1/31/2022 January has flown by and we will enter the second month of 2022. What place do hope and grace have in your life? Are hope and grace part of how you live and live with others? Can you let go of fear which leads to anger which leads to violence? Make hope and grace part of who your are as well as how you live!!!
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/30/2022 Today is Sunday and is what some call a little Easter. On the first day of the week, Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead and brought to us life. Jesus brought us life and that abundant as we are cleansed and made holy because Jesus took our sins upon Himself and as the Bible declares actually became sin. Our sin. The resurrection is so important the Church moved the primary day of worship from Saturday (the Sabbath) to Sunday. The resurrection taking place on the first day of the week is a reminder we are made a new creature, creation and have a new life possible beginning on the first day. So Happy Easter!!! Enjoy the day living your new life, your abundant life, your eternal life.
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
The fullness of grace bleeding upon our cross
The fullness of hope seen in His empty tomb
We have received what didn’t know to ask for
We have received what we could never do
The love of God seen in His Son’s dying agony
The love of God seen in Jesus’ empty tomb
Why would God do such a thing for us? That is the grace of God founded in God’s love. Would you lay down your life for someone else. The Bible says we may lay down our life for a few but Jesus laid down His for all!!! Even those who hated Him! Even those who nailed Him to the cross! You and I!
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/29/2022 Hope is a gift which keeps on giving. If you have hope pass it on to someone in need. To continue life with hope we must pass hope on or it will dry up from us. In Jesus Christ hope is Jesus Himself but without God hope can still come from the Creation of the God who made us!
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Grace is also a gift which keeps on giving. If we receive God’s grace through Jesus Christ we live within grace living in our lives and touching the lives of others. For those who do not put their trust in Jesus grace can be found in the Golden Rule of treating others as we would like to be treated.
From my Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
“Grace and hope are infectious but they are a blessing to catch!!!”
1/28/2022 I have a daily devotion trying to offer a Daily Dose of God’s Glory and some may believe I feel like this every day. That would be wrong.
Some days I hear the words others use to define me. Loser, stupid, fat, ugly, incapable and so many others. I remember we used to sing, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”. That is such a lie! Many still remember every ‘definition’ others heaped upon their weak and frail shoulders. Ripped apart, stripped of value and left only being defined by the destructive words of others. Some grow stronger through these definitions but many still carry them like a huge weight crushing their soul and spirit.
God defines us differently and in a way we could not imagine. God says we broken messes are worth the Father offering the life of His only Son! God places such a high value on us. But I must admit I couldn’t believe that and so lost His way and my life.
Do NOT listen to definitions of others but be defined by the love of God!!!
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/25/2022 Without hope we are already dead but just haven’t lain down. Without hope we are left with existence and unable to really live. Hope frees us from the fears and doubts that weigh us down and leaves us merely dying until we die. Grab onto hope and never let it go!
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Living by and with grace enables us to have a quality of life that is astounding! We are free from the weariness of not forgiving and of hatred. It takes too much time and energy to hate! Live a fuller and richer life through grace!!!
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/24/2022 We can burden ourselves with the guilt of the past or the worries about tomorrow but we can only live in the present. The present is a present from God as is hope. With hope we can leave our burdens behind us and look away from the fears of tomorrow and enjoy the present of now.
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Why are people so angry? If you look around you can see the angriest often want to divide people so they will support them. “Divide and conquer.” In the end we will divide ourselves and thus conquer ourselves. Grace is the antidote because grace is antihate, antiselfish, and antidivision.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/23/2022 Those who have lost all in the storms of our unnatural world and in the sin which pervades our world leave so much behind. Their old is left behind but have hope God can make the new life better!
Leaving
Leaving hurts deeper than you know
All left behind new place to sow
What will happen will it grow
In which wind will it all blow?
