Hello my friends! Harlene - that's so true. We all have our crosses, and we offer them up, but we see others have worse crosses to carry, and we lift them all up to the Lord for healing. Today's blessing - got my hair colored - red again, of course! And the cut and color including tip was $24.00, plus she comes here so I don't have to get out of the house. Hair cuts is only 10, and I give a two dollar tip. She doesn't have a salon, just goes to people's houses to do hair, she is also a house cleaning lady and home health care - all in one marvelous lady! Georgia is her name!!!
Remember that God always does what He promises. Lord, where others
bargain, You freely give, when others are too busy, You listen and when
others let me down, You never fail me. Thank You for all of my blessings.
Scripture for the day:
"Through Christ you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the
dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God."
~1 Peter 1:21
Meditation of the day:
God's miracle-working power is as manifest today as it was in the past.
It still works miracles of change in lives and miracles of healing in
troubled minds. When a person trusts wholly in God and leaves to God the
choosing of the day and hour, there is God's miracle-working power becoming
manifest in that person's life. We can trust in God and have boundless
faith in
God's power to make us whole again.
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may feel sure that there is nothing that God cannot
accomplish in changing my life. I pray that I may have faith in God's
miracle-working power.
The Jars
The preacher placed two identical jars on the table next to the pulpit.
He quoted 1 Samuel 16:7 'The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
"These jars came from the same factory, were made of the same materials, and
can hold the same amount. But they are different," he explained. Then he
upset one and it oozed out honey. He turned over the other, and vinegar
spilled out.
"When a jar is upset, whatever is in it comes out. Until the jars were
upset, they looked alike. The difference was within, and could not be seen.
When they were upset, their contents were revealed. Until we are upset we
put on a good front. But when we are upset, we reveal our innermost thoughts
and attitudes, for 'out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.'"
(Luke 6:45)
What if someone tipped you over today? What would flow out? Would you reveal
the "honey" of grace and patience, or the "vinegar" of anger and sarcasm?
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of
sins." (1Peter 4:8)
Have a terrific day knowing that the one who upsets you may be just looking
for some honey - Don't give them vinegar!
We need to get away at times
From life's demanding ways
And find some quiet, little nook
in which to dream or pray
A small escape from daily trials
that temper joys of life
and burden us with little fears
that add to tears of strife
a private place where we can be
alone in God's embrace
and dream, a little, and dwell, a little
in arms of Holy Grace
A place to rest our heart and soul
against what is to be
when return to what we left
and what we can't foresee.
--author unknown
Once there were two monks who sat together, reading out of a very old book.
The book said that at the end of the world there would be one place where
heaven and earth would meet and the kingdom of God would begin. So the two
monks decided to go in search of that place and not come back until they had
found it.
They wandered up and down the highways of the world, exposed themselves to
all sorts of danger, took all kinds of risks, suffered all kinds of
setbacks, and were tempted many times to give up the search. The book had
said that when one got to the right place, there would be a door there, and
all a person had to do was knock and it would open and there one would
stand: right in the kingdom of God.
Finally, they found the door they were looking for. They knocked on it, and
their hearts beat faster as it began to open. They stepped over the
threshold and what did they find? They were right back in their own
monastery!
They looked at one another and then it dawned on them what the book had
meant to say: that the place on earth where heaven and earth meet, and where
the kingdom of God begins, is the place where God has put us to live.
DRIPPY AND DRIZZLY
By Sally I. Kennedy
The Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says, "Only in returning
to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and
confidence is your strength. Isaiah 30:15
Sounds like the two dwarfs who didn’t make the cut for the snow white
movie. Drippy and drizzly, precisely how it was for several days. When
you’re on vacation, rain’s the last thing you want. But you know what
they say, can’t do much about the weather.
As I sat watching the clouds drip onto the water, making hypnotic
little circles that merged into other circles, how the years melted
away, and in my memory I was transported to an earlier time .
At a remote spot, at the end of a long dirt road, was the clearing
with a pretty spring-fed lake. A sprinkling of cottages; one where my
parents honeymooned, then later purchased. I spent summers there, as a
child. Rustic hardly describes it. Today, I believe camping would be
more sophisticated than life at our cottage was, back then. And it was
the best time of my life. Well, one of the very best, for sure. Life
was so simple. We enjoyed reading stories and books, did lots of
puzzles. Outdoors there were limitless opportunities for creative
play. And sunny afternoons, we could swim.
Every summer we would borrow a farm dog, and he’d be our friend for
the months we were there. He, my sister, and I had many an adventure
in the old rowboat, scouting bullfrogs on lily pads.
Today I am thankful for time to be still, like this. To just ‘be’,
and not ‘do’. I am too often guilty of operating as a ‘human doing’
and not a ‘human being’.
God can really use our drippy, drizzly days, to quiet our minds,
minister to our souls, and settle our spirits.
That is good news.
Psalm 46:10 (NIV) Be still, and know that I am God
Psalm 55: 6-8 (MSG) Get me out of here on dove wings; I want some
peace and quiet. I want a walk in the country. I want a cabin in the
woods. I'm desperate for a change from rage and stormy weather.
Psalm 4:4 (ASV) Stand in awe, and sin not: Commune with your own
heart upon your bed, and be still.
Ps 131:2 (NKJV) Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul
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