Tag: Tree of Life

The God of peace shall be with you….

I feel like this is our extended New Years Eve,

So I will just say it

Happy New Year!

Here is to life, and to being real about it all!

We made it back home from our annual trip to Cold Bay, Alaska It’s really a blessing, and I’m so thankful that we have the ability to go to this place every year and do what we do! I hope that everyone has a place that they can go, to take a little break, change pace, think, reflect, and most importantly be in nature, take part in God’s creation, which is really amazing!

Have you ever felt like you just wanted a break to change your pace?

The Holidays are coming up,

And the real new year is coming up as well,

How many of us are actually thinking about our New Years resolutions (maybe, not yet, too early, I know)

We gotta get through those indulgent holidays first, I know!

Your probably wondering where I’m going with these thoughts, well so am I,

When I started this blog I wrote that this was my way of reflection, decompressing my thoughts, so I’m actually just writing what is in my head right now, as I sit on another plane, heading to another place, another break from reality I guess you can call it!

Not because I dislike my reality, I actually really love my life, but this hasn’t always been true for me…I have surely had my struggles, and by no means do I have the perfect life.

But let me share something with you,We all know what Phillipians 4:13 says,

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

We read this and we are empowered, aren’t we,

ALL THINGS!

CHRIST,

WHO STRENGTHENS US!

Really amazing to think about isn’t it?

I strongly believe that Christ does strengthen us, and that he can help us overcome SO MUCH!

But in context this actually is talking about lifestyle, and being content no matter what because we have CHRIST, and no matter what, he has got our back, whether we are in the storms of life, or full of joy, whether we are rich or poor, hurting or happy.

Philippians 4:4-14

Rejoice in the Lord always:

Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God,

Which surpasses all comprehension,

Shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally brethren,

Whatever is true,

Whatever is honorable,

Whatever is right,

Whatever is pure,

Whatever is lovely,

Whatever is of good repute,

If there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise,

Let your mind dwell on these things.

The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,

Practice these things;

And the God of peace shall be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,

That now at last you have revived your concern for me;

Indeed you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak from want;

For I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity;

In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both having abundance and suffering need.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Nevertheless you have done well to share with me in my affliction.

Philippians 4:4-14

So as I sit here in flight, reflecting, thankful, and rejoicing in the blessings that God has given me, I am also so very thankful for the struggles as well because they have taught me so much, they have helped me grow,

Those reality breaks, they don’t have to wait until the New Year, or the trip, sometimes we just need to stop breathe, and think, what am I doing and why am I hurting, and give in to Gods Guidance, and Christ’s strength.

PAUSE,

You are never too far gone for God to work with you,

Content in all circumstances means that, whether life is going great, or life is difficult you have the Creator on your side wanting to help fix you!

And sometimes it hurts, sometimes it’s hard, but it’s only because he knows how much you deserve, and he wants to give you more! But sometimes we get so stubborn in our ways thinking life can’t get better and we shouldn’t feel content regardless of the circumstances, when it’s good we feel guilty, when it’s hard we feel hopeless, and we feel like we need to have all the answers rather than just trust the process!

So with all that being said,

I get stubborn too,

I think life is something I need to handle all on my own,

I think well I’m already this far in, I can’t stop now, I can’t turn around….

That’s why I say take a break to look at your life, where is the first place you take your computer when it’s broken, well I’m sure if you knew the designer personally you would take it straight to him, but most likely your either gonna read the manual it came with, or your gonna take it to someone who has, and has studied it and knows how to fix it.

We are not computers but we have a designer a Creator, we also have a manual (Gods word, the Bible) and we also have people who have put in the time and effort to read and work on themselves through that manual, and speaking from experience myself, I know it works!

I’m learning to be less stubborn in my ways, and more dependent on God, more trusting of Him, and content in every circumstance, because it is true that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8:31-32‬ ‭KJV‬‬

His work always leaves me so in Awe!!

“Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46:8-11‬ ‭KJV‬

“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭62:5-8‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8:12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. [ But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” ]”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭17:20-21‬ ‭NASB‬‬

“Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭8:22-25‬ ‭NASB‬‬

“Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””

‭‭John‬ ‭16:22, 33‬ ‭NASB‬‬

As always if there was ever anything that you could get from taking the time to read my blog my prayer for this always is that you would take the time to desire the Truth in your life, we are are capable of being stronger than we think, which is exactly why Christ came to die for us, I pray you would find a Bible and read it and learn about that! And the love that He has for us!

May God bless you and you be able to find what it means to be content in all circumstances! And what it means to be able to do all things through Christ who strengthens you ❤️

With love,

Beverly

Where is your Peace?

 

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Guided imagery brings you to a place of peace.

Usually when asked to close your eyes and go to a place that is calm and peaceful, 

We think of mountains, beaches, meadows, rivers, forests

the sounds are those of waves crashing, or birds chirping, wind blowing, rain pouring

Where is your place of peace?

And why is it, that this place usually involves nature,

I honestly don’t know, maybe yours doesn’t involve nature 

But when I think of complete peace within myself I’m near the ocean,

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A warm breeze, and the sun setting

I love sunsets,

I could watch them all day!

if only…

Why do we get these glimpses of beauty? Why can’t we just stay there forever?

What’s so beautiful about the sun setting?

to me it is that I can actually look at the sun without being blinded by its brightness 

the colors of the sky amaze me and the reflection of light seen upon the water shows just how powerful God really is.

To think that this earth just accidentally happened, to me is hopeless

What’s the point of the beauty if this is all just an accident

What the point of joy, if we don’t have love 

What’s the point of life when we don’t have a God, 

What is our purpose if it is not for Christ 

(Now hold on…)

A long time ago God created the world,

Whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t change a fact! 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Genesis 1:1 

The world was a perfect place of absolute peace, not a worry, not a sorrow, not a burden, not a tear.

God made animals, and he made a man, this man was different from the animals because God breathed His own breath into him…

His soul into man! ( how blessed are we) 

That soul was uncorrupted knowing no evil, man was given a helper, a woman (taken from and for the man, but also given a soul of her own)

Together they were given a perfect home to enjoy and be completely taken care of! 

God, because of His love gave them a free will (yes, you have choice in this life) 

In this perfect garden there was a tree…a tree to understand, 

Understand something different from what they knew,

Knowledge of good and evil,

With that tree of knowledge came another thing that was death 

The perfect home and everlasting life would be severed through disobedience,

Death! 

A tempter came told the woman you won’t die you will just be like God, don’t you want that..to know good and evil…the thing is they already knew good, but it couldn’t have been considered good without the counterpart evil. Good without evil is perfect! 

(What did God say when he created it all, “it is good”,perfect. Genesis 1:31  God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good.)

Back to the fruit of that tree of knowledge of good and evil…

Eve took it 

She didn’t die instantly

What!!??

she passed it on to Adam,

Everything changed! 

Here comes the knowledge…

They instantly understood what evil was…

disobedience to their Creator, 

They were ashamed, and instantly wanted to hide away! Naked, vulnerable, and now they understood the one thing that God wanted to keep them pure from! 

Evil! 

But a God so loving knew this would happen 

He had a plan of redemption, 

The Tree of Life…

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in order to live they must now take from that…you see all along it wasn’t about forcing anything for God, God is Love and all He wants is children that love Him, not because they are  forced to, but because they want to love Him! The peace, the beauty, the wonders, the love, they all come from God!

And He gave us an opportunity to do that, His word is a gift, a gift of life, and manual on how to live it to the fullest, it’s a powerful message of His love, we don’t want to read it because that just seems so unfair that God would just create us, put us in this world, and then make us read a book on how to live in it…

(so unfair right) 

I think not…

But honestly the whole thought of reading the Bible used to burden me, but what I have actually realized is that it is not His Word that is a burden, but the world and the lies within it, they damage us! 

