blessings

People have often wondered why God doesn't bless them more. They ask the question of why do bad things happen to good people. Questions are amazingly good things to ask they make us think. However, why have we never asked the question, why does God bless us?

Throughout history the gods of the earth have been known to be cold and distant and these are the good gods! Today people still worship spirits to keep away from them! They are not asking for blessings, but simply that the god will leave them alone. 

Its amazing how many blessings God does show us if we just pay attention. Fine, they are not all life changing, but awestriking, chest constricting, tears in the eyes, blessing they certainly are. For the last week I have been sailing with the African Mercy on the open seas. There is not a bit of land in sight. At night, the only lights to be seen is from the stars and our ship. Little my blessings may be, but incredibly special they are. Just yesterday, they turned off the eighth deck lights (top open air deck) in favor of the meteor shower. I have seen the wonder of the stars before in such glory, because of the countries I have visited, but you add shower of meteors, churning waves beneath, and the wind in my hair, and it was pure bliss. With every star that fell I felt God's blessing. 

That is not the end of the blessings God has bestowed on me. In my trip, I have seen dolphins, water spots, the topmost of whales, and I've had the infinite joy of friendships. Hmmmm God has been great to me. I could tell you all my sorrows, and the pains, but what is the point of  that? That is the past and I look forward into the future, excited for what God has in store. 

May God bless you with the little things

May rainbows, and flowers, may friendships, 

and aquaintances, and all those little things

that seem so little to anyone else

bless you imensly

God bless

Heather

A Hidden Yearning

Has anyone else ever noticed that God never asked us to yearn for him; to want him. God is a God of love, of relationship. Of course he wants to be yearned for. He asks us to love Him but not yearn for Him. Maybe its because we already do, every last one of us. We all have that missing spot inside of us, that sense of yearning. What are we yearning for? More oft than not we search it out in human relationships, with love from the opposite sex. God, did after all, create such a relationship, so its safe to assume that loving another is not wrong. In fact it is correct and right. But, are we not reminded in the Bible, that our romantic relationships with each other is an actual representation of our relationship with God. I don't mean the physical, because though parts of the idea of the physical is a representation, the act in itself is something God gave uniquely to us (isn't He an amazing God). I mean the emotional part. The part where your partner becomes your best friend. In an ideal world you can share anything with them. In an ideal world you can trust everything to them, your life, your body, your soul, and your spirit. So it is with God. No wonder we get confused and chase after only romantic relationships when that is only a part of what our yearning is for. The other part, the big part, is for God. It is no wonder He doesn't ask us to yearn for Him: we already do. 

Insight from Numbers

"The Lord said to Moses, 'I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.' (Numbers 3:11-13)"

Now I know it is somewhat strange that I would use a section of the Law of Moses to write my first random thought, but I am currently reading Numbers and these verses struck me: how amazingly just God truly is. Most of the time we forget about the Horrors of Egypt as being exactly that: horrors. God did horrendous things to free the Israelites and to boost their trust in Him. God killed children in order to free the Israelites. Now God doesn't go by human rules: the only time he did was as Jesus. So it would have been fair for Him to kill the Egyptians off and not take a second glance. That is what the Egyptian gods would do no doubt. But, God loves every human being on this earth. Every hair on our head is counted. 

So, you ask me how this verse applies to my ranting. God didn't set apart every first born just out of a whim. The Egyptians sacrificed their firstborn sons for the Israelites. The only just thing to do was to sacrifice the firstborn of every Israelite to God. Obviously God would not ask the Israelites to truly sacrifice their firstborn sons because, again that would be an Egyptian god thing to do not a loving God action. Instead, He replaced the firstborn with the Levites. God turned the sacrifice into a joy.  What a joy it is to be in the presence of the Lord. 

This brings up another twist in these verses. Doing God's work; being the sacrifice, does not have to be a burden. It can be incredibly joyful. God loves to see his people happy. How amazing is that? 

An end twist: God ended the need for the sacrifices no matter what they were for when he sent his son. No longer do we have to give up our first born. No longer do we have to see carnage at the temple in order to unite our relationship with God. Jesus is the great uniter and the Holy Spirit is the great reminder. 

God never leaves anything out. He is the Alpha and Omega and he encompasis everything.