Here I sit once again, trying to sort out the truth. That nagging feeling has been chewing away at me,
little by little, piece by piece, until nothing is left but raw, irritated nerves.
As always, I cry out to my
Savior, my Lord, my God, tired, with desperation in my voice:
"Jesus, I can't take this lonely road again. I've
walked it so many times before yet it leads me nowhere.... I swallowed the words but the thoughts numbed my brain as they
drudged on unharnesed.... nowhere but to the end of my emotions-- to the void; that immense gulf of painfully cold blackness.
"My child," He called softly.
"Yes, Lord...?"
"How is it that you still don't trust Me?"
His voice was warm and deep. "Lift your eyes to Mine." And with that He gently placed His hand beneath my chin
and brought my face opposite His.
Looking into His eyes I saw something I'd never seen before. There, a single
tear swelled and spilled over His smooth olive skin. First one, then another. His heart was breaking for me. I lifted
my hand to wipe the tears from His cheek, pausing to caress the precious face of my Jesus. Then He took my hand gently
into His own. I winced as my fingers touched the scar. He cupped His other hand over mine and with a pat of reassurance,
in that same soothing voice, said, "Follow Me. There is nothing to fear."
With that He let go of my hand and
turned and walked away. There before Him I saw that road just as I'd always seen it before. But this time, Jesus walked
ahead of me. I knew I had to follow. The road was long and winding. It was narrow and rocky. The incline sharp and steady.
My feet were heavy and each step became harder to take. I slowed to a crawl, but Jesus kept His pace and soon was far ahead
of me, out of sight.
It seemed as though hours had passed as I neared the end of the road. But my heart was full
of anticipation. I know my Lord would be waiting for me, arms opened wide, just around the next corner. I wouldn't have to
face the void alone this time.
Filthy, exhausted and out of breath I finally reached the end. As I rounded the
last corner I couldn't believe my eyes. Shocked and horrified a cry of agony filled my lungs as I fell to my knees...
.....
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" There before me hung my precious Jesus, once again nailed upon the tree.
His skin hung in ribbons. Blood flowed freely down that smooth olive face as the thorns dug deep into His
skull.
There at the foot of the cross I wept, and once again I looked into His face.
"Why?" I
asked Him pleadingly. "Why did You do this for me?"
He pushed Himself up on the nail in His feet and gasped
a reply I didn't expect. "The question,-- My child, is not why, but what now? What will you do with Me now?"
"I
don't know what You mean," I sobbed. "What choices do I have?"
Then there appeared next to me a large bucket,
filled with a lifetime of atrocities. The stench was sickening, more hideous than anything I'd ever experienced before. It
was all I could do not to wretch at the sight of it. I looked again to the mutilated figure on the cross and, shaking
my head, I pleaded, "I just don't understand."
Again He put all His weight on His feet and spoke in painful gasps.
"Throw it on Me."
"No!" I screamed. "I can't! I don't understand, my Lord... Please help me understand!"
I continued frantically. "You've already taken my sins, why must You do it again?"
"These aren't your
sins, My child, but the sins of the ones you seek."
"You mean, the ones who hurt me...," I said quietly. It
was more of a statement than a question. "But You've already taken their sins too; why must You do this again?"
"My
precious child," He spoke lovingly. "Each time you seek them out you drive the nails into Me all over again. Until
you let go of the past, until you forgive them, I will hang here suspended in agony."
With that I grabbed the
bucket and flung it as hard as I could away from my Savior into the void beyond the cross. Then I threw myself at the foot
of that tree. There I clung with all my might, sobbing uncontrollably. "I forgive them," I cried. "I forgive them!"
An
angel came at that moment and released my sweet Jesus and the two of them soon disappeared from view. I released my painful
grip of the cross and pulled myself to my feet.
I looked at my own hands and forearms, and again I gazed in
astonishment. There, deeply embedded in my hands and arms, were splinters from the cross. As I pulled each of
the shards from my own soft white flesh, the wounds immediately began to heal. Then, in a moment, the blackness of the
void was overtaken by the glorious light of the Son of God.
I WAS FREE!!!
Loving Father, I offer you everything I do this day -- my thoughts, works, joys and sufferings. I desire
to join my heart this day to the heart of your Son, who gave himself up totally to your service and to the service of others.
