What do you wish for today? What is your heart’s desire? Mine is to simply be thankful for today. Its not a perfect life, but it is a gift just the same. There are no perfect people, nor any perfect lives, just the creation of God, souls created in His image and spiritual beings, the objects of His love.

I came across this lovely scene which inspired the above painting and it warmed my heart as I do so love these country settings. This one taken from a quaint village in Wales, a place where my great ancestors called home. I’ve never been to Wales or England but my search for my roots has brought me to this place in my pursuit of my origins and I’m am pleased to think that maybe some of my great great grandparents called this place home.

The scene also invokes in me the simple pleasures of a country hillside. The quietness perhaps of such a place and what seems like the primitive joy of an unencumbered existence that far too many of us cannot even imagine these days.

To be thankful for the gift of life, the knowledge that the one who created each one of us loves us dearly and is not ashamed or disappointed in us as we may be in ourselves. He is ever watching, ever loving, ever wooing us to His throne of grace and mercy. We don’t need to impress Him, or fear His rejection, if we will only take His hand and receive from Him the gift of life He so longs to give us.

God is my friend. The very best friend I’ve ever had. I want to bring glory to His name . The Lord Jesus Christ is all my hope.

Have you ever come to the very end? The end of options, the end of hope, the end of the road. I am talking about that long weary road you’ve been traveling for a very long time. No one knows about it, only you. That road in your mind and in your experience, that leaves no opening, no future, only sorrow and regret. The road where the walls are starting to close in and there’s no place to turn. And your very being, the core of who you are starts to crack. The hope you’ve carried with you all this time starts to fade, the clouds gather and there appears to be no way out, nowhere to go from here, life is a dead end. In this struggle your thought is, its time to die. My life is over. The pain you’ve been carrying for so long is getting heavier and heavier, the optimism you tried to cling to grows faint, and there’s no reason to believe life is ever going to be any better than at this moment, but worse, far worse. The ending you dreaded is here, you must face it. There is no denying it any longer. Hope fades, life dims. What now?

We are not allowed to check out of this pain, unless we break the rules and take what doesn’t belong to us. But the thought comes, in desperation it comes. As it appears to be the only answer, the only hope in hopelessness. When death is the only hope, you are at the end. Life is unbearable and excruciating. Death looks hopeful, as it is unknown what the experience will be yet there is the possibility that it will be better than life. Life is known and life hurts. Oh how it hurts and feels awful. The soul yearns and longs for release. Learned helplessness, learned defeat, is the origin of such pain. The belief, the bravery it takes to imagine extracting oneself out of such a dismal place grows dimmer with each passing day, and each sequence of failure. Something shuts down, something closes our vision to a new and better life. It doesn’t happen, the win we longed for escapes us and we are trapped in a maze of despair.

There is a place to run when this fate has gripped us. Yes there is a person who knows and cares. A person who knows the depth of our despair and wants to reach down and lift us up, give us hope. He is the only one in such times who can. He made us, the creator, and He has been with us through this journey every step of the way. He alone understands how we got to this place and what we need to get us out. Wisdom is His name and His understanding is inscrutable. His mercy reaches down to our lowest point of pain and his love touches our hearts. There is hope for the one who will turn to Him. He is real, He is here and waiting to comfort and console the brokenhearted.

You may feel like its too late, you are too far gone in this wayward tunnel of one chaotic failure after another, one destructive loss or anguish of sorrow after another. Yet, your heart still beats, your lungs bear oxygen and He is not finished with you yet dear friend. No not yet. He alone will write the last chapter in your life.

He decides when life is over, and you are finished. He holds the keys to life and death, and He controls your fate. We don’t know what time it is, …but He does. He knows our days, and times, and what we must learn and what we need. Are you in the crucible of God? He is the refiner of silver and gold. He knows His work. He is our God, and He has not failed us, nor forsaken us. His hand of mercy is ever extended to our broken heart, but will we take it, take his loving hand in ours?

