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June 17, 1997 - A Day in the Life of an Ordinary FamilyBy Lisa, Jennifer, Carol, and Kenneth CarlsonReturn to TopYesterday
evening as we walked, we felt as if we were walking in a tropical
greenhouse. The birdsong
was quite dominantly musical. The
trees, vines, and shrubbery seemed especially lush and rich in their
green finery. The flowers
appeared even more lovely than they normally do.
I noticed that while I was walking, the flowers that I see every
day seemed to possess a quality of newness - their colors were very
alive and bright and their petals and leaves fresh and healthy.
An encounter with one neighbor seems significant in my mind:
While we were walking we passed by our neighbor, bent over in one
of her flower beds, pulling up dead daffodil stalks.
We said hello and our neighbor said hello and stated that this
task (pulling up dead daffodils) needs to be done every year.
My sister told our neighbor that her daffodils had been
absolutely beautiful this spring (they were too - a steep hillside
totally covered with tall, stately daffodils in vibrant yellows ranging
from deep orange to pale golden and whites ranging from
sunny-day-fluffy-cloud white to delicate ivory). Our neighbor responded that they were beautiful, but only for
a very short time. Each
spring they bloom forth in glorious color, only to fade away come
summer. Her comment made me
think of butterflies. Butterflies
begin as caterpillars, weave themselves into cocoons, and then emerge in
all of their splendor. Once
they become butterflies, their life is very short, ending shortly after
they lay their eggs. In contrast, even though the daffodils that we see
above the ground die, their bulbs live on, pulsing with life, below the
soil. It is like the seeds
planted by the Sower. Some
seeds fell onto shallow soil and bloomed only temporarily while others
fell onto deep soil, spreading their roots deeply, growing continuously
in their faith.
For my birthday, I received a wonderful
Bible, The Illustrated Family Bible, based on the New
International Version. I
have been reading this Bible, along with my regular Bible, and another
book when I do my daily Bible study (I
try to study my Bible every day).
It is abundant with detailed, life-like illustrations that bring
the Biblical stories to life. The
side margins of each page go into further detail about key points in the
material as well as providing background about history, culture, and
art. Lately, I have been
feeling a “pressure” to study the New Testament and the Gospel of
John. I am learning a lot
from this study. Thus far I
am studying the first two chapters of Luke (Gabriel visits Zechariah,
the Annunciation, the Visitation, John the Baptist’s birth, Jesus’
birth), the first chapter of Matthew (Gabriel visits Joseph in a dream),
and the first three chapters of John.
I like to take each passage slowly and carefully so that I can
understand it and grow from it as fully as possible.
From the account of Gabriel visiting
Zechariah, I learn that it is very important to believe in God. When Zechariah was told by Gabriel that Elizabeth would bear
a son, he did not believe him and thus lost his voice until John the
Baptist’s birth. In the
Annunciation, Mary immediately believed the message Gabriel brought to
her. We must strive to
place our full faith and trust in God, for NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GOD
(Luke 1:37).
As I read the outline of the Gospel of
John in the book, What the Bible is all About for Young Explorers,
by Frances Blankenbaker, and looked up corresponding passages in my
Bible, I discovered many new and touching lessons.
To begin with, I learned that it is not enough to be good.
We as human beings can never be good enough to enter the Lord’s
kingdom on our own. We can
only enter God’s kingdom through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is Himself
God. We must believe that
Jesus died on the Cross for our sins, repent of our sins, and ask Jesus
to enter and live in our hearts. Once
Jesus enters our hearts, He becomes our true friend and companion.
He is always with us. He
instructs us and guides us in all things (Psalm 32:8).
Through Him, we are born again of the Spirit so that we can one
day be with Him in heaven:
“He was in the world, and though the
world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not
receive Him. Yet to all who
received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to
become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of
human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:10-13.
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth,
no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the
Spirit. Flesh gives birth
to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be
surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ You hear its
sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. “You
are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand
these things? I tell you
the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have
seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe;
how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from
heaven—the Son of Man. Just
as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be
lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not
believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name
of God’s one and only Son. This
is the verdict: Light has
come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because
their deeds were evil. Everyone
who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear
that his deeds will be exposed. But
whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen
plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
John 3:5-21.
