About

Carol Harrison B.Ed. is a storyteller, speaker, writer, teacher,and facilitator who loves to share from her heart one on one or with any size of group.

You can reach Carol via:
email: carol@carolscorer.ca
phone: 306 230 5808

twitter: @CarolHarrison6

Recent Posts

Abundant Life – Journey or Destination?

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When life is a tangle of puzzle pieces that do not seem to fit together we wonder how a beautiful picture will ever take shape with this abundant -plentiful number of pieces.
In John 10:10 Jesus says that he has not come like a thief to steal, kill and destroy. He has not come to get but to give. He comes as the shepherd ready to care for the sheep, look after all their needs and love them. He has come to give life. He goes further and says he wants us to not only have life but to have an abundant life.

Abundant means exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than one would expect or anticipate. I love the one phrase I read in a definition of abundant – more than is necessary.

When life is tough and we wonder how to make it to the end of the month before the money runs out or illness ravages us or our loved ones or we grieve the loss of a family member or friend we wonder how that can be abundant life. Our wants, our desires for more material possessions, an easier life, a better job, a bigger house or any other material possession that we are told will show others we are a success, might not match our present circumstances. Yet if we are believers in Jesus as the way to a right relationship with God and heaven as our destination, than our perspective should not match society around us.

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What possible abundance do we have when the puzzle pieces of life remain in a jumbled mess with no clear picture formed, no end in sight. Heaven seems but a far off dream of abundance? Jesus tells us that he will provide peace and that can happen in the middle of the worst possible circumstances. It is unexplainable in human terms. He provides help but not always the way we expect or in the time frame we demand. He allows us to experience wonderful times and hard times, challenges and accomplishments. He only asks that we trust him and follow him no matter what is going on.

Is this journey of an abundant life an easy one? Does it contain times of uncertainty and grief? No it is not easy but the alternative of hopelessness and a lack of peace does not appear to me to be satisfactory either.
I have known peace beyond explanation or imagination while my baby daughter lay in a coma even while I shed tears of fear and grief. I have known instant forgiveness when the basement stairs collapsed and I fell eight feet into the basement, because my husband had not fastened the staircase adequately. I have known a deep sense of hope even while saying goodbye to my mom when she was only 75 years old and I wanted more time with her. But she believed, beyond a doubt, in her hope of heaven and I did too.

Yes I have had times where the hope seemed dim and the outcome of a hard time did not appear to be able to come quickly enough. I shed tears of fear and doubt crept in where I did not want it. I cried in pain when I broke my knee and asked God why now when I have been obedient to your call to speak. I get a bad case of wantitis – envy of what others have and I can not afford.

I need to remind myself that God is waiting to take those fears, doubts, pain, guilt and envy and turn it into something beautiful in his timing and in his way. Oh how I wish my faith would be stronger while I walk this journey. I desire to claim God’s promise of an abundant life.

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In I Corinthians 2:9 the Bible tells us, “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
God has promised an abundant life in him full of peace in the midst of turmoil, calm in the face of fear, love and forgiveness in the place of hate and bitterness. The choice is ours.
I really like this benediction in Ephesians 3: 20 – God’s promise that he is able to do more than all we ask and imagine.
Are you living with an eternal, God perspective so you can join others on this journey called life in the abundance of God’s promises?

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