What next?

When this is over....

We don't need to have grand parties of celebration.

We need to celebrate God's work in our lives as He makes us  more like Him.


He has given us time to reflect on and enjoy His daily goodness.

When this has passed we need to give God the glory...

Because He is giving us another chance to get it right! 

Another  chance to forgive and love and extend mercy to each other.

Another chance to practice patience and experience trusting Him in all things and rejoicing in His presence.

Another chance to be to others as He has been to us...

Time to relfecyt and enjoy His goodness....

Everything Good Starts with Him

For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, Lord, are good
and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. Psalm 86:4-5

Father, all our hopes and dreams originate in You -- Because of Your never-ending, never-walking-away-from-us Love!

You abound in forgiveness, mercy and grace!

I worship You with all my  heart and soul.

As I sit here in regret and guilt over past sins -- and there are so many --  I ask You to please remind me of Your forgiveness, for all my sins -- past, present and future.  You have already put them out of Your memory. You do not hold them against me!

Please let me  feel Your mercy.

Fill me with it so I can share it with others I encounter today.

I give You thanks for that forgiveness and grace that I do not deserve and for Your mercies which come new again every morning as certainly as the sun rises.

You are so great and so worthy of praise! Thank You for even
accepting my worship.

My Helper

Hear O LORD, and have mercy on me. LORD, be my helper!
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing. You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.  Psalm 30:10-11

Father, You are a God of redemption and restoration. 

I look to You to be my helper today. Turn my sadness into joy and my confusion and frustration into actions of purpose and accomplishment.

I don't want to stay in the depths of sadness and self-pity. Draw me into the Light of Your goodness and love. You have made me feel at home and at peace there. And that's where I long to abide.

I know You intend only the best for me. And You will never leave me alone.

Amen.

What I Have to Give

"Then Peter said, 'Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.'"

Heavenly Father, Your kindness has no limits and Your mercy is infinite. You are not stingy with Your grace and goodness. You are eager to bless us.

Some times these days I feel like I don't even have the strength to stand.

Please pick me up and give me the power to make it through these times. And I will encourage and minister to  Your other children You bring into my life.

Thank You that the Name of Jesus has the power to make the lame to walk and the blind to see.

And it has the power to help us through every trial we are facing right now.

In the Name of our all powerful and compassionate Savior,
Amen.

It's about Patience

What is Patience?

This is what Patience looks like:

      

                       With your family it is        LOVE

                     With others it is                RESPECT

                     With yourself it is             CONFIDENCE

                     With God it is                    FAITH

Learn to be patient, so that you will please God 

and be given what He has promised.  

Hebrews 10:36

When this is over!

When this is over, may we never again take for granted:

A handshake with a stranger
Full shelves (and choices) at the store
Spontaneous conversations with neighbors out walking their dogs
A crowded theater
The line at our favorite restaurant
Friday night out
A routine check-up 
Casual coffee with a friend
The stadium roaring
A hard Monday
Getting our hair and nails done

...And the closeness and intimacy of sharing the Lord's Supper...passing the elements to the ones sitting close to us....

When this ends, we find that we have become more like the
people we wanted to be, we were called to be, we hoped to be, and may we stay that way --

After the Lockdown

After the lockdown, we don't need parties.

What we need is to have experienced a change in our spiritual life
and to be able to celebrate that!

When this has passed, we need to give God the glory...

Because He has given us another chance to get it right!

Another chance to forgive and love and show mercy to others.

Another chance to learn patience.

Another chance to put Him first.

Another chance to be to others what He has been to us.


I'm so grateful for or "second-chance" (and 3rd and 4th, etc) God!

Remember, we are the "Easter people"! 

We don't whine and complain. 

Our song is not 'Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen' 

Our theme song in the 'Hallelujah Chorus'!

He Opened My Eyes for a Reason

I woke up blessed, happy and grateful!

I refuse to allow my circumstances to own me.

I refuse to allow my struggles to jail me.

And I refuse to allow haters to strip me of my joy.

I'll  strive to have an amazing day 

because God opened my eyes for a reason.

A Psalm for 2020

A Psalm for  2020


Lord,

I am growing tired and discouraged. These are hard days for
us.

But You never tire, never lose hope, and never give up on caring for me and fighting for me.

I am humbled to call You Father and Friend.

Who am I that You are mindful of me?

You are my everything, God!


                            A Psalm for all times - Psalm 8
                                   (A psalm of David)

LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

...When I consider Your heavens,

 the work of Your fingers,

the moon and stars You have set in place--

What is mankind that You are mindful of them?

A human being that You are mindful of him, 

A son of man that You care for him?...

Doing Something Beautiful!

Message from God:

"When you do something beautiful and it appears no one notices, don't be sad.

I know  you feel that way sometimes.

Just remember I notice!

And remember that every morning I provide a beautiful spectacle for everyone -- a glorious sunrise that transforms the sky into a majestic tapestry reminding people of new blessings, new opportunities and new beginnings...and yet almost no one notices -- most of My audience is still asleep!

Honestly, My dear Child, most people never notice any of the beautiful things I do!"

Yesterday

The angel said..."Go and tell His disciples: 'He is risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.'" Matthew 28:6.

What extraordinary news! And it was to be announced to the disciples, not to Pilate, nor to Herod, not to the religious leaders. But to His disciples! ...because the news had eternal implications for them.

Because He lives, we too shall live!


So yesterday we celebrated two resurrections: His and ours!!!!


Because He lives, we too shall live

It's All About Easter - Yancey/M Scott Peck

Over time, it was the cross on the hill that changed the moral landscape of the world.

M. Scott Peck writes:

I cannot be any more specific about the methodology of love than to quote these words of an old priest: "There are dozens of ways to deal with evil and several ways to conquer it. All of them are facets of the truth that the only ultimate way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered in a willing, living human being. When it is absorbed there like blood in a sponge or a spear into one's heart, it loses its power and goes no further."

The healing of evil -- scientifically or otherwise -- can be accomplished only by the love of individuals. A willing sacrifice is required...I do not know how this occurs. But I know that it does...Whenever this happens there is a slight shift in the balance of power in the world.



The balance of power shifted more than slightly that day at Calvary because of who it was that absorbed the evil.

If Jesus of Nazareth had been one more innocent victim, like King, Mandela, Havel, and Solzhenitsyn, he would have made his mark in history and faded from the scene.

No religion would have sprung up around him.

What changed history was the disciples' dawning awareness (it took the Resurrection to convince them) that God Himself had chosen the way of weakness. The cross redefined God as One who was willing to relinquish power for the sake of love.

Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it.

In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced one for the sake of the other.

--From The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey