Prayer Friday Psalm 66:1

Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Psalm 66:1

Glorious Creator, Living Christ, Holy Spirit and Wisdom, Hear my joy!
We are so blessed with the beauty around us; the hills, mountains, the green and brown, water and desert, sky and sun, moon, stars. How can we not but shout with joy.
Please forgive us when we overlook or forget to thank You for these gifts.
This week I pray we may be bold enough, care enough, to witness to others the glory of your gifts. My we tell everyone you send us that we love You and know You are our God.
May we reflect Your love and care through our actions and words. Give us the words, Holy Spirit. Let us do no harm this week.
AMEN

Monday Of Hope

May the God of your hope so fill you with joy and peace in believing (through the experience of your faith) that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope. Romans 15:13 (Amplified)



Back after a long while, or so it seems! I have been out of town and had some company so things have been busy.

During a round of golf, if you play as I do ;), you can be faced with a number of challenging shots. Seems as if all shots don't necessarily put you in a happy place for the next one. We even saw some of that over the weekend at the Masters! When this happens to my very good friend PL she approaches the disappointing lie with eternal hope in her heart. She always says...well, let's see what we can do with this one, how can we recover here? Love her hopeful nature.

I love the Monday after Easter. I like to spend this day looking for the situations in my life and the lives of those close to me to see the hope. There are a bunch this morning. One member of my family has been given great hope involving a medical problem. One is starting a new semester this morning. One is beginning a path to read the Bible while listening to it on tape. Two are starting baseball season at school. One of my best friends (she would kill me if I said my oldest best friend) welcomed her first grandchild this week. Hope is just bubbling up and overflowing, as I know that all of these situations have been prayed for and are the result of God's amazing and wonderful grace.

Look around you, where do you see the hope. Don't tell me there is none, it may be very small or look very insignificant, but it is there. Use this Monday to start over. Start over and look for the hope. How can you recover from the previous "bad shot"? You can, there is always hope. It is a grace from our Creator. God bless you today.

Away

So sorry I have been absent for a while. We had one of those family situations that had to be taken care of!! It was a good resolution that brought to a close three years of prayer. All is well and I will be back next weekend to blog to my hearts content.
God bless all with mercy and grace.

The Greatest Gift Is Love

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1Corinthians 13:13

As this day progresses, I want all of you to know that I love each of you beyond politics, beyond national boundaries, beyond church ties and religious beliefs. We are all the children of a gracious and loving Creator, who is beyond our imagination to grasp. We are loved in a manner so huge we cannot wrap words or thoughts around it.
So love and be loved today.

Prayer Friday

Each one should test his own actions. Galatians 6:4

Loving Creator, Living Christ
Thank you for the many blessings and graces received. Thank you for the breath you supply me, for vision and love.
Lord, as I walk this week please guide me to look at every thought I think, word I speak, and action I take. Let me be aware of my thoughts so that I can remove the negative hurtful ones and replace them with seeds of your love. Let only words of love and sweetness come out of my mouth. Guide my every action to do no harm.
Bless the children of God that read these pages. May we be aware we live in your love and light.
All God's children say, AMEN

Prayer Friday

I thank my God every time I remember you. Philippians 1:3

Most Gracious and Loving Creator, thank you for the bounty of your love, for the blessings you have showered on us this week and for the blessings that are already waiting for today and the week to come. We are in awe that all our needs are taken care of already, we want not when we are in your care.
Please help us learn to live in your kingdom, in eternity, in Your All. We forget so easily and try to live in the past or the future, not in the present. Help us shed our egos and listen to your will for us.
Please help us listen, also, for the cry of our bothers and sisters who are hurt, scared, worried and lost so we can be your light to shine on them. We are your creation, yet we separate ourselves from each other. Help us see each other as yours. Guide us back to you and teach us to truly love one another.
As one we ask these things in the spirit, through Christ our Lord, AMEN

Prayer Friday

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 2Peter 1:2

Gracious and loving Creator, we thank you for all of the blessings and graces you have poured out on us this week. We know that every breath we take we take because you give it to us. You are our ground and our air. Thank you for forgiving us when we stray away from that knowledge. Help us stay in the awareness of you all the time, we seem to have a problem doing that.
Lord, don't let us be a stumbling block to those you put in our path. Let us recognize them as a gift from you. Remind us that we are all the same, made of the same, body, mind and spirit.
Let us be generous with the gifts you have given us. Let our every thought be one of love and kindness.
Help us forgive as we are forgiven.
We are yours and you are ours, we are blessed in that.
Holy Spirit please take our prayers through Christ, Amen
Please feel free to add your prayers in the comments. If you have requests, I will be happy to add your prayers to mine and take them to my prayer group.

Do and Wait

Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And he will strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14

Everything I do today let me do it through you, for you. That thought prayer just automatically came to me as I rolled over while waking up this morning. It followed me into the kitchen, making the bed, checking my e-mail. Always at the center of my mind. "Everything I do today let me do it through you, for you". Then during my devotional reading time the above passage from Psalms was presented. I'm on the second year of working through The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living, based on Father Thomas Keating's works. So I am to do and wait.
Seems backwards to me, what about you? First I pray do, then I'm guided to wait. Shouldn't I wait for God to show me what to do and then go do it? Am I being too reflective, too thoughtful about what this means? I don't think so. I think I had to see these two thoughts side by side and then pray about them.
What do they mean for me today? I think, after prayer, they mean I am not supposed to sit around today for some big revelation from God before I enter the day's living. I am to step out and live, aware that all I do and say should be done through and for my Creator, at the same time waiting for God to open the path as I go. Do, live; wait, listen.
Times such as this are what make this course I am playing so interesting and challenging. My attention needs to be on the little details, like do and wait. Because tomorrow it might be wait and do.

