The Word

I just received this picture in an email.

 

In the beginning was the Word

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

 

which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

 

May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise

 

Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

 

“I, even I, am he who comforts you

 

I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 

These are just some of the words that I found that relate to this picture and they are all from the Bible!

 

How awesome our God is that when he speaks to us through the written word we can feel just like the picture above, wrapped snuggly in His arms. No matter what we perceive our problem to be, God is in the Word and ready to envelope us in His arms.

 

 Doesn't she look at peace and it looks as if she feels so safe right where she is. We all have that opportunity to feel exactly like she looks, contented and safe. We just need to "get into the Word". Take God at His WORD today. May He bless you richly this day!

 

Coffee for Your Heart







It's Never Too Late

Sometimes I wonder how I have made it through life this far.  I can't believe how thick my head is sometimes! I don't know if there are any others like me out there but if there is just one, then I need to share the most wonderful thing that has happened to me in the past week and a half so you don't wait till you are so close to Medicare that you can hear the door creaking open!

I got an email that invited me to get a book by Sharon Jaynes entitled "Praying for your Husband From Head to Toe". Yes I have prayed on and off for the wonderful man I married 40 years ago but it was when there was a crisis or something I was sure God needed to change in him so we would be happier. {what I really was telling God was that my husband needed some tweeks so I would be happier.} So I thought why not and bought the book.

The first part of the book explains all the parts of my husband and why I should be praying for them. Kind of an eye opener to me so I kept reading. The second part of the book is where she uses scripture to back up each of those parts to pray for and then gives examples of how to pray. {I am very glad for examples as I said before my head is pretty thick.}

So along with Sharon I start to pray for my husband. {I tell God first that I am going to give this a go to see just what will become of this.} God is so faithful and so patient with "thick headed wives". God knows my needs so well and instant gratification seems to be something I need. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to actually see answer to prayer that happens in the same day but I was blown away by God's blessings.

The first day my husband and I had a small altercation and he said something to me that hurt my feelings. {they are so easily hurt} But in the next moment I heard him tell me he was sorry! Well, I don't know about you but that was a first for me. I was so grateful and praising God that  I don't think I touched ground for the rest of the day.

I was pretty excited to pray the next day to see what God had in store. We had a home malfunction {water heater broke down} and he told me to go on ahead to the gym with out him and he would wait for the repair man. I said that I had a few errands to run after but would be home directly. I went to the  gym and then to the grocery store and got a phone call from my husband. I was sure he was going to ask when I would be home but no another huge surprise, he said " I just wanted to tell you to please be careful as the weather had turned ugly and be safe on your way home. I love you." Well, I don't know if any one in the store noticed but there was a smile and a warm feeling all the way to my toes as I went through the check out lane.

I am so privileged to be able to pray for the man I dearly love and see God's hand working not only in his life but God is changing me in the process. I didn't think I could be more in love with him but each day there are little surprises from my husband for me that God is showering me with. I have changed my reason for praying for my husband, not to be happier but that my husband has God's complete covering over his entire body and that he is blessed.

So if you are a haphazard prayer for that man of yours you need to start covering from Head to Toe with your prayers.

Ephesians 5:31

New International Version (NIV)

³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

 

 

Coffee for Your Heart

Coffee for Your Heart

It Isn't Easy

Recently I was at a meeting where a younger woman confessed that she had been under such guilt of not being able to forgive herself for her past. As the ladies around the table began to nod in agreement that yes this was a real stumbling block for all of us. I was so encouraged with what one of the beautiful women had to say.

She talked about struggling with this same issue and then shared what the Word has to say about forgiveness. She said that Christ died on the cross to take those sins from us. {Yes we all nodded in agreement knowing this part already, just not quite able to apply that truth to ourselves}

She noticed that we all believed that part but our faces must have shown that yes, we can forgive others but not those horrible things that we have not shared with anyone because, as we look back we can't believe ourselves that we have done those things.

So she continued as we sat on the edge of our seats to finally know how to move beyond our past and to have it gone. She told us "trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on you OWN understanding in all your ways ACKNOWLEDGE Him and He shall direct your path." {Proverbs 3:5-6}

Then she sat back and we all just sat still for a few minutes to take in what she had said. Sure I had heard that one also but I started to think about the words and to soak them in. Was I leaning on my own understanding of my past? Had I really acknowledged that God had taken away all the gunk that the enemy flings in my face when I least expect it? If not, then how will He direct my path to the freedom from those sins that I long for? Hmmm, I think you could hear the wheels of our minds grinding away as we really heard the words that have been spoken to us many times before but glazed over in our hurried state to get to the end.

If you are like the ladies sitting around that table longing for the solution of how to give your past sins to the only One that can really remove them from you aching shoulders, then reread those words and sit still and let God do exactly what He has promised, to remove yours sins from you and separate them from you as far as the east is from the west. Trust Him. Acknowledge Him! He adores you! He WILL direct your path.

Coffee for Your Heart



Words

A small thing that makes a big difference is the post prompt for today's writing. I would have to say that words even though they seem small or unimportant at the time are something that make a big difference.

Take a birthday card. The ones that have that handwritten note inside that let's you know the heart of the person it came from. {I don't know about you but my eyes race to the handwritten words and skip the poem.} How about a letter that comes in the mail? {those are so few and far between that I rip open the envelope to read what someone took the time to say. Awesome!}To think that a friend would take the time to pick out the writing paper, nice pen, and sit down and send those words of love to me, makes a difference in my day. I must read it over and over in my mind a thousand times.

