Blessed Sabbath to you!

The day is peaceful, even with little ones running around and the occasional yelp from I don't know what (nor do I think I WANT to know!). The peace is not from my surroundings but rather from the quiet in my own heart and soul.

It is Sabbath in our home today, and it is ALWAYS such a gift.

Our family has been on quite a faith journey these last few years. A key ingredient to finding my true soul mate was finding a man whose heart belonged to God... a man who served God's Will and not his own. Duane felt the same way and this was an absolute unwavering condition to our "happily ever after". Both of our faith walk looked SO DIFFERENT and we spent so much of our time together debating, arguing, seeking further clarification from scripture, praying, etc... We have truly challenged each other and have committed our homestead to seeking HIS truth through His word. But this has meant asking ourselves the humbling question: are we wrong in our beliefs to-date??

My hesitation has been that scripture can be so easily misinterpreted! We are limited by our own experience, our own understanding... if you yourself have not truly forgiven someone who has deeply wronged you, will your understanding of God's forgiveness for you be the same as He intends it?

So turning to scripture initially left me questioning if we would ever truly understand His TRUTH.

But it has revealed to us a whole new depth to our faith that I did not know to anticipate! We have tried looking at it with the eyes and faith of a child... letting go of all we thought we knew to discover it in a whole new light.

I am FASCINATED by other people's faith walks because they have a level of experience which I have NOT had... therefore they will have retained something from scripture that I would be too limited to grasp! And my prayer is that my own experience could possibly shed light unto others, too!

Wouldn't that be just a glorious way to gather in God's name? To discuss and further shed light on our COLLECTIVE understanding of His word? Remember my earlier entry about the three blind men trying to describe an elephant? Remember how they each described something completely different but in the end, each were right... but each was only describing a PART of the truth? Is it possible FAITH is the same way? Without each other and our differences, we cannot piece together the mosaic that will be the image of God's truth? Can we each have a COMPLETE faith without each other?

It is my dream to honour each person's faith walk, WHEREVER it brings them, with the sincerest hope that we can learn from each other, CHALLENGE each other (willingly and lovingly) and GROW in a faith that is deeper and closer to His TRUTH.

For our household, we have personally come to look at scripture in a perspective we have been blind to all along... We often refer to the OLD testament as an old piece of history that is simply there for the sake of reference. It is old and we should treat is as we treat old clothing, old things we own... with disregard.

But the old testament holds the full description of God's will for us and we are discovering that Jesus did not come to abolish the law (just as He himself proclaimed) but to SHOW us how to LIVE it perfectly just as He did!

This has challenged us in ways you would not believe! Does this mean that His laws and statutes STILL apply to this day? Did our UNCHANGING God truly remain unchanged? If so, how are we to be living? And does the Gospel message look different with that knowledge in the back of your mind?? Oh, you bet!

In our home, we have gone right back to one of the commandments of observing the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday... the seventh day that God consecrated when He himself rested after creation.

Has this made any significant difference in our lives? You bet! It means preparing our day a week in advance so no cooking is done on our day of rest. It means ensuring no business will be done (we were so grateful to our contractors who respected that no work would be done on the addition during that time frame. And isn't it interesting to know that Saturdays have become the BIGGEST shopping day of the week? Hmmmm, makes you wonder about that slithering snake from the garden of Eden, no?), and it means preparing our home and our hearts for a day when we can truly be still and KNOW that He is our God.

What a DELIGHT! It's like having family date-day to look forward to EVERY WEEK! It is a refueling beyond measure! I know my husband's mind is FREE of thinking of the many things that need to get done on the farm, I know my own mind is FREE of thinking of the million and one things left to do around the house. We are FREE in every sense of the word, sanctified by the glory of the Sabbath and the promise God made to meet with us within it.

I had no idea it would come to mean so much to me. It is our family gift to each other and to God.

And so I am delighting WITH YOU this sabbath as my heart belongs to Him. I delight in connecting with you through the prayer of my intentions to find you wherever you are at this moment and to LOVE that God made you with purpose! And I hope that you discover the glory of a day set apart from all others and discover the gift that has been yours since the beginning of creation!

All yours! Just for you and your faith! A reward beyond measure.

I would LOVE to know of your own faith journeys, your own beliefs and what has captured your heart as God's truth. I want to GROW in every possible way, to be YOUR servant through my love for God. I want to know how to do this for you from this distance! I want to know HOW to KNOW you! Is it enough to send forth my prayers trusting that God will find each of you: those I know and those whom I don't know?

Will you KNOW that I am praying for you? Will you accept my prayer for you? Oh I hope so! It feels so good to pray for humanity! I believe in each of you to the very core of my being... each of you, right down to the one who struggles with such deep dark secrets that you cannot imagine any of God's light within you!

It IS there for His breath BREATHED YOUR LIFE! And His light will cast away ALL darkness so do not doubt your beauty for ONE second! If God Himself did not believe in you, do you think He would have sent Jesus to die for your sins? No way!

I am nearly jumping out of my chair with exuberance! I am just so pumped by this unconditional love thing! It is liberating, energizing and just so gosh darn gorgeous!

So my prayer for you today? At this moment? Beyond recognizing your own beauty? It would be that you discover for yourself the sacredness of this day for you. That you be revitalized and renewed. That you find yourself with an inkling of familiarity in knowing He gave you this day with purpose... because He loves you that much! And whatever troubled time you face, may you find freedom from its grip today and every moment you remember that you are loved. And may your own heart discover the freedom of forgiveness for those who have wronged you so that you may be brought to your knees by the sheer amazing grace of knowing you, too, have been completely and gloriously forgiven!

You out there, have a magical day and know that whoever you are, I have asked God to bless you and I have thanked Him for loving you. Take care, special ones!