Sharing the Hope and the Love

So you probably know how much I love reading (and sharing) the Jesus Calling Devotional each day.  So I was pretty excited when I found out there was a Spanish version!  Then I found out there was an iPhone app IN SPANISH!!  So I could share without either having to retype or translate it from English to Spanish.  My friend Lindsay and I searched by topic and found a few that we felt were really meaningful to print out and share with some of our new or soon to be girl friends.  Then I thought....why don't we print out a few each day and just randomly share them with people we come across!  So each day I print at least three, wrap them on scrapbook paper and wrap them in some raffia.

Originally we were going to share them with the women on the side of the road near my home that we suspected were prostitutes.  Then once we had them printed out...do you think we could find even one prostitute?  NOPE

So we decided to share with ANY woman that we see.  Or tuck them in the linen closet of a hotel in between the sheets and towels.  I am even thinking of just dropping one on the ground so it can find the one person who needs to hear what Jesus wants to say to them that day.

I was really surprised by the reactions.  Most of the women we gave them to lit up and smiled and said "muchas gracias" (thank you very much).  They held onto them for a while before they opened them.  One woman handed hers to a friend since she couldn't read.

Lindsay gave one to a woman yesterday and got the same reaction.  As she sat down for her breakfast she took her glasses and put them on to read it.  She later found Lindsay and thanked her and told her that God sent that message personally to her.  So amazing!  So blessed to be able to touch these women with a little bit of God's love!

If you aren't aware of Jesus Calling it is a devotional written like a love letter to us from Jesus.  The author shares the words God put on her heart as she read through scripture and journaled about what she heard.

"Jesus Calling" is a devotional filled with uniquely inspired treasures from heaven for every day of the year. After many years of writing in her prayer journal, missionary Sarah Young decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever she believed He was saying to her. It was awkward at first, but gradually her journaling changed from monologue to dialogue. She knew her writings were not inspired as Scripture is, but journaling helped her grow closer to God.

Here is the devotional for today:

Jesus Calling ~ June 14

I have loved you with an everlasting Love. Before time began, I knew you. For years you swam around in a sea of meaninglessness, searching for Love, hoping for hope. All that time I was pursuing you, aching to embrace you in My compassionate arms.

When time was right, I revealed Myself to you. I lifted you out of that sea of despair and set you down on a firm foundation. Sometimes you felt naked—exposed to the revealing Light of My Presence. I wrapped an ermine robe around you: My robe of righteousness. I sang you a Love song, whose beginning and end are veiled in eternity. I infused meaning into your mind and harmony into your heart. Join Me in singing My song. Together we will draw others out of darkness into My marvelous Light.

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

—Jeremiah 31:3

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

—Isaiah 61:10

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

—1 Peter 2:9 nkjv

Here is the Spanish version:

Jesus te llama ~ junio 14

YO TE HE AMADO con un amor eterno. Antes que comenzara el tiempo yo ya te conocía. Durante años tú te moviste en un mar de sinsentido, buscando amor, esperanza. Todo ese tiempo yo anduve tras ti anhelando tenerte en mis brazos compasivos.

Cuando fue el tiempo me revelé a ti. Te saqué de ese mar de desesperación y te puse sobre un fundamento firme. Hubo ocasiones en que te sentiste desnudo, expuesto a la luz reveladora de mi Presencia. Te arropé con una capa de armiño: mi capa de justicia. Te canté una canción de amor, cuyo comienzo y final están cubiertos en eternidad. Infundí sentido a tu mente y puse armonía en tu corazón. Une tu voz a la mía para cantar mi canción. Juntos traeremos a otros de las tinieblas a mi luz maravillosa.

Jehová se manifestó a mí hace ya mucho tiempo, diciendo: Con amor eterno te he amado; por tanto, te prolongué mi misericordia. 

—Jeremías 31.3

Me deleito mucho en el SEÑOR; me regocijo en mi Dios. Porque él me vistió con ropas de salvación y me cubrió con el manto de la justicia. Soy semejante a un novio que luce su diadema, o una novia adornada con sus joyas.

—Isaías 61.10 (NVI)

Pero ustedes no son así porque son un pueblo elegido. Son sacerdotes del Rey, una nación santa, posesión exclusiva de Dios. Por eso pueden mostrar a otros la bondad de Dios, pues él los ha llamado a salir de la oscuridad y entrar en su luz maravillosa.

—1 Pedro 2.9 (NTV)

Jesus is calling you....will you answer?