Monday, April 2, 2007

Dreaming of Life, In Color

Growing up, it used to be that I would have vivid dreams, but they would all be in black and white and some varying shades of gray with nameless, faceless people.  But now....oh now, the Lord has given me the ability to dream in COLOR!  Not only that...I'm living this life in color.  Everything seems brighter, with the most vibrant colors.  I see everything so differently now.  All praise and glory to the Lord who loves me so! 

Is it a dark time for us?  Yes!  But, praise the Lord that He has taken what the enemy intended for bad and He's shedding His Light and teaching me to look for the good...in literally everything...and yes, that even means finding the positive in cancer.  My walk is closer with the Lord and my love grows deeper for my husband with each new day, and I owe that to cancer!   

I have been taking a painting class because I needed a creative outlet, something to do with my anxious energy and, in this class, I've been learning how to look at the different shades of every color imaginable and how every shade, when applied one at a time and layered, gives an object its depth.  

This can be applied to our faith in God.  My walk and the many trials I have faced and each lesson I have learned thus far, when layered one on top of the other, give my faith its depth.  It is the Lord who desires to show us a life in color...a life with varying shades, and a depth that only comes from a growing knowledge of Him. We just need to open our hearts to receive this gift from Him.

This life would be a total mystery to me without God's "road map" which is provided in His word. The Lord requires us to live according to His purposes on earth so that we may have His glorious riches in heaven.  Imagine how truly lost we would be if we didn't have the Living Word, overflowing with His loving promises and guided path for us to follow.  What a scary world it would be, one that I would not want to live in at all! 

Find your purpose...listen for the Lord's calling on your life.  Find your strength in Him, apply His teachings, and do something with it.  We can all have the 'fullness of God.'  We have only to seek it. 

My purpose?  To be the best wife I can be to my honey who is so brave and strong and who is the love of my life and, hopefully, my eternity, to be a good kid to my parents and my beautiful Grandma, to be a strong and loving example to my niece who is a true survivor, to be a source of love and support to my friends, and the most important of all, to leave a legacy of love - the love of the Lord, our Creator.

"I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21 NIV) 

 

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