Jesus Prayed for Me!

Over the last week I decided to begin reading the New Testament from beginning to the end, I mean after all, like so many others I have a lot more time on my hand than I normally would, so why not.  So I began on Monday with the book of Matthew and today I finished with the book of John.  So 6 days and I have managed to get through 4 books…of course I could have read more and I actually thought I should have until this morning as I sat in the corner of my little prayer closet and began to finish up the book of John. I just felt like I needed to get in my prayer closet to read this morning, something I had yet to do while I started reading, but somehow it felt right…actually I felt I was being drawn to do so, so I did.  As I read I felt the Word come to life as I never have before. 

I picked up where I left off last night in John 13 with Jesus washing the Disciples feet.  I could feel it, I could smell the air, my heart, my mind, and my soul was completing into every word I was reading…it was like I was there…like I was momentarily transported to that time, like I wasn’t even reading.  I felt like I was in the middle of the story witnessing what was taking place and I was seeing things and receiving things that I had never gotten before.  I found myself nodding my head in agreement with Jesus as He was talking with His Disciples and I felt my heart throbbing when they didn’t understand when He tried to explain to them what was about to happen. 

So many things started coming together for me from the Gospels that I had read over the last week, but I also found myself thinking, what did I miss, should I read them all again before I continue on.  After all, this morning was more powerful than any Bible reading that I had ever experienced.  Jesus continued with all the lessons He had been teaching His Disciples and us during His time on earth.  There are a few lessons that that I found to be the prominent ones throughout the four Gospels!  

We are to love God with everything we have in us…I mean everything…He tells us this in so many different ways, but He is also particularly explicit with this command and goes on to say that we are to love the Lord God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind!  This is in all the Gospels and there is no questioning or debating this command!  He also tells us that we are to love each other…He tells us this in a variety of parables and shows us in how He, Himself, treats every person He comes in contact with, but in this too, He is very explicit with and states that this is the second of the greatest commandments…to love your neighbor as yourself!  (Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27) So what have I gathered from this?  LOVE!!!!!  We know that God is Love and Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love Him and then to love others!  So love, just love! 

The next thing that stood out to me throughout the Gospels is SERVE!  Again, Jesus spoke many parables about servanthood, but He also showed how to serve in the way He served others, the way He treated everyone.  No matter who they were, where they were from, what they had, what they didn’t have, my Jesus served them…He treated them like they were the most important person in the world to Him!  He valued them like they had never been valued before!  It is what He did when He washed the Disciples feet, He was showing them how much he loved and valued them, but He was also teaching them that they were to do the same!  That hit me…am I washing people’s feet?  Sometimes we as humans run things through our mind and make excuses to make ourselves feel like we are because we do all this “stuff” for Jesus, but many times that stuff is what we choose to do or what we want to do and it’s all clean and pretty!  Sometimes, many times, what Jesus asks us to do is not what we would choose to do for ourselves and it’s not clean, it’s not pretty…in fact it puts us on our knees and it causes us to wash dirt off of other’s feet! (Matthew 20:27-28; 23:11; Mark 10:45; John 13:12-17)

And then I came upon John 17 and my life, my heart, my soul is forever changed. Prior to this chapter Jesus had been talking to His Disciples about what was about to take place with his crucifixion, but of course, they did not completely understand.  He told them that they would be scattered and basically leave Him alone, but it would be okay, His Father would be with Him…then it happened…He began to pray!  We find throughout the Gospels that there were many times that Jesus prayed, however, this particular prayer that John documented is different and it is oh so special.  Jesus prayed for Himself to be able to glorify His Father in what was to come, then He prayed for his Disciples, He prayed for their protection, guidance, and strength, but then He prayed for me!  Well, theoretically, He prayed for all believers, but as I read I thought He was praying for me!  He knew me!  He knew that I would be right here in this closet reading this very prayer that He prayed!  He knew this life would be difficult for His children!  He knew the world would hate His children and that we would need the Holy Spirit to guide us!  He knew that if we were to love and serve like He taught us that it would also come with a lot of heartache and we would need the strength that could only come from Him to fulfill that calling. 

He prayed for me, He prayed for little old, insignificant me!  He prayed for me because he loves me and I am valued by Him!  He knows every heartache that I will every face! He knows every hurt that will ever fill my heart, my mind, and my soul.  He knows every tear that will ever fall from my eyes.  He knows every trial that I will ever have to face.  He knows everything and everyone that will ever come up against me.  He knows what path He wants me to take.  He knows the blessings He has in store for me.  He knows the love that will be gifted to me.  He knows the talks that will take place between only He and I.  He knows that I can never fully comprehend how much I fully need Him.  He knows that the disappointments, the struggles, the trials, the hurts, the tears, the wonderings, the valleys only draw me closer to who He truly is.  Those things only make His love stronger in me and therefore, make the love and servanthood for others stronger too.  He knows that I need laughter, happiness, and joy that this life brings and that I will get plenty of that too and all of that will come embedded with a love that is incomprehensible, but I have also learned through all this that His ways are truly higher than mine and His thoughts are oh, so much higher than mine. (Isaiah 55:8-9) 

He prayed for me ya’ll, I can’t stop thinking about it!  Sure I have read it before, but it gripped me like never before…it’s like it was beautiful before when I read it, but now it is beyond a word that I can even think of!  It is a feeling that I can never explain…I just feel it; I want you to feel it too! 

