“You see, our knight in shinning armor has come! He rides in on a white horse (Revelation 19:11) to bring us the fairy tale ending we were hoping for!  Love Himself will come win the battle to save us and carry us off to live in a palace with beauty we can’t even imagine,” (excerpt Love Letters From God study).

In Revelation chapter 21, we are given some details about the walls, foundation, and gates of the new Jerusalem:

“19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.”

When I was writing this study, I could not pass up the  chance to encourage us to paint this beautiful scene as we received our final love letter from God to wrap up this study.  God’s word is so amazing to give us these details about the heavenly city!

 

I looked up the precious stones for that are mentioned so I could paint the stones their true colors. Here are some links to help:

There are some beautiful pictures of these gems.  It made me so excited thinking about this scene that our eyes will really see one day!   My girls were beside themselves intrigued about this real castle-like description of the beauty of heaven.

Last, we wrote our our love letters from God over top of them.  We chose phrases Jesus speaks in Revelation 21:5-6 after the Holy City comes down from God out of heaven.

  

What a love letter to end on:

 “It is finished”

There will be no more death, sorrow, or pain.

The depths of sin, pain, and evil will no longer exist.

These little masterpieces will remind us of where we are headed, to a beauty beyond our wildest dreams.  I hope you have grown in your awareness of the dimensions of God’s love for you through this study.  Remember, as  our theme passage tells us, we could never understand it fully.

Ephesians 3

“18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”  

Our Love Letter to God:

 

<<<Tomorrow I will be posting the #REFOCUSED Bible Study for March! >>>Don’t miss it!!!

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Only one line showed up in the little rectangular window, again!  Every time, this outcome felt like the end of the pregnancy test was a sharp dagger someone was pushing into my heart, twisting it, round and round.  It hurt, bad.

Why?  Why am I having to wait God when everyone around me is not?  How many baby showers am I going to have to go to and smile on the outside when I feel like I am dying on the inside?  How many more pregnancy tests am I going to have to take before I finally see two lines and I feel like I can move forward with my life?  These were just some of the questions I begged God to answer in those years that felt like decades.

But he didn’t answer.  Instead, he gave me glimpses.  He spoke tenderly to my heart in the secret places that only he and I knew.  He even gave me a name to name the child I would not quit begging him to give me.  Samuel.

Deep down I knew he had his reasons.  Deep down I knew his timing was best. Somewhere inside I knew there was

purpose in the pain.   

Because I knew Him.  I knew he was good.  I knew he would never withhold any good gift from one of his children.

I tried to trace his reasoning.  I tried to figure out why he had decided I would have to wait for this desire every woman has.  But all I could do was wait and trust.

I was reminded of this today in the “Love Letters From God” bible study, because the pain I felt ten years ago has now turned into praise for God’s perfect timing and unsearchable understanding.

Romans 11

33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

I couldn’t search his judgements or trace into the future to see why I had to go through those years of barrenness.  But I can now attest to knowing some of the riches of His wisdom during the wait.

I don’t expect you to disregard the pain you are experiencing now, whatever that may be, but I’d like to encourage you:

1. You will experience a great depth of richness with him if you draw near to him.

2.You can’t understand or “search” his judgements, so trust him instead.

3.You can’t trace his path for your future, but you know The One tracing it.

I hope this encourages you press into God when you cannot understand the pain.  I look back  now, with a healthy, happy eight year old boy, and I try with my shallow understanding to see some of God’s purposes.  I see many reasons, but I know there are more that I will not understand on this side of eternity.

This story has a happy ending.  I know yours may not. Yours may have ended in a death of a loved one, or a broken relationship that never mended.  But you too, have the same promises.  There is divine purpose in the pain, in the depths of his understanding that we cannot fathom.  His love is not absent there.  It is full and present in our deepest sorrow.  I pray that you experience  his presence in your pain.

Tomorrow is our last day I will be blogging about the dimensions of God’s love through the “Love Letters From God” study!  I cannot wait to share the final blogpost based on God’s love through the book of Revelation!  Check back tomorrow!  My love letter from God is below.  My love letter to God was a long, intimate scribble today.  🙂

Love Letter From God:

  

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“She kept a low profile, but she didn’t have anybody fooled…” 

This is what the resource officer from my high school told my husband when we ran into him at a restaurant a few years ago.

And it was spot on.

My teenage years were definitely my darkest, as most would also agree. Like the officer from my high school said, I didn’t get into big trouble, but I wasn’t the leader of the youth group at church either. And truth be told, I was way more screwed up than that description even alludes to.

I will spare the details of my sin for my mama’s sake, but I will say I was far away from God. I questioned the truth I had professed to believe when I went forward at the little Baptist  church when I was eleven to receive Christ. I can still hear the choir singing “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” holding their hymnals now. I can still feel the lump in my throat and the release of burning tears on my cheeks.

But then, I walked away. Far away, searching for the love I already had.

But He was there the whole time.

Romans 5:6-8
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

He was there, in the deep, dark days of sin. Of lies, of empty relationships based on lust instead of love, and in the pitch black moments I found myself in and wondered, feeling like I was having an out of body experience, looking in at my situation asking myself,

“How on earth did I end up HERE?”

But it was then at my most shameful moment,

That he let them spit in his face.

That he endured the whips with hooks on the end, pulling out his skin.

That he felt the thorns push through his scalp.

That he followed through in obedience as the nails were hammered  through his wrists into the wood.

He sees the whole span of time, and he saw me at my darkest, most shameful moment and at that moment in history when he took his last breath,

And He loved me.

And He loved you.

When we were utterly helpless, at our

darkest.

His love still meets us in our everyday lowest points. He beacons us, calling us back to him in love. Remembering how he loved us at our darkest helps us stay living in his light.

*This post correlates with the “Love Letters from God” bible study, Week 4 (How Deep), Day 1.

Love Letter From God:

Love Letter to God:

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“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”‭‭

Luke‬ ‭24:49‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God’s love for us is so high that he sent his power from on high to live inside his believers.

Power to bear all the fruit of the spirit from Galatians 5:

Power to love when others are unlovely.

Power to still have deep abiding joy in the midst of great sorrow.

Power to know peace that passes this world’s understanding when tragedy strikes.

Power to patienly endure when you want to give up and quit.

Power to be kind and tenderly care for those around you.

Power to do good things for others who could use a glimpse of the Father’s care.

Power to faithfully keep your word and vows when you want to forget you said them.

Power to answer gently when you want the people in Timbuktu to hear you let that deserving person have it.

Power to keep your self-control by this life giving Spirit when you want to give in to that big huge ice cream sundae, with nuts.

Through your ability to act according to God’s perfect, pleasing will for your life in these everyday, ordinary situations, you will have a testimony. You will be able to tell others about how Jesus helps you everyday, and how He can help them, too.

Will you always get it right? No. But then you will have the testimony about a grace-filled God who forgives you time and again.

And you will remember the last time you chose to walk in the Spirit and the blessings of obedience that flowed from it!

Walk in his high and powerful love today!

*This study correlates with the “Love Letters From God” bible study, available for purchase below.

*Discussion of day 4 of week 3, “How High.”

Love Letter From God:

Love Letter to God:

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