Welcome to New Life Design

Forever & Constant Love

God Concept

I have recently been asking God to open my eyes to His love.  He is doing just that, a little bit at a time.  This morning I found myself singing a song that I learned a long time ago.  It just popped into my head.  That led me to this scripture, which the song is taken from.  I hope it will encourage you as it did me this morning.  God’s love is forever and constant; it never ends!

Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:19-24 (ESV)

 ~Rebecca:-)

Honest With God

God Concept

God has been growing me in the area of honesty.  (Psalm 62:8)  I have often felt like a “good Christian” should never doubt God or question anything He says.  So, in an effort to appear “good” (because I thought that’s what would earn love and acceptance), I have rarely voiced my doubts or questions, especially to God.  The funny thing is God already knows all my doubts and questions.  Nothing is hidden from Him.  (Hebrews 4:13)  Through a conversation with Him the other day, I saw that my being honest with Him allowed Him to come in and heal me.  The conversation (not audible, but in my heart & mind) went something like this:

Me:  I can’t be good all the time.  I try so hard, but I just can’t.  I’ll never be good enough.

God:  It’s okay.  I love you even when you mess up.

Me:  That doesn’t make any sense!  Other people get mad at me when I mess up.  I get mad at other people when they do something wrong.  How can you love me and not be angry at me when I fail?

God:  I’m not like you.  I love you even when you’re bad.  I can watch you do things wrong and not be mad at you.  I’m just different.  I give you the freedom to fail.

Me:  But, how can you do that?  I don’t deserve to be loved!

God:  I am GOD.  I AM love.  That’s just what I do.

Lessons Learned On The Journey To 26.2

Our Faith Journey

Well, I may be sharing a good many of these because everytime I tell someone about the marathon and what I am writting about they help me come up with more lessons!  Anyway….this is one I thought of on my own….acutally, the Holy Spirit had to have revealed this one! 

As I mentioned in my post describing what all happened during the marathon I mentioned about our new friend Sally who ran the half marathon coming to the mile marker 21 or 22 post to cheer us on.  As she ran out to meet me she ran along side me and encouraged me and offered to carry anything for me.  Well, because I kept forgetting to give my shirt and nasty, sweaty, smelly socks to Tony at mile number 11 and then again at mile 19 I was still carrying them.  As Sally ask me I immediately gave her my shirt and socks to carry!  Now….you have to understand, the heat was intense so the shirt was soaked with sweat and the socks were, well…..completely NASTY and she carried them for me.  Later that evening when my senses came back to me I realized what I had done and I was horrified that I had asked this person whom I had just met to do such a thing for me!  She obviously offered and did not mind at all.  Actually, the spirit with which she responded was that she was happy to do it!  Imagine that….someone happy about hanging on to my smelly shirt and socks!  As I thought about this I was reminded of one word….SERVANTHOOD!  Her attitude was that of Christ Jesus’ attitude as referenced in Philippians 2.  Check out these verses:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but with humnility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himslef by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  Phil. 2:3-8

Wow….now that is a servant!  What is your attitude like when it comes to servanthood?

Lessons Learned on the Journey to 26.2

Grace Insights

Here is one of my personal thoughts on how Marathon Running parallels our Christian Journey. First off, Paul in Hebrews 12:2 relates our Christian Journey to running when he says, “Let us RUN with perseverance the race that is set before us.” As we say here at NLD the Christian life is not hard, it is IMPOSSIBLE! We need to rest in Christ to live it through us. I no longer say that I am “living FOR God”…. but now I am “living FROM God”. See, as I set my eyes on Him, the author and perfecter of my faith I see the One who has already completed the ultimate marathon on my behalf. His journey to the cross was the ultimate sacrifice for me to share relationship with Him. So as that passage in Hebrews 12 goes on to say that as I set my eyes on Him the author and perfecter of my faith who for the JOY set before Him endured the cross scorning it’s shame and then when it was finished He sat down at the right hand of God! Hebrews then tells me to consider Him who ENDURED such opposition from sinful men so that I will not grow weary and lose heart. People…this is the reason that we must throw off EVERY hindrance….just as I got Sally to take my shirt and socks that I was carrying and we must RUN this race that is set before us with PERSEVERANCE! Now, GO and run your race!

