Steering wheel

Tuesday's Quote

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

~Corrie Ten Boom~

FOR OUR ETERNAL BEST

I  look in disbelief. No word seems adequate to express a heart and soul mourning our brothers and sisters toll in Japan. My family, we clasp our hands to pray and intercede.
It's an odd concept to know that we are to pray,  He directs us to.
But I feel so inadequate at the same time through those prayers. I realize the immensity of the travesty and my own fragility & humanity. But yet He tells us to..pray. He tells ME to pray...I realize it's Him.
It's Him through my prayers... through our prayers!

James 5:13-18

The prayer that is able to accomplish much

Prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of a Christian because as James writes

“the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”

The idea is that when prayer is working, or doing its thing, it can accomplish much. This is because God has chosen to accomplish His will through our prayers. This truth can be mind boggling, but I think that we can grasp it by looking at another means that God uses to accomplish His will.

Romans 10:14-15
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written:

"HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!

Who is it that saves a person? It is God of course. But here we see how God does it. God uses Christians who proclaim the good news about Jesus to call non-Christians to belief. It is not the Christian who saved the non-Christian, it is God. In the same way God gives us the privilege of working for His will through our prayers.

God uses our prayers to accomplish His will.

This is why our prayers are so powerful,

because

they have the power of God to accomplish His will behind them.

I find myself grappling with the age old questions:
Why is there suffering; why doesn't God always heal people when they ask?

There is this verse in Matthew 18 where Jesus is delighted to heal people who come to him. But he says, if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.

Now right there, it shows that Jesus has a different priority, and that is our spiritual healing.

His real interest was in healing the soul.

He answers our prayers for our eternal best.

Sometimes that means physical healing. Even a miracle.
Other times it means using what Satan meant to destroy us to, instead, cause us to grow stronger
We have to remember that we live in a sinful world in which an enemy seeks to destroy us. He'll do that through whatever means he can. Illness, cancer, pain, discouragement, doubt, busyness.
Yet God promises to work all things to good for His children. Like Joseph, we can say, "You meant this for evil, but God used it for good" Genesis 50:20

I think of a great spokesperson of God's true healing Joni Eareckson Tada. "If I had been granted a miraculous physical healing back when I was 17, I know I wouldn't be in a ministry serving other people with disabilities around the world."

My prayer is for our Eternal Best Father!

#49 Power of prayer

Windows to the soul

1,000 Word Thursday



Windows to the soul!



Χαίρομαι

Wednesday's word

Romans 12:12

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

These three short commands have been a source of great strength and inspiration to me.

When the pressure of life is on, they put wings to my soul!

Rejoice in hope… I love the Greek word for rejoice! It's so regal! Χαίρομαι.
Have you ever thought about how rejoicing in something enables you to transcend circumstances? What does it mean to rejoice in hope? Our great hope is living with our Lord Jesus Christ for eternity in His kingdom. This hope is not a wish, like when we say, “I hope it’s a nice day on Saturday.” No, it's a certainty! God has promised and will deliver!

Doesn’t it arouse your deepest longing to think of living in God’s Kingdom, with no more suffering, injustice, and death?

In the coming age we’ll no longer have to struggle with evil from others or our own sinful nature! When this hope becomes real to us, it will improve our perspective more than falling in love!

 Be patient in suffering . . . If I have patience, then I will continue on the path God has given me, even if I have to endure hardship. In other words,

I won’t quit!

Luke 8:15 speaks of those who “bring forth fruit with patience” (KJV). The NIV translates this same phrase “by persevering produce a crop.” So, those who are patient are those who persevere in a godly path through the long, hard days as well as the bright, sunny ones.

  Persevere in prayer . . . I remember praying for years that we would find a home in a certain location, our kids would be well, go to a certain school, for healing, His guidance as I pursued my ministers liscense, for my marriage, AGAINST depression and anxiety....
Even though I often fall short in how much I pray,

it is critical we pray.

Our prayer may help someone break through into a wonderful new realm that God has prepared for them. Just think, maybe it’s our prayer that gets them through! Other types of prayer, like conversing with and giving thanks to God, are also invaluable so that we can pour our hearts out to God, hear God’s wisdom, and give thanks for the good things.

 

Thought for the day:

Today I will Χαίρομαι in eternal life with Jesus Christ, be patient in the hard times, and pray earnestly and joyfully!

Adventure

Tuesday's Quote

 

“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.”

