Category: Blessings

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Apples of Gold

For the last few days I have been reading about Solomon’s rise to power. He was a young man, used by God, to bring a season of peace to Israel.

One night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and told him, “ask for anything you want and I’ll give it to you”.

Solomon’s answer is one that speaks to my heart.

“You were very kind and loyal to your servant, my father David… And you showed him the greatest kindness when you let his son take his place as king. 7 Lord my God, you have made me the king in my father’s place, but I am like a small child. I don’t have the wisdom I need to do what I must do…9 So I ask you to give me the wisdom to rule and judge them well and to help me know the difference between right and wrong. Without such great wisdom, it would be impossible to rule this great nation.” I King 3:6-9 ERV

The Lord was pleased with Solomon’s answer and granted his request but the Lord also added these blessings as well.

“You asked for the wisdom to listen and make the right decisions. 12 So I will give you what you asked for. I will make you wise and intelligent. I will make you wiser than anyone who ever lived or ever will live. 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for. You will have riches and honor all your life. There will be no other king in the world as great as you.” I Kings 3:11-13 ERV

The other morning I wrote in my journal, “Lord, I want to be kind and wise”. Kindness without wisdom can lead us to do impractical things but kindness with wisdom gives us direction to make proper decisions.

I can’t help but think that James may have been studying the life of Solomon when he wrote: “ Do any of you need wisdom? Ask God for it. He is generous and enjoys giving to everyone. So he will give you wisdom. 6 But when you ask God, you must believe. Don’t doubt him. Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is blown up and down by the wind.” James 1:5-6 ERV

The prayer for wisdom is a prayer that God enjoys answering for everyone who asks.

Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, said this about wisdom.

“ Look for wisdom like silver. Search for it like hidden treasure. 5 If you do this, you will understand what it means to respect the Lord, and you will come to know God. 6 The Lord is the source of wisdom; knowledge and understanding come from his mouth. 7 He gives good advice to honest people and shields those who do what is right. 8 He makes sure that people are treated fairly. He watches over his loyal followers.” Proverbs 2:4-8 ERV

At my age, I am still trusting the Lord for wisdom, learning from His word, following the leading of the Holy Spirit. I desire to share the Father’s heart and His word with the world that He has placed me in.

“ Saying the right thing at the right time is like a golden apple in a silver setting. 12 Wise advice to a listening ear is like gold earrings or fine jewelry.” Proverbs 25:11-12 ERV

Saying the right thing at the right time is a true treasure, like apples of gold in a setting of silver!

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Grateful – Day After Day

This is a morning of praise!

“All my life You have been faithful. All my life You have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God!” Goodness of God, Bethel Music, 2018.

Those are the words my heart is singing over and over again.

ALL MY LIFE YOU HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL!!!

There has never been a moment in my life that God hasn’t been good. I may not have recognized it in the moment, I may have been overcome by despair and loneliness, self-pity or lack but when I look back now I see it all so clearly. He was there and He was faithful – faithful to His word and faithful to me.

“We praise you, Lord God! You treat us with kindness day after day, and you rescue us. 20 You always protect us and save us from death.” Psalm 68:19-20 CEV

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I focus on gratitude and thanksgiving during the month of November. It just seems right, however, I would like to start now.

For the next month, I’m asking that you make a list. Just put one thing each day on that list, one thing that you consider a blessing; one thing that you are thankful for. Each day add one more thing. Make a list on paper, in the note section of your laptop or phone. Write it down, remind yourself of the goodness of God.

“With all my heart I praise the Lord, and with all that I am I praise his holy name! 2 With all my heart I praise the Lord! I will never forget how kind he has been.” Psalm 103:1-2 CEV

Become a modern day psalmist by declaring the goodness of God.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

“In Everything” with thanksgiving make your requests to God. “In Everything” He will fill you with His peace. Be grateful for the peace of God.

I hope you join your heart with mine and sing:

“I love You, Lord
Oh, Your mercy never failed me
And all my days, I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

All my life You have been faithful
All my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

I love Your voice
You have led me through the fire
In darkest night You are close like no other
I’ve known You as a Father
I’ve known You as a Friend
Oh, I have lived in the goodness of God,”

Thank you, Father, for being faithful!

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Breathtaking

Have you ever had an experience where you had to grab a breath? The beauty of nature – the birth of a child – seeing your mate at the altar?

Breathless! Breathtaking! Awesome!

The image I used this morning was from a sunset we saw the other night coming home from town. Dave was driving and he didn’t think it was much, looking through the rearview mirror but when we stopped…he said “that’s amazing”!

Sometimes I see things in nature, hear a symphony or see a loved one and it takes my breath away. I feel the presence of God in those times. Our Father is so vast in His existence and omniscient in power.

Our God is an awesome God!

You have an assignment today. I don’t often assign homework but today’s the day.

Take time to find something where you can focus on the awesomeness of the Father. Sitting quietly in His presence and let Him speak words of love to your heart.


“The Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King over all the earth.” Psalm 47:2 ERV

“Look at the powerful things the Lord has done. See the awesome things he has done on earth.” Psalm 46:8 ERV

“He rescued his people and made his agreement with them forever. His name is awesome and holy.” Psalm 11:19 ERV

“I prayed to the Lord my God and told him about all my sins. I said, “Lord, you are a great and awesome God. You keep your agreement of love and kindness with people who love you. You keep your agreement with the people who obey your commands.” Daniel 9:4 ERV

Take time, after all He took time for you!

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Life with Benefits

Yesterday I had a routine visit to the dentist. You know the semi-annual cleaning. Everything went well – the hygienist is so sweet and she’s very thorough. When I was checking out, I learned that our dentist office is no longer “in network” and next year we will be without a dental benefit if we continue with this practice.

What??

Our practice is under new ownership. Our previous dentist sold the practice and two new dentists, who are very good, purchased it but now it is out-of-network. We like the new dentists and especially our hygienist.

But…we’ve lost our benefit. Have you ever been in a situation where you lost benefits?

That’s one thing we never have to be concerned about in our relationship with the Lord.

“ Honor and thanks be to the Lord, Who carries our heavy loads day by day. He is the God Who saves us. 20 Our God is a God Who sets us free. The way out of death belongs to God the Lord.” Psalm 68:19-20 NLV

“We praise you, Lord God! You treat us with kindness day after day, and you rescue us. 20 You always protect us and save us from death.” Psalm 68:19-20 CEV

“Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah
20 Our God is the God of salvation; And to God the Lord belong escapes from death.” Psalm 68:19-20 NJKV

The Lord, our Father, the God of salvation daily loads us up with benefits. When we are in Christ, we are “in-network”. We don’t have to get a referral or special authorization to enjoy the benefits. We don’t have a co-pay – that was all taken care of on the cross.

“ Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:1-5

When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, we are always in an open enrollment. We aren’t limited to calendar restrictions.

“ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'” Romans 10:12-13 NKJV

The premium has been paid for.

“Then he said, ‘Here I am, God. I have come to do what you want.‘ So God ends that first system of sacrifices and starts his new way. 10 Jesus Christ did the things God wanted him to do. And because of that, we are made holy through the sacrifice of Christ’s body. Christ made that sacrifice one time—enough for all time.” Hebrews 10:9-10 ERV

Because of Christ we have life with benefits!

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Live in the “Son-shine”

For most of my life I have lived in the Southwest.

I was born in southern Arizona and as a child we moved around the state while my father worked on road construction projects. We spent one year in northern New Mexico, but Arizona was home.

What I knew of my home state is it was hot about eight months of the year, and the sun was always shining. It was great!

After Dave and I were married we spent a period of time in the Pacific northwest – Washington and Idaho. Those first few years were an adjustment for sure, gray snowy winters and gray rainy summers. I missed the sunshine.

These were the memories that were triggered as I read from Luke, chapter 1, this morning. Zechariah, the father of John, spoke these words over his son on the day of his naming. He later became known as John the Baptizer. His father knew his son had a special calling to fulfill.

“You, my son, will be called the prophet of God Most High. You will go ahead of the Lord
to get everything ready for him. 77 You will tell his people that they can be saved when their sins are forgiven. 78 God’s love and kindness will shine upon us like the sun that rises in the sky. 79 On us who live in the dark shadow of death this light will shine to guide us into a life of peace.” Luke 1:76-79 CEV

This light, the Son filled with love and kindness, will shine on us and guide us into a life of peace!

” Once again Jesus spoke to the people. This time he said, ‘I am the light for the world! Follow me, and you won’t be walking in the dark. You will have the light that gives life.’” John 8:12 CEV

There’s no danger of being sun-burned by this “Son-light”. The longer we spend in the Son, the more we become like Him and can share His light to those in our world.

Come live in the “Son-shine”.

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Blessed Wherever You Are

Our lives are blessed by the Lord so that we can be a blessing wherever we are. Blessed to be a blessing!

I was thinking about Barnabus. His name was Jonas, but he was renamed by the apostles.

“And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement),” Act4:36 NKJV

Barnabus was the one who brought Saul, later named Paul, to the apostles after his conversion on the road to Damacus. He was Paul’s traveling partner on some of his missionary journeys. He was blessed with a gift to encourage and he used that gift to bless others.

We might not all be blessed with the gifts of prophecy, miracles, words of wisdom or words of knowledge but we are all blessed to be a blessing to others.

“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

8 “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

9 “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you]heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. 14 So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” Deuteronomy 28:1-4 NKJV

The Lord blesses us so the world will see that we are called to be His. We share, we love, we encourage because He does that for us!

In the city, in the fields, coming in and going out we are blessed. Encourage others with the goodness of God!

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More Than Enough

This morning I got up in a cooking mood. You know the kind that tells you to leave everything else behind and get into the kitchen. Cooking/Baking is my love language!

Our son sent me his recipe for “Sunday Gravy” earlier this week. It just a big pot of red marinara sauce filled with pork and beef. It makes me happy just to think about it.

Anyway, I bought all the ingredients, did the math and figured I could mix the whole thing in my red, enamelware, 7 qt Dutch oven. When I got to the step to add the browned meat and ribs I realized there was no way all that would fit in the pot.

More than enough – my cup runneth over!

Dave brought in my cast iron dutch oven – and between the two Sunday Gravy is simmering and the house smells wonderful.

I love how the Lord speaks to me through everyday life. Running over with goodness! And now as I’m writing this Zach Williams, “Chain Breaker”, is playing on Pandora.

“If you’ve got pain
He’s a pain taker
If you feel lost
He’s a way maker
If you need freedom or savin’
He’s a prison-shaking Savior
If you’ve got chains
He’s a chain breaker”

source: https://www.lyricsondemand.com/zach_williams/chain_breaker

The Father’s love is a “cup running over”, “more than enough” kind of love!

“You prepared a meal for me in front of my enemies. You welcomed me as an honored guest. My cup is full and spilling over.
6 Your goodness and mercy will be with me all my life, and I will live in the Lord’s house a long, long time.” Psalm 23:5-6 ERV

“And God can give you more blessings than you need, and you will always have plenty of everything. You will have enough to give to every good work.” II Corinthians 9:8 ERV

“I’m telling you to love your enemies and do good to them. Lend to people without expecting to get anything back. If you do this, you will have a great reward. You will be children of the Most High God. Yes, because God is good even to the people who are full of sin and not thankful. 36 Give love and mercy the same as your Father gives love and mercy…38 Give to others, and you will receive. You will be given much. It will be poured into your hands—more than you can hold. You will be given so much that it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.” Luke 6:35-38 ERV

My physical pot was running over but more than that my heart is running over with the love and comfort that the Father has poured out on me and so I share that with you this morning.

Share with others all the Lord has blessed you with – He doesn’t cause it to run over to waste it – it’s to be shared!

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A Day of Praise

It’s Monday and you know what that means don’t you? It’s another wonderful day to praise the Lord for His love and goodness.

Join in with me.

“The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.” Psalm 18:46

“We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.” Psalm 20:5

“In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.” Psalm 62:7

“Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.” Psalm 68:19

“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.” Psalm 70:4

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2

Count your blessings this morning – the Lord covers us with His love.

I’m not through praising yet, but I will quit and let you continue on with your praises too!

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God Will!

Impatience is a destroyer of faith.

When we become impatient, we begin to try to work things out on our own – we wonder if God is ever going to come through – what’s taking sooooooooooo long? Those kinds of thoughts come from doubt and bring fear – fear that it is never going to work out right. Doubt and fear will choke out the promises of God’s word – they can outweigh faith, if we let them. We must stand with confidence in God’s word if we expect to see God’s promised fulfilled.

When I pray, I pray in faith, knowing that when I pray God’s word I am praying His will and this gives me confidence to know that He will answer.

” But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:6-8 KJV

“ We can come to God with no doubts. This means that when we ask God for things (and those things agree with what God wants for us), God cares about what we say. 15 He listens to us every time we ask him. So we know that he gives us whatever we ask from him.” I John 5:14-15 ERV

Abram followed God from his home out into the middle of nowhere because God made him a promise. A promise that he would possess great land and be the father of many nations. But Abraham never really took possession of the land he had been promised – he lived the life of a nomad – moving from place to place but all the time he held fast to God’s promise.

What is it that God has promised you? What have you left to follow God? No looking back – keep your eyes on the prize of the high calling of God. Don’t give up – don’t fall back. Move forward – continue to follow in obedience to what God has put in your heart.

“Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him…By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the One who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore.” Hebrews 11:6, 8-12

“Do any of you have a son? If he asked for bread, would you give him a rock? 10 Or if he asked for a fish, would you give him a snake? Of course not! 11 You people are so bad, but you still know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:9-11 ERV

Keep going knowing your Father in heaven protects and provides for His children. God can and He will!

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Tie It Together

Some years back I was doing a one-on-one Bible Study with a friend and she asked, “How does the Old Testament tie in with the New Testament, making it practical for today?”.

Yes, she knew that the Old Testament was filled with prophetic teachings about the birth of Christ, His crucifixion and the end times but she was missing the day-to-day applications for her life.

I think that is quite common so let me take a few minutes with you this morning to go through that.

I’m sure that most of you know the story of Abraham. He was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born. The Lord told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that his descendants would be more numerous than the sand on the seashore. Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel but we, who follow Christ, are also his descendants.

God’s word is filled with blessings for all of us. The Old Testament is filled with rich and wonderful promises from God to His people. The New Testament tells us that when we are in Christ, the blessings made to Abraham and those in the Old Testament are available to us as well.

“Because of what Jesus Christ did, the blessing God promised to Abraham was given to all people. Christ died so that by believing in him we could have the Spirit that God promised… Now, in Christ, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or free, male or female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus. 29 You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham’s descendants. You get all of God’s blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.” Galatians 3: 14, 28 & 29 ERV

God’s blessings are for our whole life – spiritually, physically and emotionally. His blessings bring wholeness. The blessings the Lord gave to Abraham were perpetual, they continued through the generations. Moses repeated them to the Israelites before they occupied the Promised Land.

” So remember that the LORD your God is the only God, and you can trust him! He keeps his agreement. He shows his love and kindness to all people who love him and obey his commands. He continues to show his love and kindness through a thousand generations, 10 but the LORD punishes people who hate him. He will destroy them. He will not be slow to punish those who hate him. 11 So you must be careful to obey the commands, laws, and rules that I give you today.

12 “If you listen to these laws, and if you are careful to obey them, the LORD your God will keep his agreement of love with you. He promised this to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you. He will make your nation grow. He will bless your children. He will bless your fields with good crops and will give you grain, new wine, and oil. He will bless your cows with calves and your sheep with lambs. You will have all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you.

14 “You will be blessed more than all people. Every husband and wife will be able to have children. Your cows will be able to have calves. 15 The LORD will take away all sickness from you and he will not let you catch any of the terrible diseases that you had in Egypt” Deuteronomy 7:9-15 ERV

When God first chose a people, Abraham’s descendants, to be His own, He blessed them in every area of their lives. Those blessings of the Old Testament are still valid for us today. But a greater blessing is ours as well. We have been made right with God through the sacrifice of Christ.

“… the new agreement that Jesus brought from God to his people is much greater than the old one. And the new agreement is based on better promises.” Hebrews 8:6 ERV

The Lord’s promises are still valid. He does not lie. Walk in His blessing today!

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