Melody of Love

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. - I John 3:16

You Are Loved

(These are my notes from one of my favorite chapel services this past summer at the ranch--Sunday morning, July 29, 2012. This message was so challenging to me then and it still is a wonderfully challenging message to me today--even though my notes don't do it justice. The photo is also from this past summer.)

John 14: Three Fundamental Truths

1} You have a Savior! (verses 1-3)
      - Why would Jesus tell them not to be troubled?
           -because He was on the way to the cross
           -because Peter (the strong one in the group) was told he was going to deny Jesus
           -because they were told that one of them would betray Him
         *-because Jesus' preparing was His cross bearing
2} You have a Father! (verse 21)
      - John 17:23: The Father loves me, Emily Grace, just as He loves Christ!
3} You have a Helper! (verses 16-18, 23)
      - Romans 8
      - we will never be alone

Boils down to this: YOU ARE LOVED!
       - so you're weary--YOU ARE LOVED
       - so you're going home to circumstances you fear--YOU ARE LOVED
     *- so you failed this past week--YOU ARE LOVED
       - so you_______--YOU ARE LOVED

So what are you going to do?

Philippians 3:8-11 {1}
       - Your knowledge of your fears/mistakes makes you ineffective, so press on and strive because the Savior has made you His own!

Matthew 7:7-12 {2}
       - the terrible burden of caring for yourself has been lifted by the Father!

Romans 8:26 {3}
       - know that the Spirit intercedes for you, so cry out in the simplest of ways!

This is the Love for which the world was made.

"Love well this week--give it your all--because YOU ARE LOVED!"

We love because He first loved us.

Breathing His Name - a thankful thursday

456: family time in the car - "always bring a flashlight!"
458: words from a brother -"Thank you for suggesting to play a game with Titus when he was just sittin' on the stairs bored. I remember that!"
459: late night games with little siblings


460: giggles late into the night
461: early morning light and snow dusted branches


463: cold prayer walks - even though they are hard
464: breathing His name - YHWH

"The letters of the name of God in Hebrew.. are infrequently pronounced Yahweh. But in truth they are inutterable...

This word {YHWH} is the sound of breathing.

The holiest name in the world, the Name of Creator, is the sound of your own breathing. That those letters are unpronounceable is no accident. Just as it is no accident that they are also the root letters of the Hebrew verb 'to be' ...
God's name is of Being itself."

- Rabbi Lawrence Kushner (read on a holy experience)

The Sound of Our Breathing - Jason Gray

465: grace gifts
466: reminders to be intentional  in everything
462: daily putting on 'love' - a physical reminder through this necklace to share His love to those around me