Morning Glories : Renew Your Strength!

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31

I have always thought this passage to be such an empowering passage. Don’t you think so? It’s a comforting passage in times of trial because we know that no matter what, when we are waiting upon the Lord, we are going to be renewed and strengthened! When we wait upon the Lord, we can soar to greater heights!

And sometimes this renewing doesn’t happen physically. But we can know that spiritually we can be nourished and enriched and strengthened when we do go to God and lean on Him, and give Him our cares! I have had times in my life where I have felt as though I were in the “depths of despair” (to quote Anne of Green Gables), and I admit that sometimes I would let myself get so far gone before remembering that God is always there for me. Sometimes it is hard to remember this when you’re going through so much! It really hasn’t been long since I have learned this lesson – honestly not even a year ago, when I felt like my world was crashing down all around us and there was nobody for us to turn to.

Until I realized that there was! God is always right where He’s always been, and it is up to us to seek Him!

And when we do seek Him… burdens are lifted; our spirits soar! What a blessing! God is so good to us!

I hope your day is beautiful and blessed!

Morning Glories: Outstanding and Everlasting

"...and, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world."
Matthew 28:20

Aren’t the words of our Savior so comforting? It makes everything seem so bearable here on earth, or at least more so than if we thought we were all alone. I find so much comfort in the fact that I am never alone in my trials and problems. There is a hymn that I love to sing that really shows the feeling in our need for Christ:

Precious lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

When my way grows drear precious lord linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

When the darkness appears and the night draws near
And the day is past and gone
At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

Precious lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home.

And Jesus has said that He is with us always. How amazing is that?

Comforting. Amazing. Christ's words, His teachings, His love. Outstanding and Everlasting. Christ is with me, and my soul is at peace.

I hope you all have a blessed day and find your soul at peace as Christ is with you!

Morning Glories–Be Blessed!

Brand new to Bringing Up Benjamin!! I am going to start trying to do a short little devo in the morning here on my blog, just to start out my day with something uplifting. I’m calling it “Morning Glories” and I hope that you will enjoy these as much as I anticipate myself enjoying them! Feel free to snag the idea yourself.

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” Jeremiah 17:7

 

I always enjoy the passages that open up with “Blessed is the man…” because it always brings a smile to my face. I know that whatever is going to follow that phrase is going to be something good. I love that the word “blessed” is literally translated as “oh how happy!”. “Oh how happy is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” How can you read that passage and others like it and not feel happy?

Trusting in God is something that I have had to learn to do ‘the hard way’. I never really knew what it meant to trust in God until I had no other option than to do just that. But as soon as I did, things just … fell into place and I did become happy because I knew that God was taking care of me – I did have hope!

Our God is an awesome God! He cares for me, and He cares for YOU! I pray that today whatever might be weighing our minds down, we might give it up to God and let Him take the burden off of us. Trust in God! Find your hope in Him and let yourself be blessed!

I hope you all have a beautiful day! Don’t forget to pray!

 

A few words for 2011

I’d make a New Years Resolution if I thought I would remember throughout the year and keep it. But I know myself better than that. So I’m going to set myself up with a couple of guidelines for the year and if I can stick with those, I know I will be all right. I’m going to share with y’all in case you need to see them too for inspiration for your New Year!

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33

“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice!” – Philippians 4:4

“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” – Romans 12:9

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2

“Pray without ceasing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:17

“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” – Galatians 6:10

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13

May your New Year be blessed and may we all strive to serve God to the best of our abilities in 2011!!

 

And a prayer request:

Please pray for my family this coming week. My Great-Granddaddy died yesterday (he was 95 years old) and we will be traveling down to South Georgia for the funeral early this coming week. Also, we’re going to be moving in exactly one week. So please remember us in prayer! Thanks!

laying up for myself

This evening, there are a few things on my mind. I've had a pretty relaxing day, a productive day, a blessed day. I've spent time with my mom and my son and my dad. And "my" dog. And my camera. And my Lord. And it's been a good day.

But, I miss my husband. Do you get that from my recent posts? I really do miss him. Tonight is Lost night, and usually we watch it together with our friends, but tonight... tonight is the first night in a long while that we haven't watched a new episode together. This may seem silly to some of you, but we enjoy spending this time together. Or, at least I do. {ha ha}

And I think about Hubby all day long because I spend all day with Benjamin, who is exactly like Hubby in so many ways. His curiosity, his wildness, his spontaneity, his blue eyes.



Sigh.

Yeah, I miss him. Kinda a lot.

Anyway, I'll stop boo-hooing and show you a few of my favorite things:



Oh, if I had all the money in the world. I'd have all the bright and colorful things my heart desired! And then some.

You may not know it, but I am rich. I may not be so rich to buy all the little extras, but I'm pretty rich.

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:" Matthew 6:20

That pretty much sums up my thoughts this evening.

Clean

Happy Friday!

Today has been a busy day for me so far. Right now Mariah is napping. Benjamin was in his crib earlier until I started hearing delighted squeals and raspberries coming from his room, so I retrieved him {so he wouldn't wake up Mariah}. Now he is sitting here at the table with me eating his fruit snacks and ritz crackers. Me, I'm eating a Special K protein bar, which doesn't taste too bad, to be honest. I'm also thinking about the Daily Scripture.

Did you see it?

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” - Deuteronomy 6:6-7

One of the reasons I added the daily verse was not only to share a verse a day with my friends, but because they are often thought-provoking for me. I like to take the verse and meditate on it throughout the day. On days where I do this, my day always seems brighter.

I love that verse, Deuteronomy 6:6-7. It puts in perspective the real, true responsibility we parents have. There are so many parents who make the biggest fuss over the littlest things, like having the perfect appearance, having nice cars, having a pristine home, doing exciting, fun things all the time. I'm not saying any of those are sin - but sometimes we prioritize and forget what should be at the top of the list: God.

Benjamin loves his Bible Class. Whenever we go to church, he always runs into his classroom before we've even started, before anyone even gets to the building. He loves to see my Bible and to turn the pages. He is all smiles when we sing his favorite Bible class songs. He loves to look through his animals and hear about creation.

I love that he loves Bible class. There are some days when he is a bit too cranky to really love anything, but usually Bible class is very fun and exciting.

But, Bible class will not be the main source of Bible learning. There are so many teachable moments throughout the day, and I need to make it a priority to take advantage of this. I can spend all day cleaning and doing laundry and organizing, or I can spend the majority of my time teaching my son about God and the Bible and Jesus and the Church. I did this for a while yesterday when Benjamin and I were in his playing with his toys. We listened to his Bible Song CD, and Benjamin enjoyed it.

This is something that is always on my mind. I was fortunate enough to have been taught from a young age to love God and the Bible, and I want the same for Benjamin. I might go a day without folding a piece of laundry or picking up the living room, but as long as I don't go a day without teaching my son, I'm perfectly okay with this.

Clean or not clean, my house isn't going to last through eternity, but Benjamin's soul will - and whether or not his heart is clean in the end is what matters.

Praying Just to Pray

Every day it seems that someone new is requesting prayers for some difficulty a friend or family member is having in their life, or maybe even for themselves. I love to pray for other people. I know God has commanded us in His word to pray for the sick (James 5:24) and to pray for God's people (Philippians 1:9-11) by Paul's example. I like to remember to pray to God for our daily needs (Matthew 6:11), and especially for forgiveness when it's needed (Acts 8:22-24). I pray for strength and to resist temptation when I'm faced with one (Matthew 6:13, 26:41). I even try to remember to pray for my enemies (Matthew 5:44), even though I really don't like to call anyone my enemy. We always pray when we sit down to eat, too!

But I was just thinking today... when do I ever pray just to pray?

I have reasons to pray every day. There are so many hurting people out there. And there are also so many reasons to be thankful and to rejoice! But when do I ever just sit down and pray just to pray to my God? Just to talk? Just to let Him know what's on my mind? Sometimes I just feel like venting and sometimes I go to my husband and let him know what's on my mind and what's got me so riled up. Why don't I go to God like that? When something's upset me, how come I don't just sit down and talk through it with the Father?

I think about Daniel, who three times daily knelt down in his home (while in captivity!), to pray to God. Three times daily! Daniel made time to talk to God, and I just pray when we're about to eat or when I get to thinking about those who have asked for and need prayers. I sing the song to Benjamin in Bible Class "Read Your Bible, Pray Every Day" - Listen to God and Talk to God every day - yet I find that I don't do that half the time! Isn't that awful?

It's something I need to work on. It's something I am going to work on. It's something so crucial to my walk with God, and it needs my attention! God needs my attention just as those I pray for need His.

So, the question for you is, how often do you pray just to pray?

Perfection.

I wouldn't say that I am a perfectionist in many ways. I've already shared my thoughts on why my house is not clean, and many other things just aren't at the top of my priority for being perfect. There are a few things that I will put extra effort into because I feel like it should be perfect, and more often than not it's just me having standards much too high to be realistic. In fact, so many times it seems that whatever it is I am stressing over perfection about, it happens to be something that I have no control over, or perhaps only partial control. Relationships - I want them all to be perfect, but nobody is perfect.

Well, except God. God is perfect. The Divine Trinity. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. All perfect. And everything they do is perfect. I am so very thankful to have that knowledge. To know that whatever God does, it is always perfect. He has perfect wisdom and perfect power. Everything He has done, and everything He will ever do.

God's Word? Perfect.

His scheme of redemption? Perfect.

His requirements for repentance? Perfect.

And while we sometimes try to 'fix' these to our own liking, try to force other requirements into the equation or take some away, God's standards do not change. I take a lot of comfort in the fact that God does not change. There's no reason for Him to change: He is perfect, and all He has done... well, you get the picture.

I am so thankful that we don't have to submit to man's requirements in order to gain Salvation. I am so thankful that we don't have to submit to man's requirements in order to gain forgiveness.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
(Galatians 1:8-9)

God's way is the perfect way, God's standards perfect, God's judgement perfect. While I am not perfect, I take great comfort in knowing that God is. While those surrounding us are not perfect

God IS.

And I am thankful.

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Outstanding and Everlasting

Precious lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

When my way grows drear precious lord linger near
When my light is almost gone
Hear my cry, hear my call
Hold my hand lest I fall
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

When the darkness appears and the night draws near
And the day is past and gone
At the river I stand
Guide my feet, hold my hand
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home

Precious lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I'm tired, I'm weak, I'm lone
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious lord, lead me home.


I find so much comfort in the fact that I am never alone in my trials and problems.

"...and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28:20

Comforting. Amazing. Christ's words, His teachings, His love. Outstanding and Everlasting. Christ is with me, and my soul is at peace.