He is With Us

Sometimes we find ourselves caught in a problem and see no way out. Don't panic; God can open up a way In the same way, when we follow God's path, he goes with us. His presence with us on the journey is more important than anything else—even the destination. "How good it is to be near God!" (Psalm 73:28).   "God can see the end of your journey from the beginning, and he will go with you." Point of Grace sings... God is With Us Words and music by robert sterling A rushing river sweeps around us Just as dark and cold as night, it surrounds us But we pass through the water to a safer shore We're sheltered from the raging river's roar Though the night is long And the river's strong Still God is with us We can stem the tide Reach the other side For God is with us The river deepens, night grows darker And the struggle seems to be getting harder Today has troubles yesterday has never known But we don't have to face them on our own And when we face the river's roll He holds our hand and won't let go

They Will Want What You Have

John 13:35... By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Be a living example: How do you treat the box boy on Tuesday..or the traffic jam at 5pm?  you might be the only Bible some people read.  When the people around you see the peace in your life, especially when it seems like you're surrounded by storms, you can bet they'll want to know how to get what you got!

He Wants to be Just Like Me

He climbs in my lap for a goodnight hug
He calls me Dad and I call him Bub
With his faded old pillow and a bear named Pooh
He snuggles up close and says, "I want to be like you"
I tuck him in bed and I kiss him goodnight
Trippin' over the toys as I turn out the light
And I whisper a prayer that someday he'll see
He's got a father in God 'cause he's seen Jesus in me

Lord, I want to be just like You
'Cause he wants to be just like me
I want to be a holy example
For his innocent eyes to see
Help me be a living Bible, Lord
That my little boy can read
I want to be just like You
'Cause he wants to be like me

Treat everyone with respect and dignity, no matter the circumstances and find ways to bless the people around you, even if ..yes even if...yes, they are the ones that need to see and feel it the most
.....Do not become overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good..Romans 12:3... Jesus didn't treat the well, but the sick...Matthew 9:11...If you live these Spiritual fruits ...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control....Galations 5: 22-23. your life will glorify God and encourage others to follow your example. 

Share your story through actions! It’s a great way to plant a seed without being preachy or pushy. You don’t need to tell others why they should do it this way, just live and.....

...They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, they will know we are Christians by our Love.....

 

How you live your life..day to day...will be your testimony to the World. 

A Lesson in Patience

I am re-posting a blog regarding Patience, as this season has tried the patience of many!

..... True patience finds its strength in an unflinching focus on God......

Joseph Stowell

Be thankful...Be Thankful...BE THANKFUL.....
Patience is not just waiting but how you are waiting..and what you accomplish why you are waiting...use that time to focus on the wonderful blessings around because they ARE there..choose to look for what you have..

Dear Lord...thank you for giving me a heart of thankfulness for the many blessings I enjoy while I am waiting for your moment of glory to come down around me.  Let me be a blessing to others while I wait.  In your precious name I pray...Amen

April showers really do bring May flowers. This quote, verse, or whatever you want to call it, reminds us all about the virtue of patience...Many of life’s greatest things come only to those who wait, and by patiently and happily enduring the clouds and damp of April you can find yourself more easily able to take in the sights and smells of May.....

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." Thomas Jefferson

Luke 21:19..... In your patience possess ye your souls

Almost everything in life requires patience, buying groceries and standing in line or the traffic jam on the way home. The meaning of the word patience is a willingness to suppress annoyance and a quiet steady perserverance, and doing this with an fortitude and remaining calm.

.......When you come to the Lord, there is no waiting line-His ears are always open to your cry..... taken from Our Daily Bread

Romans 8:25...But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with Patience.

 "Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His. We can grow in faith only if we are willing to wait patiently for God's purposes and patterns to unfold in our lives, on His timetable." ...Neal A. Maxwell

Patience is endurance, steadfastness, long-suffering, and forbearance.

Job 2:10...He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

 Remember Herbert the Snail said it best in "The Music Machine"

Have patience, Have Patience
Don't be in such a hurry
When you get impatient
You only start to worry
Remember, remember that God is patient, too
Just think of all the times when others
Have to wait for you...written by Bill and Gloria Gaither

Prom Night

Parents Prayer for Prom Night

May my child be blessed
on this special evening . . .
May my child be blessed with an enchanted evening.
May they dance with joy in their heart.
May they enjoy the smiles and laughter of others.
May my child have a date that is kind in word and deed, grateful and complimentary.
May their evening be filled with grace, dignity and respect. May my child experience a wonderful night, full of lasting memories.
I pray for the safety and wisdom for all that attend Prom this evening…
May the Lord watch over them.
- – Judy Geaslen

It's not what a man does that makes his work sacred or secular, but why he does it.

Prom night should be special and a time to look back on for great memories.

"Raise up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" Proverbs 22:6

Encourage and believe in your child and his passions...and you will not be disappointed in the outcome....

