How He Must Love Us

I have loved the song "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan for years. Almost every time I sing it, it shakes me to my core. But now its shaken me to my core for a difference reason.

Listen to this version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0luHiWwi08

I had never heard the story behind the lyrics, but I became curious when I heard the last verse of this version of the song.

I looked it up and found out that Stephen, who it mentions in the verse, was John Mark's best friend. One night, as they were praying, he told God that he would willingly give his life if it would draw more youth to Christ. That night, he was killed in a car accident. Soon after, John Mark wrote the song, "How He Loves."

I have seen this song break so many people, washing them with the reality of the passionate love of Jesus. I have heard stories of the lyrics just wrecking young people, letting them realize how great the love of God is for us. It draws us in.

I don't even know what to say, but I am shaken by this. Stephen said, "God if you want my life, I'll give it up for the furthering of your love." And God said, "I'll use it. And it will revolutionize the spreading of my message." God used the radical willingness of a simple man to bring a song into existence that purely talked about His ravishing love for us. That shows how desperately he wanted people to hear its message. It is only when we come face to face with the radical love that we fall down on our knees in surrender, worship, and longing for relationship.

Here is the full article that contains the story.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/music/features/22158-the-heart-of-john-mark-mcmillan

Extravagant Provision

I'm realizing how crazy good God is at providing every we need. Over the weekend, my car broke down as my sister and I were driving back to school from being home for the weekend. And God provided every. single. thing. Literally every thing we needed! He even threw in a Tim Horton's being right next to the car service place just for my friend who came to pick us up! (She had been really hoping we would be somewhere close to a Timmy's:p)
Today, I was working on a paper, or attempting to. It was going so slowly! I had been working in the library for hours trying to figure out how to write this paper on Jesus and Socrates, and trying to see what insight I could add to it from my own thoughts. Finally, I realized I just needed to go for a little walk, get some fresh air, move around and then try to keep writing. When I went outside I was enveloped by moonlight, with a few perfectly placed stars above me, and decided to walk into what I like to think of as the "secret garden" beside the library. As I sat down, I began to think of Jesus is Gethsemane, and as I prayed, asking for insight on His own situation when He was in the garden, He began to give me little tidbits of insight for my paper! How sweet was that right?!

I know all this is pretty random, I just love seeing how Jesus loves to show us that he is truly so present in our lives in all the little details whenever we pay attention. He is so good at giving us what we need when we ask! But I love seeing that so often, he totally throws in little extras that were not even necessary, like the Tim Horton's experience. It was enough that He protected the car from dying when I had taken it on a road trip the previous weekend, that He only let it die when my sister and I were together so we could figure everything out together, that He reminded my sister to bring her phone charger and gave her the idea to charge my phone through her laptop when we didn't have a car charger so we could contact the tow truck, our dad, and our friend to pick us up. It was enough that He made sure my friend wouldn't be too busy that night and that she would be able to use her car to come get us from the side of the road. It was even extra that he gave us really sweet tow truck guys that called me "my dear" like my grandpa would. But even paying attention to the detail about my friend having a craving for some Timmy's?? Hah, seriously, then He was just showing off.

The Mercy That Captivates My Heart

With a prayer You fed the hungry,

With a cry You stilled the storm;

With a look You had compassion 

On the desperate and forlorn.

With a touch You healed the leper,

With a shout You raised the dead;

With a word expelled the demons,

With a blessing broke the bread.

Love incarnate, love divine,

Captivate this heart of mine

Till all I do speaks of You.

As a sheep before the shearer

You were silent in Your pain;

You endured humiliation

At the hands of those You'd made.

And as hell unleashed its fury

You were lifted on a tree,

Crying 'Father God, forgive them,

Place their punishment on Me.'

I will feed the poor and hungry,

I will stand up for the truth;

I will take my cross and follow

To the corners of the earth.

And I ask that You so fill me

With Your peace, Your power, Your breath,

That I never love my life so much

To shrink from facing death.

