The Plan I Have For You

Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.   Psalm 16:1 NLT  Well I should have taken Mercy Me's song a little more seriously.  Not only did we have "rain" last week, we had ice and snow.  Being alone all week with the kids, juggling a whirlwind of a schedule, a stubborn husband who refused a prescription to lower his blood pressure-then sending him off to a sales show three hours away, and ice storm...it was a long week.  Then Sunday morning, we awoke to sun, and glistening trees that looked like they had been adorned in silver.  Top that with a great time of worship at Mount Hermon.  Suddenly the stress of the week melted away as I gave my all in song and praise.  As I listened to "How Great is Our God", I realized he is quite amazing.  My husband traveled home safely Saturday, and I had an evening to vegetate...a rare happening.  Within five minutes our our first power outage during the ice storm, I had...

Mondays for me bring all sorts of anxiety.  I guess its being out of routine.  Somehow staring at the day and week's to do list always sends pits through my stomach.  (Stops momentarily to read my earlier post on worrying). Anyway, I awoke yesterday morning to Mercy Me's song "Bring the Rain."  A song whose words are so powerful, telling "if that's what it takes for us to praise you, Jesus Bring the Rain."  Praising God in our trials?  Seems like an amazing feat. Most of the time I want to hang my head in the corner and pretend its not happening.  After I've failed at "fixing things myself," I shamefully cry to God for help.  Yes, he's seen me through many trials, and delivered me from even my own not so Mrs. Fixit self.  See...God does perform miracles. So yesterday as I drove, I talked with God about this song.  Angie Smith has a beautiful blog called "Bring the Rain" that tells of their joy during the birth and death of...

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (The Message) 10-11 This is God 's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12 "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 13-14 "When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God 's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"— God 's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it. Friday on what I though was a normal work related visit, I stopped by a place of business to annou...

The Cure for Anxiety Holman Christian Standard Bible Matthew 6 25 "This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the sky: they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don't labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! 30 If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will...

1 Kings 19 11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. For the past year, I have been reading through Karen Kingsbury's books. As I finished one the other night, she referenced this passage. I've read and reread it many times over the past week. How many times in our lives, do we expect to see God's answer as a huge event such as wind...or earthquake...or fire? After all, he is GOD...he can do those things if he wanted to. But here Elijah received his answe...

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Luke 6:38 NLT The picture running through my mind reading this was me in the kitchen last night, trying to fit a five pound bag of flour into my canister. Its just one of those things for me...I can't stand having an open bag of flour in my cupboard. So I shake and pour, shake and pour, trying to get as much in as I can. Often it pours out on the counter and all over the place! What a great verse! The New Living Translation amplifies the quantity with which God blesses our lives...pressed down, shaken together to make room for more...running over, and poured out...We are full to overflowing (kind of like the closets in my house, and my garage)! But read it again in a different version Luke 6:38 (New International Version) Give, and it wi...

I've spent a lot of quality time with my computer this weekend...and last week. Its that time of the year with my job where we close the books on one year, then plan and prepare for the next. I've been evaluating reports, crunching numbers and typing like a mad woman. Admittedly, the 2009 season was one I was glad to close the books on. It was a difficult year. So as I sat working on 2010 plans it hit me, what if every time we had a tough season in our lives, wouldn't it be great if we could close the books on that part of our life and start over? Well guess what? We can. Its called Grace. Our Father forgives us for our mistakes and shortcomings. He takes out his big eraser and wipes them all away. The harder part is allowing ourselves to do the same thing. I'm the worst at forgiving myself and moving on. This week on one of my road warrior days, I was priviledged to hear David Crowder sing and talk about one of his new songs "Oh, How He Loves Us" The...