Thanks again to Sally for providing a great illustration!

Dana

The Journey To 26.2 – Marathon Update

Prayer & Praise

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for your prayers, support and words of encouragement!  I am glad to be on this side of the weekend.  As a matter of fact, I have never been happier to see a Monday come in all my days!  I love running and staying fit but this was a tough one!  Several ask if I would share about my journey and what I experienced during the race so that is what I would like to attempt to do. 

First off, I must say thank you to all those who participated in giving towards my financial support so I can continue doing the ministry of New Life Design.  I was overwhelmed at those who wanted to participate and give.  Each of you have just blown me away with your generosity and love for me and Tony.  We are so grateful for each of you and with the risk of sounding a bit “cheesy”, please know that many lives will be changed because you gave!  May God bless each of you beyond belief for your generosity!

Now for the story….We were all very excited as we left Atlanta on Friday around lunch time.  We arrived at the Race Expo in time to get our numbers and do a little shopping!  If you did not get to see the picture of my shirt let me know.  The caption read, “Running Is Cheaper Than Therapy” Ha-Ha!!.  We had a great dinner that evening with our friends but I think all of us had a hard time sleeping as we were all wondering what kind of race we would have and how “hilly” would the course be. 

Saturday morning the clock went off around 4:20 and I must say I was relieved to be getting up and getting this thing started and done.  I noticed the weather was not very cool but I really didn’t think much about it at first.  We found our corrals and were ready for the start.  The first five miles were done at a very fast pace due to the excitement and push of the crowds.  We were running with about 30,000 other runners.  I should have slowed down after the first mile but I got caught up in the excitement with everyone else.  I was pretty hot by mile 5 and had to do some adjustments with my clothing and re pinning my number which was very frustrating but I didn’t lose very much time because we started out so fast but I had depleted some much needed energy in those first 5 miles and that would come back to haunt me later in the morning.  I was doing pretty good until about mile 10 and it became very apparent that I was not going to be able to keep up my pace.  I was having severe problems with my feet.  I was not sure what the problem was but later learned that I was putting my Body Glide lotion on the wrong parts of my feet which was causing my feet to slip in my shoe which was causing chaffing.  Add that to continuous pounding on pavement that was extremely hot and my feet felt like they were on fire.  By mile 11 when I got to see Tony I was just about in tears and very tempted to split off with the half marathoners and just finish at 13.1 and call it a “bad” day.  He kept encouraging me not to quit in those few moments we had to chat so I decided to tough it out and keep going with the full Marathon.  One really cool thing that God did was as I had started running again after seeing Tony our good friend Glenn Rigby that was running the marathon too had caught up with me and he was a great encouragement and that got me passed the 11.5 mark where all the half marathoners were branching off to head to their finish.  Glenn and I ran together until about mile number 14 and my feet were burning so bad that I just had to walk some at that point.  After mile 15 the cramping and dehydration had hit and it was becoming impossible to run much farther that a couple of tenths at a time.  I stopped at the medical tent after mile 16 and they confirmed my problem with my feet and wrapped them with ace bandages and gave me a new pair of socks and told me that I needed to take some salt packets for the depletion of sodium and potassium.  I’m not sure that I understood all of that due to the frame of mind that I was in.  I tried taking some after mile 17 and the packets got wet so I didn’t get much in my system and there was this awful hill looming in the distance.  The temperature sign on the bank said it was a whooping 80 degrees at this point and I have never in my life seen so many people sick and dropping out of a race.  Ambulance siren’s were heard all around you from time to time and the medical tents were full of people with heat exhaustion and dehydration.  I struggled on to mile 19 because I knew Tony would be there.  I must admit in the back of my mind I secretly had hoped to just tell him that I was going to walk the rest of it and wanted to talk him into walking it with me to keep me company and keep my mind off the pain.  I think every muscle in my legs were cramping at this point and my feet were back to burning again.  When I saw him we walked and talked a moment and he continued to encourage me to keep going but reminded me that there was so shame in bailing out if I needed to.  I decided to keep going, so off I went.  Ironically, at this point our route paralleled the half marathoners route and once again there was the temptation to just hop over there and join them on their 12th mile and head to the finish line and be done with this thing.  The only thing that I can say kept me on my course was God Himself!  The temps were continuing to climb, more people were getting sick and dropping out but I saw an overpass coming up and knew I could stop and stretch for a moment in the shade and that was a God send for sure!  As I stopped off to stretch many more followed suit so I was glad not to be the only one.  After this a tough stretch of road was ahead.  Again there wasn’t any shade and not a cloud in sight.  We got through miles 20-22 on this stretch and it was tough.  At a moment when I really needed to see a friendly face, our friend Sally who had run the half marathon called out my name.  Boy, was she ever smart just doing the half….you know, come to think of it….she is a doctor and all.  Maybe that should tell us all something! She was at the 21 mile marker watching for me and she ran out to chat a few moments, took my picture, gave me some good words of encouragement and took a few things from me to lighten my load (my old, smelly socks, and shirt….what a wonderful Christian servant to carry someones smelly socks-thanks again Sally).  At that point I kept going and headed into Shelby park to finish miles 22-24.  I must tell you, it was a beautiful park but I just hurt to bad to enjoy it!  I stopped at the medical tent again just after mile 23 and through tears told the medic that I was cramping really bad.  He gave me a moment to get myself together and then gave me 3 salt packets and I told him I wasn’t sure I could get that down but he told me that if I wanted to finish I had to take them.  Well, I got all three down and drank some Cytomax Sports drink and headed out once again.  I noticed that after a few moments the cramping seemed to decrease (FINALLY) and I was able to do some serious power walking….and before I knew it I was doing some serious running again and was able to run straight to the finish line!  I was broken hearted at seeing one fellow loaded into an ambulance at the 25.5 mile mark….so close to finishing.  The finish line was the most glorious sight I had seen all day.  They had this sprinkler system going and I went over and just stood there in it forever just relishing the medal around my neck and clinching the stale bagel in my hand.   Funny thing is….I just thought my journey was over at that point but due to the finish line being so crowded with people, Tony couldn’t get anywhere near it so the plan was to meet under the “D” banner in the friends/family reunion area.  As I struggled through the crowds wet and still clinching my stale bagel I couldn’t find the stupid reunion area.  I walked forever only to FINALLY hear Kay hollar “Dana!”  It was so nice to hear a familiar voice.  As they rushed over tears just couldn’t be held back and we all relished the moment of having finished.  At this point…no one really cared about race time because we all knew we were extremely blessed just to have finished on our own two feet.  I got to soak my feet in this barrell of ice water which was really awesome after 26.2 miles!  Afterwards we enjoyed calling our families, exchanging our stories and eating at chick-fli-A….a Kay Rigby favorite! 

If you had asked me on Saturday afternoon or on Sunday what I thought God wanted me to learn out of the experience, quite honestly I would have said, “NOTHING!”  I was a little disappointed in how the race went, my time, the weather etc….  We had felt so good about our training, the race itself and all our prep going into it and so for the day to just turn into a disaster I was a little confused.  But on Monday morning the fog began to clear and I started putting together a few points of how the marathon coincides with our faith walk with Jesus Christ.  I am going to go ahead an apologize for leaving you hanging here but I am going to have to finish the points tomorrow due to our Board of Directors Meeting being tonight.  So tune in tomorrow afternoon for some interesting parralls about life and marathon running!

See you tomorrow!

Dana

Living In Larger Life

Identity, Trials & Adversity

This morning I was working on my Bible Study and ran across a very good point and I thought I would share it with those of you keeping up with the NLD blog.  The Bible study is Beth Moore’s newest study entitled Esther, It’s Tough Being A Woman.  Today’s lesson was called, “The High and Low of Ego”.  The portion that really struck me dealt with what we teach here at NLD about realizing that we are crucified with Christ and that we are to deny self/flesh and follow Him.  Today’s study centered around Esther 5:9-10 and Haman’s rage at Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to him.  Here was her quote that spoke to me….”Amid all the depravity of this world, man is still God’s prized creation and most valued treasure.  Christ’s purpose in calling us to deny ourselves is that we’d deny our selfishness, ambition, pasts, or any damaged emotions the right to cheat us of His far higher plans for us.”  Wow…is that not the truth?  Our flesh, if left to run it’s own course would so rob us of experiencing all of the life that Christ has called us to.  My flesh wants to cheat me out of experiencing Father’s highest plans for me, God’s love for me and God’s work in and through me.  I have made it my utmost priority to so walk with God and allow His healing in my life that I can experience all of the freedom that He died on the cross to purchase for me.  It is our own hang ups, damaged emotions and sins (which is any way that I am trying to get a legitimate need met in a illegitimate way) that keep us from experiencing the victorious christian life.  In the study we learn that God knows that “nothing leaves us more hollow than being full of ourselves.  We have no greater burden than our own egos.”  She goes on to add that we have nothing more breakable than our own ego’s as well.