Trusting God

If God were to answer all our questions, we would not be adequately tested. What if God had said, "Job, Satan's going to test you and afflict you, but in the end you'll be healed and get everything back"?   Job's greatest test was not the pain; it was not knowing why he was suffering. Our greatest test may be that we must trust God's goodness even though we don't understand why our lives are going a certain way. "We must learn to trust in God, who is good, and not in the goodness of life."   What would it take for you to trust God without knowing the answers to your questions? Are you willing to get to that place?    Sometimes God doesn't explain what's happening to us or where He is leading us - When He does this, we are to blindly trust that HE knows what He's doing! If He were to explain it to us, it might scare us  and we wouldn't follow His sure leading. Faith begins when we say, “I trust You, God.” (Psalm 31:14) Trusting God   It’s easy enough to say you trust God when the “big things” in life go your way. For trust is a word you know and believe and hold for the moments you pray. But when life gets hard and things fall apart and you’re crying with tears on your sleeve, God will bring you through crises, trials, and pain to test what you really believe. When you’re tired and lonely and seeking a spouse as you wait on the mate that God chooses; God will draw you to himself as you trust in His timing and respect the methods He uses. When you quietly trust in the midst of great heartache to believe God works all things for good, You are looking at His sovereignty instead of your circumstance and surrendering what’s not understood. When you’re slighted & overlooked for what’s “rightfully yours” -trusting God will reveal what to do. And trusting will pull you into the wisdom of heaven as God shows His great glory to you. Trusting God through the losses that send your heart reeling will give strength to each prayer as you call; Till you come to realize it’s not losses or success but it’s knowing your God through it all. Trusting God blindly no matter what happens looks foolish to those who don’t know. But to the redeemed….who believe God by faith -trusting is what makes our faith grow. ©Sheila Gosney Trusting God

The Protection of God

Matthew 7:25...The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock

As Jesus told his followers,  storms come to everyone's life, but the difference is how we each prepare...

"There won't always be sunshine in the sky like today, and when the rain comes, I want you to think happy thoughts of friendship."

"Into each life some rain must fall. I hope that sunny days are ahead" May God's "Son" shine touch you and your home and shield you from all storms.

The gift of an umbrella can symbolize both friendship and God's blanket of protection helping people from all walks of life feel cared for and protected. 

Don't let anyone squelch your inner prompting to reach out to someone else no matter how trivial it seems.

.......excerts from "They Call Me "The Umbrella Lady" Roberta L Messner

It Won't Rain Always...Bill and Gloria Gaither

Someone said that in each life some rain is bound to fall

And each one sheds his share of tears And trouble troubles us all

But the hurt can't hurt forever And the tears are sure to dry

And it won't rain always The clouds will soon be gone

The sun that they've been hiding has been there all along

And it won't rain always God's promises are true

The sun's gonna shine in His own good time

And He will see you through

 

Psalm 34:1...“I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

God will make a way when there seems to be no way. Instead of questioning God and focusing on the storm, lift your voice in praise and come to His feet in worship. Right now, allow Him to speak peace to the raging storm in your life. I assure you this will pass and the sun will shine again. Yes, I will bless the Lord at all times. No matter what comes or doesn’t come my way, His praise shall continually be in my mouth. It’s not a feeling, it’s a decision..... Bless the Lord

...Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul, and all that is within me bless His Holy Name...

 

 



Just Because

"Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom." (Luke 6: 38)

"Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season, in God's time, you shall reap"   Ga 6:9.
The verse means: "Show hospitality, even though the corresponding return of hospitality to you may seem improbable; nevertheless, be hospitable in faith."...barnes notes

We have reason to expect evil, for we are born to trouble; it is wisdom to do good in the day of matthew henry commentary... Riches cannot profit us, if we do not benefit others. Every man must labour to be a blessing to that place where the providence of God casts him....

After all it is written: HE WHO IS KIND TO THE POOR LENDS TO THE LORD, AND HE WILL REWARD HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE. PROVERBS 19:17   This is because, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE POOR PEOPLE IN THE LAND. THEREFORE I COMMAND YOU TO BE OPENHANDED TOWARD YOUR BROTHERS AND TOWARD THE POOR AND NEEDY IN YOUR LAND. DEUTERONOMY 15:11

 throwing bread on water seems careless and wasteful and that’s how open I felt God wanted us to be with our giving – whether we could see what it did or not – giving to “whoever asks”
 

The Gaither Vocal Band says it so well.......

And there are people who think they´re not receveing

Anything from God at all

Oh, They are shaken from their beliving

When they don´t see results they quickly fall

But don´t you waver and keep on living

In the way God wants you to

Don´t get discouraged and keep on giving

Soon it will come back to you

Keep on casting

Your bread upon the water

Soon it´s gonna come back home on everyway

Keep on casting

Your bread upon the water

Soon it´s gonna come back home on everyway

Good measure pressed down shaken together running over

Soon it´s gonna come back home on everyway

Oh, Keep on working seeking the kingdom

Instead of working for your needs

Just keep on sharing the love of Jesus

You know, growing comes from clemensies

2 Corinthians 9:7-12...7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful(hilarious) giver.8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Tolerance

Believe in yourself first, and thereby cultivate the strength to believe in others.

No matter how intolerant you are, you will never change the way a person is by hating them

Tolerance is the appreciation of diversity and the ability to live and let others live. It is the ability to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, religion, nationality and so on differ from one's own. As William Ury notes, "tolerance is not just agreeing with one another or remaining indifferent in the face of injustice, but rather showing respect for the essential humanity in every person."

Tolerance is defined as a friendly and fair attitude toward unfamiliar opinions and practices or toward the persons who hold or practice them...Dallin H. Oaks.

Matthew 7:12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets

Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that you be not judged.

 

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have," he added, "But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).  ( I may never agree with your idea or opinion, but I respect your beliefs)

 

Tolerance says, "You must approve of what I do."
Love responds, "I must do something harder; I will love you, even when your behavior offends me."

 

I guess it really is easy to find hate with something that one doesn’t understand. It’s easier to continue to be ignorant than it is to educate oneself......So let’s stop hating or prejudging what we don’t understand. If you disagree with something or someone at least take a little time to educate yourself and have a valid difference of opinion. And if you chose not to educate yourself a little maybe you should listen to the advice mothers have passed down for generations. “If you don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.”   Penni4urthoughts's blog