Week Ending Friday, August 6, 2021
{quotes}
Your net worth to the world is usually determined after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.
Benjamin Franklin
The day you were born is the day God decided that the world could not exist without you.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
Most of the shadows of this life were caused by standing in our own sunshine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and, in cold weather, becomes frozen; even so, does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. So we must stretch ourselves to the very limits of human possibility. Anything less is a sin against both God and man.
Leonardo da Vinci
Remember, happiness is not a purpose. A purpose is what we bring, how we come to the game. With desire, and effort, and intention, we can make the world better. And even making a small difference is a proud and worthwhile legacy.
Suzanne Sabransky
{blessings}
Getting What You Prayed For
Don’t forget to pray to God even after you get what you prayed for. May you be blessed with gratitude.
In Your Head
You have it in your head that strength is a matter of what you feel when actually, it’s a matter of how you handle what you feel. May you be blessed with reactions and responses that serve God’s purpose. Handle your feelings with intention.
inspired by a quote from Abi Wurdeman
Balanced Ambition
Be satisfied with what you have while working towards what you want. May God bless you with contentment equal to your ambition.
Divine Combination
Confidence takes many forms, from arrogance to quiet self-assurance. Choose to add a dose of humility to the blessing of confidence. It’s a divine combination.
The Rainbow Defense
Rainbows are God’s defense against despair. May you be blessed with visions of brilliant colors that uplift you, transform you, and bring you comfort.
{prayers}
Summer Days
I begin the month with resignation, dreading summer’s end. Please God, help me enjoy the days at hand, the sound of children playing, a blazing hot sun, and the slower pace I’ve become accustomed to. Remind me to stay in the moment, this month, this season, this time in my life. With Your grace, I will savor each day.
Carry On
God help all the people who suffer from anxiety, stress, and depression. Soothe their frayed nerves and those of their loved ones. Remember those who are living with memory loss. Give them and their caregivers the strength and purpose to carry on. God’s will be done as in heaven and so on earth.
God’s Will Be Done
Tell me, please God, reveal Your plan. I accept the hardship, the struggle, the hurt, for Your glory, for my own eventual good. I trust in a divine turnaround. Not mine, but Your will alone, shall be done.
To Be Sustained
Show me my place today. Let me see that I am not just witnessing this world. I am part of it. All of it. I am not separate from Your air or Your animals. I am not separate from Your oceans or forests. I am certainly not separate from Your humans. Please open my eyes and speak to me of what joins us. Teach me, at last, to sustain and be sustained with perfect respect for the wonder of Your masterful creations.
Grand Gestures
Oh God, how shall I know Your blessings and not be overcome with gratitude? In small moments and grand gestures, Your grace is present, and I thank You.
{bible affirmations}
Isaiah 60:15
I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Psalm 103:1
Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being, praise God’s holy name.
Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Deuteronomy 6:5, 2 Peter 3:11, Isaiah 6:3
With whole heart, with whole soul, with whole strength, I love the wholeness of God. Live in wholeness, a holy and godly life. Holy, holy, holy is God. The whole earth is full of God’s glory.
{stories, features, videos}
Video: Award-winning Film, Father
Audio Feature: Hunt, Gather, Parent, Michaeleen Doucleff
Video Bible: John 15:2, Nona Jones
Feature: Excerpt from Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson
Feature: Poetry: Today, Thomas Carlyle
Music Video: My Church, Marren Morris