Its not over, and life goes on, and God still loves us, and He’s still on the throne. This is a low time in life , perhaps the lowest hardest time you’ve ever experienced. But there is a God in heaven who loves you, who sees you and wants to help.you. He moves the chess pieces, and though He seems silent He is intricately involved in all that we hope and fear. He waits. He longs for our prayer, our cry for help. We may have cried many times and heard nothing, yet He hears, He listens, He acts on our behalf. Angels may be the only ones who know the magnitude of his actions towards us as we cry out to Him. Someday we may know, and it may be one of the greatest demonstrations of His love ever revealed to us.

The God of whom I speak is the God of creation, Jesus Christ. The God who exists in eternal everlasting light, the God of heaven. He knows of your sorrows, he too was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. He gave His life, for a world He created that rejected Him when He came to save them. He came to give His life a ransome for many, and He was the only one who could pay the debt we owed. Why? He was perfect. He was sinless. His blood was shed to atone for the sins of the whole world. This was His mission in coming, to pay our sin debt with His blood, the required payment according to scripture. In His death, burial, and resurrection He made the way open to forgiveness and eternal life for all those who believe. He freely bestows this gift on all who call upon His name, who hope in His mercy.

Life may feel like its over, sorrows mount and griefs bear us down, but God! God the Son, Jesus Christ is our everlasting comfort. In His presence is fullness of joy. Believe on Him, hope in Him, He will save you from this world of sorrows.

“They looked unto Him and were radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” ~ Psalm 34

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

On the brink of a new year my thoughts and goals for the future surround the hope of little more than peace , peace and good cheer for 2022.

We’ve come out of a time of tremendous upheaval and conflict. Sorrows and grief have left many of us reeling and searching for what can’t be taken from us, what can’t be lost in these uncertain times. My mind and heart turn to the Saviour, Jesus Christ. The person, the Creator, the God in eternity who cannot change and offers to all mankind peace and everlasting comfort.

Jesus warned his disciples, as He warns us, that in this world we will have tribulation. This world is in a fallen state of sin awaiting judgment but according to the good news announced to the shepherds by the heavenly host that first Christmas night, there is a blessed hope to escape this judgement and receive eternal life. That is why we celebrate Christmas. Indeed what good news it is, that though we suffer loss and pain in this life, and commit sins and sins are committed against us, there is a Savioiur who gave His life to redeem our pain and loss, and recconcile us back to the Father through his life and death on the cross.

He gives us great comfort in His promise of life eternal. For this earthly life is temporary and traveling so fast to it’s conclusion. A staggering truth so many of us have been painfully reminded of as we see our dear loved ones pass into eternity in what seems like the blink of an eye. He promises, “verily verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life “.

We may find ourselves suffering great loss at this year’s end, and the future at best may seem bleak. But Jesus promises” blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. “Blessed is the man whose iniquity is covered”. “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life, and will not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.”

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Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I shall give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The offer, the most gracious gift of the heavenly Father is life everlasting, forgiveness of sin and eternal comfort from the storm of this fallen world, it’s sinful nature, and the wrath to come. The gift is free, as all true gifts are, though it cost our God everything. It is a gift that is permanent, perfectly provided, perfectly given from a perfect God. Once received, it can never be lost, forfeited, or stolen.

A shelter of Peace. The Prince of Peace is calling all men to Himself, to the Peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Will you receive his gift to you? How do you receive this gift you might ask? You simply take it, by faith. You believe on His name.

Seasons of change come upon us in life, like the long awaited Spring, eventually the page turns, and our lives take a new direction. Healing is in the wings, a new day approaches and the Lord graciously binds up the wounds of our past. We can often sense when these bursts of new life are about to emerge onto the horizon. Like the falling leaves in Autumn, the barren trees speak to our souls that a new beginning is not too far off in our future and may be just around the corner. Time, that great healer reminds us that there is life left to be lived, joys yet to be realized and new adventures to discover. We must go on, and leave the past behind us as it is truly but a distant memory and it’s power over our lives must be diminished so that we can become all that God wants us to be.

