On the Shores

 

 

 

On the Shores

Jonathan and Melissa Helser

 

On the shores of my soul I give you permission

To wash my tears away

And take all my disappointment

And fill me with joy once again

I’m gonna sing out loud

And let my voice be heard

It’s a song of victory

And it’s ringing in the earth

 

On the top of my cage I am sitting

Above the shame so lonely

Your kindness it has lifted me

To see the way that you see

 

I'm gonna sing out loud

And let my voice be heard

It's a song of victory

And it's ringing in the earth!

Walking with Jesus from Incarnation to Ascension - Day 21 - God Loves Happy Endings!

All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
Ps. 22:27

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. 
Ps. 65:2 

[This post includes thoughts that came to me on the implications of Christ's work to wipe out sin and judgment, and how perhaps it includes all to such a degree that all will be restored to Him..I hope that nothing I have written is offensive. I just wanted to write out my thoughts, I hope noone is offended, I would never want to offend and am still trying to formulate my own beliefs about the scope of His work..I am just honestly sharing what I believe He has led me to see!]

Thinking of the good news about death and judgment led me to another wonderful thought about the future for us all. I love how Andre Rabe points out the verse that ‘it is appointed to man once to die, and then the judgment’ and how Jesus did that for us. I had never seen it that way, had always had a fear of judgment after death, even as a Christian. But since Jesus really went through that for me, as me, as the head of the human race, then He died (so all died) and after that He was judged innocent, proved by the fact that He rose from the dead (so all are judged innocent, and all rose with Him)! Hey, I’m getting excited! I don’t want to be off-topic, but does this mean there really is NO judgment after death for anyone at all? I mean, if Christ really already stood there for us, as us, in the after death judgment, then just like there is no sin left on us, no law left to judge us, then it makes sense there would be no judgment at all for us…right?

I am imagining what that would be like, to just know that everyone will go straight to the arms of God when they pass away! No ‘eternal conscious torment’ or ‘punishment/destruction from the presence of the Lord’ – just embrace, total acceptance, all tears wiped away, all flesh patterns and lies stripped away at the moment of death (for how could they carry over anyway, clinging as they do to the body and brain systems, and when we die it is spirit that goes to God, and later the body is resurrected incorruptible, glorified, and pure, right!!)..For it truly states that where there is forgiveness (and we know He forgave the whole world, reconciled the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them), there is no more offering/payment/debt/punishment for sin! He promised He will remember our sins no more, they don’t exist in His mind, so how could we be judged or held liable for them, how could we be rebuked, chastised or punished or have to pay for them in any way? The chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we all have been healed of the wounds of sin! Maybe we won’t all understand that here on earth, but maybe at death it all automatically ‘comes online’ as the last of the lies holding onto our flesh drop away! I know God desires a personal response from us, but I am now believing that at death we go from any lingering darkness straight into the light of His presence, and we know that lies can’t dwell in that light, fear is driven away by His presence of love, and with fear goes torment/fear of punishment! I think of the verse in Psalms that says all the families of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and that “unto You all flesh will come.” It makes sense that if not here on earth, at death all will see clearly and know as we are known, and thus all come straight into His arms! Its almost like I can barely hope it’s true, it just seems so beautiful and too good to be true, yet it truly honors Christ’s death as effective for all, truly lifts up His work as completely victorious over the mistake of Adam or the ruinous works of the enemy!

Jesus turned around and reversed death and judgment for us! And He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, bringing to manifestation the grace He’d given to us before the world even began!    It really seems to me now that there is no judgment, punishment, etc. after death for all humanity – wow! That there is only life and light and love to come!  That sin and death have truly lost and love and life have truly won!  That is such a beautiful thought and a blessed hope and expectation in my mind. I hope I haven’t said anything offensive to anyone, but could His love really be that big and that wide?  Wow, since it is truly Infinite love, how could it NOT be!

