Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... July, August and September 2016

July 1, 2016 | JustAmy; Meg33, The Mayor; Trisham;

[MEG33]

;o)

Thank you (((TCP)))

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

“Because You Prayed”

Sept 1, 2016

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

What do you do with your worries? Do you turn them inward, or turn them upward?

When the brutal Assyrian King Sennacherib was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, he sent a message to King Hezekiah saying that Judah would be no different from all the other nations he had conquered. Hezekiah took this message to the temple in Jerusalem, and “spread it out before the Lord” (Isa. 37:14). He then prayed and asked for help from Almighty God.

Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. E.M. Bounds

Soon afterward Isaiah the prophet delivered this message to Hezekiah from the Lord: “Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, the Lord has spoken” (Isa. 37:21–22 nlt). Scripture tells us that Hezekiah’s prayer was answered that very night. God intervened miraculously, conquering the enemy forces outside the city gates. The Assyrian army didn’t even “shoot an arrow” (v. 33). Sennacherib would leave Jerusalem, never to return. 

Three words in God’s message to Hezekiah—“Because you prayed”—show us the best place to go with our worries. Because Hezekiah turned to God, He rescued him and his people. When we turn our worries into prayer, we discover that God is faithful in unexpected ways!

Father, please help me to turn my worries into prayer. My problems are better in Your hands than in my own.

Prayer moves the hand that moves the world.  E.M. Bounds

[Kitty Mittens]

Thank you to Everyone for the Beautiful Daily Pings.
(((((Hugs and God Bless)))))

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

How to Carve a Duck

Sept 2, 2016

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Romans 8:29

My wife, Carolyn, and I met Phipps Festus Bourne in 1995 in his shop in Mabry Hill, Virginia. Bourne, who died in 2002, was a master wood carver whose carvings are almost exact replicas of real objects. “Carving a duck is simple,” he said. “You just look at a piece of wood, get in your head what a duck looks like, and then cut off everything that doesn’t look like it.”

So it is with God. He looks at you and me—blocks of rough wood—envisions the Christlike woman or man hidden beneath the bark, knots, and twigs and then begins to carve away everything that does not fit that image. We would be amazed if we could see how beautiful we are as finished “ducks.”

Growing in Christ comes from a deepening relationship with Him.

But first we must accept that we are a block of wood and allow the Artist to cut, shape, and sand us where He will. This means viewing our circumstances—pleasant or unpleasant—as God’s tools that shape us. He forms us, one part at a time, into the beautiful creature He envisioned in our ungainly lump of wood.

Sometimes the process is wonderful; sometimes it is painful. But in the end, all of God’s tools conform us “to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29).

Do you long for that likeness? Put yourself in the Master Carver’s hands.

Father, You are the craftsman who shapes me. You are the one who knows what shape my life should take. Thank You for carving me into the image You have planned. Help me to trust that the pieces and parts that You shave from me are the right ones.

Growing in Christ comes from a deepening relationship with Him.

INSIGHT:

We are God’s handiwork, and our Father will not abandon the work of His hands. Ephesians 2:6–10 provides further insight into the theme of God’s handiwork. After Christ’s atoning death, God raised Him from the dead “and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (v. 20). Those who believe in Him have been given new life by God’s grace.

[trisham]

Red Friday, at Amy's Place
to support our troops!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

[left that other site]

Happy Red Friday!

May You Have a Beautiful Weekend filled with Blessings!

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[MEG33]

Good Morning Everyone

Amy's Place
~Wears Red On Friday To Support Our Troops~

Enjoy Your Weekend

[luvie]

Get your RED on
...and have a...

Never forget our Troops!

[TheConservativeParty]

Friday afternoon greetings to you Meg!

Nice weather here, finally not hot and humid.

[trisham]

Dog Kisses

Messy dog kisses:
Most likely are full of germs,
But make me happy.

Mark J. Halliday

Happy Caturday, Dogurday and Bunnyday!

