God, You are my hiding place. You are where I come for refuge. You are my stability when my world is upside down. You are my strength when I have none. You are my help when I am in trouble.
Therefore I will not fear because You are always there for me. You are always strong. You are always a safe place in the midst of my turbulent life. Your love for me supersedes any thought or feeling that I may have in this life. For Your love for me is great.
Your love for me is never-changing. Though my world should change, Your love for me never will. Though things will not always turn out the way I want or expect I can trust in Your love to always be there for me- a constant in my life. Though the storms rage around me and cause my heart to tremble, when I put my focus on You I will have peace and know Your love for me in the midst of my storm.
When my life seems the most upside down and things are not going well, I hear You asking me to trust in Your love for me. Your Word, O Lord, has an array of love expressed by You in the midst of many a turbulent time for Your beloved ones.
May Your love and faithfulness be my anchor today as I go through these stormy times and learn to trust in Your love. May I be as Mount Zion which cannot be moved as I hang onto and trust in Your love. May Your strength be my strength when I become beaten and storm-tossed by the winds in my life. May Your love sustain me as I seek Your face. Surround me, O Lord, with Your love and may it be so real to me that there will be no room left for doubt.
1 John 4:16 (NLT) We know how much God loves us and we put our trust in that love.
This is my prayer for you today. That you will know how much God loves you and be able to put your trust in that love.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Think on These Things
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice! Let your patient spirit be known to all me. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. The things you have learned and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you. Philippians 4:4-9
Last night I had a life changing experience. I was having a rough time getting my thoughts to line up with God’s will. He had asked me to do something and I was struggling with doing it. God had been preparing me all day for last night, and I can say that only with the prayers of my husband, the faithfulness of my God and the words of wisdom that He gave me throughout the day in remembrance of a few faithful ones words was I able to make through last night and do what He wanted me to do. I did become willing and obedient and I did eat the good of the land. God is faithful, dear friends, God is faithful. He did not leave me or forsake me. He was there with me through my trial. I chose to include a longer passage of Scripture than just the one He gave me last night because there was so much more that came with it. He gave me verse 8 that tells us what to think on. All He really said was “think on these things.” I knew what He meant at this time for me because I had been trying to change my thinking so that it would line up with God’s will prior to this time. But as most of you women can attest, and possibly you men also, it is hard to think on something that is not “in your face.” Let me give you an example. God has told me “Be patient My child, I am working.” I can easily hold onto that word when things are going well, but when things are not going so well: the van’s brakes need to be changed due to an ugly noise; Kevin’s job is not starting full time until July or maybe August; the kids will be without a place to go for the summer… (the list could go on and on), that’s when I really need to be focusing on Him and being patient, because even though I cannot see Him working to fix these problems… He is. I need to focus on the times that He has been faithful to me and my family. For example, God gave me a free ticket to a concert in Nashville, TN last September. And I had such a wonderful time and was truly blessed by the experience. If I would not have trusted Him I would not have had that ticket or that experience. And one that just happened Sunday: God orchestrated a meeting with a new friend Sunday night that brought me into a situation where I will be able to have support and encouragement from other law enforcement wives. This meeting could only have been done by the hand of God. He brought us both there (when one was not planning on coming), had my mother-in-law there who had worked at this lady’s dentist a while back, and had allowed or even caused (I don’t know which) a problem with the sound system so that we could talk for a moment about this new group that has only been going for 2 months. God is such a good and faithful God. When I choose to focus on the negative then the negative becomes bigger, but when I choose to focus on the positive then the positive becomes bigger. I like what a lady of God said one time, she said, “Do you see what happens when we focus more on our battles than on God? Our enemy appears bigger, we appear weaker and our God appears smaller. Beware! Long term battle can cause vision impairment if we look anywhere but up!” This is oh so true. Let’s turn our eyes upon Jesus the author and perfector of our faith. He will take care of us. “I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of Heaven and earth.” Will you look with me, to the God of our salvation. To