2 Corinthians 4:10-12 helps us understand why we are called to this thing the New Testament calls the crucified life.  “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  For we  who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body.  So, then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”  The point of my study this morning was that any time God calls us to die, His purpose is to reveal larger life.  She mentions that “God’s forte is life.  He’s just not willing to leave things dead.  A paramount theme in Esther is what God can do when we resolve to obey and ‘if I perish, I perish'”.  Before I can be used of God I must be full of God and I can’t be full of God when I am full of myself.  The antidote for our ego’s….knowing your IDENTITY IN CHRIST!  When I know who I am in Christ, the position I hold, the benefits, privileges and inheritance that comes with my relationship with Christ – I’m finally SECURE!  What a safe place!  What a loved place!  What a place of perfect peace regardless of what others say or think about me!  Knowing who I am frees me up to have a correct estimation of myself.  My friend – do you know that if you have relationship with Christ you are no longer a sinner?  Your IDENTITY changed!  2 Corinthians 5:17 says you are a new creation.  Paul calls us “Saints in Christ Jesus” over 60 times in the New Testament!  Let me tell you who you are my friend….listen up….If you are a Christian you were a “Sinner” and now you are as we say here at NLD a “Saint who sometimes sins”  Romans says you were “in Adam” now you are “in Christ”.  You have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light!  If your emotions aren’t lining up with this new truth just yet….it is because you have been believing a lie for way to long and your mind needs to be renewed to the truth of God’s Word – Romans 12:1-2.

So….what is it in your flesh that needs to die in order for you to live in larger life?

Dana

Are You Listening?

Identity

I have experienced a recurring theme in my life.  It’s that painful feeling of rejection that comes from not being heard.  Sometimes it happens when someone completely misunderstands what I’ve said.  At other times I feel like someone is just not listening or paying attention to what I’m saying.  I’m sure many of you have felt the same way.  It’s a common desire to want to be heard, to be understood, to be known. 

I was struggling in this area this past week when God revealed Himself to me.  I recently heard someone say that God doesn’t speak to us audibly, He speaks louder than that.  The other night, I experienced this when His quiet words penetrated deep into my heart. 

As I began to think about why I was hurt, I poured out my heart to God,(Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.  Psalm 62:8) “I feel hurt.  I feel unimportant.  I feel of little value.  I feel insignificant.  I want to be heard.  I want to be understood.  I want to be known.  Are my thoughts/feelings not worth something?  Am I not worth listening to?”  I had somewhere along the way in my life made the false assumption that if people listened to me, then I was important, but if people didn’t listen to me, then I was not important.  Because of this false belief, I have looked to people to make me feel significant.  On this evening, I read this paraphrase of Psalm 139:

I know you-when you sit down and get up, what you think.  I carefully watch over you as you move through your day and then sleep at night.  I am intimately acquainted with everything about you. 

Through this, God told me that I’m important; I’m special; He knows me; He pays attention to me.  He is the one who deems me significant, not other people.  If I look to people to be heard, be understood, be known, I will be disappointed and hurt, but if I look to God, I see that I have everything I need in Him.

Rebecca:-)

Do You Want To Be Well?