~Alan Cohen~

♥

Diamonds on black velvet

    The longer I look to those things I am thankful for, the more I find!  

This week, full and blessed. Full of transition and compromise. Promises kept and broken.

Searching my In-Laws eyes as they plan the details of their memorial service. On the cusp of a great life and an even better one yet to come.

I so look forward to Sunday's. For worship, family and a day of reflection. I don't want to miss a morsel that He has seen fit to trust me with.

 

#136-148

*The sun in my face and the wind in my hair

*A smile from a complete stranger

*Air that is filled with laughter

*It's like someone spilled diamonds on black velvet as I lie on the cool ground gazing at the vastness

*Caramel

*The giddiness that overcomes me as I don a fluffy feather boa

*Nail polish

* "I love you mom"

*Cycle of the seasons...though summer makes me the happiest

*Anxiously piercing through my box from Dayspring "One Thousand Gifts"

*The scent of a new book
*Hands interlaced, his shoulder

Inhaling Life!

My unexpected

Her hair soft and thin in my hands. Our conversation flowing, her favorite hymns playing in the background. Shampoo, clip, color and curl. She laughs and tells me stories of old. Each time I rush less and absorb more. She is priceless. The last bobby pin in place, she stands slowly to turn and touch my face. Eyes moist..."You mean more to me than you know."
Once again submitting to the moment, savoring it with eyes open.
As I've said before, It's not the concert nor the applause, but that silent powerful lilting moment of the in between. Thank You Lord!

 

Humor, Laughter and Helium

Funny Friday

As we approach Valentines Day and I ponder my love relationship, I can't help but think of all the awesome, tough, fun, and adventurous times we have had doing life together.

However it's the funny moments that stand out most.

The short sheeting, Putting dog treats in his lunch, finding a plastic roach in my box of fast food, throwing a cold cup of water on him while he showers, him answering the phone and handing it to me like it's an important call, only to realize it's just a phone solicitor, and to this day I continue to load the dishwasher in haphazard manner. As though I'm organizedly (is that a word?) challenged, knowing he being the ultimate organizer, will come show me the correct way of doing it...

EVERY SINGLE TIME!

That's alright though because he incessantly feels the need to find his way into the majority of my photos. He has an embedded photo op GPS.
Try as I might to capture precious, memorable, poetic and serious moments with my camera, there it is.
I'm sitting with sweaty palms waiting for the motherload to upload, rejoicing with anticipation when I hear the ding and wala.


And THERE HE IS in all his glory IN ALMOST EVERY SINGLE SHOT. Picking his nose, scratching his behind or belly among other things.

One of the great joys of marriage is the time that you, as a couple, spend laughing together and enjoying your sense of humor...all while holding hands and inhaling your childrens birthday balloons.

Take it from these professionals:

Legendary comedian Bob Hope said laughter is an “instant vacation.” Jay Leno says, “You can’t stay mad at somebody who makes you laugh.” And Bill Cosby says, “If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.”

CIVIL UNREST

1,000 Word Thursday

Egypt Civil Unrest

Easy Breezy Joy MoJo

Wednesday's Word

Certainly it's not possible to be joyful in EvErY situation. I say that with great transparency as I've temporarily misplaced my easy breezy JOY MOJO!
We will never have the perfect set of circumstances, in every setting, of our every day lives, however we can still experience joy every single day. 
Joy is not found in the external....we know that :-)
By purposely doing what encourages our spirit, joy will begin to well up on the inside, a joy that does not depend on circumstances.
A SMILE IS CONTAGIOUS...TRY IT.

Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful disposition is good for your health;

gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.



I love Seattle!

"Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God."
Robert Schuller

Beautiful to me

Tuesday's Quotes

I am stepping away today from my weekly quote to recite a song.

Words that leap from the page. Lyrics that paint a portrait ...

Devestate and ruin all that needs to change and cover me with Your blood Lord Jesus!!

"Just like the ocean waves You crash on me, Just like the tidal wave You ruin me!

Just like the hurricane you devastate EVERYTHING that needs to change!

You are the only thing that's beautiful to me, that's beautiful to me.
You are the only thing that's beautiful to me, that's beautiful to me.

Just like the mountain peak You lift me up.
Just like the desert stream You fill my cup.

And like a heart that beats You are the blood that covers me.
You cover me!

And all I can say is THANK YOU
And all I can say is THANK YOU"