Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... April. May and June. 2018

April 1, 2018 | Meg33, The Mayor, Trisham, JustAmy

[MEG33]

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

[left that other site]

If April Showers Bring May Flowers...

What do May Flowers bring?

Pilgrims!

God Bless America!

Happy Last Sunday in April!

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[MEG33]

Thank you for the lovely music, blessings and scripture,LUV.
I wish you a lovely Sunday afternoon

[luvie]

LOL! Cute! 🤣

[The Mayor]

Thank you Meg!

[The Mayor]

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

Breaking the Chains

April 30, 2018

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 1:7

We found our visit to Christ Church Cathedral in Stone Town, Zanzibar, deeply moving, for it sits on the site of what was formerly the largest slave market in East Africa. The designers of this cathedral wanted to show through a physical symbol how the gospel breaks the chains of slavery. No longer would the location be a place of evil deeds and horrible atrocities, but of God’s embodied grace.

Those who built the cathedral wanted to express how Jesus’s death on the cross provides freedom from sin—that which the apostle Paul speaks of in his letter to the church at Ephesus: “In him we have redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7). Here the word redemption points to the Old Testament’s notion of the marketplace, with someone buying back a person or item. Jesus buys back a person from a life of slavery to sin and wrongdoing.

Jesus redeems us from the slavery of sin.

In Paul’s opening words in this letter (vv. 3–14), he bubbles over with joy at the thought of his freedom in Christ. He points, in layer after layer of praise, to God’s work of grace for us through Jesus’s death, which sets us free from the cords of sin. No longer do we need to be slaves to sin, for we are set free to live for God and His glory.

Lord God, through the death of Your Son, You have given us life forever. Help me to share this gift of grace with someone today.

Jesus redeems us from the slavery of sin.

INSIGHT

For more on being set free from sin through faith in Christ, read Grace: Accepting God’s Gift to You at discoveryseries.org/q0613.

[luvie]

God Bless Our Troops!
...on Land, Sea and Air!

[Kitty Mittens]

Thank you, Dear FRiends, for the Beautiful Pings & Posts.
(((((Hugs to Everyone, and God Bless)))))

[The Mayor]

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

Waiting in Anticipation

May 1, 2018

I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Psalm 130:6

Every May Day (May 1) in Oxford, England, an early morning crowd gathers to welcome spring. At 6:00, the Magdalen College Choir sings from the top of Magdalen Tower. Thousands wait in anticipation for the dark night to be broken by song and the ringing of bells.

Like the revelers, I often wait. I wait for answers to prayers or guidance from the Lord. Although I don’t know the exact time my wait will end, I’m learning to wait expectantly. In Psalm 130 the psalmist writes of being in deep distress facing a situation that feels like the blackest of nights. In the midst of his troubles, he chooses to trust God and stay alert like a guard on duty charged with announcing daybreak. “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning” (v. 6).

God can be trusted in the light and in the dark.

The anticipation of God’s faithfulness breaking through the darkness gives the psalmist hope to endure even in the midst of his suffering. Based on the promises of God found throughout Scripture, that hope allows him to keep waiting even though he has not yet seen the first rays of light.

Be encouraged if you are in the middle of a dark night. The dawn is coming—either in this life or in heaven! In the meantime, don’t give up hope but keep watching for the deliverance of the Lord. He will be faithful.

Please bring light to my darkness. Open my eyes to see You at work and to trust You. I’m grateful that You are faithful, Father.

God can be trusted in the light and in the dark.

INSIGHT

In Psalm 130:5–6 the word wait(s) appears five times. In the Lord’s development of our personal faith, He often delays an answer to prayer to deepen our trust in Him. At times this can be perplexing. Asking for His intervention for a wayward child or for healing of a painful illness often carries a sense of urgency. We pray, “Lord, I need your help now!” But “waiting on the Lord” takes discipline and develops a perseverance in our faith that only steadfastness can yield. Abram waited years for Isaac, the child of promise, to finally be given to him. And this was through Sarah’s unlikely conception when she was advanced in years and beyond the age of childbearing. Yet God’s sovereign hand was orchestrating these events. Abram waited on God in prayer, and eventually God granted him offspring too numerous to count (Genesis 12; 16:10; 17:1–19).

What prayers are you waiting for God to answer? In what ways might your heavenly Father be developing your faith as you wait?

