Daily Positive Thread for Tuesday

gloriajean · ‎03-10-2010

Hello my friends! Long day here today - my husband has a split shift today, with a break in the middle where he went out to eat, so I busied myself with cooking and bread baking. Linda, downstairs, gave me a hambone for soup, so I made a split pea ham soup for her. She's gone all day, tried calling her, must be having her chemo. Bread is expensive so I plan on making it all the time now. I make it good and healthy and very tasty with all organic ingredients. Wishing you all a great week!

It is much harder to see today if you are looking at yesterday. Lord, help

to live and appreciate each moment as I am experiencing it so that I am

prepared more fully for the next moment.

S C R I P T U R E F O R T H E D A Y

"Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and
slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God." ~Ephesians 4:31-5:2

M E D I T A T I O N F O R T H E D A Y

We cannot believe in God and keep our selfish ways. When we believe
more strongly in God, we begin to abandon our selfish ways. The old
self can shrivel up and die, and God's image can become much clearer.
The gradual elimination of selfishness in the growth of love for God and
our fellow human beings is a wonderful goal in our lives. As the
picture grows, we can reveal more and more of the likeness of God until
those who see us can see in us the power of God's grace at work in a
human life.

P R A Y E R F O R T H E D A Y

I pray that I may grow in my likeness to God. I pray that others may see in
me some of the power of God's grace at work.

Lenten Reflections with Bishop Robert Barron

Lent Day 27

Sheer and Shocking Grace

In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul tells the community his own story and how he came to Christian faith. It didn’t happen through study or through someone else's tutoring. It came as a sheer and shocking grace to the most unlikely of people.

“You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,” he says with almost comical laconicism. Paul’s conversion story must have been well-known at the time. “How I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.”

Let those words sink in. Paul wasn’t just opposed to Christianity; he didn’t simply argue against it or ignore it. He actively, brutally, and violently persecuted it.

The Acts of the Apostles speaks of Paul “breathing murderous threats” and seeking to bring Christians back in chains. He was, in a word, about as far from Christian faith as you could get. He was spiritually dead.

Yet Christ brought him back to life: “When God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me…” (Galatians 1:15).

God fashioned Paul’s Christian faith from nothing, and here’s the application for all of us: don’t give up hope, even when you are in desperate straits. Don’t surrender, even when things seem utterly void of meaning and hope.

You may be on your last legs; you may have nothing left in the tank; you may be moving in the wrong direction.

But don’t give up! God’s grace can bring you back and renew your life again.

Nadine Mansour

3:05 AM (1 hour ago)

to bcc: me

Hope For The Hopeless

When the night is upon you
And you're needing a friend
There's no hope for the future
And you're at your wit's end

The tears on your pillow
Won't ease the pain
You have nothing to lose
You have nothing to gain

You may think you're a failure
Life's not going your way
There's no hope for tomorrow
And there's doubts for today

If your search for the answers
Leaves questions to spare
Lay it all at the altar
You will find comfort there

Because there's hope for the hopeless
There's life for the lost
There's strength you can borrow
From that old rugged cross

There's a light in the darkness
That leads to the place
Where there's hope for the hopeless
In His saving grace

- Author Unknown

DEVELOP THE RIGHT SELF ATTITUDE
Author Unknown

Here are 10 suggestions to help you develop and maintain a healthy
self-image. Read them slowly. Meditate on them regularly.

1. Hate your sin, but never hate yourself.

2. Be quick to repent.

3. When God gives you light, walk in it.

4. Stop saying negative things about yourself. God loves you and
it's wrong to hate what He loves. He has great plans for you, so
you're in conflict with Him when you speak negatively concerning your
future.

5. Never be afraid to admit that you've made a mistake and don't
always assume that when things go wrong, it must be 'my fault'.

6. Don't meditate excessively on what you've done, right or wrong;
both of these activities keep your mind on you! Center your thoughts
on Christ.

7. Take good care of yourself physically. Make the best of what God
gave you to work with, but don't be obsessed with your appearance.

8. Never stop learning but don't allow your education to become a
point of pride. God doesn't use you because of what's in your head: He
uses you because of what's in your heart.

9. Realize that your talents are a gift, not something you have
manufactured yourself; never look down on people who can't do what
you do.

10. Don't despise your weaknesses they keep you dependent on God.

Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes

May we be assisted, we

beseech Thee, O Lord, by

the worship of intercession

of Thy glorious Mother,

the ever-Virgin Mary; that

we who have been enriched

by her perpetual blessings,

may be delivered from all

dangers, and through her

loving kindness made to be

of one heart and mind;

who livest and reignest

world without end.

Amen

Hymn in Honor of the Crown of Thorns

Christ's peerless Crown is pictured in
    The figures of the Law.
The Ram entangled in the Thorns;
       The Bush which Moses saw,
The rainbow girding round the ark
        The table's crown of gold;
The incense that in waving wreaths
      Around the Altar rolled.
Hail! Circlet dear! that didst the pangs
Of dying Jesus feel,
Thou dost the brightest gems outshine.
   And all the stars excel
Praise honor, to the Fathers be
   And sole begotten Son;
Praise to the Spirit Paraclete
         While endless ages run. Amen.

Prayer for Avoiding Sin

Hear, Lord, the prayers we offer from contrite hearts. Have pity on us as we acknowledge our sins. Lead us back to the way of holiness. Protect us now and always from the wounds of sin. May we ever keep safe in all its fullness the gift your love once gave us and your mercy now restores. Amen.

Verse of the Day

"But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him'— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God."

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

A Prayer for Lent

Dear Lord, I thank You for all the favours You have bestowed upon me. Help me always to praise and thank You in both the good times and the bad, to offer every part of my life to You, even the sad and sorrowful parts. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for having created me ... for all the joys of life and for all the sorrows ... for the home You gave me, and for all the love that surrounded me in the home ... for the friends I have made through life. You have dealt very generously and very tenderly with me; I cannot hope to thank You as I ought, but, with Your help, my future life will be one long thanksgiving. I beg Your sweet Mother Mary to thank You for me out of her heart of hearts for all Your gifts of love to me.

March 7 - Jesus Calling

Let Me help you through this day. The challenges you face are far too great for you to handle alone. You are keenly aware of your helplessness in the scheme of events you face. This awareness opens up a choice: to doggedly go it alone or to walk with Me in humble steps of dependence. Actually, this choice is continually before you, but difficulties highlight the decision-making process. So, consider it all joy whenever you are enveloped in various trials. These are gifts from Me, reminding you to rely on Me alone.

Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
—Psalm 63:7–8

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
—James 1:2–3 amp