I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
I have such a wonderful testimony of God’s grace and power to share today! I went to see my orthopedist on Tuesday, the doctor who told me that in all likelihood, my foot fracture would never heal because of various other health conditions. He came jubilantly into the room yesterday after viewing my new x-rays and told me and my husband that my foot is healing…on its own, without surgery. It is growing new bone!
That, my friends, I will count as a miracle and an answer to prayer! He said it will take about a year to heal completely, but I can transition out of the boot and start wearing my regular shoes all the time in about a month. Just so everyone knows, I give all the glory to God and thank all of you who prayed for me. God is good…all the time!
This morning during my online devotional reading, I was drawn to the devotional with this title. I read it through several times. The focus was on Paul. You know him, I’m sure, the one who was shipwrecked, beaten, tortured and imprisoned. But he also kept preaching the gospel.
Paul’s answer to his suffering is told throughout the many letters he wrote that are included in the New Testament. The focus of this devotional was on Philippians. According to the author of the devotional, Shawn Johnson, Paul says sixteen times in this book to rejoice.
Not once does Paul say to rejoice when all is going right and your world is just as it should be. He just says to rejoice in spite of challenges and difficulties, or actually, in the middle of them.
Like the author of the devotional, I tend to throw myself pity-parties. Then, when no one attends with me, I am disappointed, pull myself out of my funk for a little while until time to throw another party. Paul didn’t throw a single pity party. Instead, he exhorted anyone who would listen to rejoice, not to whine and complain about suffering. Paul knew more about suffering than I have ever known and yet he did not moan about it. In fact, do you remember that while he was in prison one time, he and Silas were singing praises? What a model for us!
Paul knew that his suffering had a purpose and set out to fulfill it.
He clearly states that the gospel has been advanced and that his suffering has helped to promote the spread of the truth about Jesus. Notice that Paul is not boasting here. He is stating facts that all of the palace guards and “everyone else” knows that he is imprisoned for Christ. He doesn’t say all of them have believed, but he does say “most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord…” And even more that they are not afraid to proclaim the gospel because they have seen Paul’s boldness. Now, my friends, that is boldness with a purpose!
I read all of this and pondered it, coming up with this blog post as I considered my “affliction” with my foot. I threw a pity party and no one came. I railed at God and I am sure He listened with compassion, but the injury is still there. Now, I am to the point that I want to know the purpose of this whole thing. God brings good from everything according to Romans, so although I don’t know what good purpose could come from a broken foot, I am willing to have God show me and use me. That is the best that I can do right now. But for me, I think that is enough. I have surrendered my desire to be completely healed to God’s will to use the injury for a bigger purpose. I hope you will join my in prayer that He will show me what that purpose is and give me the strength and grace to fulfill it. I am no Paul but I am a willing servant of the Lord, broken but not forsaken. And in that I am rejoicing!
Sunday is a busy day for many families. They run errands, participate in activities with other families and perhaps go to a sporting event or theater performance. But Sunday in our house has consistently been the day that we set aside to attend church.
One of the most important parts of church is encouraging each other. Look for the person who is sitting alone and talk to them. Get out of your comfort zone and help someone else to be comfortable in God’s house. Who knows what seed you may be sowing or what blessing you may receive just from reaching out to someone else? After all, you were once a newcomer to that congregation. Think about how you felt, and take the time to smile and welcome a stranger.
Think about the difference between praise and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving starts with God doing something for us, and we are thankful. Praise just starts with who God is, and there are no words to adequately express the glory due His name. Praise is based on God’s character while thanksgiving is based on His actions. Note that His actions always follow His character because God is and always will be God. As you attend church, remember to offer thanksgiving and praise. Our unchangeable, unstoppable God deserves both!
What sounds are in your life right now? For me, it’s the washing machine, the dryer, my husband flipping pages of his notebook as he pays bills. And me hitting the keys on the keyboard. The sounds I want to hear are praise, so that’s what I will share as I surround myself with the comforting presence of the Lord.
So, as you travel down life’s road today, what sounds are you hearing? What are you listening to? Share in the comments and let me know the praise songs you listen to or sing as you start the day. Every day has its challenges, but every day is always better when you start with praise.
This year has been one of a great deal of travel for me and my family members. Our grandson went to Japan while our granddaughter went to Ireland and then on a cruise around the Greek Isles. Our son went on a business trip to Germany. The trips my husband and I made this year were not as distant, but there were a lot of them. Starting with four graduations in May, we stayed on the road for almost three weeks that month. It seemed that we barely got home when we packed the car again and headed to Myrtle Beach, SC, to see my brother and his family who had flown in from Colorado. Returning from that trip, we spent a few weeks at home, then headed out to Maryland to see our son and his family. And this past weekend was our last trip of the summer. We went to Williamsburg to the Great Wolf Lodge to spend the weekend with our other son and his family. I would not trade any of those hours in the car for anything since my husband and I both got so much pleasure from seeing our children and grandchildren.
One of the things that I purposed to do this year is memorize more scripture verses. One of those became like my mantra for the year.
There was a lot of going out and coming in this year for ourselves and our children and grandchildren. They are still on the move, with one in college at Liberty, one actively seeing employment and one employed and traveling for work. This Psalm has been on my lips as a prayer for us and for our family members as they travel. The promise of traveling mercies is real. Harry and I put a lot of miles on these old bodies this year, and God was with us the whole way, just as He promised. Did unexpected things happen while we traveled? Of course, but nothing that God could not help us handle. When God promises, you can count on His acting on your behalf!
