ATONEMENT ...A BEAUTIFUL WORD, OUR REALITY

                                                 ATONEMENT...A BEAUTIFUL WORD

N.K.J.V. Hebrews 3: 29 Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

There was always a sacrifice.  The sins of the people were so heinous that the Lord required a sacrifice to cover their sins.  God is holy.  He cannot look upon sin.  In Old Testament times, the spilled blood of an animal satisfied the requirement...and then, God forgave His people of their sin.


God gave us the ultimate Sacrifice, His Son, Jesus Christ, for our sins, over 2000 years ago.  As a result, He can look upon our faces and we can be called the Sons and Daughters of God.  We can become one with God, which means, there is reconciliation between God and man:  this is the atonement.


Our reality is golden:  it is grace-filled.  It is God-grace-filled

 Ephesians 2:19   RKJV   “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God.”

Thank you, Lord.  You, alone are worthy of our praise.



(c) Carol Castagna   2/2014

THE LORD, OUR HIDING PLACE

Photos by C.C.

THE LORD, OUR 'HIDING PLACE'                 ©2014  Carol Castagna

     The Lord tells us in Psalm 32:7 that He is our hiding place.  The Psalmist, David, says, "You are  my hiding place.  You shall preserve me from trouble.  You shall surround me with songs of deliverance"...Psalm 32:8:  I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go.  I will guide you with My eye.  Psalm 32: 10:  Mercy shall surround the one who trusts in the Lord.

     What is a hiding place?  A hiding place is a place of refuge, a place where harm cannot enter.  Psalm 9: 9 and 10:  The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble,          a refuge for those who ask.  He is always with us, waiting for us to approach Him.  He waits with opened arms to embrace us and give us rest from the weary day's occurrences. When we move in His direction, He sees our steps, our desire to believe and our sincerity of heart.   And those who know Your name will put their trust in You...for You, Lord have not forsaken those who seek You.

     What a comfort!  What great joy!  What hope we have in Him who loves us!  He will be our Hiding place ~ with songs in the background, 'songs of deliverance' for those who move toward Him in prayer, for those who know His name.

    


        Prayer:  Again, we come before You, Lord, in our humble way, realizing that You are mighty         to protect us and to shield us from harm.  We praise You for Your love and mercy toward             us, for the peace You give, that passes all understanding ~ and all You ask is for us to step         forward into Your presence, to come before You in prayer, to say, 'Yes, Lord, You are great         and I am Your child:  thank You for drawing me to Yourself.'  We love You, Lord and we                 Thank You for Your great power and for Your loving-kindness.      In Jesus' name, Amen.


Bible verses are found in the N.K.J.V.

ALL ABOUT PRAYER

 ALL ABOUT PRAYER



 Psalm 17:15
As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness.  I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

                                                 © 2014 Carol Castagna

The more we bow before Him, the more like Him we become.  The reason?  His Holy Spirit reaches out to our spirit.  It is in communion with our God that He surrounds us with His holy presence, His Holy Spirit.  What a hope He gives!  What a promise is ours!  He offers to share His holiness with us. The moment we kneel toward His presence, the moment we close our eyes to worship Him, He comes closer to us.  He is always here with us...He wants to come closer.  And when we move toward His presence in prayer, with hearts opened and eyes closed, even if we cannot kneel, He sees our efforts.  He is there with us.  We are not alone.  We are like Him.  He created us.  He welcomes us into His presence, into His holiness, into His  rest from our cares. 

PRAYER
Thank you Father for Your love, Your promise.  Thank You that we may hope in You, that Your sweet presence is ours for the reaching toward You.  Thank You that Your presence is our dwelling place, Your provision for those of us who seek to know who You are and who we are in You.

                                  © 2014 Carol Castagna

HE WILL COME TO US

HE WILL COME TO US AS THE SHOWERS, AS THE SPRING RAINS THAT WATER THE EARTH.       HOSEA 6:3


     Did you ever feel as though the Lord was showering you with His glorious presence?  filling you with the nearness of Himself, so real, so true?  assuring you that He is with you and you have nothing to fear?   He promises to come to us 'as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.'  When we give Him thanks, for all He has done for us, for His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, for the blood that He shed for our sins, for His death and resurrection, He rejoices in our realization of His great gift to us.  When we thank Him for His daily and nightly protection, for His provision for our welfare, for His love, mercy and grace, He rejoices in our thanksgiving.  What may seem as an enormous request to us, requesting God's presence, is exactly what the Lord wants to hear from us and do for us!  He wants to draw near to us.  We need Him.  We cannot feel complete without Him. ..that is the way He made us.  We are spiritual beings.  God is a Spirit and God wants to inhabit us.