I believe God will accomplish this restoration of all hearts to Him without violating anyone's free will.  I truly believe all will gladly choose to enjoy the party that we’ve been brought into!  With all the lies stripped away, with everything about God revealed in all His loving and attractive glory as the One who truly satisfies our deepest desire (to be loved unconditionally), with all hindrances and barriers in our thinking removed, seeing Him face to face in PURE LOVE, everyone being the little children of God made in His image and thus naturally trusting God, looking toward God, and longing to be loved by Him, be in love relationship with Him, to just with our Papa, I believe we will all gladly choose Him..His love melting the hardest heart and revealing the desire we’ve had all along to just be with Him, embraced by Him and safe in His arms, and we’ll gladly sink into those arms that are holding us and just rest! (I think of how a hurting child will look for his mother or father and how the little one's face will light up when he sees him/her, how he runs to the parent and naturally reaches for his mother/father to hold him, naturally wants to be in that loving embrace, wants that love and special attention!  How much moreso with us and our heavenly Papa!) That is my hope! I wonder who could resist such love, and also that if we truly are in His image and thus with a good nature deep down at the core, that once all flesh is removed, and that good little inner child is able to do as he/she pleases without restraint, that that little one will naturally choose to nestle with bliss into Papa’s arms! In an even deeper way, I don't believe there will even be any thought to 'choosing' to enjoy Him or not - I believe our spirits will be so caught up in the enjoyment that there will be no thought of any other course!  This is my humble thought and what I feel God has brought me to see, and oh what peace it brings to my heart to know that He will have all safely home with Him, enjoying His love forever! 

He is pure love, He is a good Daddy, and He wouldn't have it any other way.  He wouldn't be satisfied or happy with any one of His children not enjoying His embrace..He wouldn't be satisfied or happy till every last one was accounted for and guaranteed to enjoy His lap forever with joy and happiness, enjoying that union relationship that Papa envisioned for each of us from before the foundation of the world!  His dream will come true!  He couldn't be happy any other way!  The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and He did it, He saved us all - it is finished!  Hallelujah!  My Papa loves happy endings, and through Jesus He has ensured a happy ending for all, hasn't He!

What Were We Created For?

What were we made for?
To be a servant or employee in God's business?
To further God's vast purpose of world domination?
To be a pawn on the chessboard in a cosmic match between God and Satan?
To give God a good return for His money, or else be discarded as useless?
NO!

We were made to be loved!
We were made to be the cherished children in Papa's family!
We were made for hugs and kisses!
We were made for long walks in the garden with God!
We were made for love songs, smiles and laughter!
We were made for friendship, companionship, and mutual sharing!
We were made for intimacy with our God!

Intimacy
Jonathan David Helser

These hands you made to hold yours, my love

These feet you shaped to walk with you in our garden

These eyes you placed to gaze upon your face

These lips you formed to kiss my beloved

I was made, I was made for intimacy

These ears you made to hear your rhythm of love

This voice you placed to sing songs of grace

This hair you wove, you numbered every strand

This gaze you love, it captures you with a glance

I was made, I was made for intimacy

Walking with Jesus from Incarnation to Ascension - Day 20 - Freed from Death, Freed from Judgment

• Death and Judgment, sounds so ominous and terrible! And yet – since the gospel means ‘good news’ and there is only good news and no bad news in the gospel, then thinking on Death and Judgment and Christ’s finished work is only going to bring GOOD news!   I want to take some words that have seemed like such bad news, carried such negative imagery, and see those concepts in light of the good news of grace:
  
  Death – He identified with me even in my death state and even went down to death, letting people kill Him. He took into Himself and absorbed into Himself my ‘death state’ and then He rose again, taking me with Him! I am forever freed from the eternal hold of death, death can’t have me, for He did not allow His holy one to see corruption and didn’t leave His soul in the grave, so the same will be true for me, tied as I am to Him! It’s already true in the eternal realm and my body WILL catch up with this reality, wow!
  Judgment – There is a legal verdict of ‘guilty’ that comes upon a lawbreaker. We had put ourselves under law (God never wanted that for us, never put us under it, His language is and has always been grace and not law!!) and so incurred judgment and had a legitimate debt we owed to God. (I love how He let all sin be against Him so He would be in the position of being able to let the debt go, and that is just what He did. It helps me understand the verse saying ‘He shut up all in disobedience so He could have mercy upon all.”…I also love how Andre pointed out that He judged sin in the flesh – He wasn’t judging me myself, my true self; instead He was judging sin that had taken hold of me in my body, judged the fake identity – flesh – that wasn’t the real me at all! It is almost like I felt guilty, I felt deserving of punishment, I felt I needed to die, I was judging myself as evil, but God wasn’t judging me or wanting to punish me! He was seeing the root problem behind my actions – the sin and lies that had ‘infected’ me like a virus! What a relief to find out He is a non-judgmental, non-punishing/punitive God! I am just finding out such wonderful things, and that helps me understand judgment in a better way, a way that brings such relief..but getting back to how Jesus dealt with judgment…I am always too long-winded, lol…) Jesus came and took all that judgment onto Himself when He identified with us in that low place of guilt and judgment and shame! He absorbed all that into Himself, and it is gone! God cancelled the debt against me – that’s forgiveness, wow, it means we don’t have to ‘pay’ for a wrong done, we’re released from owing anything or having to ‘make up’ for our wrong, that’s all cancelled!
  
  Sin – Not only did He absorb my guilt, judgment, feelings of alienation and shame, He also absorbed all the sin/unbelief that caused it, and He eliminated it, wiped it out, expiated it. And with the sin actually taken away and wiped out, absorbed and blotted out by Christ in His body, then my sins and iniquities are not only remembered by God NO MORE, they actually ARE NO MORE! I love how Andre Rabe says if it doesn’t exist in the mind of God, it doesn’t exist at all!
  
  Law – Jesus took away the document stating my guilt – the law – and nailed it to the cross. So I’m not under law anymore, I’m freed from it by going through death with Him! And that pretty much takes care of judgment and punishment all around, for if there is no sin to be judged and no law to do the judging, then I am home free and won’t ever be punished or held liable for any of my wrongs, unbelief, etc.! Where there is no law, there is no transgression..I am not even a transgressor at all anymore! Not a lawbreaker! For you can’t break a law if there is no law there to break! Wow, this good news just keeps getting ‘gooder and gooder’ – smile!
  
  Punishment - I want to say that just using that word ‘punishment’ is so uncomfortable now..I feel it isn’t the most accurate word to use…yet I was raised on such talk, and it is tough to get free of the penal substitutionary ideas I have heard all my life and ‘assumed’ were correct! The more I learn about non-violent atonement, Christus Victor and the healing model of the work of Christ, the more relieved I feel that God never wanted to or needed to ‘punish’ us, Christ, or anybody! Since the debt was owed to Him, He could choose whatever means He wanted to deal with it, and He chose to let it go, to forgive! When you forgive, you don’t demand a punishment/payment first in order to forgive, for that isn’t forgiveness at all but retribution, isn’t it? Forgiveness is when you let the debt go and don’t make the other party pay..they are off the hook, free and clear. It helps people be friends again..it is restorative! So I wanted to say I don’t like using that word ‘punishment’ and I don’t see our dear Papa as a punishing God anymore..love does no harm, and THAT is actually fulfilling the law – to love, to do no harm! How amazing is that! I always thought the law demanded my punishment! But Jesus fulfilled the law not by punishing me or being punished for me so much as by forgiving me even when I/we killed Him, by not retaliating! His love for me/us was the ultimate fulfillment of the law, wasn’t it, the ultimate obedience of loving God and others! He truly fulfilled the law in a way I hadn’t thought of before..oh, how wonderful He is..
  
  My friend Andrea made a statement in response to this post that I want to include here:  "So beautiful how you say, “It is almost like I felt guilty, I felt deserving of punishment, I felt I needed to die, I was judging myself as evil, but God wasn’t judging me or wanting to punish me!” Yeah…So our judgment and our punishment were self-imposed, could that be? We hid (in Adam), we ran, we covered up, we accused… wasn’t all that kind of a self-jugdment? Whereas God looked for us, sought our fellowship, called us, clothed us… but we would not be able to bear His glory, His love, His fellowship. Because we had decided to do it our own way, to judge things through our own eyes. We had fallen into perceiving everything “after the flesh”.
  Now, could it be that is was our own sinful perception that was nailed to the cross? Wasn’t Jesus – having been made sin (2 Cor 5:21) – nailed to the cross? Could it be that it was our self-imposed VERDICT, judgment and punishment that hung nailed up there? The handwriting with our names on it? The handwriting written in our own names… ?!"
  
