The Lord Be Magnified

Let all those who seek You rejoice 
and be glad in You;

 Let such as love Your salvation say continually, 

“The Lord be magnified!”

Psalm 40:16

In my apartment the double window in the living room has a perfect view of the sunset. Makes me want to stop what I'm doing and praise the Lord for the beauty of creation.

It reminds me of when my first child, Carl, was small. We could hear church chimes at dusk, and he would stop playing and say, "Mom, let's talk to Jesus!"

Snow Coming Down

I am snowed in today, and more snow is on the way. The weatherman says it is good snow for sledding. I remember the last time I went sledding as an adult. I ran into a tree. And the last time I went for a walk in the snow, my feet flew out from under me and I sat down in the slush.  A little boy stared at me and said, "My Mommy doesn't let me sit down in a puddle." Soooo, I think I'll stay put in my rocker and watch from the apartment window.

Sure-footed

One morning we had freezing rain, covered with sleet, and a few inches of snow. I woke up before dawn and peeked out to see a family of deer playing in the street. We live on a steep hill on a dead end, but the deer continued to prance and frolic up and down for a hour.

I opened the Bible to read about sure-footed deer in Habakkuk 3.

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. 

I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

The Lord God is my strength. 

He will make my feet like deer's feet 

and He will make me walk on my high hills

Favor of God

The sermon yesterday was about the favor of God. I remember my children playing baseball on the church team. When someone got a home run, they would say, "It's the favor of God!"

But the pastor was pointing out that we never had more favor than the day that we realized we were lost without God, and He extended His forgiveness, mercy and favor.

My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
2 Corinthians 12:9 Amplified

Spring Comes Next

I would stand on the front stoop and wave to the neighborhood kids getting on the bus for school and there I would be with no one to play with. There was no kindergarten in 1955. So I would go across the street to visit "Miss Nora", my friend up in her 80's.

I remember sitting on a little stool by her rocking chair as she crocheted, and listening to the winter wind whistling around the door of her house that was built before the Civil War.

I had just learned the months of the year and the four seasons, and I wisely informed her that she should not worry about the cold weather that caused her knees to ache, because spring would come right after winter.

Miss Nora smiled and explained that she had lived through 80+ years of seasons and that God had kept His promise of spring, summer, autumn, and winter each and every year. She showed me in her well worn Bible: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." (Genesis 8:22) I remember being amazed at that.

Thank you, God, that you are the same, yesterday, today, and forever.