Uh-oh! Busted.

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."...John 3:17

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Oh! You simply must hear Reba sing Back To God. My, my, my. (I'll wait for you if you'd prefer to listen, first.)

Ready?

Last night I sat here listening and thinking, "Wow, Anointed Song City!" And words like these made me cry---


"In these darkest days
Are you not afraid
That it's too late?
. . .  We gotta keep on prayin'
Cuz we're still worth saving.

We can't go on like this,
And live like this,
We can't love like this.
The only answer is
We gotta give this world back to God."


---and ouch! I became super-convicted. I mean, how many times lately have I rolled my eyes and muttered, "All those hysterical morons in the streets need to go home and get a clue."? And I've said more. Much more.

Reba sang on and I realized I'd become annoyed/frustrated/mad and dismissive of those folks rather than loving them and caring as God does about their concerns.

Frankly, somewhere inside my head I'd placed millions of people into the Oh-Just-Shut-Up file box. Oh dear. Gulp.

But, yes! We are all still worth saving. Jesus did die for everybody--and I know that, of course. Yet I'd allowed my Frustration Levels to grow taller than my Love Levels.

Uh-oh.

More? Suddenly I experienced some of the pain God must feel while watching chaotic masses arguing, friendships imploding, threats being hurled at our President, people assuming only the worst and not listening to reason.

It all must break His heart.

How vital that we trust God knows what He's doing! That we remember He's had a mega plan for, like, forever. And that we not panic when His ways aren't like ours, but rather, that we let our faith shine like bright peace, which comes from knowing, personally, the One who's still got the world in His hands, after all.

 "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,  and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."   ... from Ephesians 6

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And because this is the middle of winter, here are some yard photos (for hope and inspiration) of a local house for sale. The house looks similar to mine, but has just 1 bedroom(!) I like the low wall around the porch and I have this thing for brick walkways ----

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