Frozen ground, frozen power lines, frozen everything--ask our friends from the north, Canadian and American about the Ice Storm of '98! They finally would return to normal life--heat, electricity, all the conveniences we take for granted. BUT what about the people? Did they freeze too? Sure--they probably shivered alot--but not their hearts! For storm survivors tell stories of wonderful, caring, warm people reaching out to one another in distress. The ground may have been frozen, but their hearts certainly were not!
Ever meet an icicle with a cold, chilling stare, or an ice cube that says, "I'm not ABOUT to warm you up with MY smile or kind word!" Or...let's bring the "freeze" just a little bit closer to home...maybe YOU are the one with the chill, the heart that won't melt for God or anyone else. You've been discouraged, hurt, disappointed--and it's NEVER gonna happen again. So you just FREEZE, like the fun games we used to play as children. But it's not fun--it's a feeling freeze--the icicles are pointed, jagged, sharp, with not a sign that they will ever melt.
And now it's Valentine's Day--warmth, love, laughter, and mushy cards stare you in the face, and you'd like to scream to the whole, wacky world, "Chill!" And you just might--some lucky person may get blown away with your frozen fury...but deep inside you must admit, there's is a yearning to be warm once again--to feel love, to give love, to know love. All is not lost. For you see, GOD Himself is Love, and He has the answer, in His heart-warming WORD for you today. And that's ALL we need, just HIS Word. Come to the Well--whether you're the frozen one, or you live with the frozen one--it's time for a meltdown!
God is Love!
The warmth of His love will melt your frozen heart--
if you let Him!
"...I have loved thee with an everlasting love;
therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee (Jeremiah 31:3 KJV)."
"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:8-10 KJV)."
God Loves People!
The warmth of His love will help you love them too--
if you let Him!
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (1 John 4:11 KJV)."
"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God (1 John 4:7 KJV)."
God Loves You!The warmth of His love will help you love yourself
--if you let Him!
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16 KJV)."
"Jesus said...Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matthew 22:;37, 39 KJV)."
Is God's Word powerful enough to melt the frozenness of your heart? Yes--but God, in all His power and might, cannot melt your heart, without YOUR permission. The choice is up to you...if you are tired of the coldness you feel, then I beg you to take that frozen heart to His Word. Saturate yourself in its warmth, its life, and its love--He is there to help, but YOU must take the first step. He'll be there--for no one on earth loves you more, or will ever love you as He does. Take the frozen fragments of that broken heart to the God whose heart was broken for you. He will hold the pieces gently in His strong and tender hands--He will mend them, and you will be warmed once again.
The secret to a meltdown? It's found in God's love, in His presence, and in His Word, His divine love letter to you. It's all up to you. Reach for it, and the ice storm of your heart will end. He loves you, and He waits to warm you with His love...
A Hurting Word...