the one that will take care of all of our needs. Let’s do as the Philippians were exhorted and Rejoice! God is a great God, and greatly to be praised. Notice what verse 9 says in the passage I quoted , after Paul had exhorted them to think on things that were uplifting and encouraging he said this “…and the God of peace shall be with you.” How many of you does not need a God of peace with you? I know I surely do. One that will calm the storm in my mind and my heart, one that will assure me that He is working even though I cannot see Him. One that will take my hand, trembling as it may be, and walk with me back to the boat, through the storm and then calm the storm once we are in the boat together. He is the God that I want. One that knows when to calm my storm and when to calm His child. God bless you. Thank you for sharing your time with me while I share my heart with you. Until next time, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. In Jesus Mighty Name I pray. Amen
Last night I had a life changing experience. I was having a rough time getting my thoughts to line up with God’s will. He had asked me to do something and I was struggling with doing it. God had been preparing me all day for last night, and I can say that only with the prayers of my husband, the faithfulness of my God and the words of wisdom that He gave me throughout the day in remembrance of a few faithful ones words was I able to make through last night and do what He wanted me to do. I did become willing and obedient and I did eat the good of the land. God is faithful, dear friends, God is faithful. He did not leave me or forsake me. He was there with me through my trial. I chose to include a longer passage of Scripture than just the one He gave me last night because there was so much more that came with it. He gave me verse 8 that tells us what to think on. All He really said was “think on these things.” I knew what He meant at this time for me because I had been trying to change my thinking so that it would line up with God’s will prior to this time. But as most of you women can attest, and possibly you men also, it is hard to think on something that is not “in your face.” Let me give you an example. God has told me “Be patient My child, I am working.” I can easily hold onto that word when things are going well, but when things are not going so well: the van’s brakes need to be changed due to an ugly noise; Kevin’s job is not starting full time until July or maybe August; the kids will be without a place to go for the summer… (the list could go on and on), that’s when I really need to be focusing on Him and being patient, because even though I cannot see Him working to fix these problems… He is. I need to focus on the times that He has been faithful to me and my family. For example, God gave me a free ticket to a concert in Nashville, TN last September. And I had such a wonderful time and was truly blessed by the experience. If I would not have trusted Him I would not have had that ticket or that experience. And one that just happened Sunday: God orchestrated a meeting with a new friend Sunday night that brought me into a situation where I will be able to have support and encouragement from other law enforcement wives. This meeting could only have been done by the hand of God. He brought us both there (when one was not planning on coming), had my mother-in-law there who had worked at this lady’s dentist a while back, and had allowed or even caused (I don’t know which) a problem with the sound system so that we could talk for a moment about this new group that has only been going for 2 months. God is such a good and faithful God. When I choose to focus on the negative then the negative becomes bigger, but when I choose to focus on the positive then the positive becomes bigger. I like what a lady of God said one time, she said, “Do you see what happens when we focus more on our battles than on God? Our enemy appears bigger, we appear weaker and our God appears smaller. Beware! Long term battle can cause vision impairment if we look anywhere but up!” This is oh so true. Let’s turn our eyes upon Jesus the author and perfector of our faith. He will take care of us. “I lift my eyes unto the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, Maker of Heaven and earth.” Will you look with me, to the God of our salvation. To the one that will take care of all of our needs. Let’s do as the Philippians were exhorted and Rejoice! God is a great God, and greatly to be praised. Notice what verse 9 says in the passage I quoted , after Paul had exhorted them to think on things that were uplifting and encouraging he said this “…and the God of peace shall be with you.” How many of you does not need a God of peace with you? I know I surely do. One that will calm the storm in my mind and my heart, one that will assure me that He is working even though I cannot see Him. One that will take my hand, trembling as it may be, and walk with me back to the boat, through the storm and then calm the storm once we are in the boat together. He is the God that I want. One that knows when to calm my storm and when to calm His child. God bless you. Thank you for sharing your time with me while I share my heart with you. Until next time, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. In Jesus Mighty Name I pray. Amen
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