His Unfailing Love

"Don't tear your clothing in your grief,

but tear your hearts instead.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and filled with unfailing love.

He is eager to relent and not punish."

~Joel 2:13

Instead of getting angry at trials and burdens let us remember that our Lord is filled with unfailing love, let us repent and search our own hearts and trust that He is eager not to punish us.

The Lord says, "Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts" (verse 12). I believe that when the trials come, no matter how terrible, we should come to Christ and show him even our hearts' evil ways, transparent in repentance. Clean out your heart and turn your back to sin, go to Him and he will forgive.

"Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with

faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness." ~1Timothy 6:11

The Lord has been impressing in my heart to seek His ways more and more. Everyday I am reminded to live a godly life; to pursue righteousness, to have faith in Him and in His decisions for my life; to love with His love and look into people's eyes with loving eyes. To persevere in searching for His will in my daily tasks. To be more gentle, especially with my children.

I pray that He will increase my hunger for Him even more. And no matter how many things I must go through, I will remind myself of Job, and his response when he had lost everything...

"I came naked from my mother's womb,

and I will be naked when I leave.

The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away.

Praise the name of the Lord!" ~Job 1:21

And even after he was struck with an illness, even the devil thought he'd curse the name of the Lord. Yes, he went through his struggling mind as he felt the pain of sickness but I grab on to the promise of God where he was told the following:

“But look, God will not reject a person of integrity,

nor will he lend a hand to the wicked.

He will once again fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with shouts of joy.

~Job 8:21-21

God restored Job and his health and family more than ever before...

"Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations

of his children and grandchildren. ¹⁷

Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life."

~Job 42:16

"I'm Listening"

During my quiet time with the Lord today, He brought a revelation to me. Something that I had not thought of for quite some time now. In the midst of my prayers for others, He quieted my soul and shut my mouth. Prayer list in hand, He interrupted my pleading for others' requests and embraced me with love.

Following my Church's Womens Bible Study devotion, I had been reading Romans 8:37-39 and even drew little hearts by the verses in my bible because I loved so dearly what it said...

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

At this moment, as I finished reading the verse and proceeded on drawing my little hearts next to my newly found prized verses, I heard the voice of my son in the back yard. He had been playing with a neighbor who took one of his toys away. J began pleading to the boy to give him his toy back, "...please, my mommy bought it for me. Give it back." I heard the sweetness in his little voice, I heard the cry in his precious little heart and the innocence in his tender mind and right away I thought of my Abba Father. ...Mi papito lindo.

Oh how it broke my heart when I realized that God's heart is broken when He sees his own children hurt, like mine did for my son, be it as small as losing a toy. I thought to myself, "Oh my little son, I wish you didn't hurt, I wish you didn't cry." And suddenly, I saw my Lord, catching every tear I had ever cried. I saw Him embracing me and hugging me when I felt lonely. Then, I heard Him say to me, "I'm listening." -and there it was. I remembered the time I asked loudly and angrily to the Lord, "Why God am I going through this???!!?!? Are you even listening??!?!!"

"I'm listening."

The tears began falling off my face as I marveled at the grace He has for me. How wonderful and sweet the embrace is of a loving Father, who forgives His children. -who forgave me.

"For the mountains shall depart, And the hills be removed,

But My kindness shall not depart from you,

Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed.

Says The Lord who has mercy on you."

Isaiah 54:10

Smile

"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart,

All you who hope in the Lord." -Psalm 31:24

These past few days I've encountered surreal moments that have left me with a benevolent thought. The other day I was walking alone on campus at my church. It was a beautiful crisp day. There was a question in my head that kept repeating itself to me... "One word, choose one word to describe your future." I didn't know how to answer at first but have gotten nudges from the Lord telling me what I should answer. My answer? Hope. I have hope.

Footnote:
It's funny that I have these conversations with myself. And even funnier that my brain keeps challenging me with questions that keep me thinking for days on end! But I feel that that is how the Holy Spirit works. This is how He speaks to me and I converse with Him. :)

Back to my post:
He has kept reminding me that I've got hope in Him. I've been reading my Bible so much lately and have consequently self-concluded that the entire Bible is a book of hope. In the past, I fell asleep with the many scenes of my yesteryears or the burdensome forthcomings that my tomorrow might hold. Now I don't think about what was anymore or what is to come. I don't burden my thoughts with a should've, would've, could've mentallity. I fall asleep with a sense of anticipation. One day my Lord will come and take me away to heaven. How precious that is. I have something incredible to look forward to. No more tears, no more pain, the only thing left will be the joy of sharing His presence. Everything that occurs on this Earth is for that purpose, so that we may be able to live forever with Him. I love that song that says, "I can only imagine..." because that is all I can do is imagine what it'll finally be like.

My heart has been strengthened. My hope has increased. My life is lived with an expectation. There's so much to look forward to when He's got the To-Do List of my soul. Because this body is just a body, but my true life is my everlasting soul. The smiles of life that He gives me cause an impression on me so wide and sublime. A simple butterfly fluttering by showing me its' grandure is a smile upon me, from my Lord. I was chosen to be the highlight of that precious little butterfly's 3-day life span. So, while I'm on this little thing called Earth, I will choose to smile back. :)