Rebirth #easter #love #sacrifice

It was a chrysalis; a pod that holds a baby butterfly. I looked up in the tree above.

“You fell didn’t you? How can I get you back?” There was no answer, no help.

I carried the chrysalis to my cave and put it in a very safe place. “What should I do with you? Should I bury you? I can’t.”

For 3 days Judah paced and mumbled in his cave. He couldn’t eat because he was sad about the small creature who had died.

Then on day 3, he heard a tiny voice. “Hello.” Is anyone there?”

“Hello” I saw the pod changing colour and I was afraid. “How can I help?” I said rather loudly.

“I must be hanging from something or I cannot come out the right way.”

I looked around in my cave. Then I grabbed the stub where the chrysalis had been attached to the tree. I let it hang down between my teeth. “Okay.”

I spent many hours as my wings little by little came out of the pod. When my eyes popped open, I saw something large and sharp. “What are those?” I tried to sound calm.

“My teeth.”

“What do you use them for?”

“Eating.”

“Like small creatures?”

“I eat many things.”

“Um, Mr Lion can you put me back where I came from.”

“The tree was too high. I can’t do it.”

I was too tired to argue. Maybe he would give me time to fly away. It was not easy, but I kept unfolding and drying my wet wings. I finally climbed on his big nose. I waved a wing at his eyes. “Hello, I’m Bethany. Can we be friends?”

“Oh yes. You are so beautiful. I would like to be friends very much.”

“Do lions eat their friends?”

“Never.”

***

“My God my God why have You forsaken me?” Mark 15:34

Many of us feel forsaken during these days of CoVid 19. God has not closed His eyes to our suffering. He’s right there.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins. His heart broke because our sins separated Him from the love of God  (for those 3 days.) Why would he do that? Because He loved us and wanted to free us. Judah the lion didn’t save the cocoon to then eat the butterfly. Jesus didn’t die for ours sins to then condemn us to eternal hell.

No one expected that in three days he would rise from the dead.  He is very much alive and we can be redeemed because sin has no hold on us in Christ. Just like Bethany the beautiful butterfly was reborn so can we be reborn in Jesus.

“He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” Matthew 28:6

So rejoice-  Easter is the promise that death could not hold Jesus. It cannot hold us either.

 

 

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, (nor CoVid19) neither angels nor demons,^[b]neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 8:38 & 39

 

Be suspended in the rays of Easter’s hope. Be loved by the one who died on the cross for YOU!!!

 

 

Grace is enough???

Assurance not in man’s way

Christ’s death who does dispise

wretched I beyond dismay

man can’t revoke the sacrifice

that was made for you for me

sin forged for me a chain

redemption is always free

downtrodden I no longer

picked up though I fall

clean and pure this sinner

 savior’s blood paid it all

 

Lost #poetry #faith #photography

I stumbled over the covered path

my footfalls lacking ease

my eyes were tumbling waterfalls

 I lacked a sense of peace

where am I going?

Where have I been?

no one in the ether

I’m truely lost again

Once I knew so clearly

now in a matchless fog

desperate for direction

I fear there is no God

I looked up from my sorrow

a distant focal light

I gazed not at my footing

aiming for clear sight

I barefoot in green pastures

 lightened of my load

Jesus bought my sorrows

treasures beyond untold

turn your eyes upon Jesus

look full in His wonderful face

the trials that hold you back

filled instead with love and grace

 

 

The Song Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by Helen Lemmel 

Chorus: Turn Your eyes upon Jesus

look full in hIs wonderful face

and the things of earth will grow strangely dim

in the light of His glory and Grace.

 

Cross Roads #sundaydevotion

 

Life’s road  uneven

filled with pain

I’ve know the sting

of sin’s dark reign

*

the fork it beckoned

from afar

succumbed to flesh

I see the scars

*

His light it shines

in darkest place

removes the stain

no one can trace

*

I gladly trudge

this burden bear

to heaven’s cross road

my savior’s there!

 

 

“A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it.”

Isaiah 35:8

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28

 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:20

Life’s Road is filled with rocks and uneven spots. Some days we have little strength to crawl. Though this life is tough, Jesus promises that He is there to walk over the toughest terrain  (carrying us if need be).

Sharing with God Interest

 

My Cloak for A King #palmsunday #sundaydevotion

 

 my pink petal robe

beneath un-sandaled feet

lovingly caress

unworthy to meet

The King!

