Category: Holy Spirit

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Expectations Exceeded!

Several weeks ago one of my favorite kitchen gadgets quit working. My first inclination was to find repair instructions on YouTube but my search was fruitless. Undeterred, I began looking for a new model.

I found just what I was looking for, ordered it and awaited delivery. It never came! Disappointed…I cancelled my order and was issued a refund. Time to renew my search and order again.

Thursday, late afternoon, the UPS truck stopped at our gate and delivered my package. We were on our way out for the evening so Dave placed the box on our kitchen table, unopened.

Yesterday morning there it sat, waiting for me. I was almost as excited as a kid at Christmas!

I carefully cut the packing tape, took each item out of the box and laid it on the counter top. I was pleasantly surprised to find more than I was expecting. I removed the packaging and plugged it in.

Now to test it.

I would have been so disappointed if it hadn’t worked. I am pleased to report that not only did it work, it exceeded my expectations. All this excitement for something as simple as a FoodSaver.

I can hear you all now – “Really? That’s what she is so happy to have.” Yes, that is it. I even took a picture and sent it to my friend…

This little gadget will keep my food fresh, in the freezer, for months on end. The vacuum-seal will keep it secure.

Did you know that when we come to Christ our lives are sealed? Not a FoodSaver, something so much better, a LifeSaver.

“You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ.” Ephesians 1:13 CEB

The Holy Spirit seals us for our new life in Christ. We are protected, dearly loved children of the Most High God!

Our relationship with the Father is more, so much more, than we deserve and it far exceeds any of our expectations. Our loving Father has designed for us an abundant life, an everlasting life, a life that will carry on for all eternity with Him in heaven.

“Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; 21 glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 CEB

Our life in Christ is not dependent upon what we can do or what we have done. Our “works” would never make us good enough to deserve the precious gift that He freely gives. It is completely dependent on His unconditional love.

“God is strong and can keep you from falling. He can bring you before his glory without any wrong in you and give you great joy. 25 He is the only God, the one who saves us. To him be glory, greatness, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord for all time past, now, and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25 ERV

Thank you Father for Your amazing love and grace that far exceeds all expectations!

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Did You Know?

I had a professor in college that loved to start class with questions. “Do you know”, “did you realize”, “do you understand” were some of his favorites. We knew to pay attention to what was about to be said because we were going to learn something.

The Apostle Paul is good at asking the same kind of questions.

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” I Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT

The temple in the Old Testament, a beautiful building, was divided into three sections: the outside court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Everyone was allowed in the outer court. The Holy Place was reserved for the priests and then there was the most holy place, the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest went once a year to offer sacrifice for the sins of the nation of Israel. It was there that the glory of God dwelt. The power and glory of God was housed in the temple.

Something extremely exciting happened on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion; the veil which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn in half from the top and to the floor. The glory of God was no longer confined to a specially designated room. God’s glory was released to all who received Him.

      “Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,” Matthew 27:50-51 NLT

When we follow Christ we are called the temple of the Holy Spirit. We have three worship areas also: spirit, soul, and body. Our spirit is the Holy of Holies where the fulness of God dwells. It is the part of us that is perfect and was created new when we received the gift of salvation.

“For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Colossians 2:9-10 NLT

      Our body is the outer court. The part that everyone can see. Our soul – our mind, will and emotions, is the Holy Place. It is here that we experience forgiveness and the peace that new life in Christ gives us. As we let God’s Word change our actions, our intents, and our desires our temple takes on God’s glory and likeness…

“For we work together with God. You are God’s field. You are God’s building also…16 Do you not know that you are a house of God and that the Holy Spirit lives in you? 17…God’s house is holy. You are the place where He lives.” I Corinthians 3:9-17 NLT

Do you know that you are God’s house? The Holy Spirit of God has chosen to live in us. He is the resident who makes our house special and furnishes us with the attributes of God’s character.

Did you know…

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Not Enough Power

During the 70’s Dave and I were moving from New Mexico back to our home in Arizona. We had everything we owned in a U-Haul truck which Dave was driving. I was in the car with our four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son.