[luvie]

Brian Simpson~Saturday Cool

Have a Chill Saturday, y'all!

[trisham]

Thank you, LUV W!

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

Good Imitation

Sept 3, 2016

You became imitators of us and of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 1:6

“Today we’re going to play a game called Imitation,” our children’s minister told the kids gathered around him for the children’s sermon. “I’ll name something and you act out what it does. Ready? Chicken!” The kids flapped their arms, cackled, and crowed. Next it was elephant, then football player, and then ballerina. The last one was Jesus. While many of the children hesitated, one six-year-old with a big smile on his face immediately threw his arms wide open in welcome. The congregation applauded.

How easily we forget that our calling is to be like Jesus in the everyday situations of life. “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:1–2).

Jesus’s arms of welcome are always open.

The apostle Paul commended the followers of Jesus in Thessalonica for the outward demonstration of their faith in difficult circumstances. “You became imitators of us and of the Lord,” Paul wrote. “And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia” (1 Thess. 1:6–7).

It is the life of Jesus in us that encourages and enables us to walk through this world as He did—with the good news of God’s love and with arms open wide in welcome to all.

Lord Jesus, may Your words of invitation and welcome, “Come to Me,” be lived out through our lives today.

Jesus’s arms of welcome are always open.

INSIGHT:

The church at Thessalonica was comprised of Gentiles who had been caught up in pagan idolatry before they came to faith in Christ. They were zealous in their witness and extended the gospel of Christ to neighboring regions. Paul applauds these believers for their lives of committed discipleship and effective witness to others: “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thess. 1:9–10). This congregation exemplified what it means to follow Christ.

[ConorMacNessa]

Happy Caturday & Dogurday
To Amy's Place!



Moe & Sir Winston - 8 July 2015
Clan MacNessa Wishes A Happy
Caturday & Dogurday To All!!!

[left that other site]

You Want Doggie Kisses?

I'll Give You Doggie Kisses!

Happy Cat/Dogurday!

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[MEG33]

Happy Caturday***Dogurday!

Have A Relaxin' Weekend!

[left that other site]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

I wanna Kizz dat Face!

[MEG33]

How could we resist! LOL
(((HUGS)))

[left that other site]

hehehe!

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

Doing What He Says

Sept 4, 2016

Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you. Deuteronomy 5:33

I needed an underground water tank and knew precisely how I wanted it constructed, so I gave clear instructions to the builder. The next day when I inspected the project, I was annoyed when I realized that he had failed to carry out my instructions. He had changed the plan and therefore the effect. The excuse he gave was as irritating as his failure to follow my directives.

As I watched him redo the concrete work, and as my frustration diminished, a guilty conviction swept over me: How many times have I needed to redo things in my life in obedience to the Lord?

Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you. Deuteronomy 5:33

Like the ancient Israelites who frequently failed to do what God asked them to do, we too often go our own way. Yet obedience is a desired result of our deepening relationship with God. Moses told the people, “Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you . . . . Walk in obedience to all that [he] has commanded you” (Deut. 5:32–33). Long after Moses, Jesus urged His disciples to trust Him and to love one another.

This is still the kind of surrender of our hearts that leads to our well-being. As the Spirit helps us to obey, it is good to remember that He “works in [us] to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13).

Lord, thank You for second and third chances. Please help us to want to follow Your ways and to follow through in obedience.

The closer we walk with God, the clearer we see His guidance.

INSIGHT:

The Bible’s overarching story is the loving God reaching down to rescue His broken, rebellious creation and His ultimate expression of love in His Son, Jesus. Jesus Christ came to rescue and restore us to the relationship with the Father we lost in the fall. Deuteronomy, which is part of that story, is the final book of the Pentateuch, the opening five books of the Bible. These books form the platform for the entire Bible, which is God’s instruction to us. They are also known as “the five scrolls” and, in Judaism, as the Torah (the “instruction” of Moses). They cover both a long and short period of human history.