “Do you remember me?” as if because she watched his cartoons, he should remember her. I honestly could see a moment that shed light beyond that Costume-straight into the heart of the person behind it. His hands dropped as if surrendering to his side- as he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms fully around her. She smiled and skipped away as if all was as it should be." This sweet little beauty just turned 7. We celebrated her, we Love her, and now we are watching her go from Baby girl 6, to God’s flourishing Beauty of Seven. I pray you are Fearless, Girl.
And this story leads me to think of How Jesus wants us to be with Him. I find myself so many times, wanting to run harder after him, but then the fancies and loves of my heart lead me to stop and all the little cares and politeness of the world’s view comes into thought and play. ‘I need to wait in line’ or ‘What if it’s not the right way? What if I stumble? or What if I did say that? What if I did go Full-on? Would I lose something to gain something?
Now this is a tricky parallel to highlight, because comparing Goofy to an all-loving God is not the route I really wanted to take, but the heart of a child on what she is fixated on- - is. She really cannot be stopped. When she arrives at her Love, she cannot help but hold onto him, and gaze at him.
We are learning this verse in our schooling here at home in the last weeks. And as I have been diving into the scripture, and relaying it over and over to get in step with some extemporized hand gestures, today, Hope mentioned this connection of the face:
Psalm 27:8
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
This IS my desire: To truly seek his face. But don’t things enter that gaze and stand in front? We’ll know it. We’ll hear it, we’ll sense it. The Lord is gently beckoning us to return, for the loss of the first love is evident. That one Thing.
The Tools are there. Haven’t we heard it enough ‘Come to Him’ and he will fix it. Yet we try to fix it, so we can come to Him. The Lord wants us so much to lay ALL of our worries at His feet, and seek him, seek His words for our life, daily, so that those worries will diminish. Yes, some of you have got real life problems to deal with. Big, heavy ordeals. Things that cause such anguish, and it seems impossible to see a solution. But he wants for us to COME TO HIM FIRST, and that One thing will be the Worship of our hearts toward Him, and He will fulfill his way for our good, his best.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me...
Psalm 138:8
Don’t let the worries, or fears, or temptations
of this world Lead you.
Sometimes we can get ourselves into situations that keep us numb or jaded to God’s true word in our hearts. This is because we want to fulfill the purpose of our temptation. We cannot stop it. No, we cannot. But God can. That is when we throw ourselves into his arms and Call upon Him. He will fight for us.
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." Ex. 14:14
We need to get back to seeking him in his temple. We need to remember that the only true thing that matters is Him.
Really.
These temptations of the world will all pass away. And all the superfluous things we built our lives on or all that we sought hard after will be tossed, soon into embers, but what will stand
will be our one relationship with Jesus.
We have to stop looking at what others have, and look at what God has blessed each of us with.
Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
They say that Hunger is the best Spice, because if you don’t think too hard about it, anything tastes amazing when you’re hungry. I recently ran a marathon and about the 35th kilometer (or 22nd mile), I had surpassed a few water stations to save time, only to come to this one. I picked up a cup of cool blue liquid called POWERADE, and it tasted so amazing, being so greatly thirsty at this point, that I couldn’t help but say aloud,
“This is Good!”
That is how we should overflow with the blessings of the Lord!
As they make music they will sing,
"All my fountains are in you."
Psalm 87:7
Many of you know the story of Mary and Martha when they invited Jesus over to their house for dinner. And while Mary slaved away at all of the tasks at hand, she was bothered by her sister Mary, who sat anxiously at Jesus’ Feet listening to his words and heart. She then questioned Jesus at why he didn’t make her join in the help. Jesus soon answered,
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:41-42
We only need one thing in the middle of a lot of weights and worries.
I pray that you are encouraged today.
Just to know that you have a front row place right with Jesus. You can gaze upon His beauty, as you study his face. You will never have to ask, ‘Do you remember me?’ For Jesus lets us know that he can never forget us; he tells us in His word,
"See, I have engraved you
on the palms of my hands..."
Isaiah 49:16a
In Jesus,
‘Mind you, Hopie loves animals. She's always the last after all have left to be petting the dogs or cats. So she gave Goofy a Hug and he bent down as she touched his face, and looked him in the eyes, and petted his nose. We took our picture- and she continued to stay with him as he stood there. She hugged him again and grabbed his hands- Goofy never leaving her gaze.
