The LORD your God is with you, 
       He is mighty to save.
       He will take great delight in you, 
       He will quiet you with His love, 
       He will rejoice over you with singing.

I saw this verse circled in my Bible tonight as I was flipping through pages to get to the passage we were going to study. The powerful imagery of it struck me again. First of all, I love that phrase “He is mighty to save”.  Yeah! I love that. Like someone said tonight, “Jesus is the absolute best super-hero!”  But then I see  a loving Father singing to His child in order to soothe and comfort. A lullaby.  That is what I want!! I want to have that safety…that comfort…that peace.  I want to sit in the Father’s lap and hear His lullaby and rest forever in that peace. 

What do you think God would want to say to you in His lullaby? I’d love to hear from you.

Waaay back in the ’80’s I had a little baby boy.  He was bright-eyed and curious.  He had such a logical intellect that he would out-think me somedays…most days probably!  But that little guy turned 20 last week.  I cannot believe that I have a 20 year old child.  I don’t feel much over 20 most of the time myself!! How does this sort of thing happen?

Another “stab in the heart” kind of moment came last month when I took my BABY daughter to middle school.  I managed to hold it together until I got back in the car after making sure she got to the right waiting place and after I made sure she had lunch money on account.  When I got to the car, I cried a little bit and one thought kept going thru my head “I just left my baby girl with a bunch of junior high boys!!” AAACKKK!

I know that the whole point of having kids is to raise them to be good adults…but wow it just seems to be happening so fast!  It honestly doesn’t seem like that long ago when I held them each in my arms for the very first time. Tiny little helpless things, snuggling against me as I held them.  My boys are now both taller than me.  ( I know, I know.  That’s really not saying much) But I’ve still got a couple of inches on my daughter. 

I thank God for each of my three kids.  They are the reason I am still alive.  They make me laugh.  They take care of the things they should (for the most part).  They are good kids.  Thank you Father for each of them…so different from one another…so much a part of me.

³ Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
       children a reward from him.

 ⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
       are sons born in one’s youth.

(Psalms 127 NIV)

Let’s eat, Grampa.

Let’s eat Grampa.

Grammar saves lives.

This summer has been so busy at work I haven’t had my usual amount of blogging time.  I apologize to the three people who read my blog! I was tired of looking at the same post so I thought I would put up a few more of the funny one-liners I had previously stolen from another blog.

**I used to be schizophrenic, but we’re okay now.

**The more you complain, the longer God makes you live.

**What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

**Help stamp out and abolish redundancy.

**The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

I hope that you all have a great, relaxing weekend!!

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;

 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

It’s hard to think of “trials” and “pure joy” in the same sentence, but James tells us to do just that if we want to become mature and complete.  I want to have everything I need to be effective for the Lord. 

I want wisdom to deal with situations that arise daily.  James tells me to ask for it because God gives without finding fault. 

These words were bouncing around in my head today so I had to let them out somewhere!  Don’t be surprised if you come back and I’ve added some more thoughts to this post. Thoughts are brewing in my head and they are not completely sorted out yet…Thanks for reading~

EDIT:  How is it possible to face a trial and consider it pure joy? I have had to face trials I would have just as soon walked away from.  But I decided that to make my life more in line with what God expected from me and what God intended for me, I had to clinch my fist, grit my teeth and face the trial.  Did I consider it joyful? Not at the time.  But looking back it was such a relief to get that poison out of my life…to make the changes that would ultimately bring peace to my life and to my heart. Now I thank God for my time of trial.  I am closer to Him, more in awe of Him and more in love with Him than I could have imagined.  I guess I need to learn to look for the God-things during the time of trial.  I want to be able to face the trial knowing that God is teaching me something…that God is working something…trusting that He will get me through it and good will come from it.  I have seen it over and over in my own life as well as in others.  God disciplines those He loves and my hardest times came as consequences for my poor choices.  But I think God built my faith in ways that helped me learn about Him…and helped me learn about myself.   

This weekend we were studying from Genesis. And we got to chapter 24 and read “Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.” Paige was teaching and she encouraged us to make a list of the ways God had blessed us.  Then, to pick one and share it. 

Throughout the past few years, I have thought of many ways that the Lord has blessed me:  In all the ways He delivered me from the pit of my bad choices. In the way He crossed my path with just the right people at just the right time.  In the way He brought a group of prodigals together to create a place where I could feel at home.  I have told the stories and thanked God for His infinite mercy.

But Saturday I thought of something that I really had not appreciated the way that I should have.  And I chose to talk about it Saturday because it was probably the least emotional thing on my list..OR SO I THOUGHT! I started telling the story and when I started talking, the providence of God and His goodness struck me..and so I couldn’t tell the story without crying. 

