Faithfulness

I was reminded again this morning of the faithfulness of God.

Deuteronomy 7:9 says: "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments."

God is faithful but am I? What does it mean for me to be faithful??

As I was pondering these questions, here are a few things that came to me:

1. Believe...that He loves me.
2. Walk...in the truth He shows me.
3. Hope...in His promises.
4. Delight/rejoice...in His goodness.
5. Keep...my heart for Him alone.

I wish I could say I do all of these all the time. I don't. I often fall far short. I get distracted with other things. I think He doesn't really care. I see His goodness for other people but for me?? Really? For me?

"To the faithful you show yourself faithful..." 2 Samuel 22:26a (NIV)

Maybe the problem isn't with God's faithfulness...maybe it's with mine...

New Beginnings

"Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived  no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him." Isaiah 64:4 NIV

A new year...a fresh start...

God is doing mighty things. Don't miss what He is doing. Keep your heart and mind wide open and expect to receive good things from Him. Even more than good things, He wants to bless you with Himself... His very presence, ever present in your life, guiding and directing, watching over you with tender, compassionate, unfailing love.

Ask...and Ye Shall Receive

Last night I received a very special gift. It made it more special, for the fact that, I thought it was lost to me forever. But let me explain...

The last few days I had been fighting a flu bug or something of the sort. It started with a sore throat that made it hurt to talk or swallow. That night I started with the chills but the next morning I felt much better. However, as the day wore on, my throat started hurting again and the sinuses were also affected. It was hard to rest well because of a stuffed up nose. The next morning I felt bad enough that I took a sick day from work. Once again, during the day I felt a lot better, but by evening I was quite miserable. 

I went over to Dad & Mom's place for the evening to help relieve the boredom and loneliness. It helped! A lot! When I was ready to go home, I was thinking, I wish someone would pray for me. Just like that, I felt in my spirit that I should ask Dad to pray. I immediately went over to his chair and told him that I have a cold and asked if he would pray for me. He very readily agreed. His prayer was simple and to the point, asking God to show me what to do for my cold. 

Now Dad, you must understand, is probably in what you would call the last stages of Alzheimer's (although we have never had him diagnosed by a doctor). There are very few things that he remembers and he will often spend most of the day just sitting quietly in his chair. Questions asked him are most often answered with, "I don't know." When asked to say grace at the table, more often than not, he will decline, but on occasion will say a short prayer.

Needless to say, I felt blessed indeed! What a gift to have that prayer from Dad! It's another precious memory to store up for the time when he is no longer here.

Mom and Ann also said beautiful prayers for me and the 2 things that I feared most that night, not being able to sleep due to coughing and stuffation, never happened.

"Ask, and it will be given to you...for everyone who asks receives..." Matt. 7:7a & 8a 

Thanksgiving

I wasn't sure I wanted to write about Thanksgiving this year...

I was planning to have a day catching up at home and then go to Dad & Mom's place for Thanksgiving dinner. As it so happened, I spent most of the day traveling, 6 hours, of which, were at the O'Hara airport in Chicago.

When I found out the day before that my flight was delayed, causing me to miss my flight in Chicago and overnight there or wait till the next day to fly out, I was feeling anything but grateful. In fact, I was downright grumpy. I had my plans all made and now they were spoiled! What fun would it be to sit in airports on Thanksgiving instead of enjoying a feast of good food with my family?

A few years ago I had decided that Thanksgiving is a good time to reflect on the last year about what God has done. Well, I had plenty of time to reflect as I sat there waiting for my next plane. I grabbed a pen and decided to write some of my thoughts on paper. As I wrote, the thankfulness started to come. No, I still didn't like having to travel on Thanksgiving but still there were lots of things to be thankful for.

Steppin' Up!

I saw these adorable boots when I was out shoe-shopping the other night. At first I told myself "no" but the more I thought about it, the more I thought, "why not?" For a 40-year-old it's called: Living life dangerously!

Today was the funeral of a woman several years younger than myself. She enjoyed singing and the service was liberally sprinkled with songs. I can only imagine how happy she must be, worshiping and praising God around the throne...free from pain...

You might say she has been "steppin' up", too, but in a slightly different way. That truly will be the biggest step we ever take and...THE BEST!

"Precious (carefully watched over) in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Ps.116:15

Pain

The only way to survive is to keep bringing my pain to Jesus. He surprises me again and again by reaching down and touching...his touch brings healing and then He uses it for His glory. Not only uses it for His glory, but transforms it into JOY!

Friends

My lack of writing isn't due to nothing happening. Sometimes it's just hard to put it into words. So many things God has been teaching me...

One thing I've been thinking a lot about is friends. Some friends are closer than others, but the closer you are, the more you share. I think it is the same way with Jesus. He wants us to tell him EVERYTHING and the closer we are to Him, the more He tells us, too.

Maybe another time I will tell you more...