We Are Healed by Your Sacrifice Lord!

What Are You Living For?

Something to think about...

Blessings in Disguise

We may not always understand why we have to bear crosses in this life - but what if they are meant as blessings in disguise? It is always during the times of greatest struggle, that I cling to the Lord the most.



22 “Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches climb over a wall.
23 With bitterness archers attacked him;
they shot at him with hostility.
24 But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of the Almighty,who blesses you
with blessings of the skies above,
blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.
26 Your father’s blessings are greater
than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
Genesis 49:22-26


God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.
Peter Marshall

May God pour out His richest blessings on you today and may you feel his love through the process,
Kymber

Christ has Risen! He has Risen Indeed!

All We Need is You, Lord

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 58:6-14

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
Mother Teresa
Blessings on your day,
Kymber

What Love Really Means

This song really speaks to my soul - there are so many people out in this world who are broken by life and have never felt love or acceptance. We can all make a difference by showing love to these forgotten, hurting people. Help show the love of the Father - reach out to someone today!
"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread"
Mother Theresa



“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:40
Blessings,
Kymber

Reflections

This post will probably be all over the place so I am preparing you now -
I was awakened this morning from a sound sleep by a cry out from my daughter who is living far from me in another state. She has been struggling with great difficulties for the past three years and she and her husband have been desperately trying to get on their feet. As a mother it is so hard to watch your kids flounder! You want the best for them and the best for your grandchildren. I have just found out that I will be a grandmother again - she is expecting baby number two. While this information fills me with joy at the prospect of having another grandchild in my life to love, I fear for her and her family. I am overjoyed that my daughter is trying to turn to the Lord for direction for her life and I know that He will keep her in His tender loving care. They are facing great difficulties right now and yet - I know that she will be all right. God will provide - as He always does. In HIS perfect timing! We must just continue to pray hard that that direction will be made clear - SOON please Lord!

As a mother, you always want the best for your children - and as I struggle with worry and fear for my daughter, I know that God must feel the same way about me when I am following the path that I choose for myself - instead of listening to HIS voice and following HIS will for me, I choose to stumble along blindly opening doors for myself that God never meant for me to open - yet walking PAST the door that leads to Gods perfect plan. I know that God never wrings His hands with worry over me - He just simply holds me in His loving care and gently guides me toward that door that He wants me to open for my life. How long Lord - must YOU wait before your children get a clue? How long Lord must THIS mother wait - loving her daughter gently from afar - watching her stumble and bump into walls searching for that door that will bring her perfect peace?
How you must ACHE for your children Lord!! How I ACHE for mine! You Lord, who are the epitome of the word LOVE - You have put love in our hearts for our children and sometimes I am overcome with it. How much more YOU love us Lord and must ache when we turn to OUR ways instead of yours!

Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us and being our gentle Shepherd. Help us Lord as we struggle to know Your Will for our lives. Have patience with your lost sheep Lord. Open our eyes to Your wisdom and direction and please continue to keep us safely in Your tender loving care. We love you Lord! Help ME to cling to Your promises and please take away all worry from my heart. Help me Lord to take to heart the words of Matthew 6:25. Have patience with me! I cling to Your promises Lord - please grant me Your peace! In Your precious Holy name I pray - AMEN!


“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Matthew 6:25-34

NIV

Rearview Mirror Reflections

I've always thought that you can see the hand of God best in the rear view mirror. Looking back, it's easier to understand why He placed us in the home that He did; why He brought certain people and circumstances into and out of our lives; why He permitted difficulties and pain; why He took us to different places and put us in various jobs and careers.
In my own life, I get a lot of clarity (though not PERFECT clarity - that's heaven's joy!) about the wise and loving ways of God as I reflect on the ways He has managed my journey by "the works of His hands" (Ps.92:4). With the psalmist, it makes me glad and strikes a note of joy in my heart to see how often God has assisted, directed, and managed the outcomes so faithfully (Ps. 111).
Looking ahead, though, is not always so clear. Have you ever had that lost feeling when the road ahead seems twisted, foggy, and scary? As you move into the next year, stop and look in the rearview mirror of the year gone by, and joyfully realize that God meant it when He said, "'I will never leave you not forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear'" (Heb. 13:5-6).
With the promise of God's presence nd help in mind, you can move ahead into 2011 with utmost confidence.
Joe Stowell
Our Daily Bread

God's guidance in the past gives courage for the future.


Praise the LORD.
I will extol the LORD with all my heart
in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

Great are the works of the LORD;
they are pondered by all who delight in them.
Glorious and majestic are his deeds,
and his righteousness endures forever.
He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.

He has shown his people the power of his works,
giving them the lands of other nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy.
They are established for ever and ever,
enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
He provided redemption for his people;
he ordained his covenant forever—
holy and awesome is his name.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise.
Psalm 111

Blessings,
Kymber

Will We Be Sleeping?

I started listening to Christmas music on Thanksgiving morning while I prepared food for my family. I heard this very thought provoking song by Casting Crowns and wanted to share it with you - Enjoy!



"While You Were Sleeping"

Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night....

