Heart candy, chocolate in pretty heart shaped boxes, mushy love letters; these are signs that love is in the air.  But when it comes to our relationship with God, how do others recognize his love in us?  What sets Christians apart from the rest of the people on this Earth?  Is it our worship, our gifts and talents, the miracles we perform?  No.  The word says that they will know us by our love. 

Experiencing God by Blackaby is one of the most powerfully anointed bible studies of all time. The truths and principles brought to light in this study are life changing.  There are two points that Blackaby makes about love that have really changed my relationship with the Lord.  The first truth is that if I am having trouble making time to be with the Lord each day, I don't have a scheduling problem, I have a love problem.  So often we think of our time with the Lord as a duty, a mental exercise, or an item on our to-do list. We often feel pressure to learn more about him or to memorize his word because we know that it is the right thing to do.   But the truth is that when we are in a personal love-relationship with the Lord, we long to be with him just like we would long to be with our fiancé as we date and prepare for our marriage.  We don't spend time together out of duty, but because we are in a love relationship.  Search your heart right now.  Can you truly say that you love the Lord with all of your heart, your soul and your mind?  He loves you and he longs to spend time with you.  If you are having trouble finding time to spend with the Lord, stop trying to fix your schedule and instead search your heart. Ask the Lord to help you fall deeply in love with him. 

The other point that Blackaby makes that really hit home with me is that if you are having trouble obeying his word and his commands, that too is a love problem.  If we love the Lord, we will obey him.  We not only will obey him to the letter of the law, but we will be inspired to obey the spirit of the law as well.  We will obey him because of our love for him.  And as we obey him, we will experience the fullness of his love for us.  "This is love for God: to obey his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome." 1 John 5:3  When we are in a love relationship with our Lord, obedience will be the outward expression of our love for him. 

Take some time today and over the days to come and start soaking in the Lord's presence and his love.  Open your heart to him and ask him to fill you with his love.  Only then can you truly live life to its fullest measure. Faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.

Cindy (If you would like to visit Cindy's website click here)

What is one of your favorite things to do when you are alone with the Lord?

This clutch is such a cute idea and easy to make!  All you need is a few stiches on the sewing machine or you can even do it by hand.  Can you guess what this is made out of? Clever idea! Click on the pic or here to go the site for directions.

There are so many uses for this.  Use it as a holder to keep items in the car or your bag - just in case kind of things.  You could use it for coupons, or little items that would normally get lost in a diaper bag. How about a jewelry holder when you travel or a bag for the kids to put their treasures in? (I would use a heavy duty type bag on the inside if it is going to have some wear and tear.)  

Let us know what ideas you come up for ways to use the clutch.  While you're at it make an extra one to share!

Be blessed this weekend as you share the love with others!

One of the things that I did not anticipate was how many questions we would have to answer along the way.  These questions (from agency and social workers, grant organizations, and inquiring friends, family and strangers) have included why we decided to adopt, how we were going to pay for it, and how we would react if our children rejected us.  They have also included how we would handle things if the children threw tantrums that lasted for hours, what the greatest thing we could impart to our children would be, and whether or not we were crazy (okay, they didn’t straight out ask that…but I know some were thinking it!).  Anyway, those are just a few of the hundreds of questions we have had to answer.  While many of the questions were very difficult to answer, I found this next question the most difficult of all..."What is your personal statement of faith?"

Now I know what I believe, but to write it out concisely (we had to do it in half a page) from scratch proved to be much more difficult than I would have thought.  What were the bare minimums of what I believed?  What was absolutely essential to include?  And in half a page?!?

I finally came up with an answer that I was fairly satisfied with but found myself re-analyzing one section of it in particular.  It just seemed so harsh, and yet I knew it was true.  But if it was really true, was I living like it was really true?  I was challenged to say the least. 

Here are the statements I was wrestling with...
"Those who die without Christ as their Savior will spend eternity being tormented in Hell, separated from God forever.  Those who die having received Jesus as their Savior and therefore having the righteousness of God will spend eternity in Heaven."

Can you see why I was wrestling with this?  It does seem so harsh!  But I know that this is the truth because the Word of God says so.  And when I dig deep down to the bottom of this truth, there are a couple of realizations that I come to.

One…I am in complete awe.  I am actually the one who deserved Hell.  I have sinned in countless ways, countless times.  I am selfish, proud, unloving, disrespectful, temperamental, and impatient, to name a few.  And yet, in His great love, He reached out to me.  When I was dead in my sin, He loved me and drew me to Himself.  Because two thousand years ago, He sent Jesus Christ to Earth . . . and this is the part that blows my mind . . . and He went to the cross to pay for MY sins in a horrible, painful death.  And when I trusted in Christ as my Savior and gave my life over to Him, His righteousness covered over my sins and I was forgiven and made new.  And when I really, really wrap my mind around that truth . . . I find myself being just overwhelmed with gratitude.  He loves me.  He loves ME!  He LOVES me.  HE loves me.  Wow.  Thank You, Jesus.

