Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Word hunger
“She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape.”
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Favor
“Ruth in the Old Testament was possibly at the lowest point in her life just before she met Boaz. All the natural factors were against her. She was a poor widow and a Moabitess—a Gentile in the Jewish nation of Israel.
But she trusted God for favor when she went looking for a field to glean in. She said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor” (Ruth 2:2).
Noticed what Ruth was conscious of? Favor! She wasn’t conscious of her natural circumstances that were against her. And because of that, her situation was turned around completely.
The Bible tells us that she happened to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz. And to cut the long story short, Boaz saw Ruth, fell in love with her and married her. Beloved, when you approach your situation today, be conscious of the Lord’s favor that is all over you! His favor will cause you to be at the right place at the right time, and say the right things at the right time, turning the negative situations in your life around and giving you good success!”
Joseph Prince
The Bible tells us that she happened to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz. And to cut the long story short, Boaz saw Ruth, fell in love with her and married her. Beloved, when you approach your situation today, be conscious of the Lord’s favor that is all over you! His favor will cause you to be at the right place at the right time, and say the right things at the right time, turning the negative situations in your life around and giving you good success!”
Joseph Prince
Monday, January 14, 2013
Mountain Shadows
I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. He won't let you stumble, your Guardian God won't fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel's Guardian will never doze or sleep. God's your Guardian, right at your side to protect you— Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke. God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always. (Psalm 121:1-8 MSG)
Photo credit:http://m.flickr.com/photos/ice-cold/
Photo credit:http://m.flickr.com/photos/ice-cold/
God's Song: Just saying.....
God's Song: Just saying.....: Matt. 10:30 Even the very hairs on my head are numbered! What an awesome thought. That my Heavenly Father, GOD, knows me so well, that ...
Just saying.....
Matt. 10:30 Even the very hairs on my head are numbered!
What an awesome thought. That my Heavenly Father, GOD, knows me so well, that even the very hairs on my head can be counted by Him!
The infinite is finite to Him...Imagine trying to count someone's hair strands. Just the thought should prove daunting. Yet, there is One who knows exactly how many hairs are on my head. And, friend, He knows exactly how many hairs are on your head!
Furthermore, all of my days are written before Him. " All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139:16 NIV) He saw the beginning, the middle, and the end even before the days of my life started. He knew this day exactly what I would be experiencing before I took my first breath. He knew where I'd be. How imperfect I would still be.
"Thy eyes saw my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Webster's Bible Translation) And He knows where you are today. He knows how imperfect you are today
Imagine, how intimately we are known and loved. John 15:9-10 states, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love."
An old hymn, When He Was On the Cross written by Ronnie Hinson and Mike Payne (date unknown), puts it this way:
The Bible says He chose us, before the foundation of the world to be His (see John 15). So today, when I say, Even the very hairs on my head are numbered by my Heavenly Father GOD who loves me....I believe it
What an awesome thought. That my Heavenly Father, GOD, knows me so well, that even the very hairs on my head can be counted by Him!
The infinite is finite to Him...Imagine trying to count someone's hair strands. Just the thought should prove daunting. Yet, there is One who knows exactly how many hairs are on my head. And, friend, He knows exactly how many hairs are on your head!
Furthermore, all of my days are written before Him. " All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139:16 NIV) He saw the beginning, the middle, and the end even before the days of my life started. He knew this day exactly what I would be experiencing before I took my first breath. He knew where I'd be. How imperfect I would still be.
"Thy eyes saw my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Webster's Bible Translation) And He knows where you are today. He knows how imperfect you are today
Imagine, how intimately we are known and loved. John 15:9-10 states, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love."
An old hymn, When He Was On the Cross written by Ronnie Hinson and Mike Payne (date unknown), puts it this way:
" He knew me, yet He loved me. He whose glory made the heaven's shine.
So unworthy of such mercy. Yet when He was on the cross that day, I was on His mind."The Bible says He chose us, before the foundation of the world to be His (see John 15). So today, when I say, Even the very hairs on my head are numbered by my Heavenly Father GOD who loves me....I believe it
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Serenity
Shhhhhh... Quiet your racing heart , still your whirling thoughts... He is near... Be still and listen
Saturday, January 5, 2013
What your heart knows
I start today resolved. I've been lazy and I know it. Gifted with being able to call forth scripture has been graced.
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26 KJV)
I have relied on this verse--this truth-- to get me through college, through church when I have forgotten my Bible, through hard times. Hard times when my own thoughts are insufficient and i have gasped for air, the Word of God spoken into my spirit has been oxygen and life.
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63 KJV)
Sloppy is what I've been. Since the iPhone I rarely open my once loved now dog-eared King James Bible.
Now it is covered in dust, literally.
But today I am resolved. Inspired by Ann Voskamp, I am going to memorize Romans 1,5, and 8 this year.
I decided this yesterday eve and awoke this morning with Romans1:1-2 on my lips but just out of memory's reach. Like the coffee you smell and can already taste before you head downstairs. This morning it was not the coffee but the Word that my mouth hungered for. Stung by the following quote from Ann Voskamp ((aholyexperience.com, Jan. 4,2012)
"What you really know by heart is what your heart really knows — and what you really live."
I resolved to know by heart more of His Word. You see when I give myself to it, He gives Himself to me.