Majesty

Follow You God

Such a beautiful message - faith in action

There's No One Like You

Temporary Home

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken."With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

Blessings to you this day and always,

Diamond Rio Song

Readiness

"God called unto him...and he said, Here am I" Exodus 3:4

When God speaks, many of us are like men in a fog, we give no answer. Moses' reply revealed that he was somewhere. Readiness means a right relationship to God and a knowledge of where we are at present. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. The man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who carries off the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea of some great opportunity, something sensational, and when it comes we are quick to cry - "Here am I." Whenever Jesus Christ is in the ascendant, we are there, but we are not ready for an obscure duty.

Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God's program may be we are there, ready. When any duty presents itself we hear God's voice as Our Lord heard His Father's voice, and we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us as His Father did with Him. He can put us where He likes, in pleasant duties or in mean duties, because the union is that of the Father and Himself. "That they may be one, even as We are one."

Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready when God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the ready soul, it is ablaze with the presence of God.

My Utmost For His Highest - Oswald Chambers

Can You See Him "In The Way"

In the time of deepest sorrow,
When life seems without a ray
And the wound is fresh and opened,
Can you see Him "in the way?"

When your plans and dearest projects
Shattered fell and broken lay,
And you vainly try to mend them,
Can you see Him "in the way?"

When your prayers remain unanswered
And you almost cease to pray,
Feeling that the heavens are brazen -
Can you see Him "in the way?"

When your dearest hope has vanished,
When your friends forsake, betray,
And all earthly props are broken -
Can you see Him "in the way?"

Broken rays become a rainbow;
Broken clods, a fruitful meadow;
Pruned vines bear richest clusters;
Cut and polished gems, rare lustres;
Harvests rise from buried grain;
Lives are born through grief and pain; -
God dwells in the broken clay.
He alone leads "in the way:
L.S.P.
Taken from the book "Streams in the Desert - Volume Two" Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

Blessings,

Chist Has Risen, He Has Risen Indeed!

All Of Creation

Welcome - Your Table Is Ready

"Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees,

you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven"

(Matt 5:20)

Reflection: There was a dedicated old priest who had always wondered what real difference was between heaven and hell. One day, he had a dream in which God showed him.

First, God showed him hell. The old priest was flabbergasted to find no flames, no horned, pointy-tailed devils - only crowds of angry people pressing around long picnic tables. At each place was a large wooden bowl of food and ten-foot long wooden spoons. Pushing and shoving to find places at the tables, the angry people managed to get their long spoons into the bowls - but they were unable to get them into their mouths. Their frustration and the accompanying bitterness and bickering were sheer hell!

Then the old priest was given a glimpse of heaven. He was amazed to discover the same massive picnic tables, the same huge wooden bowls of food, and the same ten-foot long wooden spoons. But in heaven there was a spirit of peace, thoughtfulness, even joy. In heaven, the people were feeding one another.

To enter the kingdom of God, to realize the reign of God among us in the here and now, we must embrace a new attitude toward God and one another, an attitude based on compassion, generosity, forgiveness, and justice, an attitude centered not in self but in the common good. Such is the holiness that Christ calls us to adopt in our lives if we are to be true sons and daughters of the Father, true brothers and sisters to one another, true disciples of the Risen One.

Prayer: Father in heaven, make us worthy to one day reside in Your dwelling place by embracing Your spirit of love and compassion for one another on our journey to You. As You feed us, may we feed one another; as You forgive us, may we forgive one another; as You welcome us into Your presence at the end of time, may we welcome one another to our tables in this time you have given us.

Daily Reflections For Lent - Not By Bread Alone - 2010

Blessings on your week ahead,

The Vineyard

"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.'
They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him."
(Matt 21:38-39)

Reflection: In these difficult economic times for all of us, a moment of hope from a Minnesota supermarket:

While a woman waited to check out at the grocery store, the person ahead of her turned and handed her an envelope. On the front there was a note. "There is $50.00 in this envelope for your groceries. Take it if you need it or pass it on." She passed the envelope to the person behind her, who in turn gave it away. As she watched the envelope progress through the lines she was surprised that some people even added money to it.

The Spirit of God moved through that line of shoppers in the form of an envelope. Any time compassion and generosity, selflessness and humility compel people to do what is right and just, the Spirit of God is moving among them.

Today's gospel shows a "vineyard" devoid of that Spirit. For the tenants, all that matters is the profit to be realized. They turn on the vineyard owner who has been nothing but kind to them; they murder the owner's son who comes to hold them accountable.

We have seen what happens when the interests of the few are placed before the common good of all, when basic ethics and morality are dismissed as naive and unrealistic in order to make the quick buck. God will hold us accountable so that His vineyard will be used responsibly and justly for the good of all.

God has given us a wonderful vineyard that we often take for granted, that we mar and destroy by our selfishness. Christ comes with a new vision for the vineyard, a vision of generous sharing rather than obsessive taking, of peace rather than hostility, of forgiveness rather than vengeance. May we welcome Christ into the vineyard of our homes, our workplaces, our schools, aware that He calls us to the demanding conversion of the Gospel, but determined to sow and reap the blessings of God's reign.

Prayer: O Lord of the vineyard, You gave us this earth as a place of peace to seek You and grow in Your love. By Your grace, wisdom, and light, may we transform the villages and vineyards You have given us into places where Your justice abounds and Your peace reigns.

Daily Reflections For Lent - Not By Bread Alone 2010

Blessings to you this week,