Hell.
A subject most of us would rather avoid.
Who really likes to think about hell?
To think of people in agony forever.
Forever separated from their creator and Father.
Millions.
Suffering.
Even worse to think of an individual,
someone you know and love
possibly being there.
But, sticking my head in the sand
doesn’t change reality.
Every minute someone enters eternity
without Christ.
God’s word says without Christ,
we will spend eternity in hell.
Our culture doesn’t like that truth.
Our world today doesn’t like absolutes.
But, human nature has been drawn to sin since the Garden
and the root of sin is rebellion.
We don’t want anyone telling us what we “must” do.
We want to make our own rules.
Create our own path.
The only problem is
it is impossible to reach heaven “our” way.
Only what is perfect can enter heaven.
Only one man has ever lived a perfect life.
Jesus Christ.
He is the connection.
He is the way.
He is our ticket to heaven.
He allows us to enter because
He paid for our sin
with His perfect blood.
If only we would all reach out
and accept His gift of life!
We don’t have to spend eternity in agony.
We can spend eternity in the joy of heaven.
Please open your heart.
Open your mind.
Yield to the only one who can give you
the gift of eternal life in heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ.

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18

Posted on Sunday 20 of July, 2008 [17:26:24 UTC]

::It is really hard to look in the mirror
and see the beauty fading.
The outer shell wasting away.
It shatters the illusion
that this life is lasting.
I see the grey hair that keeps taking over
no matter how I try to cover it up.
I see my skin changing.
The girl I once was is gone.
I know that if God allows me to live long enough,
I won’t recognize myself anymore.
Our bodies are wasting away.
From the day we are born,
we start to die.
We don’t like to think about that.
We want to pretend that we can stop it.
Sometimes we convince ourselves
we have halted it.
But that is an illusion.
Nothing stops time.
Nothing stops aging.
Nothing stops the appointment
each of us will have
with our final day on earth.
The most important question
each of us needs to ask is
“Am I ready?”
“Am I ready to face my final day?”
Truthfully, we don’t even have
a guarantee we will live long enough
to see our skin wrinkle.
We are all fragile.
Like a mist.
Like a fading flower.
God’s Holy word says
He has placed eternity in each of our hearts.
We know death is not natural.
We know we were meant for more.
We were created to be eternal beings.
We long for eternity.
We can have it!
It is available through the Lord Jesus Christ.
He conquered death.
He paid the penalty.
He offers His righteousness
for our sin.
The sin that causes aging, sorrow and death.
Just believe, accept, bow to His Lordship
and He will give life.
Then, when we face that final day here
we will begin eternity with Him in heaven.
Where we will never again have to worry
about aging, death, sin or sorrow.
We will live forever in joy!
Forever in truth!
We will find our true selves.
We will finally be all we were created to be.
What a glorious day!::
by Susan Aken
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men..." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Posted on Wednesday 16 of July, 2008 [14:59:15 UTC]

Jesus, I need you so much. You are always there, I am the one who pulls away. I am the one who starts thinking she can "do her own thing." Without Your fellowship, life is empty. You are my life, my hope, my peace, my everything. I praise You for Your wonderful love. Thank You for Your presence in my life. Thank You that You always receive me with open arms. Forgive me, cleanse me and fill me with more of You. It is Your love that gives my life meaning and purpose. Life is so short. The years go by so fast. You are the rock. You are the only One who never changes. Praise Your holy name!

Posted on Friday 27 of June, 2008 [16:00:13 UTC]

Oh, my Jesus
I desperately need You.
I swim in the bottomless ocean of your love.
I drink from the endless cup of your grace.
Dear God how grateful I am that your love can never run out.
Your endless love.
Your boundless grace.
I yield to You.
I jump into your ocean.
I want to give up all struggling and striving.
I make such a mess of things.
Jesus, without You –
I hate to imagine the
emptiness.
Please forgive me
of my faithlessness,
my fickleness,
my pride,
my foolishness.
I am a sheep who needs your hand
guiding me every step of the way.
Please don’t let your rod or staff ever move away from me.
Take all that I am Lord
and make me all You want me to be.
S. Aken

Posted on Monday 19 of May, 2008 [12:25:18 UTC]

It seems like I keep coming against this wall.
A wall I can’t break through.
I used to feel so close to my LORD.
I have struggled such a long time now
with intimacy.
I can pray.
I can read the Bible.
I go to church.
But I miss the intimacy.
Feeling close.
Hearing His voice guide me.
Yet, I know He has not changed.
He hasn’t moved.
It is my choices that have distanced me.
The self-seeking.
The indulgences.
Wrong priorities.
The lack of trust.
“Yet this I call to mind
and therefore have hope;
Because of the LORD’s great love
we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:21-23)
He is faithful
when I am fickle.
His compassion
waits for me every morning
His love for me is greater
than all my sin.
His faithfulness
will carry me.
“The LORD is good to those whose
hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him.” (v.25)
I will seek Him.
He is my salvation.
He is my hope.
Help me dear Jesus
to turn from my sin
and seek You
with all my heart.
Help me as I start this new year
to have a renewed commitment
to follow You.
You are my strength.
You are my hope.
Take all that I am LORD
and use me for Your glory.