  
• Andrea's comments blew me away, for she wrote so clearly about self-judgment and how that maybe was what was nailed to the cross, wow! That He never was judging/condemning us as guilty or bad, but we were judging ourselves!  I want to really ponder that! That whole perception of ourselves being nailed to the cross, the handwriting we wrote against ourselves, wow! He was never against us! It is so freeing to see just how good He is, better and more loving than I ever imagined. I still have lots of questions about the law and why it was given, etc. But it is slowly coming together in my mind that HE was never about law and judgment, WE were because we were living in that way of thinking (good and evil, trying to become better and stop doing bad, demands and restrictions, rewards and punishments, performance based acceptance, judgment)..but HE was always about grace, acceptance, love and union relationship without regard to good or bad, performance, earning, etc.! 

It is so great to go forward into new and grace-filled ways of thinking about Papa and the cross and to discard some of the old and hurtful, shame-based, fearful ways of thinking about them! Truly when we see what He has done we want to just melt into His arms, we feel no fear, we know that there is nothing hindering our access to Him, and really we find we are already with Him and have been all along! Christ is truly the living way of showing us our perfect and unhindered access to the Father, showing us the fellowship and intimacy that is ours for the enjoying, now and forever!

I've seen I am

Walking with Jesus from Incarnation to Ascension - Day 19 - Pictures of Redemption

 [For] You know that in the past you were living in a ·worthless [meaningless; futile; vain; way, a way passed down from ·the people who lived before you [your ancestors]. But you were saved [ransomed; redeemed] from that useless life. You were ·bought [ransomed; redeemed; like a slave whose freedom was purchased by a payment - not a payment to the devil or to God, but simply what it cost Jesus to enact His rescue plan, what He was willing to do to get us free], not with something that ·ruins [perishes; spoils] like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, who was like ·a pure and perfect lamb [a lamb without defect or blemish.   
1 Peter 1:18-9  Expanded Bible

I find it hard to wrap my mind around the meaning of the word “redemption” – when I think of the way the word is used in this world, I think of someone who has ruined others’ opinions of him by doing some wrong act, and how that person may try to ‘redeem’ himself in the others’ eyes by acting in a good way..almost as if he is trying to show he is not all bad, that there is still good in him. I think of the word redeem and how it is made up of a prefix and root – ‘re-deem’ – and I know that to deem something would be to value it, to judge it worth something, so to re-deem must be similar to showing something as valuable again. Perhaps this thing's value has been forgotten, and now it is revealed and seen again, thus it is re-deemed as valuable.  I don’t know if my thinking is correct, but it helps me to think that even though we did some very wrong acts when we lost sight of who we truly we (and whose we were!), that there was still inherent value in us, that we were not ‘all bad’ even in the midst of our worst actions, thoughts and words. Jesus redeemed me – maybe that partly means that He still saw value in me when I had lost sight of it, still saw the good nature deep within me (the image of God Himself, His own DNA in my framework!)..He saw me as someone worth rescuing from the lie-trap I had gotten into. He saw me as valuable, worth saving, worth having..He saw me as worth His own precious blood, He deemed me valuable and caused me to be re-deemed – re-valued in this life and world. So I can value myself again, I don’t have to be floundering in shame or guilt! There is something beautiful in me, always has been, always will be – it is the good inner core person that God made me to be from eternity past, the inner child, in union with God in essence, purpose, desire and nature! I am worth having around! I am actually good, a ‘good egg!’ I am even worth dying for, for that is what He was willing to do to ‘redeem’ me…

I am reminded of the verse in the Message Bible in Is 43:

“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
it won’t be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.
So don’t be afraid, I’m with you…”

He sees me as so valuable He would trade creation itself to get me back to enjoying the fellowship with Him that is my birthright as His child! The fact that He would give up His own life, shed His own precious blood (for that was what it cost Him), to free me from the trap of lies and bondage of sin gives me value and shows my worth to Him – thank You, Jesus! Redemption includes that very act, doesn’t it, that act of Jesus freeing us from bondage to lies, the enemy, sin, etc. He freed us from it all, hallelujah! Slowly I learn what redemption is, and how big and beautiful this word truly is for us!

