Sunday Morning Prayer…

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty; heaven and earth are full of Thy Glory; glory be to Thee, O Lord most high.

O God, I crave Thy blessing upon this day of rest and refreshment.
Let me rejoice today in Thy worship and find gladness in the singing of Thy praises.
Forbid, I beseech Thee, that only my body should be refreshed today and not my spirit.
Give me grace for such an act of self-recollection as may again bring together the scattered forces of my soul.
Enable me to step aside for a little while from the busy life of common days and take thought about its meaning and its end.
May Jesus Christ be today the companion of my thoughts, so that His divine manhood may more and more take root within my soul.
May He be in me and I in Him, even as Thou wert in Him and through HIm and through Him mayest be in me and I at rest in Thee.

O Thou, who art the Source and Ground of all truth, Thou Light of lights, who hast opened the minds of men to discern the things that are, guide me today, I beseech Thee, in my hours of reading.
Give me wisdom to abstain as well as to persevere.
Let the Bible have proper place; and grant that as I read I may be alive to the stirrings of Thy Holy Spirit in my soul.

I pray, O God, for all human hearts that today are lifted up to Thee in earnest desire, and for every group of men and women who are met together to praise and magnify Thy name. 
Whatever be their mode of worship, be graciously pleased to accept their humble offices of prayer and praise, and lead them unto life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

from A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie

Rare and Simple Gifts…

Yesterday was a long day…I will spare you the details…but if you read my post last week about being discouraged you know that I have been waiting for a few weeks to find out just what is wrong with me…truly I know that it is nothing fatal but it is difficult to not have any answers.

So at the end of that long day, Carl and I sat in the living room, dinner completed, although dishes remained, the newspaper scattered to the four corners, the kids spread in and outside of the house, I happened to catch a familiar twosome walking towards our house…

It was our friends Tom and Kim…and they brought me this:

It was a Ghana basket filled with all sorts of happy including some raspberry honey.  Definitely what the doctor ordered as we were down to our last two smoothie worthy bananas and a shriveled lemon!  Tucked inside were two mini cigars for Tom and my Carl…we girls scooted them outside…while I lounged on the love seat and Kim found a chair to hang out in…we talked about anything that came to mind as Caleb played cars on the floor and kept assuring us that he was not in the least bit tired…it was sweet precious time…You see friends come into our bathrooms with cleaning supplies on their counters (unused) and they don’t even bat an eye…friends just walk into the messes of our lives…hug you and just want to hang out.

The last few weeks have been so different than I would have planned them…I have learned I still need to work on patience and waiting and the unknown and trusting and contentment…but God continues to remind me that He is faithful and good and enough AND that I have been blessed with such wonderful friends and family…

Today is my 2 year blogging anniversary…to say that this little blog has exceeded my expectations is true. I want to say thank you to all of you that have left me comments and sent me emails and have just kept me typing when I felt a bit timid at times.

I also want to say thank you to my family, friends, blogging friends during this recent time…thank you for all the love…the comments, emails, texts, calls and goodies…thanks for calling your own loved ones to gather together and pray for me…it is a priceless gift to me…it doesn’t look like words escape me but new words do…something that has never been expressed before…that is what I would love to say to you…

Each one of you has had a hand in filling my basket…you have been God’s very arms to comfort and steady me.

This morning I read Psalm 27…

“The LORD is my light and my salvation–
whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life–
of whom shall I be afraid?”

“One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble he will keep me
safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.”

“I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.”

Psalm 27: 1,4,5,13

You all are a bit of that goodness that I can see before my eyes in the land of the living!

And at the end of this day…I was also grateful to gaze upon the beauty of His creation…courtesy of a Farmer’s Market.

There is not one thing unknown to Him…what baffles man and causes us to scratch our heads and feel a bit stymied…is completey visible to our Savior…and today that is quite enough…in fact it is a relief!

May you know the measure to which the Lord loves you and may you know how grateful and humbled I am by you as well,

 

Helen

Cover to Cover-Week 34

Wow…I can’t believe that it is week 34…if my counting is accurate…that means only 18 more weeks before the end of the year…yikes…and 18 more cover to cover weeks of reading.

