I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. (Psalms 121:1-8 NLT)
When I look at the majestic mountains that God has made, it brings me into a sense of awe. It's as though I am stepping into a holy sanctuary built by an amazing, all knowing, all powerful, ever present God! I see it as His work of art, that we humans can't even begin to replicate!
And to think that the God who formed the mountains, cares about you and me! He cares when we've had a bad day at the office or the laundry has piled up and the washing machine is broken. He cares when something like cancer targets you or a family member. He even cares when you're running late and need to find a parking space!
Find comfort in knowing that God is more than enough to meet your needs. He doesn't take time off from watching over you and me! He knows what He's doing! Trust In Him, because He is worthy! He is for you, not against you! Romans 8:31 says, "What then, shall we sayin response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
"Shoulders" By: For King and Country
When confusions my companion and despair holds me for ransome
I will feel no fear
I know that You are near
When I'm caught deep in the valley with chaos for my company
I'll find my comfort here
'Cause I know that You are near
Chorus:
My help comes from you
You're right here pulling me through
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
My help comes from You
You are my rest, my rescue
I don't have to see to believe that You're lifting me up on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
You mend what once was shattered
And You turn my tears to laughter
Your forgiveness is my fortress
Oh Your mercy is relentless
Chorus:
My help comes from you
You're right here pulling me
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
My help comes from You
Don't have to see it to believe it
My help is from You
Don't have to see it 'cause I know, 'Cause I know it's true
[Chorus]
My help comes from you
You're right here pulling me
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders
Your shoulder
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Growing and Improving With Age
Ever since my incidents in the hospital this past summer, I've determined I'm going to go to great efforts to get this body into shape and to stay healthy. Weather in eating or exercising or in keeping this brain in gear for learning! One of my favorite quotes says, "Good, better, best! Never let it rest! Till your good is better and your better is best! In that regard, it is my hope that the older I get, (and boy am I feeling it after hitting my mid forty's mark last week!) that I will continue to learn and grow and improve! Thankfully, I am not the same youthful, selfish person I was when Steve & I first married 19 years ago! God has been patiently crafting me into His daughter who seeks to let go of self and seek more of Him!
In getting this body into shape physically, it has meant consistent, deliberate exercise and saying no to unhealthy foods- especially my favorite unhealthy food- doughnuts! :) When I get a sandwich out somewhere I skip the fries and the soda. In fact the last time I had soda, it was really nasty tasting to me, sickeningly sweet! And horror of horrors, I had a doughnut this past week and all I could taste was the grease! I guess that's a good thing, because that means I'm getting away from that craving for greasy carbs! Although I confess I haven't given up on chocolate! I love chocolate and chocolate loves me!
On a different yet similar topic, God is guiding me to kick the negative and complaining habit! Again, thankfully, I'm not the negative, criticizing wife I was 19 years ago! And I've got to put in a plug for Steve, on that one! He's dealt with me year after year with this! At first it was not a pretty picture! But I know God has been changing this negative seeking heart when left in its deprived nature, into a heart that desires to seek what is good and right in this world!
One of Steve's love languages is words of affirmation. One way to find out what communicates love to a person is finding out what bugs a person and then offer the opposite. For example my husbands desire for words that encourage and build him up were not being filled. I was great at complaining and letting him know about the things that bugged me and that just drove him up a wall! I was really good at pointing out what was wrong and what I didn't like. That made for some really great first couple of years of marriage! By God's grace we made it through some rough waters! God has helped me to seek what is good and to point it out! To treat Steve, the way I'd want to be treated! God is so good and patient with me! Incidentally, words of affirmation is one of my love languages too! I think the longer we're married the better we've gotten at filling each other's love tank (see Christian Comedian Dennis Swanberg for what the Love Tank is all about!)
Just the other night as Helen,my mother in law, and I were talking, we couldn't help but laugh at some of the Eyore type of comments we've seen of facebook! There are certain people who consistently post, Oh, I'm so tired... and proceed to post about all their aches, pains, woes and the things that are going wrong. Now I understand, we all have a bad day from time to time, but please tell me that NOT everyday is a bad day. If it is, well then I'm afraid you're stuck in the same trap I was in!
II Corinthians 10 :5 says:"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." The second half of that verse is where God had to take me to change me and grow me! To capture those ugly thoughts that just tear down instead of building up!
Now back to that night with Helen, she started pointing out some negative things in a tongue in cheek type manner! She had me rolling with laughter! She ranted on and on about how tired she was, that she had to have surgery on a hernia, that because she'd had an ice cream cone, she didn't have room to eat the sub for supper, that she had to have surgery on Friday the 13th, that all was doom and gloom. I wish I could remember all the funny negatives she was jokingly pointing out. They were hilarious!
Now in fact that very day she did have surgery on a hernia, but before that surgery, we didn't know what was going on inside of her body. Fearful it could have been something much worse we prayed and asked for prayer on her behalf! The surgery was to take 2 to 2 1/2 hrs., it ended up taking only 1 hr.! In the recovery room, she was laughing and full of life! She did not act at all like she'd just come through major surgery! She did tell me this surgery was her 9th surgery. She stated that she'd never had a recovery like this one! She was full of life and alert and joking! The nurses were laughing with us at her antics!
