Wednesday Worship~Never Alone

"The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)

God is with us.

In the good times...in the hard times.

He will never leave us nor forsake us. We are never alone.

Monday Meditation~The Bell Tolls for You!

"The Lord is near."  Philippians 4:5b (NIV)

Last week as I had my quiet time, a devotion by Sarah Young in Jesus Calling resonated in my soul.  As she wrote of words that Jesus would speak to us, she said, "I am with you. I am with you. I am with you. Heaven's bells continually peal with that promise of My presence....When you step back into the mainstream of life, strain to hear those glorious bells; I am with you. I am with you. I am with you."

This really struck a chord with me. We live in a neighborhood with a clock tower that chimes the hour...and the quarter hour...and the half hour...and the three quarter hour. What before were just bells chiming the time of day, now have become constant reminders that God is with us. God is with us. God is with us. Ah, what a sweet sound!

No matter what time of day or night, whether life flows like a tranquil stream or blows like the winds of a hurricane, remember the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 and the fulfillment revealed to Joseph in Matthew 1:23 that says, "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel-which means, 'God with us.'"

Yes, God is with us. God is with us. God is with us.

Wrap your heart around that promise today and embrace His presence.

His Word reminds us, "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 29:12-13

Listen. Do you hear it? The bell tolls for you.

Do You Want More?

I'm going to 'fess up.                                                                        

I'm a Halloween grinch. I'm so glad that it's over. I'm just not a fan.

There's just something about it that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it comes from a traumatic experience in my first year of motherhood. Or from years teaching in Christian schools. Or the concept of spending way too much money on candy that children really don't need. Or just that it's creepy.

I don't like creepy.

Now, that doesn't mean that I didn't love seeing my darlin' grandbaby dressed up like a ladybug or that I never allowed my daughters to go trick or treating. I did. But I much prefer church fall festivals and such that give families fun options for the evening. For years we've taken advantage of those types of activities or just gone out to eat and avoided being at home until the ghosts and goblins finished their rounds.

This year, because we moved to a new neighborhood, we decided to be good residents and participate by turning on our porch light, filling a really big bowl with candy (and refilling it several times) and handing it out to the costumed visitors. It was sweet to see babies dressed as sheep...or puppies...or elephants...little girls all princessed up...and some really cute superheroes. Not so sweet to see those with blood dripping from their mouths...or kids (that were way too big to be trick or treating) masquerading as other ghoulish characters...some really, really scary.

What horrified me the most, though, was the little princess who looked at the three pieces of candy that I cheerfully dropped in her plastic jack-o-lantern and mumbled, "Can I have more?"

Honestly, I was a bit dumbfounded. Yet I gave her another piece.

I don't think she even said, "Thank you."

I haven't quite been able to shake that interaction. I've mulled it over in my mind. I've meditated on various spiritual "take-aways."

Here's my favorite.

I want to boldly look up to the Father and ask for more.

Not sweet treats. Not more stuff.

Just more of Him. More knowledge. More wisdom. More time in His Word. More love...to share. 

And I pray that I always remember to say, "Thank You."

Wednesday Worship~You Are A Masterpiece!

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

No matter what your age, this song from Steven Curtis Chapman is such a sweet reminder that you are God's masterpiece. I pray that you are feeling the love today!

Monday Meditation~Do You Know What You Are?

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Did you get that, my friend?

YOU are God's workmanship!!

Other translations say God's creation...design...handiwork...
accomplishment...masterpiece.

Bask in that for a moment.

It's Truth.

And not only that, but He created you to do something special for Him. And you don't have to do it on your own. He prepared in advance to equip you for that work!!

I pray that you let those words fall over you today like your favorite cozy blanket.

Lizardly Lessons

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave your nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV

Yep. This is going to be about lizards.                                                      

And let me just say that I know that the verse above was not written about lizards, but I applied it. Smile.

I must confess. This post was supposed to have been written long ago. God gave me the message and I just never got around to tapping it out.

And so He had to impress it upon me a little more intimately...up close and personal. Smile again.

In our last house, we had this lizard...I think it was a blue-tailed skink, actually...living in our garage. It took great delight, I feel sure, in sneaking up on me and totally scaring the bejeebies out of me.

So I was reminded often that there was an unwritten post about "Lurking Lizards" and the fears that skulk around in our lives.

Didn't get it done.

God felt the need to whisper a little louder.

So now we've moved on to a different house. I've not seen lizards in my garage yet. However, this was my surprise on Tuesday.

In case it's hard for you to figure out just what's going on in that photo, that's my dog (17 year old, deaf and almost blind) Cocoa sunning in her bed at the back door in my kitchen.

With her lizard friend. (Of which she was totally unaware.)

Holding my 6 month old granddaughter in my arms, I shrieked to my 12 year old daughter, "Help! There's a lizard in here!! You've got to get it out!!!"

She was not feeling that.

So I had to become the brave, responsible adult and conquer the foe! I wish I had it on video. We could probably have become a YouTube sensation!

After claiming Deuteronomy 31:6, I managed, hilariously, to get our little reptilian friend out to continue the sunbath on our back porch.

So what's my take-away? What are the lizardly lessons?

Here's what I've come up with.

• There's always something lurking, causing fear, even threatening to undo us.
• We can become paralyzed and ineffective when we give in to the fear.
• More often than not, those fears are way bigger than than the subject of the fear. (Think tiny skink.)
• The very thing we're afraid of is often not viable. (In Beth Moore's Patriarchs Bible study, she uses the acronym for fear as False Evidence Appearing Real. That is often the case. Not always, but often.)
• We might surprise ourselves if we face our fear and act upon it. Get the lizard out of the house!
• Ask God to equip us...to be our shield and defender...to strengthen our resolve.
• God understands our fear. In fact, He addresses it over and over in Scripture. I've heard it said that His urging us to "not fear" or "not be afraid" is written 365 times...one for each day of the year.
• We need to seek His reassurance, His promises to us, and trust in Him.

A great place to start is Psalm 121, which says,

"I lift up my eyes to the hills-

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip-

He who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, He who watches over Israel

will neither slumber or sleep.

The LORD watches over you-

the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm-

He will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore."



The Maker of heaven and earth watches over us and cares about everything that concerns us. And oh, how He loves us. May we be faithful in trusting Him.

Wednesday Worship~Never Alone

"...the LORD your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV

You are never alone.

God is always there.

It's His promise.

And God doesn't lie.

No matter what your situation...no matter what ties bind you...no matter what you've done.

Even if it feels that He's silent.

And invisible.

He's there.

You are never alone.

I'm praying for you to tangibly feel His presence today.