Tag: God
God Has a Plan
These days, it’s hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on the news for only a few minutes without getting discouraged. There is so much evil in the world that it seems to be overflowing with it. Now that war has begun in Europe, it seems that the vile things that man does to other men is indescribable. Nevertheless, in my devotional this morning, God spoke clearly to me that He is in control and He has a plan.
Have you ever started your day with your hours all planned out? It’s a long “to do” list and you proudly check off things as you accomplish them. Then, there are the days that you have the list, you have the plan, but you don’t get to check off anything because you are just trying to make it through the day. Have you ever thought about the fact that God, the Sovereign Lord, does not have those kinds of days in which He gets discouraged and nothing seems to go right? He makes the plan and carries it out. In fact, He makes the plan before the plan needs to be made.
A case in point is Jesus. There was a whole system of sacrifice established in the Old Testament and described in great detail in the Book of Leviticus. A lamb without blemish. Blood on the altar. Take away the sins. All the columns were checked. But it wasn’t enough. Even before the foundation of the earth, God had a plan to save mankind from our sinful natures, once and for all. His plan was Jesus! Before I knew that Jesus died for me, God had already provided Him as my Savior.
I like the part in this verse that says I was still a sinner. God didn’t wait for me to get my act together and complete a “to do” list of things to accomplish before I could be saved. His plan was Jesus…already made. Done! Finished!
Now, back to the scenario of war in Europe. This verse is my prayer for the brave Ukrainian people. But it is also my prayer for anyone facing a formidable enemy. Instead of thinking about the power of the enemy, consider the power of our God who is beside you and who already has a plan. When Elisha’s servant was downhearted in II Kings 6 because he saw how great the enemy was, Elisha prayed for God to open his servant’s eyes. The prayer was answered and the servant saw a host of angels prepared to fight the battle. We don’t always know what God’s plan is, but we can rest in the absolute certainty that He has one, and it’s good.
I have read this verse many times because waiting is just not something I’m very good at. But today is the first time that I paid close attention to the middle part of the verse. It says to be brave and courageous. We are not supposed to cower away from the world and events that cause us fear. Instead, we are to bravely wait for the Lord, knowing with all of our being that He has a plan. And it’s a good one!
Andrew Murray was a pastor and author, most known for his missions work and establishing churches in South Africa. I saved this quotation from one of my devotionals last year and when I read it again today, I knew that it would be useful for my current blog. We limit God because we put Him into a box of humanity, thinking that He can only do so much because that is what we can do. God, however, cannot be fenced in. He is everywhere, all-powerful and capable of doing anything. So, today, as you pray over your to-do list or pray for the people in Ukraine, be bold in your prayers. Be brave! Know that God is hearing and will answer them. Perhaps His timing is different than ours would be. Most likely, that is true. That’s because God is always on time, He knows the best time to answer, and He has always and will always be there for us. Why? Because He loves us and He has a plan. And it’s a good one!
God bless you as you go through your day and may God show you part of His plan for you and encourage you today with that knowledge.
Christmas: the Right Gift at the Right Time – CT
Christmas: the Right Gift at the Right Time – CT
— Read on theweeflea.com/2021/12/26/christmas-the-right-gift-at-the-right-time-ct/
God’s timing is always perfect!
Please go to the original post to follow the author.
Expect the Unexpected
Have you ever looked forward to something that you have planned and really, really can’t wait for it to happen? That was me last week. I have been in MD taking care of grandchildren for about six weeks now. I miss my comforts of home, my husband and my kitty terribly. But I knew that this season of my life would be ending in about three more weeks. My husband plans to come up for Christmas together here and then we would head home.
Sometimes what we plan doesn’t happen just as we plan it, but it doesn’t mean that God was caught by surprise or that He isn’t still in control. On Monday, my son told me that they have a glitch in their plan and wanted to know if I can stay another month. I tried hard not to show how I was feeling, but inside, my heart was racing and I was asking God, “Why, God? You know I miss Harry and home and was looking forward to going back, relaxing again, all of the things I normally do? Now, another month in MD?” When I spoke to my husband, he was dismayed but not surprised and he said that we would work it out so he can visit more often and I won’t feel so lonely. I have only seen him for four days in the last six weeks, but the future plan is for him to come for Christmas and then every other week until I can go home again. So, resignation as well as hope for the future is still in my heart.
Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful for the time that I have with my beloved grandchildren. They are precious, but they keep me oh, so busy and so tired at times. Their energy is boundless whereas mine is waning. But God knows all of that, too. He keeps reminding me that His strength is made perfect in my weakness and that I can do all things through Christ.
With that being said, here are some Scripture verses from my devotional today.
This is a season for me in which not much time is my own. Early in the morning, I do my devotions and I go downstairs for bed about 8 every night so that I can read and relax before falling asleep. Whatever minutes that are mine, I cherish because that is the time to re-boot, to re-charge and to wait on God to show me His truth and His will for me during these days of separation from what is familiar.
May God richly bless you during this holiday season and may each of us, separately and together, form a strong bond that reaches hands across the earth and binds us to each other and to the Lord.
God Is My Refuge
www.bible.com/1171/psa.62.1-2.mev
I had a rather rough day yesterday with some disturbing results on medical tests. Nothing terribly major for now. It’s just that my single kidney has lost more of its function, so now I am in stage three. My physician was not very forthcoming on what that means for me, but he did tell me to limit eating foods with potassium since my filtration system isn’t working well right now. That means limiting oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, melons and bananas. I was already on a limited diet because of my stroke (low sodium, low sugar), so this seemed like a heavy blow to me. I cried and mourned the loss of more things I enjoy, but God got hold of me and showed me that He is my refuge. He is my shelter. The absence of certain foods in my life should not totally shake me up. It’s just one more thing to deal with as I age with my numerous medical problems.
I am thankful to be alive. Do I wish that things were different? Of course! But there are worse things. Meanwhile, I am going to see my PCP and talk to her more about this Stage 3 thing and ask about a referral to a different nephrologist. This is the first time I had seen this doctor although I did have three virtual visits with him via the phone. On one of those calls, he decided that I should be taking a new blood pressure medicine. I filled the prescription and took it and the next morning, my BP was 80/40 and I was very dizzy. So, I called his office and he returned my call, telling me that if I could not tolerate that medication, I would need to see my cardiologist for advice about what to take. I did see my cardio and he changed my meds, telling me that the med the nephrologist had started me on often causes BP to suddenly drop. Hmm. So, after yesterday’s visit and his lack of communication, I’m ready for a change. I was asking questions and he was typing away on the desktop. Since being ignored was not helpful, I think that I should seek medical assistance elsewhere. But I am first and foremost depending on the Great Physician.
I did not sleep well last night. Insomnia has become a regular thing with me, and I usually get about five hours of sleep. Anyway, I awakened this morning with the Scripture that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God made me, not the physicians. God is taking care of me, not the physicians. The doctors are God’s helpers on earth and some are better helpers than others. That being said, back to the verse above. God alone is my rock, the One on whom I can depend; He is my refuge, the shelter for me when my world seems to be shaking. Everything around me might shake, but God is still the same and He will not allow me to be shaken as long as I am trusting in Him.
I hope that I have not bored you too much with my medical status today. I also hope that you will remember me in your prayers, but mostly I pray for God’s blessing on you and your day. May you fulfill His purpose in your life!
Blessed to be a blessing!
Praising God in the Hard Times
www.bible.com/1171/psa.42.11.mev
Months have gone by without being able to travel and see our grandchildren, with our regular visits every quarter. Today is our youngest granddaughter’s third birthday, and I have to say that I started the day with sadness over not being with her to hug her and celebrate her life with her. After all, in a few short months, she will have a baby brother, so a lot in her life is changing. Instead of rejoicing as I should have been, I threw myself a wee pity party this morning.
Then I read my devotional, and here was this verse. It was already highlighted for me since I read through the Bible annually and this verse has spoken to me before. But never have these words spoken so directly to my heart as this morning. So many small things have been going wrong lately…my phone stopped working and I have to set up its replacement today, for example. Not a big thing for the techies out there, but I am not one and the thought of having to set it up, even with tech help on the line helping me is daunting. Nevertheless, I will persevere.
My problems are so small compared to that of others. My daughter’s friend has spine cancer and is suffering through two different kinds of chemo in order to hold in in check. She has children who love and depend on her and a husband who loves her dearly. Please say a prayer for A. Neighbors had a recent tragedy last week, losing a loved one suddenly. Please pray for them. Finally, a dear friend from church had open heart surgery and is still building his strength back from that ordeal. So, I would appreciate those of you who pray to keep him in your prayers. So many problems, large and small, have been weighing on my mind lately and affecting my heart.
Then, today, God spoke to that heart and basically told me that my hope is in God. How could I forget that, even for a moment? We just went through the Easter season and had a phenomenal service at our new church. And yet, I walked away still discouraged and crestfallen. No real reason for it…just so many months of bad news. But Jesus brought the Good News. He brought the hope! I have only to reach out to Him and tell Him what is troubling me and my load is lightened, just in the sharing. In writing this blog this morning, I am not asking you to join me in my pity party. No, I want you to join in my celebration of the hope that lives in me because of Jesus. Yes, sometimes I get discouraged. But God doesn’t let me stay that way for long…He reminds me of who I am and what I am supposed to be doing. I am His child and I am supposed to tell others about His love, grace and mercy. Others will not listen if I am being an “Eeyore” because they will not see a reason for hope. Thus, I am now smiling, knowing that my Heavenly Father loves me, forgives me and wants me to have hope.
I pray that today will be a good day for you in all ways, that you will see a reason for hope and for smiling. Smile at a stranger today and let them know that you see them. Oh, yes, you say, but you have a mask on. How will they know that you are smiling? Did you know that if you are really smiling, your eyes shine in a special way? So smile and let the world and God know that you still have hope. I do. He is my Savior and my God, and yours, too, if you will allow Him to be.
Blessed Assurance
This was one of my favorite hymns when I was a new Christian. And since it was in my devotional today, naturally I had to listen to and re-discover it.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
O what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
I'm born of his Spirit and washed in his blood
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy and whispers of love
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blessed
You know I'm watching and waiting, I'm looking above
Filled with His goodness and I'm lost in his love
This is my, I know that this is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
These lyrics are from http://www.lyrics.com
As I read the lyrics and listened to the song, I was reminded of how a baby just knows that you will take care of it. They have total assurance that they can rest in your loving care.
Evie is a happy little girl in this photo and still is at almost three years old. She knows that she is loved and will be taken care of. Don’t you think that is the way that we should be with the Father? We are content, knowing that He has everything under control so we don’t need to worry about anything.
We need to continue in our daily lives, even with all of the struggles, with the “blessed assurance” that Jesus is ours. He lives in our hearts and His life within us makes us able to go through the deserts of life and come out on the other side refreshed, as though we had drunk of the living water the entire time. After all, isn’t that what we are supposed to be doing? Totally dependent on Him and that trust takes us forward into battle and out of battle victorious.
I have no doubt that these are hard times. People are suffering everywhere, but God has not changed. He is still our assurance that things will work out, that He is taking charge if we let Him.
I hope that you can get something out of this little blog today. I just wanted to bless you with the song that God put in my heart this morning and leave you with the image of a happy, trusting child. That’s what God sees when He looks at us…we are His children and we need to trust in Him! “This is my story…” and I hope that it is yours, too.
Be a Tree
I read a devotional this morning about Zaccheus climbing the tree to see Jesus. The devotional focused on the tree; God put it there knowing that one day a small man would need to climb it to see his son.
The devotional charged me (and other readers, of course) to think of all of the people who have lifted you up to see Jesus. For me, there was first my neighbor Verna and her fiancée Chris. Then, there was our first pastor Dean, the man who taught me so much about studying the Bible; his favorite saying was to “be a Berean.” There was Dub, a rotund, happy pastor in South Carolina who taught me the joy of worshipping freely. There was the pastor in Virginia Beach who moved me and Hope into base housing when it became available after Harry heads already left for his deployment. I was feeling really sorry for myself because I was pregnant and had no idea how I was going to manage to move but I knew that I had a limited time before the base housing office would just pass over my name. Help came just in time! There were the people who have given us groceries when we were low on funds, the neighbor who ran across the street to take me to the E.R. with my young son whose arm was streaming blood and I couldn’t get my car started. So many trees who have given me a boost in life!
