God of Comfort, Psalm 34:18

Buddy as Santa Paws

Sometimes I don’t know what is frightening Buddy. Lately he has not been wanting to take his nightly walkie patrol around our condominium complex. Something is spooking him that causes him to turn around and return to our home prematurely. I certainly do not rebuke him for it but, rather, cuddle him for reassurance that he’s loved and safe.

God is mindful that we are weak and fragile beings (Psalm 103:14-15). Even though He is God Almighty, ruler of heaven and earth, He is mindful of us and has compassion when we are suffering.

“Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”—Apostle Peter, 1 Peter 5:7

If you’re feeling down and out this holiday season—or even scared because of the coronavirus or the economic hardship it’s caused—God in Christ wants to hear from you. “The Lord is near to those who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth (Psalm 145:18).”

But He wants you to be honest. After all, you cannot hide even one thought from Him (Psalm 139:4). So pour out your heart. Tell Him how you really feel and what is causing you anxiety.

If you are born-again, you can be certain that He’s listening, wanting to comfort you.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3).”

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).”

But He is not going to strengthen you—in my experience—if you insist on fretting and worrying and “spazzing out” or throwing temper tantrums, instead of praying with sincerity.

So give your Heavenly Father a chance. Ask Him also to help you bring “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5),” so that your thought life doesn’t pull you down into the depths of despair. (It’s a long process to change imbedded thought habits, so be easy and patient with yourself.)

God bless you this holiday season. Hope you have a better year in 2021.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

PS. His promises to comfort His children. Though He may be listening, He is limited in communicating with you if you are not born again. To be born again means that the Holy Spirit is living within you. Therefore, the Holy Spirit can work within the heart and soul of a believer to bring comfort and strength.

But if you do not have the Spirit of Christ—another name for the Holy Spirit of God—you are limiting God in His communication with your soul. You are still separated from Him by sin, which is another way of saying that you are in rebellion against His authority.

Giving my life to Jesus made a huge positive impact on my life. Did it make life easier? No, bad things keep happening but now I live with a hopeful spirit, making obstacles easier to face.

Please give your life to God. He loves you. Confess your sins and accept Him as Lord Who sent Jesus to die for your sins, so that you don’t need to suffer His wrath. Jesus loves you so much that He was willing to take on human flesh to dwell amongst His creation.

“In the day of trouble I shall call upon You, for You will answer me (Psalm 86:7).”

We’re All Sailing On The Titanic, Colossians 1:13-14

Buddy snuggling.

Buddy was not at all affectionate when I first rescued him from an abusive situation. He still will not sit on my lap or snuggle up to me, preferring to lie down near me or by my feet at the foot of my bed. However, two years he started pressing his nose into my calf and accepting caresses. It’s his way of showing that he loves me.

The problem most people have today is that they’re totally unaware that they need rescuing. As a human race, we have all sailed on the Titanic and have hit the great iceberg of sin. Everyone is tossed into the icy water, yet don’t know that they are drowning.

Drowning in regret, drowning in fear, drowning in unforgiveness, drowning in bitterness, drowning in anger, drowning in sexual licentiousness, drowning in envy,..

If you’ve seen the monster hit “Titanic” with Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet, the scene where they are both freezing in the icy water is unforgettable. Some lifeboats turn around to pluck a few survivors out of the water. Kate’s character makes it, DiCaprio’s, amongst many others, does not.

Picture Jesus as the captain of a lifeboat, searching for people to rescue out of the icy waters of sin. Yet, when he reaches out His hand to rescue someone drowning in the frigid water, they bat His hand away and swim off in the opposite direction—to freeze and die eternally.

Multitudes of times, Jesus reaches out His hand to pull someone into His lifeboat of grace, forgiveness and everlasting life, and multitudes of times His preferred hand is rejected and is pulled back into the warmth of the boat, empty.

Most people continue swimming in Satan’s treacherous water, hoping they won’t drown or freeze to death. (Matthew 7:13-14)

If you’re that person, swimming in the icy water, please reach out for the loving hand of our Savior Jesus Christ. His hand is ALWAYS reaching out to you. You just need to accept it.

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”—Apostle Paul, Colossians 1:13-14

God bless you this Christmas season.

Love from Dawn and Buddy.

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If you are ready to be rescued, please pray the below:

Dear Lord, I am sorry for my sin and rebellion. I’ve hurt myself and others. I need to be rescued. I’m ready to repent and accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sins. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, God Who came in the flesh to die for my sins, and believe in my heart that God resurrected Him bodily from the grave. Grant me the gift of the Holy Spirit so that I have the power to live for you. I give my life to you wholeheartedly. In the might name of Jesus Christ, Amen. (Romans 10:9-10)

Congratulations if you were humble enough to confess your sins and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Please find a Bible-based church or godly TV or Internet ministry, if you must quarantine. But even if you’re locked in, God is with You. No door can block His entrance—except the door of a heart that refuses His mercy.

