Isaiah 55:13- Transformations

"Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the LORD's name; they will be an everlasting sign of his power and love." 

This is one of my favorites right now. Cypress trees support the heavy nests of storks, which highlights the way that God cares for his creation. These trees also grow spontaneously. Nettles are a prickly plant. It hurts the skin, it's sharp and it stings. Myrtles are a sign of the kingdom's blessing for Israel. Prosperity indicates change. (NETTLES to MYRTLES!!!) I love that this transformation (in nature and ourselves) brings HONOR to God's name (and God has many names. Yahweh, Rapha [Healer], Shalom [Peace], Provider, Father, Protector, Shelter, etc). For something to be everlasting, it lasts or endures through all time. So this transformation shows God's love and power and it never goes away. God's power and love goes hand in hand. Jesus tends to your heart. He changes our hearts from nettles to myrtles. He puts in a new heart posture and you come alive. YOU FLOWER AND GROW AND BEAUTIFY AND FLOURISH IN HIS LOVE. 💮

Fresh Starts ❤

    I was reading my devotional the other day and I came across the message that my parents wrote when they presented it to me on Christmas in 2017. The message was: "You are PRECIOUS. With Jesus, each day is a fresh start. His forgiveness never runs out!" 
    When I was younger, my mom came up with two sayings for me; "every day is a clean slate" and "water off a duck's back" (better known as "shake it off"). I remember one day, before school, my mom came up to me and simply said, "Clean slate." And since then, I've always carried an image off a slate that was wiped off from yesterday's tally marks, temper, mistakes, and outbursts.
    And I know that's what Jesus does for me and I know He'll do it for you. His forgiveness never runs out. He has infinite grace. I think that's one of the reasons why I love Him so much.   

Wildflowers & Ravens

 I love that when Jesus (in Luke 12:22-32) tells his disciples to not worry, he points to the ravens in the sky and to the wildflowers in the ground. Having reminders to not worry when you look up at the sky or on the ground. All around us are reminders from Jesus to not worry.❤

A conversation about some PSALMS (Psalm 199: 65-72)

     One of my favourite Psalms is the 119th Psalm. (It's probably my most highlighted and marked Psalm right now). I call it the "alphabet Psalm" because this Psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem with twenty-two stanzas, one for each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet (i.e Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, He, Waw, Zayin, Heth, Teth, Yodn, Kaph, Lamedth, Mem, Nun, Samekh, Ayin, Pe, Tsadhe, Qoph, Resh, Shin, and, Taw). Each of the eight verses within each stanza begins with the Hebrew letter named in its heading. (IT'S POETRY WITHIN POETRY!!)
    In this Psalm, I'm drawn to the stanza under Teth (Psalm 199: 65-72). It goes, "You have done many things for me, LORD, just as you have promised. I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgement and knowledge. I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word. You are good and do only good; teach me your decrees. Arrogant people smear me with lies, but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart. Their hearts are dull and stupid but I delight in your instructions. My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver". This stanza (and the whole Psalm, really) is what I want my heart posture to look like towards God and the Word.
    It reminds me that God IS good and that He DOES good (v.68)! One of the words I was drawn to in this stanza was the term "smear" (v.69) and after looking up the meaning of it (of course I've heard it in context before in books and such but I wanted to see what it actually meant) it gave me a powerful visual of what approaching God might look like sometimes. The act of smearing someone means to "damage reputation, coat or mark something messily or carelessly with a greasy or sticky substance" or as a noun it's simply a mark. And that made me visualize someone coming before God absolutely covered by mud or flakes of dried clay, bruises and markings, with labels covering their body, possibly some bandaids on their knees. And they still raise their arms in worship, reverence, and surrender because of how good God is. And as they are in God's light, their marks and mud and smears vanish because they are pure in God's eyes.
    At the end of this stanza (v.72) David says that God's instructions are more valuable to him than millions of gold and silver. That reminded me of a passage in Acts (Acts 19:19), where "a number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars.*" (Greek 50,000 pieces of silver, each of which was the equivalent of a day's wage). Hearing the Gospel was worth more than millions of dollars and the new believers willingly burned their books after hearing it.
    This Psalm is what I want my heart posture to look like towards God. So captivated and devoted to his Word. Having the Bible be the most valuable to me. Knowing that God is good, that he does good, and that He keeps his promises.