line on line

Each and every artist, whatever his style (cartoon, abstract, impression) whether a doodler or sketcher, regardless of being a beginner or one experienced in drawing, starts a new work in the same way- with a single line.  Then line goes on line, here a little line there a little line.  That is the very way GOD teaches us. Isaiah 28;9,10 KJ  So as I  reread a favorite Bible story… GOD put another line in place and deepened my appreciation of HIS work in my life.  So here is the story- Sharon style.

Now several young good looking, highly educated and quick to learn, socially adept teenage boys who had never known a moment of dire need or deprived of any valid joy (for all were children of Jewish royalty or leaders) were among those taken captive by the Babylonians.  Can you even imagine their horror?  They were in no way prepared for this situation.

Because these teenagers were already trained in many areas,  the foundation was laid and therefore they were selected to live in the king’s palace and put under teachers to be taught for 3 years the learning and culture, writings, and  language of the Chaldeans so they could stand as counselors to the king.  The King also ordered that they be feed and given drink from the very best of his own table.  Though the teens grieved the horrors they had seen in Jerusalem and the struggle to survive during the travel to Babylon, can you imagine the teens relief when they were selected and taken to the palace?  What an opportunity, what an honor. 

But one of the boys felt a check in his spirit… I image a check very like you or I feel when placed in a situation and know you shouldn’t do something although it seems there is no way out and even harmless in itself.  When in Rome should we not do as the Romans do?

 

But not Daniel.  He knew the law of the LORD said that he was not to defile himself by eating  meat of an unbled animal or meat fried with its fats when taken captive to another land.  Leviticus 3:17 Hosea 9:3  But what could he do about it? He had no options for he was a captive.  Even though he didn’t know how yet, he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s meat nor with the wine. Daniel 1:8 Since his heart was in the right place, I believe GOD placed a plan in his thoughts  Proverbs 21:1, Philippians 2:13  He share this idea with his 3 closest friends.  They agreed to join him.

So he bravely went to the one in charge and asked to be allowed to eat only veggies and drink only water. (not that meat was wrong in itself but the kings meat had not been bled so was unclean and it was roasted with its fat and all fat belongs to the LORD plus animal fat harms the human body.)  The head guy was horrified at such a request for he felt such action would lead to the 4 boys to wither away and he knew without a doubt that if these 4 looked poorly to his master the king who had assigned the meat and wine for the boys, he would be killed.  So the teen asked that his plan be tested for just 10 days, how much damage could happen in just 10 days? Since GOD had already given this teen favor in the head honchos eyes, Daniel 1:9 he agreed to test Daniel’s plan.

And what happened?  After the 10 days those 4 teens looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate and drank the royal food.  So the one in charge allowed Daniel and his friend to continue on their diet of vegetables and water.  And to those 4 GOD gave knowledge and understanding, skill in all learning and wisdom above the other teen and gave Daniel understanding in all visions and dreams.  Daniel 1:17  

Why? Those 4 looked not on their own comfort but on what GOD said was right.

We’ve sees Daniel’s desire to do right, to act as prompted by GOD & we have seen his bravery to go to the one in charge and change the King’s command. so let’s focus now on GOD’s part in this familiar story:

1.   GOD created this teen in the womb of his mom and given him special abilities. Psalm 139:13
2.   Our Creator had a plan for Daniel Jeremiah 29:11
3.  The LORD placed him in a family of royalty or nobility  Daniel 1:3,4
4.  The Almighty ONE nudged the king to make specific commands concerning the Jewish teens. Daniel 1:3-5
5.  The Holy SPIRIT nudged the teen by putting a check in his spirit reminding Daniel that what was expected was wrong. Perhaps HE did this by bringing a piece of Scripture to Daniel’s mind.  I know that is often how HE speaks to me. 
6.  The Designer of the universe placed within Daniel a plan and the desire to do what GOD wanted with the ability to do so.  Philippians 2:13  He didn’t have to think up his own plan.
7.   GOD gave Daniel favor in the eyes of the one in charge. Daniel 1: 9 We see that so often in scripture how GOD opens doors through giving people favor with those in charge or in need.
8. GOD blessed the choice and action to do right with physical health and vitality above the others Daniel 1:15
9.   GOD gave Daniel and his friends more in intellect, wisdom, understanding and skills plus special abilities because they used what they already had. Daniel 1:17

We must never lose sight of the fact that we have nothing that has not 1^st been given to us 1 Corinthians 4:7 & that we are GOD’s workmanship (Greek=poem) Ephesians 2:10; then we will remember that we have no reason to boast.