"Father God, forgive them. Place their punishment on me." I adore this entire song,  but that line swept over me like a flood yesterday as we sang this song in chapel. The reality of the mercy of Jesus and his radical love is so great. Jesus Christ, the Son of God has that much mercy on me, a sinner, so as to beg that my punishment be laid onto him instead. Our God is so irrationally loving and incredibly good!

All For His Joy

"For the joy set before him he endured the cross..." - Hebrews 12:2

Sometimes I forget how powerful that statement is. "For the joy set before him." What was a joy that Jesus didn't already have before he came to earth? He was God, he had everything! Except for a reconciled relationship between himself and his bride. That, he did not have. But through the cross, he made that renewed relationship possible. That is why he endured the cross. that is why he prayed "Not my will but yours Father" when he reached one of his weakest moments at Gethsemane. For the joy set before him! For the incredible joy of being able to pursue and be pursued by his great love, me and you, with no barrier in between!

How amazing is that! We are his joy! We are why the experiences of pain, of abandonment, of betrayal, of suffering, were so so worth it Jesus. We are his prize, his reward, his gift. 

He died for us. Not only in the sense of "instead" of us, but also meaning "in order to obtain" us. It was the beautiful combination of mercy and love. He died in our place and to make us his own. Wow:)

Bring it Andy Mineo.

Yo, even if it means carrying an anvil up a steep hill
During an avalanche, I wanna walk inside His will
These habitats and conditions is giving me the chills
This is not a thrill, and it doesn't feel like a walk in the park
It kinda seems like I'm walking in the dark, lantern in my heart
These thorns and these thistles, are picking me apart
And cameras keep flashing, they depicting it as art
Fool, I'm on my knees right, stains on my jeans
Filthy from head to toe, I finally get to see light
Still in the batter's box after three strikes
Walking like Rev Run, steppin' in my three stripes
Walking this way and that way, I found a narrow path
It's like a tightrope He's gonna catch me, if I fall
Guess we all need a challenge,
To battle through this race in the Cross that we balance

In that execution, jury on your chest
Pick it up, and if you would look to it
Your soul will find some rest, pick it up
Ooh Pick It Up, Pick it up

Question, how would your face look if Jesus were to 
scroll through a page of your Facebook
Better one, would He be a bit confused
If He seen His name written in your religious views
Feeling conviction, they tick like
"Didn't you know He's love?"
Yeah you right but when He come back here to judge
Lamb to the Lion, He's ruling the nations
Packing a rod of iron, making a fool of Satan
Tattoo on His thigh, King of kings, Lord of lords
That's the name that's inscribed
White horses he'll ride, got flames in His eyes I'm not playin'
His fury is crushing enemies like grapes into wine
Ain't nobody know the day or the time
So I pray that you make up your mind, deny yourself and take up the pine
Live the Cross, it ain't a chain or design, 'cause Sin Is Wack
Don't wear one on your chest if you don't bear one on your back, fam.
In that execution, jury on your chest
Pick it up, and if you would look to it
Your soul will find some rest, pick it up
Ooh Pick It Up, Pick it up

He want us sold out, searching our hearts
Even believers got sin that they keep in the dark
You know that one thing, God ain't pleased with
He told you give it up, you wanna keep it
You got a million excuses, a billion reasons
But at the end of the day you still ain't at peace yet
Well let me let you in on a secret
We can't go deeper in our relationship till we leave it
Decease it, put it to sleep like a Posturepedic
'Cause sin is a fatal disease and only Jesus can treat it
And light of the fact that He freed us,
By His blood, cleaned us, washed and redeemed us
Uh, that's reason to make us rotate from our old ways
Desire to please and obey, tell the Lord okay
When the road may seem kinda lonely, my life Your way
Yeah

Passion Week

To begin this week of remembrance and celebration of our Savior and King, some amazing people at Trinity put on an event called Stations of the Cross. In it, there were 11 stations scattered throughout the building I live in, with a continuous worship session occurring in the main auditorium throughout the night. It was a very personal time, you came when you wanted and took your time through the stations, going back into the auditorium whenever you felt you wanted to worship in song more. These stations took you through the journey of Jesus, from Gethsemane, to Golgotha, to the resurrection at the empty tomb. It was a powerful evening. 

