Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! My blessings for today: 1) got beans picked and raspberries, 2) made a big pot of chicken soup with veggies from the garden, 3) our health, 4) my dear family, 5) my dear sisters, and 6) my Faith in God! I'll stop here, but there is many more - let's give God the credit where credit is due - all blessings come from Him Who so generously continues to give. Remember evil never comes from Him, Who is all Good and All Love. I still wonder if the new rules of QVC will do away with this thread. Anyone have a clue? Let's have God have His Will to be done in all circumstances. I'm praying for you all and your intentions. Thanks always for your prayers for us.

Pray for others. It not only benefits them, but you as well. Lord, with

selfless

love I pray for abundant blessings for my family and friends.

Scripture for the day:

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." ~Philippians 4:13

Meditation for the day:

I can believe that my faith in God's power can accomplish anything.

There is no limit to what these two things can do. When we believe,

anything can happen. Saint Paul said: "I can do all things through him

who strengthens me." All walls that divide us from other human beings

can fall by our faith and God's power. These are the two essentials.

Everyone an be moved by these.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may try to strengthen my faith day by day. I pray that I

may rely more and more on God's power.

A Confession of Failure

by Ralph I. Tilley

O gracious Father, it is ever and only because of your tender mercies Your

servant is able to approach Your holy throne. Who is so holy as to merit

Your embrace? Who is so perfect so as to deserve an audience with You?

But I do not come to only a throne of holiness today—I come with a great

confidence before a throne of grace! I come in the name of Your Son, Jesus,

whose perfect offering secured this sacred privilege for Your children. I

praise You for giving Your Son. I thank You, O Christ, for freely laying

down You life for me—Your unworthy servant. I exalt You, O my ever-living

Intercessor and Great High Priest.

. . . because You live forever, You have a permanent priesthood.

Therefore You are able to save completely Your child who comes to God

through You,

because You always live to intercede for him.

Such a high priest meets my needs—

one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the

heavens.1

I confess my failures, debts and sins. When I have failed to be as diligent

in Your service as I ought to have been . . . when I have been sluggish in

my duties and devotion toward You and Your people . . . when I have failed

to be the humble servant I should have been . . . when I have given in to

discouragement and defeat—for these shortcomings, and a myriad of others—I

acknowledge, O Lord.

Let Your servant not rest content in his failures; instead, so strengthen

his will and cleanse his heart that he may grow in Your steadfastness and

love. May he never receive Your grace in vain; may he be kept from presuming

upon Your mercies.

I want a principle within

Of jealous godly fear,

A sensibility of sin,

A pain to feel it near.

Help me the first approach to feel

Of pride or wrong desire;

To catch the wand'ring of my will,

And quench the kindling fire.1

And now, my Father in heaven, for all those I care most deeply: my family,

friends, flock, and fellow ministers: grant that in their hour of trial—You

would give them a steadfast spirit;

in their hour of temptation—You would strengthen their will;

in their hour of discouragement—You would renew their hope.

This prayer I humbly raise to You in the name of Your most worthy Son. Amen.

Creativity

If you asked someone: "What is half of eight?" you would expect the usual

answer that "half of eight is, naturally, four." But suppose someone

answered: "A half of eight is zero"? Your first reaction might be to say:

"That's nonsense."

But is it? Just stop for a moment and think critically. Take a good look at

the figure eight ( 8 ). It is composed of two small zeros, one piled on top

of the other. So -- cutting the 8 in half, crossways, gives you two zeros.

Now take still another look at the 8. If you cut a line down the middle of

it, you will have two 3s (threes) facing one another. So -- a half of eight

cut that way could be three!

The moral of this little observation is: try taking a fresh look at things

you take for granted. You can make all sorts of discoveries that way.

Looking at an old idea in a new way or combining old ideas in new ways makes

for surprising discoveries. Don't laugh at the person who has the unusual

answer... He/she might be one step ahead of you.

Because something has never been done before, is no reason why it can't be

done now.

"Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and

children."

Jesus Feels, Jesus Feeds

Jesus takes the five loaves, says the blessing prayer, breaks the bread and

gives it to the disciples to distribute. So he will do at the Last Supper

when he institutes the Eucharist. So we do each time we gather to celebrate

Mass. Our Liturgy of the Eucharist perpetuates these four actions in memory

of Christ who gave himself in sacrifice for us.

PERSONAL PRAYER

Lord Jesus, you took the bread brought to you. Give us today our daily

bread. Look upon the cries of the hungry throughout the world.

Open our hearts to care for all. Lord Jesus, you blessed the bread that it

might be your gift to the multitude. Set each of us aside for your service

in the world. Separate us from all that is evil and contrary to your will.

Lord Jesus, you broke the bread that it might increase. Look upon all who

are broken and bruised by daily life. Let their sufferings be joined with

yours as a redeeming work.Grant healing and fruitfulness to all who suffer.

Lord Jesus, you gave the bread to the crowds. Let us hear the cry of the

poor and teach us to be generous. Amen.

