One Mind...One Purpose

"God's promises are new every morning." & "This day is a gift from God. Don't forget to thank Him."
These are two magnets that I have front and centre on my fridge and I find my thoughts immediately influenced as a result of seeing them. I find myself so encouraged to know that His promises are new every morning and a new day brings new hope. At night when my day is spent for all of eternity I want to thank Him for it & know I used it wisely and invested in things of eternal value. That I loved the things God loves and I hated the things God hates.
A verse that has helped to form the way I pray and give thanks to God is:

Romans 15:5-7 "Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God."

I recognize that it is God that grants perseverance not people or myself. His encouragement isn't fickle or fleeting but rather everlasting. And I love that the purpose and focus of being of the same mind with one another is that it is according to Christ Jesus not according to a worldly mindset that is acceptable to man. If we are not one in Christ then we are not one at all. There is no mixing the two. The outcome of being of one mind in Christ Jesus is we may then together glorify God. Oh that I may run this race and finish well according to Christ Jesus and glorify God.

Thankful for this gift of friendship.

I have just had the privilege of attending the memorial service of a woman who was such a dear friend. It was the most beautiful memorial service I have ever attended. Her sons and daughters sang worship songs and one of her sons gave the message. Having this family in my life over the past couple of years has been such a blessing. A true and timely gift from the Lord. In some really personal dark times it has been the comforting words of this dear family that brought so much encouragement to my heart. They truly model Christ and spur us on to do the same in our lives. I could share anything with them and know that they'd pray faithfully for our family. We would have never gotten to know this family had we not moved to Regina. The Lord gave us joy out of sorrow by connecting us with this family.
I will miss my dear friend but I know she is in the presence of her Lord and Savior and as her son said yesterday, she is finally able to love the Lord with all her heart, soul and mind. I will miss her tenderness and openness. I will also miss the prayer support and understanding heart that brought so much comfort to those people who knew her.
As I stood and participated at the graveside service I was brought back to the two other times that I had stood in that same cemetery and watched as my own parents' coffins were committed into the ground. This time though there was solid assurance that my dear sister in Christ was indeed with her Savior. The atmosphere was sad but not despairing. There is such blessed assurance when we trust and believe in the salvation provided for us in Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that the Lord has kept me in relationship with Himself over these years and I rejoiced yesterday for the gift of this wonderful friendship that drew me closer to Him.

And so it begins....

A new season of life has started for me and this has me feeling like I'm at some kind of threshold. I am so very glad to be here. I'm thinking that it is time to move forward and get bolder in my walk with the Lord and my witness for Him. I know I can only do this with His strength and anointing and so I wait on Him. There is much in my life that has to be pruned away in order to produce more fruit. This is my desire though and so I must endure the pruning.
I love how the Lord's Word comes alive and is so pertinent to all of life no matter what the season of life I'm in. As of late I've been craving more of the Word thus more of Him. As the craving grows so does the battle to abstain from the life giving Word & relationship it points me to. And so it begins the throwing off anything that hinders me from running the race. I want to run hard and finish well.