~Letting Go~

I wrote this today, thinking about experiences I've had, people I've met, friends, family etc. and the tough reality of some choices made and how time shows how friends come into your life and how time can show others quickly fading. I look back and amazingly enough I have fond memories of good childhood friends who were unbelievably faithful and kind and without a shadow of a doubt they would remain consistent. Things change, life hands you new circumstances and the song begins anew.


Thankful for the beauty in ashes, the oil in mourning and the joy in mercy...

I Will Remember

~Lord Have Your Way~

I woke up this morning and realized how precious God truly is, sometimes the storms we face are but a turbulent storm that passes in the night and the light quickly comes and warms our faces and we are hardly fazed by our momentary trials. Then there are those moments that seem like an endless storm, as though we are right in the eye of it's deadly anger and we wonder will we survive, will we triumph. Our flesh becomes weak with fear and our minds are shaken by the darkened tide of endless tossing. For such a journey, such heartbreaking adversity does one find strength in God and quickly the weakness of mankind. It is God alone who can sustain us, bring us a lighthouse of hope that no one can put asunder! No torrential heartache, no mind numbing disappointments in our common soothing comforts that once stood by our sides so faithful. When the deepest cut of our trials bleeds us, it is Christ who is faithful, who is understanding, who is devoted in love, faithfulness in compassion. Remember that the storm you face will end someday, some time and in that trial of the heart, mind and soul; remember you are loved and God always has a plan!

Courage

Courage is always a tough thing, it requests and even demands immediate reactions at times, it's in those very moments that we choose to pursue the goal set before us or if we back down and let it pass by...

One thing is for sure, courage changes you, makes you see things in a bigger picture, lets you realize what is worth the sacrifice or not. Your character changes, your ideas change, your strength to pursue grows and grows with each advancing step. Courage can easily begin small but end in great big results of victory but it's a decision each and every time...

Under A Thousand Tears

   Sometimes we bear the weight of our deepest fears in silence. We put on a brave face and all the while we cry on the inside, we break into pieces, thinking, pondering, wondering if anyone knows our pain and do they really care. The bible says this in Psalms

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
                              Psalm 34:17-19
     The comfort we receive is in this very thing, that God is ever attentive, He is ever prepared to easily overcome anything we are enduring. He promises that He will deliver us out of all our afflictions. The great joy we receive is in knowing that God stands by His word, even to the cross! His mercy is ever enduring, ever compassionate and full of love and joy. We have hope because God does exactly as He promises and has never failed, His record is 100 percent perfect and He knows exactly everything there is to know about you and how to make all things new in His perfect grace. So take hope in this very thing, you are loved and that love that is so profound that it causes us to soar above the impossible, to do the very things we thought would leave us in the dust of weakness. God delivers! God Heals! God Restores! God Renews!

 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
                               Isaiah 40:31

By Design

Psalm 139:16

You saw me before I was born.

    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

    before a single day had passed.

That is the beauty of knowing God, knowing that He knows everything, past, present and future and yet with all that information, all that knowledge of our rights and wrongs, He loves us deeply and with such devoted grace through Jesus Christ his son. Never forget that He has everything perfectly planned out and what He sets in place, no one can silence, smother, crush or destroy...

I Will Be With You

I can't see how this will turn out...

It's that moment that makes us shake sometimes, especially when we are at our weakest moments, the moments that challenge our worst fears, our silent whispers but it's in those very moments that God speaks the loudest. He begins a good work in us and what He starts, He finishes! That's the comfort we can receive through each and every challenge that begs us to break, to give up, to throw in the towel. The real beauty is in God's perfect plan and His devoted compassionate love that abounds in wisdom and kindness...

For The Call

   

     Today is one of those days, the kind of day that when you wake up you just feel thankful. You wake up and you realize that God in all His wonder and grace, somehow made your life amazing not by what you can do but rather what God can do in it. A moment comes and goes without distinction sometimes but when there is love it soars through the skies of joy and when we suffer pain or loss we drudge through the mud and mire of hurt. It's inevitable, change is always happening but it's when we are in our darkest moments that we see an even greater light of hope, it's because of it's sheer brilliance when in darkness we wander that it becomes so precious, so paramount, so inspiring that it leaves an indelible mark that can spur us onward and upward.
     When I woke up this morning I had that very feeling, that type of praise to a God of wonder and absolute faithfulness. I had realized that through my stroke, my learning how to read, write, walk and talk that God made that mark, that profound statement in my soul that said "I will never leave you or forsake you!" and that is what He did. He prevailed over my suffering, He conquered over my doubts, He triumphantly showed is everlasting love over my hurts and pains and today I am doing things that once were deemed impossible because I have a God of all possibilities.
     No matter what you face you can face it as long as God is the rock by which you stand or crawl or what have you, you are not alone and on His strong promises you are victorious.

