Have you thanked Him?
Have you praised Him?
Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?
Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?
1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
You are loved.
You are worthy of love.
You have love to give.
While the schedule can be a little grinding at times, I do over the course of the “running here and there” encounter some amazing folks doing some amazing things.
Case in point.
Yesterday I was invited to be a part of something at the LIFE ENRICHMENT CENTER in Dayton which in and of itself is a remarkable facility of hope, promise, care, and possibility.
Check them out when you get a second - http://www.daytonlec.org/
And while there, while working with another impacting work in the Montgomery County community, New Hope, New Life, we sat in on a virtual tour of the RECOVERY CAFÉ in Seattle Washington.
Over the past decade or so, this Café has been a bastion of hope and opportunity to the homeless and addicted of Seattle. The idea of the virtual tour was to bring some of the concepts employed at the Café in Seattle to a similar facility, the FINDLAY CAFÉ in Dayton Ohio; to become a “cohort” with them going forward.
And while we are doing many of the things and offering similar opportunities here in Dayton as at the Café in Seattle, it is always good to hear from others to gather a few new nuggets and ideas!
I always love to hear what GOD is doing elsewhere!
And it was during Killian’s (one of the founders) presentation that she mentioned that all who enter the Café are reminded of those three things I mentioned at the outset; that whether struggling in homelessness, addiction, poverty or just “struggling”, all are loved, worthy of that love and have love to give.
What a beautiful reminder for all of us, right?
We don’t have to be under the oppression of addiction or beset by the challenge of homeless to sometimes feel “unloved or unlovable”.
Yet nothing could be farther from the truth!
Remember GOD says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. – Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)
And the Lord Himself has CHOSEN to love us, even when we aren’t so lovable.
Lucado once penned…
“If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning... Face it, friend. He is crazy about you!”
But what I really liked was that the Café was reminding their clients and visitors that because GOD loved them and that they were worthy of that love, they have an “obligation” to share it with others.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
1 John 13:34 (NIV)
That message is clearly for all of us today.
You are loved today my friends.
GOD has chosen to love us, cherish us, and inspire us to do the same.
The question is will we? I pray we will.
“Love is donating a chunk of your life to patch up holes in the life of another.” ― Goodrich
I love you all…
OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE
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