It takes a brave soul to walk on. To keep your chin up and face the new world that a past sorrow has created, but like the crushed corn of wheat that falls to the ground, a new harvest will sprout in our existence as the death and pain of the past brings us to a new place, and an inevitable new beginning. Maybe we’ve been humbled, the stormy winds that a trial has led us into have weathered our hearts and minds and we are a little wiser, a little quieter, a little meeker. These are good things, and will prove valuable one day as we look back over our lives.

A new Chapter brings with it the awakening of hope. For our God is not finished with us yet. He has lessons to teach us in each season of life. He promises new blessings never experienced before, new memories, new joys never seen or realized yet. Its a journey, this thing called life and we are on a road that He, the Great Shepherd is taking us through. He navigates and leads through the hills and valleys, and all the unexpected stops we hadn’t planned on. He wants us to trust Him. He alone knows “the way there”. He knows what He’s doing in our lives. We are His workmanship in Christ Jesus and He will faithfully lead us all the way home.

Life with my Saviour is a journey, an ever new discovery of the love that He has had for me all along. His everlasting arms are always there holding us up, carrying us through to our final home at heaven’s gate. Each day that passes we are closer to our heavenly home where He will one day greet us and it will all make sense. Until then, it’s our’s to trust Him, to rest in Him and not let this lonely dark world turn our love cold. For He holds your heart, in His very palms and will never let you go. He is here. He is closer than you think. He loves you with a love that cannot be fathomed, nor can it ever be lost or forfeited. Even in your failures, life’s failures, He loves you, and will never leave you, if you have believed on His name and belong to Him.

The scripture tells us in this beautiful verse of hope “To as many as have received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God. ” To receive Him is to place your trust in the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, our Lord. To become a son of God is to become His everlasting child and the recipient of Hie eternal grace and mercy forevermore.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”

“Trust in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. He shall swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces: and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. “

“A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death better than the day of birth”. ~ Proverbs 7:1

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not.” Lamentations 3:22

The lighthouse shines in the darkness. Guiding the fisherman from out on stormy seas, it is their Beacon of hope, their guiding force to safety. Often it is the only glimmer in a fierce and tempestuous storm. When sea billows rage and angry winds toss the waves in an unruly uproar, the lighthouse stands firm upon a rock, amidst the splash of sea driven spray pounding it’s shores. Such is life in a dark storm where one’s only hope is that distant beam of luminous rescue if only it can be reached against such intense opposition.

Yet there is a force beyond the storm so powerful, so full of truth and light, that if called upon, if trusted in, will bring that storm shelter nigh and preserve that life that would be lost. This force is a person, this force is God Almighty. The maker of heaven and earth is He, and the creator of the storm you may find yourself in today. He is in the storm, yes! He uses storms oftentimes to bring us safely into the cove of shelter, the everlasting arms of His salvation.

His name is Jesus Christ. He is the creator of the universe and all storms as well as all places of paradise and peace. What does man have to do with Him? Everything! For it is in Him and through Him that we live and move, and have our being. He is God, God Almighty.

Are you in a storm? Do the waters rise up in your life and threaten your peace, your abode, your very existence? Go to Him. Go to the one who controls the storm and He will guide you home, safe into the love of His omnipotence.

All storms have a purpose, all events are ordained. God is moving the chess pieces though we don’t often see His hand at work. He is calling your name and mine, He is drawing every man to Himself, while there is still time. While one’s heart is beating there is still time. Eternity awaits and is on a clock. One day the final grain of sand will fall through your hourglass of time and eternity’s threshold will meet you where you are. Are you ready for such a step? Have you made peace with your creator? Are your sins paid for? ” for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord “.

