Thankful Thursday

 Happy Thursday!

We all have so much to be thankful for on a daily basis.  Instead of listing everything that I am thankful for I am going to focus on 1 thing.  This does not mean I am thankful for everything else.

I am always thankful for my salvation.  Today I am thankful for the much needed rain we have gotten over the last few days, why you ask, do I want to focus on the rain?  

Rain, cleanses the air we breath daily, you should have seen all the pollen, dust, dirt that showed up on the vehicles.  Rain cleanses the outside, like Jesus cleanses us.  Without rain, crops die, grass dies, trees die, cracks in the ground 1" wide or more.  It also effects the hay for winter, people who have farms depend on hay for winter for their livestock.  

Rain also brought a BIG relief in the very hot and dangerous temps, Sunday here the temp was 108 and heat index of 122 and had been in the 100's over 2 weeks straight.  Today the temp is 86.

Let it Rain  what a powerful song

Jesus is the shelter in the storm week 4

 I am sorry for the late post to finish this study up.  

 I truly hope you have enjoyed this series as much as I have.

Week 4 Psalm 55:6-8 Jesus is the shelter in the storm

6:  I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!  I would fly away and be at rest.  7:  behold, I would wonder far away, I would lodge in the wilderness.  8:  I would hasten to my place of refuge from the stormy wind and tempest.

David is stressed, worried and concerned about his “so” called friends who were plotting and betrayed him.  He is unsure which way to turn or who he can trust anymore.  How hurtful for him, for those he thought loved him had strategized against him even plotting to kill him.  He is overwhelmed by so many emotions which is understandable. Helplessness, betrayal, hurt, fear, just a few emotions he must have felt.   <A mighty big storm for David to face> death, betrayal, fear and uncertain who he could turn to or trust or even where to turn.  We can all relate to the emotions like David did.  He wonders how he could just escape from it all. 1) Fly away like a dove, 2) Rave shelter from the storm} He can’t stop thinking about the murderous plans that the people plotted against him.  The hardest of all was knowing that someone behind all this was someone who David thought was a close friend.  In the midst of all the stress David turns to God and his faith is reunited again even while he wrestles with the thoughts of betrayal and fear, he decides the only way to rebuild by the burden on his mind:  Hand everything over to God, {we need to do this also, God is our safe place}  when we feel like we can’t find Him, He meets us where we are, when we do not know which way to turn due to the wild winds and the storms going on in our lives, He is right there with us.  When we can’t think of anything but running away, all we have to do is run into the arms of Jesus, for He is the safest place to be.

TRUTH:  Rest in peace in knowing that He is who He says He is and knowing he will do what he says he will do.  Also, how David found refuge in God, we can too!

Jesus is the shelter in the storm week 3

 Week 3:  Zephania 3:17

The LORD your God is in your midst.  A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy.   He will be quiet in His love.  He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

Quieting us with His love, rejoices over us with singing, Can we really relate to all this when in the middle of a storm raging around us?

BREAKDOWN OF GOD AND HOW HE VIEWS US

1st phrase The LORD your God is in your midst; <God is with us no matter where we are> relationship challenge, financial, depression, health...no matter the storm HE is in the middle of it, we can call to HIM because he is already moving in our direction, looking at us ready to lift us up and be our shelter in the storm.

2nd phrase He is the mighty one:  stronger than any storm we are facing the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is already working  within us.

3:  He will save:  it doesn't matter where you've been, where you are now, what you have done.  God's desire is to save you! He created you, loved you.  He knows we face trials in the world and trouble.  He will never allow us to be overtaken in a way that threatens our eternal life with HIM.  We are always in the very palm of HIS hand.    He will rejoice over you with gladness.  God delights in us, He invites us in to His kingdom worth and looks at us created in HIS image and says with a smile "YOU MAKE MY HEART GLAD."

4:  He will quiet you by His love.  We can quietly rest in Him in the middle of a storm, no need running around trying to fix things, rush to find solutions when things feel out of control.  We can  trust that none of the storms we are facing will overtake us, we can breath in HIS love, breath out the fear and allow him to quiet our souls in this storm.

5:  He will Exult over us with loud singing.  When in the midst of a storm Gods voice needs to be loud to be heard over all the commotion.  From HIS heart, reflection of how He feels about us.  Singing about His love for us and reminding us to trust Him through the storm, it comes out in Him because He is love.  Imagine being in His loving arms being sung over while the storm rages around us .   There is a lot of comfort in that statement.

Friday Photos

Nothing like getting awakened by loud and rumbly thunder.   This was around 5:30 am today.  The weather guys/gals were right about this storm.   I plead the blood of Jesus over us and His angels of protection.  12 miles away winds were up to 70mph by time it got here we only got very heavy rain, wind and an awesome light show.

 

Jesus is the shelter in the storm!  whether it be natural storms or our life's storms he is always there!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Today's Verse for Wednesday, July 12

Mark 12:30

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

July Bible Journaling: Jesus is the shelter in the storm

 Happy July all!  Hope that you are staying cool today at 615PM cdt it is 97 with the index of 122

This months theme is Jesus is the shelter in the storm

Week 1  

2 Corinthians 4:8-9  8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

 when we are perplexed there is no need for despair; even if we are persecuted we will NEVER be abandoned by HIM; when struck down, we will not be destroyed.  [Life is a journey with different seasons, growth, times of fruitfulness, times of hardship and storms. ]

{We are not immune to storms of life}  we have all experienced: waves of storms that  threatened to drown our peace >hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struckdown, the storms and waves of life.

PROMISES

*God is our faithful comforter.  He will be with us during the storms of life and in times of need,  HE can calm the storms in our lives more often than not.  Seems, like He helps us through them.  Either way, He always keeps us safe in Him!  We are not crushed, despair will not over take us.  We will NEVER be abandoned or destroyed.  {GOOD NEWS:  STORMS DO NOT LAST FOREVER} all though we all face various storms /troubles in life we can  ALWAYS hold onto this promise:  GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL and he is always present with us.  REMEMBER, we get peace knowing He is always with us.  He encourages us to always put our trust in Him when things get unshaken and we feel uncertain.

We all will learn about REFUGE, SHELTER, STRENGTH, SAFETY in any of life's storms.  He is present with us no matter the season.  All though we go through storms His hand is a buffer; it is a protection that will keep us from being destroyed by the storm.

Week 2 Matthew 8:26  He *said to them, "why are you afraid, you men of little faith?"  Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.

Jesus rebukes the wind and sea with just His voice and brings a calming over the raging storm.  Before Jesus did this miracle; He asked His disciples this thought provoking question, Why are you afraid?  Ye, me of little faith? * This invites us to reflect on our own faith and fears that plague our lives.

Jesus recognized the disciples lack of faith yet instead of condemning them He instead invitingly and lovingly to trust Him.  In much the same way that Jesus extends his invitation to us, he wants us to have faith in Him and to place our trust in His power and authority and yest essential to knowledge that journey of faith is not always easy.  We come through storms, doubts, fear, uncertainties that arises sometimes threatens and engulfs us in their ways, but yet, just like the disciples when we find ourselves amidst these storms feeling overwhelmed and helpless, we have the invitation of where to turn.  Sometimes the waves of challenges crashes in on us leaving us feeling powerless.  It is precisely in that moment that Jesus invites us to have faith in him.

When Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves, He demonstrated His power over the forces of nature and shows us in a tangible way that nothing is beyond His control.  Same way that Jesus desires to reveal His authority over the storms in our own lives.   He wants to bring us peace, calmness from all the chaos that we are experiencing.   How do we cultivate and strengthen our faith in Jesus?

1.  Spend time with him in prayer and studying His word.  Through prayer we connect with him as our father, protector, we find comfort in his presence and learn to know who he is.  We will discover His promises, teachings, faithfulness all through history.

2.  Surrender our fears and anxieties to Him.  Jesus, understands our fears and He is ready to carry our fears and burdens if we will allow him.  He longs to replace our anxiety with His peace and fill us with His strength.  We have to turn it  ALL over to Him.

3.  Faith grows through experience.  As we encounter various trials and challenges than we witness first hand how Jesus, sustains us and delivers us in each storm we weather, becomes an opportunity for our faith to mature and for us to recognize Jesus powers working in our lives.  This is especially powerful when we go back and revisit the truths we have written down when we are going through hard times.

God, is the only one who has authority in the storms, both in nature and in our hearts.  When we place our faith in Him we can be assured that He will calm the winds and the waves and bring peace to our hearts.

Fellowship week 4

 Sorry week 4 of Fellowship is so delayed.    It has been so busy around the "farm" having to mow every couple of days, clean up from the storm, the heat ect.

Today verse is Psalm 19:10 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 

The study bible version they are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the dripping of honeycomb.

Gods word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond between emeralds.  You will like it better than strawberries in the spring! better than red, ripe sweet strawberries.

Wee would like Gods word better than berries, but what if we don't?

What if we are reading Gods word and it seems very dry and tasteless?  We have all experienced this.  We are not alone.   Do not feel bad if the season isn't right.  Read and pray about the stale season.  IE if the season for strawberries too much or not enough rain, do we forget about the berries? how they taste? NO we do not , as we have experienced that red, sweet, delicious taste.  The same is true of the time we spend in Gods word.  We know His word is precious and sweet.  THIS IS WHY WE KEEP COMING BACK TO HIS WORD TIME AND TIME AGAIN.