Today Reminder – 28 February 2014 (Day 20 – Love is…)

A reminder for today

The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time. (Psalm 34:19)

Love is you and me and Jesus Christ…

Today is the last day of our theme and I thought to end it with a love story. You know a nice Disney fairy tale where a princess meets a prince and then through a battle with an evil stepmother and hungry dragons finally they prevail and then the prince kills the dragon and the stepmother is captured and jailed and then they all live happily ever after.

But then I thought that there is no greater love story than the one where a King decided that He loved His people so much and they so desperately needed help to survive the battles they were in each day and to overcome their struggles, that He send His only Son to live with them. But they were corrupted and evil and their hearts were filled with pride and hate. So they captured the Son and tortured Him. This was not enough for them for their lust and greed over powered their minds. So they killed Him…

What they did not know is that they killed the Son of the only true King and that He was so powerful and His love so great that He defeated all evil and rose to life again. Not only did He defeat death, He took all the worries and all the troubles and all the sin of the entire world, and the world to come, with Him.

In His death He broke all the chains that this life could possibly have on His people and He defeated all the problems and troubles so that each one of His people could live a free and holy life.

Jesus is the love story of all love stories….

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. "There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants." (John 3:16-21)

And I want to end with – “And they all lived happily ever after – forever!”

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder – 27 February 2014 (Day 19 – Love is…)

A reminder for today

I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4)

Love is the greatest… Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

As we are coming to the end of our theme and also to the end of February I can’t help but to think how quickly time is passing us by and how little time we actually have on this earth. Paul’s words are not only extremely familiar and well known but also so important. Faith, hope and love – three things we can never lose and three things that will be with us always and forever. Love is the one that will last and love is described by Paul as the greatest.

I do not want to evaluate Paul’s message, but instead I wish to leave you with this: Love is the one thing that can change us and change people around us. Love can break barriers and soften stubborn hearts. Love can warm the hearts of people and love can melt ice. Love can be given and given and love can never run out. Love is godly for God created with love. Love is powerful and love can open eyes and form lives. Love is holy and love is eternal.

When you love today and I guess for the rest of your life, love completely and hold nothing back. I often watch my boys with tear filled eyes by the way they love me. They love so completely and their love is so real and warm. They show love without fear and they love without worrying who cares and where they are. They are always sincere when they hug and they always bring a warm feeling into my heart when they hug. This is real love and the kind of love we must always love with.

Love as if you will never be able to love again and then a little more. Love because you do not know when your time is up. Don’t hold back for we are not remembered by our life but rather by the way we loved. This is how the people that truly care will remember us. 

When you see your friend, wife, husband, son, daughter, brother, sister father, mother or any other person close to you – hug them with unconditional true love and love them with real, no holding back, full hearted and complete love.

Love those you meet in the mall, the streets, at work and wherever you go, because this love will not only change you but also everyone that you meet.

Love, live and love some more.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder – 26 February 2014 (Day 18 – Love is…)

A reminder for today

We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone. (Psalm 33:20-22)

Love is understanding… All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

As we start to love as God intended us to love we will understand more and accept more. We will be open to see clearly and love completely, just as God completely loves us. We will put our hope in God as it is supposed to be and with this God will help us and be our shield. Our love is fragile and God’s shield is so important in this time. God’s unfailing love will surround us and we will be strong even when the winds are howling past us and the storms of live thunders over us.

Let us put our hope in the Lord alone. We cannot trust God and worry, we can only do one. So trust God and leave your worries for Him. Let His love surround you as you love with faith.

Here is more food for thought:

Today, while playing with my 20-month-old daughter, I pretended to be sleeping. She covered me with a blanket, patted my back, then kissed me gently on the mouth - which is exactly what I do when I tuck her in at night. How closely our children watch us, and what they learn from our actions.

Today, at the nursing home I work at, I watched an elderly couple eat together as they do everyday. They have been married 63 years. She had a stroke and can’t stand, eat, talk or do anything for herself. He doesn’t need to live in a nursing home, but he does just to be with her. Everyday he eats his food, feeds her, and sits next to her looking at her like he must have the day they were married. His unconditional, undying love and loyalty.

Today, I was behind a bigger guy and his wife in line for a rollercoaster. They seemed to have come with a big group of people, but I could tell he was nervous. When he fit it into the cart tears rolled down his cheeks and the entire group started cheering. It turns out he just lost 100 pounds and hasn’t been able to ride a rollercoaster for 12 years. Every person around him were his friends and they were there to support him.