Hosea 6:2   'As surely as the sun rises, He will appear.'  He will come to us.

Dear Father,
We come to you with open hearts waiting, to receive Your abundant blessing.   Fill us
with Your awesome presence...let us know that You have come to us, where we are, in our brokenness, in our loneliness.   Let us feel You near. Make us whole and joyful in Your presence.  Inhabit Your people.  Truly, Dear Lord, we are Your people and we love You for loving us, for welcoming us as Your sons and daughters, for knowing us intimately, the very number of hairs on our heads, for forming us in our mothers' wombs, for preparing a place for us in heaven with You.  Thank You for the blessed assurance of Your sweet presence by the whisper of Your name.   Thank You for giving us Your Holy Spirit to comfort us in times of despair.  Be our voice when we are without words...Be our Everything for we are lost without You.   Thank You that You are but a prayer away.  We praise You for Your love and grace and faithfulness. 


In Jesus' holy name, we pray,

Amen

Romans 8: 4

…the Spirit also helps our infirmities:  for we know not what we should pray for as we ought:  but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

PRAISE IN TIME OF DISTRESS

 DEAR FATHER~THANK YOU

Lyrics to an Original Song 

PRAISE IN TIME OF DISTRESS

       

Thank You for love beyond compare

Thank You for gentle, tender care

When pain I can no longer bear,

Thank You for keeping me

Thank You for raising me above

Thank You for warm, unfailing love
And for Your power that won't be moved
Thank You for life in Christ

When paths are blocked...

When doors are closed...

You draw me to your heart

With sweet repose

And make a way

Thank You for joy of saving grace

And for the strength of Your embrace.

Thank You for life in Christ

        My All in All  

     (c) carol castagna  Oct. 2012  

He knows us by name...

Isaiah 49:16 Your name is written on the palm of my hand

DEAR FATHER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL PROMISE OF PROTECTION AND NEARNESS.  YOU ARE ALWAYS WITH US AND WE THANK YOU FOR THE REALITY OF YOUR PRESENCE.  WE PRAY THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE TO ENABLE US TO SENSE YOUR PRESENCE DAILY IN WHATEVER CIRCUMSTANCES WE MAY FIND OURSELVES, FOR 'IN YOUR PRESENCE IN FULLNESS OF JOY.'  SHOWER US WITH THE BLESSED ASSURANCE OF YOUR SWEET PRESENCE ON A DAILY BASIS AND THANK YOU FOR THIS BLESSING.

IN THE PRECIOUS NAME OF JESUS,

AMEN 

 

WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP?

    
FRIENDSHIP

     The following poem, A Familiar Deprivation, is dedicated to the late Evelyn Welsh:  Evelyn Welsh was a Cardiac Care patient of mine when I was working in Home Care.  I dedicated this poem to her because she was a very important part of my life… Evelyn was cheerful and fun and through the years, thought of me as her daughter. She had a son in Florida and a severely physically and emotionally disabled daughter who lived with her.   I found sparkles in her eyes that were meant for me.   Evelyn listened to my dreams. She looked at me admiringly and respected me and liked me.  We laughed together and cried together.  Evelyn attended my father’s wake, showed concern for me at my loss.  We developed a close bond and remained friends until her death.

     The person in the poem was a Nursing Home patient whose eyes met mine one day, exactly the way the poem describes.  Her name was Eunice:  her emptiness in life was that she never bore a child…Eunice told me her story.  Of course, I had my losses.  One day, we glanced knowingly into each other’s eyes…and knew, without words that we had experienced the same sense of devastation…we call it…deprivation.

A FAMILIAR DEPRIVATION

Sometimes, there’s a matching of the souls

A meeting of the hearts

As though a moment in time stands still

And you see in each other’s eyes

A familiar deprivation…

You ache and grieve and turn

And

Face to face

And

Eye to eye

You know ~

Feel each other’s heartache…
 And smile, embrace, and go on!

  

Today, there are a few friends with whom I share the same respect and affection.  One is  MaryLou.  She is very dear to me.  She has a gentle way, a beautiful smile, silver gray hair and she listens to me as I speak...We go places and do things together and have fun!   MaryLou's and my interests are the same:  we like to go antiquing, clothes shopping, antiquing again and  we love to laugh together because we find the same things funny!  Everything I say is important to her and what she says is important to me...what a delightful person to spend time with!