The picture came to my mind of a little girl who was lured away from her family and taken captive by an evil man, enslaved by him and told over and over that she was an unwanted nothing with no home or family…so after a while she begins to believe and live out of this lie, an empty life of drudgery and hopelessness and shame. But then one day a regal man comes to the evil person’s residence..and the evil slave-owner shrivels in fear and hides from the man’s presence! He is truly royal and great in bearing, yet there is an amazing gentleness about him! He has been on a great journey, perilous and costly to himself, yet he will not stop till he succeeds in his quest..He looks around and suddenly a flash of recognition comes to his face! He points to the young girl in her tattered slave clothes, and with great authority in his voice, says, “This one is not an orphaned slave, she is my Father, the King’s, own child!” The girl looks up into the man’s gentle face and sees that she closely resembles him, with the same mannerisms and features, the same smile and tilt of the head, even! Could it really be true? Her heart leaps at the thought…The kind young man takes her in his arms and carries her safely home and runs up to the throne and puts her right on her royal Father’s lap – and the Father hugs her tightly to Himself as all her fears and anguish from all the lonely years just melts away…and they lived happily ever after! This is redemption to me! Someone comes into my enslaved existence and declares that I belong to and with Him, for He has a prior claim on my life that is before the slave-owner’s claim! He comes and claims me for His own, claims me as His valuable dear one who is related to Him and of the same source, the Father Himself – oh, how much value I am shown to have!! And He frees me from the grip of the slave-owner! And we live happily ever after with the Father!

I can imagine the voice of Jesus saying what I feel is the message of redemption to the trapped young girl, to me: “You’re not forgotten, you’re wanted. You’re not neglected, you’re cared for. You’re not forsaken, you’re embraced. You’re not lost, I’ve found you. You’re not hopeless, I’ve taken up your cause. You’re not alone, I’m with you. You’re not broken, you’re whole. You’re not sinful, you’re good. You’re not wretched, you’re lovable. You’re not vulnerable, you’re safe. You’re not spinning out of control, everything is all right now. You’re not estranged, you’re part of the family. You’re not a nobody, you’re my somebody! You’re not trash, you’re a treasure. You’re not ruined, you’re restored. You’re not bound, I’ve freed you! You’re not an enemy, you’re my friend. You’re not distant from me, I’ve got you in my arms. You’re not cast away, you belong with me! You’re not a misfit, you fit in with me. You’re not unnoticed, you’ve got my full attention. You’re not an orphan slave, you’re a royal daughter! You’re not unimportant, I’d give my life for you! You are delivered, you are safe, you are worthy, you are REDEEMED!

As the old song says, “Redeemed how I love to proclaim it, His child and forever I am!”

"Happy" by Pharrell Williams

Our family loves this wonderful song from a movie we saw recently..and I just wanted to share it here..a happy day to all!  So thankful that HE is our inner happiness, no matter what, yay!

Walking with Jesus from Incarnation to the Ascension - Day 18 - Word Became Flesh

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.    John 1:14  NKJ

¹⁴ The Word became ·a human [flesh] and ·lived [made his home; pitched his tabernacle; God’s glorious presence dwelt in Israel’s tabernacle in the wilderness] among us. We saw his ·glory [majesty]—the glory that belongs to the ·only Son [one and only;only begotten] ·of [who came from] the Father—and he was full of ·grace and truth [God’s gracious love and faithfulness.   John 1:14 Expanded Bible

The Word became flesh! Jesus entered into my experience as a human being, with all its ups and downs, all its inconsistencies and confusion, all its struggles and suffering! He entered into my hell, came and joined me in my suffering – the suffering caused by others’ sin against me and the suffering from my own sin that I perpetrated. He understood me, He loved me, He took my side and was in solidarity with me there in the midst of my hurt and pain…He took my side as a victim of sin and lies and the enemy’s ploys, and He even took my side as a perpetrator of wrong actions toward others. He cared about me and understood me, had nothing but non-judgmental love for me there in my pain, frailty, weakness and humanity! I am not alone, He is beside me! I am not forgotten, He remembers me! I am not rejected, He accepts me! I am not judged, I am understood!

