YOU....
a Special Person created in the Image of God...


Inspirations to enrich YOUR Christian walk.

"For I know the plans I have for YOU " declares the Lord,
"plans to prosper YOU and not to harm YOU,
plans to give YOU hope and a future."Jeremiah 29:11

  • *^|^*
  • Before U were thought of or time had begun,
  • God even stuck U in the name of His son.
  • And each time U pray-you’ll see it true-
  • You can’t spell out JesUs and not include U.
  • *^|^*
  • You’re a pretty big part of His wonderful name,
  • For U He was born that’s why He came.
  • And His great love for U is the reason He died,
  • It even takes U to spell crUcified.
  • *^|^*
  • Isn’t it thrilling and splendidly grand-
  • He rose from the dead, with U in His plan.
  • The stones split away, the gold trUmpet blew,
  • and this word resUrrection is spelled with a U.
  • *^|^*
  • When Jesus left earth at His upward ascension,
  • He felt there was one thing He just had to mention.
  • Go into the world and tell them it’s true
  • That I love them all-
  • Just like I love U.”
  • *^|^*
  • So many great people are spelled with a U,
  • Don’t they have a right to know Jesus too?
  • *^|^*
  • It all depends now on what U will do,
  • He’d like them to know-
  • But it all starts with U.
  • --Author Un-Known

For YOU formed my inward parts; YOU covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise YOU, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are YOUR works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from YOU, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. YOUR eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in YOUR book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. - (Psalms 139:13-16)

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FROM THE FATHER'S HEART--A LETTER FOR YOU

(YOU Were My Idea--Psalm 139)

Treasured child, YOU need not try to convince Me.
YOU are right.
YOU cannot heal YOURself.
YOUR own efforts have failed, because I alone can do this work.
YOU are powerless within YOURself, hurting one, and I don't expect YOU to perform the impossible!

I only ask that YOU do one thing: Abide in My loving nurture.

If at times YOU find yourself unable to do that, just remember....
I am committed to YOU anyway.
I will remove all obstacles and gently maneuver YOU into My healing Presence.
Isn't that how I drew YOU to Myself in the first place?
YOU have not chosen Me.
I have chosen YOU,
and YOU are worth all of My labors of love.

I know YOUR heart.
I understand YOUR frailty.
I know YOUR deepest desires
and take into account all factors that contribute to YOUR pain.
I know YOU did not "choose" all of these factors, many of them were already present when you arrived in this world.
YOU certainly did not choose to be born!
No, you were My idea !
That is why YOU are here!

So will YOU rest in My love and stop reasoning?
Will YOU turn YOUR gaze from the past and walk on?
YOU cannot successfully move forward and look backward at the same time.
Turn around, child!
Follow Me!
Have YOU forgotten? That is what "repentance" means...

With deepest compassion and commitment,
YOUR devoted Father--GOD
--Author unknown

"Healing the Brokenhearted"

Do YOU get frustrated with YOURself,
feeling that YOU are never going to change?
Be hopeful, God is changing YOU all the time.
His Word is working mightily in YOU.
Deuteronomy 7:22 reminds us that "He helps us overcome our enemies little by little."
2 Corinthians 3:18 says that "as we behold the Lord in His Word, we are constantly being transfigured or changed into His image
and that it happens from one degree of glory to another."

- Joyce Meyer (Inspirational from Your Daily EPrayer Devotional)


The Cracked Water Jug-- A Story from India


A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it, and the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house while the cracked pot always arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.
But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.
"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to YOU."
"Why?" asked the bearer
"What are you ashamed of?"
"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house.
Because of my flaws, YOU have to do all of this work, and YOU don't get full value from YOUR efforts," the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said
"As we return to the master's house, I want YOU to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some.


But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot,
"Did YOU notice that there were flowers only on YOUR side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?
That's because I have always known about YOUR flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on YOUR side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, YOU have watered them.
For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table.
Without YOU being just the way YOU are, my master would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws.
We are all cracked pots.
But if we will allow it, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father's table.
In God's great economy, nothing goes to waste.
So as we seek ways to minister together, and as God calls you to the tasks He has appointed for YOU, don't be afraid of YOUR flaws. God will use them for His good.
Acknowledge them, and allow Him to take advantage of them, and YOU, too, can be the cause of beauty in His pathway.
Go out boldly, knowing that in our weakness we find His strength,
and that "In Him every one of God's promises is a Yes."
~ author unknown ~

WORTH

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.
In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"
Hands started going up.
He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of YOU but first, let me do this."
He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?"
Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?"
And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.
He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty.
"Now who still wants it?"
Still the hands went into the air.
"My friends, YOU have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money, YOU still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.
It was still worth $20.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.
We feel as though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will happen, YOU will never lose YOUR value in God's eyes.
To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, YOU are still priceless to Him.

