Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... April, May and June, 2017

April 1, 2017 | JustAmy; Meg33, The Mayor; Trisham;

[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. : )

[The Mayor]

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Driven by God

June 19, 2017

May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him. 1 Kings 8:58

A few months ago I received an email inviting me to join a community of “driven people.” I decided to look up the word driven, and I learned that a driven person is someone highly motivated to succeed and who will work hard to achieve his goals.

Is it good to be a driven person? There is a test that never fails: “Do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). Many times we do things for self-glory. After the flood in Noah’s day, a group of people decided to build a tower in order to “make a name” for themselves (Gen. 11:4). They wanted to be famous and avoid being scattered all over the world. Because they were not doing it for God's glory, though, they were erroneously driven.

Father, give me the desire to obey You and do everything for Your glory.

In contrast, when King Solomon dedicated the ark of the covenant and the newly constructed temple, he said, “I have built the temple for the Name of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:20). Then he prayed, “May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands” (v. 58).

When our greatest desire is to bring glory to God and walk in obedience, we become driven people who seek to love and serve Jesus in the power of the Spirit. Let our prayer echo Solomon’s. May our “hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands” (v. 61).

Father, give me the desire to obey You and do everything for Your glory.

For help in your spiritual growth, read God at the Center at discoveryseries.org/hp152.

Do everything for the glory of God.

INSIGHT:

As you work hard to achieve your goals, ask God to give you a humble and obedient heart that is fully committed to Him.

[Kitty Mittens]

Thank you, Dear FRiends, for the Beautiful Daily Pings.
(((((Love to Everyone, and God Bless)))))

[The Mayor]

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Reason to Smile

June 20, 2017

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

In the workplace, words of encouragement matter. How employees talk to one another has a bearing on customer satisfaction, company profits, and co-worker appreciation. Studies show that members of the most effective work groups give one another six times more affirmation than disapproval, disagreement, or sarcasm. Least productive teams tend to use almost three negative comments for every helpful word.

Paul learned by experience about the value of words in shaping relationships and outcomes. Before meeting Christ on the road to Damascus, his words and actions terrorized followers of Jesus. But by the time he wrote his letter to the Thessalonians, he had become a great encourager because of God’s work in his heart. Now by his own example he urged his readers to cheer one another on. While being careful to avoid flattery, he showed how to affirm others and reflect the Spirit of Christ.

Encouraging one another is a way of helping one another get a taste of the patience and goodness of God.

In the process, Paul reminded his readers where encouragement comes from. He saw that entrusting ourselves to God, who loved us enough to die for us, gives us reason to comfort, forgive, inspire, and lovingly challenge one another (1 Thess. 5:10–11). 

Paul shows us that encouraging one another is a way of helping one another get a taste of the patience and goodness of God.

Father in heaven, please help us to give others a small taste of the mercy and kindness You are forever offering us.

What could be better than working to bring out the best in one another?

[left that other site]

My late husband and I used to stop and eat, during a long motorcycle ride, at a Howard Johnson in the shadow of Big Blue Hill in MA. It was convenient and cheap and the food was good. However, several times while we were there, we saw the manager verbally abuse an employee, even eliciting tears! After three of these “isolated incidents” we decided that they were not isolated incidents at all, and we vowed never to eat there again, even if wee had to ride some more miles for comparable prices.

The restaurant is gone, so others may have made that same decision. This goes with your ODB for today! :-)

[luvie]

I'm Grateful....
Happy GratiTuesday!

[MEG33]

Good Thankful Thursday To You

Thanking God for the rain that fell yesterday.
Wishing You A Wonderful Thankful Day And Evening

[MEG33]

Amen

[MEG33]

GratiTuesday! I’m so grateful for forgiving posters.

;o)

[trisham]

Prayer of Thanks On this Tuesday

Heavenly Father, I thank you for my life and everything you have bestowed upon me and upon all people, this day and every day.

I thank you for the good and bad, the understanding of forgiveness, and your holy power, without which we would have nothing. I thank you this day for all your blessings, your gifts, your never ending love for us. Although we all are sinners, I ask you to forgive me every day for what I might have done wrong, that I might not have noticed. Even though we all come short of the glory of God, I thank you for the sacrifice of your only son Jesus Christ for all our sins. You and only you know us Father and you know if our hearts are true. So once again, I thank you with all my heart and soul. In the name of Christ I pray,
Amen.

A Happy GratiTuesday to everyone here at Amy's Place.

[The Mayor]

over the top

[The Mayor]

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Sharing a Cup of Comfort

June 21, 2017

Our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:7

A friend mailed me some of her homemade pottery. Upon opening the box, I discovered the precious items had been damaged during their journey. One of the cups had shattered into a few large pieces, a jumble of shards, and clumps of clay dust. After my husband glued the broken mess back together, I displayed the beautifully blemished cup on a shelf.