Way back when I was just a freshman in college, I needed a job.  I had no work experience other than six weeks of receptionist work at a teeny tiny rural hospital.  I applied a few places but had heard nothing.  One day a long-time family friend called me up.  He was working as a computer repair technician and had been on a service call to a small credit union.  He found out they were needing a part time worker.  He had called his sister first, but the hours were not compatible with her schedule so she passed on the job.  So he called me.  Now…let me just add…I had not talked to this friend for several years and he had no way to know that I was looking for a job.  I don’t really know why he thought of me. This may be a part of the story I need to find out from him some day!

Anyhow, I went to interview, got the job, worked part-time through the rest of my college career and after 26 years, I am still working at that credit union! I’ve worked my way up from receptionist a bit though, I’ve been the manager for about 11 years now I guess. 

I know that doesn’t sound all that impressive in the big scheme of things,  but bear with me a little bit here.  When I needed to get out of my marriage, I had to move my children and myself to a new house as the ex wanted to keep the house and land we had shared.  So I had to qualify for a mortgage loan on my own with the chunk of debt I had agreed to take on (just so the divorce could be finished quicker…I was at the point where I would have gnawed off my own foot to get away).  I was not worried about whether I could afford a house, because I have a fantastic job and I am paid pretty well for what I do.  I was worried whether or not everything would happen when it needed to happen, but the financial side of it was far down on my worry list. 

I guess some could say that is a nice little story and hard work and persistance paid off.  That I reaped the rewards of my education and happened to be in the right place at the right time.  That I was lucky.  That it was very fortunate that I had a friend that referred me to a job that just happened to turn out well.  Ahhh, but I don’t believe in luck, or good fortune.  I know better.  I know that my Father God has been at work all of my life. And it was God taking care of me by providing this job through a friend to the 19 year old version of myself.

The Lord has taken care of me…seen into my future…provided for my needs long before I knew I needed something.  Could there be anything more amazing?? As God reveals His love to me, layer by layer, unfolding my life story before me…my love for Him just continues to grow…as does my amazement at His love.

Tell me a way that God has blessed you, if you can.

I will confess that I found these on another blog one day and I did not write down the source, so I apologize for borrowing them without acknowledgement! There were a lot of them…but these were my favorites:

My mother is a travel agent for guilt trips.

In dog years, I’m dead.

If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving isn’t for you.

Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.

My husband keeps complaining I never listen to him…or something like that.

Money isn’t everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch.

He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless dead.

I feel like I’m diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

Gravity…it’s not just a good idea…it’s the law.

I read this article in the paper last week some time.  And I read it a couple of times to make sure I hadn’t missed something important.  No matter how many times I read it…I am still left saying “huh?” You just can’t argue with their logic…but still.  It’s no wonder our country is in the mess it is in.  Here, read for yourself:

NONSMOKERS COST SOCIETY TOO (WASHINGTON)–Smoking takes years off your life and adds to the cost of health care.  Yet nonsmokers cost society money, too–by living longer.  House members described huge health care costs associated with smoking as they approved legislation last week giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.  No one mentioned the additional costs to society of caring for a nonsmoking population that lives longer. (Associated Press)

Today we started a study called “How to read your Bible…and get it!”.  I have read my Bible cover to cover so many times I really don’t remember how many.  I read to say that I had read my Bible every day (you know so I could say in Bible class that I was a “DAILYBIBLEREADER”).  Or to say that I had read the whole Bible in a year.  Whatever goal I wanted to accomplish..but sadly the goal was never to understand or to hear what God was saying to me.  Until the last couple of years…when the pain of my past was overwhelming me and I had no other comfort except the Lord.  Only then did I really “GET” some of what God was saying.

Last year we read through the Bible…kind of a guided tour…with Rex (My Daily Bread) and that was such a great experience.  Getting the chance to read the comments of what others had picked up on and find things that I had never seen before was priceless! It was so good for my faith.

I have to admit that I have been a little lax and aimless in my reading this year.  I have not committed to a particular goal and have not read as much as I intended.  I have made excuses like “I’m just so busy” or “I’m too tired to read tonight…I’ll make it up tomorrow”.  So I think this study will really give me some motivation and some direction.  I am really looking forward to learning how to get more out of God’s word.

Today we talked about finding our own pace…finding our own time and place…to pick up the Word.  Just because morning works for someone, doesn’t mean it will be the best time for you.  Just because some people can read 100 pages in a day, doesn’t mean that is the pace for you.  Pick your place, pick your time, and pick your pace.  Good advice!

What have you discovered about your Bible reading lately?