The Truth We So Easily Forget

"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy." Psalm 145:8

Today was one of those days that I turned to the center of my bible and read the first Psalm that my eyes fell upon. The verse above was like a slap in the face in some senses. Truth so simple that I often overlook the reality of it. In the everyday messes I face sometimes, I find myself thinking just the opposite of my God.

Put your name in all the blanks: The Lord is gracious toward______and full of compassion for______, slow to get angry at_____and great in mercy toward________.

On days when things don't go as you think they should, do you ever feel like God has used all His compassion on someone else, that He must be angry with you, or that He seems to be merciful to people who don't care about Him? I know that I am not alone in this faulty thinking. It is a lie that Satan tries his hardest to make us believe. We wouldn't need all the verses in the Bible about God's character if I was the only one prone to doubt that adjectives God uses to were really true all the time.

Read the Bible and see for yourself that we are constantly being told how awesome and loving our God is. The Old and New Testments are filled with descriptions for God. God knew that as weak and fearful humans, needed to make sure to give us frequent reminders of His perfect goodness in the Scriptures. I realized today how subtle our enemy, the devil, undermines this particular truth and whispers lies to us. He doesn't want us to believe God is who He says He is and trust in that because Satan knows it will give us the faith and belief that we need to move on and accomplish God's purposes and will for our lives.

I decided to write Psalm 145:8 down on an index card because I need to remember even in the bad days God is not against me. He is not like us in His responses to us. My compassion, mercy, and forgiveness directed to others will never compare to the love the Father has for you and me. His mercy, love, compassion and grace surpasses our best efforts at showing these qualities. Just reading and tucking that truth at the forefront of my mind today has given me new peace and energy for the day.

Forgive me Lord for things about you that are true yet I so easily forget or doubt. Help me renew my mind daily about the truth of who you are even when I doubt for a moment.

Lay It At Jesus' Feet

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you." I Peter 5:7

My 12 year old son just informed me that he is not into guitar so much anymore. A few months ago his teacher told me he had a gift and we need to pursue this. It was hard to get him to stop playing a few weeks ago. He just begged for a new guitar and got one. He just asked for a new stand and got one. Now this? After a year and a half of lessons? I immediately saw my pretty good day go south. How do you keep your children ambitious? Or was something else going on in his heart?

I instantly thought about days like this when I don't feel like doing the things that I love. I spoke more indepth with my son once he humbled himself and admitted it was more than he told me. I discovered that our God-given ambitions can be crushed by fear and worry. As I got him to open up (YAH!) and talk freely, I discovered his issue was something we could talk through and work on together.

I am so glad that God can help us through our times of struggle but I think it is our responsibility to go to Him and lay our cares and burdens at His feet. Sure He knows all, but He wants to hear from us. I knew something was bothering my son but I was just seeing the symptoms. When he finally opened up a little and we started talking, his whole outlook on life as a 12 year old changed and he felt much better. He now is talking "professional musician" someday. WOW, all from a parent-child heart to heart talk.

Laying things at the feet of Jesus always gives me a peace that is amazing. If I would only do it more. I am so glad that I paid attention to my son's feelings and had that heart to heart; I know our Heavenly Father is thrilled when we have a heart to heart with Him. He is the perfect parent.

Help me Lord, to remember this day as a lesson about how You as our Father feel when Your children are hurting and You want us to come to You.

Thunder and Rain

"The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters." Psalm 29:3

It is pouring out! What is even better is the constant rumble of the thunder. It is hovering over us and I love that. Thunderstorms never seem to last long enough for me. Thunder is something we get with a storm, we cannot make the noise ourselves and putting in a CD that plays thunderstorms is just not the same as the real rain hitting the roof and the different volumes in the cracking thunder.

God is not something that we can predict either. He sends the rain and thunder in our life but it is sure to follow with the sunshine eventually. His mark on us is like no other. I am so glad that we cannot replace God with a CD we stick in the player. It would just not be the same.

Thank you Lord for being the real thing!

Starting Out

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

I am just starting out in the blogging world and I am excited. I have so much to share that sometimes I am overwhelmed. As God teaches me I just feel like I have to share it with people. That is one of my spiritual gifts coming out. I have been out of full-time ministry for a couple years now and I just really miss the interaction that I had with the women I was working with and the community. Since we have moved, we just now found a church we feel is for us. As we get settled in there I am sure God will direct me into new forms of ministry. I was glad for the restful years, but I am excited to see where He wants me serving.

For now, I spend most of my time homeschooling my kids and working on bible study curriculum and a book that I am writing. Who has time for TV? I will never figure that out. Well, I guess there was a time in my life that my TV watching did master much of my time. There is just too much to do to sit around and waste away on a couch all evening. I am so glad God showed me how much time I was wasting. Try turning the TV off and see what He can do with that time.

On Your Team,
Dana