As a long-time follower of Jesus, I know his story, I know the basics, but as I seek Him more and ask Him to show me even more of His character, even deeper into His story, I learn more and more. 

I had been to an event like this before. At Christ the King, my home church, we have had these in the past. So I assumed I would have a similar experience, but I longed to go into the night with a heart open to receive all the God would show me, going in with a heart of worship and thanksgiving, not trying to "have an experience" or "get something out of it". I just wanted to worship. And in the worship, God began to open my eyes to a new side of the pain and the love of Jesus.

One of the stations focused on the betrayal of Judas and Peter to Jesus. Judas gave Jesus up for money, Peter gave him up for self-preservation. 

How must that have felt for Jesus? He was fully human. These were his followers. These were his friends. These were his guys, the ones who knew him the best and were closest to him. These were the ones who said they loved him. And He was also fully God. He was there when the first thoughts of these men were being created. He knew the desperate passion he had for them. He knew how he longed to be known for who he was by them, and for them to love him in return. 

The emotions of a man and the emotions of God, Jesus had it all. 

So what must the pain of that betrayal feel like? How deeply it must have tore into his heart. To see his friends, and his creation, the ones he came to rescue and love on, so blatantly deny him, so easily lead him to be murdered. 

Put yourself in that position. The person you trust, the person you love the most, the person who has told you and shown you that they love you, sell you out and give you up to be tortured and killed. For what purpose? To get some money. And to make sure their reputation does not get tarnished by your name so that they won't be in danger. What would your reaction be? I know I would be in dismay. I would be unimaginably hurt, in shock and confusion. And soon, in the confusion, I would probably get crazy angry.

This is why it is so powerful to see the reactions of Jesus.

Matthew 26:49-50 shows his response to Judas' betrayal.

      "So Judas came straight up to Jesus. 'Greetings, Rabbi!' he exclaimed, and gave him a kiss. Jesus said, 'Go ahead, my friend. Do what you have come for."

Luke 22:31-32 shows Jesus response to Peter.

      "'Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers."

In both instances, Jesus knew what was going on, he was not surprised, but I don't think that would even slightly lessen the pain of the betrayal. With Judas though, even when he was betraying him, Jesus still called him friend. How incredible is that? Jesus loved Judas. Even in that incredibly painful moment of being sold out by one of his own, Jesus reminded Judas that he loved him. 

In Peter's situation, Jesus knew that Peter would deny him. But he said that he pleaded for Peter. But even though he knew that Peter would betray him too, he knew that he would also turn back to him and repent. And that Jesus himself would gladly receive Peter back and never hold his sin against him or keep it hanging over his head, but instead entrust to him the task of encouraging his brothers. 

Later, as Jesus was hanging on the cross, and people were mocking him, and he was in unbearable pain, he said, "Father forgive them. They don't know what the are doing."

In each of his moments of unspeakable pain, in his hour of desperation, Jesus showed his desperation for us. Instead of dwelling on his own pain, he cried out to God to have mercy upon us. Jesus, the Lord of all Creation, in his moment of excruciating pain, begged his Father for mercy on the ones who rejected and murdered him, on the ones who betrayed him. 

What kind of man does that? Only the God-Man, only the one who loves his bride too much to ever leave her to her own devices, the one who loves her so much that even when she rejects him and hurts him, he pleads for her innocence. How amazing is our Jesus? How deep is his love for us? How vast must it be? 

Oh let us never forget the passion for us that overwhelmed the heart of Jesus even up until the moment he gave up his spirit. Because it still overwhelms him now! Hosanna, Jesus. Thank you for saving us with your love.

Where the Spirit of the Lord Is...

Ok, back to a normal person post now:)

Today in Chapel a pastor from an evangelical church in Fort Langley came to speak to us about freedom in the Lord. See, I love talking about freedom in God, because its something that I feel so many Christians don't fully understand. But today, I realized that I didn't even fully understand it either.

We went over a part of Paul's letter, Philippians 3. He goes over so much in this chapter, but the pastor who was speaking to us was concentrating on whats it had to do with our freedom fround in Jesus. 

