For All the Single Ladies :)

Hey Beautiful Single Ladies!

Yep. I know, it's Valentine's Day. And you're dateless.

Or are you?

I'm single, but I'm certainly not dateless. And neither are you!

So maybe I don't have this day to celebrate with an earthly guy, but I sure do have it to celebrate with a guy even better - a Heavenly, perfect guy. :) His name is Jesus!

He is my Valentine not only today, but everyday, since before I was born even until after I breathe my last. No, he didn't bring me flowers or chocolates. He gave me something greater!

He gives me His everlasting love and joy. He does something that no earthly guy can do - satisfies me to the core! Through His love and my relationship with Him, I am content and satisfied! No earthly guy can do that! Though maybe an earthly guy can fill me with temporary "contentment" or happiness, eventually even that will fade and the void within my heart will seem just as big as it ever was.

Are you feeling that void today? Are you feeling that spot in your heart that is yearning and seeking for love and joy to fill it up? I ask you to seek out this Valentine of mine - Jesus! You will soon come to the realization that He's been pursuing you all along. :) He's got your heart in His hands and no other love can compare to His! For crying out loud, God IS love!

"....because God is love."

1 John 4:8b

Don't believe me yet? Check out these verses - straight from God himself to You. :)

"The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness."

Jeremiah 31:3

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

1 John 4:9-10

God loved you and me, so much that He would give up His very own son for us! Isn't that amazing?

And one of my favorites...

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:

           “For your sake we face death all day long;
            we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:31-39

Isn't that beautiful? NOTHING can separate us from the love of Christ, nothing! :)

My Challenge to You: Please, PLEASE, do not miss out on the ever-present love of Christ simply because you spend all of today dwelling on the love you think you're missing out on! Whether you're single or not, Valentine's Day doesn't have to be viewed as a depressing and lonely day! Certainly not when you realize the love Christ has for you. :) God is SO good and though you may be single today, that may not be true tomorrow (figuratively speaking). Trust in God, for right now He may be preparing someone just for you. :) Think of that special gentlemen that God is preparing for you to meet someday. Are the few Valentine Day's spent single really worth all that much in comparison to all the Valentine Day's that you may spend with the person God prepared for you? I think not. :) Even if God does not provide that special someone for you - or for me - we can remain joyful and content knowing that we rest in His loving arms. :)

SO, what are you waiting for? Put on a big grin and be thankful for the love you have in Christ, always and forever. :)

P.S. For more on the earthly prince side of things and what you should do while you wait for God to bring him into your life, check out an earlier blog post I created by clicking here!

The Candy Cane Story

A story I heard last year and thought I would post! I don't believe it's actually true.. but it does make for a great meaning, one that is memorable too! :) Enjoy.

A candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would remind people of the true meaning of Christmas; so he made the candy cane to incorporate several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and the firmness of the promises of God.

The candymaker then shaped his cane into the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to the earth as Savior. It could also represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down to to reclaim the fallen lambs who, like sheep, have gone astray.

Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candymaker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

Hey! Would you cut it out?!

Have you ever done something and someone else tries to tell you to do it another way, because it's apparently "better"? Isn't that a little annoying sometimes? As if your way isn't good enough or something?
 

Yeah. That can be a bit frustrating. 

Now you know how God feels!

Okay, now you may be thinking.. "Wait what? How God feels? What are you talking about?"
 

As followers of Christ, God has a perfect plan for each of our lives. So often, we try planning our own steps, or the way WE want to go, rather than letting it be up to God. We think that we know better, you know, because we're somehow smarter than God, and know ourselves better than God does even though He created us, riiiight? WRONG! Is it coming together now?
 

I bet you can think of a time when you tried to plan things yourself, or figure out a way to force things together rather than letting God do His thing. I know I can!
 

So here's my challenge to you: Stop trying to metal with God's plans! Trust Him because He loves you more than you know, so much that He sent His only son to die for you! Have faith in Him because He is faithful to those who love Him. And be excited, for the Creator of the universe is working in YOUR life, and you never know what amazing things may happen when you leave it up to Him! :)
 

Proverbs 16:9"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."
 

Proverbs 19:21"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."   

Jeremiah 19:11"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."