I have been in a bit of a summer time funk…dragging my feet that school will begin soon yet also looking forward to the fresh start that depicts autumn…I have also been a bit scattered in my readings…but I am reminded of what I heard Beth Moore exhort back at the beginning of August…there will be times when we are tempted to give up…in the middle…we lose our vision…but those are the times where we need to be more deeply in the Word so that we can keep pressing forward and regain our sight…and get to the end…(my paraphrase completely)

So…I am pressing forward…despite a few missteps…I will finish reading through the Bible chronologically…and I pray that wherever you are today that if you are reading  cover to cover with me that you will keep on…and if you are not that you are digging into the Word regardless…He speaks to us…and for that I am filled with gratitude.

This week we have been reading in Psalms, Jeremiah and Lamentations…Lamentations is a dirge…from the tearful Jeremiah…

I love Riverdance…you can make fun of me…my family does all the time but with lots of love mixed in…I just love the music…and my friend Kim says that I must have some Celtic blood in me…I believe I do…I love the joyous music and the feeling it evokes in me…but I also love this one piece of music that is a lament…the music in my opinion is achingly beautiful…for those who are without hope…a dirge is just plain sad…but to those who put their expectation in the finished work of Christ…a dirge can be sad but ever hopeful.

Reading Lamentations this week was sad but hopeful…I am posting a couple of those such verses:

“Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children,”

Lamentations 2: 19

The years that I spent with Moms In Touch…this was one of our theme verses for our children…I love the thought of pouring our hearts out like water…such a great verse as our children start school inside and outside our homes.

“I remembered my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I 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.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.”

Lamentations 3: 19-26

Verse 22 of the above scripture is so familiar…but I love that we need to remember…recall to mind God…when we consider God we have hope…and we are reminded that each day He has new mercies…compassions…that never fail…they are our example of manna…enough…plenty for each day…each day’s offenses…each day’s failings…each days trials…

A lament is a heart cry…in Jeremiah’s case it was a cry for the people of God who had a broken relationship with Him…what is our lament today?

What are we crying out to God about…the war…hunger…poverty…the abandoned…the orphans…the lost…

We can pour our hearts out before God like water…and He will hear!

Oh…and guess what…I found that lament…from Riverdance and now I know it was also in Braveheart as well…how fitting!

Have a blessed week…you can read many other posts that seek to recap the wonders of God’s Word here at Bev’s…and please pray for Bev and her husband as they have followed the Lord to Austin, Texas…

Until next week,

Helen

Keep your chin up…

Do you remember the Bette Midler song “From a Distance”? 

It was a big hit…back in the day…it had a catchy tune…and most likely to some the lyrics were catchy as well…some probably even thought they were accurate.

Bette Midler sang that God was watching us…from a distance.

If we focus on what is happening in our world this very day…I am sure many feel that God must we watching all this pain…from a great distance.  It is tempting to feel like God is not involved in our lives when we find ourselves in a valley or taking up residence in the wilderness.

But I am here to say…God is most definitely watching…but it is not from distance.

I want to tell you to keep your chin up…and not in a “buck up little camper” kind of way…

Keep your  chin up because when you do…it changes your line of  vision…placing your eyes where they need to reside.

This morning, I read such a familiar psalm:

  “I lift up my eyes to the hills—
       where does my help come from?

  My help comes from the LORD,
       the Maker of heaven and earth.

  He will not let your foot slip—
       he who watches over you will not slumber;

  indeed, he who watches over Israel
       will neither slumber nor sleep.

  The LORD watches over you—
       the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

  the sun will not harm you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

  The LORD will keep you from all harm—
       he will watch over your life;

  the LORD will watch over your coming and going
       both now and forevermore.”