Psalm 17:8 states that God will keep us, "as the apple of His eye."

THOUGHT: The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we are
but by WHOSE WE ARE!
-author unknown

"THE ONLY BIBLE"

We are the only Bible many people will ever read.

We are the only sermon they will ever hear, the only advertisement they will ever see.
If many of our friends and family who don't know the Lord are ever to grasp the wonder of what God wants to do in a person's life, they may have only one example open to them: us.
It is a mystery to me that God has chosen to use frail, flawed humans to communicate His message.
It seems that angels would have done a far more effective job than us
. But make no mistake about it: God works through people.
Our world is becoming an increasingly dark place spiritually.
We believers need to shine our lights!
As Jesus shines through us, men and women will begin to leave behind their lives of sin and darkness and will instead stream toward heaven's glorious, blazing light.
But if that is to happen, and if men and women are to be drawn into the loving arms of the Savior, we must take care to do two things: maintain and shine.

We must continue to live according to the level of spiritual maturity we have already attained and we must hold out the hope of the gospel for others to see.
We will find our witness becoming ever stronger as we choose to walk every day with Jesus.

- (author unknown) (Inspirational submitted by: Terry Conner--Daily Devotional/E-Prayer)

YOU're writing a "gospel,"
A chapter each day,
By the deeds that YOU do,
By the words that YOU say,
People read what YOU write,
Whether faithless or true;
Say-- what is the "gospel"
According to YOU?
-Author Unknown

LIFE IS A SERIES OF PROBLEM - SOLVING OPPORTUNITIES.

The problems YOU face will either defeat YOU or develop YOU
depending on how YOU respond to them.
Unfortunately most people fail to see how God wants to use problems for good in their lives.
They react foolishly and resent their problems
rather than pausing to consider what benefit they might bring.
Here are five ways God wants to use the problems in YOUR life

1. God uses problems to DIRECT YOU.
Sometimes God must light a fire under YOU to get YOU moving.
Problems often point us in a new direction and motivate us to change.
Is God trying to get YOUR attention?
"Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways."
Proverbs 20:30 (GN)

2. God uses problems to INSPECT YOU.
People are like tea bags. . .
if you want to know what's inside them, just drop them into hot water!

Has God ever tested YOUR faith with a problem?
What do problems reveal about YOU?
"When YOU have many kinds of troubles, YOU should be full of joy,
because YOU know that these troubles test YOUR faith, and this will give YOU patience."
James 1:2-3 (NCV)

3. God uses problems to CORRECT YOU.
Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure.
It's likely that as a child YOUR parents told YOU not to touch a hot stove.
But YOU probably learned by being burned.
Sometimes we only learn the value of something ... health, money, a relationship. . . by losing it. ". . .
"It was the best thing that could have happened to me,
for it taught me to pay attention to YOUR laws."
Psalm 119:71-72 (LB)

4. God uses problems to PROTECT YOU.
A problem can be a blessing in disguise
if it prevents YOU from being harmed by something more serious.
Last year a friend was fired for refusing to do something unethical
that his boss had asked him to do.
His unemployment was a problem, but--
it saved him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later
when management's actions were eventually discovered.
"YOU intended to harm me,
but God intended it for good. . ." Genesis 50:20 (NIV)

5. God uses problems to PERFECT YOU.
Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders.
God's far more interested in YOUR character than YOUR comfort.
YOUR relationship to God and YOUR character
are the only two things YOU are going to take with YOU into eternity
"We can rejoice when we run into problems they help us learn to be patient.
And patience develops strength of character in us
and helps us trust God more each time we use it
until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady." Romans 5:3-4 (LB)

Here's the point:
God is at work in YOUR life - even when YOU do not recognize it or understand it.
But it's much easier and profitable when YOU cooperate with Him !!!
-Author Unknown-

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