Then there is the email. {yep, I am up to date knowing that it is a sign of the times} When I check my inbox and there is something there besides spam and companies that seem to think I am their new best friend, and spy a note from a friend  that has moved away or a relative that I am not able to visit because the funds are not available, and they are sharing some news about themselves that is a small thing {I am sure to them} but it makes a big difference in my day.

There are the words "I love you" spoken from a granddaughter, for no reason, other than to express her feelings at the moment. Just 3 words, small in number but have a HUGE impact on the Nana that hears them. Oh yes, my day has taken flight and I am soaring for a week!

So I guess I am saying that the small things in my life that make a huge difference are the words that are read and spoken. Words that bring love and sweet joy into my life. Even words from a book can bring such hope and peace. Words like: "I will keep  you safe because no one can snatch you out of My hand" John 10:29, or "The good things that I have planned for  you are too many to count," Psalm 40:5, maybe this "I will never abandon you!" Hebrews 13:5. These are the words my King says to me. Don't they just make you want to dance and shout.

 Yes I think the small things of WORDS that are spoken with such a great love behind them make a HUGE difference. Choose them wisely and say them often.



Who Inspires You?

This prompt doesn't take much thinking on my part. I have three wonderful friends that bring such inspiration that lifts up my spirit just thinking about them.

Friend # 1 is just a bit older than I am and I have learned a great deal from her. She has shown me how to welcome all into a group. There is no one that remains a stranger when she is around. She also has shown me that just because we grow older doesn't mean that we have no usefulness any longer. She is a champion of people that have lost a spouse. She is the pioneer that is leading the way for those so overtaken by grief that it seems impossible to go on. She has first hand experience and hasn't let it overwhelm her but strengthen her to help others.

Friend #2 is a little younger than I am but so much wiser. She  has such a heart for the children others consider unteachable. We worked together for many years and she taught me not to be afraid of children with disabilities but to see their inner beauty. She is so in love with God that it draws you in and you have a new look at God through her eyes. She is a friend that I don't get to see very often but who I have shared my inner most thoughts, pains, and joys with. She always has a listening ear and a wonderful word of encouragement.

Friend #3 is about the same age as I am but has lived life in a very different place than  me. She has had more pain in her life than I think most of us will experience in 2 lifetimes. She has the knack of making you want to be better and to know God like she does. When asked how she is, she is always "blessed" even when things are closing in and life seems difficult. She is a person that is always ready to pray for and with me. When I am feeling like I want to pity myself for what is going on in my life I just have to get a text from her and I am reminded that God is in control and working all things for my good.

These 3 wonderful ladies are such an inspiration to me. They mean more than just the few words I have shared. I believe God always knows what we need and he gives us "skin" to help us see Him. That is what these three friends have done for me, help me see God with "skin" and help me want to come closer to Him. I pray he give you that same "skin".

Coffee For Your Heart



What Brings You Joy?

As I write this my life is in such upheaval that sometimes it is difficult to breath. So when I read the prompt for this week it made me sit and think, really think.

I know happiness. That seems to be something that I can laugh with or when a friend calls or greets me with a hug. But too soon that passes and I am left to my thoughts or myself.

No the prompt was what brings me joy? I think that what brings me joy is when a friend reminds me that God is working all things for good in my life even though I can't see it right now. This fans the coals that are just embers in my heart. It brings that joy back to me that I belong to a God that NEVER fails in anything He does. {another puff to those embers that are now starting to burn within me}

I am reading a wonderful book that was a present for my birthday called, His Princess, Letters from Her King and it takes the words that are written in the Bible and states them from God to me in such a way that if feels as if God just wrote them and they are to me personally. They set the embers into a full out fire. They bring rapturous joy flooding me.

It seems that when I focus on me and what makes me happy isn't the same thing that makes me joyful. It is when I am focusing on what God has said to me and about His love for me that fills me with a joy that even the hard times I am going through right now can't seem to steal away. There are always those embers that will not die because of the truth that lives in me. The truth that God is working all things for my good, that He NEVER fails, and that His steadfast love endures forever!

Yes that is what brings me joy. A never ending joy even when it seems there are just embers, can so easily be fanned into a brilliant flame just remembering whose I am. 

Thanks Holley for helping me remember this!

 

 



Encouraging Word

What encouraging word or words do you want to hear when you are having a bad day? I have thought about this prompt for the entire week. I came up with a few observations.

1. It depends on who is doing the talking.
1. If you are having a bad day and a well meaning friend quickly says its going to be OK or
2. God says: "I will act on your behalf as you wait for Me." Isaiah 64:4
2. How much does the person know about you?
1. Your friend, that you share MOST of your ups and downs with or
2. God who reminds you: "I will NEVER abandon you." Hebrews 13:5
3. How the words are spoken.
1. You are in great need and you can hear the quiet sighs of impatience on the other end of the phone or
2. God listen with such patience and love telling you, "I will restore and refresh your weary soul" Psalm 23:3

I can remember feeling like the world was on my shoulders and a friend listened,  I mean really listened and when I could finally be still enough to listen to her she offered her love and then pointed me to God and shared the most appropriate verses from the Bible. I can not tell you how that refreshed my spirit and gave me the courage to walk through another day. Words like, forgiven, grace, love {this one is a bit overused such as "I love that spaghetti."}, understand, been there, you can do it, I am here for you are all helpful. But to hear your Father in heaven tell you things like; "I will keep you safe because no one can snatch you out of My hand." {John 10:29} when things around you feel like they are closing in for the kill, are like a breath of fresh air in a stale room.

I don't know about you but when someone speaks words of life to me that is when I am most encouraged and lifted up. I think this song says it all!

 

Let your words be life and truth and you will never go wrong!