Emily teaching orphans to color with their first set of crayons... on our trip to India a few years ago.

Happy Friday Friends… TGIF Again!

Jeremiah 31:1 “Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”

Last night I had a very sad dream about a close friend. I woke up in such pain, my eyes were misting over as I contemplated its meaning. It was so real… so sad.

Oh how God cares about us! While reading in Jeremiah, this verse about Gods love came to life… I felt it swelling inside my heart. My eyes glazed over as I began to think about all the people I know who are suffering right now. The dream came back to me, now awake… it became like a vision… an outer body experience. I left my family room and started flying back over all my travels of the past few weeks. I could see myself talking to people at parties, running into people at the mall, interacting with people at church, chatting on the phone. I noticed all the pain coming from peoples hearts. I saw some of them holding back the tears. They were under so much pressure… feeling like nobody in all the world understood what they were enduring!

Throughout the course of the dream and the vision that followed, and the prayers I made to God afterwards… I came up with this message for you guys. I suppose that God is allowing me to experience HIS HEART this morning. He’s lending me his FEELINGS. For a brief moment, I’m seeing this world through his mind… and its overwhelming me! I can feel the pains of so many people right now… I’m hearing some of their prayers. And even though they each rise in the mornings to beautify their faces and cover over their feelings… I can see into their souls.

God says that he loves us with an everlasting love… and he draw us to himself with unfailing love. How does he do this? How does God reach out to people? How does he wrap his loving arms around hurting humans? He uses us as his representatives. He gives us his heart so that we can express his love! As long as we are self absorbed, we cant see the pains of others. And when our self obsessions are interrupted, we are freed to live a God kind of life! We are privileged to become Gods representatives to the people who need him right now!

This Christmas… break the trance of self obsession. Look around… look very carefully. See into the souls of your friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, enemies, and everyone you bump into. Think about the lonely elders in your local nursing homes. Think about all the struggling people in your personal circle. Pray for them until a tear squeezes through the surface of your eyes and gently rolls down your compassionate cheeks. And then from this overwhelming sensation… ACT extravagantly! Make a very big difference for someone or a bunch of someones between now and the new year! Lend your ear, your time, your money, your baking skills, and anything else you can muster up to hand deliver a beautiful expression of Gods unfailing love. They are waiting for it… hoping for it… yearning for it! And you are the one to bring it to them right now, today or tomorrow… you will bring them new hope and a second wind!

Love you guys… have fun with this and please post your comments! See you here tomorrow! And hey… dont forget about church this Sunday at Destiny Family Center! Hope you can make it!