The Quilt

Thank You, Lord, For Covering Me With Your Love!

Thank You, Lord, for being my safe place to fall; my place to find shelter, peace, strength, safety, comfort, and so much more.  My memory goes back to childhood winters when my youngest brother and I were still small enough to share a bed.  Every year Mama would put one of her old hand-made quilts on our bed.  Those quilts are engrained in my memory; the comfort and warmth they provided, the family heritage they represented, and the simple feeling of being cozy and cared for.  My brother and I would sit up in bed (when we were supposed to be going to sleep) and we'd look at the different scraps of old fabric in those quilt squares.  We'd pick out our "favorites" -  certain colors or textures that were special to us.  I remember a piece of dark green corduroy- it was soft and warm and comforting.  Those quilts remind me of You, Lord; with each piece representing something You so lovingly provide - warmth, security, a family heritage, rest and peace.  Thank You for being my "quilt" and for covering me with Your love!

Psalm 46:1

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Hey, Let's Go Fishing!

The fifth chapter of Luke's gospel opens with Peter and his partners, James and John, cleaning their nets after a totally fruitless night of fishing.  After using Peter's boat for a pulpit, Jesus tells him to row out into deeper waters and cast his nets again. 

I'm sure that tucked between the lines of Scripture, Peter offers some candid comments to Jesus like, "Man, I'm tired, hungry, sleepy...I just want to go home, eat some breakfast and go to bed!"  But he recognizes the Lordship of Christ and says, "O.K., Lord.  Because you say so, we will go."  The miraculous results would leave several nets ripped open and two boats sinking because of the great amount of fish that were caught.  But the greatest moment in the story comes when Peter recognizes his own sinfulness compared to the holiness of Jesus.  He, along with James and John, were now ready to learn how to fish. . .for the souls of men!

By the way, what turned the long, dark unsuccesful night into a fisherman's dream?  The same thing that turns our empty lives into powerful testimonies. . .Jesus got in the boat!  Have you let him into your life?

I Choose. . .Attitude

Well, the rain has stopped for now.  The sun is trying to make its presence known and the temperature is very comfortable. It is turning out to be a beautiful morning!  I need only one more thing to make this a nice fall day. . .a good attitude!

There are many things in life that I cannot control, like the weather, traffic, the thoughts and actions of others.  But I can control how I respond to the events of my day.  By simply remembering the awesome goodness of God, meditating on His many promises, and acknowledging the presence and control of His Holy Spirit, I can relax and know that my Heavenly Father cares for me.  And if He can love me through some of my toughest days, I guess I can love others, even when their day gets in my way.  So, for now, that's what I choose to do. . .with His help.

An Eternal Voyage

"In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety Two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."  On October 12th of that year, the voyage that would forever change the world ended on the shore of the Americas.  Through the vastness of earth's ocean waters a small group of adventurers had come to begin a new life and in so doing would place their eternal mark on man's history.

Do you remember the time when your life changed...the day, the hour when you discovered the greatness of God's unsinkable love?  Has His arrival into your heart made a change in your life?  As the settlers bowed to give thanks for safe passage to their promise land, may each of us pause to offer praise to Him who provides life abundantly now and a precious promise of eternal blessings. 

Learning to Lean

  

All too often our lives are blown off track by the winds of circumstance.  Standing alone is at best very difficult and very scary.  When faced with such hardships we struggle to fight our way through, only to find ourselves wearied by the effort.  We just need more "umph" in our steps.  The gospel chorus used for our title says:

Learning to lean, learning to lean, learning to lean on Jesus.
FINDING MORE POWER than I ever need, I'm learning to lean on Jesus.

He is our strength in the wind-blown storms of life.

II Timothy 1:7 

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."