God Cares For You ...can u say, deep down, that you genuinely believe that to be true? what about when ur workplace is restructuring and u are being let go? Or u get a call from ur parents who inform u that one of them has been diagnosed w/cancer? what about when business is down and u need to make some tough decisions, or someone u care about always seems to be down on their luck & they’re facing yet another “wrong time & place” scenario?  what about when you receive unexpected news about your own health or when hopes & dreams have been dashed to pieces? 

here’s what I know. God knew the mess we were about to make of His good world when we decided to try our own hand at making right & wrong decisions without Him.  And even while we were turning our backs on Him, He was moving to bring about our rescue!  He came & entered His now sin-stained world, walked in the middle of the mess, endured the tragic consequences that we made of the place, not for Himself!  He took those horrible tragedies to the cross, where they were defeated and where He busted thru even death itself!  Why? why in the world would He do that?  Again, it certainly wasn’t for Himself - He had been living in a state of perfect unity & community in the heavenly realm prior to His entrance on earth. So, definitely NOT for Himself...but for US!  Out of His self-sacrificing, self-giving love (cus that’s what real love is) He left His throne & all its glory to do for us what we were helpless to do for ourselves. He came and won the battle against Evil. It’s been defeated. And will one day be done away with for good!  in the meantime...know that there is a Name that is above all names, and He is the one who is working ALL things together for good for those who love Him. You haven’t been abandoned. He sees every big & little thing you’re walking thru, He’s there with you.  And while our limited perspective looks at our circumstances and says, “the only way this situation could possibly end in a way that I think is good is if...” (fill in the blank). But, dear friends, it’s in that moment when we’ve yet  again (think Adam & Eve), decided that WE know what’s good and what’s not!  my encouragement - remember there is One who sees it ALL, He sees way more than our limited perspective ever will, His thoughts are not ours, His Ways are so much higher, and He is the One who is with you, leading you, navigating you thru the tough terrain that seemingly makes no sense to the human eye. He’s there and tells you to abide in Him. Don’t wander away, draw nearer - He really is for you.  The tragic yet beautiful act  displayed on the cross is proof!  Gotta trust someone — your imperfect self?  Or the flawless, perfect One who’d rather die than live without you!  back to the opening sentence (and this Sunday’s big idea):  “God cares for you.”  It’s truer than you can imagine❤️ WHATEVER ur walking thru this week, there is One who is near & dear, He is good and He IS working to set all things right and make all things new...because He loves you that much!
 

Our big idea for this Sunday is LOVE PEOPLE! 

Such a simple command......As long as the people are OUR kind of people! When they are different from us, when they think differently, when they look different, when they behave differently, that’s when the loving gets hard!

I had the privilege of attending my daughter's pole dancing competition on Saturday. There were some people there, in fact MOST of the people there, who were VERY different from me. It was a great reminder to me that God‘s command was not conditional upon whether we agree with or even like those people. We are to LOVE. So my prayer for each one of us is that we will see all… ALL… people with the eyes, heart, and mind of our loving, non-condemning, Savior Jesus! Our God-assigned job is to LOVE PEOPLE (we can leave the judging to Him, He’s much more qualified for the job ). So let’s get to work!😍😍

This week we will be sharing with the kids the story of the 10 Commandments and how the Israelites turned to the idol of the golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai.  When I read this story I often think, how is it possible that the Israelites can see all the miracles of God first hand and still turn to idols the first time Moses leaves them for the mountain.  They saw a river turned to blood, plagues, a river parted so they could walk across it, manna from Heaven and yet they still gave their gold to make a calf to worship. And then I think, surely I wouldn’t have done that if I were there.  But then reality sets in and I think of all the miracles I’ve seen in my life and all the things that I let get between me and God. Is God really my first love? As we prepare to share the Big Idea - Love God, I challenge you to think about whether God is your first love?  I am praying that this week you will be able to set aside the idols in your life and Love God.
 

Over the past few weeks, “Rest” has been coming up as the topic of many conversations. I have to be honest and tell you that rest does not come easily for me! So, when I saw that our lesson this coming Sunday is about just that I laughed,thinking, God really does have a sense of humor. How was I going to encourage others to rest when I struggle to practice this myself? This thought moved me to search the scriptures. Here’s what I found, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you (Psalms 116:7)” What a powerful message! God wants us to find rest. Not just for our bodies or for our minds, but rest for our SOULS. How do we find this rest, or as the scripture above says return to rest? “Abide in Me. Come to Me. Rest in Me.” We find rest for our souls in Jesus, and in Him alone! My prayer this week is that each of us walk into the arms of Jesus, laying down every burden and find the rest that He has for us. “Return to your rest, my soul.”

"Witness"
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1 John 3:18-20 says:  Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.  It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord, even if our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
 
The Witness Rock service was a true testament to these verses.  I can't even imagine the amount of volunteers it took to pull off this day by loving others through their actions. When I think about how I can be a better witness for Jesus, my thoughts are constantly drawn to serving others.  Jesus at his core was a servant of others.  So much so that he died to meet our needs. Why?  Simply because he loves us.  Wow!  So, if I truly want to live a life like Jesus I know that serving others (even when I don't feel like it) needs to be a top priority in my life.  One of the biggest ways we can be a witness is to serve others just like Jesus did.  In doing so the world will get to know the love of Jesus through our actions and not just our words. 
 

For me, the Joshua study has been quite a journey already.  I listen to WCIC and have heard a story about the following for maybe the last week.  “God hates divorce – He doesn't hate a person who has gone through divorce, He just hates what divorce does to a person.”  When I heard this for the 1st time, I couldn’t help but be drawn into this statement.  The light bulb went on as I was driving home – there are certain things that God doesn’t like – it doesn’t mean that He doesn’t like the person – He doesn’t like the affect that certain actions have on a person.  He loves us no matter what we have done or gone through.  This is so important because I think we are sometimes so quick to think that we have fallen out of grace.  But the truth is, we are all God’s children and have fallen into HIS grace.  When we repent and give our lives to Christ, we no longer need to have worries or anxiety.  When listening to Pastor Mike today, I couldn’t help but remember the story that I had previously been hearing all week.   No matter what we are going through at this time in our lives, whether it be problems at work, with our marriage, parenting issues; if we just get to the point of handing it over to Him, then we can actually begin to live our lives as God intended. 
 
My prayer today is that we all hand it all over this week – let our worries be gone and begin to live our life the way God intended it to be.  We need to be happy and remember that we are loved in a way that goes beyond anything this physical world has to offer.
 
Phil 4:6