NOTHING!

 

If only we could fully get this into our spirits. Nothing, nothing absolutely nothing is imposable when we put our trust in God! Why do we sometimes doubt when it looks like nothing around us is working out? Where is our faith despite what God's word says?

Philippians 4:13
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

God gives us what we need it, when we need it. Strength, help, and yes, even a hiding place under his almighty wings.

Trust in him. For he is our deliver.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Be blessed by God who loves you!

True Love Hates

I ran across this last night as I was looking on pinterest for a scripture to use in today's post. I think it is not only truth but it is good and so I want to share it with you from Bible Love Notes. Read on:

 

Did you know that true love hates?

It sounds like an oxymoron, but it's scriptural.

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Romans 12:9

"Let those who love the LORD hate evil." Psalm 97:10

True love doesn't tolerate evil. In our "judge not"* world, we need to keep this in mind.

God is loving and He hates evil (Psalm 5:5).

If we want to please God, we will also hate evil.

"Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them ... So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise." Ephesians 5:10-15

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To be sure, I have to take this scripture to heart many times a week due to some injustices that crop up in our extended family. Life certainly isn't fair especially to those that really are trying to live life in the way that pleases God.  And it isn't easy. 

In fact, it is often hard to know too how to deal with people that are truly against us and trying to take us down for their own benefit. But then that is what the Bible says isn't it? That all around us there will be troubles. If we look at scriptures like John 14:1, Psalm 41:6, and Nahum 1:7 (among others) we find trouble. And looking all around us in our own world, we do find it everywhere.

But what's a person to do when it is in one's own family?

I think Ephesians 5:10-15 is a good scripture to go back to. And it is a good one to pray for ourselves. For it does no good to take part in the evil intentions of anyone. It is better to figure out what pleases the Lord. Not that we let someone get away with their wrong doings, but we don't have to take part in them either.

Even when it's sometimes hard to know what we should do.

Asking God to lead us. 

We can be sure he will

When we trust in him.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends.

God bless!

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A New Creation

 

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

When Christ comes into our lives and replaces the junk, he gives us a new sense of living. One in which we want to please him in everything we do. One where we want to put him at the top of our priority list. One in which we want to obey him and not sin.

If we have not come to these places, then we should question whether or not we really asked him into our hearts.

Oh, there will be days when we don't, please him. Days when he is not at the top of our list. Days when we sin instead of obeying him.

But for those of us that have truly accepted him, that is where his grace comes in, and we only have to ask his forgiveness to get right back on track with him. 

If it were not for his grace, where would we be? My answer would be-not in a good place.

What would yours be?

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. May you day be blessed of our God of grace.

Who Is Our Refuge and Strength??

 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah Psalms 46:1-3 (KJV)

God gets us through whatever we are going through and we do not need to fear.

Hello, Friends. Starting today and for at least the next couple of weeks, I am going to be posting a scripture from God's Word on most days. We have some things coming up that is going to make it a bit hard to do the kind of posts that I have done. There may be days that I don't have a post at all but I know that is not new since I have had those kinds of days all too much lately. However, I will do my best to declare God's Word as I can and hope you will still come each day.

Thank you for allowing me to occupy a little of your time on the days that you do get here. God Bless!

Missing Dad on Fater's Day

 If like me you had a father with whom you had a loving relationship during your life, then tomorrow celebrating Father's Day may be hard for those whose fathers have passed on.

Oh, I know I will see him one day and at this point in my life, it is getting closer to that time.

Still, it will be a day when I will miss him. And yet, as he has been gone for almost 17 years, it will be a bit easier.

For those whose grief is still very strong for your father, God can give you something that you most need during this difficult day.