Great New Sites

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2Corinthians 9:7

While blog surfing this morning I came across a lovely site with beautiful pictures that caught my eye. Wonderful writing also, 33 Names of Grace. I put it over there on the right side for you to link to. While reading her blog I came across another exciting site, www.thehungersite. Maybe you have been there, I had not. I also listed it under links.
What a great site. It has pages for Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rain forest, and Animal Rescue. A goldmine of a site!! You can read about what is going on, donate and shop. Surely here we can find a place to give that is close to our hearts. If you are already giving to a favorite charity, maybe you can help by buying some of those birthday or Christmas gifts there. Hey, Father's Day is coming up. Go look.
Sorry about that reminder of Christmas shopping! If anybody responds that they have theirs done I will flip out.

Lucky Dog

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ. 1Thessalonians 5:16

What a day for thanks!! First the little one. Playing golf today I chipped one in for a birdy and parred the last hole, Yippee.
Now for the big ones...daughter got a new job in her company that she was hoping for. Next...one of our three dogs that had been missing for over a month was found at the dog shelter two hours ago. And as I write...it is raining. Daughter, dog and rain had been objects of prayer. The golf was added joy. I'm telling you, pray for the big and small. Nothing is beyond the care of our Creator. I am giving thanks for these blessings because I know God sees every little hair on our heads, every dog hair and every rain drop.
I am joyful, I pray continually and I give thanks in all circumstances. We are blessed with a Creator that loves us through and through. Good times and bad, Little and big, silly and serious. Praise the Lord.

Listen Untill You Feel It

and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. Deuteronomy 30:20

Usually I am awakened by the pyrrhuloxia that live around us. As I am originally from southwest Missouri I call them wanna be cardinals. Hope they don't mind, I say it as a compliment! However, the last few days one of our roadrunners has taken over the job. The roadrunner is the only bird which causes offense to our dogs. Roadrunners have a very distinctive voice, it is a slow, descending, low-pitched "coo-coo-coo-coo'. That doesn't really describe it correctly...it's as if they roll their coos...they vibrate. If you listen closely it can reverberate in you body, like a drum. Get the picture? That is, when the dogs let you listen.
That is how we should listen for God. In quiet prayer time let your heart and body get so still you can feel yourself drawing closer and closer to that feeling of warm love. Sometimes it will vibrate lightly. It takes time and doesn't always happen. But God is there in love that will move your soul. You have to listen or you won't hear. I know that sounds pretty obvious, but how many times do we really get still and listen. Drop the requests, the problems...just put your heart, mind and soul to the joy of listening for God. Let your love for God meet God's love for you...it will vibrate like the roadrunners coo.

Strengthen me

"encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." 2Thessalonians 3:17

I am home. I arrived Wednesday about noon to a loving husband and two happy dogs. My time with my friends was beautiful. We talked until we were worn out and then we talked some more. So when I got home I was very grateful to have a husband who encouraged me to relax and slow down. He fixed lunch, listened to my tales and then let me sit and ponder for a while. That was nice.
Yesterday, after doing the wash and some straightening, I headed to the course to hit some practice balls. Did I tell you it was windy? The weather report used the word breezy, I think they were trying to be nice. When I got up on the practice tee the wind was blowing so hard my sunglasses blew off my visor. Since it had been over ten days since I had practiced I decided to hit some balls anyway. When you play in the wind you have to hold steady and get your balance from the strength in your legs. You have to have a firm foundation, yet you cannot fight the wind. It is like a flow coming out of a solid foundation. You gage where the wind is coming from and adjust your aim. You also get a lot of sand and dirt in your hair! The better your swing is, the closer to the ideal swing, the better you can hit in the wind. If your swing is in the groove, the right path, the strength of your foundation will sustain you.
Through the fellowship of our retreat we gathered to us God's grace and strength. We filled ourselves with knowledge, wisdom and love. We gathered the"eternal encouragement and good hope" also mentioned in verse 17. When we are faced with life, our words and deeds will be enhanced as we look for the good. As we look for the correct path (as in grooving my swing) we will be strengthened and encouraged by the ideas, conversations, wisdom and love we found God infilling us with.
Out of the strength of our foundation, we can face the wind of life. We can aim for the good and flow with our Creator's love and eternal encouragement.

Grace

We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace. 2Corinthians 1:12

We had about 5 to 6 hours of discussion today. It was beautiful. We discussed two of our books and got about half way through another. The deepest point for me was a time of prayer. As it is said, when three or more of you gather in my name...we gathered, we prayed and the Presence was with us. It was one of the most amazing gifts of grace I have been involved in. We truly were one. I hope tomorrow one of my soul sisters will tell you more.
When you look at yourself with no one else around, when you get into that quiet space of your soul you can find out so much. When you then take what you have learned and place it before your friends it can be scary. Not so today. I have very rarely felt so safe as I did today. God is so good to give us friends who make you feel safe. SO, the topics we discussed were meaningful, insightful, thought provoking. But the essence of our group had the sweet smell of love, the feel of trust, the touch of concern, the sight of beautiful faces, the hearing of the word.
Tomorrow.