I am so confused.Yesterday morning, I was so sure about a lot of things.Now I don’t know who – or what – to believe.I’ve never had reason to doubt that God loved me.I had a thousand reasons to believe He was good.I never wondered if He was telling us the truth.I trusted Him.I believed what He said.
Now, for some reason, He doesn’t seem like the same God who walked and talked and sang with us every morning.If he is so good, why didn’t He stop me from talking to the Serpent or eating the fruit?Why did He make the fruit look so good?Why did He put that tree there, anyway?And why did He care if we ate that fruit?
He seems so far away.I’m afraid of Him.He said we would die if we ate from that tree.That seems like an awfully harsh punishment – hardly seems fair – especially for a first offense.Today, He told us to leave Eden.Why couldn’t He have given us a second chance?Does He really care what happens to us?
This whole thing is such a mess.Can’t God do something?
In the past couple of decades, there has been a significant movement challenging men to become men of God, to love their wives and children, and to express that love through sacrifice and service.What an encouragement it has been to me to see God stirring my husband, Kenji, and turning his heart toward Him and toward his family.
Women need to be careful that we do not lose sight of the primary roles God has given us to fulfill.In today’s world, it is “politically correct” to challenge men to go home and serve their wives.However, it is not “PC” to talk to women about their responsibility to serve their husbands.
God did not make the man to be a “helper” to the woman.He made the woman to be a “helper” to the man.Of course, this does not mean that men are not to serve their wives and children.If men are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, there must be willingness to lay down their lives and become servants, even as Christ did for His bride.
If women focus on what we “deserve,” on our “rights,” or on what men “ought” to do for us, we will become vulnerable to hurt and resentment when our expectations are not fulfilled.Blessing and joy are the fruit of seeking to be a giver rather than a taker and of looking for ways to bless, serve, and minister to the needs of our families.
Don’t complicate your life by trying to understand what is wrong with your friends and family members who don’t agree with you about everything.After 5 years of marriage, I still don’t have Kenji figured out.But I found joy when I simply quit trying to understand why he likes to watch sports and be a couch potato.I have learned to be a sports fan and watch TV series on a marathon, so now I’m a couch potato myself.LOL!How’s that for a change?
In other words, you can’t really love people until you quit trying to rework them and find joy in who they are.My life got real simple when I finally realized I couldn’t change people.
God can change someone if He wants to, and if He doesn’t, it’s because He doesn’t want to.So I might as well trust God.Trust is simple.Casting your cares on Him is simple.
The Bible message is simple: Love God and love others.
The gospel is simple:Jesus loves us, this we know.Why?Because the Bible tells us so!
Even the plan of salvation is simple:Jesus died for us.He paid the price for our sin.How much simpler can it be?
It is amazing how a straightforward, uncomplicated message change your life and bring joy.
Jesus came to simplify your life.Satan wants to complicate your life, but God is not the author of confusion.
There are so many people in the church who are not really serving God with their whole hearts or their whole lives.Their lives are a big, complicated mess because they have one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world.
God is good.Psalms 119:68 says so.When the sun is shining and you have money in the bank and you’re healthy and everyone thinks you’re wonderful, it’s not hard to believe that God is good.But when you lose your job or a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness or your church goes through a nasty split or your husband or wife says he/she doesn’t want to be married to you anymore, the Enemy will move in and cause you to question God’s goodness.
The Truth is, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what we feel, regardless of what we think, God is good, and everything He does is good.
God’s grace is sufficient for me. 2Corinthians 12:9 says so.As a child of God, I will never face a circumstance that exceeds His grace.Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.When I am weak, He is strong.When I am empty, He is full.When I have no resources of my own left, His resources have not begun to be depleted.
The Truth is, whatever you are going through right now, His grace is sufficient for you.Whatever you will go through tomorrow – or next year or fifty years from now – His grace will be sufficient for you then.
