All that know me well will agree with the fact that I love to read. But, not all that know how much I enjoy reading know that I go to the end of the book to see the outcome before I read the book! OOOPs!
“You [God] saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:16, NLT)
God saw you and me before we were even born. He has recorded everyday of our life journey. He even knows about our MOMENTS! God has even recorded our Ah moments. Therefore, I want to go to the end of the Book for the finale. I have come to understand that the end of the book only gives assurances of the outcome but doesn’t alter the story as it has been told in the book.
Josh McDowell writes; some things you probably never knew about yourself:
1)The first moment-the very first nanosecond-of your life determined whether you would be a boy or girl.
2) In the first hours of your life, your eye color, hair color, and other features were decided.
3)When your heart began beating, you were so small you would have fit on your mother or dad’s fingernail-with room to spare!
4)Before your mother even knew you were growing inside of her, you could hear and could even perform full flips inside her womb!
5)About seven months before you were born, your fingers and toes looked much like they did at birth, though you were only two inches long!
6)You started to grown hair in your fourth month of life (before birth) and may have even sucked your thumb!
7)In the final two months before your birth, your weigh tripled, you began sleeping and waking, and you used four of your fives senses: sight, sound, taste and touch-all before your mother went into labor.
God was at work in our lives before we were born. He was knitting us together in our mother’s womb. He loved us and had a special plan for our lives even then. He still does when we allow Him the opportunity to continue the plan He recorded of our lives. He continues throughout our life to work with us through the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live our life story as written.
Ephesians 2, says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
I hope you remember that YOU and all others are the artwork of God. Yes, you are His masterpiece. I hope you will read THE BOOK. It is good to read the end to know your outcome as well as your beginning!
thedailylily.com 
I love this, because even if our beginning was not ideal; even if our baby-lives were not all hearts and roses; even if our lives took a turn for the worse….even if.. even if. Jesus has provided for us a GRAND FINALE. He has made available to us and for us a glorious ending, an eternal journey of delight with Him and His Father in Heaven for all eternity. It’s all written up in the back of the BOOK and the Back of the BOOK is just the beginning.
Good one, Sara.
Reflecting on Sara’s comment: “I hope you remember that YOU and all others are the artwork of God. Yes, you are His masterpiece. ”
God is an artist who will mold us into His image and likeness if we are that yielded clay in His sculpting Hands.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Romans 8:28,29
As a nurse, I am just in “awe” how God made our bodies. Studying anatomy and physiology is one of the most “eye-opening”, experiences to how “AWESOME” my God is…only He could have “put us together like that!”
Read Psalm 139: 13-14 with me: ” You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous–how well I know it.”
When God was giving Moses the directions for building the Tabernacle ,HE didn’t leave a stone unturned but gave complete and fastidious directions and blueprints as to how to build the house that would “tabernacle” the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. It was a material “house” for God to dwell in.
Then, how much MORE intricate has HE fashioned us, for He has ordained from before the begining of the world that we were to be Temples of the Living God. Each part is deftly and aptly created and styled and made to be a unified being….spirit, soul and body, to house the SPIRIT of the living God. To quote an old quip……’God don’t make no junk’.
When we see a Mother that is housing little ones this size (When your heart began beating, you were so small you would have fit on your mother or dad’s fingernail-with room to spare!) and trying to decide if they would like to spend a few more months of their lives giving the child or children a home; be a help.
We are packing shoe boxes for ‘a child’ to be delivered to children all over the world by the Franklin Graham Samaritan Purse ministry. Many times children without a Mother or Father or even dying from AIDS and many other very dire situations will receive your box.
When I think on these children I am moved to help. When I see a child yet unborn and may not have the opportunity to be born, I am moved to want to help. Yet, to be very honest when I see the many painful situations of children without help from the adults of the world including church and me, I freeze. Yes, freeze, pain, sorrow, the job to big for me. Many times I have and still do nothing. Not even a sentence prayer. Why, maybe I am frozen! Or, maybe I am lukewarm toward God. Rev. 3:15 reminds me that God would rather I be hot or cold but not Lukewarm. He spits me out of His mouth if I am lukewarm. If we are burning with the Spirit of God to help children without help around the world as well as any other passion God lays upon our hearts to help we will be HOT. If we freeze and do a little something we will be COLD! But, see, hear and do nothing is Lukewarm.
I hope as I share truth of my own thoughts with you I will thaw a little and then a little more and began to do more. How about you?
Oh, Sara, reading this scripture on being “lukewarm”, reminds me of the scripture in James that says: (James 4: 17) ” Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it”. And then, over in (Romans 6: 23) the Bible tells us that “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” I, as a part of the dailylily, sure plan to partner with Franklin Graham, and his ministry with the Samaritan’s purse, to get the message of Jesus Christ to these little children.
Needles, James 4:17 makes me ponder many questions? If the Word of God says if I know to do and not do, it is sin to ME! Not you for encouraging us to do but us for not doing?
Therefore, do you think the reason so many of us have closed minds about so many things is if we were to open our minds and hearts to the Word of God we would see just how much trouble we just might be in. Also, are the following truths?:
1) “And as long as we have a closed mind, we are unreachable and unteachable.”
2) “A closed mind filters out and blocks off new or different ideas, information, and beliefs.”
3) “Most of us are closed-minded only in specific areas.”
4) “Closed minds use hostility, prejudice, indifference, and inattention to keep new or different ideas from gaining a foothold. Closed minds stand in the way of learning and change.”
I read a sign that said, “Sorry mind closed until further notice.”
Well, Sara, this is some food for thought. I looked up the definition of “close” and it is lengthy, so for this purpose I will give a few of them: “to shut, to fill up or stop, to finish, to come to an end”. God tells us in His Word that He doesn’t want us to be ignorant. He wants us to know. (hence, His instruction book……the Bible)
And, yes, I believe all your statements about being close minded are true, but I am wondering……do you think that some may use this “hostility, prejudice, indifference, and inattention to keep new or different ideas from gaining a foothold”, because they don’t want to be wrong?
I almost spilled my new hot cup of Starbucks coffee over this one, “don’t want to be wrong/” Yeah, right, you got it! It is better to be wrong than right. No accountable to sin, God, or man. Just do it ‘my way from old wives’ tale and close truth out and off. No repentance needed, no change, just hang on to my way (old wives’ tale) until I DIE!
I am thinking from this point of view that a closed mind is a ‘house of ill fame’ for practice and enjoyment of sin. Help us and have mercy upon us O Lord!
Ephesians 2:1-6 Message “It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.”
I would like to suggest that we read the complete chapter of Ephesians 2. It is here where we get our title, “You are God’s Masterpiece” when we open our minds and hearts to Him.
Father in heaven, thank You for Your mercy and grace to me. I choose to keep my heart and mind focused on You. Refocus when I need to. I beg you God to open the locked doors of my closed mind and heart so You can flow into these hard ways I have. Please forgive my ‘old wives tales’ dogma and have Your way in me and lead me into the life of blessing You have waiting for me when I can see it and desire more of you and less of me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Sara thank you for articulating this prayer that I can say Amen with. When I read your quote above “I read a sign that said, “Sorry mind closed until further notice.” it brought back memories of a lesson you taught us at the 1st Annual Daily Lily Retreat, “The Dance of Healing”. In ‘Step 2, Sowing of the Seed, Reading of the Word’ you said, “Sometimes it is difficult to face the Indwelling Presence. Many times we are not aware of the mystery. We do not feel the Indwelling Presence of God in our season of blindness. Our gates are closed. The light is out and it is very dark.”…”Truly Yahweh was in this place and we never knew it”.
Being made aware of and then facing our sin of a closed, locked mind is a first step towards healing.
A plus Debi! Thanks for the reminder to look for God in all my wrong places.
Don’t forget “You are God’s Masterpiece”…According to Merriam-Webster’s online thesaurus, synonyms of masterpiece are: showpiece, blockbuster, success, gem, jewel, prize, treasure, and best piece of work. Insert any of these words into our verse from Ephesians 2:10 in place of masterpiece.
Does it leave you breathless to know that God feels this way about you?
“You are God’s showpiece, you are God’s gem-jewel, treasure and don’t forget you are His blockbuster! Let’s go for it this week!!!!
Sara, you commented above: “Closed minds use hostility, prejudice, indifference, and inattention to keep new or different ideas from gaining a foothold. Closed minds stand in the way of learning and change.”
It seems to me that after reading your comments and then nurse Needles April 28 blog, “Spiritual Temperature” that we need to be getting out some thermometers, putting it under our tongues and checking ours. Maybe when we do we will find out the virus we have is called closed mind.
Needles writes, “I am thinking we need an emotional and spiritual check-up to make sure we are healthy in our many differences. And, namely the ones our footnotes have mentioned, social and racial differences.”
Needles, doesn’t the mind greatly affect our physical and emotional health?