As I continue to read through His Word, I want to encourage you to do so as well.  Find a quiet place, whether it is your prayer closet, your porch, somewhere outside, or anywhere you can get alone with the Living Word of God and just allow God to breath it into you because no blog, no testimony, no social media post, no word from a friend will ever come close to what the Holy Spirit can give you through the reading of the Bible!

What's Your Contribution?

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.  If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.    I Peter 4:10-11

So are you using the contribution that God has given you?  Or are you like me and He has to continually nudge you in that contribution…okay, I’ll have to be totally honest here, many times it’s a push and not a gentle nudge, mainly because I have ignored that gentle nudge!  I feel so guilty most times when I look back on things and see what God does when I simply follow His will!  I mean I know that His will is best…that it is good and it is perfect!  His word tells me this and His word does not lie!  In fact, His Word is so true and like my mother told me one time in a most powerful way (I wrote about this experience too) “my child, you can’t pick and choose the promises of God, they are all true, His word is all true, not just some of it, it’s all true my child!” 

Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  We were created by our Father in love, but He did not create us to just be lumps of clay nor to run around like crazy not enjoying this life that He gave us.  I fully believe He created us all with special gifts to contribute to this world, that He wants us to work hard, but to use our gifts to benefit others and glorify Him in all that we do.  God has given each of us a beautiful gift and if you aren’t sure what yours is, He is waiting on you to ask Him.  He’s right there wanting to lead you in that direction, He wants you to use it, He wants you to share it, He wants you to find the meaning of your life through the gift that He created just for you.  You were created by Him, you are special to Him, He loves you and wants you to share what and who He created you to be.

The earth is in a chaotic state right now, nothing seems normal, nothing seems comfortable, nothing of this world would tell you to be finding the contribution that God gave you right now, nothing but God!  This is the exact time you need to be finding it, this is the exact time we need to be using it.  You see our gift was never given to us for simply our use, it was given to us to use for others.  When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was He said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)  This is the time we each need to be using our gifts to be contributing those gifts in love to our neighbors. 

Now I was one of those people who for years never thought I had a gift or talent because I always read or heard people talk about specific gifts, but I have learned that there is not a long check off list of gifts and talents when it comes to God…not at all!  It’s not like that in the least, it is about surrendering everything to Jesus Christ, it is about throwing away what you think you know about yourself and listening to God tell you who you are!  I know you have heard that God loves you, but He truly does!  He’s right there, wherever you may be just whispering to your heart what He wants you to do, where He wants you to start.  He’s waking you up in the middle of the night with an idea and He wants you to take it and go…He will continue to guide you, it will not stop with an idea.  He never stops, He will never leave you!  He keeps talking, He keeps whispering, He keeps guiding, He keeps directing….we just have to follow!  We have to stop doubting!  It may seem that we are doubting ourselves, but we are doubting God when we ignore that nudge, that push! 

This is your moment, this is your time!  God is speaking, listen to Him!  He created you for a purpose, He wants you to fulfill that purpose…that benefit is beyond measure!  Your purpose will completely turn your life around…it may not be easy or comfortable, in fact, it will probably be difficult at times, you will most likely have to put in some time, it will probably be uncomfortable and people will come up against you, but oh the reward, oh the blessing, oh the benefit of fulfilling the purpose God created you for! 

There are so many different kinds of service, different kinds of work, different kinds of talent, but they were all created and given by the same Lord God and all intended for the common good! What will your contribution be?

Study Scriptures

Ephesians 2:10

Exodus 35-39 (35:10)

James 1:17

I Corinthians 12:5-6

I Peter 4:10-11

Matthew 5:14-16

Romans 12:3-8

Clifford

It has been almost three weeks now since he left us and it has taken me this long to even be able to write about it.  I knew I would write about him when he left us, but I didn’t realize it would be this hard.  I thought I was prepared.  He was old, almost seventeen, which in dog years is almost 119…you would think that would be enough time.  If you told me when we brought him home that he would watch my children grow up and see them off to college I would have probably been elated and think wow, if I could just have him that long that would be just perfect!  Nope, I’m not elated, my heart is broken…I miss seeing his facing looking at me through the glass door every morning.  I still look, I can’t help it!  Every morning I walk through the living room and look through that glass onto my back porch just hoping to see him curled up on his bed. 