Susan Aken

Posted on Monday 31 of December, 2007 [13:51:55 UTC]

We always hear that people who experience cancer
or some other life threatening experience
come away changed.
They often feel they have a totally new perspective.
They are often renewed and have an appreciation for life
they did not have before.
What we don’t realize is
we are all terminal!
Every human being has a terminal disease.
These bodies will die sooner than we expect.
The years fly by like a fast flowing river.
We can’t stop time or hold back the years.
Each one of us is moving
quickly towards our day of death.
The difference for most of us is
we don’t know when it will be.
So on some level we convince ourselves
it won’t really come.
We feel invincible
unless we are faced with a
scary diagnosis, or barely escape a brush with death.
The person who experiences that close call
simply has his eyes opened to the truth for a moment.
The truth we all avoid facing every day.
Each one of us will die
sooner than we think.
Each one of us will face God.
Then comes eternity.
Each one of us has a brief time here
to prepare for eternity there.
Are we making the right choices?
Will we be with Jesus?
Will we be in darkness?
Will there be rewards waiting for us
or will we find regret?
God have mercy.
There are too many days
when I live for the moment,
for the day
forgetting
this is my temporary home.
One day soon
my day will come.
Will I be ready?
Susan Aken

Posted on Sunday 18 of November, 2007 [00:42:19 UTC]

I don’t know your name.
I never saw your face.
But you are a woman I have
great admiration for.
You are a hero to me.
You gave me one of the greatest gifts
a woman can give.
Your sacrifice gave me great joy.
I wanted a child very much
but I found myself facing
the thought that I might never be a mother.
Then I received a phone call.
A call that changed my life.
A call I consider a love letter from God.
A call saying there is a baby boy
who needs a home.
When they placed that baby in my arms,
I received one of the greatest gifts anyone could give.
I am honored that you would trust
my husband and I to raise this child.
We love him as much as if he came from our own flesh.
What a joy, what a privilege, what a gift to call him son!
Thank you for choosing to give him life!
Thank you for giving me the chance to be a mother.
Thank you for giving nine months of your life
to help him begin his journey on earth.
Thank you for loving him enough
to allow him to live, love and be loved.
May God bless you with His richest blessings.
May He return to you a thousand fold
the blessing you gave to us.

S. Aken

Posted on Saturday 20 of October, 2007 [11:44:28 UTC]

(from Butterflies, Biscuits and Rain - soom to be available on LuLu. One of my favorites)

So many think Christianity is about rules, church,
pleasing people (the pastor, youth minister, parents)
or a list of don'ts.

Do you know what it is?
Being saved means:

I am starving and Jesus says,
"I am the bread of life."

I am stumbling around in total darkness and Jesus says,
"I am the light."

I am lost in a forest and Jesus says,
"I am the way."

I am sick and Jesus says,
"I am the great healer."

I am deceived and trapped by lies and Jesus says,
"I am the truth."

I am a dead woman and Jesus says,
"I am the life."

That is what salvation means.

Not keeping rules, but a dead man finding life.

Not playing a part, but a starving woman finding food.

Not pleasing people, but a person lost in the darkness finding light.
S. Aken

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” John 6:51 (Jesus Christ)

Posted on Sunday 07 of October, 2007 [03:44:57 UTC]

I have been searching all of my life
for that relationship
which would meet my deepest need,
touch my soul,
know me, care about me,
fill the emptiness,
take away the loneliness.

Once I thought
my parents
could be all this to me,
but it seemed
there was a part of me
they could never know.
And as I grew, they could not be
all I needed in my soul.

When I met the man
with whom I would be one,
I was sure I had found
what would fill
my every desire.
But as time went by,
although love was strong,
I began to see he could not be
all to me.

When I first held the tiny babe
who is my son, I thought,
this is what it is all about.
Here will be fulfillment,
joy, knowing all I am.
But as he has grown,
although the joy is great,
I see he often takes more
than he can give.

Sometimes I have thought
close friends could be
all I am searching for.
To be there for me,
support me, share joys
and sorrows,
bring completeness
where the spaces are.
Instead, I see no one
can give that much
or be that aware.

No relationship can
know me completely,
enter my soul,
fill all the emptiness,
make me whole.
As I pondered this,
I realized all my life
there is one
who has been there
who does do all these things.
He is always there.
He knows my every thought.
He not only knows my soul
but lives in me.
He makes me complete.
Only He can fill my empty parts.

I think each relationship
shows one small part of God.
Each gives a taste
that makes me long
for all He is.
Each relationship is
a shadow of all
I will have with Him
in Heaven.
In Heaven, He will be
the perfect parent
who will never disappoint or fail.
Who will know all I am
and love me into more.
He will be the perfect
husband /protector making me whole.
He will bring the joy, acceptance,
completeness I am looking for.

Until then, He is there
when I turn to Him for strength,
ready to fill my soul. He is there if I
will just call out to Him,
allow Him to show he cares.

Until then, each relationship
can teach me a little about God.
I can see the unconditional love
of my parents,
the devotion of my husband,
the joy my child gives,
the acceptance from friends and
be drawn to the heart of God.
Susan Aken
(from earlier writings)

Posted on Tuesday 25 of September, 2007 [19:31:27 UTC]

“O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek You;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for You,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.”
Psalm 63:1

What a dry and weary land our world is!
There is nothing in the world that will quench our thirst.
Nothing satisfies the longing of the soul.
There are only temporary distractions,
momentary pleasures,
things that keep us from facing reality.
Oh, but how our souls long for
true satisfaction,
a long, cold drink of pure water.
A filling of the emptiness in our hearts.
Only our God can give us that.
There is no water in the world.
Only Jesus can satisfy the thirst
of our dry souls.
He is our true satisfaction.
He is our living water.

S. Aken

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am
the bread of life. He who comes to Me
will never go hungry, and he who believes
in Me will never be thirsty.’ ” John 6:35

Posted on Tuesday 18 of September, 2007 [14:40:54 UTC]