And the second realization that I come to when I really dig into that statement, is that there is a world of lost people out there who need to hear this truth . . . and I am doing hardly anything about it.  If I really loved someone, wouldn’t I be telling them this truth?  Wouldn’t I worry less about what they thought of me if I got all religious on them, and focus more on just lovingly sharing the truth with them?  As harsh as the reality of Heaven and Hell are, they are real.  And people need to know that.  And no matter how much I love them with my life and my actions and pray for them (which are totally and completely necessary and important), I also need to TELL them the truth!  Oh, that I would sense the urgency of this matter in my day-to-day life! 

I want to leave us both with a challenge for the week.  Believe me, this is just as much for me as it is for you.

One… think about what you believe.  Wrestle with it.  If you aren’t sure and have questions, talk to someone.  Ask God for wisdom.  Open the Word and let the truth sink into your heart and soul.  And maybe try writing out your personal statement of faith.  It is harder than you might think!

And two… love someone this week enough to share the Truth with them.  Share your testimony.  Share some encouragement from the Word of God.  Share Jesus. 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 1 Corinthians 5:17-21

Are you up for the challenge, dear sister?  I hope so!  Leave us a comment to let us know what you are thinking and how we might be able to pray for you this week.  Let's together love others well.

All glory be to Him,
Stephanie

Only one more Monday to go - so enter today! 

Consider the situation for the Israelites living in Babylonian captivity.  Certainly those circumstances would have made it hard for them to believe that God had any good thoughts toward them, let alone enjoyed them!  But God tells them otherwise.  The words of Isaiah 40:1 reveal God’s heart toward them, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”  He approaches these captives with compassion and begins to explain to them how He is coming to bring them out of captivity and back home.

In verse 10, He tells them, “Behold the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”  He’s coming to get them, and He comes with enough power and might to free them from captivity, but the verse continues.  He comes with his reward and His recompense is before Him.  We might take this to mean that He comes with a reward to give His people, or that when He comes He will judge each one and give them what they deserve.  But there’s a different truth being told here. 

When God comes for His people, whether it was the Israelites then, or us now, the reward referred to here is the reward that He himself (God) will receive.  What reward does He receive?  According to Pastor Scott Grant, “He comes as one who has received a reward, and that reward is, of all things, you.  Your God considers you His reward.  The mighty king goes to war to win your freedom, and His reward for winning your freedom is relationship with you.  This is a biblical truth so astounding that our minds probably can’t begin to understand it:  you are God’s reward.”

And God didn’t just want the Israelites to get this, he wants us to get it too!  In the prayer of Paul for the Ephesians found in Ephesians 1:18-19, Paul prays that the Ephesians would come to know three things: the hope that God has called them to, the incredible power they have access to, and “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.”  Again, we may think he is referring to our inheritance in heaven, but the ESV study notes say this, “The ‘inheritance’ here is not the Christian’s inheritance, but God’s.  This indicates how precious His people are to Him.  They are, so to speak, what He looks forward to enjoying forever.”

Stop for a minute and ponder the fact that God looks forward to “enjoying you forever.”

Do it again. 

Now live in that truth, believing God when He says He wants to receive you as His reward!

What is stopping you from believing this?

Melissa

With our oh so busy schedules, there is less and less time to connect as family - especially with our kids.  Take time at dinner to reconnect in a meaningful fun way! 

Start by making a question jar.  Fill it with interesting questions to talk about at mealtime.  Let everyone pull a question out of the jar to answer. Make up questions on your own or you can go to this site for some suggestions to get you started!

Another idea from Focus on the Family is Family Mealtime Devotionals.  They have several categories such as Faith and Trust, Building Character and Following Jesus. The index card sized devotionals can be printed out and discussed over your meal. There are over 50 available!

Let us know if you use any of these ideas and what worked for you.  If you have more ideas on how to come together at the dinner table - please share by leaving a comment.  Start a new tradition this weekend.  Who knows what you might discover about each other.

Get talking and Bon Appetit!

Our winner for today is Motta88...who subscribed to our blog!  

We will be sending you a copy of The Vow: a book of true events that inspired the movie. Two months after the Carpenters were married, a devastating car wreck left Krickitt with a massive head injury and in a coma for weeks. And yet, against all odds, but through the common faith in Christ that sustained them, Kim and Krickitt fell in love all over again. Even though Kim stood by Krickitt through the darkest times a husband can ever imagine, he insists, “I’m no hero. I made a vow.”

Please email us at hearttoheartgcac@comcast.net with your address!  Congrats & may your Valentines Day be filled with love!

To celebrate Valentines day we will have a special giveaway tomorrow...enter now through tomorrow at 5 to be eligible!

Be sure to read today's post about perfect love!