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Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Motivational Reads / Daily Devotions from Biblegateway.com - Daily Verse

Luke 2:28-32 MSG

^25-32In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:

God, you can now release your servant;
    release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
    it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
    and of glory for your people Israel.

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Luke 2:28-32 International Children's Bible

²⁸Then Simeon took the baby in his arms and thanked God:

²⁹“Now, Lord, you can let me, your servant,
    die in peace as you said.
³⁰I have seen your Salvation^[a] with my own eyes.
³¹    You prepared him before all people.
³²He is a light for the non-Jewish people to see.
    He will bring honor to your people, the Israelites.”

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Footnotes

2:30 Salvation Simeon was talking about Jesus. The name Jesus means “salvation.”

Thinking Out Loud – Journal Thoughts/Prayers / Mind Maze Overflow

I have never been the Barbie Doll type. In fact, being the youngest of three with my brother in the middle I grew up a tom boy that well if you told me I couldn’t without true convincing I would prove I could.

I used to joke that God had a really funny sense of humor at times.

Thinking back how I used to love to get dressed up in frilly dresses and wear my converse to at some point knowing how much it infuriated me that people look at us as a piece of meat. If we fit into the scope of what they were looking to use things were great if not just like that no matter who or what it did not matter.

Mind you over time I have been extremely cute, extremely fit, extremely self-centered, and even at times extremely materialistic and mean.

I thank God for the lessons he has allowed me to learn and more so even because I cannot tell you exactly when it happened but the day it became less about me and more about him.

Sure, I can tell you the day I walked forward and the day I was rebaptized and locked in and even the reasons behind it. But the day I was no longer the person I once was a mystery.

I still love my sneakers in fact so much, so my #1 Grand got me a new pair for Christmas which are absolutely the cutest.

And I still at times get dressed up. Which I probably should do more than less. Being there are times my grunge comfort style can be unflattering. After all this 61-year-old with a 20-year-old mindset forgets when to pull her hair back and when to let it down.

For whatever reason I have always carried my own way and never found it appealing to be anyone’s puppet so they could carry me.

In fact, I have carried more than my share of many others. Willingly even if at times it was a mistake because trusting everyone was on the up and up really cost more than stepping out and helping in the first place.

My goal this day is still not people pleasing but pleasing in the will of God. Serving which until you do it with no expectation you will truly never understand the blessing it fills you with.

Though over the past couple years I went through what I will refer to as a ripple. Still even at this age my heart was too big and believed and put silent expectations on others. Only to be shattered into pieces and remolded to understand a little better each time I was helped back up.

Feeling the changes more so now than ever before thanks to Covid and not staying on the move as I once did. Even though I seem to be busier than ever, just not like I once was. I no longer have that energy to go out and hand paint a 1525 sq foot house by hand as I did a couple of years back.

Although when I look at pictures people get of me these days, I see I am blessed to still be here even if its not the best shot. You know that vanity that sneaks in. Like Christmas and some beautiful friends wanting a snap with me. LOL, working the booth keeping my hair pulled back out of my eyes being I was steering at the computer. I realized I should have taken the Barrett out before the photo. LOL

Or the fact I have dropped some weight but really wish to see myself back to when I was fit; even if I do nothing but watch my diet to get there.

Funny I could go by different clothes and hide and not wear those bright red turtlenecks with jeans during the holiday. I could put my business attire on… I could of, would of should of…. WHATEVER!!!

I am who I am with oh so many scars and stories.

And the love for bold, bright shining spirits and sometimes colors.

I will be the first to tell you if something is not working. Don’t be a victim, don’t try and have some huge pity party and invite everyone to participate. Get up and make the changes needed to get you where you feel the growth. You and God hand and hand own your destination. If you give yourself away and choose to blame everything but your own self-motivation to fight forward and get back up. It is on you; it is on me!

Not everyone knows if anyone will love you, like you or even want a glimmer of hope and the best for you.

The world full of so many spirits and the lack of humanity is a hard place and so convoluted and mixed up.

You cannot play in Satan’s sandbox and be out in the darkness and expect to be blessed with beautiful morally sound life.

You cannot lie your way to heaven, and you cannot bring back life once you have destroyed it by your addictions and consumption that your darkness collects collateral damage from.

As a parent, aunt, sister, friend, grandparent and most importantly daughter of the most high King Jesus; Prince of Peace.

As I cry for my own disappointments and shed heart ache for those lost to the lies. As I pray with great hope healing is right here right now for those fighting their demons or by their actions maybe not.

Life is hard, but nowhere was it ever written it would a promise to be easy and absolutely not free.

All those things you seem to take from others freely. The cost is greater than you will ever come to know.

I am thankful although still at times feeling the highs too high or the lows too low.

I am grateful that I made it this far with my brother and sister before my brother earned his wings this year.

I am not as good as I could be but so much better than who I once was.

Be it my hair pulled back, pulled down, grown long, or cut off. The blessings of stories and family, and friends and connections.

Beyond blessed to have made it through the darkness and held close to the light and love of Jesus Christ.

Through the laughing so hard tears flow or the pain so deep you just cannot hold them back. Learning when to hold onto and when to let go will be the greatest lesson of all and always ever changing with the results you receive from every free will choice you have been blessed to acknowledge and own.

Our lives are fading fast, our loved ones’ gone too soon according to our plans. But the will of God is and always be what we may never fully grasp in understanding. May we just appreciate the simple things and stop chasing all that can never go with us to the other side?

I so hope you learn to dance here and now in grand wide-open gifts of all that are in front of you.

Prayers for all stuck in the middle of the wars with no hope because darkness seems so very heavy. I pray Gods arms carry you to safety in all that many will never know the meaning for.

Be your best self for who Jesus died to live and give your life to be here and now.

Sure, I remind myself often of the same very things. And some days getting back up is hard. The theft of all those we care about and want so much better for. The battle is all around us. Without a doubt. It may not be ours, and yet somehow, we are attached to it. It may seem too much or too little. Never really understanding the why while in the middle.

Get back up. Love people for who they are and not what they look like, what they do or what they have that you think you want.

Let them love you even at arm’s length for just that one split second. That hope gives new meaning.

Meet Jesus right where you are. There is so much to be had just by your spiritual day to day conversations and listening for his will not our own. And even if!

Thank you, Jesus, for all the years you have given me. Thank you to those who have been called home did not suffer as it could have been. Comfort those in the midst of the darkness so deep at the hands of others. Protect and guide them and if they are the ones causing the darkness. Shine bright and protect all in their way.

Your will Jesus not my own. Thank you to all who you call upon and all who share your truth, your will, your light. Wake us up for the days ahead belong to you!