March 29, 2012: Promises Kept

3 gifts of His promises:

• Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. Psalm 37:4-5
• Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10
• Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 

God's promises are such a comfort and strength.  I have made many promises and kept nowhere near all, but God has never and will never make a promise that he won't keep. He is trustworthy and true, he cannot lie. The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. Psalm 145:13 All your words are true. Psalm 119:160 It is impossible for God to lie. Hebrews 6:18

2 helpful resources about God's promises:

http://www.intouch.org/resources/gods-promises

http://web001.rbc.org/pdf/discovery-series/how-does-god-keep-his-promises.pdf

February 5, 2012: Stitched in with Love

one gift stitched, one hammered, one woven:

• one gift stitched: me, and the comfort and peace it brings to know that. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. (Psalm 139:5).   He keeps me protected and warm, stitched in by his loving care.
• one gift hammered: the keyboard and drums during worship in church this morning.  My church's worship band is among the best I've ever heard and I love to worship there more than anywhere else.  There is the most beautiful spirit of truth and love when we sing together in praise to our God. 
• one gift woven: the complexity and richness of God's Word.  Heard a teaching at church this morning that once again revolutionized a passage of Scripture that I've heard many times.  Acts 12:1-17 is the story of Peter's miraculous release from prison.  It's also an archetype of my (and your) miraculous release from the prison of our own making. We all create prisons for ourselves, prisons built by choices to addictions like anger, fear, jealousy, approval, money, anxiety, work.  The miracle is that all it takes for our release is the choice to reach out and take the outstretched hand of the one who died to set us free.  "The Spirit of the Lord is on me [Jesus], because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free."  (Luke 4:18)

January 25, 2012: Grace in Every Color

One grace borrowed, one grace found, one grace inherited:

• One grace borrowed: the comfort of knowing that God will never remove his hand from me.  In the 32nd psalm, David writes of the agony of unconfessed sin on both soul and body. For day and night your hand was heavy on me (verse 4a). I always thought the description of God's hand on him was  God bearing down on David, a kind of torture, until he repented.  Instead, it was a constant reminder of God's presence, waiting until David was ready to turn back to Him. God's grace to David and to me too.
• One grace found: among the women in my Bible study group.  They are never judgmental and always allow me to be honest, speaking truth with love and grace. It is a privilege to journey with them.
• One grace inherited: a little sewing cabinet that was my grandma's.  It is very simply, but well constructed, built by her dad, my great grandpa. Filled to the brim with every sort of sewing notion (many of which I have no idea what to do with), including thread in every color of the rainbow, it is a treasure trove.  Today I found in it a package of dark grey bias tape and used it to trim an old lamp shade to place on the dresser in the guest bedroom.  It looks darling--I'm sure my grandma would approve.