What a long and boring stretch of road. Unknown to us, U-Haul had placed a governor on the engine. Dave’s top speed was 60 mph. Anytime he got behind someone and needed to pass he was unable to accelerate. I cannot begin to tell you how frustrated he was when we arrived at our destination.

My Christian life was like that for years. No power to accelerate!

…I lived with the motto “just struggle by as best you can and when you get to heaven it will all be worth it”. I was a frustrated Christian.

I knew I was a child of God; I knew I was part of the church. But without knowing that God had given me His righteousness, made me a joint-heir with Christ and had placed the power of the Holy Spirit to dwell within me I was just “an old chunk of coal” hoping to someday become a diamond.

Jesus lived a life filled with power and He gave that same power to His disciples.

While Jesus was here on earth the disciples experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit being with them. Before He left this earth, Jesus gave His disciples a command to go and wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. There the Holy Spirit would fill them with power. 

      “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The people of the world cannot accept him because they don’t see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you.” John 16:16-17 ERV

      “And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” Acts 2:4 NLV

The Holy Spirit went from being with the disciples to living in them.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NLT

The Holy Spirit came and filled the disciples with power. The “spiritual” governor on their engine had been removed!

The Holy Spirit desires to fill our lives with the same power that He gave those believers in Jerusalem. He will live in us and strengthen us. When He empowers us our lives change. The “governor” of fear and doubt is removed and we are free to experience the victory that is ours in Christ.

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Creation – Salvation – Inspiration

Three words came to mind first thing this morning – creation, salvation and inspiration.

Even though we don’t live in an area with a brilliant autumn pallet I’m so glad that I can enjoy the beauty that is captured by a photographer’s lens.

It’s breath-taking!

Hopefully, when we see nature’s beauty we stop and thank God for creating it for our enjoyment. There are so many things that attempt to distract and divert our attention to the mundane and unattractive. It’s refreshing to be able to “enjoy the view”.

I’ve told you before that some of the first thoughts that come to mind when I wake up are to tell my heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit that I love them. To me, there’s just no better way to start the day.

This morning those thoughts were followed by these words: “Thank you Holy Spirit for inspiration, thank you Jesus for my salvation and thank you Father for your creation”. A heart filled with gratitude just starts the day out right.

God’s creation teach us: “The heavens keep telling the wonders of God, and the skies declare what he has done. 2 Each day informs the following day; each night announces to the next. 3 They don’t speak a word, and there is never the sound of a voice. 4 Yet their message reaches all the earth, and it travels around the world.” Psalm 19:1-4 CEV

The Holy Spirit inspires us: “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. 27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:26-27 NLT

Jesus is our salvation: “Only Jesus has the power to save! His name is the only one in all the world that can save anyone.” Acts 4:12 CEV

I don’t know what my day has in store, neither do you, but I do know that when we start our day with praise and thanksgiving we start from a position of power and strength.

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The Wings of a Dove

Several years ago I was sitting outside enjoying the beauty of a Big Sky Montana summer morning. It was a beautiful morning and I was dwarfed by the panoramic views from our yard; 360 degrees of unobstructed, bright blue sky filled with large white puffy clouds.

God’s creation is glorious!

I noticed, circling high above my head, a dark spec on this brilliant blue background. Getting lower with each circling pattern, it didn’t take long to identify this seeker in the sky as a crow. He finally descended to the ground, having spotted his morning’s meal from such a lofty perch. I couldn’t see what he was pecking at but no doubt, it was the carnage left from a coyote’s kill the night before.

I told our daughter, “Imagine how disgusting it would be to spend your life eating what something else had killed and left to rot in the field.”

By now you must be asking yourself “where is she going with this? I thought she was going to write a message. Oh, but I am.

Sometimes it takes a while to get through the introduction to the meat of the message but here it is. This crow reminded me of the raven in Genesis 8.

Noah and his family had been on the ark for over five months. The rain had stopped and the ark rested on the top of a mountain. No more floating! Noah waited a bit and then he sent out a raven, which the Bible says flew around until the waters dried up. Noah also sent out a dove “to see if the water had receded but the dove found no resting place” so it returned to the ark.