She hugged him lastly, one more time and said lovingly, “Do you remember me?” as if because she watched his cartoons, he should remember her. I honestly could see a moment that shed light beyond that Costume-straight into the heart of the person behind it. His hands dropped as if surrendering to his side- as he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms fully around her. She smiled and skipped away as if all was as it should be." This sweet little beauty just turned 7. We celebrated her, we Love her, and now we are watching her go from Baby girl 6, to God’s flourishing Beauty of Seven. I pray you are Fearless, Girl.
And this story leads me to think of How Jesus wants us to be with Him. I find myself so many times, wanting to run harder after him, but then the fancies and loves of my heart lead me to stop and all the little cares and politeness of the world’s view comes into thought and play. ‘I need to wait in line’ or ‘What if it’s not the right way? What if I stumble? or What if I did say that? What if I did go Full-on? Would I lose something to gain something?
Now this is a tricky parallel to highlight, because comparing Goofy to an all-loving God is not the route I really wanted to take, but the heart of a child on what she is fixated on- - is. She really cannot be stopped. When she arrives at her Love, she cannot help but hold onto him, and gaze at him.
We are learning this verse in our schooling here at home in the last weeks. And as I have been diving into the scripture, and relaying it over and over to get in step with some extemporized hand gestures, today, Hope mentioned this connection of the face:
Psalm 27:8
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
This IS my desire: To truly seek his face. But don’t things enter that gaze and stand in front? We’ll know it. We’ll hear it, we’ll sense it. The Lord is gently beckoning us to return, for the loss of the first love is evident. That one Thing.
The Tools are there. Haven’t we heard it enough ‘Come to Him’ and he will fix it. Yet we try to fix it, so we can come to Him. The Lord wants us so much to lay ALL of our worries at His feet, and seek him, seek His words for our life, daily, so that those worries will diminish. Yes, some of you have got real life problems to deal with. Big, heavy ordeals. Things that cause such anguish, and it seems impossible to see a solution. But he wants for us to COME TO HIM FIRST, and that One thing will be the Worship of our hearts toward Him, and He will fulfill his way for our good, his best.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me...
Psalm 138:8
Don’t let the worries, or fears, or temptations
of this world Lead you.
Sometimes we can get ourselves into situations that keep us numb or jaded to God’s true word in our hearts. This is because we want to fulfill the purpose of our temptation. We cannot stop it. No, we cannot. But God can. That is when we throw ourselves into his arms and Call upon Him. He will fight for us.
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." Ex. 14:14
We need to get back to seeking him in his temple. We need to remember that the only true thing that matters is Him.
Really.
These temptations of the world will all pass away. And all the superfluous things we built our lives on or all that we sought hard after will be tossed, soon into embers, but what will stand
will be our one relationship with Jesus.
We have to stop looking at what others have, and look at what God has blessed each of us with.
Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
They say that Hunger is the best Spice, because if you don’t think too hard about it, anything tastes amazing when you’re hungry. I recently ran a marathon and about the 35th kilometer (or 22nd mile), I had surpassed a few water stations to save time, only to come to this one. I picked up a cup of cool blue liquid called POWERADE, and it tasted so amazing, being so greatly thirsty at this point, that I couldn’t help but say aloud,
“This is Good!”
That is how we should overflow with the blessings of the Lord!
As they make music they will sing,
"All my fountains are in you."
Psalm 87:7
Many of you know the story of Mary and Martha when they invited Jesus over to their house for dinner. And while Mary slaved away at all of the tasks at hand, she was bothered by her sister Mary, who sat anxiously at Jesus’ Feet listening to his words and heart. She then questioned Jesus at why he didn’t make her join in the help. Jesus soon answered,
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:41-42
We only need one thing in the middle of a lot of weights and worries.
I pray that you are encouraged today.
Just to know that you have a front row place right with Jesus. You can gaze upon His beauty, as you study his face. You will never have to ask, ‘Do you remember me?’ For Jesus lets us know that he can never forget us; he tells us in His word,
"See, I have engraved you
on the palms of my hands..."
Isaiah 49:16a
In Jesus,