[MEG33]

Happy GratiTuesday To Amy's Place
~Welcome To May~

ODE TO MAY
May has come in flowered lei
With many rainbows on display
and fields of green
are quite serene
Unlike the brown of summer's burn

The smell of budding orchards sate
The air with nectar 'round my gate
and birds and bees
are searching trees
And every flower, shrub, and fern

The bees for honey for the comb
The birds for twigs to make a home
they buzz and sing
and often bring
A rhythm to the poets ode

Oh May we thank you ever more
You touch our hearts and you restore
the waking sod
our faith in God
And peace where e'er we abode.
_Fish Hawk
~I Wish You A Beautiful Grateful May~

[left that other site]

According to Science...

The Samoyed's "Smile" is an adaptation that developed to keep snow out of the dog's mouth as he runs through the snow, and keeps the ice from forming on his lips.

But we know BETTER!



It's SPRING! Happy Gratituesday!

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[luvie]

Grateful for Memories
of Grandparents' Old Barn
Happy GratiTuesday!

[TheConservativeParty]

Hi! The day was half over at work before someone informed me it was May first.

My tulips don’t seem to know it’s May first. They are still only a few inches up out of the ground. We did just have 7 inches of snow about 10 days ago though. It was 80 the last 2 days here in WI.

Cheers

[The Mayor]

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

Longing for God

May 2, 2018

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Psalm 84:2

One day my daughter was visiting with our one-year-old grandson. I was getting ready to leave the house on an errand, but as soon as I walked out of the room my grandson began to cry. It happened twice, and each time I went back and spent a moment with him. As I headed out the door the third time, his little lip began to quiver again. At that point my daughter said, “Dad, why don’t you just take him with you?”

Any grandparent could tell you what happened next. My grandson went along for the ride, just because I love him. 

Loving Lord, thank You for Your compassion for me.

How good it is to know that the longings of our hearts for God are also met with love. The Bible assures us that we can “know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16). God doesn’t love us because of anything we have or haven’t done. His love isn’t based on our worthiness at all, but on His goodness and faithfulness. When the world around us is unloving and unkind, we can rely on God’s unchanging love as our source of hope and peace.

Our heavenly Father’s heart has gone out to us through the gift of His Son and His Spirit. How comforting is the assurance that God loves us with love that never ends!

Loving Lord, thank You for Your compassion for me, proven at the cross. Please help me to obey and love You today.

God longs for us to long for Him.

INSIGHT

Do you have a hard time relating to the love of God? Many of us think more with our heads than our hearts. John, a disciple of Jesus, is remembered as the apostle of love and referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23).

John wrote more on love than any New Testament writer. But he wasn’t always so inclined. The gospel writer Luke remembers the day John and his brother James wanted to see Jesus call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village that had turned Jesus away (Luke 9:51–56). Jesus let the two brothers know that their lack of empathy didn’t reflect His heart. Yet Jesus probably wasn’t surprised. Early on, and maybe with a smile, He had affectionately called them “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17).

Yet John is the one who ends up being overwhelmed with the love of God and writes about the importance of loving others (1 John 3:16; 4:8, 16). What happened? Did he recognize the coldness of his own heart? Did he learn from Jesus that our ability to relate to the love of God may depend on our readiness to admit—and to be forgiven for—our lack of love? (John 3:16; Luke 7:37–50).

[MEG33]

God Bless You. Rus. Wonderful lesson.

Thank you for starting our day off right every day with
Our Daily Bread
You Are Appreciated.

[MEG33]

Happy Warm Fuzzy Wednesday
To Amy's Place

Flowers From The Garden
*****
There is a window in your heart, that opens on a garden,
A place you can retreat to when you need to ask for pardon,
For having been abusive, to the child that lives in you,
By simply asking way too much, for any child to do.

Don’t ask for the surrender, of childhood dreams so gay,
That they could always bring a smile, despite a rainy day.
The toys we had as children, were of the simplest sort,
A cardboard tube became a sword, a cardboard box a fort.

Children can be happy, they’ve learned the art of play,
Try not to lose that talent as you go about your day.
With all the noise and bustle that distracts you from that art,
Take time to smell the flowers from the garden in your heart.
*******
NicknamedBob . . . . . . . © 2004

I Wish You A Lovely May Day

[left that other site]

Happy Warm and Fuzzy Wednesday!

Have a Beautiful Day!

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[MEG33]

I’m glad you’ve had a warmup!

[luvie]

Peaches...Chillin' on "his" rain barrel.
Happy Tryin-To-Keep-Cool and Fuzzy Wednesday!

[The Mayor]

Thank you Mag and God Bless You.
I’s nice to know people still read it daily.