Prayer & Praise, Trials & Adversity

This morning I was reading in John 5 about the man that was paralyzed lying next to the pool in Jerusalem that was called in Hebrew Bethesda.  In the appointed season an angel of the Lord went down and stirred up the water; whoever was the first person to get down into the water would be healed.  The man that John 5 refers to had been suffering with this lingering disorder for thirty eight years.  Jesus approached this man and realizing how long he had suffered asked him, “Do you want to become well?”  By this queswtion, Jesus meant, “are you really in earnest about getting well”.  The man’s response is quite interesting.  He says, “Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am tyring to come into it somebody else steps down ahead of me.”  Jeus immediately tells him to pick up his mat and walk.  Immediately his life was changed!  What catches my attention the most about this story is the question that Jesus asked the man-Do you want to become well.  At first glance that seems like a crazy question.  Of course the fellow would have wanted to be well-right?  I remember a sermon that our pastor at our church preached a long time ago on a Sunday night regarding this particular passage.  He dealt with the paralytic’s attitude about getting well.  There are some who have suffered for so long that they have lost hope of ever being well.  For some, due to the dysfunction (False Beliefs-as we call them) in their minds they depend on the resources of others to care for them and live in a constant state of a self pity party.  Now, don’t get me wrong…some literally have to depend on others to care for them.  What I am talking about are thsoe who due to their dysfunction have misplaced dependencies and then developed unrealistic expectations of others.  Meaning they are looking to others to meet their emotional and spiritual needs of Contentment (happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment in life), Security (love & acceptance), and Significance (worth, value, importance, identity).

It can seem crazy to think about, but some people literally don’t want to be well.  They are drawing out life from others by the attention they receive from being sick.  Obviously this is a sad place to be and many of us will encounter some of these folks either threw out the holiday season or just around our churches.  Some of us may have someone like this in our family that we deal with.  For most of us it may not be the most comforttable situation in the world to have to deal with.  Some have asked me for suggestions about what to do, how to respond to them and what to say.  My answer is usually always the same…don’t enable them and don’t necessarily try to reason with them.  They cannot understand reason.  You must allow Christ to love them through you…I don’t know any other way to put it than that.  It is impossible for us to love others in our own strength.  As Christ demonstrates Himself through you as you depend upon Him, He will guide you in loving them and communicating with them.  You must leave their mental and emotional dysfunction with Him through prayer.  If He directs you to speak the gtruth in love to them then do so…but make sure it is Christ speaking through you and if so it will be done in love.  They have to want to be well in order to make that journey.  It is most often a long, tough process for all of us in dealing with our emotional hangups a.k.a. FLESH.  As I tell our clients…you and I can’t apply a microwave solution to a crock pot problem.  You have to want that healing in order to make that journey.

It is our prayer that you have a blessed Merry Christmas and wonderful times with friends and family!

Dana

Could You Be A Legalist? – Take The Quiz!

Grace Insights, Prayer & Praise

Hello Everyone…..I hope the title there got your attention!  Many of us who have come to embrace God’s grace and exchanging our lives for Christ life have come out of a very legalistic way of thinking.  You may have only wadded knee deep in it or if you are like me you have had periods of your life where you swam in it!  To be honest, I had no idea how legalistic my thinking had become.  I was shocked and quite frankly appalled at some of the beliefs that I held on to when God allowed my legalistic rules to completely unravel my life.  The quiz provided below is a way to help you discern legalistic thoughts and the resulting emotions and behaviors.  So I challenge you to take the quiz, laugh a little at yourself but on a serious note take stock of your beliefs and values and make sure they are Biblical and balanced full of Grace & Truth.

The Quiz!

1.  God’s degree of love for me depends on what I do.

2.  Meeting the expectations of others, especially those in my congregation or in positions of authority, are paramount.

3.  Moral and ethical questions are usually black and white and only made into fuzzy shades of gray by hand-wringing, bleeding-heart types.

4.  I try hard to obey God and it irritates me that others think they can get away with avoiding the same level of dedication.

5.  I fall short because I don’t have enough faith, or because I haven’t prayed enough, or because i just need to be a better peron.

6.  God is predisposed to be angry with me because I am a sinner.  My main goal in life is to try to gain God’s favor by doing things that will impress Him.

7.  My sense of spiritual well-being is linked to a Christian leader or membership in my church rather than a personal relationship with God.

8.  I tell my children not to do something in chruch or around other Christian families that I allow in my home.

9.  I believe my church is God’s true church and that most other Christians may be sincere, but are sincerly wrong.

10.  The exterior choices a person makes in what they wear, hairstyle, piercings, tattoos, etc. is a clear indication of that person’s character.

