Give us a heart as beautiful, pure,
and spotless as Yours.
A heart like Yours,
so full of love and humility.
May we be able to receive Jesus
as the Bread of Life,
to love Him as You loved Him,
to serve Him under the mistreated face of the poor.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta
 
 

We've been having trouble with trolls trying to come around, so from now going forward, new members will be allowed to join but will not get posting privileges right away. Once we've had a chance to get to know you and know that you're genuine in your desire to take part in a fellowship in Christ, we can revise the situation. Start trolling in the comments or even just acting ugly and making life unpleasant, and I'll ban you and move on with my life.

This community is deliberately apolitical. We all have our opinions about life on earth, but this is supposed to be a place where we put ourselves aside and concentrate on Jesus, our relationship with Him, and our relationship with each other as His followers. I have no patience for anyone trying to take away from that in order to start political arguments.

Psalm 99:9  KJV
Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy.

Bethy loved the old church. She had come to its sanctuary since she had been a young girl, and that was a long time gone, indeed. The place was special. Bethy had always been filled with awe whenever she stood in the church. From the moment she entered the door, she felt God's presence. This church was a holy place. She felt closest to God when she felt the special magic of the old church. It was easy to worship God there. We need reminders to help us understand God's holiness. Truly, only He is worthy to be praised, and yet we so often act as if there's nothing special about God at all. There is no life in our prayers, we decided to skip church, or we ignore opportunities to share Christ with those around us. Our actions say, "No big deal." It is a big deal. God is the biggest deal of our lives. Everything we do should exalt the Lord and show others just how important He is to us. Anytime we can experience the holiness and majesty of the Lord, we should jump at the chance. Nothing pleases God more.

Prayer:

You are so important to me, Lord. Help me to prove, through the living of my life, how much You mean to me. Inspire me with Your holiness, and let me worship you always. Amen.

He Blesses And Keeps
"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee"  (Numbers 6:24  KJV)


This first clause of the high priest's benediction is substantially a promise. That blessing which our great High Priest pronounces upon us is sure to come, for He speaks the mind of God.

What a joy to abide under the divine blessing! This puts a gracious flavor into all things. If we are blessed, then all our possessions and enjoyments are blessed; yea, our losses and crosses and even our disappointments are blessed. God's blessing is deep, emphatic, effectual. A man's blessing may begin and end in words, but the blessing of the LORD makes rich and sanctifies. The best wish we can have for our dearest friend is not "may prosperity attend thee," but "the LORD bless thee."

It is equally a delightful thing to be kept of God; kept by Him, kept near Him, kept in Him. They are kept indeed whom God keeps; they are preserved from evil; they are reserved unto boundless happiness. God's keeping goes with His blessing, to establish it and cause it to endure.

 
With a bit of Saturday devotion today!  :D  hehe!  I know.  I'm silly.  ♥  First, I want to tell you about my house cleaning.  :)

Last week I threw out worrying, it was getting old and in the way.
It kept me from being me; I couldn't do things God's way.

I threw out a book on MY PAST (didn't have time to read it anyway).
Replaced it with NEW GOALS, started reading it today.

I threw out hate and bad memories, (remember how I treasured them so)?
Got me a NEW PHILOSOPHY too, threw out the one from long ago.

Brought in some new books too, called I CAN, I WILL, and I MUST.
Threw out I might, I think and I ought. WOW, you should've seen the dust!

I ran across an OLD FRIEND, I hadn't talked to in a while.
His name is GOD the Father, and I really like His style.

He helped me to do some cleaning and added some things Himself.
Like PRAYER, HOPE, FAITH and LOVE, yes... I placed them right on the shelf.

I picked up this special thing and placed it at the front door.
I FOUND IT- it's called PEACE. Nothing gets me down anymore.

Yes, I've got my house looking nice. Looks good around the place.
For things like WORRY and TROUBLE there just isn't any space.

It's good to do a little house cleaning, get rid of the things on the shelf.
It sure makes things brighter; maybe you should TRY IT YOURSELF.

BE BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING TO SOMEONE ELSE!!!!



Isn’t this sweet? I wanted to share it with you folks and encourage you to do the same. We all know what a wonderful feeling it is when things are going great and we are keeping our houses full of God's grace. We also know we can’t always keep our houses as clean and straight as this one, because things do happen and because we’re human, we will let some things get "dusty" again. But the good thing is, because we know and love our Father, He will always be there to help us get it all straightened up again…and again…for however many times we may need Him. ♥

I hope everyone is having a very blessed Saturday!
 
 

A best friend is like a completion--they make you better than you are.

Author Not Mentioned

It's a new year.  What is on your heart?  What would you like to accomplish?  What would you like to change?  Have you made any New Year's Resolutions?  I don’t do well with the resolutions.  I decided to share some things I will pray about instead.  I will pray about them for you, too.  ♥

 

*Thank Him for being Sovereign.

*Remember to make my speech glorify Him.

*Remember to make my actions honor Him.

*Ask Him to soften my heart to receive the words His wonderful Spirit speaks to me about.

