Here we are a mere few hours until a new year begins. We stand at the door, that is getting ready to open and soon all of us will walk through it. Some will cross that threshold, anticipating the future and all that it has to hold. There will be those who will drag with them all the baggage of the last year and probably of many other years.
Tucked in the recesses of their mind is the one looming question "What if". What if my wife/husband hadn't left me. What if I didn't have this disease. What if I had gone to University/college when I had the chance. What if I had made better choices. What if I had grown up in a better home. What if I was treated better and the list goes on and on. So many what ifs. Unfortunately many of these people harbor their own sense of regret and resentments about the What if s in their lives. They live their lives in bitterness and anger never willing to let the What ifs in their lives go. As each year passes there is less joy, less happiness and misery has come to consume every fiber of their being. Their treatment of friends, family and people in general becomes hostile as they want those around them to feel as miserable as they do. Being around them is like a dark cloud that sucks any light and soul of those who come within their sphere. So much pain and hurt.No forgiveness.
Well if you happen to one of those people that are living with What ifs and have had enough of the misery that goes along with out moving on, I have some good news for you. There is healing.
There is a God in heaven who has sent his only son (Jesus) to this earth to bring healing. He came so that we could live life to the abundant. To live a life free of the pain of the past. He wants us to be free of the chains that are holding us in the past. Wanting Joy to be in your life. He invites us to come to him to cast all our cares on him because he cares for us. He wants to forgive you so you can know forgiveness and give forgiveness. He wants you to have Joy so you can leave that bitterness and anger behind, he wants to transform you into a totally new person. It is after all by his stripes we are healed he did it for you.
One of the worst What Ifs that I can think of that a person could ever have regret about and never be able to change is Standing before God and not ever having accepted his son into your life and have him turn you away and ending up in hell. Then asking yourself the question What if I had accepted Jesus into my life.
So while you are still here, still alive get healing for your what ifs, Allow Jesus into your life for healing, for forgiveness allow him to free you from the pain of the past and the future. He loves you. Come and be set free.
Enter through that door of the new year a new person changed by Gods amazing love for you. Letting the door shut on all those What ifs that you have lived with for so long.
God Bless you in the year 2011 and may it be the sweetest you have experienced as you start your new walk with God.
Yours
DCW
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Where is your heart
Here it is almost the 24th of December. There is only one day of shopping left. Some of you will be pleased with the amount of money you spent on gifts this year. Others will feel poorly because you just didn't have the money to spend on gifts that you would have liked to. Some will have many plans over the next few days spending time with family and freinds. While others may be all alone wondering what is so good about this time of year. There will be those who have great expectations for the gifts they will receive and who may disappointed because they didn't get what they wanted. There will be those who, will wake up knowing there is no christmas tree, and there won't be any gift for them again this year.
Gifts or no gifts two very distinct differences that will happen this year at Christmas. Yet there are many who, at this time of the year have no peace in their lives. Whether they have it all or don't have anything at all. There is no peace.
Here we are celebrating Christmas and I would dare say many people today really don't have any idea why we celebrate Christmas. It has become the toys, the gifts. Making sure it is the most expensive and just right. Ensuring your children have what they want. Visiting Santa Claus.
So here we have a great celebration but have forgotten the author of this great celebration. The greatest imaginable gift is out there for everyone to open, yet very few decide to receive it or to open it. This child that was born, that we celebrate came to give a peace to the world that was never before able to be had. This child was the son of God, who would grow up to be the Savior of the World. He would live his life to die on the cross and all in between share the good news of how man can have a personal relationship with God. He forgave many of their sins and is still there willing to forgive each and every one of us of our sins. The really good news is he didn't stay in the grave he rose from it and is in heaven seated on his throne sealing his eternal stamp of the power of who he was and his power to forgive.
So I ask you where is your heart. Do you have that peace that he can only give. Have you ever wondered how you can experience peace in your life, in your heart. Is there a longing you have that no earthly gift can give you. That no family member, friend , wife or girlfriend can give you. Is your heart aching as you search for that peace not only at this time of year but throughout the whole year. Let me tell you again Jesus who was that child is there waiting for you to receive that gift. He is there with open loving arms just waiting for you to come to him to accept him into your heart to be forgiven. He wants to give you reason to celebrate this season and celebrate it all year through. He is the Prince of Peace and he wants you to have his peace. So take the time to come to him and have the best Christmas ever for this child came for you.
If you have already accepted him into your life may the joy of his living in you be real to you in a way you have never experienced. Pass the message along. Celebtrate the birth of our Savior like you have never done before.
So Where is your heart today?
May the Peace of Jesus our savior be with you. Have a Merry CHRISTmas.
DCW
Gifts or no gifts two very distinct differences that will happen this year at Christmas. Yet there are many who, at this time of the year have no peace in their lives. Whether they have it all or don't have anything at all. There is no peace.
