UNFORGETTABLE Memories. . . . .

Imagine you are walking on a beautiful beach. As you walk on the sand you come to a stand still. There’s nobody around. If you look you will see the most wonderful blue sky with clouds hanging around, thus making it the most beautiful skyline, you’ve ever watched. You feel the breeze caress you and the waters come and gently sweep across your feet. As you continue with your eyes closed you hear the sound of the waves. You are reminded of the gentlest music that immediately soothes your soul. And you feel the peace that you’ve never felt before. Rest-in this peace and calm.

When faced with a disappointment, often we end up talking about it. We end up recounting (speaking) the situation to a number of people. It does not help to speak it. As you repeat the situation to a number of people-it makes it even more difficult to get over it. What you-don’t realize is each time you narrated the incident to someone, you got a little more frustrated than the last time. Each time, you spoke you believed in your situation.

If a person calms you down-then that would do you good. Most of the time-the people you speak to will only aggravate (make worse) the situation. What you need to do is when someone asks you, you answer, “It is better for me if I just don’t talk about it.”

You need to empower your situation by speaking life into that moment. Don’t speak life defeating thoughts. So often, I hear people talking bad about themselves and others. Don’t put yourself down. Love your life. It is after all a precious gift of God.

I love this song ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’, and this is the paragraph that I love. It does have a way of calming you down, oh just give it a look, will you? I promise you, you’re going to love it.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.

Everybody has to deal with anger from time to time. Anger is an emotion often characterized by feelings of great displeasure, hostility, wrath and vengeance. Anger begins with a feeling that’s often expressed in words or actions. We feel something and it causes a reaction.

Don’t store anger. Don’t put on a mask to hide the anger. It always helps to speak.

Whatever your situation in life, be it anger, irritation, rage anything that gets you out of order, just remember anger can mess up a good thing and leave you with regrets. A winner is the one who can take control of his temper.

Anger often stems out because of our feeling of lack or inadequacy. We need to know we are loved. Ephesians 4:26 states: "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down in your anger”. Its okay, to feel anger, but to express it in words or deeds, is a sin.

Faith begins by believing

in your heart that what is right has a chance.

Hope is a trust that life is good,
love is powerful, and the future is full of promise.

Love never fails.

When you love God-you will value your life, and you will understand the depth of God’s love for you. You will understand what it is to love everybody. And whenever situations rise up against you, you will rise with the strength of God in you.

Do whatever calms you, it could be imagining a walk on the beach or a song or maybe just thinking that everybody is a overgrown baby. That’s what I do. This makes it easy to love everyone. Okay, there are exceptions, but this is what Jesus, tells me ‘Love anyway’-(love no matter what).

In school, I loved reading the works of William Shakespeare. He was well versed with human emotions and he articulated his words well-You can break a heart in a second with just a word-and maybe mar (destroy) it for a lifetime.

When I heard Fr. William’s name 2 years back-I felt a hope. As he introduced himself in the church, of all the words he spoke the 3-I will never forget are, ‘FAITH, HOPE and LOVE’, (three of my favourites). He confirmed my hope.

Day 1:  18th September, 2012.   1313

Day 2:  19th September, 2012.   1313

Day 3:  20th September, 2012.   1313

On the 3rd day when I saw the number again it just was a reconfirmation. And what followed it on the third day, itself was the Reading from the 1st book of Corinthians 13:1-13.

Remember, the peace and calm that I spoke about in the first paragraph. That peace will only last for some time. Life is filled with various moments. Moments that can snatch that peace come with no warning sign or label attached to it.

When we learn to trust God, we place all our fears in His hands. When we surrender and walk in Gods will-He will fill us with a Peace that the world cannot destroy.

I say a prayer for you-

May you wake up to a wonderful sunrise, 

May the moon remind you of the beautiful phases of love, 

May you never fail to see the beauty around you,

May you spread your wings and fly like a butterfly,

May you always have a heart full of love, and

May your life be filled with UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES!

This is my prayer for you! 

I wish you all this and LOVE!

 

God’s love is absolutely unstoppable. Nothing can diminish His loving pursuit of us. Psalm 139:5,7–8: “Thou has beset me behind and before…. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there”.

David’s saying, no matter where I am, Lord—no matter how blessed I feel, or how low my condition is—You’re there. I can’t get away from Your unstoppable love. You never accept my arguments about how unworthy I am. Even when I’m taking Your grace for granted—You never stop loving me. Your love for me is unstoppable!

Paul testified that even during those hate-filled years—while he was blindly slaughtering Christ’s disciples—God loved him. Paul wrote, “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”-Romans 5:8. He says God kept coming after me in love, until that day when He literally knocked me off my horse. That was the unstoppable love of God.