They take us away from those places of peace, calmness, and love.  So far away that we need to deliberately close our eyes and think deep to find that happy place again! 

God knows our burdens, He gave us this gift inside the gift, that is Christ! 

A perfect example, to come to earth and show us how to cast every burden aside, He did something that none before Him could ever do and that is die for our sins! 

We killed him, in anger, in jealously, in lies, In deceit, in selfishness! But still He said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34

The walk of a perfect life, to a cross of  crucifixion, an absolute selfless act to pay a price for heaven to give to us, for everyone who cares to understand, everyone who cares to say Glory to God in the highest, I love Him because He first love me!  

Everyone Who understands the necessity of the death that Christ faced for us, and the necessity of the need to clothe ourselves in that death, burial, and resurrection.

The death defeated sin, but only defeated sin for those that would remove it through His holy cleansing power! 

Rest is found through His love,

Fear of death, defeated! 

Comfort is a promise! For now and forever through Christ, but only for those willing to receive that comfort! It’s not a simple as speaking, it’s not as simple as a thought! Death came when disobedience happened in the Garden of Eden, 

Life comes through obedience, to the Tree of life.

Taking from that Tree of life, to live in the comfort and peace in the Kingdom of Heaven! 

Close your eyes, and imagine a place

Where you are completely at peace,

Find yourself in that happy place 

Tell me, what part of that exercise involves  chaos, clutter, fear, darkness. 

We do that to ourselves, while our hearts LONG for that peace, 

God wants us to trust His journey for us, (not my will, but His) 

It hurts sometimes as we walk this journey with Him because there are so many things that we have only ever known, that have been weighing us down, 

God wants to help us remove them to find that peace, 

that removal can be painful,

That place of comfort, will one day be our never-ending home! 

Time was created by God who doesn’t exist within that matter of time, that’s hard to take in, but the beginning and the end are something created by Him to teach us that this world is not the home we should strive for because it doesn’t last forever, 

Peace with Him though, 

That can start now, 

And that never needs to end, 

Obedience, 

Removal of selfish motives, 

Putting on love, 

Again God who created us didn’t create us to force us into anything,

We all have a choice,

The lie that tells you that, He is unjust, unloving, and fake,

Or even the lie that tells YOU that you are unworthy to be saved! 

Is the same lie that started the fall of man, 

“Surely you will not die,” said the serpent! 

“You will be just like God” said the serpent! 

As hard as we may try, we could Never compete with God,

Call yourself a “lucky accident” that came about from a mashing of rocks billions of years ago! 

Or call yourself a child of a Creator that loves you and will give you every opportunity to turn to Him, 

Who knows how to free you from the chaos, fears, and darkness. 

He doesn’t promise it to be easy, 

But promises freedom, peace,

Comfort, and love! 

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:8-9 

What is your promise?

What is you image of peace? 

What is your life? 

What is your purpose? 

Where is your peace?

As my title emphasizes my love for the truth, if you have any questions about my post, I would first recommend reading the Word for yourself, here are the listed scripture references, any further questions please let me know! 

Creation and fall of man 

Genesis 1-3 

The righteous and wicked contrasted 

Psalms 1 

Proverbs 14

The works and the Word of God 

Psalms 19 

What is the Tree of life?

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.” Proverbs 11:30 

Revelations 22 

About Jesus and his care:

John- chapters 14-16 (read this without the chapter breaks, it breathtaking, beautiful, and comforting.   The chapter breaks in the Bible are man-made not necessarily meant for stopping points sometimes we miss great passages from stopping too soon.) 

And why did Jesus Die? 

Collisions 2 and 3 

The whole Word of God is full of this love, and knowledge! The Bible is truly and treasure given for our benefit, not for our burden! My prayer is that you would read it filterless, with the ability to break down the barriers placed upon your hearts! The promise is truly fulfilling! May God bless you always! 

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