Precious Miracles

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“No matter whom the parents,
every baby is a new miracle,
created by God Himself.”*

….even if a baby is born to the vilest of sinners,
or conceived in the most wicked
or saddest or most difficult of circumstances,
whether a sweet one is born out of an unloving marriage, or fornication,
rape, drug abuse, incest,
prostitution, or adultery,
or any situation…

“it does not change the fact that he or she is a special miracle,
masterminded and fashioned by God
for His glory and praise.” *

God cannot make mistakes.
No one is an accident!
God never creates a little one, and says,
“Oops, I didn’t mean to create this little one.”

All children are unique; beautiful creations handmade by God!
Without exception, all children are precious miracles.
Even in spite of how sin has directly harmed a little child’s body,
God has breathed life into each one of us on purpose!
Jesus loves you and me! Oh! How He loves all the little children!

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For Thou hast possessed my reins:
Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvellous are Thy works;
and that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from Thee,
when I was made in secret,
and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
and in Thy book all my members were written,
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!
how great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:
~ Psalm 139:13-18a

Walking with Jesus,
Melissa

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* first two phrases in quotes are from Nancy Campbell,
100 Days of Blessing: Devotions for Wives and Mothers

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You Need to Know

You Need to Know

We all need to know…

We are each uniquely designed
with everlasting lovingkindness
by The Almighty Creator
for an amazing purpose and plan.

~ “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11

~ “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
Psalm 139:14

~ “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:4-5

~ “That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.”
John 3:15-17

Walking with Jesus,
Melissa

Be Glad

What! Gladly glory in my infirmities, boast in my weaknesses? Why? That the power of Christ may rest upon me! I love God’s mysterious ways!!! Look at what Paul wrote here…

“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” ~2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Now, how can I break this passage down and apply it to my every day duties (necessities) and my daily (or perhaps, moment to moment) trials?

Gladly boast when my children completely wreck their bedroom and I’m tempted to loose my cool, again?!
…That the power of Christ may rest upon me!

Gladly boast when my children’s nasty pride spews out at each other as they fight over the most *insignificant earthly things?! (*By the way…that’s just how sin rolls, isn’t it?)
…That the power of Christ may rest upon me!

Gladly boast when my own nasty pride spews out onto my children when the earthly “things” aren’t going my way?! (Hmm, wonder where they get it? Woe is me!)
…That the power of Christ may rest upon me!

Gladly boast when I become the discouraged encourager?!
…That the power of Christ may rest upon me!

Gladly boast when others criticize our choices, or the path we walk, when we are trying to faithfully follow Jesus?!
…That the power of Christ may rest upon me!

Ha! That one reminds me, wasn’t it Dr. Seuss that said, “those who matter don’t mind and those that mind don’t matter”? …Again,
…That the power of Christ may rest upon me!

As long as the power of Christ rests upon me!!! That’s what matters!

In all my weaknesses. In all my inability. In all my mistakes. In all my difficulties. In all my distressing circumstances. In any persecuting situations. In all my, “I can’t do this”.

I will boast when I can’t, because Jesus CAN! Christ’s power will rest upon me, dwell within me, when I am weak. Because of Jesus Christ, when I am weak, then I am strong! I only have to grab ahold of His Word and let Him reign.

Now…onward to practical, victorious life application!

Walking with Jesus,
Melissa

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

I think about this throughout the year, especially at Christmastime and Easter. I wonder, do we Christians truly worship Jesus ALONE this time of year? Is HE all we need? Is HE all that matters?

Do we as a family bring honor to Passover, Holy Week, and Easter Sunday with pure, focused hearts? Or are we swayed, preoccupied with our culture’s focus on the sweet, fluffy, & shiny merchandise? Is it all for play? All for fun?

Are we, Christ followers, fully, wholly honoring and joyfully worshipping
Our Redeemer,
The Christ
Broken,
Bleeding for us all;
Risen;
and Coming again!?!!!

I don’t want to give Him just a part. I don’t want my Jesus to be the afterthought!

The stuff has NOTHING to do with HIM. If we are honest, does it serve more as a distraction from The One in our hearts? Can the Easter basket, the candy, the colored eggs or looking for the best Easter outfit inspire us more to worship Christ or actually pull our focus away from Him?

How can the junk we traditionally buy adequately reflect what Jesus suffered for us? All He means to us?

I’m not sure it can even if we try in various ways to “Christianize” it. I understand the effort to do that. I’ve done it, too. Buy the chocolate cross instead of the bunny. Insert a Bible verse into a plastic egg. Place more spiritually focused gift items into the basket. Maybe it’s fine. I don’t know.

This Holy week, is it the best way we can lead our children, or ourselves to Christ,
to the garden,
into the upper room,
to Pilate’s hall,
the via dolorosa,
to the Cross,
inside the tomb
the stone rolled away!?!

That! Is! Exciting!

Wow, my heart beat hard within me as I progressed through that list!!! Nothing is more worthy of our attention, our praise, our celebration, our worship!!!!!!

I’m not so sure if our worldly traditions, which are manifested in our behavior, don’t cheapen this precious Holy time? Is it insulting to our Saviour? Does Christ grieve our lack of reverence? I wonder about that. What do you think?

Walking with Jesus
Growing in grace,
Melissa

And You Want More? :-)

Yesterday at church some of our kiddos were part of a mess. As our awesome friends, Josh & Erin & I were getting it cleaned up (the best we could with what we had), Josh kiddingly says, “…and you want more?”.

He was chuckling and I think I told him to shush up or worse, I can’t remember exactly.

But… I wish I would’ve said, “Absolutely we’d love more! It’s not about me or the Dumped-cake-ground-into-the-church-carpet moments. That stuff is just a teensy part of it.

The Big Deal is the joy overflow of being involved in…invited into…God’s Gigantic Glory.”

Because that is truly right where Jeff’s heart, my heart & our girls’ hearts are.

And then my hubby would’ve probably said, “What’s 2 or 3 more when you already have 8?”!

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