Motto

Stand Firm

       
Don't be dismayed or confused when you are persecuted for the light that Christ has given you, the joy you have in salvation. Our trials are momentary and our sufferings do not compare to the everlasting glory set before us. God is our rock and He is our refuge and despite what hate we face for the gospel, what torture we may endure, our shield of faith is in God's undeniable love. We must continue to reach out and tell the world of Christ's salvation for a lost and dying world. 
By Ernie Kasper

Rise Above It

     What an awesome night of training!!!! For the first time I ran 7 km while skipping and I was able to perform for the last km a double skip every 5 minutes and then I did my regular routine of martial arts and acrobatics. Towards the end of my training a group of teenagers were cheering me on and screaming and shouting after I performed acrobatics. One teenager ran across the street and nervously came up to me and wanted to shake my hand. It was weird to see all of them filming me with their cell phones though.
     When I got home I couldn't help but remember when I couldn't speak, walk, understand language and more, I thought of all the people who turned away and stopped talking to me or people who would look down at me because my stroke often presented itself as a person of less intelligence or to say it kindly, they thought I was mentally challenged. I saw through their eyes the shallow judgement, the snobby refusal to even look at you because of your behaviour but in turn I also saw and met some of the sweetest people who wanted to find the deepest part of me, they wanted to know who I was despite what they saw. God does that but with far greater wisdom and he takes our lives when we trust in Him and He plants a new beginning with much more than we could ever conceive on our own strength.

#trials #suffering #survivor #hope 

Whether it is in the deepest of trials, the greatest of sufferings, this I surely know, God is the hand I will rest upon, God is the hope that I will raise my heart to, God is the peace from which I will bring my sorrows to. God can and does bring us through our storms, sometimes He stills them and the waters become like glass and other times He teaches us that character is paramount, tarry the rough seas and remember this too shall pass. By Ernie Kasper

Silence has words

The joy on my face was evident but suddenly the words fell to the floor, once again the stroke has reminded me that I am weak and that words are precious. Words are too beautiful for spending them on hate, wasting them on pride, planting fields of discouragement. I reached into the depths of my heart and tried several times only to fail miserably with "blub blub blub blabbablub" Tears crawled down my face, my heart was weary, my soul was crying out for courage and my words were broken. All of a sudden a song came to my heart and it just showered me with such joy, such hope, such love! I began to sing the song out loud, the words quickly fell into place and everything was clear and precious. I raised my eyes to God and sang "How great is our God, how great is our God, sing with me" The words danced from my lips and that one place where the mind wasn't damaged, I could sing, I could sing with hope. As I lifted my trials to God I felt His peace and I knew that He was and is with me in my weakness and for that I praise Him. Greatness isn't about all the things you can do so easily, in fact it's all about what God can do in every failing moment, every circumstance that stands itself between you and Gods promises. Never give up hope in what God can do, it's never about your abilities but rather what God is willing to do in your inabilities, this way only God is given glory and the roots of your faith can only become more precious. You may be pressed from all sides but that will never silence the will of our saviour. God is able, He is able to do much more than we could ever imagine and for this we praise Him, even in the darkest corners of our trials. 

In The Tomb Of Your Weakest Hour

God is ever ready to hear our prayers, it isn't in the caverns of distance that whispers are heard but in the depths of Gods heart, His soul, that is the place where prayer is heard. To God it is nothing short of a symphony of faith, hope and love. The passion is in the waiting, knowing that whatever is done it is done at the epicenter of wisdom. God rolls the stone away from each and every circumstance, what He does with it is the Fathers will and that matters most. The sweet joy is knowing that whatever it is it will be covered by the hands of love, the same hands that where pinned to the cross, the same back that was marked because of our transgressions but praise God for the love that rose jesus from the grave. Whatever you are facing, remember this, God is never finished with you and even when you feel like your in the grave of sorrows last song, you are in Gods hands and He can always roll the stone away. By Ernie Kasper