Bookmark....

Bookmark...

My bookmark that marks my place in my current Bible reads, " help me, Lord to have a heart that is open, help me to keep my thoughts toward you, help me to give many words of kindness, and help me to share Your light with all those near. 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. "

It has graced many a book since its arrival more than 25 years ago...
Today it marks Proverbs 3 and 4.
I highlighted verses 13-18 as well as others in chapter 3, "blessed" in finding wisdom...
Those verses start and end with "blessed"! What promises are pictured in the middle...
More valuable than silver or gold or rubies...
Long life....riches and honor ...pleasant ways...peace..a tree of life...blessed...
Sounds much better than Wall Street or worldly promises which are fleeting at best...

Proverbs 3:13-18 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.

Thank YOU...teach me wisdom...help me seek it in You....

Psalm 86:5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.

Another if-then...

Another if - then....

My husband loved if/then statements...he underlined them in his readings...he talked about them in his geology theories and work...
If this happened ...then this would be true...he found them in scripture ...he taught about them in classes......he graphed them out on whiteboards as he was thinking through a problem...we worked with them in family goals or budgeting...he planned for them in business dealings...if/then...

As I read Proverbs 2, I chuckled thinking of his love for this in his analytical mind...I am sure if I looked into one of his Bibles, the "if/then" statements would be highlighted somehow...

Proverbs 2:1-22 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed,
if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.
Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.
Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

 Such promises with the "if/then"... Graphic explanations...I would rather walk in the ways of good and keep to the paths of the righteous... Than the "then" of the wicked...

Thank YOU...help me walk in Your path....

The wise and foolish ....

The wise and foolish....

http://www.coolestone.com/media/16308/Jeanne-Robertson-%7C-We-Don't-Sell-Vanilla-Milkshakes/#.WI3nAes76K1

Everyday I receive a short video which usually brings with it a smile...at the cuteness, or funniness or whatever...this day's happens to be about the foolish turning to wise...which fit exactly with the scripture I was reading, Proverbs 1, ....
So apropos ....

Proverbs 1:1-8, 33 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.
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. ....
Concluding with
....but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

The verses between 8 and 33 describe the warnings against rejecting wisdom...the "simple" foolish, mockers of wisdom who go about their merry wayward way until it destroys them in their complacency against wisdom...

Oh, how we would do well to seek God's wisdom in all that we do...help me to abide in that wisdom....thank YOU....

James 1:5, 25 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Hidden figures....

"Hidden Figures"

Recently, I had the delight to watch the movie, "hidden figures". An excellent name for an excellent movie...mathematical figures hidden from we commoners of no engineering or mathematical aptitudes and hidden people-black women in the space programs of the 1960's...

These highly intelligent women endured the racial hardships of separate "everything" from coffee pots to bathrooms to racial profiling, racial slurs to just plain rudeness...

It made me ponder the Words...
"go into all the World"
"Whoever shall"
"No partiality"
"Jew and Gentile"
"All"
"God created man in is own image"
Etc.

Then this devotional popped up awaiting my reading this am..."never doubt your personal significance....", "I created you in My own image"....
What powerful words spoken to us in our doubting minds, our times of despair, our downness, our questioning of purpose on the day to day....being transformed more and more each day into the likeness of glory...what promises...thank YOU...


Hi - I'm reading "Jesus Always (with Bonus Content): Embracing Joy in His Presence" by Sarah Young and wanted to share this quote with you.

"January 28
I MADE YOU A LITTLE LOWER than the heavenly beings and crowned you with glory and honor. You were made for greatness, beloved. Never doubt your personal significance, for I created you in My own image—in My likeness. I formed you with a magnificent brain that can communicate with Me, think rationally, create wonderful things, and much more. I gave you dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves on the earth. Of everything I created, only mankind is made in My likeness. This is a glorious privilege and responsibility; it makes every moment of your life meaningful. One of your chief purposes in life is to glorify Me. I crowned you with glory so that you can reflect My Glory: lighting up this dark world and helping others come to know Me. I also want you to enjoy Me. I created you with unlimited capacity for pleasure in knowing Me. This Joy you find in Me here and now is a tiny foretaste of the eternal delights awaiting you in heaven."