Hugs

Sharon

Sharing one of Sharon's struggles

Very early this morning, as I talked with my LORD there was a nudge and a hint of an assignment.  Then this evening HE clearly showed me that throughout this day I had been resisting HIS leading in an area of my life…I was not allowing HIS fruit in one area to be worked out in a practical way. Now get this, that very area I have been asking HIM to help me with the past few weeks.  Duh!   (sounds a bit like when the Jews would go to find out GOD’s will only to refuse to do what HE said) Yes, I kept struggling. 

When I saw this I confessed and immediately a wild idea came, now I must admit that this isn’t the 1^st time I have thought that thought concerning this area… but after asking GOD if this was HIM or me HE reminded me 1^st that I had asked HIM to help me and that HE promises to lead me if I consult with HIM.  So I told HIM yes I would go on assignment, if HE would help me.

So much has been going on around here I was behind and needed to get online and check on my email, so right after my talk with our LORD I got online and found way too many emails waiting for me.  I noticed one was a devotional by my online friend Lorraine Ezell so I started reading her message on  the Fruit of the Spirit.  As I read it, GOD spoke again to me confirming the assignment HE had just given me and thereby stilled the enemy’s fiery darts of doubt that he was shooting to my thoughts. Ephesians 6:16

No sooner than I made the commitment when a test came.  A situation arose and I was tempted to put off beginning the assignment until tomorrow, even though I had already started.  For to carry out HIS assignment beginning now seemed to mean hurting others feelings, people who were trying to bless me.  That couldn’t be of GOD could it?   I was really pulled back and forth so lifted it up to GOD.  And GOD worked it out that I could be gracious and loving and yet still comply with HIS orders.   THAT IS JUST LIKE HIM!  I saw no way out but GOD had made a way!

You know how JESUS said that those of us who believe in HIM are given the Holy SPIRIT and that HE becomes rivers of living water flowing out of us?  John 7:38,39  Those rivers of living water are also called the fruit of the SPIRIT in Galatians 5:22,23.  That fruit is GOD’s character being revealed through us believers to those we meet. 

When we let the Holy SPIRIT lead us, when we follow HIM and go with HIS nudges, GOD’s character flows through us to meet the needs in others.  When we refuse to obey GOD”S WORD or the Holy SPIRIT, when we resist HIS nudges and quench the motivation HE places in us and stop HIS work in our lives others don’t get to see what GOD is like.

Please pray for me as I follow the Word of GOD and the leading of the Holy SPIRIT, for as JESUS says, without HIM I can do nothing (of any lasting value).  For I want others to find JESUS and the freedom and joy I have received from HIM.

Hugs

Sharon

how should I pray?

 

As we hear over and over and over of the terrorists, the persecution of Christians, the horrors done to children and the ethnic killings I keep asking my LORD GOD how to join HIM in prayer.  Romans 8:26 &34

 

2 weeks ago HE gave me a verse... Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated as if you yourself were suffering.  Hebrews 13:3

 

That gets me to asking myself, what would I want GOD to do for me if I was in that situation?

 

Just moments ago I read again of children killed by terrorists and again I cried out, "How do I join with you in prayer for these, LORD?"

 

What I saw is nothing new but I feel I must share... I saw and felt a calm while all around me was a whirling storm.

 

I am to continue to pray for those suffering that they experience that calm that is found in the eye of a storm. like Stephen... the 1st martyr, I am to pray that they be so aware of JESUS's presence with them that what is happening around and to them fades from view. 

