Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... October, November and December, 2017

October 1, 2017 | Meg33, The Mayor, Trisham, JustAmy

[JustAmy]

Welcome To....


'Amy's Place' welcomes all poets
and those who enjoy poetry.
'Amy's Place' is more than just about poetry.
Come in, relax, and share with fellow FReepers
your thoughts about any of the things on the *Menu*.

Enjoy! :)









Never Forget!





Bad Penny



Amy's personal guardian ~
the ever charming, lovable, huggable,
LouieWolf




Many thanks for stopping by. : )

---

~~~~~ Prior Threads ~~~~~ July, 2005, Closing Thread
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2014 Jan. & Feb. March April May June - Sept Oct - Dec	2015 Jan - Mar April - June July - Sept Oct - Dec	2016 Jan - Mar Apr - June July - Sep Oct - Dec	2017 Jan - Mar Apr - Jun Jul - Sept

[SandRat]

Another lesson of what ,CAN BE FOUND ON FR.

[MEG33]

Good Afternoon To Amy's Place

We Wear Red On Friday To Support Our Troops



I Wish You A Great Weekend

[SandRat]

img src="https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/RXsbI4PWG6K1B1lAbjxNm3R-GdM=/800x600/filters:no_upscale()/https://public-media.smithsonianmag.com/filer/Ask-an-Expert-First-Thanksgiving-631.jpg"

[The Mayor]

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

How Long?

October 7, 2017

How long, Lord, must I call for help? Habakkuk 1:2

When I married, I thought I would have children immediately. That did not happen, and the pain of infertility brought me to my knees. I often cried out to God, “How long?” I knew God could change my circumstance. Why wasn’t He?

Are you waiting on God? Are you asking, How long, Lord, before justice prevails in our world? Before there is a cure for cancer? Before I am no longer in debt?

God hears us and, in His time, will give an answer.

The prophet Habakkuk was well acquainted with that feeling. In the seventh century bc, he cried out to the Lord: “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?” (Hab. 1:2–3). He prayed for a long time, struggling to reconcile how a just and powerful God could allow wickedness, injustice, and corruption to continue in Judah. As far as Habakkuk was concerned, God should have already intervened. Why was God doing nothing?

There are days when we too feel as if God is doing nothing. Like Habakkuk, we have continuously asked God, “How long?”

Yet, we are not alone. As with Habakkuk, God hears our burdens. We must continue to cast them on the Lord because He cares for us. God hears us and, in His time, will give an answer.

Lord, thank You for bearing my burdens. I know that You hear my cries and will answer in accordance to Your perfect plan and purposes.

For encouragement, read

When God Says No. 

Don't despair because of evil; God will have the last word.

INSIGHT

Like Habakkuk, the psalmist David understood that life’s challenges get harder the longer they last. David asked “How long?” four times in just two verses, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Ps. 13:1–2, emphasis added).

When you struggle, can you identify with Habakkuk and David? Does it feel like help is far away? Consider Lamentations 3:22–23, and let it encourage you to trust in God’s faithful care.

Bill Crowder

[trisham]

Autumn

All day I have watched the purple vine leaves

Fall into the water.

And now in the moonlight they still fall,

But each leaf is fringed with silver.

Amy Lowell

(from Pictures of the Floating World, 1919)

Happy Caturday and Bunnyday!

[left that other site]

Happy Saturday!

To All My FRiends Here at FR!

((((HUGS))))

ML/LTOS

[luvie]

Brian Simpson~Saturday Cool

Have a Chill Saturday, y'all!
Happy [Big] Caturday!

[The Mayor]

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

Enough

October 8, 2017

They ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. 2 Kings 4:44

When my husband and I were first asked to host a small group in our home, my immediate reaction was to decline. I felt inadequate. We didn’t have seats for everyone; our home was small and couldn’t hold many people. I didn’t know whether we had the skills to facilitate the discussion. I worried that I’d be asked to prepare food, something for which I lacked both passion and funds. I didn’t feel like we had “enough” to do it. I didn’t feel I was “enough” to do it. But we wanted to give to God and our community, so despite our fears, we agreed. Over the next five years we found great joy in welcoming the group into our living room.

I observe similar reluctance and doubt in the man who brought bread to God’s servant, Elisha. Elisha had instructed him to give it to the people, but the man questioned whether twenty loaves could feed so many—one hundred men. He seems to have been tempted to withhold the food because—in his human understanding—it wouldn’t be sufficient. Yet it was more than enough (2 Kings 4:44), because God took his gift, given in obedience, and made it enough.