   Psalm 121

These thoughts were scattered over the pages of my journal this morning:

• Lifting my eyes removes me from my world, my problems…
• My help will never come from looking around me…within me…below me…
• My help comes from the One who has made EVERYTHING…that’s some help…
• My help comes from the One who made the very earth that I am standing or on somedays, lying on…as well as my future home…the hope of heaven…
• God never sleeps…
• This psalm is only 8 verses long and yet it tells of God watching us 5 times…
• God provides a shade when my life gets hot…
• He won’t let anything harm me by day or by night…
• God is watching over my life…
• He is watching both my coming and my goings…today and forevermore.
• Just how much is God watching me…all the time…how is that possible…I have no idea…it’s too big to comprehend or explain…but My God is Big…and defines understanding…
• Today, I will call Psalm 121,  my adversary buster…whenever I am prone to think I have been forgotten…I will remember…I will recall…I will reflect…I will get down on my knees…
• Whatever I need for each moment, each day, each season proceeds from the very hand of God…He is near…He is present…He is God…that means that not just His protection but the fullness of God rests upon me…if I need Him to be my Healer…He is a Healer that watches over me…I consider it done…if I need a Friend today…I can look up and find the Friend that sticks closer than a brother…if I need hope…the God of all Hope is lingering over me…

If you have read a few posts that talk about Caleb, you probably know by now that he doesn’t lack much self confidence.

This morning he showed me something that he had made…I admired his handiwork…to which he replied:

“I am really great at that!”

In walking with, trusting and believing in God we can have that bold confidence…

We can say without flinching…

“God…He’s really great at______________________________”

Just fill in the blank and it will be true!

Keeping my chin up…won’t you enjoy the view with me?!

 

Helen

Struggling…a bit discouraged…

**Note…I originally was not going to post this…as you will see a new conclusion at the end…but this was the real me a few hours ago…and then once again encountering a very real God…

 

I have been a bit out of the blogging routine lately because we were on vacation…

During vacation, I had what I feel was the second of a big gall bladder attack…so although vacation was very fun…I also didn’t feel that great.

As I look back, I haven’t been feeling well for quite awhile and the nagging back ache that began in the beginning of June probably wasn’t a result of sleeping in an awkward position…it was most likely my body telling me something…which I ignored.

Now despite my own oblivion…I want the process to hurry up…I have been to urgent care, had blood work, an ultrasound, a study of my gall bladder, liver and kidneys…a lot of waiting rooms…still there is not that definitive diagnosis…

Today I was to have my surgical consult…but it has been cancelled…for very valid reasons…emergency surgery…so I lift up this unknown person that is in God’s hands…thankful that I am sitting here typing away…Caleb is eating lunch that Courtney fixed him…both girls are cleaning…because Mom always seems to  start cleaning when she feels a bit out of sorts with life…they hugged me and reassured me as I hung up the phone and will have a new appointment on August 25th…my birthday…and kept saying it will be okay as a few tears leaked from my eyes.

It will be okay…I do know that…there just won’t be a few questions answered today…and in the life…there are surely many more questions far more important than just why is my gall bladder so difficult to find?

Earlier this week, I told my friend Cheryl that I read this while waiting for my ultrasound appointment:

“All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.”

Psalm 38: 9

I am thankful for a God who knows my deepest thoughts today and doesn’t think they are too whiny or puny…He sees and knows me…

Addendum:  My husband called and said to try a different clinic…I did…I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon…

Perhaps God didn’t want me driving in this tumultous stormy weather today…perhaps He is still helping me tune up trusting in Him…and being content…

Today I am convinced and comforted yet again that He heard my longings and sighs and facilitated movement on my behalf.

To Him be the praise!

Awe…

**It doesn’t get much better than baseball
(Seattle Mariners) and cotton candy-consumed
during the last couple of innings-a sugar rush
combined with confined spaces…scary**

**Lots of  wave jumping, football playing and sand
castle building**

**To say that getting my three kiddos to take a
photo together was work…understatement…but
worth it…despite the varied expressions**

**The calm before…**

**the waves that carried my cell phone away**

**But when you are at the beach…all things material
seem to fade away…life is measured in how high
you can fly a kite…how cold the water feels against
your toes…shells discovered…constantly repeating
praises to the One Who Made It All…**

Cell phones lost: one…replaceable

Beach memories…immeasurable and priceless!

Enjoy these last days of summer,

Helen

Vacation…

TRUST…because I don’t know everything…(heavy sigh)

*Jameson Square Park*-photo courtesy of  loreo

“Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.”