11.  I sometimes worry that people might take advantage of grace if it’s preached too much-people might think they can do anything they want.

12.  After being around Christians for a while I feel drained-weary of putting up a false front.

13.  When I happen to miss a service or activity of my church I feel quilty.

14.  I will likely get into heaven, even though I’m far from perfect, because I have tried to be a basically good person and God will take that into account.

Well….how did you do?  Now, one word of caution….If you just took the quiz and are sitting there thinking, “Oh, I don’t believe any of that, I have never thought any of those things!”…..be careful…..you might be a (warning…..this could hurt) self righteous legalist.  Often times we are all quilty of covering up what is really there by having a very sujective view of ourselves.  We are constantly focused on ourselves and being significant & secure so therefore we must appear great and look like we have it all together spiritually.  That thought right there lends itself to legalistic thinking and living.    It amazes me that out of all of the clients that we see the ones who stuggle the most with the message that we share are the legalists.  I think back in my own life that God had to really humble me and bring me to the end of myself (which was quite excruciating) for me to “get it”.  I am also reminded that the only people that Jesus Christ was ever really “harsh” with were the Pharisees and yes…it was the Pharisees that missed Him.  We need to let this be a red flag for us….let’s ask God to reveal the legalistic thoughts and behaviors in our lives that we may not even be aware of.

Roll Tide!

Dana

A Love Note from Your Father, Taken from the Psalms

Grace Insights

I thought some of you out there keeping up with New Life Design might be interested in this.  I came upon this last week while working through Steve McVey’s Bible Study entitled “The Grace Walk Experience”.  I highly recommend this Bible Study if you are looking for something new and fresh to do on Grace.  Thank you Steve for allowing Christ to lead you to put this together!

A Love Note from Your Father, Taken from the Psalms….

My dear Child,

I am with you.  (46:7)  Stop striving and know that I am God.  (46:10) I have chosen your inheritance for you.  (47:4) I rule over everything.  (47:8) Remember Israel-they didn’t possess the land by their own swords.  It wasn’t their hand that saved them.  It was my right hand and my arm and the light of my presence, I favored them.  (44:3) So it is with you-I have poured out grace on your lips and will bless you forever.  (45:2)

I will always guide you, until the day you die.  (48:14) You thought I was just like you.  (50:21) But my lovingkindness endures all day long, every day.  (52:1) Know this-I am for you.  (56:9) My lovingkindness toward you is higher than the heavens.  (57:10) Stay with me and take refuge under the shelter of my wings.  (61:4)

Trust in me at all times and pour out your heart before me.  (62:8) I am the one who bears your burdens.  I am your salvation and am the God of deliverance for you.  (68:19-20) I will show Myself strong in the way I act on your behalf.  (68:28)  Just trust me and praise me more and more.  (71:14) 

Listen to what I am saying-I speak peace to you, my godly one.  (85:8) Your springs of joy are to be found in me.  (87:7) I will satisfy you every morning with my lovingkindness.  (90:14) When you find anxious thoughts multiplying in your mind, my consolation will delight your soul.  So be gald.  (94:19)

I never change.  (102:27) My sovereignty rules over all.  (103:19) Meditate on that and I’ll be pleased.  (104:34) I have sent my word and healed you and delivered you from your destructions.  (107:20) I am God.  I do whatever I please (115:3) and it pleases me to be gracious and compassionate and to preserve you.  (116:5-6) What I have said is settled in heaven.  (119:89)

I don’t count sins, or else nobody could stand.  (130:3-4) You are forgiven and my lovingkindness is everlasting.  My lovingkindness is everlasting.  My lovingkindness is everlasting!  (Psalm 136 says this 26 times.)  I iwll accomplish the things that concern you.  (138:8) I know you-when you sit down and get up, what you think.  i carefully watch over you as you move through your day and then sleep at night.  I am intimately acquainted with everything about you.  (139:1-4) I wrote the script for every day of your life before you lived a single one of them.  (139:16) I know your path and the way where you will walk.  (142:3)

And my child…I do take such pleasure in you!  (149:4)

With eternal love,

Your proud Father

Is that not just incredible!  I hope it ministers to you as it did me.  Have a great weekend and Roll Tide!

Dana