{"id":66,"date":"2012-01-11T14:08:50","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T14:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2012-01-11T14:08:50","modified_gmt":"2012-01-11T14:08:50","slug":"a-new-year-what-is-god-saying-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"A New Year – What is God saying to me?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I am not a big believer in resolutions.\u00a0 Oh, I have the resolve to set goals and see them through, but my dislike of resolutions has to do with the push to make drastic changes\u00a0simply because I got a new calendar.\u00a0 It seems that since the bus crash I have been earnestly seeking what is God’s plan in all of this (aka my life).\u00a0 The truth is at that precise\u00a0moment all my sensibilities, my pride, my thoughts, and my desires were stripped away.\u00a0 Sure I was a Christian, but I also had a whole lot of MY will inserted in there.\u00a0 It was at that moment that God laid bare my heart and tenderly and gently picked it up, \u00a0cradled and comforted\u00a0it, put it back together, and helped me to see what the real purpose was of His Son’s death (not to mention the\u00a0lessons taught to me about the\u00a0death of my own son) – to show his love for the world.\u00a0 That may seem like a stretch for some people. But if what I believed to be true in the morning of February 19, 2008 wasn’t true that night, then Jesus’ horrible death was for nothing.\u00a0 So I choose to believe in Jesus, and in God’s undeniable MESSAGE OF LOVE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Resolutions seem to be a reminder of MY plans, and I am not sure that they fit with God’s plan for my life.\u00a0 Instead I choose to focus on what stirrings God has placed in my heart no matter when they come.\u00a0 Lately that stirring is for humility, forgiveness, and servanthood.\u00a0I am learning that\u00a0in the past, I cared about\u00a0titles and accomplishments, and\u00a0now, they don’t seem important.\u00a0\u00a0Now I\u00a0want to see the world through God’s eyes and through\u00a0Jesus model of coming to earth to serve. \u00a0Yet the only way that I can do that is by staying in His Word and by using my words and knees to talk and pray.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0I am continuing with my goal for several years\u00a0of reading the Bible cover to cover.\u00a0 (Yes, I know that isn’t what most people recommend, but that plan is working undeniably well for me.\u00a0 In fact, I cried as I told Daniel the other night that I have fallen in love with God’s word.\u00a0 It IS that inspiring to me.)\u00a0 I didn’t finish the whole Bible in a year, but I will press on toward the goal.\u00a0 To kick off the New Year, I thought I would share one of my recent devotions that was paired with my Bible reading in the Book of Luke.\u00a0 I don’t believe in coincidence; so, this devotion resonated with my soul as to what God has been stirring in me.\u00a0 I hope by sharing it – you find some stirrings in your heart as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is based on the selection Luke 14:1-72.\u00a0 The devotion is an excerpt from\u00a0A Love Worth Giving<\/em>\u00a0by Max Lucado.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Would you do what Jesus did?\u00a0 He swapped a spotless castle for a grimy stable.\u00a0 He exchanged the worship of angels for the company of killers.\u00a0 He could hold the universe in his palm but gave it up to float in the womb of a maiden.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

If you were God, would you sleep on straw, nurse from a breast, and be clothed in a diaper?\u00a0 I wouldn’t, but Christ did.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you knew that only a few would care that you came, would you still come? If you knew that those who you loved would laugh in your face, would you still care?\u00a0 If you knew that the tongues you made would mock you, the mouths you made would spit at you, the hands you made would crucify you, would you still make them? Christ did.\u00a0 Would you regard the immobile and invalid more important than yourself? Jesus did.<\/em><\/p>\n

He humbled himself.\u00a0 He went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw.\u00a0 From holding stars to clutching Mary’s finger.\u00a0 The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why? Because that’s what love does. It puts the beloved before itself.\u00a0 Your soul was more important than his earthly life.\u00a0 Your place in heaven was more important to him than his place in heaven, so he gave up his so you could have yours.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

He loves you that much and because he loves you, you are of prime importance to him.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Christ stands in contrast to the barnyard.\u00a0 He points to the sparrow, the most inexpensive bird of his day, and says, “Five sparrows are sold for only two pennies, and God does not forget any of them . . . You are worth much more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7 NCV)<\/em><\/p>\n

God remembers the small birds of the world.\u00a0 We remember the eagles.\u00a0 We make bronze statues of the hawk.\u00a0 We name our athletic teams after the falcons.\u00a0 But God notices the sparrows.\u00a0 He makes time for the children and takes note of the lepers.\u00a0 He offers the woman in adultery a second chance and the thief on the cross a personal invitation.\u00a0 Christ is partial to the beat up and done in and urges us to follow suit.\u00a0 “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” (Luke 14:13 NCV)<\/em><\/p>\n

Want to love others as God has loved you?\u00a0 Come thirsty.\u00a0 Drink deeply of God’s love for you, and ask him to fill your heart with a love worth giving.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am not a big believer in resolutions.\u00a0 Oh, I have the resolve to set goals and see them through, but my dislike of resolutions has to do with the push to make drastic changes\u00a0simply because I got a new calendar.\u00a0 It seems that since the bus crash I have been earnestly seeking what is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[254,260,303,535],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}