All You Need Is Love

All you need is love, love . . . love is all you need. Love is all you need.


Are you singing along yet??


Love . . . that is where He is taking me, where He is stretching me, where He is calling me.


The past ten months I have felt a longing to really learn more about Jesus. As a 'young' believer I had spent so much time on the fast track . . . going to bible studies, reading books, attending conferences, . . . searching, searching, searching . . . wanting more more more . . . and then one day I stopped and had to ask myself . . . how much do I really know about Jesus and His time here on earth. I had to ask myself what was I really seeking?


Then at the end of October my family and I went to hear an amazing woman speak, Heidi Baker. She was speaking in a small church in Cleveland so we decided to go. Her message . . . love. Love, love, love. She shared story after story of how a simple hug or act of love had transformed so many lives. She had my children sitting at the edge of their seats for two hours. How did she learn to love . . . from Jesus. She said to me, "You know I just love Jesus."


There it was right in front of me. And I felt like I had missed it.


So last week I made a trip to the bookstore and purchased a book by Max Lucado about Jesus. I opened my bible and my book and began reading. And I am falling in love.


He made it so simple . . . He loved.



And in John 13:34-35 (The Message) Jesus said,

"Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."

Love . . . Jesus . . . join me:)

Kim

One True Love

In this week filled with “love”—Valentines, roses and chocolate…I am thanking the Lord for His love.

Unconditional love.

Laura Woodley’s lyrics from “Into The Light” resound within my soul this Valentine’s day…words from the Lord to us….

I want her
I love her
She’s the one for me.
I choose her
I know her
My blood has made her clean
She is my true love.

Even though I have known the Lord for almost four years now, it wasn’t until recently that I truly completely began to understand and accept this love. It is a love like no other.

Pure.
All-encompassing.
True.

He will never leave you.
He will never disappoint you.
He is always with you.

Always.

This Valentine’s day, be grateful for your one true love.

His name is Jesus.

Maria and her family reside in NE Ohio. She and her husband are the parents of two. Their daughter is a person with hemipelegic cerebral palsy.Because of her experiences, Maria provides parent-to-parent support for families involved in her local early intervention program. Her gift for writing has come directly from the Lord since her daughter’s diagnosis. She writes a monthly column entitled, “Special Parents, Special Kids” for the Mahoning Valley Parent magazine in Ohio; and has expanded into Parent magazines in parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
She is also a contributing author at http://www.mommiesmagazine.com/.Maria's first published work is in Jan Ross and Jeanice McDade's Women of Passion's anthology, "Ordinary Women Serving an Extraordinary God". Both Kim and Maria have been selected to have their work tentatively included in Lori Wagner's upcoming book, Quilting Patches of Life, Volume 2.

What's Your Motivation?

Along with focus, there are other themes God is bringing to the front burner. Love. Heart. Motivation.



What?



You mean like the actor preparing for his role saying, "What's my motivation?"



Yeah, like that.



The better my focus, the healthier my heart and love---the better my motivation.



But once my focus is off Him and on my self, boy does my motivation take a turn. A bad turn.



My desire this year is to have His heart, His focus, His love, His motivation.



And for it to be no act!



Lord, help me!



Anyone out there relate?


Julie Arduini is a wife, mom and surrendering writer. Her personal blog, The Surrendered Scribe, shows her writing resume. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she is also a columnist with Take Root and Write. She recently placed 10th in the JournEzine Christmas story contest about the Good News of Bethlehem. Her verse for 2009 is Deuteronomy 11:11-12. She's a new columnist with the daily online newspaper, The Cypress Times.

Glory to God

Glory to God

Where can one go and completely surrender to the love and mercy of God?

Where can one go that just being there causes them to tear down walls that they have been building on the inside for years?

Where can one go and let go of all of their doubts and fears and go all out for God?

No fear, No barriers, No insecurities, No giants to face. Just be in the presence of the Lord, totally and completely.