Why didn’t the raven come back too?

It had a ready food source. The bodies of the animals which had drown provided him an unlimited food supply. They also provided him with a place to rest. He could sit on their decaying bodies and didn’t need the trees to rest in. It didn’t bother him a bit, he was a scavanger.

The dove, on the other hand, needed life – green shoots and seeds to sustain its life so it returned to the ark. Noah waited seven days and sent the dove out again. It returned that evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf. Noah knew that life was returning to the earth. He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again. This time the dove didn’t return. Noah knew it had found a place to rest and food to sustain it.

I’m so glad that our Father uses a dove to symbolize the Holy Spirit and not the raven or the crow.

“So Jesus was baptized. As soon as he came up out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw God’s Spirit coming down on him like a dove. 17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the one I love. I am very pleased with him.” Matthew 3:16-17 ERV

A dove, bringing signs of life – how appropriate, a dove resting on the One who is the giver of life! The Holy Spirit has been sent to fill and empower each believer as a sign of our new life in Jesus Christ.

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 NLT

This wonderful life is a free gift from God. A life of sin is death (crow’s food) but our new life is a gift from God – abundant and free!

Our life produces fruit; love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith. The fruit of the Spirit (dove’s food) is fresh. We need to make sure there aren’t any ravens circling over our heads. The Holy Spirit desires to fill us with peace. Be full of abundant life!

“If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace.” Romans 8:6 ERV

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Comfort & Joy

No, this isn’t going to be a blog with a Christmas theme. We’re still about five weeks from that. This has been a very rough year for many, I think we all thought we would be on the road to normal by now. Yet, we’re still being distanced from family and friends.

There is a real sense of loss. Some losses are small – gatherings, celebrations, luncheons, one-on-one times and others have faced life-changing, life-ending circumstances on their own. Those who so deparately need to be comforted have been without support.

Who can they turn to? How do we help?

I hesitate when answering these questions because some will find my answer trite or cliche`. However, it is the most profound and impacting action I know. We pray!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Father who is full of mercy, the God of all comfort. 4 He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.” II Corinthians 1:3-4 ERV

Reaching out in prayer to the Father, who is the God of all comfort, on behalf of those who are hurting is powerful. Before Jesus died, leaving his disciples in a desparate emotional state, he told them that when He went away the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, would come.

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate[a] won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.” John 16:7 NLT Footnote a for verse 16:7 Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Counselor. Greek reads Paraclete.

The Holy Spirit is able to comfort me in Arizona at the same time He is bringing comfort to you in Nebraska. His presence can be felt the world over. He isn’t limited. When I can’t be with someone that I love and I know they are going through a very difficult time, my prayer goes something like this: “Father God, you said that you are the God of comfort and I believe that. Right now my friend is going through a very, very difficult time and they need Your comfort. I ask for the Holy Spirit to bring comfort to their heart. Wrap Your loving arms around them and let them sense Your peace. Please send someone to extend Your comfort in a personal way. I thank you. In Jesus name.”

And if we can be there in person, we don’t need to know the right words to say because there really are no words. A genuine hug, a hand to hold and tears shed will speak to their heart.

God will never abandon us in our time of need but He won’t force us to accept His comfort either. He’s right there the moment we cry out to Him. He knows our heartache and He is able and willing to bring healing and comfort in our grief.

“God blesses those people who grieve. They will find comfort!” Matthew 5:4 CEV

My prayer is for all who need to be comforted. “Lord Jesus, shower them with Your love and wrap them in Your comfort this very hour.”

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The Real You!

In 1980 my life with Christ dramatically changed. I had accepted Christ as my Savior when I was a young girl but things were stagnant. Now that I was a young wife and mother my heart cried out for more.

The best example I can give you is the life of Peter. For most of his time as Jesus’ disciple he was impetuous, ruled by his emotions ; it was apparent he struggled to maintain. And then…on the day of Pentecost, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and his life demonstrated a power he had never known before.

Instead of denying he knew Christ when questioned by a little servant girl, he boldly proclaim Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the grave when he was being threatened with imprisonment and beatings. He went from being tossed about by his emotions to being the man Christ referred to as “the rock”.

