Month: January 2008

The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

January 2, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
His mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in Him!”

Lamentations 3:22-24 (NLT)

There is a song based on this verse called the Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases that I love and live by. I can hear it playing deep in my heart.

I love mornings. I love spending time with God. I love meditating on His word. I love knowing that He loves me and that I can live in His mercy and grace.

In the movie Ann of Green Gables one of my favorite quotes is “Each new day is fresh with no mistakes in it.”

Sometimes a new day isn’t soon enough and I need a fresh start before the morning is even up. When my day is going really wrong, I hide in closet and pray. Many times I know the problem is me and I beg for a new attitude; other times I feel like I am loosing a battle and pray for more strength, mercy and grace. Once I’ve poured out my whole heart, I come out determined to have a fresh start on my day and to trust God with the answers to my prayers.

The idea of a “New Year’s Resolution” seems so foreign to me this year. New I understand. Everything is so new for me right now; new house, new city, new Walmart, new community, new way of life, new morning, renewed love for God, new dreams and new visions…

Year – Wow! So much can happen in a year. I need those fresh moments of mercy and grace that never cease to come from our Father’s loving heart!

I had a dream last week that I was putting some things up on a bulletin board. I was praying for help with how to arrange it as I worked. God answered with instructions on where to put a tack. I was taken by surprise. I couldn’t see the big picture of what was ahead (posted on the bulletin board) but I could see exactly where God wanted the little green tack. God is so into details. I know this from experience and it shows forth His glory in His creation. Details so small and complicated that we can see them or comprehend them.

I am still hearing God say “Dream Big”. I don’t know what big dreams He wants me to dream, but I believe He will show me and help me to do all He is calling me to do and be even to the last detail. In the meantime I am going to put that little green tack where He instructed and keep praying for His guidance and help. It’s my first step out into the big dreams of God.

I don’t really have a resolution. I have a determination to keep trusting God in and for each moment. Great is His faithfulness!

Entering in as a child,

Jenny

Christmas Day

January 2, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

Christmas Day was a good day. We had two Christmas miracles; Mike found his badges for work and my washer was hooked up and working. We talked about the true gift of Christmas being that Jesus lives in us. I am happy to know Him and to be together as a family again. Nana sent us some Christmas goodies to munch on and the kids have been making their plans for how to spend their Christmas money. Josh and Joel are hoping to go in together on a computer and Judi is planing on buying her very own ipod. James is saving his up for his future computer needs. Mike made us a Christmas brunch of bacon and apple turn overs (I felt so spoiled) and I made fajitas for lunch. One thing we liked about this house is that it feels like home. It’s nice being at home with your family.

Thank You, God, for happy memories!

A New Home For Christmas

January 2, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

Proverbs 16:3 Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.

I have this verse from the Amplified posted by my bathroom door. I love to meditate on the idea that God can cause my thoughts to be in agreement with His and that I have the potential of successfully completing my plans when I give them to Him.

I’ve been praying while preparing for this move for God to show me His vision for this new season of our lives. First of all because I know that being in the center of God’s will is the best place to be and because I need a vision to help me make it through this move and four growing teenagers.

I felt like I finally got an answer the other night. It wasn’t what I expected. I was hoping for something more tangible. Instead I heard, “Dream Big. Ask me to stretch your imagination beyond what you can imagine.”

These verses had been in my thoughts all week.

“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. John 15:4-8 MSG

The idea of asking was big in my heart but I didn’t know what to ask for. Now that I do it’s a little scary… to tell the truth. What are these big things that God has planned for us? Am I ready to walk them out? Can I really successfully follow them through? Do I dare to dream as big as God can stretch me to dream?

I know one thing for sure. I have had to lean on Him big time for the strength to do all that it takes to get ready for this move and He has been faithfully pouring out His grace on me. Oh, for the courage to trust Him for bigger things than I can imagine.

The moving truck will be at my door tomorrow and I will be starting a new adventure. Will you take the plunge with me? Learn more of His love, how to trust Him more and how to ask and “Dream Big.” for the new season He is bringing you into?

“My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!”

Ephesians 3:14-21 The Message

Love,
Jenny