what dreams may come...

dearest child of mine,

may you meet the man destined to become your husband...

a man whose greatest wish is make your dreams come true...

a man who loves God with all his heart and soul and is then teachable by the Holy Spirit in how to love you and the children you will one day have...

a man who is strong without being cruel
forthright without being domineering.

the spiritual 'head of the household' and only does this under the lordship of Jesus Christ...

a man who would no sooner hurt you than hurt himself.

a man who understands completely what sacrificial love is, does and costs.

a man who listens to what you say and what you don't say, are afraid to say, dare not say.

a man who is your humanly "safe place", while you journey together in this life.

a man who doesn't just see you, but rather, he sees through you, with the loving and uncondemning eyes of Christ.

a man who will never leave, give up on or abandon you, regardless of the circumstances.

a man who will never attempt to replace you with another.

a man who can't forget you, who will always love you...no matter how much time or distance has come to pass...

who will fight for you with every breath he has...
who will 'fight tigers for you'...

and lastly, please know you can believe, dream of and always reach for true love...
it exists because God, our beloved Father does.
and because He is Love.

this is my prayer for you, dearest child of mine...

with all I am and ever hope to be,

your Mama-muu...

"What Kind of Man?" - Matthew 8:26-27 (ERV)

"Jesus answered, "Why are you afraid? You don't have enough faith." Then Jesus stood and gave a command to the wind and the waves. The wind stopped, and the lake became very calm. The men were amazed. They said, "What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the water obey him!"

Key Thought:

There is nothing that can stand in the way of Jesus. 

No enemy has the power -- he simply casts out the demons. 
No teacher or skeptic can stump him with a question. 
No disease can withstand his call for healing. 
Not even nature can baffle or threaten him. 
He is not just a man. 
He is God's Son. 
He is Immanuel, God with us. 
But until we can fully understand who he is, we can be secure that he will care for us and bring us to his home!
Fear is not just being troubled with circumstances;
it also is the uncertainty about what will ultimately happen to us. 
Jesus shows his disciples that their safety, their destiny,
is under his command and nothing can withstand his grace offered to bless his disciples.

Today's Prayer:

My God, Almighty Lord, please act with your strong power to still the storm in the hearts of those I love. 

Give them peace and calm and lead them to know that Jesus is not only their source of help,
but that he is so much more than a mere mortal man. 
In the name of Jesus my Lord I pray. 
Amen.

(this original devotion, by Phil Ware, can be found at www.heartlight.org)

"Love above Knowledge" — 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Dear Father, the one real and only God,

Give me more love and humility than knowledge, for "Knowledge puffs up but love builds up."

People know lots of things, but they let it go to their heads. 
Help me, Father, never to imagine that I know everything, because I know that I do not yet know as I ought to know. 
What I want is to love you as I should, for if I love you, then I am loved and known by you. 
All the things that men and women pursue, O God, seem to have no real existence when compared to you. 
There is no God but you, the one God.

The world is full of "gods."
But for us Christians there is just one God, you, from whom all things come and for whom they exist, and there is just one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

In the name of Jesus and by his authority I ask these things according to his will. 
Amen.

(this original devotion, by Eldon Degge, can be found at www.heartlight.org)

what His peace does...

"...present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:6-7

Thought

What guards your heart?

What protects your mind?
Did you know that the peace of God can stand guard over our hearts and minds?
That's the apostle Paul's promise to us in this passage. 
If we will present our requests to God, with thanksgiving, then God's peace
that is greater than any explanation and that transcends our ability to comprehend it, will stand sentry over our hearts and minds. 
You want an example of how this is true?
Look at the book of Job. 
All that befalls him. 
All that wounds him. 
Yet still he doesn't become hard of heart or go insane. 
What is the key to his survival?
His ongoing conversation with the LORD.
He will not relinquish that relationship no matter how badly he hurts,
how much he is confused, nor how badly he is ridiculed.

Prayer

Father, I need your peace. 

There are wounds that pierce my heart,
but I don't want it to become hardened and callused. 
There are times my mind is so confused that I fear I may lose my rationality. Dear Father, I trust that as I cling to Jesus, and as I speak openly with you about my life and your grace, that you will bless me with your peace and will protect my heart and my mind from destruction. 
Thank you, dear Father, for the reminder that even as I struggle with my troubles, I also need to give you thanks for all the good things that you have blessed me with in my life and my walk with you!
In Jesus' name I pray. 
Amen.

