The Father’s Love Woos the Prodigal Home. Will You Return?

Have you ever lost something important then found it? My husband recently lost his wallet…it’s such a painful process to replace all the stuff as well as accept the fact that the gift cards from Christmas are gone 😐. About a week later, however, he went into Walmart guest services to see if some good-hearted soul might have turned it in, & lo & behold someone did!💝

Jesus tells 3 loss & recovery stories in Luke 15. The 1st tells of 1 of 100 lost sheep, the 2nd tells of 1 of 10 lost coins & the 3rd tells of 1 of 2 brothers who is lost, but ends with the realization that even though the older brother stayed present in body, his soul was far from his father.

This dad of all dads continually matches pride with humility. The younger son essentially wishes him dead so he can take his inheritance. The father generously grants his request by splitting the inheritance “between” the 2 sons instead of the customary 2/3 & 1/3 split.

When the prodigal returns, he would’ve been met with a gauntlet of insults, beating & stoning. Dignified men didn’t run in that culture, but when the father sees his son’s return, he risks humiliation by running to embrace & protect his son.

As the father celebrates his “found” son, he discovers another prodigal that’s been hidden for years. His oldest complains that HE was never given a party. Again, the father responds with love, reminding his son, “What’s mine IS yours!…We HAVE to celebrate because what was lost is now found!

The story is left incomplete. We don’t know what the older brother decides, but we DO know of the father’s love for BOTH of his wayward sons. How did such an amazing father end up with 2 rebels like that…& how did OUR good Father end up with wayward children like us?😬

I often think being a parent is just as much about our growth as our children’s. They keep us humble & give great opportunity to learn of our own desperate need of the Father’s love. Their decisions stretch our faith & help us place our hope (& their future) into the Father’s hands!

How’s your heart today? Has it wandered from our Father’s House? Y’all the banquet table is ready &  set! Our Father longs for all of us to return home! You coming?

#OneYearBible

April 12th One Year Bible Readings

JOSHUA 5:1-7:15

LUKE 15:1-32

PSALM 81:1-16

PROVERBS 13:1

Remembering to Remember

I’m not a gifted decorator & I don’t like chachka, so if I do have knick knacks in my home, there’s most likely a deep why behind them. One of them is a vase of dried wheat that the Lord directed me to buy it after a long season of sifting.

After months of hardship, loss & a major downsize, I felt led to go to Hobby Lobby to buy something to memorialize the moment.

I’m SO not a Hobby Lobby girl & instantly felt my skin begin to itch as I walked into the store that’s known for chachka. 😂 I wandered the cluttered aisles asking the Lord for a visual to remember His faithfulness during this hard season.

After making my way around the permitter, I landed in florals🥴I don’t like fake flowers (aka dust collectors), but as I walked down the aisle, I came across the wheat. As soon as I saw it I heard this:

“The enemy asked to sift you like wheat, Kimberly, but you remained faithful to follow my lead; through the hard & the loss you continued to worship & wash yourself in My Word. You weren’t afraid because you chose to fear Me alone. May this remind you of my faithfulness during the sifting season.”

I wept amidst the dusty florals like nobody’s business. Our God is so faithful to save. We’re sometimes just so busy in our sorrow that we don’t see Him.

That memory of wheat surfaced today as I read about God’s command for the Israelites to remember His power to save. Only 2 men remained of the cazillion people who’d escaped Egyptian slavery by walking through the Red Sea & now He parts the waters of the Jordan River, for the 2nd generation to see His faithfulness.

As soon as the priests’ feet touched the waters edge, it stopped flowing & the river bed was instantly dry! Once the throngs of people made way to the other side, God commands them to build a memorial of remembrance with rocks from the riverbed.

As I close this morning, questions are bubbling. Has the Lord ever saved you from something significant? Has He forgiven something great? Has He provided with extraordinary measure?

How has God revealed His power & faithfulness to you & how might you memorialize it as a reminder for you & your children’s children that our Father is always faithful to save?🌾

#OneYearBible

April 11th One Year Bible Readings

JOSHUA 3:1-4:24

LUKE 14:7-35

PSALM 80:1-19

PROVERBS 12:27-28

God’s Promises Aren’t Dependent Upon Our Perfection

I spent the day yesterday preparing a message called, “The Sifted Life”, As I wrote the intro, I shared that some of my friends jokingly call me a “Recovered Perfectionist”, but in all honesty, I prefer “A Woman Redeemed by The Perfect One”. 🤗

I love to organize, but am far from perfect & that’s good because it reminds me that God’s promises aren’t dependent upon my perfection!

This morning, I read about Moses’s last day on earth. He lives his life on the heights, face to face with Father God, & here in his last moments, he climbs high on Mt. Nebo for one last glance over the land promised to God’s people.

The scene feels sad because Moses, in his fallible imperfection, wasn’t allowed to enter the Promised Land due to sin. I wonder if he wishes that he’d been more perfect so that his mission didn’t feel like it fell short…but God uses it as a visual of what’s to come!

Moses, the Law Maker, delivers the people from slavery to the border of the promised land, but Joshua (a prototype of Jesus) leads them through the very same river where Jesus would be baptized, to the land flowing with milk & honey!

Y’all! Did you make the connection?! The Law made NOTHING perfect & that was the point! It delivered the people from slavery to sin, but didn’t lead them to eternal rest & peace!

Moses leads with the Law but his leadership falls short at the banks of the Jordan ON purpose & FOR the purpose of allowing Joshua (visual of Jesus to come) to do for us what the law couldn’t do!

Moses wasn’t perfect & yet he was known for his face to face relationship with the Father. There’s no perfection needed, no clean up required for us to face the Father because Jesus did the “cleaning up” for us!

God gives Joshua what He gave Moses-His promise & Presence! That same promise is for us AND the fulfillment of His promises are not dependent upon our perfection!! 😅

Father, thank You for the reminder that You will not fail us nor abandon us. We want to be known as face-to-face followers of the Father! Your promises have no dependence on our performance as they always prove true. We praise You that our success is not dependent on perfection, but on Your Promise & Presence alone!

#OneYearBible

April 10th One Year Bible Readings

DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12

JOSHUA 1:1-2:24

LUKE 13:22-14:6

PSALM 79:1-13

PROVERBS 12:26