Come to Me

Isaiah 55:8-9 - For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

Matthew 11:28 - "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and it will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28 (ICB) - Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads. I will give you rest.

I Timothy 6:13-16 - I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time–he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

I Timothy 6:15-16 (CEV) - The glorious God is the only Ruler, the. King of kings and Lord of lords....God will be honored, and his power will last forever.

Revelation 2:4 - "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had first."

Dear God, please heal my hurts. Please be my hiding place. Please calm my fears and my anxieties. Please guide me. Please give me rest. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

I Already Know

Matthew 6:34 - "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Matthew 6:34 (NLT) - So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.

John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I cam that they may have life and have it abundantly."

James 4:13-17 - Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"–yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do, for him it is sin.

Dear God, thank You for already being in tomorrow so I only need to worry about today. Tomorrow is dental cleaning day and discussing moving forward with the dreaded root canal the dentist said I need. Now that I have dental insurance, there are no more excuses to not move forward with things so my tooth will stop hurting. Though I think it has an inflammation. God, as I was reading the passage in James for today, I read further and I realized that Tom did sin when he treated me the way he did. But I also need to ask myself something. What is Your response to sin and sinners? You hate the sin. You prod the sinner. You lord the sinner so that the sinner understands his or her sin, repents, and can receive Your oerfect grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness. So how can I demonstrate You to Tom? That is my assignment this week. After the dentist tomorrow, my assignment needs to be to initiate demonstrating You to Tom. The fact that he knew that what the church did was wrong and the fact that he did nothing to stop it and then further exacerbated things by doing what he did was a sin. Period. But what You do and what You did for us while we were yet sinners is nothing short of amazing. So I want to follow suit. Because You have demonstrated Yourself to me. So now I need to demonstrate You to others. Thank You for everyday lessons, God. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

My Definition of Wonderful

Psalm 34:4-7 - I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Psalm 139:14 - I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

John 17:3 - "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

II Peter 1:16-18 - For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made know on to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory form God the Father, and the voice was borne for him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Dear God, thank You for making me wonderful in every minute detail about me, from the shape of nose, to the crinkle when I giggle, to the sound of my joy, to my stims from the autism, and yes, even the autism itself. You made me. Shame on anyone who dares judge another person because of how they look or how You designed them. Shame on anyone who dares to try to change the essence of someone just because he or she has autism. They do not appreciate that Your creation is wonderful just as it is. Thank You for creating me. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Unconditionally

John 8:44 - "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

Ephesians 3:14-19 - For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith–that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Hebrews 4:14-16 - Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:15 (CEV) - Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin!

James 4:7-8 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Dear God, love no matter what. Unconditional. Does not matter what I do or say. You still love me. Oh, how I wish that people who claim to be Christians would follow Your lead on this one. Sadly, children are abandoned and disowned because the world just does not understand love no matter what. I pray for the hearts of those who bought the lies of the devil. I pray that they will not be lost forever. I pray that fellow Christians will learn to exemplify Your unconditional to others. Not dump them because they have a disability or a handicap. Love no matter what. My heart breaks when I think of Your unconditional love and then see all the many times someone has said they loved me yet then deserted me. Shame on them! I love you no matter what. It does not have conditions. It does not have strings attached. It is always there when you need it. Thank You for perfect love. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

The Glow of My Presence

Deuteronomy 33:27 - The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. 

Psalm 27:13-14 - I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Dear God, thank You, God, for being there on the roughest of days even though I cannot always recognize Your presence during those times. I guess it is like what the author of the poem "Footprints in the Sand" said about not seeing bout one set of footprints when she had the most troubling if days and then You telling them that those were the times when You carried them instead of just walking beside them. When I look back, I wonder just how often I will see one set of footprints in the sand or Your glowing presence? Thank You, God. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

The Curtain

Isaiah 50:4 - The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.

Isaiah 55:2-3 - Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you and everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Matthew 27:50-51 - And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

John 19:30 - When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Dear God, thank You for allowing me direct access anytime 24/7 to You. I may never meet the president or the queen or the famous celebrity, but I do have access to You. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Trust Keeps You Safe

Psalm 23:4 - Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Proverbs 29:25 - The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

Proverbs 29:25 (NLT) - Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.

Matthew 7:1-2 - "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Dear God, help me to trust You more. People, being with them, being around all their unwritten social rules, can most definitely be very scary and beyond frightening even! Let me be who I was created to be. Sometimes I want to scream out at the top of my lungs, "Hey! Stop judging me just because I act differently than you or talk differently or look or dress differently. You are no different and no better than me!" I refuse to wear certain types of clothes because they are itchy or scratchy or slippery. I refuse to touch certain things because they confuse the nerves in my fingertips and make feel pain and pleasure at the same time. And I do not like that sensation. Or the tag is in the wrong place (the ones they put at the waistline of shirts? Yeah, just take the metal wire brush and poke me with it a thousand times over. I sometimes wear my sunglasses inside to shield the light or cover my ears to reduce the sound. I put things in my mouth because I need to work on oral defensiveness in a moment that is otherwise troublesome for me. I may not always look at someone when he or she talks to me because it hurts and I need to be able to understand what they are saying. Conversely, I sometimes stare at a person very intently such to the extent that they feel uncomfortable with me because I am not only trying to understand what they are saying but I am also trying to read them and pick up on some of their nonverbal gestures so I can learn what is and is not appropriate. I do not always cry when other people do because I do not understand what they are going through. It does not mean that I do not empathize or sympathize though. It just means I have an emotional disconnect due to lack of experience or exposure and do not have a file to pull from so I know how to respond or what to do. Conversely, I have so many files that I cannot generalize things very well and that causes me to be very detail-oriented. Like with the word glove. "Define glove." I said, "What kind of glove? Do you mean a glove for catching a baseball, a glove for keeping your hands clean and safe from dirty things, or a glove for keeping your hand warm in the winter? Different gloves have different purposes." "So you are saying that a glove is something that covers the hand?" "No. Not exactly, but okay." To this day, I have a mismatch. An oven mitt covers the hand but is not a glove. A mitten covers the hand but is not a glove. My blanket can cover my hand, but it is not a glove. Yes, God, being around other people can be scary! Please help me as I continue to grow in my trust with You so I will not only be safe but not worry about what they think of me. I want to please You, not others. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen!