Welcome to the Month of April

Greetings dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, The month of April and just as I write down the words I get a skippity doo dah feeling. Yes, pictures of a girl and boy wearing rubber boots walking and playing in the water puddles made by the rain showers or maybe a girl walking down the sidewalk carrying a polka-dotted umbrella. And it is special in another way, my daughter was born in April. There were several brothers and uncles and nephews and cousins but very few girls in our family so God granted my prayer. Of course that was several years back. However, I still have special feelings for the month of April. And that brings me to the topic for this post. Whenever I open my weather map to check the day's weather it has an "actual" temperature and "feels like" a temperature which can be drastically different. Today's actual temperature was 41 degrees but the feel like was 23 degrees. There were many factors, like wind and humidity, that were calculated to come to the final temperature. Well... me being me and wanting to bring my Lord into the picture. My thoughts drifted to the "actual" according to what is written in the scriptures and the "feels like" is so very different. I am sure that in your lives there are many times that your "feels like" gets in the way of the "actual". Psalm 143:8-12 tells the actual of just how great is our God. "Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul. Deliver me, O LorD, from my enemies; I take refuge i You. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my god, Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble. And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am Your servant." Yes, when it "feels like" the day can't get any worse or the situation seems so dire or the sickness seems to linger the "actual" is His Lovingkindness and His deliverance and He will revive and destroy All that afflicts your soul. Dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, may He be Your umbrella and your rubber boots as you walk into the month of April. Let us pray - Abba Father, Glorious and Majestic and our Creator. Lord I pray that You who made the rain and the thunder and the lightning that bring the April showers to water the earth may Your good Spirit lead each sister-in-Christ on level ground as she walks through each day given by You as a gift and with it shower her with tender mercies and blessings. In Jesus Name, Amen. Blessings my dear and precious sisters-in-Christ,

LyndiaSue

This Is A New Day

Greetings dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, The morning sun is shining into my room as I sit here typing on my keyboard. The morning sun brings radiant light into my room after a good night's rest. A couple of days ago as I opened the curtains to look outside my backyard there was a squirrel, a rabbit, and a robin enjoying the morning sunlight. I watched as they sat together in the grass for a couple of minutes. The robin was the first to fly away but the squirrel and rabbit remained as I walked away from the window. Yes, a sure sign that Spring is here and all the sounds of Spring. The birds singing in the morning, the wind blowing through the new growth on the trees, the sounds of rain drops falling on the newly sprouting buds and bulbs. Welcoming sounds of joy and hope. Yesterday morning I was able to take my morning walk in the park because the wind was quiet for a while. It is a wonderful small park just big enough to walk around and quaint enough to house the usual park offerings. A little theater for shows or plays, pickleball courts, playground area with swings and climbing equipment and of course a gazebo to sit in. If you walk around the whole area it is about a mile. Yesterday I took my time walking around because I watched as the squirrels scampered up the trees and the birds flew in and out of the tree branches. There is a verse found in Psalm 118:24, it is written, "This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it." So shall we! Abba Father, Gracious Lord, thank You for today, for this marvelous and glorious day that You have made. And it is not only a new day but with it comes new mercies for it is written, "The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23). O LORD, as each dear and precious sister-in-Christ walk into a new day may they rejoice and be glad in it and also look forward in anticipation in what You are doing in their lives. Praise You for Your loving kindnesses and for Your compassion. In Jesus Name, Amen. Welcoming in the new day,

LyndiaSue

The Word of the Lord Never Fails

Greetings dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, In my younger years when our children were still at home and when we had movie night one of our favorites was "Princess Bride". There was a scene in which a few words were spoken and I find myself repeating them. The scene was the princess was kidnapped late at night and soon after they set sail one of the kidnappers saw a boat following them but was not concerned but looking back soon afterwards the boat was gaining on them to which he made a remark that that it was impossible at least 3 or 4 times. Another character seeing that the boat was defying what had been said and he responded to the man, "You keep saying that. I don't think it means what you think it means!" I have been hearing comments lately and in order to understand and try to digest the information and make some sense of it this scene and these statments came to my mind. So going to the Lord and seeking His truth there were three verses that I began to add to my pathway of Faith. The first is found in Isaiah 40:8, "The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever." The second verse is found in Luke 1:38, "And Mary said, "Behold, the "bondslave" of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your words." The third is found in 1 Peter 1:25, "BUT the word of the LORD endures forever." Our God is a Good God! There are so many circumstances and challenges in every person's lives on a daily basis that life is overwhelming at times. And just like in the movie mentioned above the situations in our lives are so very real and we hope at times that it was a bad movie or even a bad dream. Also several years back we attended a home bible study and our leader of the group, a dear and precious sister-in-Christ, would always bring the discussion back on tract and ask, "Where is that in the bible?" So, for me I must focus upon the eternal instead of the temporal. And sometimes I even have to say as Mary did, "may it be done according to your words" because I do not understand His ways or His understanding for I have been given a limited mind. I thought it would be appropriate to attach a picture that my mother-in-law painted and has been hanging in our home(s) for many, many years. How gracious and magnificent and amazing and marvelous is our Lord. Let us pray - Abba Father, we come before Your throne of Grace and lift our arms in praises to Thee. Thank You for giving us the gift of life. Thank You for Your Son. Lord, I pray for each dear and precious sister-in-Christ and ask that You would surround them with Your Goodness and Faithfulness and Lovingkindness as they start their day and at the end of their day give them a peace and rest to trust in You at all times. In Jesus Name, Amen.

LyndiaSue

Against ALL Odds He is Able

Greetings dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, My night time devotional is, Daily Light by Bagster/Lotz, it is composed of morning and night scripture only and has a theme for each reading. On March 8th the theme of the evening verses were about Him being able. The titled verse, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is Able. (2 Tim 1:12) And the following verses - Able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. (Eph. 3:20) Able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8) Able to aid those who are tempted. (Heb. 2:18) Able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb. 7:25) Able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. (Jude 24) Able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. (2 Tim. 1:12) Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Phil 3:21) and the last verse, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, LORD." "According to your faith let it be to you." (Matt 9:28-29) Yes, my dear and precious sisters-in-Christ this is who we worship and who we commit our lives to and who we honor. It seems that the older I get there are challenges and situations that seem to be against all odds of being restored or renewed or redeemed or even beyond all Hope BUT I chose to trust in what is written that He is Able. And maybe it is not about age at all, maybe it is about life itself. So let us approach the throne of Grace in prayer - Abba Father, we give You all the glory and all the praise and all the honor. LORD, we come before You and proclaim, "Yes LORD" and believe and know that Your response will be just the same as it was, "According to your faith let it be to You.". Lord, with this proclamation we will no longer be anxious or fear what happens for You are Able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. In Jesus Name, Amen. Resting in HIM,

LyndiaSue

Welcome to the Month of March

Greetings dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, Welcome to the month of March and from the weatherman the month will be like, "come in like a lion and go out like a lamb", nature shows that the lion is the beast and king of the jungle, and God says, Judah is lion's whelp (Gen. 49:9) and John 1:29 says, "...Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" and also in Revelation 5:12, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive...". So once again, welcome to the month of March, and whether or not the references about the lion and the lamb ring true the most important truth is that Jesus is from the tribe of Judah and that Jesus is the Lamb that was slain. Isn't our Creator, the Great I AM, who created the lion and the lamb and set in motion at the beginning of the foundation of the world that all of mankind would one day see Him face to face. There are days when I feel like the day is definitely a beastly day with challenges and words and situations where I feel like I am being torn apart or even devorered (Psalm 7:2) BUT... when I see a BUT I put GOD next to it. We have a GOD who interrupts our lives with a BUT and I am so thankful that He does otherwise I would not be where I am today. Yes, our GOD who created EVERYTHING is still in control and we need not worry about our day for He has filled it with His tender mercies and instructed us to rejoice in it and also He has already planned and purposed our day(s). Let us pray - Abba Father, our Lord who gives us life and breath and shelter and provisions and directions, Praise to Thee! O, Lord, I pray for each dear and precious sister-in-Christ that her day, this day would be filled with Your Presence and Your Provision and Your Peace, may her love for You be evident in her speech and actions and may she be as bold as a lion for she is righteous before You and may she worship the Lamb that was slain. In Jesus Name, Amen. Blessings and more blessings,

LyndiaSue

Just As I Am

Greetings dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, I am sure that several of you will be able to relate - so here goes - by God's grace I have made it to my seventies! Some days or should I say most days it is a toss up on the statements I tell myself. Statements like - "why did you think you could do that?", to "Lord, you have to be kidding!" They aren't really hair raising situations but still they can be rather difficult to accomplish. For example, we have one of those beds that are adjustable and it came with an app. When we moved to our new place last year the remote was damaged so I needed to use my phone or ipad. So installing the app, not a problem, but would not work. Of course, I contacted customer support and explained the situation. First off, my bed that I bought in 2016 is really outdated and the nice gentleman told me that he might not be able to help. But, he would try, and with a little bit of research on his part he found a manual and being the IT guy he went to work. I am on my phone and also my Ipad as he is walking me through this process. All is well until he gets to the part that I have to reset the bed's modem. I began to chuckle because he explained to me that it was underneath the bed, attached to the main frame of the bed. Why did I chuckle, because I had to get down on my stomach and with my phone light and reaching to the center of the bed I found the little black box and the button that I needed to reset the modem. It was so hilarious, here I am on the hardwood floor stretching and looking for this little black box and a little button. Dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, God so has a sense of humor! As I was laughing at myself the young gentleman on the other end of the line was just as excited as me that he could help me and when I told him my age and why I was laughing he was so proud of himself that he could help. We had a little conversation afterwards and then I celebrated the fact that I could still do this and laugh about it. Yes, just as I am. The Lord created each one of us in His image and also created us with gifts and talents and so much more. Indeed, life is an adventure and walking in faith with Him is so beautiful and exciting and relaxing and refreshing. Let us pray - Abba Father, Praise to Thee and thank You O LORD, that You, who created us, continually and constantly and consistently watch over us, guide us, direct us, cleanse us, renew us, guard us, protect us, equip us, LOVE us, and sacrificed Your One and Only Son that we made spend eternity with Him. O, LORD, I pray for each dear sister-in-Christ today that she would celebrate and be still and also praise You for she comes before You and can say, LORD, "Just As I Am" and worship You. In Jesus Name, Amen. Living a life of thankfulness,

LyndiaSue

Psalm 85:10-11 The Setting of the Sun

Greetings dear and precious sisters-in-Christ, I penned this yesterday as I was reading the Psalms. These two verses in Psalm 85, at first reading, reminded me of my life in Hawaii. As I read them over a couple more times these are the thoughts that I had and wanted to share them with you this morning. The setting of the sun is like - It is written, "Loveingkiness and truth have met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other, truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven." O, LORD, sunset after sunset and as the years passed by I would sit or stand in wonder waiting for the green flash at first, and then it became a time to wait for the end of the day, when the sun first kissed the earth - such an intimate time, like the first kiss of lovers. The waiting! O, LORD, praise You that even if I never see it face to face again, I will have the imprint in my mind that at the end of every day and the sun was setting that at the first touch of the sun upon the earth was actually Your display of just how magnificent and glorious You are for, "Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other, truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven." Praise to Thee, O LORD God my Father in Heaven hallowed be thy name, In Jesus Name, Amen. Let us pray - Abba Father, I pray for each dear and precious sister-in-Chrst that Your Lovingkindness and truth and righteousness and peace would be upon her and she would walk our her faith with boldness and be a testimony to Your goodness and mercy with each step she takes throughout her day. Embrace each one with Your peace and hope and joy today and everyday. In Jesus Name, Amen. Waiting for the touch,

LyndiaSue