Paul was convinced that God would love him fervently to the end, through all his highs and lows. He stated, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”-Romans 8:38–39. Paul declares, nothing can separate me from God's love.

1 Corinthians 13 Paul tells us that love is the greatest. "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love". 1 Corinthians 13:13.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"-Hebrews. 11:1. Faith is our belief in something we cannot see but know it exists (it is-I pray and I know it is). It is a knowing-I know, that I Know, that I know, that I know. 

Consider the promise that was made to Abraham. "He (Abraham) did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith" Romans 4:20. Faith is what sustains someone until the thing they believe in actually comes to pass.

Hope-is a feeling that what is wanted will happen. We have hope because of our faith. Our faith is what drives our hope. Romans 4:18 "contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations". Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac his son was born. His Hope became a reality!

1 John 4:8 states "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love". God is eternal; therefore, love is eternal. We must have love for God and for one another. 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son"-John 3:16. God's love for us was great enough to sacrifice His Son.

FAITH

• Faith knows that whatever God says, He will do. God is faithful.
• Faith knows that God rewards you if you seek Him with all your heart. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
• Patience is an essential ingredient of faith. When you pray according to the will of God, you know that you will have the petition you asked for. God's timing is not necessarily your timing.
• Faith means always believing. Fix your gaze on Jesus.
• Faith sees the Hand of God in every situation.

SETTING FAITH

Set your heart to trust God in everything, at all times-having an unshakable faith.

When you set your faith by bringing every burden and trial to Christ, leaving everything at His feet and resting in faith, you are going to be severely tested.

LOVE-HURTS

On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand, "Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me." Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, "Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me." These will ask Him, "When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?" And Jesus will answer them, "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!"

Jesus said: "My peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." He came not to give the peace of the world but to give the peace of the heart which comes from loving - from doing good to others.

’Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends’-John 15:13. 

Jesus died for you and for me. Jesus gave up everything to do His Father's will-to show us that we too must be willing to give up everything to do God's will.

Love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them.

The Scripture reads: "Even if a mother could forget the child in her womb, I will never forget you."

God will never forget us. We can keep the joy of loving Jesus in our hearts and make it a point - that no one will be unwanted, unloved, uncared. And give until it hurts - with a smile.

Let us pray that we grow in love for each other, and through this love become holy as Jesus wants us to be for He died out of love for us.

"So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."-1 Corinthians 13:13

When looking at this verse, it is also great to hear other translations of it.

"And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity."-1 Corinthians 13:13

The difference between these two-The word charity is used with love.

When we give of ourselves, whether it be to the poor, the sick, or to anyone else, we are giving out of love. Charity is the ultimate expression of our love for our fellow man. For our charity to truly have an impact, it must draw its power from the love in our hearts.

Charity is the act of giving of oneself without any expectation of anything in return. When we love, this same principle applies. Our love should be freely given without expecting anything in return.

Faith is our belief in an Almighty God, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Hope is our belief in the saving power of grace. Love is the foundation of our faith in Christ and the hope we find in His sacrifice.

"We [Paul, Silas & Timothy] continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thessalonians 3

Work produced by faith, labor prompted by love and endurance inspired by hope...

Our labour is prompted by love-Love for God and love for others. Love must always be our motivation, foundation, guiding principle and constant expression. If we fail to love, everything around us crumbles. If we serve and if our labour is prompted by love, we will never fail.

Hope keeps us going. It inspires us and helps us to persevere and endure. Fixing my eyes on Jesus and focusing on things with eternal value keeps me going, especially when the going gets tough. This hope is not wishful thinking but confidence in who God is and what He has said and done. It is hope, based on the character of God who never changes or makes a mistake.

 

CONCLUSION: In our own families we may have somebody who is feeling lonely, or totally neglected. Are we there? Are we willing to give until it hurts in order to be with our families, or do we put our own interests first? These are the questions we must ask ourselves? We must remember that love begins at home, and we must also remember that 'the future of humanity passes through the family.'

REMEMBER: Love is not without sacrifice. When we choose to love someone, it will cost us something.

Corinthians 14:1 says, Eagerly pursue-(means to follow) and seek-(means to try to find) to acquire love [make it your aim, your great quest]

We need to go after love with all our strength and act as if we cannot live without it.

View love as your top priority in life. Pursue and acquire it, because God’s Word boldly tells us that we’re nothing without it.

PRAYER: Abba, Father. Your will in me be done. Keep me always obedient and faithful to You, I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.