"You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."PSALM 8: 5

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."GENESIS 1: 27–28 NKJV

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.—2 CORINTHIANS 3: 18"

Start reading it for free: http://a.co/7xKjKur
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Opposites...

Opposites...

Reading the end of the Psalms, Mark 2 and Matthew 23 all at one sitting brings  about such opposing ideas...

These Psalms say over and over again "praise the LORD", how to do it, why to do it....

Psalm 149:1-9 Praise the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.
May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them— this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150:1-6 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.

Praise , praise, praise...

But, in the chapters in Mark and Matthew, the Pharisees are trying to find as much fault as they can so that they " might kill him".. No praise there!!! He was in "their" territory!!! And they wanted him out...as well as questioning their motives for their rules and regulations...He came to save the sinners and they wanted to rule the sinners...

Thank YOU for your salvation, even in the face of man's concepts, You stood for me, the sinner...You died for me, the sinner...no "rules" can do that...

Perspective....perseverance ....

Perspective....perseverance ....

When my husband passed away almost five years ago, all of the sudden I was the decision maker for our business which he successfully ran for 40 years...that first year after his death not only was heavy with grief, but heavy with different responsibilities which I had not ever encountered before...I slugged through paperwork, bookwork, things that were foreign to me...
God blessed me with lawyers, accountants and our secretary who knew so much...but, there wasn't him anymore...
We also had a partner who was there to take a huge chunk of the decisions on some of the business dealings...but then he got sick as well and died way too young ....now, there are two widows running our husband's dream businesses...
And again, God has supplied secretaries, advisors to help wade through the mounds of business decisions...

I am nearly five years into this and there is still much to be done and was almost to the panicking stage when that "still, small voice" spoke  peace, quietness, "one step at a time", "one paper at a time", "one decision at a time"..."don't look at the mass...look at the steps"... Over and over to still my anxiousness...

When reading these following verses, He has given us everything we need to live a godly life, to follow the calling in which we are lead...but I must think on them, make an effort to add faith, goodness, knowledge, select-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love...and put into practice...not stumbling around in doubt, nearsightedness ...for me, this is letting Him show me the path...the details ...the right answers...let Him be my husband to talk to or listen to the advisors He sends...to His Glory...

Thank YOU for quieting my heart and helping me along the path you have ordained...

Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

2 Peter 1:3-11 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election.
For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Snow, again...

Snow ....

Psalm 147:16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.

I drove for 5 hours the other day and never lost sight of snow...it was all around me...the roads mostly clear it due to the tireless work of the road crews...but snow has come as I have been at my destination...and the crews are out in force again and again....now snow is still in the forecast..off and on for days to come...this winter may be remembered as the year of the big snow...with roofs collapsing, dying livestock, business closures, road wrecks, school closures, broken bones from icy falls, borrowed budgets of plowing  funds, "snow go boom" as one of my grandsons calls the snow plunging off the roof says, 😊...❄️❄️❄️..., shoveling, ever shoveling....

God asks Job many questions in the book of Job, one being...
Job 38:22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, .....

Storehouses?...seeing this winter, the storehouses must be pretty big....but, God can speak a word and it comes to being...

The Proverbs 31 woman has prepared for the snow..she does not fear it for her household...I am hoping that we have prepared for it as well...

Proverbs 31:21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

But, the most important reference to this snowy weather is the following...our sins can be taken care of by coming  to God, putting away the evil deeds, wrongs,....learning to do right and we can be "cleaned" to the whiteness of snow...for all the snow there is outside ....God's love is the bottom line...not the weather, nor the inconvenience, but our hearts turning to Him who sits on the throne in robes of righteousness ....waiting for each to turn to Him
....
Isaiah 1:16-18 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Thank YOU that your "storehouse" is but waiting for saved souls to fill...coming to You, the author and finisher of faith...