Proverbs 3: 5 (AMP)

Today is the first day of Carl’s vacation…it is also supposed to reach temperatures near 100 degrees!

We all got up early considering it was vacation…Carlen had to work…Carl and Courtney begun scraping the front porch for a painting project they are doing together…I watered plants…and Caleb rode his scooter…and otter pops were consumed way before mid morning!

Carl and I decided to take Caleb to this wonderfully terraced fountain/wading pool…complete with mini-waterfalls…

I have learned that I cannot tell Caleb of anticipated plans too early…or it is ALL that he will talk about…non-stop!  It makes sense…his 4 year old brain just can’t really comprehend hours, days, weeks…

We were all hot from our morning activities…I told Caleb that we were going to do something fun!

I asked him to go upstairs and get his swim suit…but Mommy I want to wear these shorts…Caleb, please go upstairs and put on your swimsuit…oh, alright…

Caleb returns with his swimsuit on…Caleb will you take off your shoes and socks and find your flip flops…Mommy, I don’t want to wear my flip flops…my shoes are fine…

Caleb can you trust me?  You can either wear your flip flops or your sandals…Okay, I will wear my sandals…

Each subsequent request was followed by his version of what would be better than mine.  We have been working on first time obedience big time this summer.

By the time the three of us were in the car, still hot and sweaty…it didn’t seem like so much fun…but I drove us away and as we  passed the fountain and Caleb got his first glimpse of the water soaked kids…and finally knew where we were going…I didn’t have to see his face…I knew he was smiling and craning his neck to see all the fun.

As I parked the car I said to my wee one…Caleb, that is why Mommy kept asking you to trust me…sometimes Mommy and Daddy know more than you do…sometimes you don’t know everything.

Oh, but Mommy I DO know everything!

Caleb even Mommy and Daddy don’t know everything!

As Carl and I sat and watched Caleb splash and run and climb with abandon…he would sit on top of the waterfalls or just lay back and let the water tumble over him completely…he was free and he was filled with joy…and he was cool.

It is a lot for a child of 4 to understand what it means to trust…I am a woman of nearly 44 and I still don’t have it down.

I wonder how many times God tells me to put on the right shoes and I scoff that the ones I am wearing feel just fine?

Perhaps He whispers that I need to change my apparel because I am going to be too hot or too cold…or I plain just need to get dressed and get going!

Maybe whatever I hear Him say…I would prefer to do the opposite…because I have my reasons…

What have I missed because I was unwilling to trust Him in the unknown?

Are there times that I am so anxious that God must delay telling me something good?

Or what secret has He wanted to tell me that I would not close my mouth long enough to hear?

Today I am thankful for His patience…He hasn’t given up on me as I was so close to giving up on our outing today.

This very day, the Father may simply want to tell you how to cool off…how to be refreshed by Him…to remind you that He will bear your burdens…give you rest…peace…a cool splash of water on your sweaty face…

I want to say yes…to what He asks…I want to sit back in my seat and enjoy the ride because it hasn’t involved kicking and screaming…resting in trust…yes, I probably will still crane my neck forward to get a better view and have a grin lining my face…but it will be from first time obedience…listening at the first gentle nudge…following in obedience to the voice of my Savior…the first time…little by little…from bath tub to wading pool to swimming pool to the lake to the river to the ocean…He can’t trust us in the big places until we trust Him in the little places…

Father, help us to lean back and allow Your Living Water to pour over us…saturate us with Yourself…immerse us in Your Presence….take us to new places of trust…even if we can only muster enough trust to sit in the puddle we are in…please meet us there…Amen!

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
   don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
   he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.”

Proverbs 3: 5ish (MSG)

*The above image is indeed where we were today…except that it was littered with toes and crocs and aqua socks…we forgot our camera.

Devotion…

Readings from II Kings, II Chronicles, Psalms, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Daniel.

My mind is buzzing with the readings from this week, a favorite movie and my quick trip to Louisville, Kentucky…I mean watching the Beth Moore simulcast from the south.