Paul starts that he was "circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal,persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless." BUT because of the glory of Jesus, none of that mattered anymore. It counted as nothing. He was looked at as righteous and acceptable not because of what He had done, but because Jesus made him righteous and acceptable.

So often, I find that I am striving to be better for God, looking for his approval, hoping that at the end of the day when I ask, "How good was I today??" that I can hear that I did well. But so often, when I ask that question all I can hear are the voices of the sins I committed that day, the opportunities to show love and kindness that I skipped over, the times I ignored what God might have been saying to me, the times I was too lazy to pick up my Bible during the day even when I felt the nudge to do so, all the ways in which I feel like I fell short. Then, all I can feel is disappointment.  And there is an option for the other extreme, where I feel pride over how "good" I was today, where the praise is to me instead of to Jesus. This question always leads to either to pride or to striving and shame, and its focus is always on ourselves. 

But the thing is, that is never the question we should be asking ourselves at the end of the day. Because what God thinks of you isn't dependent on you. Let me say that again.

What God thinks of you isn't dependent on you.

Your acceptability to God is not dependent on what you have done. It is dependent of what Jesus has done. He has made us acceptable. He has made us clean. So at the end of the day, we should not ask "How good was I today?", but "How great is my God?" Because when we do that, our days will be concluded in a time of worship and thanksgiving, instead of in spirit of shame and disappointment. When we say, "Regardless of how I was today, my God is great", then there is worship, and there, there is freedom. 

Don't Go Harming Geese with Me Around

I know that usually my posts are pretty chill, but honestly, what kind of devil person gets a terrified goose up four floors into a dorm hall for a prank?

I know most people probably would've thought it was hilarious that there was a random goose right outside of our hall near the elevator. I know, at first, we were all just freaking out, taking pictures from an inched open doorway (obviously me included). But, then, I saw the poor thing just start panicking, trying to find some way out of the closed in space. To me, this creature just seemed so helpless and scared. It was just one of the geese that I had been laughing and smiling at just earlier today as it roamed freely around the lawns. I think I really scared all my girls when I randomly started sobbing in the hall:p I think the words "I want to cuddle it" actually came out of my mouth. I was so upset.

Ahh, it just bothers me so much when people have such blatant disregard for things that God made precious. Come on guys, we were made to care for God's creation, not treat it like garbage. The Living God made that little goose. If he cares about the sparrows, he definitely cares about this goose too.

I know, I'm completely overreacting. Sure, it was a just a silly prank.

But to the guys who did this:

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money.But what I do have is a particular set of skills; skills I have required over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you recognize that that was a total jerk move, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

Whew, ok I feel a little better now.

(yeah, I know, I just placed myself in the category of crazy woman. But I'm ok with that tonight. That sweet bird was so scared.)

Overtake Me

On the way home from Ekklesia on Friday night, I was completely overtaken with the love for my Savior. I don't remember a time where I felt so desperate to be with Him, to be able to physically, fully run into His arms and hear His real voice. My heart was awakened to the extreme passion and adoration and desire to be with the One whom my heart was made to beat for. Honestly, it was almost unbearable, because I was so helpless to actually be able to do something about it. I was a giant sobbing mess, crying out for the physical presence of my God in desperation and frustration (and was probably not the safest driver to be on the roads;p) A while later, still on my drive back to campus, when my heart began to settle back into the more peaceful love and thankfulness for Jesus, I was a mixture of sad and grateful. I loved receiving that honest, unhindered taste of what my soul truly feels for Him, and of what His feels for me. But I don't know how I would get through my days with that overwhelming restlessness, that feeling of just wanting to claw my way into heaven already in order to finally be with my Jesus, the one I was made for. But it makes me so much more passionate to be with Him as much as I can now, even if its not even a taste of what I'll have with Him later. Because then, when I finally get to go home and spend eternity with my great Love, my heart will be so ready and I'll know that I am finally running and jumping into the arms of a man I've loved all of my life, even if the waiting process was so difficult. 

