November 29, 2009 - First Week of Advent

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free.

From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art.

Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King.

Born to reign in us forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal Spirit, rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all-sufficient merit, raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Hymn by Charles Wesley

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 106:1

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 107:1

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 118:1

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 118:29

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 136:1

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."

Psalm 136:3

Do we get it yet? Three truths: give thanks, He is good and His steadfast love endures forever!

Thanksgiving!

My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who bore my pain;

Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace and gave me life again;

Who crushed my curse of sinfulness and clothed me in His light,

and wrote His law of righteousness with power upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who walks beside;

Who floods my weaknesses with strength and causes fears to fly;

Whose every promise is enough for every step I take;

Sustaining me with arms of love and crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who reigns above;

Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, whose every thought is love.

For everyday I have on earth is given by the King.

So I will give my life, my all, to love and follow Him.

My Heart is Filled by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Thankful For You!

"I give thanks to my God always for you..."

1 Corinthians 1:4

I am regularly giving thanks for the ones I love, both family and friends. God has used so many of them in my life I can't even begin to tell all the ways. When I have needed encouragement, help or even a kick in the rear they have always been there. God has placed dear ones in my life as a means of grace and mercy. I only hope that someday I can be half the blessing to them as they have been to me. Thank You, Lord for all of them!

"... I will give thanks to You, O Lord, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away..."

Isaiah 12:1

God's anger did turn away from us, but because God is a just and holy God, His judgment turned to Christ. His wrath rested on the Son of God, so that we might have eternal life. How wonderful! This is our greatest reason to be thankful!

The Will of God

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

How many times have I asked the Lord for guidance and that He would show me His will. Well, here it is; rejoice, pray and give thanks! How simple and easy that seems and yet how short I fall!

Lord~

Show me what it means to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing and to give thanks in everything. Thank You that You do show us Your will for our lives. May we always seek to accomplish it with the help of Your Spirit!

November 22, 2009

Give Thanks

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Give thanks to the Holy One

Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.

And now, let the weak say "I am strong"

Let the poor say "I am rich"

Because of what the Lord has done for us.

Give thanks with a grateful heart

Give thanks to the Holy One

Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.

Hymn by Mary Rose Jensen

Come With Thanksgiving

"Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving..."

Psalm 95:2

A wonderful verse for us to contemplate as we prepare to worship the Lord tomorrow. Of course this should be our purpose and desire every Sunday, but the verse seemed especially applicable as this week is Thanksgiving. Have a blessed Sunday!

My Whole Heart

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all Your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made!

I can hardly believe it, but Thanksgiving is a week away! I wanted to take time on my blog to give thanks to God. So this is the start of at least a weeklong time of thanksgiving.

Psalm 139:14

“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works and my soul knows it very well.”

What a beautiful verse. I especially love the part where it says, “my soul knows it very well.” How can we know anything about the human body and believe that it just happened? I thought, while talking about humans, who better to quote than Charles Darwin.

“To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances from adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”

-Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, 1859

He then later said:

"Jesus Christ and his salvation. Is not that the best theme?"

Lord-

Thank You that You designed us, created us, and then through Your Son You bring us into relationship with You. We praise You and thank You!

Goin' Home!

"... and they returned home." Acts 21:6

Yes, we are heading home. What a whirlwind trip it has been, but what a blessed time! We are so thankful for our friends!

So long California!

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the chosen One,

Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

by Stuart Townend

I Will Be Your Friend

So many memories and so many miles

The road that stretches behind us
We've had some laughter and our share of tears
But all these moments unite us

Sure as the river runs to the sea
High as the mountain that reaches
You were there by my side till the end
(and) helped me on my feet again

So in the valley walk on
Don't have to face it alone
Cause in the hard times
We keep growing strong
As we learn, as we live
That we live when we give

I'll be your friend for a lifetime
Against the wind and the rain of every season
Won't walk away in the hard times
I will be your friend
I'm saying I will be your friend

'I Will Be Your Friend'

by Michael W. Smith

Friends

Proverbs 17:17

“A friend loves at all times…”

I have been contemplating and celebrating friendships and fellowship and knew that I needed to write a post. Friends are such a gift from God. I have found them to be a means of grace again and again. My family and I are staying with friends in California that have been coming to visit us in Montana for over 20 years. We are here for the wedding of an old friend to his lovely bride (a new friend). I spent this summer traveling all around the U.S. seeing some old friends and making some wonderful new friends! And of course our wonderful friends back at home. We are so blessed to be loved by faithful friends and the privilege to love them. They encourage, bless, challenge, support, pray for and just love on us. I am so thankful that God made us to be relational people not only with each other, but also with Himself. He is our greatest, most loving, and most faithful friend.