Today's readings 8/11/14

Ez.1:2-5, 24-28; Ps.148:1-2, 11-14; Mt.17:22-27

Jesus presents us with a very important lesson as He reveals His Fate to His

disciples a second time and then miraculously pays the temple tax for

Himself and the man who would become "The rock upon which I will build My

Church" (Mt.16:18). The truth is we are all "foreigners" in this world, our

lives are only temporary and transitory as we make our own unique pilgrimage

toward that Eternal Home that has been prepared for "the people near to

their God" that our psalmist sings of, a Home we catch a glimpse of in

Ezekiel's vision of the Glory surrounding Our God. I think it's important to

note that Jesus doesn't "take credit" so to speak for being the source of

that "coin worth twice the temple tax", in a subtle way He makes it clear

that His Father is the One who provides it, not just for Peter but for

Himself as well, and in doing so He reveals that He doesn't belong to this

world any more than any of us do. Yes, we are all foreigners in a world that

is increasingly hostile toward those who draw near to the One True God, the

unspeakable atrocities being committed against Christians in northern Iraq

right now give witness to that, but even as we are "overwhelmed with grief"

over the plight of these innocent martyrs we need to remain faithful in

honor of them as they lay down their lives in honor of the One who has

provided the coin that pays for our "sin tax" and will raise us all on the

Last Day.

God bless you,

In Jesus - Pat

[lovestopaint]

Gloria, they would be foolish to do away with this thread, because so many people love it. If they did that I would be the first person they hear from. Anyway I'm glad we have each other's e mail addresses so we can keep in touch.

Counting my blessings.

Harlene(lovestopaint)

[lovestopaint]

Gloria, they would be foolish to do away with this thread, because so many people love it. If they did that I would be the first person they hear from. Anyway I'm glad we have each other's e mail addresses so we can keep in touch.

Counting my blessings.

Harlene(lovestopaint)

[lovestopaint]

Darned I did it again(double post) sorry.

[shorelady]

Good Tuesday Morning:

Cakers.......Thank you for your wise words of wisdom from a few days ago. They are full of wonderful thoughts and suggestions. I just find that the pain of the last few months seems so unsurmountable and something that may never be overcome. I sit here trying to be grateful for something, but seem to hit a "dead end". I know there are others who are suffering and probably even worse, but the selfish person inside me has taken over and made me feel there is no bright tomorrow and no one has it as bad as I do. Maybe if I find the strength, I can begin to take baby steps and see that proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel". Again, thank you for taking the time to think of me.

Gloriajean......From the little I have read, I think the threads that will be affected are the ongoing ones with many, many posts. I don't know why they have decided to change their policy regarding those threads, but I don't think this wonderful thread will be affected since it changes daily.

Thank you ladies, all of you, for posting on this thread with your inspirational and kind thoughts. Have a good Tuesday.

[Bobbi sue]

Gloria, your thread will be safe. God will see to that.

Blessings to all who post here. I hope you all have a good day and God answers your prayers.

[Bird mama]

Good Morning all ~ I must praise God publicly for the blessings I received last night. We had unprecedented rain in the Metro Detroit area that flooded roads and freeways to the point of completely covering SUVs and trucks.

When I went to work yesterday, I was low on gasoline (according to the usual gauge) and figured that I would tank up on the way home. When I left work late last night, the idiot light that warns low gasoline came on and I thought uh-oh. I jumped on my usual freeway home and could see it was backed up so I was able to take the one and only exit available to me to take a major street home. I drove through some flooded areas but was able to get a few bucks of gas into the car to get me home. I had to address some flooding in my basement so I never watched the late night news.

Here's the point - I truly believe that the warning light came on prematurely (when compared to the actual gauge level) as a sign from God. When I watched the news this morning, I saw that the freeway and freeway interchange that I would have been on (had it not been for the warning light) flooded to the point that you could see no cars, no SUVs, nothing. It looked like a deep river .

God is always good to me, but He was especially good to me yesterday.

[Bobbi sue]

Birdmama, God watches over you and that is a very good thing. Praise His name and I am glad you are safe.

[Cakers1]

On 8/12/2014 shorelady said:

I sit here trying to be grateful for something, but seem to hit a "dead end". I know there are others who are suffering and probably even worse, but the selfish person inside me has taken over and made me feel there is no bright tomorrow and no one has it as bad as I do. Maybe if I find the strength, I can begin to take baby steps and see that proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel". Again, thank you for taking the time to think of me.

{{{shorelady}}} One thing I've learned is that yes, while there is always suffering in the world, right now your suffering is all that matters. Please don't try to diminish your own sorrow - you are not selfish. We all face difficulties and nobody can put up a chart saying this difficulty is worse than that one. It just doesn't work that way.

You know your progress will not happen overnight; the ups and downs are terrifying at times but you will make it. In YOUR time, nobody else's.

Gloriajean: I think the Q means long standing threads that were started a long time ago, like the Pancake thread on VP or the Hello thread on Among Friends. Your thread is started anew each day, so there shouldn't be a problem.

Keeping all of you in thought; and hoping the day brings you comfort and peace.

I've missed a day or two; just trying to catch up.

[HeresLucy]

Good morning!

Isn't it wonderful that the Lord knows what we need just at the right time? Blessings come in all forms. We just have to take notice.