People leaving who are so dear
Hard to face this thought so drear
Never again to see them I fear
Not known for I’m not a seer
But hope rises from the Dead
I follow my illustrious head
Who always is one step ahead
I look to see beyond the fright
I look a see His wondrous light
His plan will be my delight
Just stay within God’s own light
From 2008 Heart Talks
1/22/2022 There is a genuine power in saying I am sorry. There is the power of humility to admit you can do wrong and that you did a wrong. There is the power of hope as you hope they will understand you actually are sorry and want the breach between each other to be healed.
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
There is a genuine power in saying I am sorry. There is the power of a chance forgiveness can bring healing into both of your lives. The power of grace released can radically change us today and forever. All because you are sorry for hurting someone at times not even realizing it at the time. There is a genuine power in saying I am sorry.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/20/2022 Recently a tornado ripped through part of Kentucky leaving a path of destruction, devastation and death. Larry Quarles shared the town of Mayfield no longer exists and even those who lived there all their lives did not know what street they were on. Having lost almost everything many still trust God will see them through this time of loss. Their hope guides them to the future even standing among devastation!
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Where was God’s grace as the storms ripped through homes, communities, towns and entire areas stealing homes and even lives? When I was a boy these storms were considered a disaster created by God and now we consider them “natural” disasters. But death, sickness, destructive weather and all that is horrific did not exist before the fall where we chose to be our own God. There was a mist covering the earth so even rain was not needed. Perhaps we should call they unnatural disasters or disasters of pride.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/19/2022 Do you ever say “I hope”? What do you mean by saying “I hope”? What does hope mean to you? Hope can be seen the same as a wish to some but they are very different because a wish is based on nothing more than a star while hope is based on the God who created the star.
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Grace really is amazing! True grace is only possible through the God who showed grace to us by dying for us so we can live for and with Him*. Our example of grace comes from God but those who do not come to God can strive to use His example of how to live with others. *We can live in God’s presence now as well as is Heaven.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/18/2022
Why
Why is a question we ask
It keeps us from our task
In pity we do like to bask
So a question we do ask
God’s fault we do ask
Our fault we don’t ask
Does God care we ask
Why care we don’t ask
No longer in pity do bask
No more questions ask
Where should I go can ask
To get you to appointed task
From 2008 Heart Talks
1/17/2022 Recently a tornado ripped through part of Kentucky leaving a path of destruction, devastation and death. Larry Quarles shared the town of Mayfield no longer exists and even those who lived there all their lives did not know what street they were on. Having lost almost everything many still trust God will see them through this time of loss. Their hope guides them to the future even standing among devastation!
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Where was God’s grace as the storms ripped through homes, communities, towns and entire areas stealing homes and even lives? When I was a boy these storms were considered an act of God and now we consider them natural disasters. But death, sickness, destructive weather and all that is horrific did not exist before the fall where we chose to be our own God. There was a mist covering the earth so even rain was not needed. Perhaps we should call them unnatural disasters or disasters of human pride.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/16/2022 What is life like without hope? Without hope it is so easy to settle for just existing moment by moment, hour by hour and day by day. Just hoping to get through today believing the next day will be the same. Without hope change is fearful and rips away our thin layer of comfort. Is this how you live? I hope not.
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Grace means I will not do or say anything I think will bring harm you but it does not mean I will not do or say anything that will harm you. Before we can receive God’s Good News of grace we must first receive the bad news that we need grace! I may offend and to you be harmful but without the bad news you will never know you need the Good News!!!
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/15/2022
The time is bad
but it always is
Hurting to get
what think his
Do what seems
impossible to us
They should give
without any fuss
Hope is essential
it seems strange
Hope is essential
for us to change
We can’t change
without grace
For us to change we
need God’s grace
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/14/2022 I gave up on hope and grace because of a sin I would not let go. Jesus cannot be crucified twice so sin chosen over grace brings death.
You may ask how can I write about hope and grace? First I experienced the difference they made in my life and secondly you really know the value of something you lost. Seek and discover for yourself the wonder and power of hope and grace!!!
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/13/2022
Why do we fear hope?
Some may scoff at the idea but I have and have experienced so many who do.
Why do we fear hope?
Could it be we fear hope because it is an admission we need?
Why do we fear hope?
I am not sure? Do you know why?
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
There is a story from the mid 1800s of a man who went to debtors prison regularly and paid the debt of a person so they could be set free. One day he offered to pay off the debt of a person who could never pay their debt but they refused saying he did not need help and would pay the debt off himself. The man offering grace sadly went away and the prisoner died in prison.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/12/2022
The clouds slide by constantly changing from shape to shape as they merge and slip apart. Colors change from an angelic glowing white to a gray at the bottom to an angry black lit by lighting within them.
Sun, moon, stars and even the calming shade of blue are hidden as the clouds wink them away. We are at the mercy of the clouds to see beyond our planet and the expanded gazing at creations expanse.
But the clouds themselves are a window to creation as we gaze at the fluid motion and see creation is also fluid as even the mountains flow by wind, rain, ice and sun.
Clouds are a promise of rain and of God's rainbow promise the floods will not overwhelm our world again. Clouds can remind us of the hope and grace of God over us each day.
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/11/2022 At times hope seems so elusive as though it runs away from us. But are we the ones running away? Have we blinded ourselves from hope by seeing only the problems or by looking at our feet afraid of tripping? Though elusive I believe hope wants to be found. Look away from your troubles and look up and hope is right there!
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
Grace = undeserved favor. Grace = God paying for our sin by dying on a cross. Grace = more than forgiveness but undeserved forgiveness. God’s grace = a stream of forgiveness flowing to us to others. Grace = a piece of heaven on earth.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/10/2022
What the price of my soul?
What the price of my soul
More than the price of life
The price to again be whole
Overcoming all my strife
What the price for who I am
More than I can ever count
What the price that I shall be
And that I can again become
What God wants me to be
The price makes be dumb
What the price for who I am
More than I can ever count
The price stands before me
No, I cannot look away
One so lovely on a tree
Suffering for my price to pay
What the price for who I am
More than I can ever count
Blood flowing from His brokenness
Pain flowing from His eyes
Falling down I must confess
My sin even as He dies
What the price for who I am
More than I can ever count
A Darkness hides the sight
The darkness fleeing my heart
As He makes me so very right
Of His suffering I am a part
What the price for who I am
More than I can ever count
The earth trembles neath my feet
As God stabilizes my soul
My fear of God to ever meet
Down from me does roll
What the price for who I am
More than I can ever count
What price to pay for my soul
God Paid His only Son
Can I give God the control
Of the life which He won
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/9/2022
Let it go
Pilgrim let it roll away
Harder to make it stay
Always wants to return
Causes our heart to burn
Cut the ties that hold it in
Cut the ties holding our sin
Oh God, let it roll away
Please let it leave today
No guarantee it won’t return
Even though I sin do spurn
Please God help me today
Please God, let it roll away
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/8/2022
White as Snow
Snow covers the hardened ground
Kissing the ear with a gentle sound
Each flake an amazing gift of God
Covering a stained earthly sod
Landscape changes in our view
All looks cleansed, all looks new
Mud, grass, trees all lost to sight
Covered by this blanket of white
Coldness chills our hearts blood
Chilled through by this white flood
Icicles descending from every tree
An army of daggers surrounding me
Flakes of snow dancing in the sky
Their finale on the ground they lie
Compounded by their growing number
Drifting and lifting in their slumber
My heart is like the cold hard ground
Sin and darkness in it abound
God sent His Son’s cleaning flood
And covers me in Jesus’ blood
The white covers my hard heart
Cracking and breaking it apart
The whiteness covers my heart’s sod
A gift of love from my God
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/7/2022
Evil does not exist
Does it?
What is evil?
Is it the opposite of live?
There are opposites
All kind of opposites
But none more than evil
The opposite of evil good?
The opposite of evil life?
Does asking admit evil is?
Asking what evil is says it is
If no evil why do we ask?
If no evil how could we know to ask?
Is all bad rooted in evil?
How much is ours because of the fall?