I asked Jesus to enter my heart when I
was three years old, but now as I have been studying these Bible
passages and am gaining a fuller understanding and appreciation of its
meaning and of what God has done for us, I have asked Jesus to enter my
heart again. I want to thank Jesus for His love and ask Him again to enter
my life, lead me along the pathways that He has chosen for me, and ask
Him through the guidance of His Holy Spirit to become His child. Jesus really loves us! He
was willing to suffer tremendous pain by bearing the world’s sin so
that we can join Him in His heavenly Kingdom.
Jesus even prayed for us before He was crucified!
He prayed that we (now, then, and in the future) may all be saved
and that we may know God’s Love (John 17:
20-26). Even though
we sin and go astray, Jesus loves us for always.
He wants us to come to Him and will help us if we only ask.
Thank you, Lord, For Your Love!!!!
May we all know God’s Love!!!!
Jesus is your truest friend.
Jesus will never let you down.
He always loves you!!!
May God, the Angels, and all of the Saints bless and protect you
and surround you with the warmth and joy of God’s love!!
PRAYER FOR THE WORLD
By Jennifer, Lisa, Carol and Kenneth Carlson
My
Dear Heavenly Father, My Dear Lord Jesus Christ, My Dear Holy Spirit, My
Dear Blessed Mother, My Dear Guardian Angels, all the Holy Angels and
the Saints. I welcome you
all into my life. I need
you all in my life. Thank
you for being in my life. Thank
you for loving me so much! Thank
you for leading, protecting, and guiding me and providing for my needs!
Thank you for all the kindness and blessings you shower upon me!
My Dear Heavenly Father, My Dear Lord
Jesus Christ, My Dear Holy Spirit, You are all Wonderful, all Love, all
Truth, all Wisdom, all Greatness, all Peace, all Kindness, all
Knowledge, all Good, all Pure, all Perfect, all Knowing, all Merciful,
all Understanding and all Wholesome God!
Praise to You, Dear Heavenly Father, Dear Lord Jesus Christ, Dear
Holy Spirit! Thank You for
all the blessings You continually give to us and to all the people of
the world.
My Dear Heavenly Father, My Dear Lord
Jesus Christ, and My Dear Holy Spirit, I come to You today to plead for
myself and for all the people of the world.
We are all individual travelers on this earth, and I ask You to
touch each one of us. I ask
You to wake us up with a kiss from You.
There has been a side of us that has been sleeping.
It seems difficult for that side of us to be awake because it
thinks differently than what society programs us to think.
By letting that side awake, we will become deprogrammed from the
powers of darkness. Please
wake us up with Your Kiss of Love so that we will feel You, Your Love,
Your Goodness, Your Truth, Your Word.
Please awaken us with a great revival by flooding all of us with
Your Wonderful Holy Sprit so that we can see Your Love, Wisdom,
Greatness and Beauty, reflected in nature, people, animals, and all
living beings. May we be
able to truly stare at the reflections of You, since we cannot stare at
You. You have put up with a
lot from us. You see our
hearts. You know us, and
You unconditionally love us. It
is so hard for us at times to resist the temptations of life that are
not good for us; they seem to smell so good and taste so nice but they
make us sick and have bad consequences that take us away from You.
Our eyes need to be focused on You by looking at Your reflections
and Your Words. We need to
spend time talking with you with our hearts.
We need to be quiet and still so we can listen to Your Heartbeat
and try to mimic Your Heartbeat with our heartbeat.
We need to be still of mind so that we will be able to hear and
see You in all living things. We
need to nourish that side of us that hungers and thirsts for You, for
Your Parenting, Your Love, Your Wisdom, Your Goodness, Your Mercy, Your
Kindness, Your Peace, Your Physical Contact and Your Fruitfulness.
I want myself and all the people of the world to feel Your
Wonderful Loving Touch, to feel Your Arms around us, to Hear Your Words
of Wisdom, to do Your Will, and to give honor and glory to You.
My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for
Your continual generosity to us. You
continually shower us with Your blessings.
You gave us Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a
sacrificial lamb for our sins, so that our sins are forgiven, so that we
have the opportunity to go to heaven to be with You.
My Dear Heavenly Father, it is true that the way we live our
lives is a reflection of our true attitudes, beliefs, and love for You.
With this in mind, please edit and reprogram our hearts, souls,
minds, and bodies, our internal and external existence, so that they
will be filled with only the highest, most beautiful, love, joy,
creativity-filled, inspiration-filled, truth-filled, courage-filled, and
peace-filled energy. Please
may our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies, our entire beings, glow and
shine and glimmer and sparkle, bright and strong, with your highest,
most beautiful, love, joy, creativity-filled, inspiration-filled,
truth-filled, courage-filled, peace-filled energy.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please may Your
healing, loving, empowering energy currents flow always and completely
through us. Please dislodge
and completely clean and remove any blocks in our being, so that we can
receive your Holy Spirit. May
Your Holy Spirit have completely free passage throughout our beings.
Please help us to be completely submissive and cooperative to
doing Your Will and giving honor and glory to You.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please may You
set holy angel warrior guards in charge of our entire being, our heart,
soul, mind, and body. May
our entire being be protected from the powers of darkness.
Please may Your holy angel warrior guards protect our entire
beings, so that we remain completely fresh, clean, loving, courageous,
faithful, trusting, peaceful and hopeful.
Please constantly renew us in You.
Please may your holy warrior angels calibrate, enliven, clean,
perfect, and tune our spiritual energies so that we can give to others
and others can give to us that which we need for our highest good.
Please may Your holy warrior angels set up our light shields so
that we are impenetrable to attack by the powers of darkness.
Please may we be completely open to Your Holy Touch; completely
open to Your Love, Peace, Joy, Creativity, Laughter, Delight, and
Companionship.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please align our
energy-light and our imagination with that of your highest and best so
that we are in constant contact, unity, and rapport with what is bearing
good fruit, loving, and pure. Please
help us to free ourselves from worry so that we will be light,
enlightened, and delightful. Please
may we dance, sing, praise, play, create, and build with You and Your
Holy Angels and Saints, today and every day.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please cultivate
love, beauty, truth, courage, abundance, and the fine-ness in us and
around us. Please draw us
to true love, true beauty, truth, true courage, true fine-ness and true
abundance all around us. Please
help us to really see, experience, absorb and enjoy Your love, blessings
and goodness and fruitfulness.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please help us
to hear Your Words as You whisper Your Words into our hearts and minds.
Please guide us through this day.
Please may we be completely receptive to Your Wisdom.
Please may we have Your Good Common Sense and Good Judgment to
discern right from wrong. Please
guide us to righteous empowerment, peace, and wisdom.
Please help us to focus on You and what is Your Will for us to
do. Please help us to
always listen to You. Please
help us to love You with our whole heart, soul, and mind, our entire
internal and external being.
Please help us to love and respect ourselves and our neighbors.
Help us to be honorable, good, and focused on our higher selves
and the higher selves of others.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please help us
to always connect with You, serve You, Love You and Enjoy You. Please take care of all of us in the world and please shower
Your Mercy upon us. Please
fill all of us with Your Wonderful Holy Sprit.
Please fill our hearts with wisdom, understanding, knowledge,
truth, grace, strength, love, guidance, peace, joy, kindness and mercy. Please help us to do Your Will and give honor and glory to
You. Please help us to
connect with you so that we will feel Your Happiness in us.
Please heal all of us in the world mentally, physically,
spiritually, and emotionally. Please
help us to feel righteously brave, strong, peaceful, loving and healed
in You. Please build up our
self-esteems. Please help
us to always respect ourselves and others.
May we always feel special and OK.
Please help us to hold our tongues from saying all those foolish
and unnecessary words that have no good fruit in them.
Please help us to always walk with dignity and self-respect as we
realize our royalty in Your Holy Family.
Please help us to realize how special we are to You.
Please help us to realize how much You Love us.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please help us
all to realize that we are Your wonderful creations!
Please help us to realize that when we connect to You, we are a
wonderful, holy, wholesome family in oneness with You.
Please help us to realize that we need to connect to each other
as Your Royal Holy Family.
My Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you for a
favor this day. Would You
please fill all the people of the world with Your Wonderful Healing
Love. Please may You fill to overflowing all the people of the
world with love, truth, peace, kindness, mercy, forgiveness,
understanding, wisdom and grace. Please
may You heal all the people of the world mentally, physically,
spiritually and emotionally. Please
may all the people in the world feel strong, brave, peaceful, and loving
in You, with Your wonderful healing power of Love flowing through us.
Please may you take away all our fears, prejudices and worries. Please may we just trust in You and Your Word.
Please may we have the faith to move mountains and the love to
help in the healing of our suffering world.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please kiss us,
embrace our hearts, heal our pain, and release us entirely from the
chains that bind us. Please
cleanse our heart, soul and mind from any evils so that we are pure and
clean to be Your Temple, Your Dwelling Place and Your Delight.