Where is this place that one can go that is like no other?

The Mission field.

The word Mission is defined as: a sending or being sent for some duty or purpose; those sent.
Think about the magnitude of that….those sent are actually the definition of Mission. They are sent to perform a duty or purpose that has been placed in their heart by God. I like to think of “those sent” being synonymous with the phrase “those chosen.” You must first be chosen to go before you are sent. So these missionaries, whether they are going to perform a duty around the corner from where they live for a few hours, or they are off to a foreign country for a few days…or even if they pick up their entire family and move to a new land, they all are obeying God’s call—The chosen. They have a burning desire to bring His grace and mercy where it is needed most. And most of the time, the missionaries go to save souls, and their souls get saved all over again in the process. God provides them with the strength and love it will take to perform His Mission of love.

Their hearts are forever changed as they embark on the journey to find the lost, weep for the hurting, love the unloved, bring joy to the sad-hearted, heal the sick, all the while being the example that God wants them to be. One of his grace and mercy. One like His son, Jesus. They are to act, talk and walk like Jesus. If Jesus were where they are going, what would he do? They will be the heart, soul, hands, eyes, ears, feet, and mouth of Jesus.

I have the personal privilege of knowing 3 amazing women that are currently fulfilling His call of love to the children and adults of Romania.

I feel deep within my heart that they are going there to do the obvious—hold babies, bring supplies, pray over children, etc….But what is so amazing about hearing the Lord’s voice and obeying, is that He will do things in you that you never thought possible…so beyond the obvious-Way down deep in my spirit man, I know that I know that these women will see miracles from God first-hand. Not only will they see them, but they will perform them. He tells us in His word over and over again that one’s faith is so powerful, it can heal. Even in the midst of doubt and unbelief that we all have from time to time in our natural mind, obedience will reign. These women are following their hearts and traveling to an unknown place to fulfill what I know is only the beginning of God’s purpose for their lives. They will see and do in a very short period of time what most of us will not see in our lifetimes. I am honored to be praying for their journey, but even more so to be a witness to the act of love, grace, courage, and obedience to the lord they are about to complete. They will come home doing only one thing-giving all of the glory of the fruits of their labor to God.

“Each one of us did the work God gave us to do. …I planted the seed…But God is the One who made it grow. So the one who plants is not important, and the one who waters is not important. Only God, who makes things grow, is important.” (1Corinthians 3:5-7.)



...Please be in prayer for our friends, Kim, Barb and Wendy as they are in their final days in Romania...

Maria and her family reside in NE Ohio. She and her husband are the parents of two. Their daughter is a person with hemipelegic cerebral palsy.Because of her experiences, Maria provides parent-to-parent support for families involved in her local early intervention program. Her gift for writing has come directly from the Lord since her daughter’s diagnosis. She writes a monthly column entitled, “Special Parents, Special Kids” for the Mahoning Valley Parent magazine in Ohio; and has expanded into Parent magazines in parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. She is also a contributing author at www.mommiesmagazine.com.
Maria's first published work is in Jan Ross and Jeanice McDade's Women of Passion's anthology, "Ordinary Women Serving an Extraordinary God". Both Kim and Maria have been selected to have their work tentatively included in Lori Wagner,s upcoming book, Quilting Patches of Life, Volume 2.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

As the prayer team prayed over Wendy, Kim and Barb, they linked hands and looked just like a scene from Wizard of Oz. When we prayed we felt such a strong sense of purpose for them, that the trip would be about love. Giving love, receiving love, being love, pointing them to Love through Jesus Christ.

Prayers continued and they further related to the movie. Beyond love they felt courage and wisdom take root. Their trip is winding down. They have taught children songs, led crafts. They are visiting families and giving love through tangible helps.

There have been flying monkey episodes where the darkness choked them. They kept linking together in Him, moving forward. The road doesn't look yellow or golden--not now. But through their obedience we are believing seeds are planted that are going to yield an amazing harvest.

