Week Ending Friday December 13, 2019
{quotes}
Everyone has a story to tell.
The dice of God are always loaded – in your favor.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
C.S. Lewis
If you’re waiting on God and all you hear is silence, it’s because you didn’t listen closely enough to hear the whispered “not yet”
Overheard: After I talk to God I feel like a plant that’s just been watered.
Peace isn’t something you wish for, it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.
Robert Fulghum
{blessings}
Kind Truths
It’s an easier way to go when you tell someone what they want to hear rather than telling them what they need to hear. But it’s a missed opportunity. May you be blessed to speak kind truths that promote growth and authenticity.
Make Space
Clear the clutter. Make space for God to move in you. May God bless you with a cleansing steeped in love and refreshing to the soul.
In Touch
Stay in touch with the people in your life and love them. Distance doesn’t make the heart grow fonder, closeness does. Make the effort and you’ll find blessing in your many loving relationships.
Pep Talk
Do you ever feel bluesy, lifeless and sapped of all energy? Turn it around with a blessing filled pep talk to yourself. Let God be a part of the dialogue and marvel at the blessed transformation.
Counting
You can lose a child or a parent, the love of your life, a good job, a game, a deal, a bet, an idea, your favorite thing, money, your best friend, a moment, an opportunity, a chance, your keys, your mind, your health, your identity, your virginity. Your religion, your shirt, your license, ID or passport, phone or phone number, hope, faith, luck, your pride, or your house. You can feel like you’ve lost everything, and keep on losing. Stop counting losses and start counting your blessings. Only then, will you discover losses are easier to point out and count than blessings, and blessings outnumber your losses for they are truly immeasurable. It is only normal that you would count losses with your head, and ignore to count blessings with your heart.
Suzy Kassem
{prayers}
To Love God
I begin my prayer with a prayer of gratitude for all that is holy in my life. God needs no words, no English or Hebrew, no semantics and no services. But I need them. Through prayer, I can sense my inner strength, my inner purpose, my inner joy, my capacity to love. As I reach upward in prayer, I sense these qualities in my Creator. To love God is to love each other, to work to make our lives better. To love God is to love the world God created and to work to perfect it. To love God is to love dreams of peace and joy that illumine all of us, and to bring that vision to life.
Ruth Brin
In Every Detail
Dear God, today I am thankful You are not a passive God. You are not a God who stands on the sidelines of my story but you are in every detail, giving me hope when I seem to have lost my own. Thank you for not putting a limit on the wholeness You extend to us. Empower me to step fully into that wholeness, today and every day in the future.
Hannah Brenchner
Guide Me Through Growth
Help me stop seeking approval from others – any others. May I become worthy of my own standards. Grace me with confidence and self-assuredness. Guide me through this growth.
In the Waiting
Dear God, You see me in the waiting and you count all my desperate prayers. You see horizons and new beginnings where I can only see fog and desperation. Help me stand firm in the waiting and know that you are equipping me to be stronger. And on the days I cannot stand, please carry me. Carry me and hold me until I can run again.
Hannah Brenchner
Right Path
God, guide me on the right path that leads to my goals, my dreams, my happiness. Help me resist temptation to stray. I see the path, I vow to follow it.
{stories, video, features}
Story: Loving Arlene
Video: Precious Lord Take my Hand+ Story by Thomas A. Dorsey
Feature: Loss, Love, and a Promise Kept
Video: Colorblind Boy Sees Color for the First Time
Music Video: One Friend, Dan Seals
Feature: Why are You Scared of Friday the Thirteenth?
{bible affirmations}
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without pause.
Psalm 42:7
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
Romans 8:38-39
I am convinced neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God.
Zechariah 8:19
Love truth. Love peace.
Psalm 23:5-6
My cup overflows with blessings. Surely God’s goodness and unfailing love will be with me all the days of my life.