Hot weather. No prob! “The hotter the better” is always my mind-set!

Now getting a sun tan isn’t just about “ME” though. When I am suntanning, I usually do my quiet time, work on articles, read through and do my school work and copywork. I love that time to just have time to meditate on God’s Word and pray (talk) to Him!! Something about that time takes my focus off of the busyness, the pressures, and everything else that life can bring my way…and turns my complete focus upon Jesus.

I have been reading a book called “Wait for Me” by one of my favorite singer/writers, Rebecca St. James. She also expresses this in her book…

Quote:

“On days off, from time to time, I visit a bed-and-breakfast. it is a wonderful time to be still, play, rest, sometimes fast, and just be…with God. I have had some amazingly memorable times when I’m there. One trip in particular stands out in my mind. I was sitting on the front porch of the house, watching the sunset. It was that time of day when you can face the sun without being blinded by its usual brightness. I had been gazing intently at the sky in the direction of the sun when a bird caught my attention in a nearby tree. I shifted my eyes to look at it, and all of the sudden, my vision blacked out for a moment. I had to blink my eyes a few times to restore vision enough to see the bird. I realized that my eyes had so adjusted to the brightness of the western sky that the things around me had faded into the background and could not be seen as long as my eyes stayed focused toward the sun. I felt God speak to my spirit with a spiritual parallel to this picture. When we focus our eyes on the Son, Jesus, then the things of this world, its temptations, fears, and hurts pale in significance. They fade into the background.”

Excerpted from Wait for Me by Rebecca St. James

What if we were to get an intense focus on the Son of God? What if we were to let all of the distractions fade away? What if we let go of trying to be the “godliest”… the “prettiest”… the “homeliest” person around? What if we stopped the competition between each other to just focus on God? What if we could look past the pain of our mistakes and focus on Jesus instead?

I have seen way too many people be way too uptight, as we all can be from time-to-time! We have such a tendency to get so caught up in the contest of life that we forget to look at Jesus, the only One with all the answers to everything–diets, true beauty, healing, love, happiness, EVERYTHING!

So, just for today. Why not join me to bask in the SON? Why not take a little time just to look at how Jesus spent His time? Why not slow down and just talk your heart out to Him–and let HIM talk to you? Why not take just bit of your day to look up at the Son and marvel at His beauty and light? Why not soak up His power? Oh, why not GO OUT TODAY AND GET YOURSELF AN AWESOME SUNTAN…or SON-TAN! Or…just do both!!

Jesus loves you so very much!!!

Luv ya tons,
Elisabeth Rushton

No matter how young or old you are, you have more than likely known a friend or two to betray you. But how did you handle it? Did you forgive them the second that it happened? Did you go on like nothing ever happened? Or did it take a little more effort?

If you have been really painfully hurt like I’m talking about, you know that it’s not easy to just say, “Oh you’re forgiven” and its over. It takes days, weeks, if not months or even years for some hurts to heal!

But, how does God tell us to handle these things that cut so deeply into our hearts? How does the Bible tell us to deal with this? What did the wisest people ever to live do about their hurts and pains?

Look at James 1:2-4 ((No, I’m not ‘gunna’ quote it till a later entry (maybe). You’ve gotta go look it up!!! )), Genesis 50:19-21 and Luke 15:11-32. Take a minute to read these passages.

These people all learned forgiveness and they learned it the hard way! They all had hurts so painfully deep that only God could help them out of their self pity and pains!

If you look at some of the greatest people in the Bible, you’ll see that they all had A LOT to overcome and a lot to look past. But, the Bible also says to forgive 70 times 7 times PER TIME that a person offends you, ((That’s 490 times each time you are hurt!)) So God doesn’t expect you to be okay within the second that a person hurts you. He does expect for you to try to forgive them, to let it go! He wants for you to love them no matter what, and try to witness to them of God’s unconditional love.

It’s hard, TRUST ME! It is sooo hard!

In the past year, I’ve lost two best guy friends and a close gal pal to selfishness. They all did horrible things towards me and at times it seems that it is so impossible to get over it. Seeing them, hearing about them, or being around them just cuts deeper. But then, I look at how much I’ve learned from those situations and I thank God for them because without learning from those mistakes/experiences I would not be the person that I am today!

Am I perfect at forgiving? NO. It still hurts and its been a year for one of those friends, seven months for another and six months for another.

Does it mean that I’m a bad person? No. It just hurts that bad!

Taking those situations and letting God use them for His glory and His good is what life is about.

Try to forgive the best that you can. That’s what God truly wants! Try to see that what those people may have intended for evil, God is able to use for His good and perfect will!

Choose Jesus’ way over your own!

Choose to forgive and to love!

It’s not easy, but you don’t have to do it alone. God is always right there for you when it seems tough. “God will never let you go through more than you can handle,” a friend said to me when I felt as though there was no way to forgive the wrongs that had been done! Just remember that. “God will never let you go through more than you can handle.”

Forgive!

Love
Elisabeth