Here we are celebrating Christmas and I would dare say many people today really don't have any idea why we celebrate Christmas. It has become the toys, the gifts. Making sure it is the most expensive and just right. Ensuring your children have what they want. Visiting Santa Claus.
So here we have a great celebration but have forgotten the author of this great celebration. The greatest imaginable gift is out there for everyone to open, yet very few decide to receive it or to open it. This child that was born, that we celebrate came to give a peace to the world that was never before able to be had. This child was the son of God, who would grow up to be the Savior of the World. He would live his life to die on the cross and all in between share the good news of how man can have a personal relationship with God. He forgave many of their sins and is still there willing to forgive each and every one of us of our sins. The really good news is he didn't stay in the grave he rose from it and is in heaven seated on his throne sealing his eternal stamp of the power of who he was and his power to forgive.
So I ask you where is your heart. Do you have that peace that he can only give. Have you ever wondered how you can experience peace in your life, in your heart. Is there a longing you have that no earthly gift can give you. That no family member, friend , wife or girlfriend can give you. Is your heart aching as you search for that peace not only at this time of year but throughout the whole year. Let me tell you again Jesus who was that child is there waiting for you to receive that gift. He is there with open loving arms just waiting for you to come to him to accept him into your heart to be forgiven. He wants to give you reason to celebrate this season and celebrate it all year through. He is the Prince of Peace and he wants you to have his peace. So take the time to come to him and have the best Christmas ever for this child came for you.
If you have already accepted him into your life may the joy of his living in you be real to you in a way you have never experienced. Pass the message along. Celebtrate the birth of our Savior like you have never done before.
So Where is your heart today?
May the Peace of Jesus our savior be with you. Have a Merry CHRISTmas.
DCW
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Christmas
Its Christmas. To some this time of the season is sad and lonely. To others its a time of celebration watching the children's excitement as they see their gifts under the tree the thrill as they open the presents that they have waited sometimes not so patiently to do. How is it that Christmas has been so poorly represented in that last number of years and why are people so afraid to wish someone a Merry Christmas. It makes me feel so sad at times that we have to try and eliminate the best gift ever offered to mankind. The birth of that child who would some day become the savior and who will someday return as the King of Kings who when he comes every knee will bow before him.
For a moment tho' I would like to take you back in time. Imagine a middle eastern town normally fairly quiet, its residents would go about minding their own business. Not today, today the city was crowded overflowing with strangers, people who had come to this little town of Bethlehem to be counted because it was the law under the order of Caesar Augusta. So every single place a person could sleep was taken. No more hotel rooms available. I imagine that there were those who even slept out on the streets.
Then along comes this couple. They are young and she is very pregnant, but they had to come because her husband was from this town by lineage. They didn't know where to go or where they could even sleep. They just knew they had to be here. So after knocking on all the doors they could for a room and still no place for them to sleep I would think that they were beginning to get a bit discouraged. Yet one more place to try. As they knocked fear of being turned down yet again gripped their hearts. The inn keeper tried to make them understand he had no more rooms to rent, his heart went out to them as he could see that this women would soon give birth. Finally as almost a last thought he mentioned that he did have a stable out back where he kept his animals a few sheep,some goats a pig or two and a couple of cows and of course his donkey. They could have that for a good rate if they wanted even though he knew it wasn't a place for a pregnant woman but that is the best he could do under the circumstances. This young couple jumped at it, finally a place to rest a place to lay down. They could make it work, the inn keeper said they could use all the straw they needed to make things as comfortable as they could. Now this stable was nothing glamorous, it had the smell of the animals and their dropping lay strewn throughout this little place,but it would be their home for the next few days.
Now I am not sure if it happened that night or the next but it did happen she went into labor. Was there anyone around to help besides her husband I am not sure. Maybe some of the other ladies who had seen this young woman's plight came to give her a helping hand in the birth of her child. She did give birth and this child she gave birth to was a son. This was no surprise as she had been told this nine months earlier by the angel that had come to visit her. Here he was this special child who was to become king, who was to be the messiah, the one who was all God and all man born here in such humble settings it didn't make sense but this was the way it was. This couple like any other couple loved their child and felt proud like so many couple do.
Out in the country in the cool of that dark night as was custom Sheppard's tended to their sheep. To them it was just an ordinary night, the way it had been for more nights then they would dare to recall. It was quiet the sheep had gone to sleep and as was typical these men huddled around the glowing embers of a fire that was slowly dying. Some had already dozed off, others still quietly talked while other heads bobbed starting to fall asleep. Then it happened, a piercing light shattered the blackness nearly blinding them and the chorus of Angels broke the silence. This was a sight that threw them to their knees. Fear gripped them. What was this why had this happened to them. The crescendo of the song rose in an anthem of Praise to a child that was born in the town just up the road. After the Sheppard's were able to gather themselves from seeing and hearing such a sight they found their way into Bethlehem where this child lay and humbly bowed.
