Make Your Life Count Forever

There are said to be thirty thousand promises made  to the child of God, but they are of no more value  to  us than statements in the newspaper if we  do  not  personally appropriate them. J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Maturity PROMISE #1 I came across this sentence about two weeks ago and it has resurfaced in my thoughts again and again.  Yesterday I calculated that if I found 4.5 promises every single day I could find all 30,000 if I lived to be 80 years old.   How many promises support our lives every single day?  I don't know the number, but wouldn't be surprised if it were in the hundreds. Promises that reveal God's: PERSON PLAN PRESENCE POWER PROVISION PURPOSES PROTECTION PATIENCE There are literally thousands of promises that reveal His NATURE, LOVE, GRACE, MERCY, and FORGIVENESS. We, His children by faith, are supported and graced by the promises God has given us. Every day I want to find as many promises as possible. 

An Everyday Cross 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is  folly to  those who are perishing, but to us  who are being saved it is  the power of God. The cross.   What comes to mind when you think of the cross? Jesus. How about ourselves? Do we ever think of ourselves in connection with the cross? This verse in 1 Corinthians made me think about this today: In what way is the cross the power of God in my life? “It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.” ― Hans Urs von Balthasar , Unless You Become Like This Child The cross is the beginning of salvation and new life in Christ. But God intends that the cross be His power in our lives. What does that look like on a daily basis? As I thought about that I remembered something I'd read once in a Tozer book. You know how a thought just kind of hangs out on the edge of memory, but you can'

A DIVIDED HEART What's going on in your heart today? One of the many benefits of a Quiet Time, or a Morning Devotion, is the opportunity it gives us to hear from God about our heart condition.   According to Paul, all of us suffer from Chronic Heart Disease (Romans 7:23).  As Christians we are each a new creation in Christ, but we still live in an earthly body and are subject to the influences of our fallen nature---which Paul calls, the OLD MAN. This morning I was slogging through Hosea 9-11 in my daily reading.   It's a little depressing reading about the spiritual failures, the  whorings,  of Israel that resulted in their captivity and ruin. BUT---it is also instructive. Proverbs 4:23 has some excellent advice for each of us:   Keep your heart with all vigilance,   for  from it flow  the springs of life. When the Bible talks about our hearts it doesn't mean the organ that pumps blood throughout our bodies.  It means that part of us tha

COMING SOON Recently I've spent some time with my daughter and other Moms who HOMESCHOOL.  I admit I've had mixed feelings about Homeschooling.   Here's a short list of my previous concerns: Could or would kids learn from Mom or Dad as well as from a Teacher in a classroom setting?  Are they receiving competent instruction from current curriculum.   In other words,  is this really an  equivalent education?  Or, will they be unprepared for high school or college level work? Will the child strive to excel without any 'competition' with classmates, stars on charts, and recognition from their peers? What about socialization and learning to get along with others? There are several Teachers among this group of Moms.   I know one who has a few of the questions I have had, but two others, who both homeschool, have given me lots of reason to believe that homeschooling can be very advantageous for kids.  For many parents the primary motivation to Hom

How much time do you waste thinking thoughts you know can't be true? But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves  with one another, they are  without understanding.   2 Corinthians 10:12 If we were together having tea this morning I would ask you, "does God love you?".   And because you're a Christian and you know your Bible, you'd say, "Yes". But this morning that very thought came to me with a deeply peaceful and liberating strength. God does love me. I am His much loved child. Am I perfect? No, not even close. Is that a problem for God?   Does it frustrate and limit His love for me? No it does not. He made me as I am. Unique.   One of a kind. He's not into mass production. Every one of us is a divinely designed and handmade original. Whatever my failings, my inadequacies, my limitations, they are known to God. Yet, He has a plan for my life that He is able to carry out by H

Before Borders broke my heart and went out of business I used to happily wander through the Literature aisle, the Fiction aisle, and my very favorite, the Self-Help aisle. Self-Help.  As if. Read a book and change your life. I wish it were that easy. I wish it were that easy for each of us to just identify the habit, thought, or event that triggers the train wreck before it happens and then change it. I'm trying to organize my Home Office. So now you know one of my areas of weakness. I have a little OCD and a streak of perfectionism that makes me want to collect and hold on to any and all information that might be useful in the future. Sound like conflicting traits right? They are. One motivates me to research EVERYTHING to death and c urate all I find. And then my OCD kicks in and I go crazy trying to categorize, organize, and Dewey-decimalize it all so it's easy to access and neatly hidden away in the file cabinet. Simply put---never gonna happen.  You&

Vermont Countryside Photo © 2007 Kelly Grace Psalm 25:4-10 Make me to know your ways, O  Lord ;      teach me your paths.   Lead me in your  truth and teach me,      for you are the God of my salvation;      for you I wait all the day long.   Remember your  mercy, O  Lord , and your steadfast love,      for they have been from of old.   Remember not  the sins of my youth or my transgressions;      according to your  steadfast love remember me,      for the sake of your goodness, O  Lord ! Good and upright is the  Lord ;      therefore he  instructs sinners in the way.   He leads the humble in what is right,      and teaches the humble his way.   All the paths of the  Lord  are  steadfast love and faithfulness,      for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. School is always in session for the Christian.  Paul said so.  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  Phi