Today’s Forgiving Fridays: Taking a Leap of Faith

 

Nurt Thursday – Compassion ~ Grace & Mercy

 

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/beloved/ 

 

No Matter how broken

Despite all defeats and failures I know that God Loves me As I am. For who I am. For I am His Creation. The Lord is the Potter and I merely the Clay.

Even if none of my earthly dreams come to pass.

No better. No less.  Nothing can separate me from the Love of God. Neither failure nor famine.  God does not measure me by my accomplishments. I have nothing to prove. For with the Lord I can just be.

In today’s cruel judgmental world, Compassion is What’s Needed.  Don’t let a wounded solider die.  Don’t abandoned a Warrior wounded on the battlefield.

 

Who are the Beloved?

 

I am the Beloved. He is Me. She is Me. The Beloved are my Muslim, Hindu, & Buddhist neighbors, co-workers and friends.  The Beloved are the LGBT Community. 

The Beloved are those Single Parents whether mothers or fathers who are penalized for taking a day off to care for their sick child.  The Beloved are those caring for aging, frail, ill elderly parents with no respite in sight. 

The Beloved are friends and family dealing with cancer, heart attacks, high blood pressure, vision loss, diabetes & strokes in need of compassion and practical assistance. 

The Beloved are those with unseen illness. Disabilities not easily seen and many times not accepted by the family of God.  Disabilities of the mind and soul.  

Behold for as Jesus said, Publicans, Harlots and Sinners shall enter Heaven before evangelicals and fundamentalists.  For they have made God’s House a den of thieves.  

The Beloved are our Hijabi Muslims Sisters who cover in submission to God but ridiculed for their choice.  

The Beloved are Immigrants who live in fear of deportation.

The Beloved are Combat Veterans who risked their lives for this great country, came home in pieces only to find those pieces scattered to ashes by those who know nothing of their true pain.

The Beloved are the vagrants, beggars and homeless seen yet unseen on the streets of most cities and living in the subways with no place to call home.  Lepers and pariahs to those of wealth, influence and substance.

To be One with the Beloved is to become One with those on the outside looking in.

The Beloved are stray dogs and cats.  The Beloved are Lonely and neglected pets who have worn out their amusement factor.  The are Animals hunted to extinction tortured and mutilated to fit the fancy of the latest trends

To Become One with the Beloved is simultaneously a singular and plural experience.  To be the Good Samaritan every day.  Grace and Mercy are the way.

 

An Insult to Combat Veterans: Army Chaplains Invite PTSD Denier Kenneth Copeland to National Prayer Breakfast

 

Luke 10:25-37 New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b]”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romans 8:31-39 New Living Translation (NLT)

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”^[a]) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

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I know one who is even more Blessed and Highly Favored than I. He is my brother Stephen Vincent Palmer. Stephen a Blessed Autism guy,  In Stephen’s eyes I am more than enough.  I am Sister.  I am Home.

Thank you God for Stephen.

Blessed and Highly Favored