Wrapped into Jesus

Ephesians 1: 3 “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus – all because he sees us wrapped into Christ.  This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!

And he chose us to be his very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.

For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace – for the same love he has for his beloved one, Jesus, he has for us.  And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure….”

He sees us wrapped into Christ.  Think of that truth the next time you wrap gifts.  I am wrapped into Jesus, sharing his relationship with the Father, sharing his gifts, reaping the benefits of his relationship with his Daddy, who is now my Daddy.  So now I am Taffy in Christ, never just Taffy.  When Father God looks at me, he sees me in Jesus. No wonder Theresa Dedmon painted a smiling Jesus.  When God looks at his kids, he’s always smiling, because he sees us wrapped into Jesus, and Jesus always makes him smile.

If you’re not smiling when you look at yourself in the mirror, you may not be wearing the right lenses. Father God says he sees us wrapped into Christ.  If that’s not who you see, then who do you suppose needs new lenses?

For it was always in his perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children.  It was his plan when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden.  It was his plan when he led the Israelites out of Egypt.  And it was his plan when he sent an angel to young Mary and told her the plans he had for her to bear the Christ child.  And Mary, drawn to the heart of God, obeyed and accepted her role in God’s plan.  She brought forth a son, named him Jesus, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes.

One morning as I was praying for my kids, my adult kids, God reminded me of “swaddling”.  I was taught by the nurses in the hospital in 1976 when my son, Jimmy was born, to lay him on a receiving blanket and fold it tightly around him.  It will comfort him, they told me, just as he was swaddled so tightly in my womb those last new weeks of pregnancy, so the tight blankets will actually soothe him.  

I saw Father God take my adult son, Jimmy, wrap him up like a little papoose and put him over his shoulder.  "It’s ok", he told me, "I’ve got him".  

"Will you hold me, too?", I asked, so he wrapped me up, too, and held me on his other shoulder for awhile.  Then it was time to go off to work.  I was in peace as I left my adult son, all wrapped up in Christ, with Father God as I went about my day.  

It’s a good thing to remember at Christmas, and every day in between, that he sees us wrapped into Christ. And we never have to take off the blanket, take off the wrapping. It’s permanent now.  I’m forever wrapped into Jesus!

Heat Sealed

I got hurt recently.  No, not on the outside – it was a heart wounding.  A rejection by someone I care very much about.  And I retreated into myself, continued my day with a mask on, waiting for the chance to go home and have a good cry.  Then I walked around feeding my bitterness for 2 days, reminding myself of other times I have felt rejected, having trouble sleeping, just fairly miserable.

Today Daddy reminded me to let go of bitterness.  So I googled letting go of bitterness and found Ephesians 4:30-32.

God said “The Holy Spirit of God has sealed you in Jesus Christ until you experience your full salvation.”

Just like those heat sealing machines that seal up your leftovers in plastic bags, keeping your food from freezer burn, or water damage, etc.

“So never grieve the Spirit of God or take for granted his holy influence in your life.  Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity and insults.  But instead be kind and affectionate toward one another. Has God graciously forgiven you?”

YES!

“Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ’s love.”

So I forgave my offender.  Then I asked Jesus to forgive me for holding on to bitterness.  I saw him smiling (I have one of Theresa Dedmon’s smiling Jesus prints in my prayer room!) and I knew he had already forgiven me, so I just reached out and received his forgiveness.  I saw myself sealed up in that heat sealed plastic bag, protected from wounding inside and outside.  Jesus took my wounding 2000 years ago, and he seals me all around to keep on taking on my wounds and hurts.  I am safe.  Safe to love, safe to give, safe in the arms of my Daddy.  Sealed in Jesus until I experience the fullness of salvation, being in the Father’s arms in glory.

I see you

I see you.

You are not invisible.

And you cannot hide from me, 

For my eyes seek you out day and night.

Don’t turn away from me in your season of trial.

Look at me.

No, look me in the eye.

Gaze deep and you will see

The depth of my love for you.

Linger here, gazing into my eyes 

So that you carry the burning truth

Of my undying love for you.

Drink deeply.

Taste and see that I am good.

And walk forth feeling the steadfast gaze of my eyes upon
you.

