Joy to the World!

Tis' the Season

My God, My Mover

Isaiah 48:17-18

New International Version (NIV)

17 This is what the Lord says—

    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

    who teaches you what is best for you,

    who directs you in the way you should go.

18 If only you had paid attention to my commands,

    your peace would have been like a river,

    your well-being like the waves of the sea.

It's funny how just when I think I'm following the Lord's path for me an elephant wanders into the road.  Did God put the elephant there?  Does it mean He wants me to turn back?  Am I supposed to figure out a way around the elephant?  Perhaps he wants me to slow down and wait for the elephant to move.  I then get so absorbed with pondering the meaning of the elephant that I can't move one way or another.   Sometimes an elephant is just an elephant. Life happens.  We move on.  Our God is trustworthy and faithful.   He will move the elephant even if the elephant is me.  

"Surely Goodness" - Israel Houghton

My God, My Protector

I Liked This One Too...

Just Because I Liked This Photo

My God, My Heavy Lifter

Psalm 105:1-4

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 105

1 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;

    make known among the nations what he has done.

2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;

    tell of all his wonderful acts.

3 Glory in his holy name;

    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

4 Look to the Lord and his strength;

    seek his face always.

My rheumatoid arthritis is flaring, and I truly need my Lord's strength for I feel that I have none of my own.  I am ever so dependent on Jesus.  I am also thankfully dependent on husband and the young man who lives in my house who doesn't want to be blogged about.  They do my heavy lifting as does my God.   

"I Will Praise Him" - Isaacs

Abraham Lincoln For Such a Time as This

Esther 4:14

New International Version (NIV)

14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

"Abraham Lincoln: Can we choose to be born? Are we fitted to the times we're born into? We begin with equality, that's the origin isn't it? That's justice. See we've shown that a people can endure awful sacrifice and yet cohere."

Lincoln

After watching Steven Spielberg's move "Lincoln" this weekend, I've gone to my computer to learn more about the man, being fully aware that Hollywood can skew history, (Consider the travesty of "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.)  Yes, I would recommend the movie.  Lincoln, a flawed man, seems to have been God's instrument to set the captives free.  

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Fellow-Countrymen: 

  AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.   1
  On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. 2
  One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." 3
  With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Lincoln - Unite

Christmas Shopping To Touch Your Soul

Journey of Faith Christmas Flash Mob

When We Pray...

Choose Gentleness

“I choose gentleness... Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.”


― Max Lucado

My God, How He Loves Me!

"Jesus Loves Me'' - Anna Bartlett Warner

Jesus loves me! This I know,

For the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to Him belong;

They are weak, but He is strong.

Chorus:

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! This I know,

As He loved so long ago,

Taking children on His knee,

Saying, “Let them come to Me.”

Chorus

Jesus loves me when I'm good,

When I do the things I should,

Jesus loves me when I'm bad,

Though it makes Him very sad.

Chorus

Jesus loves me still today,

Walking with me on my way,

Wanting as a friend to give

Light and love to all who live.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He who died

Heaven’s gate to open wide;

He will wash away my sin,

Let His little child come in.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! Loves me still

Tho' I'm very weak and ill;

That I might from sin be free

Bled and died upon the tree.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He will stay

Close beside me all the way;

Thou hast bled and died for me,

I will henceforth live for Thee.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! Loves me still

Though I'm very weak and ill;

From his shining throne on high

Comes to watch me where I lie.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He will stay

Close beside me all the way;

If I love him, when I die

He will take me home on high.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! See His grace!

On the cross He took my place.

There He suffered and He died,

That I might be glorified.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! God's own Son

Over sin the vict'ry won.

When I die, saved by His grace,

I shall see Him face to face.

Chorus

Jesus loves me! He is near.

He is with His Church so dear.

And the Spirit He has sent

By His Word and Sacrament.

Chorus

Facing the holiday season can really be hard for many who are struggling.  It's good to be reminded of how we are loved by Jesus.  Yes, He loves the little children but He also loves His grown-up children too.

"How He Loves" - David Crowder

Let Us Give Thanks...

My God, My Gratitude

Philemon 1:4-7

New International Version (NIV)

Thanksgiving and Prayer

4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

This photo from WW2 of an Austrian boy who has just been given new shoes makes me consider how blessed I am.  When I uploaded my first YouTube video, I never imagined all the expressions of thanks and encouragement that were to come.  I am truly grateful for the Lord's people.  May we stay strong and faithful in His service.  