Simply and honestly, I cannot begin to convey how much it meant to actually, physically see God's hand on her and how He answered some very heartfelt prayers! God is so good! If only we throw off the weights and say yes to what is good and right, we can rise above the circumstances that come our way. When we say yes to God, He gives us strength that is not our own!!
If life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we respond to it then I really think what happens in this life is a test. God is our Heavenly Father, he is our teacher. He wants His goodness to shine through our lives. And just like I have to deny myself of my doughnuts and schedule consistent exercise, these things require extreme discipline! God is way more interested in what will make us more like Him than He is in our comfort! Ouch! I know that's not an easy truth to swallow! My desire is to learn without having to go through the difficulties. I do want to be tenderhearted, teachable and bendable, so that when I need teaching and growing, God doesn't have to do some drastic thing to get through to me! Also as a final thought, when I'm down, it's so easy to pull others down with me! Oh, God help me not to be a negative drain on anybody, especially my husband and my son!
In light of these musings that I've just shared I'd like to finish with this Scripture that really sums it all up!
Hebrews 12:10-13
For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No disci;ine is injoyable while it is happening- it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in the way. 12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
In getting this body into shape physically, it has meant consistent, deliberate exercise and saying no to unhealthy foods- especially my favorite unhealthy food- doughnuts! :) When I get a sandwich out somewhere I skip the fries and the soda. In fact the last time I had soda, it was really nasty tasting to me, sickeningly sweet! And horror of horrors, I had a doughnut this past week and all I could taste was the grease! I guess that's a good thing, because that means I'm getting away from that craving for greasy carbs! Although I confess I haven't given up on chocolate! I love chocolate and chocolate loves me!
On a different yet similar topic, God is guiding me to kick the negative and complaining habit! Again, thankfully, I'm not the negative, criticizing wife I was 19 years ago! And I've got to put in a plug for Steve, on that one! He's dealt with me year after year with this! At first it was not a pretty picture! But I know God has been changing this negative seeking heart when left in its deprived nature, into a heart that desires to seek what is good and right in this world!
One of Steve's love languages is words of affirmation. One way to find out what communicates love to a person is finding out what bugs a person and then offer the opposite. For example my husbands desire for words that encourage and build him up were not being filled. I was great at complaining and letting him know about the things that bugged me and that just drove him up a wall! I was really good at pointing out what was wrong and what I didn't like. That made for some really great first couple of years of marriage! By God's grace we made it through some rough waters! God has helped me to seek what is good and to point it out! To treat Steve, the way I'd want to be treated! God is so good and patient with me! Incidentally, words of affirmation is one of my love languages too! I think the longer we're married the better we've gotten at filling each other's love tank (see Christian Comedian Dennis Swanberg for what the Love Tank is all about!)
Just the other night as Helen,my mother in law, and I were talking, we couldn't help but laugh at some of the Eyore type of comments we've seen of facebook! There are certain people who consistently post, Oh, I'm so tired... and proceed to post about all their aches, pains, woes and the things that are going wrong. Now I understand, we all have a bad day from time to time, but please tell me that NOT everyday is a bad day. If it is, well then I'm afraid you're stuck in the same trap I was in!
II Corinthians 10 :5 says:"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." The second half of that verse is where God had to take me to change me and grow me! To capture those ugly thoughts that just tear down instead of building up!
Now back to that night with Helen, she started pointing out some negative things in a tongue in cheek type manner! She had me rolling with laughter! She ranted on and on about how tired she was, that she had to have surgery on a hernia, that because she'd had an ice cream cone, she didn't have room to eat the sub for supper, that she had to have surgery on Friday the 13th, that all was doom and gloom. I wish I could remember all the funny negatives she was jokingly pointing out. They were hilarious!
Now in fact that very day she did have surgery on a hernia, but before that surgery, we didn't know what was going on inside of her body. Fearful it could have been something much worse we prayed and asked for prayer on her behalf! The surgery was to take 2 to 2 1/2 hrs., it ended up taking only 1 hr.! In the recovery room, she was laughing and full of life! She did not act at all like she'd just come through major surgery! She did tell me this surgery was her 9th surgery. She stated that she'd never had a recovery like this one! She was full of life and alert and joking! The nurses were laughing with us at her antics!
Simply and honestly, I cannot begin to convey how much it meant to actually, physically see God's hand on her and how He answered some very heartfelt prayers! God is so good! If only we throw off the weights and say yes to what is good and right, we can rise above the circumstances that come our way. When we say yes to God, He gives us strength that is not our own!!
If life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we respond to it then I really think what happens in this life is a test. God is our Heavenly Father, he is our teacher. He wants His goodness to shine through our lives. And just like I have to deny myself of my doughnuts and schedule consistent exercise, these things require extreme discipline! God is way more interested in what will make us more like Him than He is in our comfort! Ouch! I know that's not an easy truth to swallow! My desire is to learn without having to go through the difficulties. I do want to be tenderhearted, teachable and bendable, so that when I need teaching and growing, God doesn't have to do some drastic thing to get through to me! Also as a final thought, when I'm down, it's so easy to pull others down with me! Oh, God help me not to be a negative drain on anybody, especially my husband and my son!
In light of these musings that I've just shared I'd like to finish with this Scripture that really sums it all up!
Hebrews 12:10-13
For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No disci;ine is injoyable while it is happening- it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in the way. 12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
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