Beautiful Blemishes

     "Like the spine of a good book, scars, by their very nature, imply there's a story to tell. They represent a wrinkle in time in which a person's life is changed forever, and they serve as permanent reminders of an incident that, in one way or another, has made a lasting impression on one's life."

~ Sharon Jaynes, from her book, Your Scars Are Beautiful To God, 2006

Out of Balance

Inspired from the article, "When Relationships Change" by Ron L. Deal in the January-February 2011 edition of Focus on the Family's magazine, Thriving Family:

     No one has a "perfect" relationship with anyone in this life.  Ever since sin's entrance into Eden, every living human being has struggled to work hard at making it through this life.  We have no control over the events of our lives.  We can barely control ourselves, let alone control others.

     So when our world as we know it begins to unravel and we find ourselves grasping at anything to keep it together, we must first reach out to Christ who is our anchor - our lifeline to truth.

No Turning Back

Luke 22:31

"When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." ~ NIV 

1 Thessalonians 2:8 

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well." ~ NIV

1 Peter 6-7

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." ~ NIV 

Look To Him

Psalm 34:5

"Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." ~ NIV 

Isaiah 53:4-5 

"Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed." ~ (NKJV)

Isaiah 61:1-2

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.. to comfort all who mourn." ~ NIV 

John 20:20

"...He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord." ~ NIV 

Romans 8:31-33

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will ring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies." ~ NIV 

Tell the Story!

Psalm 107:2

"Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story." ~ NIV

2 Corinthians 3:18

"We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit." ~ NIV 

Revelation 12:10-11

"Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.  Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!" ~ (NKJV)