A couple years ago while Carl was serving as an elder, we were asked to give our testimonies and an exhortation during an evening service.  I don’t enjoy public speaking and it would have been wise to not give me much lead time because the months before the appointed date caused many sleepless nights.  It is not an exaggeration that I thought about it EVERYDAY until that evening in September…

As I sought the Lord on what I was to share with the body…He was so faithful to help me figure out how to share my testimony and weave that into what I was to share as encouragement…the key word was devotion…

Earlier this week, Carl was sweet to stay up past bed time on a work night and finish watching a movie that was on the Turner Classic Movies channel…yes,movies from my youth are now classics!

The Trouble with Angels was one of my favorite movies growing up…as I shared in my testimony, I grew up in a Presbyterian church but I had a fascination with the Catholic faith…I thought the word “catechism” was the coolest word I had ever heard…and I wanted to be a nun…I guess I felt that the only way that I knew to be close to God…I mean really close was to become a nun…not being Catholic posed a problem.  When I first saw this movie…not only did I adore Hayley Mills from the Parent Trap but in the end of the movie (hope I am not spoiling it for you) Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills) decides to remain behind the other graduating girls and enter the cloistered life…knowing the end doesn’t spoil it for me because I cry EVERY TIME…I can’t help it…there is just something about deciding to turn…deciding to take a different path…allowing something or more accurately Someone to take a hold of you and life changes…forever.  Her best friend at school, who has been her partner in crimes of rebellion doesn’t understand…in fact she is furious and feels betrayed.  Many of you may know what it is like to follow Jesus now and many you love may not understand your decision.  Stand strong…you serve a God who is wildly devoted to you…today and forever! In fact, before you even knew Him…does that blow your mind that before we even gave a second glance in God’s direction, He was devoted to us…he was just crazy about us…couldn’t wait to get started on leading us down a better path…I hope you are on that path…it’s got the best scenery…maybe a few detours…and thankfully for me, heels are optional!

The news that I found as I got a little older was that I did not have to change a denomination to be found by God…I could be His just by being Helen…He would draw near me as I drew near to Him…He was so devoted to me finding Him…it only seems right that I would devote my life to Him.

What I know down deep in my soul is that a life devoted to the Lord is a life that will bring abundant joy even in the midst of the storms of life…I want my children to know that it pays to serve the Lord with unswerving devotion!

“Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did–with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength…” (II Kings 23: 25)

“The other events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion, according to what is written in the Law of the LORD–all the events, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.” (II Chronicles 35: 26, 27)

Josiah chose a life of devotion to doing the work of the Lord and following after Him.  Josiah did life with His God well…there was no one that filled the role as king the way he did…his life of devotion is documented…from beginning to end.  Do we realize that we can live a life like no other before us or after us?  No one can live an identical life of devotion to the Lord…isn’t that exciting! Draw your line in the sand now…this is the day…

This is what a person devoted to a devoted God can say:

“Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.”

Habakkuk 3: 17-19

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine.” (Daniel 1: 8a)

In the face of captors, Daniel remained devoted to God.

After Daniel sought the Lord for an interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, he praised the Lord:

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
He reveals deep and hidden things;
He knows what lies in darkness;
and light dwells with him.
I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers;
You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to what we asked of you,
you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

Daniel 2: 20-23

A life of devotion is a life that embodies praise and seeking God’s face and wisdom. 

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Daniel 3: 16-18

A devoted life knows that there are no other gods worthy to serve or worship…no matter the cost…

As I sat virtually with tens of thousands of women over the weekend…70,000 women at 715 different sites…do you think the enemy was a bit defeated…I certainly hope so…because the worship alone was enough to put him under all of our feet!

Beth Moore spoke on the parable of the sower…the  bulk of what she shared could give me fodder for posts for quite a while.  One big reminder was to be in the Word…daily…early…all the time…if we do not know the Word we will not live the life that we were destined to live…one that is thoroughly equipped and effective in our callings…and I would add the more we immerse ourselves into the Word the more our desire to be devoted to Him will grow.

Do you remember that song in the musical Grease where Sandy sings how she is hopelessly devoted to you…that devotion was without hope because it was all wrapped up in having to change to be loved and accepted…that is not the Hope we have in Christ…

Be in the Word…cling to Him…be devoted to Him…join Bev and others as we read through the Word…

Helen