Past, Present, Future...I am blessed!
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgression, made us alive together with Christ -by grace you have been saved- and raised up with Him, and seated up with Him in the heavenly place in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-6
In the past He loved me. In the present I still loved, made rich in mercy, made alive, and saved. In the future I will be raised up in Christ Jesus.
The Unchanging...
God tells us we will always have seasons, and I look forward to each one but never know what kind of season it will be or when it will arrive. One thing I do know is that I never have to wonder when God will arrive or what He will be like. He is with me at all times, and Malachi 3:6 tells me, "I, the Lord, do not change."
Life is a Game: If I had to draw out of a bucket of items; like, joy or sadness, kindness or ungratefulness, good or bad, love or hate, giving or getting, self-control or lack thereof, sharing or not sharing, I would hope to draw the good versions and mature in them. Yet, should I draw one of the bad ones, I would desire to be able to turn them into good versions.
I always want the joy, kindness, love and all the good, but I constantly deal with the bad - lack of control, hate, selfishness, etc. but the choice is mine to mature it into something good- change it! The Bucket Game of Life is on every single day!
I seldom watch television in the afternoon, but when I do, the channel is usually on a remodeling home show. What starts out as a simple redo usually turns into something major when rotten flooring or even termite damage is found. A few times busy little bees have invaded the space. It is disheartening when something simple turns into a major overhaul.
Often, I think that I, too, need a major overhaul. In Romans 8, I find that God foreknew, predestined, conformed, called, justified and glorified me. I believe this has happened or will happen over time. I am being remodeled everyday by God’s special tools. It often takes a major remodeling tear out.
I am still waiting on the finished product, but I have confidence that the finished product will be beautiful. I have the best and greatest Carpenter of all time! As in the home show, I just need to step aside and let the Expert do His work.
I started my day with a little Daily Hope. It started out with Proverbs 13:20 (NCV), “Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer.” I don’t usually read from this version, so I went to my fall-back King James version. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”
This was serious stuff until I read Daily Hope’s next comment from an old saying, “If you want to soar with the eagles, you can’t run with the turkeys.” This made me “laugh out loud.”
Of course, I could not stop there! I had to look up one of my favorite verses in Isaiah 40:31, “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.”
Wishing all my readers an "enjoyable day!" So, SOAR and don't run with the turkeys. (LOL)
God always goes the extra mile. After He saved me-freed me from slavery- He has continually walked with me through my heartaches, fears, and pain. He has given me joy and laughter in a troubled world.
He Hears, Sees, Saves
The tears are mine,
And God recognizes the heartbroken sign.
My trembling voice echoes loud,
And God hears as it penetrates the cloud.
My teetering gait over rocky terrain
Shows God my human pain.
He hears it- sees it-feels it!
He soothes as together we sit.
He walks hand-in-hand
To help me stand.
He will nourish!
And, though it all, I will flourish.
Poor or well-to-do;
Gentile or Jew;
Unlearned or educated;
For all,
God has protected and waited.
He sees!
And gives a heartfelt squeeze.
He hears!
Together we walk through my fears.
For all, He hears and sees,
And sends a gentle breeze.
He protects!
Though we reject.
He cares!
He bears!
He saves!
He frees
The earthly slaves.
Mary Crisp Jameson 11/19/2024
“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again, rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” Romans 8:15 NIV
For me, praise is to glorify, and God is who I need to glorify.
Psalm 150 tells us:
1. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary- praise Him in the firmament of His power.
2. Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
3. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the psaltery and harp.
4. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and organs.
5. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals; praise Him upon the hight sounding cymbals.
6. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
For someone like me who has no musical ability I will praise Him in my way:
Praise Him in Prayer
Praise Him when I Rise
Praise Him by Abiding in Him
Praise Him In all things
Praise Him by what I Say
Praise Him Every day
I remember one Christmas when my first husband was tasked with the job of assembling a Christmas item. He tried it one way and then another, but nothing seemed to fit.
I soon stepped in and asked, “Have you read the instructions?” I knew the answer before I even asked. The manual was lying near his feet neatly folded and still in its original zipped, tight bag!
That is the way a messy life can happen for me. I am given a set of instructions. It is printed step by step in correct order, but I fail to read it, memorize it and let it soak in before I charge forward. Charging forward without reading the plan only makes me have to assemble and re-assemble, never getting it right.
It would be good for me to dwell in Psalm 119.
“I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin again You.
I rejoice in following Your statues as one rejoices in great riches.’
I meditate on Your precepts and consider Your ways.
I delight in Your decrees. I will not neglect Your ways.”
Accountability
I’m not accountable to others or even my pastor
But to God, my master!
I’m not molded by how some will sway,
But by what God wants me to do and say.
Living lies or doing pleasing to others’ eyes,
That’s not me or being free.
Living lies is not wise.
Living lies is a compromise.
Living lies gives the stomach butterflies.
Living lies is a worldly disguise.
I want to be what God desires.
Pleasing God, not the masses or wealthy classes,
Is what my day is all about.
So, His Holy Name, let me shout!
Mary Crisp Jameson 11/15/2024
“We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.”
1 Thessalonians 2:4b NIV
Being foolish is no fun. I wish I could say that I have never been foolish, but I can't. So, what can I do when I have done something foolish?
F orego any more of the same
O wn the deed
O ffer up a request for forgiveness
L isten and accept forgiveness
I dentify and Image the problem and the solution
S in no more
H eal by God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace
"Then David said to God, " I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." 1 Chronicles 21:18
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
My sense of direction has always been lacking. I do not know how I ever traveled without the modern-day GPS; however, even the GPS can get it wrong. When I come to a fork in the road, my best GPS is patience to know God’s direction.
My roses are no longer blooming, but if I went to cut the stems back, I would still find thorns. The thorns would still prick my fingers and make me say, “Ouch!”
Thorns are not just seasonal. I suppose that even though I am a Christian, I still carry thorns that will prick from time to time. Christians are not perfect people. I still sin. I still disappoint loved ones and others. I still get pricked with life events.
As great as Paul was after his conversion, he still got pricked in life. He had hardships. He was imprisoned, beaten, threatened, stoned, shipwrecked, and robbed. During his trials, he asked God that Satan, his thorn, leave him. God’s answer is found in 2 Corinthians 12, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
I have to remember that when I am weak, I am strong in my Lord, Jesus Christ! I can still do amazing work with a “thorn in my side” as long as I have Jesus.
I continue to praise God for His Son, Jesus, and for forgiveness of my sin and the courage to carry on in life.
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.”
Trials are not necessarily hardships; they can just be new, scary adventures in life. I know when I retired, I was scared of what lay ahead. Would I be able to live on reduced income? Would I find something I would enjoy doing and being constructive? Would I be lonely? Would I just hobble along and get into a rut with no happy expectations?
All this kind of thinking was a trial. A "test" as I looked for a new door of opportunity to open. I never want to miss out on, “Consider it all joy!” I also have to fall back to the following verse of scripture which comes afterward. “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
I strive to seek God first as it says in Psalm 63:1, “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
Seeking God’s Face…An Intimate Fellowship
Seeking God’s face does not happen over a weekend;
It takes a commitment, day by day,
To make Him your special friend.
The pursuit can be shallow-rooted
Or absorbed skin-deep where it cannot be looted.
His face can be found in any place you roam
Or just by resting with Him at home.
Paul sought God’s face from a prison cell.
He prayed; He witnessed-
From where he dwelled.
Jonah rebelled and delayed.
From an unhappy place,
He sought God’s face from the belly of a whale
Oh, what a story He had to tell!
Seeking God’s face cannot be hurried through;
It cannot be just a casual approach.
There is a cost to being made new.
It’s a lifetime ritual-
Not done in a moment or an hour to seek the spiritual.
O Lord, for You, my soul must thirst,
And I must seek Your face first;
In my time-in my prime-
Day by day- in every way;
Week by week I seek, year by year, to keep God near.
Mary Crisp Jameson 11/7/2024
“When You said, “Seek My face”, my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.” Psalm 27:8 NKJV
my heartaches He bears.
He hears
and wipes my tears.
He delights
and, my pathway. He lights.
He covers and guards
when my way is hard.
His hands hold power
in my woeful hour.
He listens!
He protects!
He guides!
He loves!
He delights in me.
I think the story about the Three Little Pigs is an excellent one to illustrate how we are to build the foundation of our lives and homes. It tells of how each little piggy built their homes from either straw, sticks, or bricks. The first two get blown away by the puff of the “big bad wolf”.
The story is similar to what we are told in Matthew 7:25, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
My Rock is God! The big bad wolf is Satan and his ways. So how do I want to build my house?
The Israelites wondered forty years. Were they excited that the door was finally opening, leading them into the promised land? Did they look at the open door as a new opportunity?
How do I act or what do I think when a door opens- when a new stage in life is provided? Does excitement spark? Do I:
Want it!
Own it!
Take it!
And, Thank God for it!
“The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.” Deuteronomy 2:7