Trusting In God’s Protection, Isaiah 41:10

There’s been several times when Buddy has fought me while I’ve been trying to hold him to ensure that he lands safely: whether placing him in this washtub in the laundry room to check that he doesn’t have an injury to his back paw and wash it clean or when I try to place him on the ground in the garage after a drive in my car. He spreadeagled himself across the laundry tub tonight and he often fights me to leap out of my arms onto the carport, instead of trusting me to hold him tightly and guarantee he has a safe landing on the concrete.

This verse is one of my favorites and has sustained me emotionally in many an unstable or frightening situation:

“Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”–Isaiah 41:10

And “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand. Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.'”–Isaiah 41:13

God makes these statements after reminding His people through the prophet Isaiah that He is omnipotent, omniscient and cannot be conquered.

That:

He loves us and carries us close to His heart as our great Shepherd. Isaiah 40:11

He needs no counsel. Isaiah 40:13

The nations are as nothing compared to His power. Isaiah 40:15

No judge or ruler can defeat Him. Isaiah 40:25

He is so powerful that He created the stars, sustains them and calls these many myriad celestial bodies by name. Isaiah 40:26

He has no equal. Isaiah 40:25

He never becomes tired. Isaiah 40:28

He gives strength to the weary. Isaiah 40:29

He gives power to those who lack it. Isaiah 40:29

He is impossible to understand (in other words, He cannot be tricked). Isaiah 40:28

If you are born-again, you can be assured that, regardless of whatever situation you are currently finding yourself in, God is with you and can guarantee a safe landing–if you don’t try to wrestle out of the safety of His might arms.

Please don’t reject His ways and try to solve your problem apart from His godly wisdom. It may not seem like it at first, but eventually you’ll be glad you followed Biblical wisdom and counsel, instead of doing what felt right emotionally or succumbed to what the culture said was right. I can verify this statement from personal experience–positive and negative.

Another favorite verse of mine:

“Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word.”–Psalm 119:67

A wrong reaction can make a bad situation, worse.

God bless you. From Dawn and Buddy

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I lost five good friends and one relative during the period November 23, 2018 through April 9th, 2019. The last death was a bit of a shock and I felt rather depressed, mourning my elderly friend’s death. Several times I got to share the gospel with him before he passed on–the last time was several hours before a massive stroke incapacitated him and led to his death two days later. Between the efforts of his cousin and I, I think he made it to Heaven by God’s grace, giving him the extra months to come to salvation. I’m looking forward to seeing my friend again one day.

Do you have the hope of reuniting with your loved ones in Heaven? Please consider Jesus, Who died to pay the penalty for your sins, a penalty demanded by a Holy God, and was raised to life to give us eternal life by the power of the Holy Spirit, the seal of our promise of eternity (Ephesians 4:30). Why not invite Him to reveal to you how much He loves you right now?

I hope to be more regular with my blog posting throughout the summer. Thanks for reading.

God’s Compassion, Ezekiel 18:32

Anyone who knows me knows that I adore my little Silky terrier, Buddy. He has a unique and spunky personality and I’d miss him terribly if anything ever happened to him. I don’t love him because he’s perfect, but because he’s my pal.

Do you ever consider that God would miss you terribly if you didn’t go to Heaven after you died?

There is a mistaken idea that the New Testament God is kind and compassionate, but that the Old Testament God is cruel and uncaring. But that’s not true.

“For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God. “Therefore, repent and live.”–Ezekiel 18:32 (Old Testament)

Because God is perfectly holy and cannot tolerate evil, He won’t permit us to enter Heaven because we’ll mess it up, just as we’ve messed up earth. Just listen to the news every day: Do you want that in Heaven?

However, He found a way to fellowship with unholy people by sending Jesus to die for our sins.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”–John 3:16-17 (New Testament)

God the Father has no desire to see us perish eternally. He wants us to be with Him. If we are willing to humble ourselves–forsake our pride and admit that we have fallen short of His holy standards–He covers our sin with the blood of Jesus and no longer sees it.

“As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”–Psalm 103:12 (Old Testament)

God the Father loves you. And so does Jesus. He suffered a terrible death to pay for your sins. And the Holy Spirit loves you too and will live within you and help “guide (you) in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.”–Psalm 23:3b

All you have to do is believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, admit you’re a sinner and cannot meet God’s righteous standards, and ask Him to forgive you and enter into your heart.

And He’ll do it immediately because He loves you and wants you to be with him–for eternity.

Falling Short of Expectations, Ephesians 2:8-10

Do you ever feel like Buddy in this photo: There are good things in life you could enjoy if you’d just make the effort to grab onto it?

Sometimes I get discouraged when I read about the great heroes of the Bible: Job, Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah, Noah and Joseph. They seem so perfect, so heroic. Job who suffered so greatly yet would not curse God nor lose his faith in God’s goodness; Esther, who was willing to sacrifice her life to save the Jewish people; Daniel, who was such a good person that his enemies could find nothing to accuse him of to get him into trouble with the king; Nehemiah, who had the wisdom to pray on the spot for God’s help in a precarious moment and to ask the king to assist him in a great and mighty task; Noah, who spent over a hundred years building a boat with absolutely no evidence there would be a flood yet believed God anyway; and Joseph, who didn’t grumble and complain no matter how unfairly he had been treated and maintained his faith in God, despite his adverse circumstances.

