Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Nov 20, 2006 9:16:42 GMT -5
SET FREE
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Galatians 5: 1
King James Version
Last week as I was brushing my hair and looking in the mirror, I thought “Who is this person”? This person in the mirror is smiling and happy and has peace and joy reflected in her eyes. The answer is written in blood on my heart. This is someone who had suicidal thoughts every day for almost forty years and had no desire to live. This person didn’t trust anyone, hated everybody and had a terrible temper.
One day, Jesus reached down His nail scarred hand to me, lifted me up from under a bed in a mental hospital, sat me on His lap of love, put His compassionate arms around me and said “I Love you, Joanne. I will never hurt you or leave you”. Joanne Lowe is a sinner saved by grace through the atoning blood of the Christ of Calvary. This is the reason that I say over and over “There is no one like Jesus! There is no friend like Jesus! No one loves like Jesus!” Thank You, Jesus, for loving me when I was so unlovable.
I don’t care what trials and heartaches you are facing today. Jesus is the answer! He is the only answer. He is the only one who can see into the hidden corners of our hearts. He has felt pain, agony, horror and loneliness so He understands our pain. We can trust Him because what He says, He will do.
If you are hurting, depressed, scared and lonely today, put your trust in Jesus. He will walk with you through every trial and bring you victorious into the presence of God on that final day. If you have never invited Jesus into your heart, I plead with you to do it now! Don’t put it off. You may not have another hour.
MORE THAN ENOUGH
“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. And as they departed from Jericho , a great multitude followed him. And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.”
Matthew 20: 28 - 34
King James Version
No matter how many difficult problems, heavy burdens or devastating heartaches you have, Jesus is able to solve them and replace them with His peace, the peace that only He can give. The world can’t give us this lasting peace and the world can’t take it away. This peace can’t be found in alcohol, drugs or sex; it can only be found in the unconditional loving heart of our precious Saviour.
His heart is full of compassion and His unconditional love, understanding, tenderness, mercy, forgiveness and grace are more than enough to remove all the pain, sorrow and loneliness from your heart. He is more than enough for every situation and every crisis. He was more than enough for me the day He reached down His precious nail scarred hand to me as I lay underneath the bed in a mental hospital so many years ago not wanting to live and afraid of everybody and everything.
I had attended church for many years but all I had ever heard preached was that if we aren’t saved, we are going to hell. I never once heard a sermon about the unconditional love of Jesus. So as I lay under that bed wanting to kill myself, I didn’t know that Jesus loved me because nobody had ever told me that He loved me. I tried every day for forty years to think of a way to commit suicide that wouldn’t hurt my family. I think that is one of the reasons why I never went through with it because I didn’t want my family to be hurt. However, the real reason that I didn’t do it was because Jesus was protecting me from myself.
Because of the tremendous pain and heartache that I had endured from being raped and emotionally and verbally abused all of my life, I did take an overdose of pills three times but God always sent somebody to find me in time. The loneliness, despair and hurt were more than I could bear. I felt like I was in a long dark tunnel and there was no way to get out of it into the sunlight. Thank God that one day I felt the light of the Son in my heart and knew that there was hope and there was a reason to live. Thank God for Jesus, the hope of the world!
All of the pain that I experienced was nothing compared to all of the horror, anguish, pain, loneliness, and heartaches that Jesus had when He was here on earth. All He had ever done was to try and give His love away and because of that He was crucified on a cross for you and for me. No one ever loved us like Jesus did that day and praise God, He still loves us.
Even when we fail Him and hurt Him as we do every day, His heart is filled with love, understanding, compassion and forgiveness for us. There is always another email, regular letter or telephone call that we could have made that day to encourage someone but we failed to do so. O that we would be like Jesus and forgive those who hurt us!
One night Jesus passed by my bed using a nurse on the midnight shift. She was new to the hospital and I had never seen her before that night. I didn’t even know her name. I will never forget that night because this nurse literally got on her hands and knees and crawled under the bed with me. She took my hand which really frightened me because I was so afraid of getting hit or hurt. She said to me “Joanne, come on out from under this bed. I won’t let anybody hurt you”. I didn’t come out right away but eventually I did come out. I sat by the side of the bed for a couple of weeks. Then I went into the big bathroom that everybody had to use and I sat in the corner facing the wall for another week. I guess I was more depressed than I thought I was because the day that I finally walked into the day room where all the patients sat during the day, all of the nurses and patients stood up and clapped.
Today, if you are hurting and the problems and burdens you are carrying are weighing you down with sorrow and depression, give them to Jesus. He is waiting for you with His arms open wide and with a heart full of compassion. It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past, He loves you and wants to take the sadness away and replace it with His joy and happiness. He understands and cares about you. He hurts when you hurt and He rejoices when you are happy.
For some of you, Jesus has passed by many times and you have rejected Him. Not only have you rejected His love for you and a home in heaven with Him for all eternity, you have hurt Him deeply. He suffered tremendous agony for you on that cruel cross of horror. Hasn’t He suffered enough for you? Please don’t keep hurting Him by rejecting His love for you. Say “yes” to Jesus today; right this minute, before it is too late.
Your family and friends can’t do it for you as much as they want to do it. You must make the decision yourself because salvation and faith in Jesus is a personal issue. You have to decide if you want to give your heart to Jesus or if you want to keep serving satan. There is no middle ground. The Bible is very clear on that issue “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matthew 12:30). Open your heart to the one who loves you so much that He died for you.
Joanne Lowe
July 1, 2007
joannelowe8@cox.net
joannelowe.blogspot.com/
www.heavenwardbound.com/