I don't know if the angels sang any more songs or what the words were, I do know that the words were songs of praise and adoration to Jesus the child born in the stable. I also think that these angels sang from the very depth of their being as they announced the birth of their creator the savior of mankind to this earth. Tho' he had always been, God was placing his foot back on this earth and the time had come for the plan of salvation to be put into place.
So this year as you sing the songs of the season remember the true reason for it God coming to this earth to save us. And when you sing those songs sing them with all your heart sing them with passion, with sincerity and sing them out of Love. Remember that night,Remember what it means and raise your voices and souls in Praise to our Living Lord and King JESUS.
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MAY HIS RICHEST BLESSINGS FALL ON YOU IN THE NEW YEAR
DCW
For a moment tho' I would like to take you back in time. Imagine a middle eastern town normally fairly quiet, its residents would go about minding their own business. Not today, today the city was crowded overflowing with strangers, people who had come to this little town of Bethlehem to be counted because it was the law under the order of Caesar Augusta. So every single place a person could sleep was taken. No more hotel rooms available. I imagine that there were those who even slept out on the streets.
Then along comes this couple. They are young and she is very pregnant, but they had to come because her husband was from this town by lineage. They didn't know where to go or where they could even sleep. They just knew they had to be here. So after knocking on all the doors they could for a room and still no place for them to sleep I would think that they were beginning to get a bit discouraged. Yet one more place to try. As they knocked fear of being turned down yet again gripped their hearts. The inn keeper tried to make them understand he had no more rooms to rent, his heart went out to them as he could see that this women would soon give birth. Finally as almost a last thought he mentioned that he did have a stable out back where he kept his animals a few sheep,some goats a pig or two and a couple of cows and of course his donkey. They could have that for a good rate if they wanted even though he knew it wasn't a place for a pregnant woman but that is the best he could do under the circumstances. This young couple jumped at it, finally a place to rest a place to lay down. They could make it work, the inn keeper said they could use all the straw they needed to make things as comfortable as they could. Now this stable was nothing glamorous, it had the smell of the animals and their dropping lay strewn throughout this little place,but it would be their home for the next few days.
Now I am not sure if it happened that night or the next but it did happen she went into labor. Was there anyone around to help besides her husband I am not sure. Maybe some of the other ladies who had seen this young woman's plight came to give her a helping hand in the birth of her child. She did give birth and this child she gave birth to was a son. This was no surprise as she had been told this nine months earlier by the angel that had come to visit her. Here he was this special child who was to become king, who was to be the messiah, the one who was all God and all man born here in such humble settings it didn't make sense but this was the way it was. This couple like any other couple loved their child and felt proud like so many couple do.
Out in the country in the cool of that dark night as was custom Sheppard's tended to their sheep. To them it was just an ordinary night, the way it had been for more nights then they would dare to recall. It was quiet the sheep had gone to sleep and as was typical these men huddled around the glowing embers of a fire that was slowly dying. Some had already dozed off, others still quietly talked while other heads bobbed starting to fall asleep. Then it happened, a piercing light shattered the blackness nearly blinding them and the chorus of Angels broke the silence. This was a sight that threw them to their knees. Fear gripped them. What was this why had this happened to them. The crescendo of the song rose in an anthem of Praise to a child that was born in the town just up the road. After the Sheppard's were able to gather themselves from seeing and hearing such a sight they found their way into Bethlehem where this child lay and humbly bowed.
I don't know if the angels sang any more songs or what the words were, I do know that the words were songs of praise and adoration to Jesus the child born in the stable. I also think that these angels sang from the very depth of their being as they announced the birth of their creator the savior of mankind to this earth. Tho' he had always been, God was placing his foot back on this earth and the time had come for the plan of salvation to be put into place.
So this year as you sing the songs of the season remember the true reason for it God coming to this earth to save us. And when you sing those songs sing them with all your heart sing them with passion, with sincerity and sing them out of Love. Remember that night,Remember what it means and raise your voices and souls in Praise to our Living Lord and King JESUS.
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MAY HIS RICHEST BLESSINGS FALL ON YOU IN THE NEW YEAR
DCW
Monday, December 13, 2010
White as Snow
Blasted from all sides the wind blows and the snow falls. Visibility down to almost nil. Isn't that how life is sometimes. The harsh winds blow the storms don't allow us to see very far if we can see past it at all. Yet in the midst of all that there is a beauty. The white layers of snow covering the trees and the ground, lites glimmer just a little more bright when caught in the snow. Maybe in the midst of our storms we need to pause and look at the beauty that is still before us and realize that the snow is clean and so we too can be made clean and white as snow.
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