Like He did for the lady in the story below. Read on:

Mysterious Ways: The Music Box by Barbara WomerPosted in Coping With Grief, Sep 3, 2013

The music box was a lovely gift from my sister, Sue. Made of wood, sculpted and painted to look like a small country church, complete with stained glass windows and a little golden church bell tucked inside the steeple. It reminded me of the house of worship in our small town, the one that stood at the center of my father’s life before he passed away. It had been three years since he died, but Sue must have known I was still missing him. I turned the key and cried upon hearing the first three, heartfelt notes. “Amazing Grace,” Dad’s favorite song.

Ask anyone in town what they remember most about my dad, and they’ll tell you in a flash. “Every Sunday he rang the steeple bell, inviting all of us into church,” they’ll say. And then they’ll mention “Amazing Grace.” Dad led the song selection on Sundays, and I can’t remember a time he didn’t include it.

Dad had a deep, sonorous voice, and it soared above all others when he sang, “and saved a wretch like me…” Even after the service he’d still hum the tune while he tidied up the sanctuary or mowed the church lawn.

I’d been thinking a lot about Dad lately. When I passed the church, heard the peal of its bells or, during Sunday service, heard the opening notes to his song, I would get emotional all over again. Dad had always been there for me. When I was a child, he soothed my little-girl fear of the dark; later, he paid for my years in nursing school. I wished he could still be with my sister and me now.

That’s why I was touched when the deliveryman knocked on the door, bearing Sue’s gift. The last notes of "Amazing Grace" trickled out, and I immediately called my sister to thank her. “You don’t know how much I needed this,” I said.

“I got a feeling that a music box would cheer you up,” Sue said.  “I called a shop to ask if they had any shaped like churches, and told the shopkeeper to send the one he liked best.”

“You mean you never saw it? You don’t know the song it plays?” I asked.

“No,” she answered. “What does it play?”

I told her. Now it was Sue’s turn to cry.

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For sure, tomorrow won't be an easy day for many people that had lost a beloved father to death. Even so we can rejoyce and be glad that if he knew Jesus, he is there with Him now and it is only a matter of time when our father will meet us at the gate of heaven's entrance, ready to take us in his arms again.

Tomorrow I will think of him often during the day. But I am also thankful that our kids will be here to help celebrate the day with their own dad. At least two of them will be as the others live out of state. 

And so for those of you that will be missing your dads, remember the memories you had with him and know that God's grace will get you through it.

Thanks for coming by. God bless

A Father's Day Miracle

 In world given to evil and madness, it is always a wonderful thing to read of someone that has had a miracle happen in their life. It is for that reason I am sharing the story of one man that had it happen on Father's Day one year. Read on:

(Others Magazine}

Father's Day miracle

A young father will turn up to a church north of Adelaide on 6 September – Father’s Day – and thank God for the miracle of grace. Walking into the Gawler Salvation Army  building with him will be his two little girls. It’s something that Cameron Brewis never dreamt would be possible just a year or so ago.

Cameron’s life was a mess. He was involved in criminal activity. He had lost his marriage and his two girls. Now 33, Cameron walked away from God and into a life of drugs and alcohol at 21. The next 10 years were not pleasant, except for the arrival of Grace, now 8, and Aubree, 4.

Eighteen months ago, Cameron was drinking at a local pub when Gawler Corps Officer (pastor), Major Darren Cox, struck up a conversation. Darren was there as part of his usual Friday night pub round. Cameron was cynical of Darren’s interest. He did not have a good impression of church people. The pair chatted again the following Friday and every Friday for some time. At first, Cameron gave Darren a hard time, not holding back on what he thought of church. Darren kept turning up and listening.

Cameron came to accept that Darren was somebody who was genuinely interested in what he had to say and wanting to help make his life better. When Darren suggested Cameron come to his church to see for himself, Cameron accepted. He saw Darren as authentic. In Cameron’s words, Darren was “the real deal”. “When I had to appear in court, Darren came with me,” Cameron says. “I hated church and everything to do with it. But Darren changed my whole idea about church.”