Today, in a little African village where I volunteer as a nurse, I passed out food to hungry children. And since I knew her only food for the day was the slice of wheat bread I had just given her, I did not let her see me cry when she tore the slice in two and gave the bigger half to her little brother.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder – 25 February 2014 (Day 17 – Love is…)

A reminder for today

The LORD looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. (Psalm 33:13)

Love is thoughts…  Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.

Now we see imperfect but then we will see with perfect clarity. I tell you that these words keep me in wonder so often. I realise that we see unclear as we are so often blinded by a world that continues to try and change our perceptions with all the wrong things. I can’t help but to feel sorry for those still in worldly chains chasing after material things and the admiration of people. I have so often wondered what it will look like when we see with perfect clarity and all suddenly make sense.

I believe that everything has a purpose and that all things happen to take us on our journey towards Jesus and for the very purpose that we were designed for. Oh how I long to see clearly. Each day we travel on the roads of life and we miss so much, how wonderful would it be if we could see all. And then there are these words: The LORD looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.

I am once again just stumped and back in my place. God sees all, knows all and is all. He is right here, right now. I don’t know how to emphasise that fact more. He sees you and sees who you are – truly! Why bother with the world? Why worry about this world and its ideas? Why are you concerned with what people think, when He sees all and knows all? It is all about Him and all for Him. He is our middle point, our focus and our reality. We do not live by the boundaries of the world. We are holy for He that lives in us makes us holy and therefore we are not subject to the world. We do not love with worldly love but with His unlimited love. We are so much more that you can ever imagine, because He makes us more.

I thought I’ll give you some food for thought:

Today, my son looked down at his step-dad's casket and said, “I always knew I loved him, but I didn’t realize how much I did until today.”

Today, after spending 29 years being self-conscious of being a 6’1 tall woman, and thus being taller than most of the guys I've dated, I fell in love and married a guy in a wheelchair. And I've never felt more like myself.

Today, after nearly 10 years without a single coherent word spoken, my deaf daughter hugged me tight and said, “I love you mommy!”

Today, the very first homeless man we assisted at our shelter and soup kitchen is now the head chef and director of community affairs.

Today, my son said he had moved on from his mom’s passing, who died from a stroke five years ago, but as he stared at the spot on the kitchen floor where she died, I knew he hadn't.

Today, I watched the old video footage my dad filmed at the beach before he started the chemo 5 years ago. And about 20 minutes into it I suddenly realized that he was filming the beach simply because it was the last time he would ever see it again.

Today, before I burned it in our fireplace, I re-read the suicide note I wrote five years ago, and instantly began crying with tears of joy… thankful that my best friend, who’s now my wife, showed up at my front door that day to tell me she was worried about me.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers

Today Reminder – 24 February 2014 (Day 16 – Love is…)

A reminder for today

Let the whole world fear the LORD, and let everyone stand in awe of him. (Psalm 33:8)

Love is hugs and kisses… When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

I think that this love theme has been quite educational and at times much needed. I fear that we might confuse the importance of love with the understanding of the origin. It is once again important that we remember that God invented love and for us to completely love we must remember who God is and I can only stand in awe when I think of the wonders that He brings into my life. It is my goal to know more of Him and to fear Him correctly.

I want to end this theme this week by brining short love moments to you. I do hope that you enjoy them as much as I did. 

Today, my dad came home with roses for my mom and I. “What are these for I asked?” He said that several of his coworkers were complaining about their wives and children today. He realized how lucky he was that after 20 years of marriage, and raising a daughter for the last 17 years, he still had nothing to complain about.

Today, when I asked my grandfather for some relationship advice, he said, “Honestly, the moment I stopped trying to find the right woman, and started trying to become the right man, your grandmother walked up to me and said, ‘Hello.’”

Today, it’s been over ten years since I was a bag boy at a local grocery store. On Sunday mornings I held the front door open for our customers and greeted them. One particular older woman loved me for it. She actually told me on several occasions that one day I would make a lovely husband. This afternoon, I walked into that grocery store holding my wife’s hand and the same old woman was on her way out. She held the door for us, winked and said, “I told you so.”

Today, my mom and dad are recovering heroin addicts. They still go to their support groups, but both of them have been clean for 17 years, since the day they found out my mom was pregnant with me.

Today, I helped make food for the homeless. The man I was giving the sandwich to said he didn’t want it. I asked why and he pointed to his friend behind him and said, “I want the birthday boy here to have two sandwiches on his special day. It’s the only gift I have to give.” His friend was elated. People who have nothing and still give.

Have and awesome day dear friend of Jesus

Cheers