Don’t You Love God’s Mercy?

God’s majesty in sunsets

Don’t you love God’s abundant mercy;
His amazing, saving grace?
Just thinking about it now
Brings a smile to my face.

Aren’t you astounded by His love
And the wonders of His majesty?
Just knowing that the King of kings
Came here to rescue you and me.

****

Though trapped in sin’s dark grip
And bound by the curse it brings,
Just in time, God’s Son did descend,
A swaddled babe, born while angels sing.

No more need we flounder alone,
No more face deserved penalty.
What we could never do on our own,
The cross accomplished, setting captives free.

****

Don’t you love God’s abundant mercy?
Aren’t you astounded by amazing grace?
Evermore I’ll sing of His love
Rejoicing that one day, we’ll see Him face to face.

****

“To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.”
Jude 1:25

Blessings, blogging friends.  I’m still struggling to get back into blogging.  Miss each of you.  No matter what, God is good and daily amazes me with His majesty!

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Written in Sand ~ God Erases Our Sins

I left this message at the beach ~ figured someone might need it

Written in sand
Our sins, such disgrace
Forgiven, our mistakes
God’s love does erase.

I have fond childhood memories of trips to the beach.  I don’t get to go very often anymore, but periodically just yearn to see the ocean.

I get to missing the taste of salty brine and the feel of sand between my toes.
Of relaxing to the gentle lapping of the waves, skirting back and forth on the shore.
Or building castles fortresses and writing heartfelt messages in the sand.

My memories of the beach linger.  Not long after formed, however, my seaside fortresses and writings in the sand all washed away.

Words written in sand, meant to last forevermore,
Erased quickly by the seashore.

The amazing thing about artistry in sand is that once eroded or washed away, the erasure is permanent.  There is no ability to precisely replicate what was before, whether castles or words.  Sand tablets have the ability to completely clean the slate.

Written in the Sand ~ Jesus

When He knelt before the woman caught in adultery, we don’t know what Jesus wrote in the sand that day.  Many speculate that while the religious leaders took turns hurling accusations of her guilt, Christ listed each of their faults in the sand.  Since there is no record in Scripture, nobody knows with certainty what He wrote. 

Jesus could have written about the sins of her accusers.
He could have documented the wrongdoing of the accused.

One thing is for sure, though, when the ordeal was over and the adulterous woman went on her way, she did so forgiven and cleansed to sin no more.  Had Christ listed her transgressions in sand during her trial, no trace of her wrongdoing remained when it concluded.  That is because when God forgives a repentant heart, He wipes the accusatory slate clean.

Covered completely by the blood of Christ, our sins lie forever forgotten at the bottom of the sea.  The tide of His merciful love erases the penalty of death written over our lives.  Our iniquities, washed away like messages in the sand.  No trace of former evidence remains.

“He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Micah 7:19

God’s Love Invading

Invading ~ the surroundings

I look around
And see God’s love
Invading
Every aspect of my life
And that’s a good thing

It’s flame
Igniting every fiber of my soul

I look behind
And see God’s mercy
Covering
Every sin-stained part of me
And that’s a saving thing

It’s benefits
Blessing every step of my eternity

I look ahead
And see God’s faithfulness
Fulfilling
Every one of His promises
And that’s a wondrous thing

It’s encouragement
Conquering every doubt in my being

I look above
And see God’s handiwork
Amazing
Every crevice of my heart
And that’s a glorious thing

It’s majesty
  Rising up as praise in my spirit

****

“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.”
Psalm 40:16

I took the photo above, while on a trip with my husband to the Gulf earlier this year.  This was just one of the stunningly beautiful sunsets we saw.  It was as if the hues of orange and red invaded our surroundings, rendering permanent change to the landscape. 

God invaded the landscape of our world with love, when He sent us the Son. Through Jesus, the Father’s love drew near, and dwelt among us. However, God never intended that love simply to come near and just surround us. He longs for Christ’s sacrificial love to invade us, in a good way.

