Tag: Fears

So Close To Bethlehem

So Close To Bethlehem

I wonder how close you are to Bethlehem today? Right now! Right, where you are, in the middle of a million things, a million thoughts, and a million worries? In the middle of COVID, and its conundrum of threat, fear and anxiety that’s come and nestled quite rudely into our Christmas celebrations? I wonder, can you reach out and touch the town sign that says its name, “Bethlehem,” or are you feeling veered off, lost and off track? Has the perplexity and complexity of it all gotten in and taken your hope, your joy and your peace down the garden path?

See it there then today, with your soul eyes. “Bethlehem!” Ah yes, there it is…

I wonder if you remember or even know the Hope born there that night in that crude stable, is as close as your heartbeat? Does the awesome gift of Hope from God resonate and radiate within you and from you? Does it affect your everyday living? Your thinking? Can you feel the depth of its magnitude deep in your soul, or have you sunk deep into that horrible conundrum of busyness and COVID chaos?

What a sweet gift the baby “Jesus” presented to the world in that wretched manger of straw surrounded by everything ‘less than perfect!’ Grasp, if you will, that picture of Hope for a broken and imperfect world! Not a COVID world but a sin world! Then reach out to receive a fresh touch for you! The thing is, it’s so much more than Hope isn’t it? Hope brings a joy and a peace of mind and a really gentle hug from God to message us that it’s ok. Everything really is ok”, and in that “million and one things” to-do list, His gift of Hope is the stable banner at the top to get you through.

Hope in Jesus, our Saviour? Yeah, it’s our salvation for the soul of us in these crazy days and the help for our day ahead, no matter what’s on the plate.

Because He came, Hope is our gift to receive and recycle to keep on giving. So you see, it’s all well and good! The birthing event of our Savior in Bethlehem, even though so long ago, is really very close, because the Hope He gave to the world that night, is His promise to us and still ours to receive! It’s a sweet gift that keeps on giving to our soul time and time again. So So amazing too, is that as we can share it with others so they can be brought closer to the Hope of the babe born in Bethlehem in their journey of chaos, broken and hopeless. When Hope wells up within, don’t ever underestimate the power of it within your circles of influence to ignite the spark in others! It’s contagious! It’s lovely and it’s peaceful, oh so peaceful!
❤
#Advent#GiftofHope

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Broken And Beautiful

Hey, beautiful one, it’s a really fragile world out there and we’re pretty breakable in its frenzied, crazy chaos and confusion. Thing is, fears are real and the worries, such obstacles in our path. Sometimes we just feel really cracked, bruised, beaten, battered and just plain broken. But, you’ve got to know that’s ok because for all the broken there’s healing, and mending and repair and yeah, although frozen, cracked bubbles can’t be fixed, souls really can be and are, because through the eyes of Jesus we are perfected in our faith and in our walk!

Oh, what a delight to know this One who mends our fault lines and forgives, heals and seals our broken, to give new life and a new beginning. Oh yeah, broken is still beautiful through the eyes of Jesus, and so “you” are! ❤

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”Psalm 34:18″He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.”

Psalm 147:3

by Categories: Broken And Loved, Inspirational, Soul note to selfTags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Where’s Your Faith?

“When Jesus woke up He rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. Then He asked them,”Where is your faith?” Matthew 8: 24b

I wonder how many times He’s asked us the same question? In V.22 He made a statement to his disciples when He said,

“Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.”

So they did the obvious. They got into the boat at His command and set sail across the water without care! All was well with their world and yeah, they could simply trust in the ergonomics of natural laws, and that the boat would get them there especially when their Lord accompanied them. All was smooth sailing and all was good ~ until a vicious storm rose up out of nowhere threatening to take them under. They were with their Lord but suddenly their fears were bigger than He was and He didn’t seem to be enough for their moments of panic. They forgot His words of stability and promise of direction about crossing to the other side and when He fell asleep in the boat they felt He fell asleep on the job! He wasn’t disturbed, anxious, upset or even awake! He suddenly seemed to be just like them, without control over the situation and they lost all confidence and all hope in their Saviour and in their circumstances. Beautiful soul, if He’s given the command to Cross to the other side, or to climb the mountain, or walk the valley, you can know He’s either in the boat, waiting on the mountain or walking that valley with you. He’ll get you there when the storms rage, the mountains fall, and the valley gets deeper. No need for panic when He walks the way or sails the seas with us. Yeah, we can know, He really is in control even when it appears hopeless, broken and crumbled.

So ~ For your next deep-water, nose dive that surfaces out of nowhere, or for your next “Where the rubber meets the road” experience; those hard places to maneuver through, and those panic attacks that render us useless, listen for His counsel. In Psalm 46:10 the psalmist reminds us of His words. “He says,

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Dear one, He will be exalted in your storm, on your crumbled mountain and in your deepest of the deep valley. When He asks, “Where is your faith” say with the Psalmist in Psalm 121:2,

“My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

We gotta learn to trust Him even when we perceive He’s fallen asleep in the boat. Wake Him, ask for His help and let Him rebuke the wind and the waves as He speaks peace into the eye of your storm.

#BecauseofBethlehem #Soulnotetoself

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Hit And Run?


So there’s a lot of us wondering just what’s around the next bend, the next winding curve, the next twist in the road. Yeah, so many bends, twists and curves in the way of this life isn’t there? So many issues that just pop up out of no where and have every intent to take us down with defeat. Truth is, sometimes they do take us down and take us over with their overwhelming heaviness and ‘no sense’ logic. They warp our minds and our hearts and leave us reeling right there smack dab in the middle of life and just when good things were happening too.

What do we do with that? What do we do with the nonsense distractions that take our focus from the good things in the journey and try to fragment our spirit with a hit and run collision? Those issues don’t stop to consult or discuss, they just ~ well, they just hit and run and leave us trampled and bruised. No answers and with really so much chaos there are no questions.
David was there at that bend, at the twist in the road ~ that winding curve, when the collision overwhelmed him. In Psalm 142: 1 – 7 the Psalmist reaches a point of despair when he cries out to the Lord…

“I cry out to the LORD; I plead for the LORD’S mercy. I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him my troubles. When I am overwhelmed, You alone know the way I should turn. Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me. I look for someone to come and help me but no one gives me a passing thought. No one will help me, no one cares a bit what happens to me. …..Oh, but David in verse 5, though very low in spirit, very alone in the journey, so lonely and entrapped in his prison of harassment by foes, knows that his trust still remains in the LORD, who is his life, and he directs his focus back to the LORD’S goodness and protection. He knows that he knows his Redeemer and then yeah, what does he do? He offers praise in the hardship. Let’s do it! Let’s offer praise to our maker even for the problem.

Beautiful soul, if you’re having a bad day and that twist in the road is a sharp one, and that hit and run has left you beaten, drag your beautiful self into God’s presence and read the words of David in Psalm 143 then say with him in 143: 10, “Teach me to do Your will, for you are my God. May Your gracious spirit lead me forward, on a firm footing.” Then pray for God’s goodness to overwhelm you today and shut out the no logic nonsense of harsh distractions. God’s got this road for you, Father filtered it is and comes with His protection and safe keeping. Stay with Him! Walk with Him! Find peace in His presence and joy in His light!

by Categories: Bible, Food for Thought, Fragmented Souls, InspirationalTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment