Thankful

Isaiah 41:9-10
I gathered you from one end of the earth to the other.
    From the farthest places on earth I brought you together.
I said, ‘You are my servants.’
    I have chosen you.
    I have not turned my back on you.
¹⁰ So do not be afraid. I am with you.
    Do not be terrified. I am your God.
I will make you strong and help you.
    My powerful right hand will take good care of you.
    I always do what is right.


Thank you Lord for your strength. When I am weak, you are strong. My heart is filled with thanks. I had a beautiful, wonderful birthday yesterday. I got to see My Love and I even gave him a kiss. He fills my heart with joy. My daughter gave me flowers but they attempted to deliver them while I was at church and no one at home answered the door. They are so lazy! But that's OK  they are coming back today. My other daughter bought me some Pandora charms for my bracelet that I just love. She baked me cupcakes with my grandson and bought me a steak dinner. Who could complain about that day. It was good. My first full day as an official senior citizen was good. I'm on spring break with lots of things to do on my to do list this week. I am a servant to the Lord. I will not be afraid, nor will I be terrified of my future. God is with me. God will take care of me. I love you. Be Blessed.

Grateful

Psalm 91

¹ The person who rests in the shadow of the Most High God
    will be kept safe by the Mighty One.
² I will say about the Lord,
    “He is my place of safety.
He is like a fort to me.
    He is my God. I trust in him.”

Lord God Almighty thank you for your blessings. While I have been challenged, you have been with me. My eyes are focused on you Lord. You promised to never leave me nor forsake me. My heart is heavy but I am trusting you Lord. I will not fear or be dismayed at the things that come my way.

 I believe you are with me and your strength is my protection. Father God I give all the glory and honor to you. I am grateful that you have shown your love for me daily. I walk in your peace. I trust you Lord. I lean on you Lord when my strength is weakened.

You are my fortress, my shield and my protection. I find joy and peace when I continue to reinforce my trust in the Lord. It is your strength that I need. Thank You Lord for loving me and caring for me. I trust you Lord. My spirit is renewed at the thought of you in my life.

I am strengthened with your love. You call me your beloved and I answer. You fill my heart with joy. As I write this my heart and mind are replenished with your joy and love. The warmth of your love is forever what I seek. I love you and I am in love with you. You keep me safe and warm.

I am ready for any challenges today. I expect adversity in my life, but I know that if I walk with God, allowing God to take the lead the I have placed my trust in God to handle any situation in my life.  I love you and thank God for the ability to have another day to love you. Be blessed and be a blessing to someone.

Good Night

Your sermon was so touching and true. Tell the truth about the injustice and inequality. Similar is not equal. Your heart is good. You are sincere with your endeavor to eradicate the violence among our young people.  Promote marriage and togetherness for our people. We have to love each other. Respect one another and support one another. Marriage is a commitment that our people need to recognize is a cornerstone of our relationship stability. We have to work hard to love each other while working very hard to build a better community. You have your hands full. You are changing the world and doing a very good job. I'm so proud of you. You have taken your talents and increased them with grace. Keep doing what you are doing. You have success and favor with you always. I pray that God continues to keep his hedge of protection around you always. I'm talking to you, I see you and I love how you are changing the world. Making it a better place with love. Love conquers all. 

Suddenly

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NIV

Thank You Lord for today. I have another day to trust in you Lord. Another day to believe in your word. Suddenly I feel you with me Lord. Oh Lord I love you so much. Lord I continue  to love you and to serve you. Help me learn to trust you. I am powerful when I am able to clear the negative away and focus on today. I am powerful when I love with all my heart and all my soul and all of my strength and all of my mind. As scriptures state, Luke 10:27- He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

Thank you Lord for your mercy. Sometimes when I can't love myself, I can love my neighbor as myself and remember to love myself again. Forgive myself and know to trust in the Lord. You won't let me fall. I have been given the opportunity of free will. I chose to love you. I long to love you. You are my love, my heart's desire.

Lord help me to stamp out fear and replace it with trust. Help me to love from my heart and less from my mind and reason. I want to love my neighbor. I value relationship. I value the relationship that is important to God. If I am able surrender to the Lord, then I should be able to surrender to a man. Lord I do not want to idolize what I have done or made, I want to worship you. I don't want to worship what is seen, but what is unseen.

 Trust in the Lord our God. All others, have to show ID and/or pay in cash.  I find that so interesting. Trust,  it is not something earned or given away easily. Once lost, it is so difficult to rebuild. How do we rebuild trust to people who have been continually  betrayed. Betrayed first in the home and then in the world. Trust, until you have reason to doubt. Trust in love, because love never fails. Together or not, love never fails. If we act out of love, then we are doing God's will. I love you.

Luke 10:30-37
³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[a] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

My Love - Conditional or Unconditional

Song of Solomon 1:1-4

This is the greatest song Solomon ever wrote.

A Shulammite woman says to King Solomon,

² “I long for your lips to kiss me!
    Your love makes me happier than wine does.
³ The lotion you have on pleases me.
    Your name is like perfume that is poured out.
    No wonder the young women love you!
⁴ Take me away with you. Let us hurry!
    King Solomon, bring me into your palace.”

Thank You Lord for today. Your blessings are all around me. I pray for my ability to accept love given unconditionally. Lord, you love us just as we are. Your love is not conditional. If you were a friend, it might be because of loyalty or respect. If I consider the sort of love rewarded for good behavior or because its funny or pretty then I can understand that love. But unconditional, just because it is me, that doesn't make any sense. My heart longs for you. My love is forever present. Lord, you Love me  better than I love myself. Thank you for loving me Lord. I am blessed and highly favored. I will not complain. Even when I feel that I am wronged, I will not complain. Lord, you said you would fight my battles. Protect me as a husband protects his wife. Love me as a husband loves his wife. God knows my heart. I am loyal to the end. Nothing can separate me from God's love. Be blessed today and be a blessing to someone. I Love You.

Eternal Companion

Hebrews 7:25-28

^{25 Therefore he is able to save completely[a] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
 
26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.}

 

Trust Me or Defy Me

Trust God or Defy God...what will it be today? God I will make every effort to trust you. I love you and I want to trust you.

Don't Worry

1 Thessalonians 5:16-28

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good,²² reject every kind of evil.
²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

²⁵ Brothers and sisters, pray for us. ²⁶ Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.


Thank you Lord for waking me up this morning. Thank you lord for giving me the insight into how to handle the people around me that I have to deal with today. Lord its not easy for me and I try to get along with them but its very difficult. I hold my tongue, try to be assertive and not aggressive. I wander around with too much to do or not enough to do

. Lord, I know all of my blessings are from you and I am not a fool. I am thankful to have the opportunity to serve you daily. What ever comes my way today, I pray that I am ready for it. Lord, please hear the prayers of your people.

I have just finished reading Paul Lawrence Dunbar's The Uncalled. I have never read it before and I found it to hit home in certain areas. It was written in the late 1890"s, dialect common to black folks at the time. It requires a bit of translating in your head to hear the sounds and get the meaning of the text, but it was good reading.

 I continually came back to it to try and finish the 122 pages as quickly as possible. I wanted to find out what would happen to the boy. Seeing that I have a small boy in my charge now.

 Briefly its about a boy who is orphaned by  alcoholic parents. The story opens with the mother dead, the father abandoned the family and the boy is taken in by one of the ladies in town. This is a small, gossipy, poor town.

Out of duty, she takes him in. Treats him with not one bit of loving kindness, she is only doing her duty. Small towns are full of gossip and opinions. Just  like a school, a church, workplace environment.

The boy grows up, goes to school to be a preacher, out of respect and duty to the one who raised him but he takes a stand and decides to rebel against the town and its way of thinking.

 He leaves, encounters his father and returns, only to leave again. He finds freedom in a different kind of church and finds a girl. He finds a way to come back home, if he wants, yet he is changed and much happier.

 Should we not have the right to pursue some kind of happiness in life? Is our life only about duty and unhappiness?

 I am doing my job today, because its my duty. I am grateful for it but I look on it as my duty.

 There is no joy in this. Lord help me to see you in my daily walk.

Meditate on the word day and night. Lord know that I pray for  release from this situation.

Widen my gaze, help me to enjoy my day today at a new place.

 Lord, everything is not about me. Life is troubling for us all. Hear the prayers of your people.Take them to heart. Love us for our frailties and our strengths. Have a blessed day today and be a blessing even when its not that easy.

I Miss YOU

YOU are important to me. I seek a way for us to love one another without reservations. I pray for a solution. You are on my mind. I know that I am going to try hard not to be disappointed because I will have to miss you tomorrow. I will keep you near my heart. You are my heart. Good Night.