Revelation 21

He's not a baby in a manger anymore
He's not a broken man on a tree
He didn't stay
In the grave
And He's not staying in Heaven forever!
(-Misty Edwards)

I love the promises in Revelation 21!
I am so excited for that day.

1/ "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaving saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new."

(ps. It's my beautiful friend Becki's 22nd birthday! She is fantastic, lovely, gifted & talented, adventurous, a lover of Jesus, brave and funny! Happy birthday, Becki! Have fun touring the southern islands of New Zealand!)

Heart Render

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today at work I decided it was time to take down the Valentine's Day decorations, so I marched up to the pink & red hearts with "Happy Valentine's Day" written in pretty letters, hanging in our window, and took the first one down. Then with great zeal and conviction I ripped the heart in half and stated, "I HATE LOVE!"

After I saw the look of horror on my co-workers faces I realized I had taken this act of rebellion against Love Day a little too far.

You see, I honestly don't hate love. I think love is wonderful.
I'm a lover, not a hater. I was simply taking a humorous stand against the constant teasings of my co-workers about being single.

I then clued in to the fact that I had just ripped a harmless, paper heart in half and immediately apologized to the owner of the heart. Yes, I ripped someone else's heart in half! Good thing it was only paper... and my co-worker has a good sense of humor...

My mending skills that I learned in Home Economics class from grade 9 sure came in handy as I "stitched" back the heart I had so brutally "rended" in a love-less act. Boy does packing tape sure come in handy. The heart may be a little worse-for-wear but they say that "if it doesn't kill you, it will only make you stronger".

Moral of the story: Let us rend our hearts.... (see previous post) ... However, spiritually and not physically.

Amen. Let's stand!

Frigid Friday

It's minus 31 degrees Celsius outside. With the windchill it feels like minus 43 degrees.

I'm sitting in my warm bedroom listening to Misty Edward's Friday night set, drinking blueberry tea out of a massively large tea cup while studying the topic "Beautiful Lovers in a Dangerous Time". I got this "title" from a headline in the Winnipeg Free Press in this morning's paper. I thought it was quite interesting. I don't believe we in Canada have reached a time in history where being a Christian is considered dangerous, but I do believe dangerous times will come our way and in that time I want to be a beautiful lover of Christ. I want to be wholehearted in my devotion to Jesus. I want to be focused. I want my eyes to be on the prize of spending eternity with Him.

Hebrews 12:1&2: "...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

How then shall I live now if my future and destiny is to dwell with God forever? How then shall I live in light of what is to come? In light of all that God has promised to do in His Word? The day of the Lord is great and terrible. If you love Him, you desire to be with Him where He is. This will be a great day for all who love Him, for those whom He knows intimately. This will be a terrible day for those who do not know Him. If you are not for Him, you are against Him.

How then shall we live?

Joel 2 "'Now therefore,' says the Lord, 'Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.' So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him..." (NKJV)

I want to turn with my whole heart. I want to rend my heart in the place of prayer. To turn to Him with fasting, weeping and mourning because He is slow to anger and rich in love. He is rich in kindness.

I haven't touched the place of intimacy, intercession, worship & love (etc.) that I want to. My heart has a "yes" written on it and I know that God is faithful to bring to completion the work that He has started in me. I keep looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, for He is faithful and He loves me!

All this to say that I love my life. I love what I do. I want so much more!

I initially decided to blog because it's frigidly cold outside, there's only 11 days till my 22nd birthday and one month less a day until I'll be on a business trip in Las Vegas.

I also have a prayer request for my aunt Eleanor because she is going for by-pass surgery on her heart next week. She had a heart attack a month or two ago and now she had another similar attack so they pushed up the surgery date. Please pray that she comes to know Jesus and has a smooth, miraculous surgery &/or healing.