A guitar player, Cameron was invited to join the Gawler worship band for Sunday morning services. With the help of his new friends at Gawler Salvos, Cameron found his way back to God. He now has shared custody of his two girls. They have joined him as Sunday morning regulars at Gawler. “Actually, they now come three days a week, because they come to music practice with me one night a week, as well as the prayer meeting on another night,” Cameron says.

“I’m in a really good place right now. Having the girls in my life is great. They are two of the main reasons for wanting my life to change. I want them to be proud of me. I don’t see being a single father as a challenge. It’s more of a benefit that I can bring the girls to church, where there are so many role models to provide a spiritual base for them.”

Cameron is now also a youth group leader and employed in the church office as an administrative assistant.

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Reading this story reminds me of just how great God is. He can take any situation good or bad, and bring it to a place that we know without a doubt that he has worked it out for our good. How awesome is that?

God has given us fathers to bring us up, provide for us and teach us his ways. But as we know, many fathers do not or can not live up to the things of God. And it is something that we as Christians need to pray for. 

Those men that we see that oppose God, because as long as they are, they may be bringing children into this world that may never know of our great God.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;" - Psalm 103:13, NIV

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

Hanging on through these evil days

 

I wanted to share something encouraging today and the above is what I have found.

Gas prices are high and getting higher.

Food is high and getting higher.

Utility bills are high and getting higher.

That's the bad news

How high will all this get before we can't afford them anymore?

I don't know.

But here is the good news

What I do know is God Word stands in the midst of a crazy and evil world.

He is there when we need him.

He won't let us down.

And his grace is sufficient for all that love him.

The war has already been won.

Even when we don't feel it has.

Call on him and he will answer.

Because he is always nearby.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. Psalm 138:7-8

Amen

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day in Jesus!

God Has Done Great Things

Great Things

Come let us worship our King

Come let us bow at His feet

He has done great things

See what our Savior has done

See how His love overcomes

He has done great things

He has done great things

Oh, hero of Heaven, You conquer the grave

You free every captive and break every chain

Oh God, You have done great things

We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive

Oh Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high

Oh God, You have done great things

You've been faithful through every storm

You'll be faithful forevermore

You have done great things

And I know You will do it again

For Your promise is "Yes and Amen"

You will do great things

God, You do great things

Oh, hero of Heaven, You conquer the grave

You free every captive and break every chain

Oh God, You have done great things

We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive

Oh Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high

Oh God, You have done great things

Hallelujah God, above it all

Hallelujah God, unshakable

Hallelujah, You have done great things

Hallelujah God, above it all

Hallelujah God, unshakable

Hallelujah, You have done great things

You've done great things

Oh, hero of Heaven, You conquer the grave

You free every captive and break every chain

Oh God, You have done great things

We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive

Oh Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high

Oh God, You have done great things

You have done great things

Oh God, You do great things

Our worship leader led us in this praise hymn last Sunday. It gives pause to just how great God is in our life when we let him. 

What great things has he done for you? Today? Last week? How about your whole life time?

In my life its been many. Time after time, when there seemed no way, he has made a way.

Times when I knew something happened because it was him. 

And he will go on making a way. Because he promises that no matter what we go through now or in the future, he will make a way to do the impossible. (Isaiah 43:19)

Why?

Because he has not only already done great things,

but will continue to do them

Thanks for coming by today, Friends

Have a blessed day!

Listen to My Father? Really?

 

This scripture speaks of not just the fathers here, but to the mothers too.

Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Proverbs 23L22

Whether we want to admit it or not, God gave us life. Through our parents.

As a teenager about 12 or maybe 13 years old, I had gotten into an argument one day with my dad. I don't remember what it was about, but I was mad about something. I think it was over something that he would not let me do. And for one of the only times I can ever remember, I shouted at him.

"I didn't ask to be born!" I had said in anger.

What was his reaction?

He answered,

"Well, I didn't ask to be born either, Becky."

And he calmly chuckled as he said that.