 

Will you join with me to pray for those suffering as if you were there suffering with them.  I know that if I were in the storm they are in, I would want to be with JESUS and have HIS peace fill me. JESUS said:

Peace I leave with you, MY peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 

Almighty GOD I come in the name of JESUS.  I thank YOU for JESUS and for access to YOUR throne.  I know YOUR heart aches for these little ones and that YOU are working even these horrible things that evil men are doing for an end result of good for these little ones who love YOU.  Please flood them with the Holy SPIRIT awareness of JESUS so vivid to them that all that is happening around and to them fades and their fears melt away as YOUR peace surrounds them in a calm.  Have YOUR loving way... though I don't understand we trust YOUR love for I see what JESUS did and does for me, I trust YOUR wisdom for I see the beauty and order of YOUR creation, I trust YOUR plans and cling to YOUR promises... have YOUR way... for I know it is at work and it is best.

 

hugs

Sharon 

Misunderstanding

Now at the time all the people of the world spoke the same language and clearly understood one another  what is now referred to as the tower of Babel was conceived and building began because  the people were afraid to go off to fill the earth as GOD had instructed.  Genesis 9:1   Instead they decided to stick together,  fortify each another  and  to make a name for themselves.  Genesis 11:1-3   That was their choice, but it was a costly one for when  GOD has decided something HE makes sure it happens. Jeremiah 4:28c   Therefore, after allowing men to make their choice, HE urged them to rethink their choice. (that is one of GOD’s ways)  GOD motivated them by  confusing their language so they could not understand each other.  That is why there are so many languages & dialects on earth today.  I truly believe that it is also why people who speak the same language often misunderstand one another.

And such a misunderstanding has occurred with some I know.  I felt the results of it last week and again last night but it wasn’t until I was in the tub a bit ago, soaking out the sore muscles from overdoing and talking to the LORD that  I felt the nudge to explain and clarify.

There is nothing GOD can learn for HE already knows all things past, present and future.  Before I speak a word, GOD knows what I am going to say. Psalm 139:4  But HIS knowing something doesn’t mean HE caused it.  I believe GOD is in absolute control and works all things after the counsel of HIS own will Ephesians 1:11.  When the LORD made us HE wanted a a loving relationship so did not make us puppets.  Scripture and experience show that we make our own choices.  GOD determines the times, the places, the circumstances Acts 17:26 but we choose how to act in each situation.

Now how the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY stays in control while allowing us our own choices is way beyond my ability to comprehend but that’s OK with me for HIS ways are not my ways and HIS thoughts are not my thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8,9  HE knows all things, while I know in part 1 Corinthians 13:12 

Let me give you an example from an old story of how HE uses HIS knowledge of our future choices together with HIS purposes for an end result of good Romans 8:28 for a people who choose a relationship with HIM.

GOD created the heaven and the earth and all things in them.  At last HE made man in HIS image.  Now the LORD had planted a garden full of fruit trees and in the middle of the garden GOD placed two trees: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Then GOD put man in the garden and told him that he could eat from any of the trees with fruit on them except from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  GOD warned him if he ate from that tree he would die.

Adam was happy, GOD gave him a job to name all of the animals HE brought to Adam and that kept him busy but he found none like himself, no suitable helper for him.  I sense when that awareness hit, he felt left out, and a loneliness came over him… a desire to have someone like himself just as the animals had.  So what do you think?  Did GOD wait to give him a wife until he saw a need for one.   Hmmm  I imagine he rejoiced greatly when they were introduced.  Their life was great… they had no problems nor any reason to fear.

One day, Adam’s wife listened to a beautiful serpent…  who really was the devil  Revelations 20:2 and chose to believe the serpent rather than GOD so ate of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then gave it to her husband and he took a bite.  Something drastic happened when they ate… what had been beautiful before was now something to hide and all of a sudden they discovered two new things: fear and shame.  They realized that GOD’s warning was true, HE meant what HE said…  and they had for the 1^st time the fear of the LORD.

But since the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, it is imperative we have a fear of the LORD.  Before they sinned Adam and Eve did not have the fear of the LORD.  GOD’s purposes to conformed believers  into HIS image Romans 8:29 with Hebrews 1: 3 involve their having the fear of the LORD.  Isaiah 11:2,3  It is required. 

Do you think that knowing  what Adam and Eve’s choice was going to be, played a part in how GOD planted the garden? 

I do.   

