God's Spirit

 Sunday, July 14, 2024 (7:14 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank You! Every new day I get to say “thank You” to You is a good new day. Thank You!

Continuing looking to You for strength, I keep finding songs of Your loving faithfulness. First came ♪Forever God is faithful Forever God is strong Forever God is with us Forever♪

Followed quickly by the reminder that ♪God Will Make A Way Where there seems to be no way He works in ways we cannot see You will make a way for me You will be my guide Hold me closely to Your side With love and strength for each new day You will make for me♪

Thank You for Your Truth and promises Dearest Lord. I look to You to keep me faithful to Your call on my life. I want to be the woman You created me to be. Loving. Kind. Peaceful. Joyful. Patient. Good. Gentle. Faithful. And strong spirited (Galatians 5:22-23a).

Mm. Just look how EasyEnglish Bible spells out these favored verses. “But God’s Spirit causes us to live in a different way. We love other people. We are happy and we have peace in our minds. We are patient, kind and good. People can trust us to do what is right. We respect other people and we rule ourselves properly. God’s Spirit helps us to live in that way. There is no law that says these things are wrong.”

Thank You Father. Keep me faithfully following Your lead this day. The one You’ve made, that I will rejoice and be glad in (Psalm 118:24). I love, need, trust and want You. Use me as You know is best. Thank You. Praise You. Amen.

(290 words ~ 7:44 a.m.)

"put paid to"

 Saturday, July 13, 2024 (5:07 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank You!

I love learning new to me words and phrases. Following origins for the song ♪The Mighty Quinn♪ I came across “put paid to.” Another one of those things I never knew I didn’t know.

Thank You for being with me in every single thing I am learning to do. Differently. On my own. Putting paid to some things. Opening doors to others.

Father, You are a good, good God. And I am grateful to love, need, trust and want You.

Be in, with, by, through and for me as I go out into another new day. Rejoicing and being glad. And learning more new things. I love You Lord. Thank You. Amen.

(124 words ~ 6:14 a.m.)

Thank You for this extra thought just now. Jesus "put paid to" death when He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Thank You for speaking to and teaching me Lord. I love You. Amen.

(6:20 a.m.)

delight

 Friday, July 121, 2024 (6:38 a.m.)

Blessed Holy God,

Another day to practice being delighted in You (Psalm 37:4a). Rejoicing and being glad in this day You have made (Psalm 118:24). Thank You Father! Praise You Lord.

Do all You must in, with, by, through and for me that I will truly represent You well. I  love, need, trust and want You. Let the yard work begin!

(71 words ~ 6:46 a.m.)

God's way

 Thursday, July 11, 2024 (5:46 a.m.)

Blessed, Loving Father God,

THANK YOU! You heard our prayers. You blessed us. You kept us. You made Your face shine upon us. You were gracious to us. You turned Your face toward us. You smiled. And gave us peace (Numbers 6:24-26). What more could we possibly ask?

You truly ♪made a way where there seemed to be no way You worked in ways we could not see You absolutely made a way for me♪ We counted on You to ♪be our guide Holding us closely to Your side With love and strength for each new day You made a way where there seemed to be no way♪

Thank You for making the way that we would truly come to celebrate the passing of our VERY dear husband, father, papa, brother, uncle, friend…

brutal blessing

 Wednesday, July 10, 2014 (5:59 a.m.)

Blessed, Holy God,

Thank You! You reminded me again to truly be thankful.

You have allowed us this brutal blessing. Yesterday I was agonizingly aware of just how much of this we can’t control or predict. Thank You for reminding me again to “Accept! Not expect.”

I confess to having expected a quick and easy passing. I am further confessing my dissatisfaction and whining about what we have been given instead.

Thank You the reminders Lord. To be grateful. To trust in You. With all our hearts. Leaning not on our own understanding. In ALL our ways acknowledging You. And You will direct our path (Proverbs 3:5,6).

Lord, I’m completely in over my head here. Having trouble telling up from down. Wanting so much to do what is right. Is there a right and wrong here Lord?

Trusting You. Right. Trusting myself. Not always. Work in me I ask. Providing every single thing I need to continue standing strong. In You. On Your Word. Faithful. Remembering that we really, truly are brutally blessed!

Thank You that as I consider a blessing in the midst of this brutality I get to read about grief being “an act of protest against living numb and small” (Francis Weller). Thank You again for reminding me that Jesus Himself wept (John 11:35).

And He also taught. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). As agonizingly brutal as this current circumstance is, You are bigger, stronger and far powerful than our grief.

Thank You God. Thank You Jesus. Thank You Holy Spirit. In You we have everything we need. Use us. Thank You. Praise You. Amen.

(287 words ~ 6:38 a.m.)

"Buster"

 Tuesday, July 9, 2024 (6:08 a.m.)

Blessed God,

Still we trust You. Waiting for that final breath. Wondering how much longer. Father, change our focus to where You want it.

Appreciation. Acceptance. Adaptation. Admiration.

Phrases and music keep coming to mind. ♪Slip Sliding’ Away♪ “No wine before its time.” ♪The Final Countdown♪ Both the song and the movie! “Your signal is Buster. I say again, your signal is Buster.”

Interesting how after ALL these [44] years, I find we’ve been misquoting that [Final Countdown] movie line. Having always believed it to be, “Your code is Buster. I repeat, Your code is Buster.”

Even MORE interesting? To learn what Buster actually means. “Go as fast as possible.”

Father, at this current stage in time, I am asking (Matthew 7:7) that You let this VERY much loved one return to You “as fast as possible.” Let his signal be “Buster” Lord. The waiting for us is becoming agony.

We love You. We love him. We don’t understand what or why it’s taking so long for him to take that one final breath.

Is there anything left unsaid? Am I supposed to open the doors and let everyone in after all? Are we doing “right” by him?

I have so many questions Lord. And I’d much rather turn it all back to trust. In You. 

(7:20 a.m.)

So we’ll wait. We’ll trust. We’ll hope. We’ll pray. We’ll ask. We’ll seek. We’ll knock. And we’ll keep loving, needing, trusting and wanting You. Thank You Father. Praise You. Use us. Amen.

(261 words ~ 7:48 a.m.)

still breathing

 Monday, July 8, 2024 (10:05 a.m.)

Blessed Holy God,

Thank You! All this time I’ve been hearing ♪I’m Still Standing♪ 

(11:45 a.m.)

Every time I heard that in my head, I kept changing it to ♪he’s still breathing♪ Wondering what the heck You’re doing in this circumstance. Like a lightning bolt it hit me. You mean this for ME!

♪… You know I’m still standin’ Better than I ever did Lookin’ like a true survivor Feelin’ like a little kid And I’m still standin’ After all this time Pickin’ up the pieces of my life With YOU on my mind♪

Yes! Father, it is only because of the Truth and promises we find in Your Word that I truly am still standing. Faithfully believing that Your grace is sufficient and Your power made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

We love You Lord. We trust, need and want You. Thank You for the music You send our way. Songs of thanksgiving [♪Thank You♪]. In good times as well as hard. And of strength [♪Strong♪].

You provide our every need. And we are truly grateful Father. 

Even a brand new to me song touches me deeply. ♪When You Say Nothing At All♪ So much of Your Truth surrounds us. Thank You that You’ve got us!

Use us as You know is best. Praise You. Amen.

(229 words ~ 12:44 p.m.)