The difference was the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. Peter’s boldness came from knowing who he was in Christ and the power that was given to him by Jesus.

We wanted to be like Peter, the rock so Dave and I began to devour God’s word in search of what the Father has given us to live a victorious life while we are on this earth.

Over the next several days I am going to share with you some of the Scriptures the Lord made real in my life during those days. These verses are life-changing. To start this study I need you to answer this question.

Do you know who you are? 

A  child, a parent, a spouse, a grandparent, a niece or nephew, a dear & trusted friend, a co-worker, an opponent – this list can be as long as the list of people we know and are related to. But really, who are you?  This question can be answered in greatest depth and meaning when we allow the Scripture to define who we are.

Paul says if any man, person, be “in Christ” he is a new creature; old things have passed away and all things have become new.  A new creature – so who or what is this new creature. What do we look like – how do we act?

One of the greatest things that can happen in our Christian walk is to realize that WE – myself included – are new creatures.  All the old with its past is dead and I’ve been given a brand new life – a new start. I have become a whole new species of being “in Christ”!  The Apostle Paul spent a great deal of his writings dealing with this new person we have become. This morning let’s look at one Scripture in particular.

“In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. 2 Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. 3 In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.

4 But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. 5 We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) 6 Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. 7 God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.

8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. 9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. 10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.” Ephesians 2:1-10 ERV

Over the next several mornings I will be developing a study on “Who We are in Christ Jesus”. It is my hope to give you enough Scripture and direction that you develop a hunger to learn more about your relationship “in Christ”.

Welcome to the good life – the life in Christ Jesus!

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What Now?

We’ve been living through some dark and stormy times, wondering what’s going to happen next. Maybe you’ve been asking yourself the question “What do I do now?”. Working from home has been good, less traffic when you do go out, shorter lines in the grocery store and more time with family has all been good. However, there is the unanswered question of how much longer this will go on and what do we do now.

Some of you reading this are on the front lines. You are medical personnel; doctors, nurses, lab technicians, urgent care staff and hospital support staff. You are joined by police, fire, ambulance, truck drivers and grocery store teammates who are overworked and under appreciated. You, too, are asking what now?

It’s a place we’ve never been before and hopefully we will never go again. We need to make it through. We need to support and encourage one another.

There’s one other group that I inadvertently left out and they deserve our attention. They are a mixed group; fisherman, tax collectors, housewives, doctors and a some religious zealots. They are grouped together and asking the same question – what now?

They aren’t getting any recognition at all. Their world has been turned upside down and they are in danger of loosing their lives. Right now we find them locked behind closed doors not wanting to step out into the light of day. Maybe you’ve guessed who I’m talking about – these are Jesus disciples.

There’s really nothing written in the Bible about what they were doing the day following the crucifixion. But I can imagine that their world was reeling like a small boat on a stormy sea. Jesus was dead, would they be next? What now? The One they had always turned too in crisis wasn’t there, what now?

Were they too frazzled to remember the instruction Jesus had given them just a couple days before?

“Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me.” John 14:1 CEV

His final words before He was arrested are recorded in John 14, 15, 16 and 17. Jesus was preparing them for what was to come. He was also spending time with the Father, in prayer, preparing Himself for what He would go through.

What now?

“I have told you all these things while I am with you. 26 But the Helper will teach you everything and cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name.

27 “I leave you peace. It is my own peace I give you. I give you peace in a different way than the world does. So don’t be troubled. Don’t be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am leaving, but I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be happy that I am going back to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. 29 I have told you this now, before it happens. Then when it happens, you will believe.” John 14:25-29 ERV

This is the answer to our question of what now. This is the instruction Jesus left for us. Don’t be worried, have faith in God. The Holy Spirit has come to be our Helper and Jesus has given us His peace so we don’t have to be troubled and afraid.

On this day before the victory of the resurrection, our answer to the question “what now” is trust God!

