Category: Gods Love for us

• Who do you think you are?

  Posted at 7:00 am by sneuhofer, on June 14, 2018

  Have you ever thought about who the Lord is to you? As I read the verses in 2 Samuel 22, I discovered who David thought the Lord was to him. David wrote this song of praise after God rescued him from those who were trying to persecute and kill him. To David, God was:

  • His rock, fortress, and deliverer (v.2)
  • His refuge, shield, horn of salvation, stronghold, Savior (v. 3)
  • The One worthy of David’s praise (v. 4)
  • The protector who fought all David’s battles (v. 5 – 16)
  • His life-preserver (v. 17)
  • His support (v. 19)
  • His rescuer (v. 20)
  • The reward/gift giver (v. 25)
  • His lamp in the darkness (v. 29)
  • His helper (v. 30)
  • David’s strength and security (v. 33)
  • The provider of David’s success (v. 34)
  • David’s teacher (v. 35)
  • David’s shield (v. 36)
  • David’s path (v. 37)
  • David’s freedom (v. 49)

  David believed all the above mentioned things to be true about God. Therefore, he felt secure and loved in both good and bad circumstances.

  So who do you believe God to be and how do you see yourself as a result? Perhaps you see God the way David did, a shield and protector. But maybe you’re not there yet and haven’t experienced or don’t feel worthy of His love and the security He gives. Maybe you are listening to the “labels” the “world” had slapped on you – nerd, loser, freak, weak, clumsy, idiot, moron, lazy, crazy, unlovable…and this list goes on and on.

  I just want to tell you that the only label God sees when he looks at you is LOVED. YES! Whether you believe it or not… God loves you! The proof of this truth is found in John 3:16 (NCV)

  “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.”

  I also want you to see this same verse in the Message paraphrase.

  “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”

  I can not reiterate this enough…YOU ARE LOVED…. believe this “label” and wear it so that through you others may know they are LOVED too.

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• There are angels among us!

  Posted at 7:00 am by sneuhofer, on February 13, 2018

  Psalm 91:11 – 12 (HCSB) “For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you in all your ways. They will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

  It’s so comforting to know that Jesus sends his angels to watch over us. We all walk through various “seasons” in our life. Some good and others we feel are downright impossible. As a Christian, I know I can rejoice and find peace during the more difficult times because I know the God who created the universe loves me with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), has a purpose for my life (Jeremiah 29:11),and will use the tough times to bring good according to his purposes (Romans 8:28). Because I know this, I can be comforted in the fact that I’m being guarded during the tough times by His heavenly angels.

  In December of 2010, I believe with all my heart God chose to reveal the words of Psalm 91:11 to me by sending an angel to help me in a time of desperate need. I had gone into Target for what was supposed to be a “reward” purchase for my 5 year old son. That week, he successfully completed 5 days of getting ready for school on time, and stayed on “green light” at school. My son’s behavior was improving, and the trip to Target was the motivator. Well that was at least until we began to negotiate the rules of the reward.

  I told my son he could choose from any toy $10 or under. I felt this was a reasonable price to reward his efforts for listening to both me and his teacher. As he started to carefully scan the shelves for the perfect toy, his eyes quickly went to what was right in front of him or below him on the bottom shelves. I encouraged him to look for a toy on the upper shelves because they were all in his reward price range. That will fact didn’t seem to matter, his eyes were drawn to the bigger toys right in front of him on the shelf. Retailers are great marketers, putting the most expensive toys at a 5 year old’s eye level is a brilliant sales tactic (of course as a mother of a very strong-willed child I have to disagree.)

  As he searched, he pointed to things that were clearly out of the reward limit. Each time, I encouraged him with a toy within his spending range. The more I showed him acceptable toys, the angrier he became. He wanted something different, more expensive. He didn’t want what I was showing him. He wanted a bigger reward. At this point his behavior became something not worth ANY reward. Seeing enough, I told him we were leaving immediately and to follow me out of the store. It would have been so nice if he would have just cooperated. But he didn’t. His tantrum got worse and he began to yell and scream. I would love to tell you that I remained calm and walked my tantrum-driven child out of the store – but I didn’t. My blood pressure shot through the roof. I needed help and I needed it right then!

