Tidbits on the Journey

I have been thinking about my engagement to the King of kings...wondering where did the time go, how did the transition happen and why did I miss it? Been getting a few tidbits here and there...what a better way to spend your Sunday then pondering those tidbits with Him!

I have looked at what it means to serve, but what is a friend. Yep consulted my friend Webster...don't you just love him and all his information....any who a friend is: a person attached to another by affection or esteem, a favored companion. His favored companion....yep sounds good to me. Favored -- having an appearance or features of a particular kind, endowed with special advantages or gifts, providing preferential treatment. Having an appearance or features of God, endowed by God with special advantages or gifts, provided by God preferential treatment. Aren't you glad you are God's favorite! Of course His word says He doesn't have favorites, but in an essence He most certainly does....His favorite is each and everyone of His created people...and God created us all so we all get to be His favorite...cool thought huh?

When we have a favored companion or friend we go out of our way to bless them. We do little things to make them smile and show them that we care. We look for and do things to help our friends. We are faithful and loyal to the things our friends put in our care....their thoughts, emotions, secrets, and sometimes personal possessions. Father God & Jesus take that same care for us, does little things to make us smile and bless us....a beautiful sunset that takes your breathe away, pinpointing out to us the Father's wonderful creation in the sight of a lone deer in a field on a foggy morning...ah majestic. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for His friends....He laid down His very life for them/us.

Somewhere I went from just a servant of God to being His friend. I didn't realize it but I was searching out the scripture to find things that He takes delight in like Esther. You know Esther went through 1 year of preparation for her one night with the King....she could wear whatever she chose to wear on her one night with the king....she could select the meal to be served...choose which jewelry to wear, what perfume to scent her bath with....but Esther chose only to wear what pleased the King, chose only to eat what pleased the King. Somewhere on my journey of serving Him, my desires and choices took a back seat....I started seeking out what pleased my Lord and Savior. I still seek daily ways to bless Him....I search my heart and sing the praises I find within...sometimes it doesn't sound much more then "I love You Lord" over and over and over again, but somehow it still manages to catch His attention, to bless Him and make Him blush. I was so focused on my Lord I missed the transition!

Now I am on the leg of the journey like Esther, the bridal preparation. I am reading a good book..."Completely His, Loving Jesus Without Limits" by Shannon Ethridge and I came across a passage that made me look upon communion with different eyes....from the eyes of the engaged. Ms. Ethridge writes "I saw a video series produced by Focus on the Family and narrated by biblical scholar Ray Vander Laan. Mr. Vander Laan explains that in biblical times a bride-to-be had a say in whether she would marry her potential groom. After he had negotiated a bridal price for her, the groom would seek her approval of the arrangement by pouring a cup of win and handing it to her. By this act, he was saying 'I offer you my life'. At that moment the potential bride had a decision to make. If she did not care to marry the man, she could refuse the cup. But if she was willing to marry him, she would take the cup and drink from it. By her actions, she was saying, 'I receive your life, and I give you mine in return.' Then preparations would begin for a wedding celebration, which included the grooms returning to his father's house to build an additional room where the marriage would eventually be consummated."

Think about the Last Supper....Jesus served the first communion. Jesus when offering the cup to His disciples was in essence saying "will you marry me?" I now look at communion from a different perspective....Jesus is asking me to marry Him and the cry of my heart is YES my Lord, YES. Jesus promised the disciples that He would prepare a place for them & you in John 14:1-3. How awesome is my Lord, that I am my Beloved's and His desire is towards me.