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Good Friday – Great Day

I’ve been thinking about the significance of this day and my walk with the Lord. Evaluating where I’ve come from and how much farther I still have to go. A Bible teacher I know puts it this way, “I haven’t arrived yet but I’ve left”. He means that he has started on this journey called the Christian life but he hasn’t arrived at full maturity – that’s how I feel.

In fact I was talking about that very thing with my Mom just last night. I told her that I pray that we all change. She gave me a puzzled look and asked, “you think I need to change?”. I think we all need to change, to grow, to continue to mature in our walk with the Lord. None of us is perfect or will be until we get to heaven. That’s the beauty of our walk with Christ; we are all being changed as we allow the Lord to work in us.

I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was a little girl. I grew up loving the Lord but had little or no victory in my life. Seems the favorite saying of the people in our church was “when we get to heaven all of life’s trials and struggles with be worth it”. That is true but…I was tired of getting my teeth kicked in by those trials. There had to be more to my Christian life than I was experiencing! There had to be.

Let’s take a look at the life of Peter. His life was a wonderful example of how mine had been. He was tempestuous, quick to react (right or wrong), wanting to do big things and failing. He walked on the water and sank; he would minister to the sick and then be stopped by a boy’s seizure; he was ready to take on the whole Roman guard to protect Jesus and then denied knowing Him to a servant girl!

Good Friday was not a great day for Peter. He denied knowing his dearest friend, the man he called Lord.

He was up and down, up and down and no real victory UNTIL the day of Pentecost when he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. After that day, Peter became faith-filled and fearless. He never looked back and he faced every day with the resolve that he would be a witness of the power of God and nothing would stop him from proclaiming the mighty name of Jesus. Beaten over and over, imprisoned, and persecuted he continued moving forward from one victory to the next.

When I saw this miraculous change in Peter, I said “Lord, this is what I want in my life. I want to live in your power and not my own; I want to be a victorious Christian and not one who is plagued with defeat. I want my life to reflect You and not be overcome by the circumstances.” Thank you Jesus – he heard and answered that prayer. I, like millions of other Christians, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and became filled with God’s power. That was over thirty-five years ago!

Do I still have struggles – you bet. Do I always handle things right – not always. Do I face discouragement – some days it’s a constant battle. Am I victorious – ABSOLUTELY! Jesus said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me – He’s my strength, He’s the one who carries me when I feel weak and He’s the reason I will live and declare the works of the Lord.

I don’t read God’s Word and serve Him because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t live my life trying to please Him and get His love; I serve Him and follow His word because He loves me so much that it’s almost unfathomable. My faith is in God and Him alone. In His Word I find victory to overcome the world. Following God’s word isn’t so hard when we realize that He is the One with all the answers. We place our faith in Him and He always brings victory!

“We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow. 4 Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory. 5 No one can defeat the world without having faith in Jesus as the Son of God.” I John 5:3-5 ERV

Good Friday – Peter came to the end of himself when he denied the Lord but just a few days later he met the Savior and received complete forgiveness. Jesus has made the same offer to us – come to the end of yourself, accept My forgiveness and walk in My victory!

The actions of Good Friday open the door to a Great New Day!

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Made New by Love

Yesterday morning I was out for a walk and there it was, crossing the dirt road in front of me. It was a wooly worm, as we used to called them when I was little, better known to all as a fuzzy caterpillar. He was enjoying the warm sunshine just like I was.

I’m not an entomologist and I make no claims of knowing how long it takes for the life cycle of a butterfly to go from egg to caterpillar to cocoon and emerge as a butterfly but I do know the process is one of complete transformation and the end result is beautiful.

Am I the only one who has caterpillar days? We get up in the morning and for some reason we just can’t shake that feeling of being small and insignificant. None of our friends really notice us; so we crawl into our shell (our cocoon) to hide. But while we are in there something amazing happens.

God speaks to our heart. He tells us that He has something wonderful and amazing planned for us. He tells us how much He loves us and that He wants to make us new; never again will we be just a caterpillar, crawling around in the dirt. He is transforming us and giving us wings so we can fly. His love is making us new.

“It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.” Titus 3:3-5 MSG

We emerge from our old life beautiful. Our Father takes our old, wooly, ground-crawling life and His love makes everything new!

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