I’m Emily Werness and first of all, PRAISE GOD I have raised 23% of my June 24th deadline/5% of my overall fundraising goal! Thank you to all who have been praying and who have given – thank you!!
This has been on my mind lately – just how much the Almighty God of the universe loves us.
What love is this?? He knows each one of us completely and is never surprised at what crazy trouble we get ourselves into next. When the covenant in the garden was broken, God already had a plan for redemption, for restoration and renewal. He didn’t abandon us and throw up his hands saying, “Oh you people, I just can’t deal with you anymore!” and leave us to our our deserved end.
Isaiah gave us a picture of what was coming:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” -Isaiah 7:14
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.” -Isaiah 43:18-19
God responds in a manner befuddling to most – with grace and mercy. He himself came down to earth to be with us – to dwell among us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
– See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Immanuel#sthash.T3nqPBJb.dpuf
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
– See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Immanuel#sthash.T3nqPBJb.dpuf
God loved us enough to come down himself and live with us – to get down in the dirt of our human hearts and lives and pitch his tent with us. After all, his name Immanuel means God with us!
Through Jesus Christ the covenant with God is renewed – it is RESTORED.
Because of that freedom, because of his redeeming love, we are called to follow his example and LOVE:
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” – 1 John 4:10-12
He wants us to be like him – to be his love to others. That’s what I want to do – pitch my tent metaphorically and probably literally with others. I want to intentionally invest in others where they are at and just love them like Christ. The World Race will fulfill this quite literally – as I will most likely be living in a tent a majority of the time!
I’m Emily Werness and my guess is God is a fan of camping 🙂