But that is not the end of the story. I have been boosted over and over again, able to climb above the problems because of others who have been there for me, just at the right time. They have been the “trees” in my life. In similar fashion, I would like to think that I have boosted others, but I don’t want to go through incidents that would try to persuade you of my being a tree. God will be the judge of that. I just want to leave you with the question. Are you a tree? Do you help others up, so that they can see above the circumstances? If we are always wandering around with the lost people and never giving them a boost to see Jesus, they may never see Him. We may be the exact tree that God put in a certain place at a certain time for a certain person. We need to look for opportunities to be a tree, stand firm for God’s Word, and like a tree, point to the Heavens, right up to Jesus!
Have a blessed day, my friends, and may you prosper even as your soul prospers.
God’s Love
www.bible.com/1171/1jn.4.16.mev
This verse was just what I needed to read this morning. It opened a door for me that I thought that I had closed long ago. You see, I don’t tell this to many people, but I grew up in an upper middle class home where everything physical that I needed and much that I wanted was provided, but I didn’t really feel loved. My mom told me frequently how ugly I was and even told me to plan to go to college and get a good job because no one would want to marry ugly me. I recall going to the bathroom where I could be alone and softly singing to myself the song that I had learned by going to church with my neighbor, “Jesus Loves Me.” I didn’t really know what that meant, but it soothed my aching young heart. Anyway, I studied my constantly. I didn’t date in high school at all because I was focused on studying. I had a high GPA in high school, got a scholarship and went to college where I studied to be a teacher. When I met my future husband the summer before my senior year, he kept telling me how beautiful I was and I knew, from experience with my mom, that he had to be lying. Thus, later, when he said that he loved me, I didn’t believe him. Not really. Then, in February of 1973, a neighbor told me about Jesus and His love for me. I read the book of John and discovered that love for myself. It was the forever kind of love that I had craved my entire life. I eagerly accepted Jesus into my heart and my life. For the first time in my life, I felt love and it was such a different feeling. I tried to explain it to my mom and dad, but they just dismissed my testimony. I explained it to my fiancé and he told me to get rid of this Jesus thing or he was walking away. Well, I told him that Jesus died for me and since he had not ever done anything so bold and loving for me, I chose Jesus. When Harry understood that I meant it, he started going to church with me and he, too, accepted Jesus into his heart. Two months later, we were married. I finally knew what love was because I had met the Man who is love. I knew God’s love for me, the kind that lasts forever. My new pastor soothed my old wounds and told me that God made me just the way He wanted me to be and God doesn’t make “junk.” Thus armed with new confidence, I have gone through over forty years of life and almost forty eight years of marriage, knowing in my heart, in the deepest part of me, that I am loved. When I was alone on base after base with the military, I knew that God loved me. Through all of the trials in my life, I have held on to that truth: Jesus loves me! He always has accepted me just as I am and He loves me, with all of my flaws and failings, He loves me. I am enjoying a life filled with God’s love. Does that mean that everything has been wonderful during my entire life? Of course not! God doesn’t promise that all will work out just as we want or expect. He does promise His forever love, and that is enough for me. I hope that is enough for you, too. If you don’t believe me and my testimony, I pray that you will believe God’s Word. It’s His gift of love to each of us, so that we can learn and hold on to His precious promises. God bless each of you with a special portion of God’s love today. No matter what happens today, you and God are going through it together, and His love will be there for you…always!
Purpose
www.bible.com/1171/psa.138.8.mev
I’m still discovering daily God’s purpose for my life. Yes, I am old, but I truly believe that I’m still on earth because God isn’t finished with me yet. That has always meant to me that He is still perfecting me, helping me daily to become more like His Son Jesus. But, with today’s Scripture verse, I also think it means that God is still looking to use me here, to fulfill His purpose for me.
The two greatest days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.-Mark Twain
Think about that quotation, my friends. We each have a purpose in life, and God is merciful to us, giving us the days on earth to discover that purpose and to fulfill it. I pray God’s blessing on each of you as you set out to continually work for Him and to discover His purpose for your life. You were not an accident! You were wonderfully made for a specific purpose in God’s kingdom. Isn’t that praiseworthy news?
Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner 