If I Were Rich, I Would......

Have you ever thought those thoughts or played that game?
Well, yesterday morning, I was giving myself a manicure and I thought “If I were rich I know exactly what I would do. I’d go for a manicure AND a pedicure every other week! And, maybe add a massage to that, too!

When I do get to experience that nurturing, I embrace relaxing in the massage chair at the nail salon. Rarely do I go for a massage but when I do, it is a time of knowing that those knots and kinks are going to be worked out. Relief is coming and I’m rejuvenated.

As I finished doing my own nails, I couldn't help but think about the Master's touch on my life and express to Him my gratitude for the ability to even do my own nails. I don’t need to play a game of “If I were rich,” because I am rich. I don’t need someone to nurture me because I am nurtured and loved by God. I am the recipient of the “incomparable riches of His grace” that Paul talked about in Ephesians 2:6-7. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

God’s love worked out the knots and kinks of worry, concern, fear, and insecurity in me. He made me whole, both spiritually and emotionally. His healing touch led me to show compassion for others hurting in the same way.

God’s touch on my life set me free to tell others how His touch soothed the rough edges of my heart and set me free to celebrate how He worked out the knots of unforgiveness and helped me to stand strong. Believe me when I say – what you see in my daily blog posts is the work of a Master Massager and Healer and though He doesn’t really fit into the category of manicurist or pedicurist or masseuse, He wraps me in a warm blanket of love and tenderness and holds my hands in the most loving ways and assures me I am His beloved daughter.

Maybe you could use a little nurturing today. Maybe you’d like to step in for a sweet touch from the Master. His faithful love nurtures us, rejuvenates us and gives us relief from the common, everyday pressures of life and the overwhelming, how-can-I-make-it-another-day times. He is waiting to nurture you. It’s His specialty because you are His precious, beloved child.
When we are WHOLE – soul, spirit, and body – we don’t ever have to play the “If I were rich” game ever again, because we are rich beyond measure.

1 John 3:1 “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

All Grown Up, But Still a Kid

Day 318 of Photo Inspirations -- All Grown Up, But Still a Kid
I came from a middle class family.  We didn't have much, but we had all we needed.  We knew love -- but by no means did we know royalty and wealth, or the social graces that went along with it.   But, then, one day, I came into a royal family.....the Family of God -- where now I'm UPPER class -- not as a result of merit or anything I earned, or was born into, but I was adopted into this marvelous Family of God.  It was simply because I asked to come in, and because I believed the Father of this royal family has a very special Son, Who paid a hefty price for me to be welcomed into the family.  I didn't have to pay my way in -- I just had to believe in HIS royal family.  And, guess what YOU'VE been invited into the FAMILY, too!  The invitation goes out to "Whoever believes in HIM....."

By the way, I'm all grown up now, but there are no adults in the family. Father God only has children. Adults complicate things.  They try to figure out what's next, how, why, where and when.  Kids just say "Okay!"  They just believe.  I believed.  Stuff happens.  No problem.  My Father has everything under control.  And, He keeps telling us to "Be like children" who just believe.

I was doing some holiday baking on Thursday and, like I do from time-to-time, while I'm cooking, I'll have the Hallmark Channel on and I watch one of their sweet and tender movies.  This one was about some children whose Mom and Dad had died in an automobile accident and the very wealthy grandfather (who they had never met) asked them to come see him at his royal mansion in England. Once they were there, they had all the privileges that their lineage provided -- sitting at the Grandfather's table, eating the best of foods, wearing the royal clothes provided by the grandfather, being served by the maids and butlers.  They didn't even know this Grandfather before, but all their lives, royalty was waiting for them.  But, to live in the Grandfather's home, they had to change some of their rough ways.  And they did, because they wanted to please the Grandfather.  And when they pleased him, he just kept pouring on the blessings to them.

Once we come into the royal Family of God, we should have a hard time being disobedient children. If we daily make a purpose to NOT disappoint our Heavenly Father, He'll keep pouring His blessings on us.  If we abide in Him, and His Word abides in us, then we'll have a hard time messing up.  We just don't want to take a chance on disappointing our Father.

Still, I have disappointed Him.  But when I did, His grace flowed out to me.  His nature IS love and grace. It's going to be Christmas in just a few weeks, and if we gave our kids a gift, we would never want them to turn to us and say, "What do I owe you for this?"   No, we would simply say to them, "I so love you and want to bless you."

The man in the movie had to discipline those grandkids from time to time for being naughty.  And there's also a judgment side to God, but if we obey Him, we'll never see it.  There's a judgment side to us, but if our kids obey us, they'll never see that judgment.

Today, our Heavenly Father has His arms open wide to His naughty or nice kids out there.  He's ready to bless them.  He's ready to invite them to sit at His royal table and feast and dine with Him.  It's ours for the taking.  Now let's throwt our hands up in the air and shout out, "CHOOSE ME!"

1 John 3:1  "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us, is that it did not know Him."