Dear family and friends,

   Good day to you! I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of His glories and grace. I will boast of all His kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Let us praise the Lord together, and exalt His name. That is from Psalm 34:1-3.

   Are you there with me today? You may be fighting discouragement brought on by any number of reasons but, here we are and we will praise the Lord no matter what comes across our path, right? It is time to shake off our discouragements and begin to speak of His wondrous love for us. We have so many blessings!

   I'm not talking about being rich with things. I am referring to all the treasures we have as we simply take the hand of the Lord Jesus and let Him lead us on. Heaven really isn't that far away! Be filled with His Spirit!

   As we are taking time to discover God's deep, overwhelming love for us, I am noticing this LOVE fills all of God's desires for us. In Him we find He is enough.

   We see in Romans 13 we are told to pay our debts. The only debt that we will never pay off is the debt of love we have for others. We are permanently in debt to Jesus Christ for the lavish love He poured out on us. The only way we can begin to repay this debt is by loving others. In His strength and with courage.

   Since the love of Christ will always be greater than ours, we will always be obligated to love our neighbors as Jesus said. If you love you neighbor as yourself you won't want to harm or cheat him, or kill him or steal from him. In fact, you won't want to do anything against the 10 commandments. All ten are wrapped up in this one, to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

   Romans 13:10 says, "Love does no wrong to anyone. That's why it fully satisfies all of God's requirements. It is the only law you need."

   Wow! Until I read it this morning from my Life Application Bible, I didn't see this so clearly. You may have lived trying to go down the list of the 10 commands of God and found you look foolish and unable to keep it all. I mean all. Why not focus instead on loving the Lord God with you whole heart, mind and soul and love that neighbor as yourself. The rest will happen as a result.

   My nearest neighbor I guess would be my husband. By not taking advantage of him when I want something. By thinking of him before my own needs. By praying for him to be blessed and wholly cared for by God. By wanting only good for him.

   Hey, that is what I want for myself too! So, by turning my thoughts to the ways of the Lord I can do this. Everything I need to know is found in God's Love letter. Everything for peace, joy, hope, and a future; it's all there.

    God doesn't make things difficult for us to find Love. We just need to go to the Source. A good place! Come into His presence first, before we take steps toward others.

   Should you find you are having difficulty it would be wise to go back to your First Love, Jesus. Bring all your cares and concerns to Him. He is waiting.

   Thank you Lord for showing us how much easier it is to find love in You, before trying in our own strength to love others. We praise You for hearing our hearts cry, knowing what is best for us. Forgive us for trying to fix ourselves and others without going to You first. Teach us Lord. In Jesus matchless name, amen.

Abundance is...with all our Love