Keep praying!

God's Loving Message for Oprah---and you!

This post represents one of those times God has downloaded something into my heart I can't get rid of and I know I'm meant to share it. That part most of the time is easy enough, what has me a little nervous is the information is specific. Directed at one person.

Oprah Winfrey.

The good news is I know I can benefit from this information and I hope you can too. So here I go.

I was listening to a radio program last week regarding Oprah and her new study on the book, A New Earth. I've received e mails regarding this and overall what I'm hearing is this is not a Christ centered book. Years ago, oh even months ago I most likely would have been on the bash the book bandwagon. This year though, God has asked me to walk in compassion and grace. That doesn't mean I turn a blind eye to things that grieve Him, but in what I heard in my prayer time when I listened to the show (the program was on Moody called something like Oprah--Right Questions, Wrong Answers) was so full of love, I felt I was meant to share.

The program included an audio clip of Oprah sharing a bit of her faith background. Please give me a little grace as I didn't write what she said as I was driving, listening and praying. It went something like this though---her Christian upbringing was Baptist. Her heart was and is to see God as a loving God. I believe this too.

One day she was listening to a preacher give a sermon. He said God is a jealous God. That really struck her, as it did me the first time I heard this. She said that did not align with what she knew of God, a loving God. She questioned, God is jealous of me? As she asked that question, if I followed her correctly, it just didn't sit right to serve a jealous God. This was the catalyst to search for something more that would ultimately fit her perception of a loving God.

Here is what God has to share lovingly with Oprah, me, and all of you.

God is not jealous of you---He is jealous FOR you.

One word, big difference.

He created the heavens and the Earth. He knows every hair on your head intimately. He knows every single fact about you down to the last breath you take. He sent His own Son to Earth to take a brutal mockery, assault, crucifixtion and death because it was the only way to bridge the chasm between our natural bent to sin and separate us from Him. If you can't picture the sacrifice, watch Passion of the Christ. That is how deep His love is for you.

Think of a parent. Say the parent makes their child the very best of clothes, fixes the choicest of meals, gives them unconditional love and the child chooses to live with another family that could care less about the kid. What do you think that parent would feel? That parent would be jealous for the child. Their love is so strong they don't want the child to cling to a love that can't love back.

God's love is so strong for Oprah that He just wants to spend time with her. I don't think He wants her money or to give up her work, as the radio program stated, she truly does good things for the betterment of society. Her having money is not a bad thing. But as the Bible states, you can't serve two masters. If you, me, Oprah, anyone is chasing something or someone first and always above wanting to sit down and just get to know the One who created you, He's going to be jealous for you. For your time, your affections.

I wish I were a master communicator like Max Lucado or Beth Moore but I'm not. I just pray these words would be anointed by Him and deeply touch you in a way that would bring you closer to the Lord. This theme of God being jealous in a good way rings to true to me imagine my smile when my inbox contained an article by Francis Frangipane about God's jealousy for us, not of us.

Bottom line---Oprah, God is a loving God. It took me so long to grasp that, I'm so glad you have that knowledge stored in your generous heart. I pray you also find His jealousy a gift and something you want in your life every day. Chase after it, seek it, it's yours to have.

Thanks for letting me share His encouragement to you today.

To read more, click the link below.
http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/6266


Julie is a surrendered writer with her own blog, http://thesurrenderedscribe.blogspot.com/. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she blogs for the Christian Writers Forum Sundays as the mommy blogger and is the Forum's book club facilitator. She is active with FaithWriters and has several writings ready to publish in different books and anthologies in 2008-09. Julie was chosen as the March 2008 FaithReaders.com author of the month. To get to know her better, read her interview by Linda Schab at: http://www.faithreaders.com/featured-author.php To contact Julie, Kim or Maria, please contact us at jarduini@faithwriters.net.