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Posted on 01/01/2024 3:15:48 PM PST by luvie
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Good Night to Amy’s Place
😴🌟⭐️✨
Bible in a Year :
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
My heart ached as I read those words. I remember countless nights when our children were small. My wife and I would be sound asleep only to be startled awake by their cries: “Daddy, I’m sick!” or “Mommy, I’m scared!” One of us would spring into action and make our way to their bedroom to do our best to comfort and care for them. Our love for our children gave them reason to call for our help.
An overwhelming number of the psalms are cries, or laments, to God. Israel brought their laments to Him on the basis of His personal relationship with them. These were a people God had called His “firstborn” (Exodus 4:22) and they were asking their Father to act accordingly. Such honest trust is seen in Psalm 25: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, . . . free me from my anguish” (vv. 16–17). Children who are confident of the love of a caregiver do cry. As believers in Jesus—children of God—He’s given us reason to call on Him. He hears and cares because of His great love. .
Reflect & Pray
How comfortable are you taking your cries to God? Why? How might you offer up a lament to Him today?
Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your faithfulness to hear my cry and to act.
Bible in a Year :
We love because he first loved us.
“In everything / we look for pleasant ways of serving God,” writes sixteenth-century believer Teresa of Avila. She poignantly reflects on the many ways we seek to stay in control through easier, more “pleasant” methods than total surrender to God. We tend to slowly, tentatively, and even reluctantly grow to trust Him with all of ourselves. And so, Teresa confesses, “even as we measure out our lives to you / a bit at a time, / we must be content / to receive your gifts drop by drop, / until we have surrendered our lives wholly to you.”
As human beings, trust doesn’t come naturally to many of us. So if experiencing God’s grace and love were dependent on our ability to trust and receive it, we’d be in trouble!
But, as we read in 1 John 4, God’s love for us comes first (v. 19). He loved us long before we could love Him, so much that He was willing to sacrifice His Son for us. “This is love,” John writes in wonder and gratitude (v. 10).
Gradually, gently, little by little, God heals our hearts to receive His love. Drop by drop, His grace helps us surrender our fears (v. 18). Drop by drop, His grace reaches our hearts until we find ourselves experiencing showers of His abundant beauty and love. .
Reflect & Pray
In what ways have you experienced God’s grace “drop by drop” in your life? How has God’s love helped you overcome fear in exchange for hope and trust?
Faithful God, thank You for loving me first, even when my heart was too wounded and hurting to trust You. Thank You for the many ways You reach me wherever I am.
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Bible in a Year :
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
The story in Luke 10:1–23 describes what should be central to our identity. When the seventy-two people Jesus sent out to tell others about the kingdom of God returned from their journeys, they reported to Him that “even the demons submit to us in your name” (v. 17). While Jesus acknowledged that He’d equipped them with tremendous power and protection, He said they were focused on the wrong thing. He insisted that their cause for rejoicing should be because their “names are written in heaven” (v. 20).
Whatever achievements or abilities God has granted us, our greatest cause for rejoicing is that if we’ve entrusted ourselves to Jesus, our names are written in heaven, and we enjoy His daily presence in our lives. .
Reflect & Pray
What are you focused on? How can you shift your focus to more of an eternal perspective?
Heavenly Father, thank You for writing my name in heaven. I rejoice in knowing You.
Learn more about having a personal relationship with God.
Happy Monday!
We will be getting our first 30 degree day in a long time today.
Naturally, there is snow in the forecast for the next few days.
Winter, uff da!
😅
30? SUB TROPICAL FOR SURE!
Enjoy the 30-degree day. Hope it includes some sunshine for ya!
LOL!
Bible in a Year :
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
My wife, Miska, has a necklace and hoop earrings from Ethiopia. Their elegant simplicity reveals genuine artistry. What’s most astounding about these pieces, however, is their story. Due to decades of fierce conflict and a civil war that rages on, Ethiopia’s geography is littered with spent artillery shells and cartridges. As an act of hope, Ethiopians scour the torched earth, cleaning up the scraps. And artisans craft jewelry out of what remains of the shells and cartridges.
When I heard this story, I heard echoes of Micah boldly declaring God’s promise. One day, the prophet announced, the people would “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (4:3). Tools meant to kill and maim would, because of God’s powerful action, be transformed into tools meant to nurture life. In God’s coming day, the prophet insisted, “nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (v. 3).
Micah’s pronouncement was no harder to imagine in his day than ours. Like Israel of old, we face violence and war, and it seems impossible that the world could ever change. But God promises us that by His mercy and healing, this astounding day is coming. The thing for us, then, is to begin to live this truth now. God helps us to take on His work even now, turning scraps into beautiful things. .
Reflect & Pray
Where have you seen evil transformed by God’s love? How can you turn scraps into beauty?
Dear God, please change our world. Work through me to bring beauty here.
Learn how to trust God when the world is mess
Happy WFW! Rather warm here in the 30s, Moose is fuzzy, and it’s Wednesday.
😃
Sounds like you have it all together! LOL!
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Wet with rain or snow?
Both...LOL.
It doesn’t know WHAT to do.
That makes for a real mess!
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