What your heart knows http://wp.me/p1JuPd-4F via @GodsSong1
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26 KJV)
I have relied on this verse--this truth-- to get me through college, through church when I have forgotten my Bible, through hard times. Hard times when my own thoughts are insufficient and i have gasped for air, the Word of God spoken into my spirit has been oxygen and life.
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63 KJV)
Sloppy is what I've been. Since the iPhone I rarely open my once loved now dog-eared King James Bible.
Now it is covered in dust, literally.
But today I am resolved. Inspired by Ann Voskamp, I am going to memorize Romans 1,5, and 8 this year.
I decided this yesterday eve and awoke this morning with Romans1:1-2 on my lips but just out of memory's reach. Like the coffee you smell and can already taste before you head downstairs. This morning it was not the coffee but the Word that my mouth hungered for. Stung by the following quote from Ann Voskamp ((aholyexperience.com, Jan. 4,2012)
"What you really know by heart is what your heart really knows — and what you really live."
I resolved to know by heart more of His Word. You see when I give myself to it, He gives Himself to me.
What your heart knows http://wp.me/p1JuPd-4F via @GodsSong1
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
True Prayer
The most neglected aspect of prayer is the failure to recognize that true prayer is spirit to Spirit communion with God who is spirit. The receiving and the listening need as much attention (maybe more) than the petitions and the supplication. To listen and then receive God’s response is the holiest part of any true prayer. Once you have entered His gates with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4) then by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving (Phillipians 4:5) let your requests be made known. Then quiet your heart as a weaned child (Psalms 131:2). Then, (see Habakkuk 2:1-4) look and watch to SEE what the LORD will SAY! This waiting in prayer is the receiving time and the listening time. It is the communion of your personal spirit with God who is the Holy Spirit. It is here where we can say , like Mary (see Matthew 1:26-38) Be it into me according to thy word! Ending prayer by saying, “LORD, I receive all that you have for me, in Jesus’ name.” Awe and wonder usually follow true prayer.
Choosing Life
Life Promise Prayer
In the name of the One God, ever living and life giving,
faithful and true, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I accept God's gift of life to me
in the circumstances
of my conception and birth,
of my parents, of my family,
of all whosoever care for me or did me
harm in all the years that began the journey
of my life.
God who calls by name works all together for my good.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life around me,
the sacred treasure of each human life
whether sister, brother, friend or stranger;
however whole or broken, small or great,
saint or sinner,
rich or poor, ill or well, ally or enemy, or
indifferent.
Each is crafted in God's image, to each is offered
Christ's redemption, in each moves the spirits blessing.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life in my times,
in infant's cry, in childhood's wonder
in trails of teen years and embrace of youth,
in maturity's accomplishments and failures,
in waning day's and night's negotiations.
Among the creatures with the breath of life within them,
God has placed the timeless in the human heart,
but not the reach to grasp or measure it.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life in my dying,
in God's hands the shaping of the manner
by God's clock the counting of the hour.
May God who lays me down uphold me.
May Christ along the way companion me.
May spirit lift, and light billow me into the Resurrection.
God is life, and this I choose.
In the name of the One God, ever living and life giving,
faithful and true, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
By Fr. Richard Meredith, Diocese of Owensboro
Life Promise Prayer © 2010 Parish Social Ministry Department of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Owensboro. Used with permission
In the name of the One God, ever living and life giving,
faithful and true, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I accept God's gift of life to me
in the circumstances
of my conception and birth,
of my parents, of my family,
of all whosoever care for me or did me
harm in all the years that began the journey
of my life.
God who calls by name works all together for my good.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life around me,
the sacred treasure of each human life
whether sister, brother, friend or stranger;
however whole or broken, small or great,
saint or sinner,
rich or poor, ill or well, ally or enemy, or
indifferent.
Each is crafted in God's image, to each is offered
Christ's redemption, in each moves the spirits blessing.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life in my times,
in infant's cry, in childhood's wonder
in trails of teen years and embrace of youth,
in maturity's accomplishments and failures,
in waning day's and night's negotiations.
Among the creatures with the breath of life within them,
God has placed the timeless in the human heart,
but not the reach to grasp or measure it.
I choose life.
I accept God's gift of life in my dying,
in God's hands the shaping of the manner
by God's clock the counting of the hour.
May God who lays me down uphold me.
May Christ along the way companion me.
May spirit lift, and light billow me into the Resurrection.
God is life, and this I choose.
In the name of the One God, ever living and life giving,
faithful and true, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
By Fr. Richard Meredith, Diocese of Owensboro
Life Promise Prayer © 2010 Parish Social Ministry Department of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Owensboro. Used with permission
Gratitude
For Christmas trees, and Santa Claus; for gingerbread houses and gingerbread angels; for mom's spirit and child's wonder; for a multitude of gifts--both seen and unseen; for tea parties and racetracks, for family and roast beef; for Beatrix Potter and delightful fictional friends ( Peter and Jeremy Fisher and Mr. Mcgregor's garden); for ribbons and wrappings and bows; for Christmas photos and, "My how the children have grown," cards neatly arranged on the mantle; for blessed assurance that I love and am loved; and light snow falling in beautiful sadness (and an end to a friend's suffering); for old friends visited and hearts warmed by presence; for hope that comes from Him who is the giver of life and the Author and the Finisher; for oysters and crab cakes and safe traveling mercies; for candles lit and for the culmination of Advent and the reflection that He comes again each year in lowly, subtle often unrecognized events-- for these and, Oh, so many more blessings and gifts, I give thanks and praise to LORD!
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