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Road Trip!

"And for many days we traveled..." Deuteronomy 2:1

We are going to be traveling for the next week. We are going to a friend's wedding in California. Friends, fellowship, driving, favorite road trip food, music, sun, beach, mexican food, fun and family; it's going to be a great time! Be back soon!

November 8, 2009

My Heart Is Filled

My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who bore my pain;

Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace and gave me life again;

Who crushed my curse of sinfulness and clothed me in His light,

and wrote His law of righteousness with power upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who walks beside;

Who floods my weaknesses with strength and causes fears to fly;

Whose every promise is enough for every step I take;

Sustaining me with arms of love and crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who reigns above;

Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, whose every thought is love.

For everyday I have on earth is given by the King.

So I will give my life, my all, to love and follow Him.

By Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Dusting

Psalm 103:13-14

“... the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”

I was dusting today and wondered what spiritual application I could get out of it. Well, I found this verse. It called us dust and that really made me think about how fragile we are. Dust is not something I would want to be, but it is true. You are constantly cleaning dust up. You can blow on it and it scatters. It isn’t pretty or useful or anything else desirable. But that is what we are... without the Lord. Fortunately God knows our frame. He remembers that we are but dust. He shows compassion to those who fear Him. How gracious! How wonderful!

Psalm 103:17

“But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him…”

Sewing

"She makes bed coverings for herself..." Proverbs 31:22

I am taking this verse very literally right at the moment; I am making a quilt. The last one I made was for precious Rebekah Belle and it was a joy to be able to make it for her. Now, I am making one for myself. It will be a queen size quilt of reds and blues and just a simple pattern called the Yellow Brick Road. I will post later with a picture of the finished project (hopefully before Christmas).

Sewing is a worthy and fairly easy way to beautify and economize. Curtains, pillows, rugs, quilts, aprons, clothes and more. Time is always limited and so we need to be careful to use it wisely, but saving money or making our home more beautiful doesn't seem to be a waste of time to me.

Sew much to do, sew little time...

Sugar and Spice

"Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices..." Ezekiel 24:10

This is a very instructive verse. I like how it says to mix in the spices. I think this verse is a clear command to spice and season our meals and make them delicious. Okay, well maybe not a command (because I did take the verse out of context a little) but it is a good encouragement. Our families will be very blessed and thoroughly enjoy our meals that are tasty and healthy. We don't have to be a 5 star chef to make healthy and delicious meals. I am not a great cook, but I don't think that allows me to just let it stay that way. I am working at improving my cooking skills and that will probably be a reality for the rest of my life. I especially desire to learn to cook without recipes and just be able to throw things together, but that is definitely doing to take some work! I am not saying that there is a direct correlation between making delicious meals and being a godly woman, but it can be another way that we find joy in God's calling for our lives. Spice it up ladies!

The Aroma of Christ

"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing…"
2 Corinthians 2:15

An aroma of Christ; that is quite a responsibility. What is the aroma of Christ? Love, grace, mercy, truth, beauty, joy, faith, peace, patience, kindness, generosity and good works. Yep, that's easy! No problem, right?! Maybe not so much. Well, be encouraged! God has chosen us and predestined us to be the aroma of Christ. That means He is helping us and giving us the grace we need to be the aroma of Christ because it is only with His help that we will ever even begin to be a pleasant and sweet aroma.

What a great metaphor! I love this metaphor in part because I love scented candles. I love how a candle can fill the house with lovely (and sometimes hunger-inducing) scents. I especially love the seasonal candles such as sugar cookies, apple pie, harvest, pumpkin pie, evergreen and more. Hmmm... I think I'll go get one out right now!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

'God of the Ages'
From everlasting to everlasting You are God. Ps 90:2

God of the ages, history's maker
Planning our pathways, holding us fast,
Shaping in mercy all that concerns us;
Father we praise You, Lord of the past.

God of this morning, gladly Your children
worship before You, trustingly bow;
Teach us to know You, always among us,
Quietly sovereign, Lord of our now.

God of tomorrow, strong overcomer,
Princes of darkness, own Your command;
What then can harm us? We are Your people,
Now and forever kept by Your hand.

Lord of past ages, Lord of this morning,
Lord of the future, help us we pray:
Teach us to trust You, love and obey You,
Crown You each moment Lord of today.

Lyrics by Margaret Clarkson

Traditional Gaelic Melody