 

Another dear friend is Cheryl.  Cheryl and I share our love for our Savior.  We talk for hours about His love and grace and the way the Lord has directed and is continuing to direct our lives.  What a priceless treasure to find a friend who loves the Lord as you do and whose heart understands yours!  We are like-minded and find joy in serving the Lord:  Cheryl ministers to the homeless in our community and is also involved in introducing the Word of God to individuals and groups by way of a pocket-sized Gospel of John, obtained through the Pocket Testament League, which is a ministry that my husband Vincent and I are also part of.

     The Lord  gives us friends...friends who delight us ~ friends who light our way, friends who are dear and friends who are near.  Friendship is a joy to share!   Proverbs 18:24  states:  "A man who has friends must himself be friendly.  But there is a friend  who sticks closer than a brother."  Proverbs 17:17  says,  "A friends loves at all times."   And Colossians 4:6 :  "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one."

Dear Father,

We thank you for the many blessings in our lives.  We thank you, especially for bringing dear ones into our lives who bless us and share life's bounty and life's risk with us.  Thank you for their compassion.

In Jesus' name,

Amen

 

 

MY CHRISTIAN HERITAGE... TWO GODLY WOMEN

My Christian Heritage

I spent time in church this evening, before choir practice with the Lord who through music reminded me of my two grandmothers, now saints in heaven.  Both their names were Rose.  Tears began to fall from my eyes.   As I played their favorite songs:  “Now I Belong to Jesus” by Norman J. Clayton, (Grandma Rosina’s favorite) and “The Comforter Has Come” by Frank Botomme and William J. Kirkpatrick, (Grandma Rosa’s favorite),  I recall their joy in seeing me. (I will call one Rosa and one Rosina for clarification - I called each "Grandma").

Rosa, my paternal grandmother looked at me with her big brown eyes that spoke love without words, warmth in the absence of sunlight.  Her loving embrace was soft and gentle, like her sweet voice.  There was a palpable sadness about her that told me she wished we could see each other more often and have a less formal exchange.  Our relationship was one of yearning…we both yearned for more of each other, more warmth, more joy, more time together.  I saw Rosa every Sunday in church and on rare visits to her home.  My Mom was in charge of the visiting schedule and we visited Mom's family and rarely my Dad's.

Rosina, my maternal grandmother was cheerful, always there with arms opened wide to greet me and a smile just for me.  We lived on the same block and sat in the same pew in church so our relationship was close and included much fun.  We went for walks, shared dinner together, shared secrets and laughed over silly things. (Grandmothers are best-known for having fun with their grandchildren). I thought of how precious the memory of each grandmother is and what a priceless heritage I have inherited because of their lives, lived for Him, our Savior.  I felt a special closeness to the Lord as I thought of my grandmothers that evening and I meditated in prayer. I thanked God for their impact on my life.  I will forever hold them close to my heart.

Growing up in the midst of my dear grandmothers, I sat with them in church and experienced their warmth, humility, and their devotion as they knelt in prayer to their Savior and mine. I felt the Lord’s presence and power in that little church. I learned of His healing power and answers to prayer. I saw my Grandmothers pray and yield and trust in an awesome God.  I loved visiting with them in their homes – I was always received with a warm and welcome embrace and a smile that whispered God’s love.  I love their gift, this Christian Heritage that I cherish.  Despite the frayed circumstances of their lives, they walked upright in the Lord, showed the light of Christ in their interactions with others and displayed a quiet humility and sweet spirit that I can still see when I close my eyes.

                                                                                                 
My prayer is that I too have imparted the importance of knowing the Lord intimately to my children and grandchildren and someday to my great grandchildren along with an assurance that we never walk alone on this earth.  My prayer is that my family will experience the reality of Jesus’ love in their lives and that they will be assured that as He has promised in His Word, He has prepared a place for them to dwell with Him for all eternity…and until that eternity comes, His presence in the person of the Holy Spirit remains with us on earth to comfort, guide, and strengthen His own.  





Dear Father,
Thank you for Your loving presence and for Your promise that You 'will never leave
us or forsake us.'   Thank You for the assurance that we may rest in Your love here on
earth and that we will see you face to face one glorious day...Praise and honor and glory to Your matchless name.    In Jesus' name, Amen