W O M E N
F I N D I N G
I love my evening strolls through my garden and the quiet of the approaching end to the day. On this particular evening I looked back on my home and felt a tug at my heart at the overwhelming love I have for the ones I have been so honored to love and serve here. Below are just a few lines that help say what was flowing through my heart... Home - the place where memories are made, love is given in abundance, sacrifices are made, prayers are offered up, there are tears and laughter, hugs and embraces, God is honored, and family bonds are strengthened. Home is a place of togetherness in this very confused world. Home - it's not a building - it's a place in our hearts to cherish with those we love, to find relationship, and to offer ourselves to one another. I find great comfort in family and memories made as I sift through the good and the bad knowing that, in the end, it's all worth the efforts made to love and give and seek God's grace as we walk together through this short time we have to be here on this earth. One of my all-time favorite quotes on home and one I have held dear in my heart for years is from J.R. Miller's book Home-Making. "Homes are the springs among the hills, whose many streamlets, uniting, form like great rivers society, the community, the nation, the Church. If the springs run low the rivers waste; if they pour out bounteous currents the rivers are full. If the springs are pure the rivers are clear like crystal; if they are foul the rivers are defiled. A curse upon homes sends a poisoning blight everywhere; a blessing sends healing and new life into every channel. Homes are the divinely ordained fountains of life. It is not by accident that men live in families rather than solitarily. The human race began in a family, and Eden was a home. The divine blessing has ever rested upon nations and communities just in the measure in which they have added to these original institutions and have kept marriage and the home pure and holy; a blight and curse have come just in the measure in which they have departed from these divine models; dishonoring marriage and tearing down the sacred walls of home." May the Lord continue to bless and defend our homes as we offer them up to Him giving them back to Him as a place of worship and honor to bring Him glory. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. 3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob." Psalm 24:1-6 Blessings, Debbie
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August 13 on My Utmost for His Highest
There are so many times in life that the chaos of the culture around us and our own inner struggles can distract us from the still small voice and leading of His Spirit. I love these gentle reminders from Oswald Chambers to be still and hear Him, to be conscious of His leading and guidance. He will always lead us under His word and we will find direction, comfort, discipline, and peace. I know in my own life that as I use His word to align my life aright He keeps me - both from myself and from the distractions of the chaos and confusion of the world - to be able to walk in fellowship with Him - there is safety there - and that’s right where I want to stay. ❤️ My favorite quote from today’s devotional: “If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6-7).” My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers - August 13 The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze— so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it. Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). When-ever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it. Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be. I am always somewhat saddened as the Advent season comes to an end. It is my happiest time of the year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and use this time to prepare our hearts for His second Advent. I am usually encouraged and find myself looking forward to the New Year and all the possibilities the freshness of a new year can bring. This past year and the year ahead seems to have brought and is bringing insurmountable challenges. So many have suffered such heartache and loss. My heart aches for so many. I also find myself sorely burdened in so many ways and have been up many nights in prayer and tears. This New Year I am reading through the Bible again with a One Year Bible App. I have found it very refreshing as I revisit passages in scripture that I haven't read in quite some time. I am consistently reminded of God's faithfulness in His dealings with His people from Genesis to Revelation. Part of my scripture reading this morning was found in Matthew 6:24-34. In verses 25,31, and 34, Jesus tells us "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on." In verse 34 He says, "Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself." Three times Jesus tells us, "do not be anxious". Pause. Reflect a moment. anxious - to be troubled; to be anxious; take thought Reading the entire passage brings more clarity into the message that Jesus is giving us. Verse 26 tells us "Look at the birds, of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." Verse 28 says "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet, I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." These two analogies show us the perfect care and provision of God to His people. As I was reading this week from my living room window I saw the fattest little bird come and sit on the railing of my porch. He was the roundest little thing and a beautiful reminder of these verses and God's care. For me these verses brought to my attention that as we walk through uncertainty, heartache, loneliness, difficulty, or any trying time that Jesus is saying, "do not be anxious". He is our provisional God. Jehovah Jireh I took this picture from our porch on our recent trip to the ocean. The early morning and the late night walks were my favorite times. I love how the moon's reflection spread out across the vastness of the ocean and caught my heart's attention to the beauty and boundlessness of our God.
In verse 33 of Matthew 6 Jesus says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." The contrast of being anxious as spoken of in the first of these passages with laying it all down and turning to "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" brought me into a much more peaceful place. My battle now will be to keep my heart in this place as I seek Him and as I trust Him as my Jehovah Jireh. As I begin this year the verse I am carrying with me is a very familiar verse but profoundly strengthening. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want (lack)." Psalm 23:1 I am taking great comfort in the fact that the Lord is my Shepherd. I can trust in His care. No matter how things may appear in this world this verse says it all... "THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S, AND THE FULNESS THEREOF; THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN." Psalm 24:1 Everything belongs to Him. All things will be made right. |