The last of the decorations had been put away for another year. As I was storing the last of the decorations I was remembering a Christmas past, when my granddaughter was two, opening her presents. The very last thing she opened was a little pop up Princess tent. We put it on the floor and opened the flap trying to coax her into crawling inside but for some reason she was too scared to go in.  No matter how hard we tried to convince her, she was NOT going to crawl into that tent!

Finally, her daddy picked up the tent and dropped it over the top of his head and shoulders while he was sitting on the sofa. So the flap was right at eye level for her to see inside. Once she saw her daddy inside — she was ALL IN! She crawled inside right into his lap, giggling and unafraid.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Too afraid to move into a new place; missing out on something new that God has for us because it’s unknown. When we realize that our Father, God, is already there beckoning us to go ALL IN! …that we are not alone and we can trust Him, we can trade our fear for a bold faith that wherever God leads us He will go with us.

Psalm 91:1-2 from The Message tells us, “You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow. Say this: ‘God, You’re my refuge. I trust in You and I’m safe!’”

A few years ago I learned about an ancient Japanese art called Kintsugi. You may have actually seen it and not realized its story. As I understand it, there was a Japanese military commander who broke one of his favorite bowls. The repair job was less than acceptable so Japanese craftsmen were asked to find a better way to salvage the bowl.

They mixed a lacquer with ground up gold, applying it to the edges of all the broken pieces and put the bowl back together. Oh, you could still see where the bowl had been broken but now there was a beautiful gold seam making it functional once more. Now it was not only useful it became a work of art.

You and I…are broken. Fractured by life experiences. But, the blood of Jesus can heal us. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. The blood of Christ can put us back together. Oh our scars may still be visible … but when Jesus puts us back together… we are stronger than we ever were before.

1 Peter 2:24 (NIV) reads, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”  We are beautifully broken…and because of Jesus…we are healed.

Have you ever thought about how you hear the music on your radio or smart device? Most of us never give it a thought unless there’s interference, or worse, no sound at all. For any signal, there is a transmitter, where the sound originates…and a receiver, where the sound is… received. Anywhere you go: the park, the beach, the house or car, your backyard,…the hospital,…the prison; the sound is there, you just need a receiver to pick up its frequency and listen to its message.

I have a friend who emailed his son with whom he had been estranged for a number of years. When he didn’t hear back from him he thought the son chose not to respond. It turns out the son’s email was not working correctly. He had never received the message until someone else mentioned it and he went searching for it. Once he received and read it, they were able to reconnect and now God is helping them to re-establish a relationship.

I love the story of Samuel, not as the mighty Prophet in the Old Testament, but Samuel, the young boy, who had never heard God speak to him, until late one night. Twice he thought his mentor, Eli the Priest, was calling him and twice he went in, only to awaken Eli as he called out, “Here I am, you called me?” And twice Eli told him to go back to sleep he had not called him. Finally Eli, realizing that young Samuel was hearing the voice of God calling him, told Samuel, “go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”

So Samuel went back and laid down. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samual 3:1-10)

That day, Samuel learned how to dial in his receiver….how to check his spam folder for a legitimate message that could have been overlooked. How’s your reception? The truth is that God is always ready to connect with us…to speak with us. Is it possible that our receiver is tuned to the wrong frequency; or perhaps, not turned on at all? Don’t miss what God wants to share with you today!

Our dishwasher quit working and we had to wait a few weeks for its replacement to arrive and have it installed. When the technician left, we gathered around it, oohing and ahhhing because it was so shiny and new, with all kinds of buttons and options, but we couldn’t find the button to open it! We even opened the manual! Nowhere did it say how to OPEN the machine!

Finally, we just PULLED on the door…. and it opened right up! So simple. But isn’t that just like us to complicate things?!! Knowing Jesus is as simple as opening His book and opening our hearts. Psalm 34:8 from The Message says, “Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see – how good GOD is. Blessed are you who run to Him.”

Don’t complicate the simple invitation from the Lord to taste and see how good He is. That simple action will open the door to so many blessings in your life!

What makes you afraid? Things I fear include snakes, tight spaces and revolving doors. I can trace back to when the fear of snakes first occurred but I don’t have a specific event I can point to about the other two. Other than that, I dread both and would do just about anything to avoid either.

Some fears could be in place to help us stay safe. We might call them healthy fears…maybe more like common sense! But many fears are unhealthy and can keep us from experiencing some of the most amazing things that God wants for us to live out. So how do we overcome fear?

The one thing that blots out fear is FAITH. And the only way to set that in motion is to choose it! Sounds easy at first. Faith over fear. But unfortunately choosing faith over fear isn’t a ‘one and done’ decision. We have to resolve to choose faith again and again… and again. In the little things and the big things. We must choose to have faith that God is who He says He is and that His love for us is higher and better, richer and more enduring than anything else in this world. We must choose our faith in God over what we fear now, an hour from now, tomorrow, next month, next year. In this life, there will always be things we must face and choose faith over fear.

Psalm 27:1 (CEV) is a promise we can lean into no matter what our fear tells us. “You, Lord, are the light that keeps me safe. I am not afraid of anyone. You protect me, and I have no fears.” God is our light and our protector. With Him we can declare that we have NO fears.

What does God say about you? You are fearless.