Give me your Spirit so that I can live like him.
|
 |

Special Delivery I recieved this by email from a special Lady
Sandra Martinez I was blessed reading this & wanted to share it
Sally
jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: "How is my little boy? Is he going to be
O.K.? When can I see him?" The surgeon said, "I'm sorry, we did all we could." Sally said, "Why do little children get cancer,
doesn't GOD care anymore? GOD, where were you when my son needed you?" The surgeon said, "One of the nurses will be out in
a few minutes to let you spend time with your son's remains before it's transported to the university". Sally asked that the
nurse stay with her while she said good-bye to her son. Sally ran her fingers through his thick red curly hair. The nurse
said, "Would you like a lock of his hair?" Sally nodded.The nurse cut a lock of his hair and put it in a plastic bag and handed
it to Sally. Sally said, "It was Jimmy's idea to give his body to the university for study. He said it might help somebody
else, and that is what he wanted. I said no at first, but Jimmy said, "Mom I won't be using it after I die, maybe it will
help some other little boy to be able to spend one more day with his mother". Sally said, "My Jimmy had a heart of gold, always
thinking of someone else and always wanting to help others if he could". Sally walked out of the Children's Hospital for the
last time now after spending most of the last 6 months there. She sat the bag with Jimmy's things in it on the seat beside
her in the car. The drive home was hard and it was even harder to go into an empty house. She took the bag to Jimmy's room
and started placing the model cars and things back in his room exactly where he always kept them. She laid down across his
bed and cried herself to sleep holding his pillow. Sally woke up about midnight and laying beside her on the bed, was a letter
folded up. She opened the letter, it said: Dear Mom,I know you're going to miss me, but don't think that I will ever forget
you or stop loving you because I'm not around to say I LOVE YOU. I'll think of you every day, mom and I'll love you even more
each day. Some day we will see each other again. If you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, he can have
my room and my old stuff to play with. If you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things as
us boys do, so you will have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like. Don't be sad when you think about me, this is really a
great place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see
everything here. The angels are so friendly, I love to watch them fly. Jesus doesn't look like any of the pictures I saw of
Him, but I knew it was Him as soon as I saw Him. Jesus took me to see GOD! And guess what mom? I got to sit on GOD'S knee
and talk to Him like I was somebody important. I told GOD that I wanted to write you a letter and tell you good-bye and everything,
but I knew that wasn't allowed. God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter with. I think Gabriel
is the name of the angel that is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the
questions you asked Him about Where was He when I needed him? God said, "The same place He was when Jesus was on the cross.
He was right there, as He always is with all His children. Oh, by the way Mom, nobody else can see what is written on this
paper but you. To everyone else, it looks like a blank piece of paper. I have to give God His pen back now, he has some more
names to write in the Book Of Life. Tonight I get to sit at thetable with Jesus for Supper. I'm sure the food will be great.I
almost forgot to let you know - Now I don't hurt anymore, the cancer is all gone. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain
anymore and God couldn't stand to see me suffer the pain either, so He sent The Angel of Mercy to get me.The Angel said I
was a Special Delivery!Signed with love from:God & Jesus & Me. >1) Simply say a small prayer for a blessing
for the person who sent you this,asking that God deliver him/her from burdens.2) Send this on to five other people. Within
hours, you caused a multitude of people to pray to God for each other. Then sit back and watch the power of God work
in your life for doing the thing that you know he loves. Feel Free To Copy It & Pass It On ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Billy Graham
If Jesus is God, why does the Bible talk about Him praying
to God?
Since the Bible affirms that Jesus is God, it is often perplexing to note that Jesus addresses God in prayer.
The answer to this, as well as to all references to Jesus as tired, hungry, weeping, lacking knowledge, etc., is that Jesus
was a true man, as well as God. The second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, took upon Himself complete humanity, except
for our sinful nature, when He was conceived in Mary. He is described by theologians as one Divine Person having two natures,
divine and human -- the God-man.
Passages of Scripture which describe Jesus' limitations are referring to His humanity.
He lived His life as a true man, depending upon His heavenly Father day by day, just as we are expected to do. Many believe
that even His miracles and supernatural knowledge were enabled by the Holy Spirit, not accomplished by switching back and
forth between His divine and human natures. When Jesus cried from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He
was expressing from His human consciousness the terrible sense of being separated from His heavenly Father as He suffered
the penalty for the world's sin. He, of course, with respect to His divine nature, could not suffer or die. In all of this
great mystery, we have only glimmers of truth which is beyond human comprehension. Rev. Billy
|
 |
|
 |
|
|