"Thanksgiving Song" - Mary Chapin Carpenter

Thanksgiving Greetings

What I'm Listening To...

"Forgiveness" - Matthew West 

My God, My Song

My sister emailed the last two verses of this Psalm to me today.  It's been an under-the-weather day, so it has been good to mediate on this Scripture.  I do want the sing my Lord's praise.  He has been good to me.  I am reminded of another Psalm as well.   It tells me that by my God I am stronger than this Rheumatoid Arthritis.  It's a wall I can scale from the God who is my strength and song. 

Psalm 18:29

New International Version (NIV)

29 With your help I can advance against a troop[a];

    with my God I can scale a wall.

"Sing It" - Josh Wilson

Just a Smile or Two...

My God, My Groundskeeper

Psalm 27:11

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord,

And lead me in a level path

Because of [a]my foes.

I don't think I ever truly appreciated a level path until Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Uneven ground is not my friend.  I could even say it was a foe.  My God is a good and gracious groundskeeper.  He makes my paths level.  I will walk with Him.

Psalm 27 - Hillsong

My God, The Light of the World

Galatians 6:9

New International Version (NIV)

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

The old gospel hymn, "Send the Light," has been playing in my head today.  I loved singing it in church as a girl but it seems to have gone out of fashion today.  Written by Charles H. Gabriel in 1890, the lyrics are of a time when missionaries did travel by ocean to faraway places.  There was a joyous romance to the song as well as the missionary call.  It's good to be reminded that even in the age of the internet there are still those who need the Gospel.

Yes, send the Light.

There’s a call comes ringing o’er the restless wave,
“Send the light! Send the light!”
There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save,
Send the light! Send the light!
Refrain:
Send the light, the blessed Gospel light;
Let it shine from shore to shore!
Send the light, the blessed Gospel light;
Let it shine forevermore!
We have heard the Macedonian call today,
“Send the light! Send the light!”
And a golden off’ring at the cross we lay,
Send the light! Send the light!
Let us pray that grace may everywhere abound,
“Send the light! Send the light!”
And a Christlike spirit everywhere be found,
Send the light! Send the light!
Let us not grow weary in the work of love,
“Send the light! Send the light!”
Let us gather jewels for a crown above,
Send the light! Send the light!

The Link Family - "Send The Light"

I Just Liked This...

My God, My Strength in Weakness

Luke 10:27(a)

New International Version (NIV)

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; 

These two images have me thinking about the posture of prayer and how often I toss out slingshot prayers as I go through my day, not stopping to show reverence for the One who answers prayers.  While Rheumatoid Arthritis has insured that I can no longer physically kneel in prayer, I should at least be kneeling in my heart, soul, and mind.  God, who knows my weakness, will be my strength.  

"Presence" - Kathryn Scott

My God, My Wingman

Under His Wings - Daniel Gerhartz, artist

Psalm 91:4

New International Version (NIV)

4 He will cover you with his feathers,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

When my husband had to be airlifted to a major trauma center for treatment after our catastrophic auto accident, I felt like God's wings came that day in  the form of first responders and other individuals willing and able to help.  We don't always see God's wings so literally, but they're are ever present in our times of trouble.  Today two people who matter to me are in trouble, and I find myself thankful for my mighty and faithful God.  

"Shelter Me" - Buddy Miller

My God, The Tuner of My Heart

Romans 8:18

New International Version (NIV)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

1 Samuel 7:12

New International Version (NIV)

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,[a] saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

As I live my life with pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis being the new normal, I find myself marveling at Christians who can praise God in suffering.  Did God create them stronger and infuse them with greater courage?  I suspect they are just more amendable to having their heart tuned to sing a new song.  So now in obedience I will give God praise.  Glory be to the tuner of my heart!

David Crowder Band - "Come Thou Fount"

Facing The Reality of God's Existence

C.S. Lewis on Reasoning to Atheism

‎"Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God."

“We must recognize that this country is close to being lost. Not first of all because of a humanist conspiracy, but because the Bible believing Christians in the last 40 years who have said that they know that the final reality is this infinite personal God, who is the Creator, they said they have known it, and they have done nothing about it. As the consensus has changed, there has been a vast silence.”

— FRANCIS SHAFFER

God exists whether or not men may choose to believe in Him.  The reason why many people do not believe in God is not so much that it is intellectually impossible to believe in God, but because belief in God forces that thoughtful person to face the fact that he is accountable to such a God.”