I honestly think  I make choices and that my choices make a difference in this world.   At the same time I believe, GOD nudges me to pray and to do Philippians 2:13 but I choose whether I comply or not.  I don’t understand it but my choices are real and do somehow make a difference (the BIBLE says so) yet GOD’s purposes can never ever be thwarted by me.  To me this illustrates how man’s ability to choose (some call it free will) shows GOD’s great Sovereign wisdom and power that would otherwise be left unseen.

Hugs

Sharon

living or dead?

As I have been talking with new Christians, I find they so want to do what GOD wants them to do but are unsure what that is. So I have been sharing with some how easy GOD makes it for us to know what HE wants us to do even before we know much about the Bible. 

1. One way GOD speaks to us and directs our steps is while we read HIS word. A verse or even just a word will make us aware of what we should or should not do. 

That is like straight stitching on my sewing machine, Yet, my sewing machine, like many others, has attachments. When an attachment is placed on the sewing machine it will do special things automatically: like zig-zag, sew on buttons, do special designs. But without the attachment, it will not do those things. I find that is like walking with GOD. When HE desires me to do something, HE puts on an attachment. Let me explain. 

2. Another way GOD speaks to us and leads us is through nudging us. By that I mean GOD places within us both HIS desires and the ability to do them so that we feel an urge or nudge to do something. Philippians 2:13 Even in Old Testament times GOD led HIS people by placing within them the knowing of what they should do. That awareness of what we should do GOD- HIMSELF gives us in order to enable us to do all that HE wants us to do. Deuteronomy 29:29 Sometimes we feel something is just not right… that is often referred to as a check by the SPIRIT telling us NO to stop us.

The Bible speaks of this in different places. I especially like how it is said in Deuteronomy 30:11-14 where GOD told the people that the word telling them what HE wanted them to do was not hidden from them and neither was it far off. No one had to be sent to heaven to get it and bring it to tell the people, no one had to go across the ocean to find out what GOD wanted and bring it back to them, No, GOD said, But the word is very near to you, it is in your own mouth and in your own heart that you may do it. 

When we obey the nudges and checks GOD places within us, it is also called being led by the SPIRIT. And if we let the Holy SPIRIT lead us we won’t need to have a check list of the ordinances Colossians 1:14… cause we are following GOD HIMSELF…step by step. The law was a schoolmaster (a teacher) to show us we needed CHRIST. Now that we have CHRIST, HE leads us through HIS SPIRIT.

The Bible tells us what GOD is like and what we as HIS children should be like. We should go to HIS word to see how to act as HIS child. The Bible often speaks directly to us showing us ourselves. Sometimes, we don’t like what it is showing us. It is like going to a mirror and seeing your hair is a mess. It would be silly to go to a mirror and see a problem and not do something about it. So when we see something wrong in us as we read, we need to turn from it. When that happens, we are allowing the SPIRIT to lead us. 

If we follow the nudges and checks of the SPIRIT we will not commit the acts of the flesh but automatically do what GOD wants thereby the righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us. Romans 8:1,4

But, what if we refuse to do what we know we should? Then we have literally turning our back on GOD and refusing to follow the SPIRIT. When our back is to GOD, we don’t hear HIM so good. Sometimes we are not even aware we have sinned. Therefore, we need to begin and end and sometimes throughout each day ask the HOLY SPIRIT if we have grieved or quenched HIM. He will tells us if we have. If something comes to mind, all we need do is stop and confess it. For just like we keep soap on hand to wash with when we are dirty. In a like manner GOD has given the Christian a bar of soap so to speak. If we confess our sins HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9. That verse is the 1st verse my pastor had me memorize after I came to JESUS. He called it the Christians bar of soap. (LOL)

I am so glad GOD nudges me in the way I need to go, aren’t you? I even take comfort in knowing that HE has provided a bar of soap to wash with if I fall in the mud.

hugs

Sharon

nudges and checks

As I have been talking with new Christians, I find they so want to do what GOD wants them to do but are unsure what that is. So I have been sharing with some how easy GOD makes it for us to know what HE wants us to do even before we know much about the Bible. 

1. One way GOD speaks to us and directs our steps is while we read HIS word. A verse or even just a word will make us aware of what we should or should not do. 