*If you let God, His love will invade your depravity, erase your past, and rearrange your destiny.  He will interrupt your plans and ignite your spirit with a song of praise.

Have you merely heard of God’s love?  Will you allow His love instead to invade your life, for good?

For more of my poetry, see Poetry Corner

Friday Quotables ~ Repentance

Crosses along the highway ~ photo taken as we drove past

REPENTANCE:
It is not something you do to make yourself feel better before God,
It is something you do to make your obedience better before God.
****

by Sue Nash © 2014

From Proverbs 28:13
He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Blessings on your weekend!

The Sweet Sound of Mercy

The sweet sound of mercy
That came my way.
Instead of punishment,
My debt, God paid.

The wondrous news of grace,
So freely sown.
His love, undeserving
To me was shown.

The blessedness of peace
That Jesus brought.
The veil separating,
Calvary wrought.

The glories of heaven
Await me now.
All because of God’s love;
Through Christ, poured out.

So sweet is His mercy
That set me free.
Forever I’ll praise Him,
Who died for me.

The sweet sound of mercy,
Its bells still peal.
A tune like no other;
The soul, does heal.

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”
Micah 7:18

Sue Nash/2013

The following song by Casting Crowns is a nice compliment to my poem.

For more of my poetry, see Poetry Corner

Follow Righteousness and Mercy

Taken one evening at the Rez

He who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness and honor.
Proverbs 21:21

For following Christ, we get so much in return!

*For those of you who have not yet joined my companion website, I encourage you to do so.  On Heavenly Raindrops Images, I post images like the one above, but I also post some there that I don’t include on my main website.  You will find photos or images with Scripture and a brief description about the images only.

As with any of my images, feel free to share or use without my permission.  Just don’t use for resale or commercial purposes. 

Blessings on your day.
Sue

Back From the Woodshed

My dad’s infamous garden ‘shack’ where he spent much of his time. After he died, I had a friend paint it for me. Hanging now in my home, every time I look at the picture, it lovingly reminds me of him.

I’m back!

I missed all of you.  Reading your posts and interacting with comments.  I did not plan this reprieve from blogging.  Rather unexpectedly, God tapped me on the shoulder, and asked that I temporarily separate from all the online voices (social networking, blogging, etc) to hear His voice more distinctly.   There were things I needed to know.

I was in for some surprises.

Hoping simply for a time of refreshing in His presence, I was unprepared for why the Lord pulled me aside.  He used the time to reveal some areas of sin I was harboring.  Areas in my heart He exposed that needed purging.

We all struggle daily with sin issues, but the things that God fingered were sins that my pride refused to acknowledge.  Two mainly:

Grudges ~ towards certain people.  One by one, He brought their faces to my mind.  I would try to bring up the issues, but His response to each was for me to cut the cords of bitterness and forgive.  To set them free.

Disappointment ~ of allowing sorrow to accumulate in my soul.  Over prayer needs not working out how or when I wanted.  God’s way of exposing this one was by how poorly I handled a situation this weekend.  He then took me to that gentle woodshed of correction and showed me that I must avoid disappointment by clinging to His promises and running to Him at the first hint of it surfacing.

God worked in other ways during my brief time apart, and I am so grateful that He pulled me aside to hear His voice more clearly.  I wish that it didn’t take such extreme measures to grow me.  However, these times of separation and correction always end on an uplifting note.

God never corrects to condemn; rather, He convicts and cleanses to draw us closer.  The doorway in and out of His disciplining woodshed is framed with love.

For whom the LORD loves He corrects,
Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 3:12

I look forward to hearing from you again and reading your wonderful posts!  Thanks for your patience in my absence.
Sue

Never Give Up ~ God Never Does

I can do anything

In any life

At any moment

Never give up on anyone

I never do

Believe Me!

It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:14

We are not at all as patient and merciful as God. He waits on us, puts up with us and is always willing to leave the 99 in search of the one lost sheep.
Thank You, Father, for loving the one. Thank you for loving me, one who was one!