— ROBERT A. LAIDLAW

The famous atheist Aldous Huxley speaks for all atheists (whether they like it or not) in this priceless quote: “I had motives for not wanting the world to have mean­ing; consequently assumed it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption … The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem of pure metaphysics; he is also concerned to prove there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do. For myself as no doubt for most of my con­temporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system, and liberation from a cer­tain system of morality. We objected to the morality be­cause it interfered with our sexual freedom.”

— ALDOUS HUXLEY

On occasion I get to interact with an atheist by way of the internet over a YouTube upload.   I like this song by the Rhett Walker God, "Singing Stones."  When I listen to it I wonder why I have ever argued with my Creator, who can make even rocks cry out in praise to Him.
Christian do not be silent about God because silence allows moral relativity.  Afraid to offend, we let God's greatest offenders lead others to destruction.  Only one path leads to God, and it goes by way of the cross.

"Singing Stone" - Rhett Walker Band

A Post Election Reminder

Thank a Veteran

"Gone Home" - Ricky Skaggs

My God, My Salvation

Ephesians 2:10

New International Version (NIV)

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Hebrews 12:2

New International Version (NIV)

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

God,

I'm your handiwork.  I know it's true.  Sometimes, though, I do wonder what you had in mind when you made such an imperfect child.  Still, thank you.   Thank you for every breath you've given me.   Thank you for the joy and the pain.  Thank you for whatever keeps me looking to you.  Thank you for the rheumatoid arthritis.  It's not something I would have chosen for myself.  Sigh.  Sometimes it is hard to give thanks...really, really hard.  Please give me endurance.  Help me to be brave.  Most of all help me to be thankful.   

You saved a wretch like me.  Thank you.

"Thank You" - JJ Heller

What I'm Listening To...

"So Long Self" - MercyMe

Scripture

What I'm Listening To...

"Kicking and Screaming" - Third Day

My God, My Resting Place

Ephesians 2:4-10

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Tonight I am thankful for my God, who is rich in mercy.  He doesn't change in these changing times.  I can rest in Him.

"My Faith Has Found A Resting Place" -Billy Foote and Cindy Foote

My God of Light

Matthew 5:16

New International Version (NIV)

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I know that the outcome of this election will not be entirely pleasing to God.  I also know that God is in control.  What are followers of Jesus to do if and when sin is legalized on our watch?  Let our lights shine.  

"This Little Light of Mine" - Addison Road

A Short Review of the Bible

My God Who Rules

Psalm 113 (NIV)

1Praise the Lord.a

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord.

2Let the name of the Lord be praised,

both now and forevermore.

3From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,

the name of the Lord is to be praised.

4The Lord is exalted over all the nations,

his glory above the heavens.

5Who is like the Lord our God,

the One who sits enthroned on high,

6who stoops down to look

on the heavens and the earth?

7He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

8he seats them with princes,

with the princes of their people.

9He settles the barren woman in her home

as a happy mother of children.

Praise the Lord.

My God of Living Water

John 7:38

New International Version (NIV)

38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”[a]

John 4:13 (NIV)

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Living on the edge of a rain forest like I do,  I've developed a love/hate relationship with rain, or maybe  it could be better described as resignation.   I don't always appreciate how precious water is others not so blessed.  Just this morning I was bemoaning the rain outside this tiny house under the weeping willow tree.  I've been looking at images of people celebrating a new well built for them and I can better appreciate Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.  It was work getting water from a well, and here was this man offering a spring of living water from which she would never thirst again.  She knew Him then to be the Messiah and many believed because of her testimony.  I pray that I may also have a testimony of gratitude.

"Spring Up O Well" is a song I learned in childhood.  Phil Wickham gives a contemporary worshipful rendition on his Singalong 2 album.

My God, My King

“To the glistening eastern sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant. To the great western woods, King Edmund the Just. To the radiant southern sun, Queen Susan the Gentle. And to the clear northern skies, I give you King Peter the Magnificent. Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia. May your wisdom grace us until the stars rain down from the heavens.” 

― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

John 6:37

New International Version (NIV)

37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

Revelation 3:5

New International Version (NIV)

5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.

I am so thankful that this little house under the weeping willow tree is not my forever home.  My home is where Jesus is.  He will never give me a foreclosure notice either.   In the meantime, I live here as a princess in disguise.

"This is Home" - Switchfoot

What I'm Listening To...

"As In the Days of Noah" - Misty Edwards