That is like straight stitching on my sewing machine, Yet, my sewing machine, like many others, has attachments. When an attachment is placed on the sewing machine it will do special things automatically: like zig-zag, sew on buttons, do special designs. But without the attachment, it will not do those things. I find that is like walking with GOD. When HE desires me to do something, HE puts on an attachment. Let me explain. 

2. Another way GOD speaks to us and leads us is through nudging us. By that I mean GOD places within us both HIS desires and the ability to do them so that we feel an urge or nudge to do something. Philippians 2:13 Even in Old Testament times GOD led HIS people by placing within them the knowing of what they should do. That awareness of what we should do GOD- HIMSELF gives us in order to enable us to do all that HE wants us to do. Deuteronomy 29:29 Sometimes we feel something is just not right… that is often referred to as a check by the SPIRIT telling us NO to stop us.

The Bible speaks of this in different places. I especially like how it is said in Deuteronomy 30:11-14 where GOD told the people that the word telling them what HE wanted them to do was not hidden from them and neither was it far off. No one had to be sent to heaven to get it and bring it to tell the people, no one had to go across the ocean to find out what GOD wanted and bring it back to them, No, GOD said, But the word is very near to you, it is in your own mouth and in your own heart that you may do it. 

When we obey the nudges and checks GOD places within us, it is also called being led by the SPIRIT. And if we let the Holy SPIRIT lead us we won’t need to have a check list of the ordinances Colossians 1:14… cause we are following GOD HIMSELF…step by step. The law was a schoolmaster (a teacher) to show us we needed CHRIST. Now that we have CHRIST, HE leads us through HIS SPIRIT.

The Bible tells us what GOD is like and what we as HIS children should be like. We should go to HIS word to see how to act as HIS child. The Bible often speaks directly to us showing us ourselves. Sometimes, we don’t like what it is showing us. It is like going to a mirror and seeing your hair is a mess. It would be silly to go to a mirror and see a problem and not do something about it. So when we see something wrong in us as we read, we need to turn from it. When that happens, we are allowing the SPIRIT to lead us. 

If we follow the nudges and checks of the SPIRIT we will not commit the acts of the flesh but automatically do what GOD wants thereby the righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us. Romans 8:1,4

But, what if we refuse to do what we know we should? Then we have literally turning our back on GOD and refusing to follow the SPIRIT. When our back is to GOD, we don’t hear HIM so good. Sometimes we are not even aware we have sinned. Therefore, we need to begin and end and sometimes throughout each day ask the HOLY SPIRIT if we have grieved or quenched HIM. He will tells us if we have. If something comes to mind, all we need do is stop and confess it. For just like we keep soap on hand to wash with when we are dirty. In a like manner GOD has given the Christian a bar of soap so to speak. If we confess our sins HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9. That verse is the 1st verse my pastor had me memorize after I came to JESUS. He called it the Christians bar of soap. (LOL)

I am so glad GOD nudges me in the way I need to go, aren’t you? I even take comfort in knowing that HE has provided a bar of soap to wash with if I fall in the mud.

hugs

Sharon

I hadn't realized what day it was till I stop to checked the calendar before I wrote in my journal. But when I saw the date memories flooded over me. So many, many memories; memories I want to keep, to share and pass along. I think I will just dish them out one at a time, little by little the same way GOD chooses to teach us.  Isaiah 28:9,10 

We didn’t know what to do.  Things had been hard, really hard, Mac hadn't been able to find work, his UI had run out, our car had been repoed and I was so sick with the coming baby I had to come home from work.  We  had still had the truck and a gas credit card had come in the mail that very day, so at my father-in-law’s urging, we (my husband Mac, my 2 little ones- Jeri (4) & Kari (1) and I, a few months pregnant, piled into the old truck and off we went. The trip from Colorado Springs to Southern California, where Mac’s dad was living, was going good til we got to Arizona and were heading down a twisting pass. Then a combo of morning sickness & car sickness hit and was I ever miserable. 

But like it says so often in the Bible it came to pass When the roads straightened out, I got to feeling a whole lot better.  And I led the little ones to singing choruses.  Finally we got to his uncle's where his dad was staying, thanks to that credit card.  Mac's Uncle Cecil let us stay in his garage that had an old double bed in it and a teeny-tiny bathroom. Mac found a job plowing for a farmer. His uncle gave us potatoes so we were subsisting---surviving on potato soup made of potatoes, salt and water (mostly water). 

