How do You do it?

Lord,

How do You do it?

~

For what You have done, You were never fully appreciated.

We are weak and our minds are dull; We can never fully comprehend

the depth and width of Your love and sacrifice.

Yet, Your love never ceases, nor does it diminish.

It goes on and on through eternity.

Despite the hurts and disappointments time and time again,

over the years, decades, centuries, millenium,

Your love goes on.

How do You do it?

~

Because it's so unconditional, it's often taken for granted.

Yet it goes on, always sacrificing, always loving.

It's a priceless gift given free, but so often trampled upon.

At times it even becomes an expectations that it ought to be given!

Sometimes the receiver feels this way:"

Since You've made a choice to give it, and You gave it willingly,

You should not expect returns."

Some people might say:

"Don't blame me for not appreciating it, I didn't force You to do that for me!"

Yet, Your love goes on.

How do You do it?

~

Giving in a measure that no returns can ever match up,

yet doing it willingly.

You must surely feel the pain.

There must have been times You wanted to give up,

times when You wonder if it's all worth it,

times when You thought about Yourself,

wondering what You'll get in return for Your sacrifice.

But yet You did what You did with such love and graciousness,

without a word of complaint, but in total submission,

and wanting nothing except to show Your love.

How do You do it?

~

It must have been such a lonely journey.

You are always in a crowd, but yet always alone.

But in loneliness, You reached out with Your love.

In loneliness, You had the strength to love

because You are love and love is You.

Everything You did, You did because You love.

Your love is so great and awesome,

unfathomable by human understanding.

Your never give up loving.

How do You do it?

~

Even when all at once,

the extend of Your love becomes crystal clear,

it is often quickly forgotten again.

Yet Your love goes on,

not wavered by the weaknesses of Your creation.

There must have been times when You thought:

"They finally understood!",

only to find that in a twinkling of an eye,

they have forgotten again.

You must have experienced heartaches after heartaches,

but Your love never ceases.

How to You do it?

~

No wonder Your greatest desire

is for us to know Your heart!

Nothing we offer will be compared to the joy of us knowing Your heart.

We are just like You, we too seek to be heard, to be understood,

to be emphatised with above all else.

We are Your creation, and that's why You have created in us

a heart that beats just like Yours.

~

But yet we can't compare to You,

because ever so often we only want to receive other's love,

but not to love others.

When we get hurt, discouraged and disappointed,

we choose to stop loving.

It is so hard to keep on loving in spite of the hurts,

so we don't.

But You did, and still keep on loving.

How do we find strength to love like You do?

How do we do it?

~

How do I do it?

God still answers prayers

A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?"

After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways.

It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, "God...If you still speak to people speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey."

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that you?" He didn't get a reply and started on toward home.

But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk. The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli."Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.

As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn Down that street. This is crazy he thought and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will".

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in semi commercialarea of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street."The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat.

"Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid." Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.Finally, he opened the door, "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here."

He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man could get away.

The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. "What is it?"The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, "Here, I brought this to you."

The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen.The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk. His wife in the kitchen yelled out, "I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?"

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.

He knew that God still answers prayers.