We are all sinners making our way through the storm of life. Fallen and lost at sea, we yearn for light, truth, a Saviour. Our conscience tells us, we are sinners. We have broken every one of His laws, if we are honest with ourselves. We are estranged from this one and only most high God. He has declared way back in the garden of Eden, ” the soul that sinneth shall surely die”. We are on a death March, yet many don’t know it, or refuse to admit it. There is a day of judgement coming, a day of righteousness, truth, and judgement. On this day, an accurate accounting will be done, for every thought, careless word, and unrighteous deed. We will all give an account for our lives. The fact that we may think we are ” a pretty good person” will not deliver on this day. We will be judged by our deeds, by every broken law handed down by a Holy God.

But wait, what about the love of God!! Yes God loves us all , each one of us was made in His image, a unique creation of God Himself. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Does that mean He wants me to repent of all my sins to be saved, and start living like a good person should? If this were enough, He wouldn’t have appointed Himself our Saviour and come to earth and died for us on a cruel and brutal cross of pain to atone for the sins of the whole world. But the love of God you may speak of and hope for is found in the lighthouse, the light of Jesus Christ, in His death, burial and resurrection that was given to save each human soul from the coming judgement of God in eternity.

What must be done to receive this gift of salvation, this light of hope of forgiveness and mercy, that we might escape the justice due that our sin debt demands? The God of creation, Jesus Christ has made it so simple, that even a child can make this choice and be saved. He says, ” and to as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the Sons of God.” “To anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord, though shalt be saved “. And He says in John 6:40 ” verily verily I say unto you , he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” It is simple childlike faith in His all atoning sacrifice of Himself on the cross that saves the human soul. Nothing more, nothing less. Faith alone in Christ alone saves from the impending judgment to come.

Jesus Christ is calling every man, woman, and child to Himself. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

I’ll never forget being a student nurse in training at the University Hospital in Tucson, AZ. It was my final year of nursing school and I was working in the intensive care unit. Actually I was following a teaching RN around while he performed his very challenging job and trying to learn as much as I could in the short clinical period I had with him to observe. It was a very busy day on that unit, and full of action and excitement. A man had just been brought up from the ER who had been in a very serious car accident. He was conscious, but not much else. He was in tremendous pain, had many lacerations, and road rash, needed surgery, and was having trouble breathing. He was being intubated and placed on a ventilator as stabilizing his condition was a first priority. As my RN preceptor got him settled in his bed and did the usual assessments, the patient, whose name was Benji, was struggling to breath. The alarms were going off on the ventilator and the need arose to suction the secretions from his lungs in order to improve his oxygen levels. If you have ever seen any one suctioned this way, through a tube like catheter to clear his air passageways, to say it is unpleasant would be a horrific understatement. Of course he became combative, expressing his discomfort in this process, and what the nurse said next are words I would never forget. I expected something informative, sterile, instructive, perhaps comforting, but none of these descriptions apply. He simply said,” yeah I know, this sucks Benji”. He’d just met the man and the comment seemed a bit informal, if not insensitive, yet he nailed it with these words, and I never forgot them. He was right on point with that statement,”this sucks”. Yes it did! And though I don’t use that phrase very often if ever, it was perfect for that occasion. Nothing would have more succinctly expressed the man’s experience at that moment than those words. Who knows how his day had started out, his plans, or situation, but surely where he ended up at 9:30 in the morning in the ICU of the University of AZ teaching hospital was not on his agenda. He was having a very bad day that promised to get worse in the coming hours.

In the valley, yet suddenly was where he found himself and a long road to climb back to wear he was resting and cruising along just hours before. The nurse knew it and said it, and it was a comfort. Yes that’s right, a comfort. Because when we are in the valley, and experiencing deep pain, sorrow, loss, difficulties, what most of us really need is someone to come along side us and say, “I understand”. This is painful, this is hard, you are in the crucible….I get it, and I sympathize, I am sorry. These words touch us because they validate our suffering. They strengthen us because someone knows, someone cares and affirms our pain. To acknowledge someone’s pain is to in some way bear it with them, lift them up, and console them. It comforts us in ways that few other interventions do and yet oftentimes it is the very thing that is withheld.