The word comfort is used a number of ways. Are you comfortable? What is your comfort level with this? I’ve resorted to comfort foods. This has all the creature comforts you could want! I found such comfort in it. See what I mean?! Comfort could refer to anything from macaroni & cheese to a sleep number bed to stress free, chill time with your favorite person.

When someone suffers loss we pray that God will bring them peace and … comfort. But what exactly does that mean? What does God’s comfort look like? What does it feel like? I think that when God comforts us it can look and feel different to every person in every situation. We all have our own way we need to be comforted. And God knows what we need and exactly when we need it.

God’s comfort may come in the form of a call from a dear friend, or finding a letter, a poem or a journal left behind by someone that we love and miss. His comfort could be through a song or a scripture that He leads us to or reminds us of at just the moment we need it. There are countless numbers of ways that God reaches from the heavens to fill the void beside us, and inside us, when we need comfort. And no one knows what we need better than the One who created us.

If we are willing, God will even allow us to be a part of His comforting process with others. When we realize that He has entrusted us with the ability to comfort another, what a beautiful blessing it is to get a glimpse of the reason why we ourselves encountered the pain and endured the healing process…to help comfort someone else.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) promises, “The God of all comfort, comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

What does God say about you? You are comforted.

We were trying out a brand new restaurant and we scored BIG. Fabulous ambience. Amazing food. Great service. Oliver was our server and he was always there when we needed something. We enjoyed nice, light conversation with him whenever he was nearby. The conversation my friend and I were having over our meal was personal so anytime that Oliver stopped by to check on us we switched gears to chat with him. Oliver was our server, doing a great job, and he was friendly. But he wasn’t our friend.

Being friendly doesn’t make you a friend. It might be a first step toward friendship but real friendship is cultivated over time through experiences and by building trust.

I love envisioning Jesus around a table with His disciples who had spent three years following Him everywhere He went. Helping Him. Serving Him. Learning how to be a God follower. Jesus knew His death was imminent and these final conversations with His closest companions were so important to convey His heart for them.

In John 15:15 (NIV) Jesus wanted them to open their hearts to more and to realize the depth of His love for them. He said, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” That word is for us today as well. We serve God out of love and a desire to obey…but don’t forget that He has called us His friend. Make time to sit with Him today and listen for His word to speak to you.

What does God say about you? You are a friend of God.

I grew up in the era of ‘Layaway Plans’. Mom picked out the item or items she wanted, like Christmas presents, or big ticket items like a new stereo system. The store would keep her items and, over time, she made payments on them until the balance was paid off and then she got to bring her items home. She didn’t get the goods until she paid in full.

The first time I bought a car, a MAJOR big ticket item, I was introduced to the ‘installment’ plan. I made a downpayment, and I drove the car off the lot THAT DAY after agreeing that I would continue to pay installments until the car was completely paid off. The downpayment was a show of good faith that I would make good on my guarantee to pay the full balance due. And I got to drive it right away!

As believers, we have entered into an installment plan, of sorts, with God. Think about this: The promise of eternity is ours when we choose Christ as our Savior. We may not walk ‘into’ eternity for years but God’s promises are ours to receive the more we grow in Him. 2 Corinthians 1:22 from the New Living Translation tells us, “He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything He has promised us.”

Don’t you love that?! As His, He places His Spirit in our hearts, as a good faith first installment guaranteeing everything He promised us. That is huge! And we get to live it every day between now and eternity!

What does God say about you? You are secure in Christ.

From the time we can stand up in our mama’s high heels, dress up in something sparkly and sneak into her makeup kit to add the boldest, brightest lipstick to our smile it becomes a fascination…this idea of playing dress-up. Makeovers. Modeling and re-modeling.

As grown ups we may still love to dress up for special occasions but to keep up that appearance day in and day out?….well, it’s just too hard. Too. much. work! We tend to be most comfortable in the ‘what you see is what you get’, one-size-fits-most look. We can experience the most luxurious spa day with ALL the add-on treatments included, change our hair color, we can even wear contact lenses that change our eye color. But at the end of the day all of that is only skin deep. None of that really changes who we are.

One encounter with Jesus Christ and we are changed completely, from the inside out, forever! We learn in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV), “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” A heart changed by Jesus beats differently. The old heart that kept time only for what it wanted for itself is gone. The new heart beats in a rhythm that syncs with its Savior’s heart. To love more like Him. We are changed from the inside out. And that beauty changes us forever!

What does God say about you? You are a new creation.

We can definitely be swayed by a seal. Let’s talk bananas for a minute. You could see a bunch of bananas that look pretty good. You start to reach for them … and then you see the bunch marked with a Chiquita Banana seal. Let’s face it. You don’t know anything about that first bunch…but the Chiquita seal gives you confidence for what awaits you inside its bananas.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a seal as “a mark or symbol on a product showing that it has been tested by an official (organization), and has been found to be of the right standard.” An official performed a thorough inspection and determined it to meet its standard. And then, places its seal on it as a sign to everyone that it has been selected to carry its name and all that it represents.

When we receive Christ as our Savior, our Father God, who already knows us inside and out, sees Christ in us, sets His seal of the Holy Spirit on us. We bear His name. Christian. His Spirit, revealed through us, is a sign to everyone we meet that we belong to Him.

Ephesians 1:13 (NIV) tells us that it is so. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”

What does God say about you? You are sealed.