Tears, Coffee & Hearts
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God's greatest and most selfless gift to the world, we want to encourage you to always be on the lookout for the many ways He continues to show His love especially in the little things day to day.
On the morning of October 18, 2020 while enjoying a cup of coffee and reading my Bible, I picked up my coffee mug only to notice a perfect little “heart” at the top of the cup from my frothed creamer. As you look at the image below, the heart can be clearly seen. It is not one of those images in which you have to guess what it might be; it is clearly a heart. This perfect little heart did not disappear until I washed the mug.
I showed my coffee mug to Doug and he said how cool is that, a heart is on your mug. It was at that point that I showed him what my mug said, “Jesus. Best Gift Ever.” WOW, a perfectly shaped heart in a special mug.

Of course at this point, I am curious as to what is God trying to say through my coffee this morning? I quickly remembered another "special" heart that "appeared out of the blue" almost a year ago to the day in church. I knew this was not happenstance!
On October 12, 2019, my dad went home to be with Jesus. During praise and worship at church on October 20, 2019, I was crying as I was thinking of my dad. I had grabbed a tissue from my purse to wipe my tears. As I opened up the tissue from wiping my eyes, there was a perfectly shaped “heart” formed by my tears. No where else on the tissue were there any tears. The tears were completely contained in the “heart.” Now some may say this is coincidence, in which I would respectfully disagree. I was so shocked by what I saw that I sat down and took a picture of the image on the tissue. I could not believe what I was looking at. Look at the image for yourself, what do you see?

I am so glad I took this picture. It was at that moment in church that I first saw the heart of tears on the tissue, I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me that God knew my grief and was with me. I was also reminded of how He collects all our tears. I was so touched that my tears had been collected into a perfectly shaped heart. Again, there was no guessing at what the image was. Who would have guessed that almost one year later to the day I would experience such a similar experience? Well, I guess God would :-).
Why share this with you? We want you to be encouraged and remind you that God is always near and He sees your heart. He knows your pain. He will show up in the most unexpected ways and when you recognize Him in the moment, it is truly beautiful. Many have shared "God things" with us and we love to see how He is such an on time Heavenly Father and knows just what we need and when we need it.
We know 2020 has been challenging for ALL of us and in so many different ways. Although we honestly can say if it had not been for the love of God, His empowering presence and His faithfulness, we have no clue where we might be! Can you relate?
May your heart be full of Joy as you enter into 2021, not because it is a new year, but because God is walking with you no matter what year it is! He sees your heart, We encourage you put your hope and trust in Him, not the prospect of a new year. Remember we all thought 2020 was the year of vision and for us it has proven to be one of the most unclear and blurred years ever. Never forget...He hears your cries and He is a present help in time of trouble.
Since God was speaking to me through "hearts," lets all ask ourselves..."How is my heart?" Yes, we have seen a year like none other, but if you really take a thorough look back, "Where has God shown up for you?" May we all CHOOSE to remember man looks on the outside, but God looks at our hearts. Before you close 2020, look back and see where God has been throughout the ENTIRE year. Let each of us examine our hearts and move into 2021 with a heart full of HOPE!
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