edwin missing you!

good evening! this is my last post for today, before i go to bed. it has been a long week, and i am glad that tomorrow is the start of a new week with new challenges!!! i made this tag yesterday as i was playing with my new Tattered Angels Glimmer mist, and i colored the picture of Edwin this evening with my Distress Inks. i only added some distress stickles to the wings for a very subtle shimmer - you can hardly see it here in the picture. poor Edwin looks so forlorn, i was sure that he was missing someone..........maybe Tilda? maybe he was not missing someone, but he was sad that he had missed OUT on something. i heard a very powerful message today.
our minister started preaching last Sunday about Jonah. this was the first time i heard the message presented in such a powerful way. how God gave Jonah something to do, and Jonah thought he could run away from God, and NOT do what he was supposed to do. today the message expanded - talking about how God uses messengers in various forms to try and keep us on track. people, sermons, aches and pains, situations etc etc, and how we mostly ignore these messengers when they cross our paths. Jonah took a ship to Tarsus instead of going to Nineve like he was supposed to. while he was fast asleep on the ship, a wind came up. the wind turned into a massive storm, so bad that the sailors had to throw stuff overboard. finally it was realised that Jonah was the cause of the problem, and he eventually also had to admit that he was a servant of the true God after all the sailors prayed to their gods for relief - to no avail. we are just like Jonah. God sends a gentle wind to warn us of something - and we ignore it. then he sends lightening, and we ignore it. then He sends hail and galeforce winds, and we still ignore Him. sometimes it takes UNBELIEVERS to wake us up and say, hey, what are you doing? i thought someone who proclaims to be a Christian is not supposed to lie, slander, live in sin, swear, be intolerant, be manipulative, selfish, miserable, etc etc, or we try to run so far away from God that only when we are really down in the dumps and have NOWHERE else to go, we turn back to Him. like the prodigal son. only when he was living amongst the pigs, did he know to go back to his Father's house. the beauty of that story is that the Lord is always ready to welcome you back - with open arms. a story is told of a soldier who fought in WW2. he suffered a great pain in his right leg. after the war ended, he lead a very exemplary life. he was in church every Sunday, he read his Bible, he was a kind and gentle man and was just a real example of how a Christian should be. his leg started getting better. one day it was healed completely. he gradually stopped going to church, reading his Bible and stopped living the way he was supposed to live. the pain in his leg returned, and he ended up in a wheelchair. one of his friends, upon visiting him, one day, sympathised. the man replied " don't sympathise with me. the pain in my leg was God's reminder always that i needed Him. when the pain disappeared, i forgot about God. i am now where i am supposed to be. if i did not forget and ignore God's messenger, i would not be here today". we need to remember that we cannot HIDE from God. He has searched for us since the Garden of Eden. He rejoices when ONE single lost soul returns. He will try and find you and never give up on you. there will always be slight reminders of where you are suppose to be and what you are supposed to be doing in order to live in His will. God will never force you. He wants you to have a fulfilled life. but He cannot give you all the blessings He has in store for you, if you ignore the debt you are supposed to pay, the person you have to forgive, if you complain all the time, if you covet what your neighbour has, if you live in sin, if you KNOW you are supposed to let go of something, a bad habit, a deep rooted hate for someone or something. and you cannot only let Him in into certain areas of your life. when we invite JESUS into our hearts, we have to CLEAN house, and let Him occupy ALL the rooms. we cannot hide. Psalm 139:7-8 "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in HELL, behold, You are there." don't try to hide. surrender your ALL to Jesus and become FREE. He loves you and is waiting for you. don't ignore His messengers. don't delay. have a super week, friends, and remember to SMILE while you do LIFE!!!!