(this original devotion is from http://www.heartlight.org)

Jonah...

i love Jonah...i really do...
(he and peter are my favorite 2 men in the Bible!)

i love him because i can relate to him...
at times he's a real chicken, proud, stubborn, self-pitying and completely ridiculous!

God comes to jonah and gives him a task to do.
He wants jonah to go and warn the ninevites to repent, to turn from their evil ways.

instead of going to nineveh, he tries to run away from God...
this is so funny to me, i gotta say - trying to run away and hide from God!!

you see, jonah, the israelite, was sworn enemies with the ninevites and had no wish to warn them to repent...he didn't want them to be saved and he sure as shooting didn't want to be the messenger!

so this silly man tried to run away from God...
have you ever done that?
knew what our Father wanted of you...knew what the right path was, but you just turned away and did your own thing and went your own way?

i get Jonah...i totally do...i've been just like him...

stubborn, self-pitying, arrogant and rebellious...

so let me save you some time and effort...
you can never truly run away from God...
it can't be done...
ever.

you can ignore Him...
resist Him...
deliberately do the opposite of what He's asking you to do...
but you can't outrun or hide from Him...

and when we stop running, when our knees buckle and we're struggling for breath, if we just look up, we can see His hand outstretched towards us and after we put our hand in His, we'll wonder why we were ever running to begin with...

as always, please feel free to email me with any questions or comments:
laineyrose7@yahoo.com.

God bless to all!!

this one's for you, Ernzy...

i don't really know why there are days when it feels as if Nattie just told me you were gone, Ernzy...

why the pain feels brand new and i'm drowning in it...

why listening to your favorite song by Neil Diamond makes me feel as if you're in the room with me...
or the last time you sang it to me...
"love on the rocks"...
it's a perfect song for you, my Ernzy...

there's an actor that starred on SVU once...
he looks just like you, Ernzy...and this year it hurt just to look at him.

i really need you to come back to me, Ernzy...i know you can't...but there's stuff on this planet that doesn't make sense without you.

and our good memories are choking my heart today and i want to visit you, but i haven't been back since the memorial/burial.
not once, Ernzy and i need you to know that it isn't because i don't want to...i just can't go there...i can't do it...

i love you so much, Ernzy, so very very very much...

i know we'll see each other again when i go Home - but until then, beloved brother of mine, please know this song's for you...for today...for all the yesterdays we had together...and for all the tomorrow's we will have in Heaven.

your Lainey forever and ever and ever. . .

ever thine...

for those of us who love someone and are loved in return -
measure for measure,
we can call ourselves blessed...

for those of us who love someone who does not love us back -
if we've truly given of ourselves,
we can live without regret...

and for those of us who love only ourselves -
in the end,
we are the lonely ones...

for myself,
i'd rather love with all my heart and be turned away -
than never take the risk at all...

Happy Valentine's day to us all!

Mercy...how dearly we need this each day!

"What great blessings there are for the people that give mercy to other people! Mercy will be given to them." — Matthew 5:7 (ERV)

Key Thought:

God has treated us much, much better than we deserve. 
That fundamental, undergirding spiritual truth is the reality of grace. 
He has seen us in our sin and had mercy on us because of his great love for us (see Rom. 5:6-11). 
Even though we have repeatedly proved unfaithful and undependable, both individually and as a group, God has been gracious and merciful. 
He has repeatedly offered forgiveness, help, redemption, and salvation when we least deserved it. 
Rather than dealing with us strictly as law would demand, God has dealt with us as a loving father does with his children.
This conditioning reality must show up in us. 
How can we claim to be his children and not be merciful?
How can we call for retribution against our brothers and sisters, when fairness would demand we pay a great penalty for our sin?
In the Kingdom Family, mercy rules. 
When that mercy is forgotten by us, then God has promised to use our standard of mercilessness when he judges us. 
Yet as long as we are merciful to others, God will show us mercy.

Today's Prayer:

Holy and righteous Father, I confess that I often want justice when I am violated and mercy when I sin. 
Thank you for not treating me as I deserve, but instead providing Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice that extends your mercy to me and fulfills your justice on my behalf. 
Soften my heart that I may reflect your grace and mercy in my dealings with those who have injured me. 
In the precious name of Jesus I pray. 
Amen.

(the original devotion can be found at www.heartlight.org)