{"id":22512,"date":"2023-06-15T10:45:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T14:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22512"},"modified":"2023-06-15T11:24:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T15:24:22","slug":"god-delights-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=22512","title":{"rendered":"God Delights in US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"David Crowder Band - How He Loves Us (Slideshow + Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GzfPHnoT0-0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jesuit priest Greg Boyle founded Homeboy Industries, a gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program. He shares stories of the men and women he works with who demonstrate that each of us is sacred, no matter what we\u2019ve been through: &nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joel, a man who did considerable time in prison, told me, \u201cWhen my toes hit the floor in the morning, I\u2019m on the lookout.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn the lookout for what?\u201d I asked him. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<strong>For God,\u201d he said. \u201cGod is always leaving me hints. He\u2019s dropping me anonymous tips all the time.\u201d This is the God of love trying to break through. This God will not be outdone in extravagant tenderness. <\/strong>Leaving hints as \u201cdeep as the nether world or high as the sky,\u201d as the prophet Isaiah reminds us [7:11]. <strong>We get to choose: the god who judges and is embarrassed [by us], or the One who notices and delights in us. <\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Greg Boyle or \u201cG,\u201d as he is affectionately known, tells the story of Anthony, a trainee at Homeboy Industries who has three daughters:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Half of Anthony\u2019s life had been spent in jails and detention facilities. Before coming to us, a meth addiction crippled him surely as much as his earlier gang allegiance did. We\u2019re speaking in my office one day and he tells me that he and his twin brother, at nine years old, were taken from their parents and a house filled with violence and abuse and sent to live with their grandmother. \u201cShe was the meanest human being I\u2019ve ever known,\u201d Anthony says. Every day after school, every weekend, and all summer long, for the entire year Anthony and his twin lived with her (until they ran away), they were forced to strip down &#8230; sit in this lonely hallway &#8230; and not move. \u201cShe would put duct tape over our mouths \u2026 cuz \u2026 she said, \u2018I hate the sound of your voices.\u2019\u201d Then Anthony quakes as the emotion of this memory reverberates. \u201cThis is why,\u201d he says, holding a finger to his mouth, \u201cI never shush my girls.\u201d He pauses and restores what he needs to continue. \u201cI love the sound &#8230; of their voices. In fact, when the oldest one grabs a crayon and draws wildly on the living room wall and my wife says, \u2018DO something! Aren\u2019t ya gonna TELL her something?\u2019 I crouch down, put my arm around my daughter, and the two of us stare at the wall, my cheek resting on hers, and I point and say, \u2018Now, <em>that\u2019s<\/em> the most magnificent work of art &#8230; I have ever seen.\u2019\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here is the Good News: The God we most deeply want IS the God we actually have, and the god we fear is, in fact, the partial god we\u2019ve settled for. God looks at us and is ecstatic. This God loves the sound of our voices and thinks that all of us are a magnificent work of art. \u201cYou\u2019re here.\u201d God\u2019s cheek resting on ours. God\u2019s singular agenda item. &nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My loving God, You are my Strength! I begin this day feeling weak and weary, but that\u2019s okay. <strong>My weakness is a reminder of my dependence on You. I need to remember that You are continually with me, and You will help me as I go along my way. So I take hold of Your hand in joyful trust\u2014asking You to strengthen me and guide me.<\/strong> I delight in Your loving Presence! Whenever I\u2019m feeling inadequate for the task ahead, it\u2019s crucial for me to stop and think about my resources. You, my Strength, are infinite: You never run out of anything! <strong>So when I work in collaboration with You, I must not set limits on what can be accomplished. Instead, I will depend on You to give me everything I need for this endeavor.<\/strong> Whether I reach the goal quickly or gradually, I know I\u2019ll get there in Your perfect timing. Thus, I can refuse to let delays or detours discourage me. Help me to keep moving forward step by step\u2014and to trust wholeheartedly that You know what You are doing. <strong>I\u2019m learning that perseverance and trust make a potent combination! In Your strong Name, Jesus, Amen <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 59:16\u201317; But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for&nbsp;you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. 17 You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ISAIAH 41:13; For I am the Lord your God. who takes hold of your right hand. and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PHILIPPIANS 4:13 NASB; I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ISAIAH 40:28\u201329; Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.&nbsp;29&nbsp;He gives strength to the weary<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 174). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesuit priest Greg Boyle founded Homeboy Industries, a gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program. He shares stories of the men and women he works with who demonstrate that each of us is sacred, no matter what we\u2019ve been through: &nbsp; Joel, a man who did considerable time in prison, told me, \u201cWhen my toes hit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22512"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22519,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22512\/revisions\/22519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}