His grace is sufficient to deal with the memories, wounds, and failures of the most scarred or sordid past.His grace is sufficient for a lifetime of singleness or for a half century of marriage to an ungodly man.His grace is sufficient for the single mother trying to raise four children.His grace is sufficient for the woman caring for her elderly parents, for the empty nester, for the man or woman going through the change of life or midlife crisis, for the widow living on Social Security, and for the invalid in a nursing home.
We need to speak the Truth to ourselves; we need to speak it to each other.In every season, in every circumstance, His grace is sufficient.It is sufficient for me; it is sufficient for you!
The Truth is… I am blessed!It’s my birthday!Thank you oh God for giving me life…
I have a great life. It's the best life. It was chosen by myself. Others may seem like they have amazing lives, but mine is really the best and most adequate one for me. I just have to live it proudly, and enjoy each experience, trying to learn from it.
The universe doesn't just plan 1 path. It plans multiple paths, so whichever choices you make in your life (''Take the bus or walk? Or maybe catch a cab?''), there'll be plenty of enriching experiences.
My life is a great life. If someone wants to partake in it, then good for them. But either way I'm still going to continue having a great life.
I'm worthy of love. And I AM LOVED. God and the angels love me unconditionally. And other people are just different reflections of me. I, like them, deserve to be loved.
Other people and me are parts of a whole, the same whole. Therefore, their happiness is also my happiness. When I make people happy, I am making myself happy.
Sometimes we learn from bad experiences. The perfect life does not have only joy. The balance between joy/euphoria/happiness, which keeps me motivated and positive, and emptiness, which helps me grow, is what makes each of our lives an amazing life.
The world is beautiful. Be it summer or winter, the world is amazing. Natural landscapes can be beautiful (from plains, to mountains, lakes, oceans, forests or swamps), but man-made landscapes (cities, villages...) are also incredible. Every landscape is worth looking at. The rain falling, moving clouds, the lights of the city, the stars, the moon, the movement of people and cars, wind shaking the leaves of trees... A different place is a different experience. And even the same place is always different, or feels different on different moments.
Each people I come across interact with my energy. Each person has their own special shine, and I am no exception. I must let my light shine through, instead of being scared of it. If I have a positive mindset, am confident in myself, respect others, and don't let the little tests the universe throws at me put me down, I will attract very good things, and make any environment I partake in much better for me AND for others.
Like stars have their own consciousness, I too have the potential to burn bright and warm like a little star. My own little star. With my own kind of light, and my own kind of gravity.
A woman becomes beautiful when she knows she’s loved. We’ve seen this many times – you probably have too. Cut off from love, rejected, no one pursuing her, something in a woman wilts like a flower no one waters anymore. She withers into resignation and shame. The radiance of her countenance goes out, as if a light has been turned off. But this same woman, who everyone thought was rather plain and unengaging, becomes lovely and inviting when she is “pursued.” Her heart begins to come alive, come to the surface, and her countenance becomes radiant. We wonder, “Where has she been all these years?” or “Who is that woman?”
Her beauty was always there.
What happened to this woman was merely the power of romance releasing her true beauty, awakening her heart. She has come alive.
As women, we long to be loved in a certain way, a way unique to our femininity. We long for romance. We are wired for it; it’s what makes our hearts come alive. You know that. Somewhere, down deep inside, you know this. But what you might never have known is this…
This doesn’t need to wait for a guy.
God longs to bring this into your life Himself. He wants you to move beyond the childlike “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so.” He wants to heal us through His love to become mature women who actually “know” Him. He wants us to experience His Sweet Word. Our hearts are desperate for this. What would it be like to experience for yourself that the truest thing about His heart towards yours is not disappointment or disapproval but deep, fiery, passionate love? This is, after all, what a woman was made for.
Faithful obedience to God is vital, but it is not all God draws us to. It is not sufficient for our healing, no more than doing the laundry is sufficient for a marriage. And it will not be enough in the long run to carry us through. We need Romance!
God says He is our Lover. If you’ll open your heart to the possibility, you’ll find that God has been wooing you ever since you were a little girl. Yes, He longs for you. The story of your life is also the story of the long and passionate pursuit of your heart by the One who knows you best and loves you most.