Let’s face it being around someone in pain is uncomfortable and most of us would rather avoid these moments and opportunities. We can’t relate, some of us, so we don’t. But then there is that person, who is not afraid, but gets down there in the valley with you and in whose kindness, the Lord works to lift us up, to carry us through.

Words are powerful, they can bring healing, they can bring hope. And understanding and acknowledging one’s pain can be cathartic. It’s amazing how it can ease the edge of a bitter wound or console a deep sorrow. Simply “I know” can work wonders. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who intimately understands how you personally feel. He made you, he created your heart, and he knows how it hurts, why it hurts, and what it feels like on the inside. In fact I believe in Benji’s case, He might have exonerated the RN’s statement. For it was the truth.

It is when our pain doesn’t matter and no one recognizes it or is even aware of it and we must bare it alone that it becomes excruciating. A true friend will notice, will care and will offer comfort. If you don’t have a friend like that, there is one that sticks closer than a brother and will always care. He says “cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you”. That person is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who made you and knows all about you. Every pain, sorrow, insult, rejection that are seemingly insignificant to others do not go unnoticed by Him. He loves you and He is waiting for you to open the door of your heart that He might comfort and love you and give you everlasting consolation.

In this world you will have tribulations and man was born of trouble as the sparks fly upward, but Jesus says, ” fear not, for I have overcome the world”. Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning for that wounded lost soul who finds peace and faith in the Saviour.

” they looked unto him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed”

Go to Him, tell Him your sorrows, for He cares for you.

He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Jesus knows all about you. He loves you with an everlasting love that reaches into the deepest parts of your soul. There is no shadow of turning with this love. It is pure, even as He is pure. It is unconditional, and it is eternal.

We don’t experience love like this in this world. For we live in a frail and fallen world where sorrows abound like sea billows roll. People let us down, and we let ourselves down. Everyone is hurting in some form or another. We all experience pain, disappointment and heartbreak. But there is one that will never let us down or let us go, if we will receive Him and put in Him our trust.

Jesus, the Son of God, is our blessed hope. He said to us, ” in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” He has overcome all our sorrow and all our tears. He has swallowed up death, our death, in victory. He has made a way for us to spend eternity in heaven with Him, and though we could never earn so precious a gift, He has paid the ultimate price to make it possible for each one of us, through His own death burial and resurrection on the cross. This act on His part has paid our sin debt. It has made possible the gift of eternal life with Him forever. How do we receive this gift? By faith. By placing all of our faith, hope and trust in the person of Jesus Christ, in His mercy. John 6:40 says ” verily verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” It is a gift, it is a person, it is a blessed hope. It is for everyone.

He loves you. He came to give you life and abundant life at that. It is a gift. His gift, to you. Sin has ravaged and destroyed mankind. Our human souls suffer from this blight and the whole world lieth in wickedness, the Bible says. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. He came to set you and I free from the awesome penalty of death that we have all earned. He came to quicken us, and give us everlasting life. Will you trust Him to set you free?

Do you believe that God is love, and that He loves you just exactly as you are? Did you know that His unconditional love for you will save your soul, simply by placing your faith in His finished work on the cross on our behalf? No conditions, just recieve, and believe. He does the rest.

The Bible simply says “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. It does not require us to repent of all our sins, for we can never fully do that. We will no sooner conquer one sin, and we will have another sinful area in our lives revealed to us. There are many false teachers however, that have gone out into the world who are teaching a different gospel.

