Your Heart
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The Most Important Connection
I love games, especially word games.
Wordle, the Mini Crossword and Connections are part of my nightly routine.
If you have never played Wordle, players are given 6 chances to guess a 5 letter word.
Not many chances when you have 26 letters.
You have the choice of which ones you will add to the blank page.
The Mini Crossword at least gives you clues for words to enter.
It even gives you the option of using Autocheck.
This lets you know if one of the letters you have chosen is wrong.
Not to boast, but I feel like I have Wordle and the Mini Crossword down.
It is Connections that I struggle with the most.
The challenge of this game is to take 16 words and figure out what 4 categories they might fall under.
To find the connection between the words.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Not always.
For example, bed, bowl, crate and collar might fall into the “Puppy Purchases” category.
It was easy for me to find the common thread between these words.
Other times, I stare at the words and see no connection at all.
Even through playing games, God has a lesson to share if we are paying attention.
Each day we have free will to choose to follow God or not.
Like Wordle, we have choices of how we will fill the blank page.
In His Word, our choices and their consequences are made clear.
“Look at what I’ve done for you today: I’ve placed in front of you
Life and Good
Death and Evil.
And I command you today: Love God, your God. Walk in His ways. Keep His commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God, your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess.
But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won’t last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. “ Deuteronomy 30: 15-18 MSG
Like in the Mini Crossword, the Bible serves as an Autocheck, letting us know when something is wrong or out of line with the puzzle of our lives.
His Word gives us clues for what we should add to our days.
“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into His most excellent harmonies.” Philippians 4:8-9 MSG
Like Connections, we attempt to place people into categories.
We look for the common threads.
Cheering for the same team, having children or belonging to the same political party.
Or maybe the categories have a more negative connotation.
We group others by those who have hurt or offended us, or we see as “less than.”
This is nothing new.
The Bible shows many who were placed into categories.
That was seen as “less than.”
The woman at the well.
The tax collector.
The leper.
This is the enemy’s favorite game.
Having us focus on what separates us instead of what connects us.
All you need to do is look at the media to see division is still alive and well.
We get focused on putting people in categories.
And we miss the most important connection of all.
We are all in one category.
The category of the ones that Christ went to the cross for and shed His blood.
All of us.
Not the ones that think like us, vote like us, or sound like us.
Each and every one of us.
Our connection is that we are all HIS.
And as HIS, we are called to love the way that He loves us.
With unlimited love.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12 NIV
God makes it clear that His children are called to see each other as brothers and sisters and to serve one another.
“Show respect for all people. Love the brothers and sisters of God’s family. Respect God. Honor the King.” 1 Peter 2:7 ICB
“Most importantly, love each other deeply. Love has a way of not looking at others’ sins. Open your homes to each other, without complaining. Each of you received a spiritual gift. God has shown you His grace in giving you different gifts. And you are like servants who are responsible for using God’s gifts. So be good servants and use your gifts to serve each other. Anyone who speaks should speak words from God. The person who serves should serve with the strength that God gives. You should do these things so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. Power and glory belong to him forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4: 8-11 ICB
Friends, it is easy to stare at a broken world and lose sight of the most important connection we all have.
But we can find reminders in His Word.
Given the choice, will we choose Him?
Given the clues, will we fill our lives with what honors HIm?
Given the category, will we choose to love all of our brothers and sisters?
How we fill our lives matters.
My prayer is that we fill it with love.
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Praise
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Love One Another
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On Your Hearts
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Kind
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Toward Love
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Unseen
My mind was still that morning.
A heaviness had swept over me.
For as long as I can remember, the day before my birthday I have always spent time reflecting.
Snapshots of the year’s events, places and people playing like a movie in my mind as my heart expresses some form of gratitude for these gifts.
But the older I get, there is a noticeable difference in the snapshots.
There are people missing,
Maybe that is why yesterday I struggled to quiet my thoughts.
As thankful as I am for all of the wonderful people God has placed in my life, there is still a void from the ones who are no longer here.
I long for those conversations around the table with my parents.
Talking about the day’s events, or reminiscing about past ones.
My emotions dance beneath the surface of a smile.
Knowing that they could erupt at any moment, I say nothing and look out the window.
If my husband noticed that I was unusually quiet on the way to church, he did not question it.
He filled the silence with small talk until we pulled into the parking lot.
These days, when my heart is heavy, I prefer to fly under the radar unseen.
But I am never not seen.
As the service ended, a couple asked us to join them for breakfast.
Full of love and life, they are the parents of another friend of ours who happened to be away.
It was not until we were at the table having conversations about family and the day’s events that I truly saw the provision.
Conversations around the table with parents.
“I see you,” He whispers.
He provided exactly what my heavy heart needed at that moment.
And to the couple who answered the nudge to extend the invitation for breakfast, you were a part of answered prayer that morning.
Thank you.
God shows us in His Word that He is a God who sees us.
Hagar had a heavy heart.
She felt alone after she conceived a child with Abram, at the direction of Saria, his wife.
Mistreated, this Egyptian slave decided to flee from her mistress.
But God saw her in her distress.
He sent an angel to her.
Provision.
“The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.
And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.”
The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” Genesis 16: 7-10 NIV
Hagar recognized the provision. She knew that she had been seen by God, and gave a new name to Him: El Roi.
“She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16: 13 NIV
He provided exactly what her heavy heart needed at that moment.
Do you ever feel unseen?
That no one notices the feelings that dance beneath the surface of your smile?
Friends, there is One who always sees you.
Can you see the provision He has placed in your life?
My prayer is that you see it today.
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By the Water
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Always on Your Lips
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