The Bridge
In my life, very early on, there was a bridge to Jesus. It was called PAIN. I am not saying it was a friend. Nor, am I implying that it was good. But, it DROVE me to HIM. It was a vehicle in my life. When people threw stones, ridiculed me, slandered, lied, and even threatened; it was my path back HOME.
In the arms of the ONE, who LOVES me, is where I belong. But, when life is okay, or seems that way, it is so easy to take GOD for granted. I am almost 40 years old. In that time frame, there has been MANY trials and testings. There have been times, where I truly believed, I was hated by God.
Life did NOT make sense to me. In the experience I had, that meant I was hated. But, things in HIS world, and by HIS LOVE, are very different. It sounds strange to say this. But, now when I feel pain, I smile. I used to cry, and ask God where He was. I was taught to rely on my feelings, which was NOT a safe thing. In the KINGDOM of Heaven, and by it, you rely on His word, and HIS LOVE. You learn, that whether of not, you FEEL it, HIS LOVE is around.
In the most difficult times, I have been challenged to let JESUS alone, BE my faith. I had someone share with me today, something so kind. She said, “I can hear the strength in your voice.” I sure don’t feel strong. I feel so worn, and most often, like I’d love to turn back time. But, I can’t and so, I sit with Jesus. I weep with Him. I hope with Him. To be honest, sometimes, I yell at Him. I ask HIM, what was the purpose, and what IS the purpose.
He reveals. even deeper the LOVE He has for me, and for you. To receive it, takes courage. Because, the world, will keep trying to say it is wrong. It will lie, and say it won’t save you. But, having LIVED through HELL, so many times, I can tell you; it CAN and it WILL Save you. It already has. It simply is just a matter of reception.
The other day, I watched a movie, with the same title as this entry. It was about a book store, that came from a tragedy. It started me wondering, what has come from ours? I’m reminded that the pain, has always led me back to the cross. That place, where I FIRST met Jesus. The place where regrets died, and every good, bad, ugly, or beautiful thing, died too. But, you know what else happened? The GOOD was resurrected there. It IS still.
I repented to God for allowing the pain, to be a problem. Or, allowing it to sway my emotions. For all those, who said they would BE here, leaving us, or me. For allowing the hurt, to comfort me, for SO LONG, instead of Jesus, I apologized. ALL the times, I ran to others, instead of HIS arms, I laid down. All the guilt, that I held onto, like a security blanket, I gave up. Does that mean, I just woke up ALL better?
Well, NO. What it means, is that the process keeps going. Even if WE stop, HIS process of LOVE, Healing, and purpose, continues on. JESUS is the BRIDGE to the Father in Heaven. He is also the reason, that WE can connect to the spirit of God. Day to day, HIS LOVE is a river of LIFE that flows.
In teaching us to just BE in His presence, He shows us the sweetest and most beautiful parts of HIS heart. It is NOT easy. As our flesh gets crucified, it often FEELS just unbearable. BUT, HIS LOVE is the BRIDGE to the healing. HIS LOVE is what gives us the breath, the strength, and the ability to move forward. His LOVE is what brings us NEW LIFE. It is truly the BRIDGE out of the darkness. The bridge, out of nowhere is named JESUS.
I remembered that in 2010, a book came out. My very first one. I did not like the title. Because, quite frankly, I was scared. I was so afraid, that if I obeyed God, only BAD would keep coming. But, what I did not realize, was what looked BAD, only covered the good up. Sometimes, there are things that look SO awful. There could NOT possibly, BE anything positive, that came out of them. But God. In the worst place, HIS LOVE is present.
It is SO easy to look at what was NOT, or will NOT BE. But, in HIS eyes, everything resides. All the things that did NOT Happen here, DO in HIS arms. The world, will see Heaven invade. But, without a desire for HIS plan, they might not notice.
Will you let JESUS be YOUR bridge OUT?
https://www.openbible.info/topics/bridge
John 14:6 ESV / 6 helpful votes
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
1 Timothy 6:19 ESV / 5 helpful votes
Thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Job 12:7-10 ESV / 5 helpful votes
“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
Genesis 1:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Hebrews 11:32 ESV / 3 helpful votes
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—
Romans 6:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Luke 6:20 ESV / 3 helpful votes
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Isaiah 57:15 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
Proverbs 27:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,
Psalm 16:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
Exodus 23:5 ESV / 3 helpful votes
If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
Exodus 20:12 ESV / 3 helpful votes
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:10 ESV / 3 helpful votes
But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
Genesis 2:7 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Genesis 1:26 ESV / 3 helpful votes
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Revelation 20:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelation 18:1-24 ESV / 2 helpful votes
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. …
Hebrews 11:1-40 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. …
1 Timothy 6:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. …
Colossians 3:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Acts 13:22 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
Acts 2:41 ESV / 2 helpful votes
So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
John 17:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
John 3:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
John 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
Luke 11:2 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
Mark 16:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Matthew 10:29 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
Matthew 5:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. …
Proverbs 12:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.
Proverbs 6:6-8 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
Psalm 150:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Psalm 148:1-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. …
Job 38:41 ESV / 2 helpful votes
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
1 Kings 18:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them.
1 Samuel 17:34 ESV / 2 helpful votes
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,
Deuteronomy 25:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes
“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
Deuteronomy 22:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes
You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
Leviticus 25:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes
And for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
Leviticus 19:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes
You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.
Exodus 23:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes
But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.