*Ask Him to clothe me with humility.

*Ask Him to take away my desire to always be right and have my own way.

*Ask Him to give me a heart that loves and seeks after His Truth above all else.

*Ask Him to help me to seek His Word in all that I say and do.

**Ask Him to help me submit to His Word and allow It to penetrate the deep places in my heart that resist change.

*Ask Him to put me through the Refiner’s fire to burn off those things that keep me from walking in step with His character.  (I hope I remember this when the fire is burning.)

*Ask for wisdom and discernment to reject the lies of this world and Satan.

*Ask for guidance into all Truth.

*Ask Him to fill and saturate me with Him as I study His Word.

*Remember to study His Word.  Every day.  All of the time.

*Ask Him to guard my heart and to keep my eyes fixed on Him.

*Ask Him to grow in me the things that will make me more like Him.

*Remember to be quiet and listen and know that He is my Father.

 

Will you help me with this?  Will you help me pray?  As your sister, I will pray for each of you and try my best to keep us all lifted up.  Thank-you!  ♥

 

Dear Heavenly Father,
      Thank-You for being Mighty, Awesome and Wonderful.  Today we surrender our thoughts, our speech, and our hearts.  We trust You will do a mighty work in us and through us this year and carry it on to completion until the day we step into eternity with You.  Help us to trust in You with all our hearts and to not lean on our own understanding.  Help us to acknowledge You in all our ways so that we can hear Your voice as You say, "This is the way, walk in it."

Lord, we love You and thank You that You love us. May our lives be a living testimony of You. We ask this in the powerful and mighty name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord who will do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine.

In Jesus' Merciful Name,

Amen.

My sweet friend, Jody Wilson, has a gift, and uses it for the Lord through Lionsong Ministries. I told him about you nice people, and he said that he didn't mind a bit if I shared his new CD with y'all. So no illegal copyright infringement here. :D



( Downloadable praise music under the cut. :)Collapse )

Better late than never, right? Hey. It's still Thursday in some places. :)

So I though that I would share a testimony with you rather than a bible verse and pithy thought, as is the norm with me.

Many of you know that my wedding anniversary is tomorrow. I'll have been married to my sweet husband for 10 years.

This, friends, is a miracle.

( But He's an amazing God. He works miraclesCollapse )

Due to the fact that my spring and summer apparel was made for someone who was, last season, about 15 lbs lighter than I find myself to be, I’ve had to start exercising again. However, God works in mysterious ways, and I had an epiphany while I was out jogging (well, alternately jogging and walking, if you want to know the truth) with my dog, Katie, the black Labrador retriever, earlier this week. Now Katie was bought and trained to be a ‘hunting dog,’ but she’s really more of a ‘couch dog;’ she’s nine years old and rather lazy (Like me!), but still enjoys a walk in the morning (NOT like me!).

So we’re out in the fields behind our house, and I let her off the leash. She starts going back and forth in the field, doing what the hunting trainers call ‘flushing,’ trying to roust pheasant or quail or whatever from where they’ve nested on the ground. She’d been doing this for about ten minutes, having a wonderful time, just getting to roam freely in the wild, when she happened upon a warren of cottontail rabbits.

If you know me, you know that I’m not a big fan of the bunny; although I really didn’t want her to hurt one. So I merely watched to see how it all panned out.

Rabbits were everywhere! There were probably a dozen of all colors and sizes, and Katie simply couldn’t decide which way she wanted to go! She chased one for a bit, and then another and another, until they’d all ran away or hidden themselves where she couldn’t find them. Poor thing was so frustrated! I wanted to say, “Kate! If you’d just choose one and follow it, you could have it!” She sat down next to me after we got home, exhausted and I think a little disgusted. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell with dogs. :)

Sisters, how often do we find ourselves in this same situation? (Not chasing after Thumper, obviously.) We chase after so many different things, even good things, things we’re supposed to do. Like Katie, things that are ingrained in us to do. We spend our time in service to the church, encouraging others, teaching the Word, and taking care of our families. We absolutely exhaust ourselves and become disgruntled with those around us when we should focus solely on Jesus and place our faith in Him. If we listen, He will tell us what to do, what most needs our attention, and what might need to go by the wayside.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2

12:2

Okay, based on the answers to the poll, here's a tentative schedule for daily devotional postings:

Sunday: dieloreley
Monday: andi
Tuesday: Jandy
Wednesday: Oldromantic
Thursday: Persephone33
Friday: nbaeker
Saturday: Heyurs

If you'd prefer a different day, speak up and we can move things around. If you're good with your assignment, speak up so I know you're covered.

Keep in mind that if you're not on the list, you can still post whenever you want to. The only thing the list is for is that the people on it are committed to post on their day at least once.

Sorry for not making the names prettier, but my keyboard is going nuts and I've got to hunt up spare batteries and the charger to see if that's the problem.

ETA: I also made the new entries default to friends-only. If you want everyone on earth to see your posts, you can change it for each one right by the save button.