Just and True

Who is a God like you,
    who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
    of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
    but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
    you will tread our sins underfoot
    and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
You will be faithful to Jacob,
    and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
    in days long ago.

Micah 7:18-20 NIV

Reading from Exodus 2, I thought about Moses' Mom, a Jewish mother who prayed that her son's life would be spared. You know the story of how he was not only rescued by Pharaoh's daughter but she hired his own mother to nurse and keep him until he was old enough to live in Pharaoh's palace.

I wonder how many times Jochebed prayed for Moses to stay true to the God of their fathers in the midst of a people who did not know Him. Jochebed's name means "YAHWEH is glory".

Many years went by before Moses led God's people to freedom from Egyptian bondage. It's amazing how God uses experiences in our lives to prepare us to be fit for His use.

They were singing the song of Moses, 
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
 "Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. 
Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. 
Revelation 5:3

Evening, and morning, and at noon,

will I pray,
and cry aloud:

 and he shall hear my voice.
Psalm 55:17

Granddaugher Kaedyn spent the day with me this week. She wanted to read from the Bible the story of how Daniel prayed to God three times a day, even when it was against the king's decree. She is attending a reading enrichment class this summer and her big sister Kye is the assistant teacher. Kye plans to major in education.

Sunbeam

May those who love the Lord be like the sun when it rises
in all its brightness.

Judges 5:31b God's Word

I remember singing this song as a child in Sunday School.
A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.
A sunbeam, a sunbeam
I'll be a sunbeam for him.

I have a friend, Carolyn, who has faithfully served our church for many years. She has cerebral palsy.

As she ages, her health and skills are failing, yet she always has a bright smile and a word of encouragement for others. She is surely one of Jesus' sunbeams.

Unending Help

May Jesus himself and God our Father, 

who reached out in love and surprised you with

gifts of unending help and confidence,

put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, 

enliven your speech.

2 Thessalonians 2:17 Message

With every sunset comes the promise of a new sunrise.

Boundless

How wide, how long, how high, and how deep is His love for us.  

As you live this new life, we pray that you will be strengthened from God’s boundless resources, so that you will find yourselves able to pass through any experience and endure it with courage. You will even be able to thank God in the midst of pain and distress because you are privileged to share the lot of those who are living in the light. 

For we must never forget that he rescued us from the power of darkness, and re-established us in the kingdom of his beloved Son, that is, in the kingdom of light. For it is by his Son alone that we have been redeemed and have had our sins forgiven.
Colossians 1:11-14