Here is the lie of these false teachers. They say ” you’re not saved if you’re not surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.” Then they proceed to define ” surrender”. It is living life according to their “list”. This list is made up of rules of do’s and dont’s according to their ideas of holiness and how a Christian should live. Some of the list is Biblical and good but they make the mistake of requiring adherence to this list to be saved. They do not accept the concept of ” faith alone.” You either see truth as they see it, live life as they do, or you are still lost. Once in their opinion you have sufficiently surrendered and are saved, you run the risk of losing this salvation if you fail in your faith walk. There are no guarantees with their gospel. You must do your part, or you salvation is null and void.

Your part is to repent of your sins, all of them, become a spiritual man or woman, become in essence, like them. A Holy person. If you fail to do this, your faith has failed. Your salvation is forfeited.

Sadly, as a result of these false teachings, many fall away, give up, and go back to the world. It reminds me of Peter, after failing the Lord and betraying Him, he went back to being a fisherman. But the Lord didn’t let him go. Nor does he let anyone go, because they fail in their faith walk. This is the truth, but unfortunately these false teachers neglect to tell you that. They reject eternal security. The salvation they preach is ultimately left up to the individual, not God. It’s dependent on the convert’s success at changing their behavior sufficiently to merit so great a salvation. Few can bare this burden, and eventually give up. Salvation becomes nebulous, and a wish rather than a certainty. A vain hope actually and one which ultimately will damn. Why is this so? Because on some level our input, according to them, is required to complete the salvivic transaction. Our works, they say, factor in, so if they’re not there, or there not good enough, or enough enough, we’re lost.

These teachings rob the believer of rest and cause them to doubt. There is no security or real peace. Their gospel is not designed to give you peace, except in your own accomplishments which is a false peace. Often it rather drives you on in fear. There is no real love because how can you love someone who requires good works out of you that you cannot perform perfectly or fail to perform at all for eternal life? There’s no freedom and no real joy. How can there be, its all works! It’s a job! You are earning your keep. There is no unconditional love or acceptance. It’s a contract not a covenant, in which God does His part, and you agree to do your part. If you fail, the contract is nullified.

What these false teachers are offering is a work your way to heaven process veiled in the finished work. What they don’t tell you is that the work isn’t finished until you finish it, with works in keeping with repentance. Its a lie. A lie that gets bigger the longer you are in these groups and churches. A very subtle lie at first. But a lethal lie. A little leven levels the whole lump.

Many believe this lie. It comes in so many forms, and so many denominations. There is a smorgasbord of churches and faiths where this lie is taught. Just pick one, they’re all out there. Just different varieties, but the same lie. All so convincing as they cater to man’s wisdom, and man is so impressed with it. Man loves religion!

Young people today don’t want this, a list of do’s and dont’s. They want love. They reject Jesus Christ because to them He represents rules! Rules they cannot keep, nor want to keep. We as parents have so often gravely misrepresented Christ to them. An introduction to Jesus Christ must start with love. But so often we don’t even have that love ourselves. We don’t know of it, haven’t experienced it. Why? It is due to our own unbelief! We don’t believe God’s word deeply or truly. We are just passing on what we do know, rules and religion. But it is hollow, empty, and cannot save. We ourselves must experience God’s unconditional love, forgiveness and grace. That word unconditional is HUGE. For if we must merit it in our own estimation, we will fail of it. God loved Lot and was faithful and merciful to Lot even when he lived in filthy Sodom. Lot was a just and righteous man per Jesus Christ! This was due to Lot’s faith in Him, period!

We must see God’s faithfulness to us in the same vein. If we believe on Him, we’re His! Plus nothing! He then becomes our Father. He will forever love us. He is committed to us! He is in a covenant with us that He will never break, though we may break it. He may not reward our works in this life at the Bemis seat, but He will give us eternal life and forever love us. This truth must be separated out from all works on our part in order to be truly touched by the gospel. We will never know who Jesus Christ is until we understand this, we will never truly embrace Him. Many would rather embrace a ” list”.

God gives His love unconditionally and we must accept it and spread it unconditionally. For if we wait until we or those around us deserve His love to embrace or share His love, we will never experience it in this life.