Please help us to give our best for Your Highest Good. Please may we be as free as eagles flying high in the sky,
powerful and focused on doing Your Will and respecting and nurturing
Your creations.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please may You
fill every one in the world with Your Powerful Holy Spirit. May Your Holy Spirit work in each and every person in a
powerful way creating Your Goodness and Likeness in all of our souls.
Please help us to love You, ourselves and all of Your creation.
Please may You fill our hearts and souls and minds with peace. Please help all of us to recognize the truth that Your
Holiness dwells in each one of us.
Please open our eyes so that we can see the Glory and Love of God
all around us, touching our spirits, our hearts, our souls and our
minds. May we always feel Your Presence beside us as we walk our
paths. Please protect us
all from all harm and guide us toward Your Light.
All Honor, Praise, and Glory be to Thy Holy Name.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please may You
continually clean all the governments and churches and leadership
positions of the world. Please
may You put good leaders in all the seats of power in the United States
and all over the world. Please
may these leaders love You, love your people and want to do Your Will. Please may these leaders have much wisdom, high intelligence
and excellent leadership skills. Please
may all these leaders give honor and glory to You.
Please instruct the United States and all the countries of the
world on peaceful ways in which these countries can continue to be
economically successful without violence or disrespect for man and the
common good of man. Please
bless the United States and all the countries of the world and
strengthen them with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, truth, grace,
courage, love and guidance. Please help us, all the people of the world, to continue to
build our countries into wonderful, good and holy places giving our
utmost for Your Highest Good. Please
may everyone in the world have adequate food, clothing, water, shelter,
love and knowledge to do Your Will and give honor and glory to You.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please may You
help us to be successful with our good endeavors.
Please help us to draw others closer to You by our good example
and good living. Please
help us to be kind, loving, honest, and fair to ourselves and to others. Please help us to develop our good talents and abilities.
Please fill our days with justice and mercy and may we all see
and defend the truth. Please
help us to learn what we need to know to do Your Will and to give honor
and glory to You. Please
help us to speak only the truth. Please
help us to be able to distinguish truth from lies and to only witness to
the truth. Please help us
to climb the ladder of success in doing Your Will.
Please help us to choose careers that are pleasing to You.
Please guide us to choose jobs that are right, that utilize our
talents effectively, that give us good feelings of fulfillment, with
good intentions for the higher good, good salaries, good benefits, good
locations, good people and work of which You approve.
My Dear Heavenly Father please may you
help us to be good role models for Your Higher Good.
Please help us to be good children, good single people, good
married people, and good families that reflect a “little bit of
heaven” here on earth for Your Honor and Glory.
Please may our hearts, minds and speech be totally fixed on
positive, good and wholesome things for Your Higher Good.
Please help all of us to let go of all the painful memories and
thoughts and worries. Please
help us to keep hopeful and hold onto the loving memories and thoughts
and Your Words, Wisdom, Creativity, Fruitfulness and Beauty.
My Dear Heavenly Father please help us to
protect and keep our world and environment safe from harm. Please renew and restore our earth. Please give us the power to do what is spiritually good.
Please may You heal all the people, animals, fish, insects,
creatures, plants and all living beings of the world.
Please may you heal the earth.
Please may You teach us how to take care of all the people,
animals, fish, insects, creatures, plants and all living beings of the
world. Please may You fill
the earth with peace, love, joy, happiness, respect and goodwill.
Please teach us how to take care of all the people, animals,
fish, insects, creatures, plants and all living things of the world.
Please may You instruct us in the ways to keep all living beings
and the earth healthy. Please
may You keep all living beings and the earth safe from improper
tampering. Please may You
protect us and all the people in the world from natural disasters,
accidents, famine, plague, illness, violence, and any forms of conflict.
Please may You guide us about what to do about earth changes to
keep us all safe.
My Dear Heavenly Father, please may You
cover all the people of the world with Your wonderful healing energy.
Please may Your healing, loving, empowering energy currents flow
freely, always and completely through us.
Please dislodge and completely clean and remove any blocks in our
being, so that we can receive your Holy Spirit.
May your Holy Spirit have completely free passage throughout us.
Please help us to be completely submissive and cooperative to
doing Your Will and giving honor and glory to You.
In the Name of My Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I pray through the
Power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Copyright © 2000 Lisa, Jennifer, Carol, and Kenneth CarlsonPrayer for the World Eternal Love June 17, 1997-A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Family |