Stupidly we received only evil
We already had knowledge of good
We traded the best to know evil
Which perverts the good in us
Which in the end perverts us
Which in the end destroys us
The weakness of evil is that it destroys
It destroys it's host even as it destroys others
Evil cannot grow because it is self destructive
Evil destroys and it's seed is death itself
Will the evil one win? No!
The evil one is too weak to harm God
The evil one can only hurt God by hurting those He loves
The ultimate weakness of knowing it is defeated
The very strength of evil is what will destroy it
Even our good is filthy rags to God
Our best is touched by our evil
Evil distorts our best intentions
Evil corrupts our best offerings
We give so we can get
We give to those who can give
We build connections that destroy
It is who we are
Is there hope against our evil
What is the hope against our evil
Jesus conquered our evil by His death
Evil no longer had its power
Jesus paid our price for our evil
His pain paid for our pain
His suffering paid for our suffering
Jesus conquered death by death
JESUS CONQUERED EVIL
JESUS CONQUERED OUR EVIL
Evil is dead holding us hostage
We have not the courage to escape
We do nothing in this face of this
We die because we secretly want evil
Of the first two born one murdered
The second was made the first martyr
Adam and Eve experienced grief
Evil destroys life and existence
Evil, by its nature destroys itself
But before destroyed harms many
Grief, shame and destruction
They are the fruit of evil
They are the fruit of our evil
Evil does exist
1/6/2022 Hope. Grace. Do they impact your life? If they do how?
““Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 NKJV)
This verse could be a definition or example of hope and grace in action. Hope and grace are do and not have blessings. How many times is the word do used?
This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.
1/4/2022
The year begins. Take this opportunity to petition God to forgive you and to help you grow closer to God and have your own Heart Talks with God!
Each day remember who God is and the foundational beliefs of Christians by not just repeating the Apostles Creed but living with in protective boundaries of it.
I
believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And
in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the
Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under
Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third
day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and
sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from
thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I
believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic** church,
the
communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the
resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
*Traditional creed includes these words: "He descended into hell." **universal – not the Roman Catholic Church.
1/3/2022 “What the world needs now---”.
The song continues to say the world needs love. But how do we love? How can we love those we dislike? How can we love those who hurt us? How can we love those we hate? Could the fertilizer to grow love be hope? Is it possible to love without hope? So many questions!
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
If hope is the fertilizer to grow love is grace the seed? Is it possible to love without first offering grace? Is the opposite of love hatred or is it fear? Can we love those we fear or do we first need to reach out knowing grace must flow through us from God to others? So, so many questions!
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
1/2/2022
LOST
Lost in wonder and reverence of a God who is beyond yet near
So lost in amazed praise there is no room for any fear
Looking yet not seeing, yet seeing without looking
A reflection I can receive only when seeking
The light fills my heart and over floods my soul
Refilling and completing my hearts eternal hole
Music unwritten and not sung by weak humanity
Flows within my soul to praise it sets me free
Beyond hands and knees my soul lifts and falls down
My trembling hands seek for the hem of His holy gown
Where I am lost in whom I am seeking
The place lost to the One for whom I’m looking
Is that bright flash a smile from His wondrous face?
Is that warm sensation from God’s own embrace?
Beyond feeling and beyond all human emotion
Swept away beyond even love to humble devotion
I cannot see the face I so long to see
My human frailty and sin do constrain me
Human words no longer hold any value
Limiting all my heart and soul has for You
Lost in the wonder and worship of You I can’t see
Preparation of the time lost in You I will be
2016
1/1/2022 Happy New Year!
For hope we can look to the coming year as a time to use what we have learned to grow into a better person and hopefully a better year. Hope and come from an honest appraisal of who we are (not who we think we are) and growing in our better and growing by learning from our mistakes.
This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me have hope, beyond hope.
For grace the coming year is an opportunity to see those around us we need to forgive and one at a time, with God’s help, work to actually forgive and not just seek to forget or just ignore what angers us. Grace is recognizing the needs of others and not ignoring them but praying for them and guiding to God for the help only God can give.
From my Grace Journal. It was suggested to start a Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.
