Tag Archives: Jesus

Sweet, Beautiful Freedom

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So….I’ve been thinking alot lately about freedom.  What a precious gift from God it is.  Freedom of speech, to be able to state what you believe in, even if it may differ from someone else’s beliefs….freedom to play soccer in Sudan, to just be children while the country continues to war on…Freedom from guilt and sin, to be able to start again and make a new and better life.

Children in a refugee camp in Jaac, South Sudan, playing soccer.

Children praying for freedom from war.

Freedom is…………….you fill in the blank.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves by burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  (Galatians 5:1)

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  (John 8:32,36)

“Oh, sweet, oh, beautiful, oh sweet, oh beautiful freedom…” (Intro to Beautiful Day, U2, U2360 Live)

Contemplating, living, and always trying to love more.    Slainte, Lisa

For more information on these pictures and how to help, please visit www.savethenuba.com and www.persecutionproject.org .

My husband works for this organization, and I can vouch for their accountability and compassion for the Sudanese people.

Lost & Found

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Yesterday, my daughter lost her first baby tooth, after much wiggling, fretting, excitement, and general carrying-on.  The whole household rejoiced with our last “baby” as she seems to be growing up very quickly all of a sudden.  Happy for her, but there is a bittersweet feeling as a parent as you watch that little one bloom into the young lady that God has planned for her to be.  Here is a very poorly lit picture of the momentous moment and the tooth gap.  (Why is it you can never find the camera at these moments?  Thank goodness for computer cams)

She is now fixated on the new “big girl” tooth that will be coming in; checking the mirror, asking me if I see it yet.  She has lost a tooth, but she will find a new one.  What is lost is found.  I was lost, but now I’m found.  Thank you, Jesus, for finding me when I was lost, and giving me new life.  Thank you also for the gift of watching old things become new, everyday, all around me.  Old teeth fall out, new ones come in.  Old caterpillars burst forth into new beautiful flying butterflies.  I feel joyful this morning watching Amy’s excitement, and I am so thankful for that.

Slainte, Lisa

 

Two Hearts Are Better Than One

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My husband found this double-hearted leaf yesterday and brought it to me.

It had fallen from a tree and was laying, unappreciated, in the grass until then.

The leaf’s hearts are delicate, and easily torn and ruined without care and love.

And sadly, by this morning, it was starting to dry up and wither apart from its tree, the vine, the branch which gave it life.

Love is like that.  We need each other to be tender, nurturing and caring in order to live and thrive and grow properly.  We need to appreciate each other and not let others just lay around unseen.  We need desperately to be hooked up to our life source, Jesus, who gives us abundant life beyond imagining.

Find your leaf today and love it and nurture it and really see it.  Slainte, Lisa

Fix Your Eyes

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A series of photos on the Lakes of Killarney…look at all of them and tell me where your eyes are fixed and focused.

 Most of you probably said the bridges.  That’s what my family and I found ourselves watching as we traveled towards them.  Our eyes traveled ahead and focused on them and watched as they grew ever closer.  In the vast lake, it was strangely grounding to see the bridges and know our destination.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:2a)  The most amazing focal point ever, grounding and giving of the best destination ever.

Travel well and with your destination firmly set in your mind.  Slainte, Lisa

Stuck in the Gooey Gumdrops

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So I played “Candy Land” with my 5 year old over the weekend.  And got stuck in the gooey gumdrops and the molasses swamp repeatedly.  Once you land on those dreaded black dots, you have to wait for the yellow card or the blue card to be drawn in order to move again.  So I continued to draw and wait, while my child laughed gleefully at my predicament and advanced towards winning.  (And she did win, twice in a row.  🙂  )

Later, I thought about how life is so much like that game sometimes.  We get stuck, or mired, or obsessed with some goal or object that we feel we have to obtain in order to move on.  And then we’re stuck in the gooey gumdrops.  Life continues to swirl on around us, while we’re just sitting and waiting and hoping for this thing that we think will make us happy.  When we finally draw the right card, it makes us happy, but usually only for a little while.  The only lasting thing that can make me happy long term and forever is Jesus.  He’s the only thing I need to get me out of the molasses swamp and into the abundant life that He longs for me to have.

Slainte, Lisa