He judged and condemned sin in the flesh – He judged sin, not me! He came saying that there was something foreign that had caused havoc in my life, but that thing was not me and not part of my design or true make-up. Oh, what a relief to know that sin isn’t the deepest truth about me! He showed me what human life really is like, showed me what God really did when He made a human, showed me – in Himself – a mirror of my own self! And so in Him I find out that I am not a sinner with a sinful nature, that is not my identity, but that I am God’s child, special, valuable, truly priceless, and I am made in His image and therefore good and loving at the core. I may be sitting in a hell-hole, even one of my own creation, but He is there with me reminding me that I am truly royalty, truly beautiful, truly good deep down inside, truly God’s dear child. I may feel unlovable and unloved, rejected and alone, but He is there with me reminding me I am unconditionally loved, radically accepted, and will never be alone! He is there pointing to the fact that I belong. I belong to God. I am part of His family. I come from Him. I am made of Him. I am therefore good and beautiful and connected with Him always. I find my true self looking in Jesus’ eyes and seeing myself there. He displays for me who I truly am, what humanity really is – the expression of God Himself!

Then there is the cross and resurrection! There He delivers the death blow to sin, eradicating it and taking it away from me. He takes away that which was always foreign to me so that the real, true, authentic me can be revealed and expressed fully in my life! He frees me from the foreign oppressor of lies and legalistic/performance oriented ideas. He frees me to be my true self, my real self. And the resurrection vindicates that true self, that innocent self! He rises from the dead, proving my innocence! It is amazing! I always thought I was a shameful, dirty, rotten-at-the-core, worthless person. Yet through the cross He shows me I am loved just as I am in the mess of my life, I am worth dying for, and He shows me that sin isn’t the deepest part about me, but is actually not me at all. And the resurrection goes and proves that even more, for it vindicates me as innocent! I am revealed to be an innocent little child, pure and sweet, loving and good just like my Papa! Thank You, Jesus, for becoming flesh and taking on my condition, getting rid of the sin/lie was binding me and hurting me. And thank you for showing me, through Your incarnation, who I truly am – not a bad, rejected, rotten person but a good, innocent, loving child, God’s child, God’s beloved child!

His Love Cannot Fail - His Love Has Won!

Our Papa's love is a love that leaves no child behind, leaves no child out in the cold, leaves no child to fend for himself, leaves no child unloved or uncared for - His is a love that has every one of us, His children, wrapped securely in His arms, tenderly caressed, cherished and adored, safe and sound for all eternity!

I am so thankful we are all wrapped up in a love that cannot fail, a love that brings all the lost and hurting children home, that reveals that we have always been home in His heart and always will be! No matter what story plays out in our lives here on this planet, the bigger story of His love will always be true and will trump every lesser story of sin, shame, fear, confusion and doubt! What a relief to be safe in the arms of the One who IS reality itself, Love Himself, Life Himself! We can't escape Him, hallelujah! In Him we live and move and have our being! We are in Love and we are never going to be out of that Love that holds the universe, holds our existence, holds our end from the beginning, holds our hearts!!

"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you."    Ps. 22:27

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you!"     Col. 1:19-21a 

This is such a relief! Love cannot fail, love never fails, love wins, love has truly won! It brings such deep peace to my heart to know we are all safe with Papa and will experience the joy of that safe embrace! Love never left us, love never abandoned us, love never failed us and never will! He came as Savior of the world and He was successful, He saved the world from all the twisted lies we believed, which were keeping us from really knowing and experiencing the wonderful love relationship with Him, the oneness with Him, that was ours all along! How wonderful to now enjoy this oneness of relationship, this communion of hearts, this mutual sharing! How wonderful to walk through life and eternity with such a Friend inside of us! How wonderful to be won over by Love Himself, inundated with His waves of affection and swept away in His gaze of tender acceptance and joy! How wonderful to be celebrated and cherished by our Papa from now on through all eternity!