Well whatever it was, I did not get my way that day. But, looking back on that and other occasions it did not matter. My dad knew best what was good for me. God had given me life through him and he raised me the very best that he could.

Perhaps your father didn't do such a good job. But can you at least give God thanks that were it not for your father, you would not be here?

Despite any and all weaknesses that prevented your dad from being a good parent, you can find peace with the fact that God did use him to bring you into the world. Start with that in your mind. Thank God that He used this man. And your mother as well. Because guess what?

God had a purpose for bringing you into this world.

And...

Without the three of them, you and I would not exist. 

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Til next time, be blessed 

Forgiving My Father

Many fathers don't deserve the honor that God calls his children to give them. However, consider this short story I found on another site this morning:

Every Father's Day, my husband and I attend church with my parents. During these services, the pastor always asks if anyone would like to stand and pay tribute to his or her father. One by one, people share their memories, and each year without fail, a frail little woman, looking weary from a hard life, stands.

Everyone patiently watches as she rises slowly and confesses in a tired trembling voice, "My daddy was a drinking man. He wasn't there much, but when he wasn't drinking, he was a good man…I loved my daddy." The tears well up in her eyes as she makes her way back down to the pew.

She never says much; there isn't much to say. But she faithfully and sincerely obeys the fifth commandment…even if her father didn't deserve it.      FamilyLife Today®

Who knows what abuse this little lady might have suffered growing up? Maybe she had gone through the pain of reconciling her own pain with a dad that didn't deserve being honored.

The fact is that even the best dad in the world is undeserving of the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. And even so is that true for all of humanity. Whether we have been good or bad parents.

True forgiveness towards a parent or for anyone for that matter

 is the first step in healing our own pain. Not forgiving someone doesn't hurt them so much as it does us. It leaves deep wounds and scars that never heals if we continue to let it fester inside of us.

It sometimes is never easy. It may take a long time to get to it. But in the long run, it is worth it if we can realize that I have no right to not forgive my father (or whoever) when Jesus forgave me. 

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Until next time, God bless!

A Lesson for us all

                      Father and son

A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner. Father being very old and weak, while eating, dropped food on his shirt and trousers. Other diners watched him in disgust while his son was calm. After he finished eating, his son who was not at all embarrassed, quietly took him to the washroom, wiped the food particles, removed the stains, combed his hair and fitted his spectacles firmly. When they came out, the entire restaurant was watching them in dead silence, not able to grasp how someone could embarrass themselves publicly like that. The son settled the bill and started walking out with his father. At that time, an old man amongst the diners called out to the son and asked him, “Don’t you think you have left something behind?”. The son replied, “No sir, I haven’t". The old man retorted, “Yes, you have! You left a lesson for every son and hope for every father”. The restaurant went silent.

 

Moral: To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.   We all know, how our parents cared for us for every little thing.  Love them, respect them, and care for them.

(For this story and others like it, put its title in your search engine.)

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth Thee. Exodus 20:12

Honoring my father while he was alive was no problem for me. Oh yeah, he had his shortcomings, and I knew that. But haven't we all?

But because I knew he had those, I could look over them and just love him anyway.

However, many adult children today do not feel that their dad's deserve honor. And in many cases, deservedly so.

Still honoring our fathers is what the bible teaches. So how do we go about doing that, if our fathers really and probably don't deserve it?

Since this month if Father's Day (June 19th), I want to see what we can find out about this important subject. Starting tomorrow. (June 4th) I hope you will join me.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Have a blessed day!

His Strength, Not Mine

Talk about going through something hard. One of the hardest things I ever had to do was to take care of my wonderful father in the last few months of his life.

And then bury him.

I felt so weak in those days because I loved him so much.  Even though I knew I would one day see him again.

Still, it was a tough time for me.

Of course, I hadn't gone through it alone. I had several family and church members that helped me be there at the times he was not supposed to be alone, and I couldn't be with him.