Sometimes I feel that being of use to God in furthering His kingdom is just beyond my grasp. I want to pick up that bone and run with it and be faithful and a good Christian. But I grumble and complain when work sucks or life doesn’t go my way; I get discouraged when I don’t see God answering my prayers; I forget to pray when under stress; and people could easily find fault with me. Despite my best efforts to serve God, I feel like I fall short every day.

Way, way short of God’s standards of how I should behave.

And then, when I start to look upward and not at myself, I remember what God says in Ephesians 2:10:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them.” (NASB, CAPS my emphasis)

1. God didn’t choose to save me because he thought I was so wonderful. But I am HIS creation. He chose to make me and save me because He loves me. And He is the one who accepted me. He’s totally 100% good and kind, yet He chose this sinful person to be in communion with Him and His Holy Spirit indwells me.
2. “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.”–Romans 8:1 God knows I cannot live up to His righteous standards. That’s why Christ had to die and take the penalty for my sin, because there’s no way I can earn God’s favor. He freely chooses to love me, despite my faults, flaws and failures.
3. Because I’m so flawed, I can boast in a good and loving God.
4. God loves variety. I’m different from other people because God designed me that way. I’m unique and my job to do on this earth is, therefore, unique to me.
5. God chose what works I am supposed to accomplish in my lifetime. His plan for me is not the same as the pastor’s or my friends or my fellow Christian believers. “He who began a good work in (me) will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”–Philippians 1:6  I can trust that God, as my good Shepherd Who leads me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake” (Psalm 23:3) will guide Me into accomplishing the deeds/works He wants me to accomplish.

Sometimes we feel bad because we don’t have the gifts or the accomplishments that other “Super Christians” seem to have and we don’t win those great battles. Yet one man led Billie Graham to Christ and because of that one man’s faithfulness, Mr. Graham accomplished great things for God. (I was saved through Billie Graham’s TV ministry in 1989.)

As my dad has often told me, “There’ll always be someone greater or lesser than yourself.” If I compare myself to the superstars, I’ll feel discouraged.

I have to remind myself that my relationship with God is a personal relationship and that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14a); God didn’t make a mistake when He made me and chose me.

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”–Psalm 46:10

So I need to stop striving and trust that God will accomplish His good purposes in my life, and when I’ve completed my God-assigned tasks, He’ll call me home to eternal joy.

God bless you, my dear reader.

***PS. If you follow my site regularly, thank you. I try to follow your site back, but sometimes I have trouble finding the follow button.

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If you aren’t born-again, you’re missing out on a wonderful love relationship. Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean that life becomes gravy street, but God will give you strength to face life. You’ll no longer be alone. You were born with a piece of your inner life puzzle missing, and only He can complete it. Please say this prayer below to begin your faith journey.

“Lord, I’ve offended you by my sin and fallen short of your standards. I accept that I can never be good enough to atone for my sins so that Jesus was punished on the Cross on my behalf. Please forgive me and save me from myself. Change me by sending the Holy Spirit to live Your life through Me.”

“Your heavenly Father (will) give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”–Luke 11:13

Congratulations, brother or sister on becoming born-again. Please begin to read your Bible and pray that God will lead you to a Bible-based church where you can grow and fellowship with other believers. God bless you richly. Love you, my fellow believer, Dawn

 

 

 

Great Creator: Psalm 36:7

I love my Buddy; when he’s good or when he’s bad, he’s still my little pal. I do much prefer it when he’s good and obedient, but I’d never toss him aside or give him away because he’s misbehaving.

In my women’s Bible Study we’re learning about the names of God. God and Lord in the Scriptures actually have more exact names in the original languages.

A few weeks ago we studied about Elohim, The Creator.

I often identify with God more as The Creator than His other names because, being made in His image (Genesis 1:27), I also like to use my imagination creatively. I’m not like God, able to speak things into being from nothingness and can only recreate from what already exists, but I really enjoy making up stories and drawing cartoons.

I struggled with my image of a loving God because I know He’s so holy and I’m so imperfect. But one day it finally clicked: I love my cartoon characters from my Cattle Capers(tm) world, both the good ones and the bad ones. Why? Because I created them.

They’re not real, yet I have an emotional attachment to them, as their creator.

The name Elohim is used in Psalm 36:7, but translated as God, per Strong’s Number 430: “How priceless is Your unfailing love, O God (Elohim). People take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”

God loves us because He created us. He fashioned us in the womb and is intimately interested in us. His attention is always on us. (Psalm 139) We exist because He wanted us to.

Lenny the Rat is one of my favorite characters, but he’s far from perfect.

Just as I am, just as you are. But God loves us anyway.

You don’t have to be perfect to be lovable.