I look for many reasons…maybe out of habit, but mostly because I didn’t get to lay him to rest.  You see Clifford did everything his own way.  He was such a unique dog, but oh how special he was.  When we first got him he was Brett’s dog and for the most part he remained Brett’s dog, mainly because Brett is really the only person that he would let do anything to him.  We could all pet and play with him, but when it came to giving him medicine, getting a tick off, or even moving him to a different location it would have to be Brett.  He would run and chase the kids for hours…they use to play this game where one of them would lay at the end of the porch and the other, along with Clifford, would run across the porch and jump over the other one with Clifford right behind jumping over too!  He absolutely hated baths, not like a normal dog hated baths, but like it became so bad that when he seen us get the water hose we would not see him for the rest of the day! He was a red and white Australian Cattle dog and he definitely had “cow dog” in his blood.  I cannot tell you how many times he has chased our cows…when they didn’t need to be chased!  He also chased the horses too!  When I say he did everything his own way he certainly did….he refused to ride in a vehicle, front or back…he walked or ran wherever he went, no matter how many times we begged and enticed him with treats to ride!  He would only come in the house if it was bad weather and he would never get on the furniture, even when the kids tried to put him on the couch or the bed, he would only lay on the floor.  Oh, but if it was bad weather, he was coming in the house and not go out until it was over, no matter what!  He did not like other dogs coming around so through the years we had to gradually introduce him to new pets, he has seen several, but if I had to pick his favorites it would have to be Daisy, our little Dachshund, they just had a strong connection and although she was an inside dog, she would want to go outside and spend time with him.  They would curl up together often!  The other is Chesney, an Australian/Schnauzer mix that we got about 4 years ago.  We kept telling Haley once Clifford passed she could pick out a dog just for her, well the summer before her 9^th grade year we decided that Clifford wasn’t going anywhere and she could get a dog.  By this time Clifford had lost some of his sight, slept a lot, and just didn’t do much of anything.  Chesney gave him a renewed life, after just a few months he began running around, going to the barn, and sometimes even chasing the cows.  He even mimicked Chesney’s tricks in order to get some treats, Clifford had never attempted tricks at all!   Chesney is an amazing dog and we love him tremendously, but we never dreamed what a blessing he would be to Clifford!

I look because I didn’t get to tell him goodbye, but I did tell him thank you!  You see he had become extremely sick over the last few weeks of his life and every day we didn’t know if it would be his last.  He seemed to be barely hanging on, in fact he barely left his bed on the back porch and when he did we would have to help him back on the deck to get back to his bed, he was just that feeble.  However, one night a few weeks ago while working out in my shop here walks in Clifford.  He just lay down beside me and looked up at me with those big almost completely black eyes of his.  He looked so tired!  So I lay beside him and told him that it was okay, it was okay to go on.  I thanked him for taking care and loving my babies.  I thanked him for protecting them from the things that I knew and the things that I never knew.  I thanked him for playing with them and giving them so much joy.  I told him how good he was and how proud I was of him.  I told him that I knew he was tired and that he had done such an amazing job, but that he didn’t have to worry about them anymore, he could just go rest.  I really thought this would be the night, I thought that he may pass right then and there, but just like Clifford, when Chesney came up and sniffed his face he growled and jumped right up.  I just started laughing through the tears!

I look because when I got home one afternoon he was just gone.  This dog who could barely get back and forth from the porch to his bed was completely gone.  I looked everywhere until there was no sunlight left to look.  I began looking again the next day, again no sign of him anywhere.  I have heard about old dogs going off to die, but I never knew of one until now. I still wonder how he did it, how did he manage to get far enough that we couldn’t find him.  I wonder where did he go?  I wonder how long he was out there or if he was cold?  I wonder so much, but I also know that was my Clifford…doing it his own way and so I have to quit wondering and trust that he knew what he was doing.  Just like me I started to research dogs going off to die and everything I read said it was a myth and there was no significant evidence to this…I stopped my research, because I know differently!  I knew Clifford.

I have loved dogs my entire life and have always became extremely attached to each and every one I have had, but this one, our Clifford was different by far.  You see he was Brett’s dog, we all know this, but he was also our dog too.  He was a huge part of our family.  He watched my children grow up.  He protected them.  He played with them.  He made them laugh.  He listened to them when no one else would.  He loved them when they felt sad.  He posed for pictures with them.  He chased them. They chased him. 

To some people he may just be a dog, but to me, he was not only a part of my children’s life, he also taught them so many lessons and helped me to raise them into the adults they are today.  He showed them how to greet people with love when you see them.  He taught them how to enjoy life!  Sometimes you have to work, but sometimes you may need to stretch out in the sun and take a nap!  Sometimes new friends can be the greatest blessings in your life, embrace that!  Trust your senses, if you sense that someone is bad, move on because you cannot change some people!  Always stand up for yourself and for the underdog, there’s a reason God gave you that strength!  Sometimes you have to stand your ground and do what you know…you may have to growl a little to do that and that’s okay too!  And sometimes you just have to chase the cows for the fun of it!