God asks us to give what we have in faithful obedience.

When we feel inadequate, or think what we have to offer isn’t sufficient, let’s remember that God asks us to give what we have in faithful obedience. He is the one who makes it “enough.”

Lord, when I fear what I have to give is insufficient, help me to give to You anyway and trust You to make it “enough.”

An offering given in faithful obedience is just right.

INSIGHT

We may wonder about the purpose of the miracle recorded in today’s passage. It becomes a little clearer when we back up a few verses. In verses 38–41 Elisha had performed another food miracle where he made a pot of poisonous stew safe to eat. Because there was a famine in the land, the provision of food would have been one of the top concerns of the people. So both of these miracles—the curing of the poisonous stew and 20 loaves of bread feeding 100 people—are signs of God’s provision. It is interesting to note two key phrases in verses 43 and 44 that address the doubts of Elisha’s servant: “this is what the Lord says” and “according to the word of the Lord.” The power of the Lord is what provides when we have little or nothing to offer.  

Reflect on a time when your resources were inadequate. How did God provide?

J.R. Hudberg

[MEG33]

*Welcome To Sunday At Amy's Place*

9. I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.

10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

11. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.~ Psalm 57:9-11


I Wish You A Blessed Lord's Day

[MEG33]

Wonderful devotional, Rus.
I Am So Grateful To You For Our Daily Bread

[luvie]

Dallas Christian Sound~This Is My Father's World

Glad~Before the Throne Of God Above

Cathedrals~He Cared That Much For Me

Casting Crowns~Praise You In The Storm

Bill Gaither/Velstal Goodman~The Lighthouse

The Trevecca Madrigalians~It Is Well With My Soul

Statler Brothers~Sweet Beulah Land

Have a Blessed Sunday

[The Mayor]

Thank you Meg, good to see you.
Beautiful fall day here in WNY.

[Kitty Mittens]

Your Sunday Post is So Beautiful, Dear Meg!
(((((Thank you for the Lovely Blessing)))))

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

[The Mayor]

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

From Worms to War

October 9, 2017

The Lord said to [Gideon], “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.”
  Judges 6:23

It was ten-year-old Cleo’s first time fishing, and as he looked into the container of bait he seemed hesitant to get started. Finally he said to my husband, “Help me, I-S-O-W!” When my husband asked him what the problem was, Cleo responded, “I-S-O-W! I’m scared of worms!” His fear had made him unable to act.

Fear can paralyze grown men too. Gideon must’ve been afraid when the angel of the Lord came to him as he was threshing wheat in secret, hiding from his Midianite enemies (Judg. 6:11). The angel told him he had been chosen by God to lead His people in battle (vv. 12–14).

Put your faith in the living God.

Gideon’s response? “Pardon me, my lord, . . . but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (v. 15). After being assured of the Lord’s presence, Gideon still seemed fearful and asked for signs that God would use him to save Israel as He promised (vv. 36–40). And God responded to Gideon’s requests. The Israelites were successful in battle and then enjoyed peace for forty years.

We all have fears of various kinds—from worms to wars. Gideon’s story teaches us that we can be confident of this: If God asks us to do something, He’ll give us the strength and power to do it.

Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are with us.

To take the fear out of living, put your faith in the living God.

[The Mayor]

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

Wake-Up Call!

October 10, 2017

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Revelation 3:2

During the years when I traveled frequently and stayed in a different city every night, I always scheduled a wake-up call when I checked into a hotel. Along with a personal alarm, I needed a jangling telephone to help get me out of bed and moving in the morning.

The book of Revelation contains a spiritual wake-up call in the apostle John’s letters to the seven churches in the province of Asia. To the church in Sardis he wrote this message from Jesus Himself: “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God” (Rev. 3:1–2).

Lord, enable us to hear and respond to Your call today.

