FUNNY HOW WE SEE PEOPLE DIFFERENTLY DEPENDING OF THE PHASE OF LIFE WE ARE IN; AND IF WE ARE REALLY SEEING THEM CLEARLY!
TRY THIS..... LOOK AT SOMEONE CLOSE BY...... LOOK AT THEM REAL GOOD! WHAT DO YOU SEE?
LOOK AT THEIR HAIR.... AT THEIR FACE..... DO THEY HAVE WRINKLES?...... LOOK AT THEIR APPEARANCE.....
EACH MORNING WE STAND BEFORE OUR MIRROR AND CHECK OUT OUR APPEARANCE BEFORE LEAVING OUR HOME! MOST OF US PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS, MAKING SURE WE ARE DRESSED AND LOOK APPROPRIATELY FOR WHATEVER WE MIGHT BE ENCOUNTERING FOR THAT DAY. MOST OF US WILL ASSURE THAT OUR LITTLE FLAWS ARE WELL COVERED WHERE POSSIBLE AND WE TRY TO MAKE THE BEST OF OUR WEAKER VALUED AREAS.
I WONDER WHAT WE WOULD SEE IF WE COULD JUST SEE OUR SELF THROUGH THE EYES OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER? TO SEE WHAT HE REALLY SEES US AS! WOULD WE WORRY SO MUCH ABOUT OUR OUTWARD FLAWS AND HURRY TO FIX UP SOMETHING LACKING? OR WOULD WE SMILE AND APPROVE OF WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW IN THIS PHASE OF OUR LIFE?
DO WE REALIZE THAT ONCE WE WERE REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, WE BECAME HIS CHILD!
AND AS HIS CHILD HE SEES US AS LOVELY, AS BEAUTIFUL, AS THE APPLE OF HIS EYE... NOTHING LACKING! HE SEES US HAPPY..... FEELING BLESSED..... BOUNTIFUL IN WISDOM HAVING THE MIND OF CHRIST..... AND DID YOU KNOW HE SMILES WITH GREAT PRIDE KNOWING YOU ARE HIS CHILD?
REMEMBER WHEN YOUR FIRST CHILD WAS BORN AND YOU HELD THEM IN YOUR HANDS.
REMEMBER THE JOY THAT RADIATED THROUGH OUT YOUR ENTIRE BODY! YOU WERE SO THRILLED, JOYFUL BEYOND MEASURE! THIS LITTLE MIRACLE FROM GOD YOU HOLD IN YOUR HANDS BLESSES YOUR HEART AND YOUR LOST FOR WORDS! YOU NOURISH HIM WITH MILK AND WATCH HIM GROW DAY BY DAY, MONTH BY MONTH, AND HE BEGINS TO SIT UP....
HE ADVANCES IN NOURISHMENT TO TOLERATE FOOD, PUREED AT FIRST AS YOU SEE HIM BEGIN TO TODDLE AND TRY TO WALK WITH YOU CLOSE BY TO CATCH HIM IF HE FALLS.....AND YOU HELP HIM BACK UP TO START AGAIN. HIS NOURISHMENT ADVANCES TO MEAT AND SOON HE'S TAKING LIFE ON HIS OWN, ONE DAY AT A TIME AND OH THE PRIDE HE BRINGS.....
THE MORE HE GROWS, THE MORE YOU ADMIRE HOW HE'S ADVANCED AND GROWN MUCH TOO QUICKLY; AND AS HE ADVANCES HIS NOURISHMENT AND KNOWLEDGE HE'S GROWN WAY TOO SOON! BUT REGARDLESS OF HIS AGE OR STATUS, HE IS ALWAYS SO DEAR TO YOUR HEART!
WELL, HAVE YOU STOPPED TO WONDER HOW YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER SEES YOU! HOW HE LOVES YOU AND TAKES PRIDE IN EVERY AREA OF YOUR LIFE?
HOW THAT WHEN YOU WERE REBORN IN JESUS, HIS SON, HE WATCHED YOU AS YOU BEGAN TAKING IN THE MILK OF HIS WORD AND GROWING IN SPIRIT..... AND THE MORE NOURISHMENT OF HIS WORD YOU TOOK IN, THE MORE YOU BEGAN TO GAIN STRENGTH WITHIN TO SIT UP.....''
AND AS YOU BEGAN TO SIT UP AND TAKE NOTICE OF HIM, YOU ADVANCED TO THE MEAT OF HIS WORD, AND INCREASED IN WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE AND WALK IN THE LIGHT OF HIS WORD.
HE WATCHED PROUDLY AS YOU BEGAN ADVANCING THROUGH EACH PHASE OF YOUR LIFE AND JUST AS YOUR EARTHLY PARENTS, HE CHEERED YOU ON!
AND THEN AS LIFE WOULD HAVE IT, YOU RAN INTO A ROADBLOCK AND CROSSROAD IN YOUR PATH.... THE PATH YOU HAD PLANNED HAD TO BE CHANGED BECAUSE YOU BECAME WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS WITHOUT YOUR CHOOSING. YOU NEVER PLANNED ANOTHER ROUTE THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT YOUR LOVED ONE.... YOU WERE ONE WITH YOUR SOUL MATE, YOUR COMPANION, YOUR LOVE..... AND YOU SEEMED TO LOSE A SENSE OF WHO YOU WERE WITHOUT YOUR LOVED ONE BY YOUR SIDE......
YOUR HEART WAS TORN IN TWO AND IT SEEMED DIFFICULT AT TIMES TO GO ON. HOW YOU SAW YOUR SELF BEFORE WAS NO LONGER WHO YOU SAW IN THE MIRROR.......
THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE WAS NO LONGER THERE TO WALK ALONGSIDE YOU HAND IN HAND.... NOT THERE TO LEAN YOUR HEAD ON.... NOT THERE TO TALK TO AS BEFORE, AND YOU LOST SIGHT OF WHO YOU WERE BEFORE.....
THAT IS UNTIL THE DAY YOU LOOKED IN THE MIRROR AND SAW THE REFLECTION OF WHO GOD SEES RADIATING BACK AT YOU AND YOU CRUMBLED BENEATH THE LOAD OF DESPAIR BUT THEN GOD......
GOD TENDERLY TOOK THE BROKEN PIECES AND BEGAN TO RECREATE THEM INTO A MASTERPIECE...... AN INCREDIBLE WORK OF ART.... HE CREATED YOU.
THIS IS THE STORY OF WIDOWHOOD: OF LOSING THAT SPECIAL LOVED ONE, NOT BY CHOICE BUT JUST LIFE THAT HAPPENS...... AND IT'S ONLY WHEN WE REACH OUT TO JESUS THAT HE CAN CREATE OUR SINGLENESS INTO A MASTERPIECE FOR HIS GLORY! THAT'S WHEN WE BEGIN TO SMILE AGAIN WITH A NEW SOURCE OF SELF ESTEEM, KNOWING WE ARE GOD'S CHILD AND HE LOVES US JUST AS WE ARE..... HIS BELOVED.
IT'S THROUGH HIS STRENGTH WORKING WITHIN US THAT WE BECOME VICTORIOUS OVER THE BATTLE THAT COMES WITH WIDOWHOOD AND WE REALIZE WE ARE NOT REALLY ALONE BECAUSE NOW WE WALK HAND IN HAND WITH JESUS; AND THROUGH THE ANOINTING THAT LIES WITHIN US, WORKING WITHIN US, WE BEGIN TO SEE OUR SELF AS GOD SEES US :
*VICTORIOUS.... MORE THAN CONQUERORS.... NO LONGER ALONE, BUT OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS!
*
*WE CELEBRATE THE FEELING OF BEING HAPPY ONCE AGAIN AND BECOME THANKFUL FOR THE FULLNESS OF LIFE HE GIVES, DAY BY DAY, ONE STEP AT A TIME.
*WE REALIZE WE ARE BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED, ABOVE AND NOT BENEATH, THE HEAD AND NOT THE TAIL, AND WE DELIGHT IN HIS PRESENCE AND HE DELIGHTS IN US.
*WE FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE ARE WONDERFULLY AND BEAUTIFULLY MADE....
THE APPLE OF HIS EYE..... SO WE SMILE, AND WE SMILE AGAIN JUST BECAUSE OF WHO WE ARE!
NOW LOOK AT THAT FAMILY MEMBER OR NEIGHBOR YOU LOOKED AT BEFORE AND WHAT DO YOU SEE NOW?
ARE YOU STILL LOOKING AT THEM THROUGH HUMAN EYES; OR CAN YOU DARE TO SEE THEM THROUGH THE FATHER'S EYES........ *BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFULLY MADE!*
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