God has written the Romance not only on our hearts but all over the world around us. What we need is for Him to open our eyes, to open our ears that we might recognize His voice calling to us, see His hand wooing us in the beauty that quickens our hearts.
What were the things that romanced your heart as a girl? Was it flowers and butterflies in the garden? Was it the fragrance of the air after a summer rain? These were all whispers from your Lover, notes sent to awaken your heart’s longings. And as we journey into a true intimacy with God as women, He often brings those things back into our lives, to remind us He was there, to heal and restore things that were lost or stolen.
Every song you love, every memory you cherish, every moment that has moved you to tears has been given to you from the One who has been pursuing you from your first breath in order to win your heart. God’s version of flowers and chocolates and candlelight dinners comes in the form of sunsets and falling stars, moonlight on lakes and cricket symphonies; warm wind, swaying trees and lush gardens.
This romancing is immensely personal. It will be as if it has been scripted for your heart. He knows what takes your breath away, knows what makes you heart beat faster. We have missed many of His notes simply because we shut our hearts down in order to endure the pain of life. Now, in our healing journey as women, we must open our hearts again, and keep them open. Not foolishly, not to anyone and anything. But yes, we must choose to open our hearts again so that we might hear His whispers, receive Him as our Lover.
God had already proven His love for you. He had sent His only Son, Jesus, to die for you. He had rescued you. He had paid the highest price imaginable for you. He had given you all of creation to speak of His great glory and love, and He had given you His Word in all its depth and beauty. God delights in revealing Himself to those who will seek Him with all their hearts. He is an extravagant, abundant Lover, and He loves to reveal His heart to us again and again.
Would you like to receive an amazing gift from an intimate God? He has many for you and it comes in the form of blessings. Perhaps it would be good to ask, “Jesus, how are you romancing me now?”
One day before my birthday in 2007, I wrote this poem. I stumbled upon it today and it made me smile. There's this giddiness in my heart that transcends through the eternity of it's deepest abyss. I read it over and over. And while reading, my brain was on multi-task mode, thinking of what I have gone through in such a span of time. Let me now share this poem to you...
ALL IS WELL - Kristin Shimizu
April 30, 2007
My present seems unstable, the future I can’t tell. The pressures of life toss me to and fro, as if I’m going through hell. But down, deep in my spirit, I hear a voice saying, "all is well." Heartaches, despair, and dismay are on the Increase; War is constant, there seems to be no peace.
Love, joy, happiness, and my finance are on the decrease. My life seems so short as if it will soon seize. But down, deep in my spirit I hear a voice saying, “all is well.” I was on the verge of backsliding, from grace I fell. Life seems so confusing, I couldn’t add nor spell.
It is said after a storm there is calm. But in my situation after my storm, tornados, earthquakes and hurricanes, batter me from side to side. All of life’s pain, I almost lost my mind, I was sure I was going insane.
I felt tormented as if I was under a spell. But I kept hearing the voice saying, “all is well.”
I stop; I pause, eject, rewind, fast forward and play. But it was if I was dumbstruck, I didn’t know what to say. I felt absent from GOD, not reading my bible, No fasting, much less to pray.
I cut and paste, edit, enter then delete. No money, no supermarket, nothing to eat. But I kept hearing the voice saying, “all is well.” My situation seems ever worse; it was dark like midnight. I felt sad and fearful, I was overwhelmed with fright. The enemy thought I was defeated; No victory for me in sight.
Then suddenly, I heard a sound! The abundance of rain. I felt an outpour of the oil of joy, for all my mourning and pain. My visions became a reality; my nightmares were out of sight. My steps were ordered again, the outcome was right.
Yesterday all seems lost, but my tomorrow looks bright. All this was possible because of The Light.
He is the voice that beckons to you and me, “all is well.”
“All that I brought you through, was for Information to be gained, and a message to tell. Go, say to the world, that without Me your all is not well. I Am The First and The Last, Beginning and The End. Well done my good and faithful servant Your all is well.”
