A journey in creativity and faith
Raindrops
On empty twigs
November is cold
and dark
Tuesday
freezing
Is going to bed
Leaves are falling
Rain falls down
Empty trees
Cold feet
A messy living room
Noisy thoughts
November is dark
Photo Copyright Heidi Spangberg Christensen
It is raining
It is cold
The days are short
Leaves are falling
The sky is grey
November is dark
We hear a calling
Outside the door
Today I invite you to celebrate with me – and I have a gift for you. Hang on, I’ll tell you more later.
Last year I began to listen to my calling. I had to write and at the same time I began to hear a voice calling. It belonged to someone I hadn’t talked to for years, and I answered: “I’m here! Where are you?” Christ found me, and He called me to follow Him and write about my walk with Him. I had to overcome many fears. I never imagined that I would create a blog with a focus on Christ. I had not imagined writing in English either. I dared not believe that some day I would write a book.
This autumn God gave me the courage to also write about Christ on my Danish blog. At the same time I received an invitation to submit a full poetry manuscript in English to a competition. I didn’t win the competition, but I didn’t lose either. For weeks I compiled, translated, edited and finished the poetry collection which became an ebook. I prayed to God for showing me what to do with the ebook. His answer sounded like “you’ve received it for free, give it away for free.” This answer meant many things.
I was about to take a bite of my sandwich in a diner in Washington, when the young guy stood right by our table. I did notice him earlier outside the diner on the street, He talked to my husband and me.
“Excuse me?” I said, asking him to repeat his question.
“Wanna buy some Marihuana?” He said.
“No thanks”, I said, half smiling.
The guy walked up to the man standing behind the disk.
Did we look like someone who wanted to buy Marihuana?
I saw myself wandering up to the guy and telling him that I didn’t need Marihuana. I had enough in Jesus. He is my life and daily bread. Then I would declare the gospel to him. This is how it sounded in my imagination. I remained at my seat as if was glued to my chair, and my mouth did nothing but eat.
At least I prayed for the Marihuana ‘salesman’.
I’ve been to the USA with my husband. We saw Washington and visited Baltimore as my husband was attending a conference. I want to share some of the experiences the Lord blessed me with on my trip.
It was not the big and beautiful buildings which left an impression on me, when I was in Washington. Words showed their power to me. Quotes of Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. were written on big stone tables at the memorials. The words shared the visions of freedom, equality, rights, brotherhood, peace and love. My husband, I and other visitors walked in a religious silence as we were reading the words.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” (Martin Luther King)
At the memorial for the Korea War a sign said: “Freedom is not free”
Many people have paid a tall price for freedom. Abraham Lincoln declared that all men were created equal and he fought to free the slaves, but Lincoln was murdered. Martin Luther King fought for civil rights, and he was murdered. Many soldiers have died for others to be free.
A student in Oregon stood as a shield and took several gunshots. He saved many lives and he could have died.
Another man paid a high price for freedom. He was innocent, but took the punishment all men should have for their iniquities. He sacrificed himself on a cross so we could be free. It didn’t end at the cross. The words we read in the gospel don’t belong to a dead man, but to Jesus, the son of God, who arose from death and lives today. He is the eternal king of kings and because of his sacrifice we’re free from the power of sin, the devil and death.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)
“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8)
For my series on God’s love, I’m today honored to host a guest post by Christy Pearce. God loves EVERYONE, also the ones we may consider to be our enemies. In Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus teaches us about love. Christy shares an experience she has had with hate.
Her name was Lisa.
I HATED that girl…with a passion. But she hated me first.
Even though I was only seven years old, I will never forget how much she ruined my fun when she showed up. I detested the sound of her voice.
But there was this one time we both temporarily lost our minds, and we decided to try to be friends. It lasted a couple of days, but we couldn’t hold the hatred back. It ended with her spewing ugly words my way, and me smacking her across the face. (And running away…)
There was NO way I was going to show her love; it wasn’t a thought in my mind. She was just too mean. Lisa was my enemy.
If you have ever been suffocated by the emotion of hate, then you know “loving enemies” is easier said than done. Love goes against all that is naturally in us, and we are incapable of doing it.
And that is exactly what Christ came to prove. That we CAN’T fulfill the law. At least not without His presence in our lives.
What is Impossible with Men is Possible with God
Photo Credit: Reinhard Komanapalli, creation swap,
Anger, Lust, Adultery, Divorce, Lying, Retaliation…these are the things we humans have a natural bent toward—unless you are God come in human flesh.
Christ didn’t come down here to condemn us, because He didn’t have to.
Instead, He did what was completely impossible for us to do. He came to fulfill all of the law’s demands. He lived out the rules of God perfectly with all His mind, heart and strength.
If we don’t know that it really is impossible for us to obey God, we are missing out on the magnitude of what Christ was accomplishing on our behalf.
Even if we manage to put on a great performance outwardly, our hearts are always corrupted in some way. We need something more. More than outward conformity to law, more than what we can conjure up within ourselves. We need the One who fulfilled the law to fill our hearts.
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