Being cooped up in the small space with my 2 little ones I was claustaphobic.  I was never alone unless I was in the bathroom. One time I came out to quite a sight.  There were my two daughters sitting on the bed. Jeri the oldest, held scissors in her hand and had a gleeful grin on her face and her little sister’s pony tails had been cut off at the rubber bands. Today I can laugh but it was serious them.  Jeri’s desire to do hair must have started really early for her. (Jeri has been sidetracked a few times- a move, a marriage- but she is again to start beauty school in August.)

The garage was really close quarters, especially with my 2 lively girls, so to get some time to think I would put the girls down for a nap and could only get them still by singing songs I remember my mom sang to me.  Like: When Irish eyes are smiling.   It was a neat time of bonding for us and sometimes I would fall asleep right beside them.  LOL

Not sure what the last straw was that prompted it, but one day Mac had enough.  He wasn't going to put us through this any longer. We called Dad and got an OK and then left for his place in Los Angeles.  Mac tried to find work but all he could find was a Jewish book bindery.  The wage was so little he was really discouraged and when he slipped and accidently cut off too much from an old Bible he knew he would be fired, so he quit. 

Feeling defeated he called his dad, who in turn drove to LA and encouraged Mac to hunt work in Meadow Valley where they had both worked years before.  Mac left us with my father and accompanied by his dad headed up the 600 miles to Northern, California and Meadow Valley.  He went looking for work in a place full of good memories from childhood, the place he'd come back to after his hitch in the Army and worked in the Meadow Valley Sawmill. But when they got there, there was no work for the old sawmill was closed down.  

But Roger, one he had worked with before at the old Meadow Valley sawmill told him of a job in a sawmill in a tiny town, off the beaten path- a town called Loyalton.  That man also gave him a letter of introduction and a reference. Mac was hired on the spon and although he hadn't done that precise job they were willing to train him.  Low man on the totum pole began working nights.  Before heading back south on a bus, Louie, Mac's dad, found a ramshackle house and arranged for an exchange for rent.  The 1st couple months were free if Mac would clear it and clean up the place. The rent thereafter was nominal so Mac gladly agreed.

You wouldn't believe all stuff the last renters had left behind, nor the filth… Mac wondered at first if he could even get the refrigerator clean enough to use, for it was rotten, pure stench.  But they nmust not have had a means to haul anything for they also left an old TV out in the yard.  Mac brought it in to see if it worked and was pleased to find out it did.  Sa he at least had that diversion to occupy his time off.

Mac can tell some wild stories of the next 6 weeks: stories of hunger; and fighting with the dog for a piece of cheese he dropped after his 1st payday; stories of pain --his dad knew he was passing a kidney stone when Mac described it to him over the phone & Louie's advice to soak in a tub of hot water really did help; stories of terrible loneliness but the company of our blind dog and the discarded TV did help.

A long 6 weeks later, hauling some 2nd hand furniture (my dad had refurbished) behind him in a trailer, Daddy drove me and the girls up 600 miles to Mac.  What we found was a crazy old house with slanted floors.  If the kids put roller skates on they would roll from one side of the huge old kitchen to another.  It made us laugh for we were young and were together again, there was food and shelter with room to move around and a yard and even a place to string up a rope to hang up clothes. 

Mac met Doug at the sawmill.  He was hired after I got to Loyalton and in about the same state as when Mac 1st got there so Mac would bring him home at lunchtime (11pm or so) and I fixed them soup and sandwiches.)  They were good times and much laughter.  Doug and Mac became good friends.  

Looking back at the struggles and the pains, and  the crazy things that made us laugh, I smile for I see how GOD used those times to achieve for us just like HE says in HIS word:  All of these things are for our benefit....That is why we never give up... our spirits are being renewed every day.  For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long.  yet they are producing for us an immeasurably great blessings that will last forever.  So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather we (choose) to look forward to what we have not yet seen.  For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys and benefits they have achieved for us will last forever.  2 Corinthians 4:15-18         Just think about that.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases- HIS mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning. Lamentations 3:23

Hugs

Sharon