"Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you."

I find the thought that this earth has nothing to be desired besides God to be an amazing one. We all have desires for our life here and for the lives of our loved ones. But what is the main and most important desire? God and God alone. 


We may lose everything we love on earth through war, sickness or other circumstance, but we have God.  And He is enough.

The verses go on to say, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

My flesh and my heart faileth,.... Either through vehement desires of communion with God deferred, see Psalm 84:2 or through afflictive dispensations of Providence, being smitten and chastened continually, Psalm 73:14, or through inward trials and exercises, by reason of indwelling sin, temptations, and desertions: or rather the words are expressive of the body being emaciated by sickness and diseases; and the heart fainting through fear of death, or rather failing at it, being at the point of death; the heart being, as philosophers say, the first that lives, and the last that dies:

but God is the strength of my heart, or "the rock of my heart" (h); when overwhelmed with distress through outward trouble, or in the lowest condition with respect to spiritual things; when grace is weak, corruptions strong, temptations prevail, and afflictions are many; then does the Lord support and sustain his people, and strengthens them with strength in their souls; and in the moment of death, by showing them that its sting is taken away, and its curse removed; that their souls are going to their Lord, and about to enter into his joy; and that their bodies will rise again glorious and incorruptible:

Running Water.

I was washing some dishes this morning and had trouble with our tap. If you move it a tiny bit too far the water is too hot, then if you move it a tiny bit the other way the water is too cold. I felt frustrated and complained about it. Then I heard God say to me, "Many people don't have running water." I said, "That is true, and not only do I have running water - I can have it hot if I want to."

The Lord has been showing me time and again (I'm a slow learner) that I should be grateful for what I consider small things. They aren't small. No blessing is small. I just need to look around my home to find many things to be thankful for. I can look outside and see the beauty of nature. I can look in a mirror and realize I can see, think, and feel.

Father - help us all to be grateful for all your many blessings.

Abraham's Love and Generosity.

In writing about Abraham, Dwight L. Moody said it showed his greatness of character when he told his nephew Lot that he could have the choice of whatever land he wanted. Abraham was generous, kind and humble. He was the opposite of the rampant greed we see in corporations and most billionaires today. And imagine if the country of Israel acted like Abraham and said to the Palestinians, "Take half of the land and we will take the other half."  There would be no hatred, no war, no death.

Moody tells this story about a poor miner:

In Colorado the superintendent of some works told me of a miner that was promoted, who came to the superintendent, and said:

"There is a man that has seven children, and I have only three, and he is having a hard struggle. Don't promote me, but promote him."

I know of nothing that speaks louder for Christ and Christianity than to see a man or woman giving up what they call their rights for others, and "in honor preferring one another."

Love pushes out greed. Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given unto you, a good measure,  pressed down, shaken together and poured into your lap."

The Mundane Things of Life.

I read an article by Doug Helmer called, "Walking in the Mundane." He says that although we may think people of the Bible had exciting lives, most of their lives were full of doing the mundane. He says most of Noah's life wasn't about animals coming into the ark and riding in the ark to safety. His life was spent making a living and in his spare time building a huge boat. He had to cut down trees, make them into lumber, nail it and put pitch on it. This took many years.

Helmer says, "Noah's life was a testimony to walking faithfully in the mundane. His decades as a lumberjack and shipbuilder testify to the God-honoring power the person that faithfully walks the long, hard road of obedience really has."

I often think of Jesus and how most of his life entailed being a carpenter in a small town. No one knew who he was; he seemingly did no miracles during this time, he simply worked with wood and created things for people to use. This was the mundane life God chose for Jesus until he was called to preach the good news.

I made my husband happy today by making a nice lunch and dinner for him. This is mundane work I do every day, but I've realized lately how precious my job is. I'm sure it makes God glad to see us doing mundane things with a thankful spirit and seeing that although it may seem like we do small things, they are necessary,  good and make someone happier.

Hope in God.

Dear friends, I want to thank you for your prayers for Faith. I wrote on my other blog how she is finally no longer afraid of the wind. She is able to go out more and enjoy life. She had lost all hope; that is what I wrote about before on this blog. I am so thankful to God that the doctors were right that she would get better. I am thankful God was with her and us through this hard time. Of course, she may always have some problems, we don't know, but the worst of her illness is over.

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Hope  in God, for I will again praise him, my Savior and my God." Psalm 43:5

God has made us creatures who need hope. "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

As I read this verse I was struck with how important hope is in the eyes of God. He is even called, "The God of all hope." And he wants us to overflow with hope.  The commentary says God inspires and produces hope.

What is the opposite of hope? Despair. God is not the God of despair - that is Satan's weapon against us. So, let us all pray for hope when things look hopeless, because with God no situation is ever without hope.

Forgetting God.

"Can a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number." 
Jeremiah 2:32

If you are a married woman you probably remember how carefully you selected your dress, veil, shoes and jewelry. There were pictures taken and mementos kept in a special place. You don't forget your wedding day.

Israel was God's bride and yet they had forgotten him.

"Be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."
Deut. 6:12

But even after all God did for them, they did forget him and it hurt his heart.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits."
Psalm 103:2 

Years ago, sometimes I would go through the day and realize I had forgotten to take time with God that morning. I had forgotten to pray. I started asking God to remind me and he did. Sometimes now, if I am reading or blogging, I hear his voice in my heart asking me to spend some more time with him. I'm thankful for his prodding and thankful he helps me remember. I never want to forget God or his benefits for even one day.

Jake the Dog.

Every morning, if I wake up at 7:00am, I can hear the dog next door howling. His owners have gone to work for the day and Jake the dog knows he will be alone for at least 8 hours. He is sad. He is calling for them. He is lonely and I feel for him.

After creating Adam, God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

"It is not good for the man to be alone." Obviously, we were created to be with people. Loneliness is not a good thing. Something must be done if we are lonely.

Two years ago, when I wasn't home-schooling my granddaughter any longer, I became lonely. Everyone went off to work for the day. My granddaughter Faith slept all day because of her illness. I was like Jake the dog. Lonely and bored.

I prayed to God and asked him to help me. "Please give me something to do that means something to me. Please fill my empty life with something." Then I did what Joyce Meyer said to do  - believed God was working for me. I said, "I believe," and I waited to see what God would do.

God sent me to Blogger and through that he sent me wonderful friends. I am busy reading and writing and now drawing a comic strip. God has filled my days with fun and interest and I thank him so much. Ask and believe he is working. What he does for us is sometimes surprising!

Jeremiah - His Call From God.

Jeremiah was a young priest in the Land of Benjamin. Suddenly, the Lord appeared to him and said, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born I consecrated you a prophet to the nations."

Because God is all knowing and can see the future of  us all, he knew what kind of person Jeremiah would be and that he was a man God could use to speak to the world. He knew Jeremiah would be a mighty prophet for him 

Jeremiah was a humble person which is shown by his answer, "Alas, Lord God! I do not know how to speak because I am young."

But God said, "Don't say, 'I am young,' because everywhere I send you, you shall go. All I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you."

God would not accept Jeremiah's fear and dismay. He knew Jeremiah could do it with his help and strength.

"Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth..."

Age and experience means nothing to God. He often uses the very young to do his greatest work. But in order to speak for God we all need his hand to reach out and touch our mouths. May God help us and show us what to say to those who need him.

The Paths of the Lord.

Proverbs 4 has many verses in it that speaks about keeping our feet on God's path.

"I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble.

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way.

The path of the righteous is like the fist gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the left or the right; keep your foot from evil."

I have walked the worldly path. When I walked it I had no peace of mind.

I love the paths of the Lord.

These first quotes are from C.S. Lewis:


God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.



Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith but they are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the passion of Christ.


Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief. (This was written when his wife died.)



I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.


Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.


This quote is from Carl Jung- a Christian psychiatrist.


I have treated many hundreds of patients. Among those in the second half of life - that is to say, over 35 - there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life.


All quotes from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/c_s_lewis.html#ixzz1ofnErDVq

The Brokenhearted.

"The righteous cried, and the Lord heard and delivered them out of all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all."

Psalm 34:17-19

The word 'heartbroken' in the Hebrew means 'broken to shivers or splinters'. Something that is broken into pieces that small is irreparable in this world. Not so with God. He can repair a broken heart. He is especially close to those who are hurting.


Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Many are the afflictions of the righteous - This is not intended to affirm that the afflictions of the righteous are more numerous or more severe than the afflictions of other men, but that they are subjected to much suffering, and to many trials. Religion does not exempt them from suffering, but it sustains them in it; it does not deliver them from all trials in this life, but it supports them in their trials, which it teaches them to consider as a preparation for the life to come. There are, indeed, sorrows which are special to the righteous, or which come upon them in virtue of their religion, as the trials of persecution; but there are sorrows, also, that are special to the wicked - such as are the effects of intemperance, dishonesty, crime. The latter are more numerous by far than the former; so that it is still true that the wicked suffer more than the righteous in this life.

http://bible.cc/psalms/34-19.htm

He is Able.

He is:

Able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think...

Able to make all grace abound to you that you may always have whatever is sufficient for you in all things and that you may abound in every good work...

Able to help those who are being tempted...

Able to save completely those who come to God through him seeing he always lives to make intercession for them...

Able to keep you from falling and to present you without fault before his glorious presence with great joy...

Able to guard what I have committed to him against that day...


 Ephesians 3:20, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Hebrews 2:18, Hebrews 7:25, Jude 1:24, 2 Timothy 1:12

Prayer Makes a Difference.

Thank you for your prayers.

Prayer This Morning.

Dear friends, I was in prayer about Jordan this morning and the words came to me saying, "Remember what Joyce said, 'Believe God is working.'"

I felt all the tension leave my body and I said, "I believe Lord. I believe you are working for Jordan."

I'm afraid that believing and resting in God doesn't come easy for me. I only learned this last year, although I have been a Christian since I was 19. I used to pray and then still carry at least half the burden.

Thank you for your prayers.

The Unseen and Eternal.

When writing about death and resurrection, Paul had this to say:

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

"Because we know that the one who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence."

"Therefore, we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed every 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

We had a family birthday party for my granddaughter Hope this Sunday. My grandson Jordan came and I could see his heart was broken because his brother Craig, who passed away last August, was not there. Craig loved family gatherings. Jordan has no other siblings and perhaps seeing my three granddaughters together may have brought that home to him also. All of us missed Craig that day.

I have been praying and asking God to send Jordan a dream or a sign that would comfort him. So, I ask if you could say a prayer for Jordan also. Thank you so much.

God's Loving Discipline.

I had to smile when I read this verse this morning:

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."

Short, but sweet.

The commentaries say in this instance 'discipline' means: instruction or correction.

The word 'stupid' is a word meaning: brutish - like a beast.

http://bible.cc/proverbs/12-1.htm

Proverbs 3:11 says, "My son, do not despise the despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke. Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights."

When we love our children we gently correct and instruct them in how to be polite, kind, and all the myriad other actions we value. These things don't usually come without teaching. Children by themselves don't want to share their toys or know how to be polite. As they needed to be taught, we also need our God to teach us daily how to live.

Sometimes I have done wrong and the Lord convicts me of the wrong and then urges me to apologize. Believe me, it is a lesson that is burned into your mind. :)  I'm thankful he takes the time to teach me right from wrong and gives me a love for what is right.

Listen to Him!

"If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you." Proverbs 1:23

"For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Prov. 2:6

"Then you will understand what is right and just and fair - every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you." Prov.2:9-11

Imagine the God of the universe pouring out his heart to each of us and making his thoughts known to us. When I read this last night I felt amazed by the humble ways of our God and how he loves us. The beginning of Chapter 1 is about the wicked and the evil that they do to others. God is telling them what they are missing by not listening to him. And oh how much they do miss!

Seesaw- Up and Down I Go.

In my spiritual life I see my emotions and faith in God seesaw up and down. For days I am up and full of joy, thanking God for everything. Then one day, something happens and I am down. I feel frightened and overwhelmed, sad and discouraged. Because of that I then feel embarrassed my faith is so weak. Joyce Meyer has taught me to quote scripture during these times and I usually remember to do that. But what gets me is how fast I can plummet from faith to despair!

My daughter told me I can't feel happy all the time. True, but I think what I meant was having peace all the time. When I don't, I feel guilty and believe I have let the Lord down. When I was thinking about this, I remembered Elijah and how he worked for God on the mountain top, praying for fire from heaven that did come down and proved to the people God was God and not the idol Baal. Then that evening Elijah got frightened and fled from  Queen Jezebel who had threatened to kill him.

After Elijah had run for 40 days God came and asked him twice, "Elijah, what are you doing here?" Then He sent him back to finish the work God had for him to do. God had not sent Elijah into the wilderness. And God was so gentle towards Elijah's lack of faith.

I guess if Elijah can get frightened and try to run away, I shouldn't feel so bad about myself. I'm no Elijah.