Today we acted out the story of Mary Jones and her Bible. It was Hannah's idea and she planned it all out. I added in an application at the end and used the verse "Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold." Psalm 119:127. Mary loved God's word far more than money.
A few hours later this verse came to my mind when I was praying about something. And I was challenged. Mary had to sacrifice a lot because of her love for God's Word. I already have my own Bible, but there is a sacrifice that comes when you love it. And that sacrifice can be hard. The sacrifice of taking time to read and study it. The sacrifice of obeying it. The sacrifice of giving our time, money, effort and energy to teach it, share it, and make it possible for others to hear about it.
Are we willing to make sacrifices because of our love for God's Word? Do we love God's Word more than everything we have?
If the Lord is your personal Shepherd, then you can say, "My cup overflows with blessings." You can say this because even your trials are turned into blessings when they're in God's hands. He has promised to work them together for good. That means they're blessings in disguise!
You can say this because the Lord is taking care of you, leading you, giving you strength and rest, comforting you, and so on. If the Lord is your Shepherd, your cup runs over with blessing!
Is this your mindset?
What's your favorite part of the Easter story this year? I have a few. The ripped veil giving us access to God. The loving words of Jesus on the cross.
But I needed to teach the story of Mary Magdalene at school. Preparing the lesson the night before was the very last thing I felt like doing. But afterwards I felt like I had been there and gotten a glimpse of how Mary would have felt! She went from having a broken heart to having a bursting heart. All because she had been in the presence of the One she loved. She had heard His voice and seen Him.
That joy can still be ours today because Jesus is alive, very real, personal and still gives hope today.
I love the song, I Talked to Him Today.
I haven't written much on this blog lately. But that's not because I haven't been writing. For the last two years I've been regularly writing and publishing books on Amazon. I haven't publicized them much, so I have just made a blog page and facebook page to share them.
Blog page Emily's Books (emilysbooksnz.blogspot.com)
Facebook page Facebook
I also share devotional lessons most week on Youtube. My channel is here.( Emily van Rijn - YouTube
This morning we were eating breakfast before school.
"Mum, is there any way to take away Down Syndrome?" asked one of my children.
"No," I answered.
"Would you if you could?" was her next question.
I had to stop and think about that question. Would I "remove" Lydia's Down Syndrome if I could?
So, removing Lydia's Down Syndrome would also remove a lot of blessing!
I share this, because although you most likely don't have a child with Down Syndrome, you have your own hard things. The things you can't change. Maybe a health problem, the sins or choices of others that have affected you, the death of a loved one, or any other thing that challenges you. Would you change it if you could? What would you miss out on if you changed it?
I love op shopping! Getting good things for a low price--bargains! But, in life, getting God's blessings doesn't come cheap. There is a price. Knowing God and being a blessing to others will have a cost.
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: Philippians 3:8
or in another words...
Everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