How about you? Did you go anywhere special? Did you pray before, during and after your trip for the traveling mercies that God provides?
This verse is from Mary’s song of praise when she finds out that God has chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah. She had to be a little wary of what was going to happen since she was a young girl, unmarried and with a baby on the way. God showed Himself strong on her behalf and fulfilled prophecies through her.
Fast forward several thousand years to my life. I have health problems so numerous that I get tired of going to specialists all the time. Nevertheless, God shows Himself strong and holy for me, too. Yesterday, I went to my nephrologist for my kidney labs and check up that I have to have every four to six months. (For those of you who don’t know, I was born with a single kidney and I have been diagnosed with Stage 3 kidney failure for the last few years.) The doctor checked me, talked to me and ordered the labs. I got the report this morning and the results have to be a God thing! Everything is normal…everything! My levels are better than they have been in the last five years. I have no explanation for this great report, but I do offer God praise and know that He is and always will be holy. I had expected a bad report since I had infections repeatedly in the last six months. My faith was low, but my hope was high and God showed me just what He has been doing and continues to do within this mortal body.
I hope that you will join me in rejoicing over this good news and also share with me a testimony of how God has come through unexpectedly for you. Let’s spend today lifting up the Name of the Only One who is truly worthy!
Sometimes, I just need to get away from my own thoughts and the doubts that attack my mind, so I delve into the Psalms and choose one to pray or to use as my worship for the day. Today, my Psalm was Psalm 93.
God always reigns, through my doubts and fears and whatever the circumstances are. Saying these verses out loud helps me to remember that God is on the throne and His rule over the world is firm and secure. I can rest in His strength and not have to be concerned about my own weaknesses.
God has been part of all of eternity, so no matter how stressed I am for the time crunch I am facing, I can trust that He is in control of not just the circumstances but my time and how I resolve those circumstances. God knows and understands that I am finite while He is eternal.
I am not a big ocean loving person as far as getting into the salt water is concerned. But I do love to hear the ocean waves as they hit the shore, sometimes with a murmur and sometimes with a roar. The waves remind me of God’s power and how He speaks to me. He speaks to me quietly, but I am always aware of how mighty and powerful He is. He just restrains His powerful voice around me, but He lets me know that He can be mighty on my behalf when I need Him to show those characteristics. He is always mighty and always worthy of praise, much like the ocean and its unfathomable depths cannot be understood but they can be admired as a wonder of God’s creation.
This Psalm ends with a reminder that God’s statutes (His laws and ordinances) always stand firm. He is always holy and His holiness is part of His dwelling place. That makes for some deep thinking because we are God’s temple, we are the dwelling place for His Holy Spirit, so within us remains the holiness of God. That makes me think and be in awe of how much God loves me, oftentimes in spite of me.
After a hard week of tragedy in Texas, family health issues and life’s circumstances in general, I didn’t feel a lot like praising this morning. I just wanted to curl into a ball and withdraw from the chaos all around me. But, God called me to praise and that has been the best thing for me, today and every day. We were created to have a relationship with our Creator and one of the ways we have that closeness is to recognize who He is and to praise Him. The things around us fade in the presence of the Almighty God. Thus, I encourage you to join me today in praising our Father who knows all things and is always with us. Let’s check our attitude of dissatisfaction and praise God because He is good…all the time!
Do you see what I see in this verse? Everything that has breath is praising God, and I am just joining in, raising my voice with creation to the Creator of all.
Take a moment and inhale deeply. As you exhale, give God praise for the fact that you were able to take that breath. Then, spend some time just thinking of all He has done for you from the inside out.
It feels good to praise the Lord! It is like being a bottle of seltzer water, shaken up and ready to explode. Let it go…God knows that we need to praise Him.
Every day is a good day to praise the Lord, and since praise is in my heart and on my lips today, I wanted to share with you.
Just take a minute or tow and give God thanks. I am focusing on who He is today, not what He has done for me. Sometimes I just need to focus on His character instead of His gifts.
Please feel free to comment with your praise song for today. Let’s share our love of the Lord with each other and then go out and share it with others who need to know the power of an Almighty God in their lives.
As my southern pastor from many years ago said, “May God bless you real good!”
We could all sit around some days and have a little pity party about all of the bad things that are happening in our lives and in the world around us. We could lament the fact that we prayed, but we haven’t gotten an answer yet. (At least, not the one we expected or wanted).
How about instead of a pity party, we have a praise celebration? Instead of thinking about all the negatives, start thinking about what God has already done for you (and for this sinful world). Satan certainly doesn’t want us to remember so I think he tries to block our memory of the good things and puts the bad things at the forefront of our minds. We need to purposely choose to think of the good things, as Philippians says:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 NIV https://bible.com/bible/111/php.4.8.NIV
It is when we start remembering what God has already done that we have a testimony to share and a faith that cannot be quenched! So, let’s get out of the pits of despair and stand on that mountain of faith that God created for us to stand on.
This is my prayer for you and for myself and it is a memory verse that I have been working on this week.
Do you enjoy Crowder songs? This is one of my favorites because it reminds me not to “get amnesia” but to focus on what God has already done!
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 