  I stood there not having a clue what to do so I turned to the best parent I knew for advice. “Father, I have no idea what to do in this situation. I don’t want to respond to his anger with anger. I can’t control his hitting and kicking me – he’s too strong for me to pick up and carry out of here. Help me because I have no clue.”

  After the quick prayer, I began what seemed to be a full-fledged pilgrimage to the front of the store. Every step I took I thought “Lord please help me to my car so I can get this kid home and I will deal with him there.” My son stood there, mid-isle, yelling at the top of his lungs for me. I just kept walking and praying. When I got too far from my son’s comfort zone, he ran after me always keeping me in eye shot. This 60 second walk from the toy isle to the front of the store seemed like a trek across the Sahara desert. Finally, I could see an end of the journey…the automatic doors were opening and my car was just across the crosswalk in the parking lot.

  In a last ditch effort to stop me from getting out of the store, my son attached himself to my leg and wouldn’t let go. Walking, as you can well imagine, was next to impossible. I sent up another quick prayer “Lord…again I have no clue here. I need your help right now.” With every ounce of energy I could muster, I began to drag my son toward the automatic doors. Stopping just before the sidewalk, I asked him to get up and walk to the car warning him that if I had to drag him across the pavement, it ruin his clothes and give him a bad case of road rash. He didn’t flinch.

  As I stood there, 5 year old still attached, I tried to calm myself down by people watching. All types of thoughts ran through my head. I felt inadequate as a parent, completely out of control, and like everyone was looking at me. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I really wanted to leave Target and never return. Negativity swirled. “Lord, please help!”

  I believe He did just that. In the next few moments, my attention was distracted from my current “situation” by a man exiting Target carrying a single gallon of milk. “Huh? Who goes to Target for one gallon of milk? On a good day, I can’t get out of Target for less than $100?” My eyes followed this man across the crosswalk and into the parking lot. “Odd.” My focus returned to my son but the thought lingered.

  I tried once again to get my son to the car but before I could respond to his outburst, I heard “Ma’am, do you need help with something?” turning I came face to face with the gallon-of-milk guy. (Yes – he was still holding the jug of milk.)

  “I noticed you were having a hard time, can I stand with your son so you can go get your car?” The words coming out of this man’s mouth were so filled with compassion. The situation turned from pure chaos to peace in an instant. I didn’t even give his offer a thought “that would be so helpful, thank you.” With that, I broke free from the 5-year old appendage and walked the remaining 15 steps to my car. It didn’t dawn on me that I was leaving my child in the hands of a complete stranger. There was peace…unexplainable peace.

  The man didn’t lay one finger on my son. He just stood there…gallon of milk in hand…trying to talk to him. When I pulled up with the car, I jumped out to open the rear door. The man helped my son into the car and before he shut the door he said “Son, you need to listen to your mother, understand? Moms always know what’s best for us, ok?” With that, he shut the door.

  On the drive home, I tried to process what had just happened. I was 100% at peace. I am convinced this man was an angel. God sent him to “intervene” in this situation, and for that I am thankful.

  What about you? Have you ever experienced something odd like this in the midst of a difficult situation? Perhaps it was someone just saying an encouraging word, or showing up when no one else should be there.

  Be encouraged today. God is with us.

  Related reading

  1 Kings 19:5, Daniel 6:22, Matthew 18:10, Luke 16:22, Acts 12:7)

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  Posted in God cares for us, Gods Love for us | 0 Comments

• Weekend Reflection – An Unexpected Gift

  Posted at 8:05 am by sneuhofer, on September 2, 2017

  Isn’t it wonderful how God uses the unexpected to speak into our lives? It was the morning of my son’s last day of Kindergarten. As I made drove to the school, I talking to a friend and listened as she vented about the frustrations surrounding her responsibilities and how much time they consumed. For the past several months, she had been working upwards of 60 hours. All the work had left her exhausted, frustrated, and in desperate need of an assistant. Above anything else she told me, she was i n desperate need to get back to the normalcy of her morning quiet time with God. As I drove in silence listening to her talk, I could totally relate to every word she said. At the time, I too had allowed my morning quiet time to slip because of overwhelming circumstances. It seemed that the more hectic everything had gotten, the further away I had gotten from my quiet time with God. My morning routine hit a road block and instead of getting up early to spending precious moments with God, I hit the alarm clock and rolled back over for a few more minutes of sleep.