In the midst of spiritual fatigue, we may fail to notice the lethargy that creeps into our relationship with God. But the Lord tells us to “remember . . . what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent” (v. 3).

Many people find that scheduling some extra time each morning to read the Bible and talk to the Lord in prayer helps them stay spiritually alert. It’s not a job but a joy to spend time with Jesus and know that He prepares us for whatever lies ahead that day.

Lord, enable us to hear and respond to Your wake-up call today.

Read In His Presence from Discovery Series. 

Spending time with Jesus is a joy!

INSIGHT

 

The call for the Christ-follower to be spiritually alert rings loud throughout the New Testament. To the sleepy disciples, Jesus bemoaned, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). Peter, writing from his own failure (see Luke 22:31–34), cautioned: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him” (1 Peter 5:8–9). We are reminded to “put on the full armor of God” (Eph. 6:11, 13) and to stand firm with the truth of the gospel (v. 14; see 2 Tim. 3:14–17) and with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17). Those who have the law of God “in their hearts . . . do not slip” (Ps. 37:31). The spiritually alert “[delights] in the law of the Lord, and . . . meditates on his law day and night” (1:2).  

How has “delighting” in God’s Word helped you remain spiritually alert?

[luvie]

Grateful for the beauty of Autumn.
Happy GratiTuesday!

[left that other site]

Happy Gratituesday!

The leaves are just starting to turn around here! :-)

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[The Mayor]

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

Two-Winged Sun

October 11, 2017

[The Lord says:] I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. Isaiah 38:5

For five years, an ancient clay seal remained in a closet in Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology. After the seal was dug up at the foot of the southern part of Jerusalem’s old city wall, initial examination failed to establish the significance of the nearly 3,000-year-old object. But then a researcher carefully scrutinized the letters on the seal, resulting in a major discovery. The inscription, written in ancient Hebrew, reads: “Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz king of Judah.”

At the center of the seal is a two-winged sun surrounded by two images symbolizing life. The archaeologists who discovered the seal believe that King Hezekiah began using this seal as a symbol of God’s protection after the Lord healed him from a life-threatening illness (Isa. 38:1–8). Hezekiah had been pleading with the Lord to heal him. And God heard his prayer. He also gave Hezekiah a sign that He would indeed do what He had promised, saying, “I will cause the sun’s shadow to move ten steps backward” (v. 8 nlt).

Lord, help me to believe in Your power and love, and to seek Your help always.

The facts related to this archeological artifact give us an encouraging reminder that the people in the Bible were learning, as we are, to call on the Lord who hears us when we cry out to Him for help. And even when His answers are not what we want or expect, we can rest assured that He is compassionate and He is powerful. The One who orders the movement of the sun can certainly move in our hearts.

Dear God, You are great and powerful, yet You care for me. Help me to believe in Your power and love, and to seek Your help always.

Call out to God; He is wanting to hear from you.

INSIGHT

Hezekiah, whose name means “whom Jehovah has strengthened,” was the son of Ahaz (2 Kings 18:1), one of the worst kings of ancient Judah. Hezekiah succeeded his father on the throne, reigning for twenty-nine years. Ignoring the disastrous example of his father, Hezekiah modeled himself after his great-grandfather, Uzziah. Hezekiah’s primary impact as king was in his role as a spiritual reformer. As part of this reform he destroyed the “bronze serpent” (see Num. 21:4–9). What was once a symbol of healing in Moses’s day had become an object of idolatrous worship. Hezekiah’s reign saw a season of spiritual renewal that had a profound impact on the kingdom (adapted from Easton’s Bible Dictionary).

God honored Hezekiah’s faithfulness and compassionately answered his prayer for healing. How have you seen God respond when you’ve cried out to Him?  

[MEG33]

~Happy Warm Fuzzy Wednesday To Amy's Place~

"Just before the death of flowers,
And before they are buried in snow,
There comes a festival season
When nature is all aglow."
- Author Unknown

"Good Morning FRiends
Hope all is well with you.

[MEG33]

Good Morning

Amen, Rus.
Thank you for starting our day off right every day
You are a blessing.