And I know that in every single second of my desperate pleading to just fully be with Him already, even if I couldn't see Him, Jesus was sitting with me in my car, smiling, saying, "My heart is absolutely ravished by your words of love, by your desperation to be with Me fully as you were meant to. But just you wait my beloved. Even this passion is not even a hint of what love will be unleashed on the day when you come home to Me fully. "

Ahh, I am still itching for that perfect day when I will finally be complete with the only One who can and was meant to complete me. 

Oh Jesus come for your bride soon!

Awaken My Heart

Bones

You can take my dry bones
Breathe life into this skin
You called me by name
Raised me to life again

You can calm the oceans
Speak peace into my soul
Take me as I am
Awaken my heart to beat again

Oh Jesus
Oh Jesus
Oh Jesus
Alive in me

You move in the unseen
You set the captives free
As I stand and sing
You're breaking the chains off me

Breathe in me Your life
I can feel You are close now
I can never hide
You are here and You know me
All I need is You
And I love You
I love You
I love You
I love You

Breathe in me Your life
'Til Your love overtakes me
Open up my eyes
Let me see You more clearly
Falling on my knees
'Til I love like You love
Like You love me
I love You

On My Father's Shoulders

In one of my classes, we were taking a small break from talking about Socrates, and instead were spending the day going through some of the parables that Jesus told. One of the ones we talked through was the parable of the lost sheep. Here it is, from Luke 15:

15 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. ² This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

³ So Jesus told them this story: ⁴ “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?⁵ And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. ⁶ When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’⁷ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

I love this story that He tells, it tells so much about the obvious love that Jesus has for us! But this time, there was one line in that story that really stood out to me.  "And when He has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders." An image immediately entered my mind. Not of a sheep on the shoulders of a shepherd, but of a child on the shoulders of a father. 

I think there is something so special about how Jesus worded this parable. He didn't just lead the sheep back to the others, he scooped it up into his arms and placed it on his shoulders. IN JOY, no less. With celebration, as his children, when we are found after we have strayed, our Daddy puts us on his shoulders and takes us back to where He knows we should be. Think of the joy and contentment upon a little boy or girl's face when they are on their dad's shoulders. Even though they're way higher off the ground than they would normally be comfortable with, they are happy and satisfied and not the least bit worried because they know that they are safe on the shoulders of their daddy. 

I love how it applies to us, the children of God. When we have wandered, or gotten lost, or ran away, our Father always finds us and, with our trust, brings us to where he knows we will thrive. 

We have such an amazing father. He is always with us, he always has time, he is always holding us. He loves us unconditionally, he is never short with us. He hangs on our every word and loves listening to us tell him our stories and our thoughts. He always looks for us and finds us when we get lost or when we get ourselves into trouble. He is so proud of the people we are, and the people he is helping us become. He never leaves us on our own. He is the unfailing dad. The perfect, loving father that we run to. The one who always catches us. The one who then throws us onto his shoulders with laughter and joy and brings us home. 

Oceans: Where My Trust Is Without Borders

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your Name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

Please, Just Hold Me Abba

"I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born." I have been holding onto this verse for the past month or so...but yesterday, my desperate need for the promise that it holds came crashing back onto the forefront of my life. 

It seems to always be the unexpected things that hurt the most, the things that we are confident won't happen, the pain that we think we'll never have to feel, the loss we think we'll never have to endure. But in the times of grief and pain and tears that won't seem to cease, God's promise breaks through: "Through this pain, through this suffering, I will bring new life. I will bring redemption in your circumstance. I will make you whole. I will make you new."  And in the darkness and the blurriness of uncertainty that these situations bring, Jesus is the rock that stands firm. In the confusion and in the exhaustion, He is our rock for us to fall on and rest upon.    

      And thats all of the certainty and hope that I can ask for, and while I wish I could have more, this truth is really all I need. Through this time as He says, "Just focus on loving me", I can say, "I trust you Jesus." And I can, because I know that He loves me and that His love never fails.                                   Honestly, I don't know how to make the pain of loss go away, no matter what kind of loss it is, the loss of a life, the loss of a love, the loss of the intimate closeness of a friendship. I barely even know how to describe it. Its like a fog that won't clear, an experience that you hope is just a dream. But in the fog, Jesus reaches out and embraces us. In the sadness and loneliness, He becomes our All. And I think that that is what He wants, because when He is our Everything, our desires transform into His desires, and wherever He wants to lead us, we are trusting to follow, even if it is through things that we cannot understand. He is the rock that is higher than us, He sees our future and all of the joy in Him that He has for us. So we can trust Him to lead us through, sustain us amidst, and grow us from the trials that He allows us to go through. He is the rock who will not be shaken, no matter what kind of storms rage around us as we cling to Him, no matter how much we pound our fists on his chest in frustration and pain, He does not let us go. And in the times where all I need is to be held, He holds me. What a God! What a Father! Thank you Abba<3

Rest

"Let me transform you. Thats it. Simply let me. Its easy. Its simple. Just allow Me to change you. Don't listen to the anxiety crawling into your mind right now. Rebuke it in My name. Those fears have no place here. You are My child. You are My daughter. You are the daughter of the Almighty God, the Almighty Creator and Lover. You are Mine and only Mine. I am the only one your heart needs to yield to. Those anxious fears have absolutely no power in you. You are Mine. I claim you as My own. Just rest in your Papa. Draw close to your Abba. Just be safe in My arms. I am your strong tower, your shelter, and I am never ever apart from you. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Never fear Baylee. I am always right here. Just listen for Me, for My whispers. I do meet you. I do speak. Be patient. Let Me transform you. Just let Me."

Jesus spoke those words over me a few weeks ago and I wrote them down. This morning when I woke up with a spirit of anxiety and confusion and attack over me, He spoke these words again over me when He led me back to the page that they were written on. Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides. Whenever we are under attack with insecurity, doubt, confusion, inadaquacy, or anything else, He provides the clarity and comfort and the knowledge that we can rest in Him. 

Just rest in Him. Just abide in Him. Just allow Him to transform you. You don't need to strive. Just let Him do His work. You are His. 

Handwriting

On campus, we have tons of random Canadian geese waddling around on the lawns all the time. And for some reason, they just make me smile. I think that they're hilarious! Every single time I walk past one on my way to or from class, I just want to sit down and laugh at their silliness. See, my sister hates them. To her, they're annoying and mean and ugly and totally useless, plus they poo everywhere. ( That last part is very true though, they do poo everywhere:p) But I like seeing how different things bring each of us joy. I love the presence of the geese of campus, they always brighten my day and cause me to thank Jesus for His strange, wonderful creation.

A few days ago, I was walking back from my Anatomy and Physiology class and I saw these two geese squawking and waddling around together. And I was just talking to God about how I was thankful for them because they always make me smile, and then a thought struck me.

I wonder if when God was creating the world, and all of his animals, He saw these moments of joy that these little geese would bring to His daughter.

What a wonderful thought! What an amazing concept to ponder! It may not seem very profound, but the thought just resonated with a sentence from Ephesians 1:4. "Even before He laid the foundations of the earth, He chose us...." Even before He made any of his creation he knew us, he knew me, he knew you. And he knew how his prized possessions (James 1:18) would be able to see his signature all over everything else that He has made.

There are so many things within God's creation that will randomly just bring a smile to my face, joy to my heart, and thankfulness and praise into my soul. A full moon, a shooting star, a lush green forest, a silly animal, a child's unrestrained laughter, a friend's voice of praise to Jesus: all beautiful creations, all things that remind me of the love of my God. And I wonder if when God was choosing what he wanted to create, He saw each of these moments in which me and all of his other children were amazed and in awe and praising Him for his creation. I wonder if He saw the long term effect of the things that He was making and was glad to be making it, and that is one more reason why He said "It is good."

I never want to be a person who so easily passes by the beauty of the creation of my Jesus without slowing down to just appreciate it. What are those beautiful things that bring you joy? How does God speak to you through his love notes that He places throughout your day just for you? Do you see his writing to you through people, through nature, through an animal? All of the above? He is always giving us reminders of his love, we just need to be watching:)