This hand wreath is made with my precious little children’s handprints. The blue and yellow are Ava’s, and the green are Landon’s. Then we added paper flowers and cut and glued some of them to make them three-dimensional. Scroll through the photos to better understand how we did it.
I have been blessed by God with a wonderful life and wonderful people around me. I often think of all the troubles many people go through, and I think to myself how I haven’t been through that kind of turmoil. I meditate for a moment on my life and the challenges I have been through; then I realize, it isn’t that I haven’t faced my own troubles and fears, it’s that I relied on the Lord through all of them and He brought me through them with a smile on my face.
Even now, my family is going through a difficult time that has challenged me in more ways than I can describe. However, through all the thoughts, fears, and feelings, there is the underlying, indisputable truth that I am the Lord’s and it is the peace that can come only from Him which stabilizes and calms me.
Knowing the Lord, loving Him, and being steadfast in my commitment to Him has not only blessed my life in numerous ways, but I have spent every day of it with the peace of God settled in my spirit. God’s peace is more precious than anything I can think of. With the peace of God, panic gives way to prayer, sorrow rests in His arms, and fear bows to the promises God has given me in the Bible.
If you are not experiencing the wonderful, lasting peace of God in your life, you can. God wants you to fully know Him and accept His love for you. He wants YOU to belong to Him. He loves you as you are, and He desires for you to come to Him with your sin, your brokenness, your self, and let HIM change your life. How do you do it? With your heart. Believe in Jesus Christ and ask Him to forgive you and live in your heart. He will wash your sin away and give you peace, joy, and eternal life in its place!
Here are some verses from the Bible about salvation.
Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
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My ever-growing children make me realize this even more. I won’t go into all the sentimental thoughts I have daily for my precious babies, because I don’t really want to cry right now. 🙂 I need to begin appreciating and being thankful for the past, enjoying and taking pleasure in the present, and looking with a smile into the future. After all, God is in every time of my life. He created time, He put me smack in the middle of it, and He knows it all. He can help me achieve balance in my perspective and in my daily life, and He never changes.
Think of yourself as being a full bouquet of beautiful, perfect, roses. Now imagine that someone of the opposite sex comes into your life and you allow them to touch your body in ways that you know they shouldn’t. You just gave that person a couple of your roses. Now imagine that you let someone be incredibly intimate with you in ways that are inappropriate. You just gave them a couple more of your roses. Imagine that some time later, you engage in sex with someone. You just gave away more of your roses. Now imagine your wedding day. Imagine that wonderful person who you are pledging to love and cherish for the rest of your life. You approach them your bouquet to give to them. It’s made of roses. And there are only a couple roses in your bouquet. You gave away most of your roses – your purity and innocence, and now there are only a couple of pretty roses left for you to give your loved spouse.
Today, the same illustration came back to my mind, but I thought of it differently. I thought of my life represented by a bouquet of roses that I am saving to give Jesus when He returns or when I die. During the course of my walk here on earth, I don’t want to give a rose away to “time spent my way” and a rose to “disobedience” and a couple of roses to “apathetic” and a couple of roses to “lack of boldness” and a couple roses to “other loves”. When I see Jesus, I want to run to Him with my figurative full bouquet of roses, lavishing my love and worship upon Him and declaring how I have waited for Him and longed to see Him and all of my life has been devoted to pleasing Him.
Whip up a pouch with some felt, embroidery floss, and a needle. Personalize it with buttons or trim or other felt cut outs like our hearts. We made ours to hold a car air freshener, so it no longer has to dangle from the rear view mirror, and we will also be using it as a glove box organizer. Make it any size to accommodate a gift. It could be filled with candy, a sachet, a gift card, or whatever else you dream up.
I think at times we become so wrapped up in our own circumstances and our own needs that we lose sight of the true greatness of God. That while He is everything we need on a personal level, He is also working on a much larger scale. Perhaps we would find our personal faith in God growing at a greater rate if we gave more attention to meditating upon and celebrating God in his greatness.
Perhaps it is time we remember that He is a BIG God, who is not to be belittled, who sees the history of the earth from beginning to end, and who is not weakened by our perceptions. The universe was created by Him. The entire earth was flooded by Him. Entire cities have been obliterated by Him. Whole nations have trembled at the mention of His Name. Entire rivers have parted at His hand. The hearts of kings have been hardened by Him. Nations have been spared by Him. And our hearts and souls can belong to Him!!!
He is an awesome God, and to be part of His kingdom is an honor and a great blessing. It is exciting and thrilling! I was singing to the Lord in my quiet time with Him, and this is what came out of my heart. This is actually a song, so forgive rythym oddities, as you read it like a poem…
You’re more wonderful than anyone could ever explain
You are bigger than anything could ever contain
You are deeper than any scholar could understand
You are stronger than the largest army of manYou cannot be defined by all the languages of the earth
You cannot be cheapened or stripped of your worth
You are undefeated and you always will be
You’re the amazing, perfect, omnipotent King