Ever, always, my gaze is on you.

I see you.

Love - He came running with a ring...

I John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”

We’ve all had “love” given and taken away from us. Leaving us wary of trusting anyone to truly love us.  So we hold a piece of ourselves back, keeping an exit strategy open for when this love fails us, again.

But Jesus says “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” I John 4:18

So the world, and the Church, are full of people who are holding back, afraid to “put all their eggs in one basket”. What are we afraid of? That God will play “bait & switch” with his kids? He shows us in the Bible that everyone who came to Jesus received their healing, but I’m praying for Diane and Chris and Cindy and Grammie and Tia and Allen, and prayed much for my friend, Linda Kelly – but so far none are cancer free, except Linda who is with Jesus now.  Can I trust you to do what you said you would do?

What are we afraid of?  That God is like a game show host, giving us the option to choose door #1, door #2 or door #3, and one of them is a joke, one is a lesser choice, and one is what we actually need and want desperately – like it all depends on me – my choices – and if I choose wrong, then…

I met Jimmy in the summer of 1972.  Then I went back to college, and we got to know each other thru letters and phone calls, some face to face time over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.  I went away on a mission trip to France the summer of 1973, so we only had a few weeks together in NJ before and after my trip, and then I was back to college for my senior year.  I was an insecure young woman, wary in love – burned before – and never quite sure that Jimmy would be there for me.  The days when he called, or I received a letter of package were great.  But in between those days, I would doubt whether he really loved me. Then I came home for Christmas break, and Jimmy put a diamond engagement ring on my finger.  I went back to school changed.  Days between letters and phone calls were no longer a problem for me.  I would just gaze at the sparkling jewel -  on MY finger – and know that I was loved, that I belonged to someone. 

We got married in June of 1974.  I continued to grow in trust and love with Jimmy, although I challenged him from time to time.  My parents’ divorce, after 17 years of marriage, had marked me with fear.  One day as I wept in fear after a disagreement we’d had, Jimmy placed his hands on my shoulders and looking me in the eye said “I am not your father.  I’m not going anywhere.  I will always, always, always love you.” Since that time he has continued to remind me of that promise, signing his cards on birthdays and holidays, “love always, always, always, Jim”. 

Despite all of that, the clincher for me was when we passed our 17^th year of marriage, and I audibly sighed “Whew! We made it!” I have learned over the years to rely on Jimmy’s love. And it’s a picture of the Father’s love for me.

Anytime either of us has something we might initially not want to share with the other, we push past that initial reaction and run to tell the secret.  “I was angry with you…”  “I know that I hurt you when I…”

So now I have learned to do this with the Father.  “Daddy, my friend, Linda Kelly has died!” And his arms open and beckon me to come and lean upon him and let his heart comfort me when I don’t understand.

“Daddy, Diane is not doing well, although I have prayed for her!” And he says “come here and let me hold you and remind you who I am.”

“Daddy, what if I choose the wrong door?”  And he says “Look at me! It’s me! Your biggest fan! If you ask me for bread, will I give you a rock?”

So everything I need to go on, even when, especially when I don’t understand, comes from knowing “I am loved by the Father! I am loved by the Father!”

“Abba, I belong to you.                                                                                                                         You came running down my prodigal road.                                                                                           You came running with a ring and a robe.    

Grace the collision on my way back home      

With the arms of a Father who won’t let go.” (Jonathan David Helser, Melissa Helser)

The fruit of the Spirit is love, but you can’t give away what you don’t have.

1 John 4:19:  “We love because he first loved us.”

So come on, climb with me back up on his lap and get some. You’ll get so filled up there that you’ll leak the love like a golden stream of living water wherever you go.  It’s a fruit, a natural result, of being with Daddy, a fruit of his Spirit.

Are all my questions answered? 

No.  

Do kisses really heal boo boos? 

No, but the inner wounds are healed as I lean hard and heavy, with all my weight, “know and rely” on his love for me.  You can say you believe the chair will hold you, but until you sit in it, let all your weight rest in it, you aren’t truly relying on that chair.  God says, “It’s ok.  You can trust me with this one.  I will always, always, always love you.”