Like that pieced-together pottery, I have scars that prove I can still stand strong after the difficult times God’s brought me through. That cup of comfort reminds me that sharing how the Lord has worked in and through my life can help others during their times of suffering.

We can be comforted in knowing that the Lord redeems our trials for His glory.

The apostle Paul praises God because He is the “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). The Lord uses our trials and sufferings to make us more like Him. His comfort in our troubles equips us to encourage others as we share what He did for us during our time of need (v. 4).

As we reflect on Christ’s suffering, we can be inspired to persevere in the midst of our own pain, trusting that God uses our experiences to strengthen us and others toward patient endurance (vv. 5–7). Like Paul, we can be comforted in knowing that the Lord redeems our trials for His glory. We can share His cups of comfort and bring reassuring hope to the hurting.

Lord, thank You for using us to provide comfort, encouragement, and hope to others who are suffering. We praise You for all You’ve done, are doing, and will continue to do to comfort us through our own afflictions.

God comforts others as we share how He comforted us.

INSIGHT:

The Greek word for comfort (paraklesis) means “to come alongside and help.” Jesus is called our parakletos (advocate) in 1 John 2:1. The Holy Spirit is another advocate or comforter (John 14:16). Paul asserts that God is “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). The triune Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is there with us in our pain. By saying God is the "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (vv. 2–3), Paul thereby reminds us that coming alongside to help each other is a family duty and privilege (v. 4).

To whom can you be a parakletos—a comforter—this coming week?

[MEG33]

Happy Warm Fuzzy Wednesday To Amy's Place

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of
his tongue. ~Author Unknown

*Have A Lovely Day!*

[MEG33]

Good Morning, Rus...Amen
Thank you for starting our day off right every day with Our Daily Bread.
I Appreciate You

[trisham]

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Happy to be Home!

[luvie]

You awake?
Well, then....
Have a Warm [hot!] and Happy
Wednesday!

[left that other site]

Happy Warm & Fuzzy Wednesday!

School's OUT! Yeahhhhhh!!!!

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

[MEG33]

*Happy First Day Of Summer*

Thank you for coming by today and sharing your
cute graphics and comments.

Celebrating Handel defeats Ossoff to win Georgia 6th District
YEA TEAM...MAGA

[The Mayor]

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Silence

June 22, 2017

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Habakkuk 1:2

Skittish chickens scattered as relief trucks clattered past the weathered huts of the village. Barefoot children stared. Traffic on this rain-ravaged “road” was rare.

Suddenly, a walled mansion loomed into view of the convoy. It was the mayor’s house—although he didn’t live in it. His people lacked basic necessities, while he lounged in luxury in a distant city.

Nothing is beyond God's control and timing.

Such unfairness angers us. It angered God’s prophet too. When Habakkuk saw rampant oppression he asked, “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (Hab. 1:2). But God had noticed, and He said, “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods . . . who builds his house by unjust gain!” (2:6, 9). Judgment was coming!

We welcome God’s judgment of others, but there’s a pivot point in Habakkuk that gives us pause: “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” (2:20). All the earth. The oppressed along with oppressors. Sometimes the appropriate response to God’s seeming silence is . . . silence!

Why silence? Because we easily overlook our own spiritual poverty. Silence allows us to recognize our sinfulness in the presence of a holy God.

Habakkuk learned to trust God, and we can too. We don’t know all His ways, but we do know that He is good. Nothing is beyond His control and timing.

Lord, when trouble comes we can pray like Habakkuk, “We have heard of your fame; we stand in awe of your deeds. Repeat them in our day; in our time make them known” (Hab. 3:2).

The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. Proverbs 29:7

INSIGHT:

We sometimes wonder why God allows the kind of pain and suffering that seems to rise above all reason. Six hundred years before Christ, the Jewish prophet Habakkuk wondered the same thing. He struggled to understand how a good God could appear to look the other way while the groaning of Jerusalem’s oppressed weak and poor went unanswered. His doubts deepened when the Lord answered his prayers by telling him that he was going to call in the cruel armies of Babylon to bring the “holy city” to its senses. But Habakkuk didn’t lose his faith. After being honest enough to express his doubts and questions to God, he learned there is a time to surrender in silence before a God who can restore trust to those who wait on Him (2:20)—even when we don’t understand.

In that place of quiet, after pouring out our doubts and complaints to God, we can learn what it means to quietly rest in the One who has in so many ways already shown Himself inexpressibly good and faithful (Hab. 3:17–19).

[trisham]

Laughing at Life

Life’s comical
Never logical
Can you pass me that beer?

Robert Heemstra

Have a wonderful thankful Thursday, everyone!

[MEG33]

Thanking God For Beautiful Flowers And FRiends
A Happy Thankful Thursday To Amy's Place