This blog is designed to create community for believers and provide support for seekers. I encourage all readers to share their faith in an effort to lift and encourage one another.
“Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.” Psalm 51:8
My heart breaks for our country. It’s broken, divided along political lines, along racial lines. Angry hearts, pointing fingers, violence and divisiveness separate us. Broken bones. Broken hearts.
God of restoration, heal our land, knit together those broken bones, those broken hearts.
Heal our hands to do good works and comfort one another. Heal us, forgive us, restore us.
Heal our eyes, that they may see your beauty in every skin tone: black, white, brown, red, yellow. Heal our eyes to enable us to see the beauty in both red and blue, colors of our political beliefs.
Heal our spirits; may we rejoice that only You save us, not our beliefs or our political heroes.
Heal our hearts, that they may bleed empathy for the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden. Teach us to love those who don’t look like us, talk like us, vote like us, or pray like us.
Thank you, God of restoration, for shaking us up and putting us through difficult times. Let our impurities rise to the top so we can confess them to You. Allow Your process of restoration to heal the broken bones of our hearts and heal our land.
Praise the Lord! Maker of heaven and earth, He is faithful, He is just, He is wisdom, He is love. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness, for His creation, from majestic mountains to dselicate flowers, to the oce
Praise the Lord! Praise God, for He is wisdom, He is just, He is love. Praise Him for His faithfulness. Praise Him for His creation: from majestic mountains to delicate flowers and crashing waves upon the shores. Praise Him for the beauty of sunrises and sunsets, for creating each of us in His image, and for sending His Son to save us. Praise the Lord!
“While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.” ― St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, it’s so easy to talk about peace, to give it lip service. Teach me to harbor your peace deep within my heart, to speak it, to live it, to share it with others.
I’m sitting on my couch, leg rest up, legs stretched out. Sipping a cup of hot tea and savoring some zesty orange dark chocolate, I’m relaxing and easing away the cares of a long day. Ahhh!
After a busy day, both emotionally and physically, the tea and chocolate are hitting all my pleasure buttons and bringing me comfort and peace.
As I enjoy my respite from a busy day, I wonder: why do I turn to a hot drink and, more importantly, some chocolate to make everything right in my world? I do confess I’m a bit (actually a whole lot!) addicted to chocolate, and letting it melt in my mouth is certainly a stress reliever.
But, why, I wonder, do I turn to chocolate when I’m tired or stressed? Why, instead, do I not turn to my Savior? Why don’t I turn the pages of His word instead of consuming chocolate? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with chocolate. God did, after all, create this delicious treat.
What I question is my priorities. Do I put the pleasure of chocolate ahead of pleasure with my God? Do I rely more on the calming and pleasurable effects of chocolate than on time spent with Him?
This is certainly a topic I need to discuss with Him in prayer. He will show me how to get and keep my priorities straight.
What about you? Are there things or people that you value more than God?
As I reflect on my own priorities, I echo the prayers of the psalmists. “Create in me a pure heart O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me” (Psalm 51:10). And, “Teach me your way, Lord that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name” (Psalm 86:11).
It’s Friday, so it’s time for something new: Friday Friends’ Favorites.
If you have a favorite verse that you’d like to see on my blog or Facebook page, just type the reference in the comments, and I will share it on a Friday. Here’s the first.
Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
Lord, when I am afraid, help me remember that You are mightier than even the majestic mountains. I need not fear. When I have self-doubts, remind me that You love me, you delight in me, and You rejoice over me with singing. I am indeed blessed.
In a world torn by conflicts and war, people seek peace. Many mourn the lack of peace and grieve over violence. Others question why war exists; hasn’t God has promised peace? When you listen to the news, it seems peace doesn’t exist. Even in our homes, peace seems elusive. Couples bicker and divorce, siblings argue and fight. The book of Isaiah sheds light on peace: “If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river” (48:18a NIV). One prerequisite to peace is obeying God’s commands. But what about peace…”likea river”? To fully appreciate this concept of peace like a river, imagine a great river running through the land.
The broad river, a constant presence, flows despite obstacles. Sometimes the river runs smoothly; at other times it runs headlong into a snag, separating and diverting its water to other paths. The water flows peacefully on, until downstream it smashes full force against the rocks, shattering spray high in the air. Flowing to the top of a sharp drop-off, the water rushes forward, falling… falling…rushing over the edge, churning and boiling at the bottom. After a time the water collects in a still pool, resting, reveling in the quiet.
During my mother’s last years, her mind ravaged by dementia, my river of peace constantly ran against snags of her lost memory. My peace plummeted over the precipice of countless hours of watching her mind rapidly losing rational thought and memory. Constantly swirling and eddying, the waters rushed me from work to assist Dad with her care. Emotional whirlpools threatened to spin out of control. The only thing that kept my sanity during this difficult time was God’s peace.
You may ask how I could feel peace when my world was turned upside down. In Galatians 5:22, we learn that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Only the spirit of God can give us peace in the midst of the snags, rocks, waterfalls, and whirlpools of life. So how do we receive this peace? We can’t buy it in a store; we can only receive it as a gift from God. When our life’s circumstances shatter against the rocks, placing trust in God’s perfect will keeps us at peace despite trying circumstances. Jesus tells us he leaves us peace, but “I do not give you[peace]as the world gives” (John 14:22 NIV). The countries of the world may continue to fight, and we still experience personal difficulties and tragedies. But when we obey God’s commands and trust Him, no matter how difficult our circumstances, we experience His peace, flowing like a river deep within our souls.
Isaiah 26:3 “You [God]will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trust in you.”
Thank you, Father, for providing your perfect peace.
“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.
Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don’t want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of ‘good time’ is seldom in sync with ours.” ― Oswald Chambers
Growing Our Faith Together 