 

What would it be like to have Jesus walk on my cloak, look in my eyes and smile? This Jesus came as a servant to the poor, the sick, the broken, the unaccepted. The leaders could not understand a king like this. They despised this “rule-breaker” who would not conform to the law they had defiled.

Jesus is not of this world. He rules with love and reaches his scepter of forgiveness to all. Grasp for that freedom and you will be washed clean from the mud of this world.

“He was despised and rejected be men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised and we esteemed him not.”

                                                                    ~Isaiah 53:3

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

                                                                   ~John 1:29

 

Today is Palm Sunday. This is the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. He was celebrated and loved. Such a difference one week makes in the lives of us all.

 

Thank you to Wall paper gallery for the free image of the cross it merged perfectly with my shot of the cherry blossoms to make a lovely image.

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Freedom’s Dawn #Easter #Poetry

 look through storm clouds

beauty to behold

colors of the rainbow

mercy to unfold

hold not to the dark

open up your heart

before the Lord seek freedom

make a fresh new start

*

nightingale’s song

 lily raises its pure face

morning glory

*

Easter is a time to be reminded of Christ’s sacrifice and renewed. But we can hold back and lay roots of rot and resistance. It is not God who holds back His goodness. We are the ones who chose not the beauty of salvation’s grace.

 

Dance #uganda #atozchallenge

Orphan’s voices lift to the stars

can’t keep feet from moving

notes merge harmonious

large is the circle of our song

mimicking children’s motions

I don’t want the song to end

laughter young and old

fills the skies

tired we sit on mats

our hearts still singing

as we do crafts

 Jesus is smiling

*

color butterfly

children want to dance in the sky

coffee filter art

*

The video sharing the beauty of the Acholi culture.

 I know that these children at Mercy Home have come from hard and lonely places. We are greeted each day with smiles of  love and welcome and we end the day Dancing!

Enjoy the A to Z challenge this month!

Im also tagging on to Poets United prompt April. Spring and April give cause to dance with the blossoms.

One Step Toward Eternity #poetry #devotion

a portal of tomorrow

I see horizon’s line

an outline of such beauty

 hope’s dreams are there defined

I want to rush forward

 am petrified by my past

What if I’m unwelcome?

my failures permanent cast

In Heaven there’s a future

I can never “measure up”

the price paid by another

he drank of sin’s dark cup

I must move alongside

eyes closed like a child

 Eternity reaches for me

I get closer all the while

rushing forward, stumbling

I gulp the joyful air

open arms for my Savior

hold fast I’m almost there

 

Door to Heaven by Clare

 

We all wonder what our tomorrow’s will be. We also can fear that we won’t meet up to the expectations of Heaven. Faith is closing our eyes  and trusting that our feet will meet solid ground with each new step. Easy? No! Possible? YES!!!

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

Ecclesiastes 3:11

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

1 Corinthians 13:12

Under the Tree #merrychristmas #poetry

as a child I would dream

of ribbons and bows

imagine the contents

things hidden, unseen

now I crinkle the paper

of my inner thoughts

so much more in the meaning

than the things that Ive bought

impoverished  the soul

for those fearing to live

take your pallet and walk

only Jesus could give

There is nothing incorrect

in such love for a world

for the lost He was born

offering nothing untoward

so this year I want Jesus

under my tree

Christ soon is coming

to save you and save me

*

hope is revived

for unto us a child is born

all is well

I wish each of you the hope of peace. It is not an offering that a world leader can make – the cost is too high.

Merry Christmas to all!

 

 

 

I Choose Life #sundaydevotion #poetry

a fork in the road

threw indecision my way

left or right

a price to pay

one path almost spoke

come here and walk

you’ll never regret

the pleasures Ive wrought

the other was narrow

with pebbles and leaves

golden light flickered

warming the trees

I reached out my gaze

took my first step

years that was now

many pilgrims Ive met

heaven’s gate is beyond

to a world free of strife

I owe it all to that path

it gave me new life

The “gate” in the Bible is mentioned like the fork in the road. There is a broad gate to destruction people are distracted by  stuff, pleasure, and gain but the end result is eternal pain.  There are trials, stumbling, disappointment when you walk through narrow gate but at the end is rejoicing where Jesus awaits.

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’

But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

Luke 13:24 & 25

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 17: 13 & 14

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6

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