And after his funeral, they helped me clean out his home and get it ready to sell.

Yes, it had been a hard time. And I felt so weak at all that was involved.

Until one day, after it was all over with, and I was still grieving. Still crying at night when no one was listening. (except of course, God) Still asking for his to help me through this.

That day, I had shared with my cousin about how weak I felt and this is what she told me. "Beck, your dad told me one day that he knew you were the strongest one in the family. "

What? "He said, you have been through so much. And he knew God would continue to take care of you." she told me.

After all, I wasn't the only one in the family that had been through hard things. His life, my mom's life, their life together....and others in my extended family....

You have heard about someone speaking from the grave? It seemed as if dad-or maybe it was God, that had just spoken to me, that day.

I had been through some really tough times in my life, and my dad had thought I had been the strongest person because of it. Huh.

There had been a time, many years before that, that my sister had said about as much to me once. It was during the days when I had really been going through hard times and written a letter to her about feeling so weak. And probably complaining to her. In her letter back to me, she wrote out the following scripture:

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

It was what I needed at that time to get through what I was going through. And when my cousin had told me what dad had said to her all those years later and in another critical time in my life, I could actually thank God in my alone time with him, that yes, I could get through my dad's death and whatever else was ahead. Now I was stronger in my faith. Too much had passed to not be.

Because in my weakness God makes me strong. It is because I rely on his strength and not my own.

Well, it's been close to 17 years since dad has been gone. And yes, there have been times I have sure felt weak. But, I know when I do, I go to his Word and my strength is always renewed. And it doesn't hurt to remember what dad had said to my cousin that day. 

Of all the people that I would have loved to hear that from, it would have been him.

If you are feeling weak today, or if you feel that way tomorrow or next week, remember that you aren't alone. I am sure most of God's people feel that way at times. Go to his Word and find scriptures on his strength because that is where yours will come from when you seek his.

Thanks for coming today, Friends. Be blessed!

When God Created Woman

 

In the midst of the days unsettling news between good and evil, I felt like posting something more positive for us to ponder. Please pay attention to the very last line because we often forget it.

When God created woman he was working late on the 6th day…….

An angel came by and asked.” Why spend so much time on her”

The lord answered. “Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her”

She must function in all kinds of situations,

She must be able to embrace several kids at the same time,

Have a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart,

She must do all this with only two hands,”

She cures herself when sick and can work 18 hours a day”

THE ANGEL was impressed”

Just two hands…..impossible!

And this is the standard model”

The Angel came closer and touched the woman”

“But you have made her so soft, Lord”.

“She is soft”, said the Lord,

“But I have made her strong. You can’t imagine what she can endure and overcome”

“Can she think” The Angel asked…

The Lord answered. “Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate”

The Angel touched her cheeks….

“Lord, it seems this creation is leaking!

You have put too many burdens on her”

“She is not leaking…it is a tear” The Lord corrected the Angel…

“What’s it for?” Asked the Angel…..

The Lord said. “Tears are her way of expressing her grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride.”…

This made a big impression on the Angel,

“Lord, you are a genius. You thought of everything.

A woman is indeed marvelous”

Lord said.

“Indeed she is.

She has strength that amazes a man.

She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.

She holds happiness, love and opinions.

She smiles when she feels like screaming.

She sings when she feels like crying, cries when happy and laughs when afraid.

She fights for what she believes in.

Her love is unconditional.

Her heart is broken when a next-of-kin or a friend dies but she finds strength to get on with life”

The Angel asked: So she is a perfect being..

The Lord replied: No. She has just one drawback

“She often forgets what she is worth”.!

God Created Woman – Story .

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Never let anyone put you down for being this kind of woman. Some men especially would do this. But God made us to be different. To strike a balance between their sometimes harshness. Not all men are this way, of course. But there are those that do. 

However, it is God that give us incredible worth that we should let no one destroy.

Thanks for coming by today, Friends. Til next time, may God richly bless you!