Thoughts of Grace

I found this tiny sprig of lilac.
It smelled so sweet, reminding me of spring.
The bush was covered with buds, looks good for next year.

Good Morning

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,
and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Psalm 95:2

When I express my gratitude
to God, I find my attitude
transforms from gloomy doom
to sunny smiles.

In giving thanks, my focus changes
as gratitude . . . it rearranges
the way I think and feel and speak
and live my life.

Counting all the ways He blesses
deepens joy, and my heart presses
in to know Him and enjoy Him
as He is.

“All is grace”, the writer pens
Each day, each hour, each breath He sends
His gifts of grace and bids me
open more to Him.

The Ancient Words declare the way
into His presence everyday
is opened up by giving thanks
and so I say . . .

For sun and moon and stars that twinkle
eyes that see and lines that wrinkle
aging faces, waterfalls and baby’s breath,
I thank You, Lord.

For bone on bone in knee unbending
ears to hear the never-ending
speech, heaven’s telling of Your glory,
Father, thank You.

For hope that flutters in my chest
and tiny eggs in robin’s nest
just waiting to burst forth
and sing your praises.

For full salvation, “it is finished”
healing virtue, undiminished
by years long past and
morning mercies, ever new.

For children home, and far away,
I give you thanks, my God, today
my heart is full and overflows
with gratitude.

Thank You, thank You, Holy Father
Holy Spirit, Jesus, Author
of salvation and the Finisher
of my faith.

Amen.

©Andrea D. Olsen – 9 July 2011

And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the LORD,
offer it at your own will. Leviticus_22:29

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Now you see them…………………Now you don’t!

Good Morning

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down,
and the feeble knees;
And make straight paths for your feet,
lest that which is lame be turned out of the way;
but let it rather be healed. Hebrews 12:12-13

This is God’s word of encouragement to us to lift up the hands of faith,
and confirm the knees of prayer.
Often our faith grows tired, languid,
and relaxed,
and our prayers lose their force and effectiveness.
The figure used here is a very striking one.
The idea seems to be that we become discouraged
and so timid that a little obstacle depresses and frightens us,
and we are tempted to walk around it,
and not face it: to take the easier way.
Perhaps it is some physical trouble that God is ready to heal,
but the exertion is hard,
or it is easier to secure some human help,
or walk around in some other way.
There are many ways of walking around emergencies
instead of going straight through them.
How often we come up against something that appalls us,
and we want to evade the issue with the excuse:
“I am not quite ready for that now.”
Some sacrifice is to be made,
some obedience demanded,
some Jericho to be taken,
some soul that we have not the courage to claim and carry through,
some prayer that is hanging fire,
or perhaps some physical trouble that is half healed
and we are walking around it.
God says, “Lift up the hands that hang down.”
March straight through the flood, and lo,
the waters will divide,
the Red Sea will open,
the Jordan will part,
and the Lord will lead you through to victory.
Don’t let your feet “be turned out of the way,”
but let your body “be healed,”
your faith strengthened.
Go right ahead and leave no Jericho behind you unconquered
and no place where Satan can say that he was too much for you.
This is a profitable lesson
and an intensely practical one.
How often have we been in that place.
Perhaps you are there today.
~A. B. Simpson.

Trust God for your day. . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Rosemary behind the grass along the sidewalk at the library

Joshua 1:1-9

Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass,
that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister,
saying,

Moses my servant is dead;
now therefore arise, go over this Jordan,
thou, and all this people,
unto the land which I do give to them,
even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon,
that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river,
the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites,
and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun,
shall be your coast.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life:
as I was with Moses,
so I will be with thee:
I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of a good courage:
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance
the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Only be thou strong and very courageous,
that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law,
which Moses my servant commanded thee:
turn not from it to the right hand or to the left,
that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do according to all
that is written therein:
for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage;
be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed:
for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Trust God for your day. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

See what you get when you don’t go to the post office but once a week.

Good Morning

Thou hast enlarged my steps under me,
that my feet did not slip.    Psalm 18:36
The law of his God is in his heart;
none of his steps shall slide.    Psalms 37:31
Our heart is not turned back,
neither have our steps declined from thy way;    Psalm 44:18
Righteousness shall go before him;
and shall set us in the way of his steps.    Psalm 85:13

We sit and weep in vain.
The voice of the Almighty said,
“Up and onward forevermore.”
Let us move on and step out boldly,
though it be into the night,
and we can scarcely see the way.
The path will open, as we progress,
like the trial through the forest or the Alpine pass,
which discloses but a few rods of its length
from any single point of view.
Press on!
If necessary, we will find even the pillar of cloud and fire
to make our journey through the wilderness.
There are guides and wayside inns along the road.
We will find food, clothes and friends
at every stage of the journey,
and as Rutherford so quaintly says:
“However matters go,
the worst will be a tired traveler
and a joyful and sweet welcome home.”
~Cowman, Streams in the Desert

Trust God for day and way. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Good Morning

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.  Edward Mote

Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and stedfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil; Hebrews 6:19 KJV

[Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul
[it cannot slip
and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it–a hope]
that reaches farther
and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil,
Hebrews 6:19 Amplified Bible

Trust God for your day . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

I see beauty in dying sunflower stalks and corn fields that have given their all.

Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart – Mending will not avail; my heart is altogether corrupted; it must be new made, made as it was in the beginning. This is exactly the sentiment of St. Paul: Neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation; and the salvation given under the Gospel dispensation is called a being created anew in Christ Jesus.

We are thirsty.
Not thirsty for fame, possessions, passion, or romance.
We’ve drunk from those pools.
They are salt water in the desert.
They don’t quench — they kill.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: . . .”
Matthew 5:6

Righteousness.

That’s it.
That’s what we are thirsty for.
We’re thirsty for a clean conscience.
We crave a clean slate.
We yearn for a fresh start.
We pray for a hand that will enter the dark cavern of our world
and do for us the one thing we can’t do for ourselves–
make us right again.
Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven

Trust God for your day, Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

And many nations shall come, and say,
Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
and to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths:
for the law shall go forth of Zion,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Micah_4:2

Let us resolve to be more holy and more bright.
Let us bury our idols.
Let us put away all strange gods.
Let us cast out the old leaven.
Let us lay aside every weight and besetting sin.
Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,and perfect holiness in the fear of God.
Let us renew our covenant with our beloved Lord.
Let us aim at the highest and best things.
Let us resolve by God’s blessing to be more holy, and then I know and am persuaded we shall be more useful and more happy.~J.C. Ryle

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace,
and things wherewith one may edify another. Romans 14:19