Day 3
The temperature is changing and the mornings and evenings are cool. I LOVE IT!! This weather makes perfect camping weather. One of my favorite things to do is to go camping with my family and then get up early in the morning and grab a blanket and my bible and sit by the still smoldering fire and gaze over the water in front of me. I LOVE blankets! There is something comforting about being wrapped up in a blanket. Although there are good blankets the ones that are soft, thick and fluffy and then there are the ones that I remember as a child that are thin and wool and little rough to the touch. Yes I choose soft, thick and fluffy. I am actually bundled in one right now!
I can remember the day my first son was born. I remember them taking him over to the table, watching them clean him off so gently, they checked to make sure all of his signs were good, that every toe and finger was in place then they laid out a blanket and laid him on top of it and bundled him so tightly up and handed him to my husband and then with tears running down my face and his dads he handed him to me and said he is all ours. No one can prepare you for that moment what it will feel like or how you will even respond. But all I could do is look into his eyes and cry. I remember looking at his face and the marks he had. The delivery went well until the last few pushes. I had pushed and pushed but was not having luck and my blood pressure was dropping quickly and his heart rate was dropping too. The doctor looked at me and said I can try forceps but if we don’t try them or they don’t work we are going to have an emergency C-section. I was young and didn’t’ really even know what forceps were but I heard my baby’s heart rate was dropping and emergency and I said yes. So with a few more pushes he came. But the forceps had left marks on both sides of his face. And now I was holding him and could see them and yet as bad as it looked he seemed so peaceful wrapped tightly in that blanket.
That’s what Jesus does for us! We come to him hurt, from distressed situations, from places of pain and heartache and He says “ Oh how I love you”.
John 15: 13 “Greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends”
He wants you to allow Him to pick up your pieces, take you in His arms and wrap you tightly up in His blanket of grace and we rest peacefully knowing He is in control.
Psalm 62: 7 “On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.”
We no longer have to depend on our own strength for the current situation we are facing instead He says rest in My strength. We no longer have to face our day fighting for love and approval from others He invites us to be wrapped in His love and mercy each day.
Lamentations 3: 22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is his faithfulness.”
But it is a choice we make daily. We chose to rest in His arms, wrapped up in His promises that feed our thoughts, our actions, our words, our response. We choose to wrap our mind in His truth.
I would like to say most days I choose resting in the truth and resting in knowing He knows best, but truth is some days I choose the rough, thin, wool blanket of the world. I choose to wrap myself in my own selfish desires. I choose to walk and live in the flesh. I choose to compare with others, to envy, to work at earning love, to feed my personal desires and not meeting the needs of others. I choose to hear and accept the lies of the enemy about my marriage, my children, my friends. I choose to re-decorate my house for the 5th time this year instead of giving to the local food pantry. I choose to take matters into my own hands because I know best. These are the realities of this world. We often choose to wrap our lives, our thoughts, our value, our money in worldly desires. And we give in to worldly standards. When Jesus is waiting with open arms as soon as we wake up ready to wrap us up in His love and His truth.
2Cor. 4: 18 “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Those precious marks on my baby’s face. They were temporary….they faded a few weeks later. God promises never fade! If we will let go of the things of this world, the expectations, the comparisons, the junk….He will heal every area in His time and His beauty will shine through us. We just need to look up.
Matthew 11: 28 “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”
Psalm 107: 19-21 “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them from their distress. He sends forth his word and healed them, he rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.”
Let him take your wounds, clean you off and wrap you in his unfailing love today!