Lessons learned the first 50 years

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I hit a milestone. I turned 50 years old. I am thankful that I don't feel 50.   I am thankful for things God has taught me throughout those 50 years. .  I have learned that God loves mercy and when I feel a sense that justice needs to happen over mercy, all I need to do is remember that I am thankful for when God gives me mercy instead of a just punishment.   (Micah 6:8 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.) ( Luke 6: 36  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ) I have learned that hurt people end up hurting people.   When I am able to see that I didn't hurt them but I am bearing the results of that persons hurt inflicted by other people, it helps me forgive whatever hurt they pushed onto me and move on.  (Romans 12 : 18  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. )  I have learned that anyone who thinks they have God
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The Power of His Unfailing Love

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Surgery is tomorrow.  The doctors say he will be in surgery for about an hour.  When John-Michael got the diagnosis 6 years ago of Neurofibromatosis, I was already a believer...     I was already seeking His face.  I was already teaching His word in my home to other women.  I didn't understand why He would do this to me.  I had absorbed bad theology.  "Bad things aren't allowed into the lives of obedient believers".  The more I study in His word.. the more I see that this isn't true.

 Consider Isaiah 43:1-2:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
This passage contains a promise, but not the one my flesh wants to see. It is not a promise that I will never suffer. In fact, the passage implies that I will pass through waters, rivers, and fire—elements that could easily destroy me. The promise is that when I do, God will be with me. Those waters will not overwhelm me. Nor will the fire completely consume and set me ablaze.
 
How do we make it through when we don't understand the why of the fire, water, rivers?  By KNOWING His unfailing love. 
 
Psalm 13:5
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation
 
Psalm 33:18
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
 
Psalm 36:7
How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
 
Psalm 52:8
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.
 
Psalm 90:14
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
 
Psalm 94:18
When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
 
I don't say trust in His love flippantly. Tomorrow my 3rd grader will have another painful surgery to open his entire back to remove as much of a tumor as the surgeons can.  It stinks to see your child hurt.  It stinks to not be able to fix it.  It stinks to have to deal with NF and his questions about his future.  But, when my foot is slipping, (Ps 94:18), how do I get footing?  Remembering His unfailing love!

un·fail·ing

[uhn-fey-ling] Show IPA
adjective
1.
not failing; not giving way; not falling short of expectation; completely dependable: an unfailing friend.
2.
inexhaustible; endless: unfailing resources; unfailing good humor.
 
I pray Eph 3:16- 21 over all of us..and for us to trust in His unfailing love.... 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
 

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