Paths...

In the way of righteousness there is life;
along that path is immortality. Proverbs 12:28

A few paths...each leading to somewhere..
Through the gigantic cedars in the Cascades..
To a new country at Ellis Island..
A new adventure...
A new day...
A new trail...
Around the bend in the road...

None leading to immortality as God's gracious paths lead...
These are just gifts along His path for me...

That YOU for offering the way of righteousness to all who follow you...such a wonderful promising path...

Mr. Rogers ....

Mr Rogers ....

http://www.petzoid.com/mr-rogers-message/

I didn't grow up with Mr. Rogers, nor did my children...but millions did..

This was taken from a celebration of his life and well worth watching to the end...his message is clear...we have a responsibility to spread good, servanthood, care for one another ...a value that is priceless to those around us...but, alas, he was but a man...not God...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers

We have so many people we could emulate,  Jesus being our first and foremost ...with His Holy Spirit living in us and guiding if we listen and obey...

Jesus taught us servanthood by the way he served others, taught, lived,  ...just working our way through each of the Gospels gives us everyday examples..

We have seen the WWJD bracelets, signs, etc., reminding us of "what would Jesus Do"..that goes a long way, but am I listening to what the Spirit is telling me? Not just "doing good"..

Thank YOU for faithful servants...You, yourself being chief among them..

Hell us each to serve in places you have planted us..being faithful stewards...

1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 

Proverbs 22:17-21 Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise;

apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. 

So that your trust may be in the Lord,I teach you today, even you. 

Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth,so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve? 

Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

Ephesians 6:7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, 

Sayings....

Sayings...

These two quotes entered my world this week...from totally different sources. 

"One of the greater things of tragedy is the realization of what is really important...

An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties,   It means that it is going to launch you at something great...so focus and keep aiming..."

There are books and books of quotes...ones on love, politics, success, life,...you name it and I am sure there is a quote or a book about it...Chinese proverbs, taking care of children sayings, living with teenagers/the elderly/parents of toddlers/menopause, etc., etc., etc....and even a few that quote the Bible correctly ....

The Book of Proverbs handles many of life's events with succinct profound quotes..many people read a chapter of Proverbs each day of the month, as there are 31 chapters of practical everyday advice and observations..covering money handling to Godly Women, adultery to discipline, foolish to wise...a worthy study of life around us in all generations...in all life circumstances...

Proverbs 1:1-7 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 

for gaining wisdom and instruction;

for understanding words of insight; 

for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,

doing what is right and just and fair; 

for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— let the wise listen and add to their learning,and let the discerning get guidance— 

for understanding proverbs and parables,the sayings and riddles of the wise. 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Thank YOU again for Your words...spoken through Solomon...help me to seek You and not the ways of the foolish...

For gaining wisdom, understanding, prudent behavior, doing what it right that I may fear You ...

Christmas is a gift...

Christmas is a gift...

The advertisements have started.... stores are being filled with Christmas merchandise, decorations...the Christmas movies have started...the media has started covering the various arguments which are taking place about the characterization of Christmas....Christians are being ridiculed for their beliefs...history is being rewritten...but the fact remains- there was a Christmas...there was a gift given to the World...

  

Gifting...a noun

1.

something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone,honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.

2.

the act of giving. 

3.

something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned:

It comes once a year.   It bring memories both wonderful and tragic...thoughts we delight in or desperately want to forget... But it still comes...Some associate  Christmas' past with loss or wonderful memories....

But, it comes...the gift that God so blessed the world with... It may have been a different time of the year...it wasn't tied in big bows, put under a tree, didn't come down the chimney, nor put in a stocking ...

The gift came through  a  young woman... in a dirty, animal stable...announced by heavenly Angels to shepherds...blessed by people who had awaited His arrival...protected by an obedient earthly father who listened to directions...worshiped by Kings...feared by political powers...reared by godly parents while growing in stature, filled with wisdom and grace from His Heavenly Father...

World leaders have denounced the Gift, martyred millions in His name, ridiculed, denied..but That Gift never dies, won't be denied, reigns in hearts and lives and is Victorious...

Jesus, Christ the Lord...the Gift above all gifts...the Hope of the World, Savior, a Promise, a Prince, " a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to ...Israel", a Redeemer....and soooooo much More....

Thank YOU God for giving us Your Son...the Ultimate Gift ...

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

Out of context but describes the emotion...2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 

James 1:17-18 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. 

Assembly required...

assembly  required....

My two daughters and one of my daughters in law as well as myself have been to Ikea where we purchased various furniture pieces...desks, shelving, kitchen cabinets, storage units....and they all required assembling ....piece by piece....instruction by instruction...picture by picture...until the unit was competed and standing before us..completed...then each was placed where needed and put to use.

I was reading an illustration by Jennifer Dean in her Bible Study on prayer that illustrated that same building of a desk...our lives are slowly "assembled" through the years ...all the pieces are there...it just takes time to assemble...we even have the instructions through the Word, a Master builder who brings together all the right pieces to complete...and He promises to finish and put us to use....made useful wherever we are placed....

We may, while being assembled, think that there are some lost pieces or wrong instructions or mismatched parts, but the Builder knows how to assemble rightly...without error...He may add a few rubs to polish, a few knocks  with the tools, pushing and securing each part to make the whole...but the finished product is exactly as He planned..

We may be used frequently, infrequently, with much love and care, or put in dark places, seemingly forgotten but with specific purposes...or be in prominent view...or everyday, "taken-for -granted" use...

The Creator knows, plans, assembles well..He wrote the instructions...He has  a plan....He knows the nuts and bolts of life...Thank YOU...help me to be useful wherever You put me. 

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 

1 Chronicles 28:20 David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. 

The letter .....

The letter.....

I have often thought about Hezekiah in the Old Testament in the book of 2 Kings, Isaiah and Jeremiah, he was facing an enemy and received his letter, denouncing him and the country that he ruled......

I have received news at various times over the years, lived in events that seemed so negative, fearful, scary...and pictured myself taking those events to God as Hezekiah did... Laying them out before God, desiring that God hear my pleas, open His eyes and see my plight...not that He didn't know already every thought that I already had...He knows everything...but just the act of bowing myself before His Holiness, Sovereignty...brought comfort..laying these things at His feet, for Him to take care of... Lifted the burden...

I have done it...many of the answers weren't what I had planned...but I knew, like Hezekiah that God heard my pleas..felt my tears, took my fears, listened...and even in the listening, I felt less stressed because I had shared it with Him...

Hezekiah did not do everything right in his reign, he was prideful, fearful, trusting of the wrong people...but His letter and his response to it stand out...he is found in the lineage of Christ...

Thank YOU that I can spread my letters out before You...You have a plan...You Listen...as You have over the millenniums...

2 Kings 19:14-16a, Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. 

Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen .....

2 Kings 19:20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. 

Isaiah 37:14-17 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. 

You have made heaven and earth. 

Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. 

Jeremiah 26:19b "....... Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? ....

Word of God Speak...

Word of God speak....

The last solo I sang was the song, "Word of God speak". How fitting...the esophagitis had spread enough up my throat for no more solos, no more worship teams, no more choir and only a few songs at a time...the control wasn't there anymore, the rasping/coughing and clearing of throat had taken over...this was a hard loss...in a season of so many losses...I had sung with my mother starting at age four and on through life, whether in private or public, in groups, choirs, worship teams...

Now it was time to fully rely on others' songs, others' solos...to speak to my soul...

My children can sing and now my grandchildren have taken it up as well...what fun to hear them praising the Lord in song...

But aside from that...the Word does speak...whether in psalms and spiritual songs or deep Into Our souls... We don't have to sing it to make it heard...

  Psalm 119:9, 11, 14-16 How can a young person stay on the path of purity?By living according to your word. 

I have hidden your word in my heartthat I might not sin against you. 

I rejoice in following your statutesas one rejoices in great riches.

 I meditate on your preceptsand consider your ways. 

I delight in your decrees;I will not neglect your word. 

Psalm 119:103-104 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 

I gain understanding from your precepts;therefore I hate every wrong path. 

Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight,for I bear your name,Lord God Almighty. 

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 

Isaiah 55:11 

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Thank YOU that whether Your Word is sung, written or spoken..It Speaks to us...You are speaking to us...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTY-UKgLlXs