Awakened and Aligned

We will experience being co-glorified with Him provided that we accept His sufferings as our own.

18 I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us. 19 The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God's glorious sons and daughters! 20 For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, 21 all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God's children. 22 To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. 23 And it's not just creation. We who have already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God's sons and daughters--including our physical bodies being transformed. (Romans 8:17-23 TPT) I want to thank some of our dear friends, Ron and Rhonda, for presenting Mark and I with the stained glass art that is the image for this facet of the book. There is an entire story of God's unfolding that is a forerunner of this gift. When they opened the package to unveil the masterpiece inside, they had no idea what their expression of love was proclaiming. The flood of reality washed over me that what Father has been speaking and unfolding for almost two decades, is now coming to pass in and through His beloved. I was undone in that holy moment, as this kiss of Heaven sealed and set His marker. His exclamation point.

168