  During our conversation, our venting led us to the conclusion that we both felt like poor examples. Our daily routine had gotten exhausting and we were too tired to get up early and start our day with God. As a result, our attitudes and moods changed. We saw things differently. We agreed that we needed to get back to where we once were in our relationships with Christ…but how? With that, we hung up the phone feeling a little better that we were able to vent and confirmed the fact that we were not alone. Praise God for the friends he places in our lives. But how do you get back to where you need to be when you’re doing the best you can in what seems to be overwhelming circumstances?

  We will get to that in a minute. But I want to share something else first. As I said earlier, that morning I was headed to my end of year party. He was moving out of kindergarten into the first grade. As part of his class’s end of the year celebration, parents were able to join their children for a pizza and ice cream party. After the party, I followed my son to his classroom to collect his belongings and take him home for the day. Just as we were leaving, his teacher handed him a sand bucket full of “goodies”. Little did I know how God would use one of the gifts in the bucket as a gentle reminder of my value in his eyes.

  On the drive home, my son was sifting through the bucket’s content. He pulled out a little party favor bag with a home-made tag attached. At a stop light, I began to read the tag and quickly realized this wasn’t any old party bag, it was a “First Grade Survival Kit” and each gift inside had a very special meaning. What a thoughtful gift. I began to read the list of gifts and their meaning out loud to my son but didn’t get very far. The words of the first line rendered me speechless so much that my eyes welled up with tears and I was instantly overcome with emotion. Of course this didn’t go over very well with my son. He wanted to know what it said, but I couldn’t speak.

  There, in black and white text on orange laminated construction paper stood the gentle reminder I needed “I was special to God.” Thoughts invaded “No my matter what the circumstance… I mattered.” God had sent his Son to die for me because he loved me so very, very much (John 3:16). Why couldn’t I have remembered that all this time?”

  I quickly thought back to the conversation I had with my friend a few hours earlier. We had made the mistake of taking our eyes off of Christ. That was our problem. We allowed current circumstances to shift our focus. We had tried to carry our burdens ourselves and not taken them to Him. Flooded by emotion, I reached for my cell phone to call my friend. As the phone rang I thought “this is a bad idea – she’s at work and can’t handle this right now. I’ll share later.” I ended the call.

  “M-O-MMMM!” a concerned voice from the backseat “why are you crying and what’s wrong with your friend? Why did the card make you cry?” I had to smile at his words. The card had not made me cry, it was the gentle reminder of the words and how far away I had gotten from the truth of them. I tried my best to explain the reason I was crying to my son. I don’t know if he got it or not…but I sure did.

  “Can you read what the card says now please Mommy?” another plea from the backseat. “Gladly” I responded.

  A penny to remind you that you are valuable. You were bought with a price!

  Moving forward, I will look at pennies in an entirely different way. What was intended to be a reminder for my son is now a reminder for me. I am continually amazed by God and the way he reaches out and remind us of his great love.

  Father  –

  Thank you so much for the unique way that you choose to reach out to us. I stand in awe of you and your unconditional, unending love. Help us not to forget or take for granted your great love and Jesus’s sacrifice so that we can be free. Help us also to remember to lay our burdens down and look to you to give us rest.

  ~Amen

  Weekend reflection:

  What do you do when you get overwhelmed? Do you tend to run away or retreat to your to a quiet place and spend time being filled by the God of the Universe?

  Here are 5 Quiet time tips to get you started:

  1. Find a quiet place and remove all distractions
  2. Find a time (a consistent time of day and schedule it just like you would an appointment)
  3. Grab your Bible,  a journal and, a pen or pencil
  4. Read at least 1 chapter  (ore more if you’d like) and write about what you sense God is saying and where He is leading
  5. Don’t know where to start? Try starting in Proverbs! There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, 1 for each day of the month!

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  Posted in Circumstances, Frustration, Gods Love for us | 2 Comments

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