Updated on November 14, 2014
Sunday Scripture: 11/16/14
That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. – Romans 4:17
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Shelly
Updated on November 14, 2014
Recommendation Saturday: What About You?
They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening – 1 Chronicles 23:30
This is the definition of music that moves you!
This is how school begins every morning at Maluafou College in Apia, Samoa. The translation for the song they are singing is,
I came to praise The Lord what about you
hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd1JW2QlxIg
We are best when we are community.
I would love to share in some of that community right here from my website.
You can join in, too!
Share a post from your own blog and then simply click on the “Add your link” button below and enter your blog information.
Then, please grab my Recommendation Saturday button below, and place it on your website or post, so that others can find their way to our little Saturday community! You can also Tweet your participation with the hashtag #recommendsat so that we can all find each other on Twitter!
You may also join in by leaving a comment.
The most important part of our community is spreading our hope and love to others by visiting some of the other inspirational sites linked up and leaving comments there.
Heart Hugs, Shelly <3
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Shelly
Updated on November 13, 2014
Do You Look Before You Leap?
“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights” (Habakkuk 3:19).
Have you ever seen mountain goats? I mean really seen them in action?
I’ve been studying them lately, as I ponder the above verse. Their hooves are made like no other. . . with special pads that spread and grip.
Fascinating, the way that God gives each created thing exactly the characteristics it needs to not only survive, but to thrive in its environment.
But the one thing that keeps me holding my breath, the one thing that keeps me gasping in wonder, is not the amazing way God created or the agile way the goats cling to the almost invisible ledge.
The part that gets me every time is the leap.
I hope you’ll join me over at Rest Ministries
to read the rest of this devotional.
See you there!
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Shelly
Updated on November 10, 2014
Of Galleries and Oases
photo credit: terratrekking via photopin cc
After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water. – Exodus 15:27
In Utah, where we used to live, it’s a desert. The most beautiful, magical desert you will ever see. There’s a National Park there, called Zion. Fitting name.
photo credit: OneEighteen via photopin cc
In order to get through the park, from one end to the other, you have to go through a tunnel. It’s a marvel, a feat of engineering and a place of historic record. But it’s just a tunnel. A path carved though rock. It’s dark and it’s claustrophobic and… well… dark.
photo credit: DoubleCaeser via photopin cc
But you have to go through, you have to, to get to where you’re going because there is no other road that goes where you want to go. Truly.
Here’s the thing. This particular tunnel, so long and dark and stifling, features something called “galleries”… six of them, to be exact.
photo credit: Bolt of Blue via photopin cc
So we get fresh air and light along the way.
So we don’t miss the majesty of this place.
Carved into the cliff wall of a tunnel. Who does that?
photo credit: James Marvin Phelps via photopin cc
God does.
He plants oases in our path and scatters the stone walls with galleries, to remind us how much we mean to Him. To bless us when all seems hopeless. To be Himself.
May you smile today, as you pass them… as you stop to enjoy the breeze and the view… as you remember.
What a mighty God we serve.
Mighty Father, thank You for the refreshment You provide for our souls. We stand in awe. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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Shelly
Updated on November 7, 2014
Sunday Scripture: 11/9/14
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. – 1 Peter 1:17-19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1dxK-kqjtY
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Shelly
Updated on November 7, 2014
Recommendation Saturday: The Power of Prayer
Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. – Matthew 26:41
You have such power in this hurting and lost world.
Next time you’re tempted to worry, take it to the Lord instead.
Please, pray. <3
We are best when we are community.
I would love to share in some of that community right here from my website.
You can join in, too!
Share a post from your own blog and then simply click on the “Add your link” button below and enter your blog information.
Then, please grab my Recommendation Saturday button below, and place it on your website or post, so that others can find their way to our little Saturday community! You can also Tweet your participation with the hashtag #recommendsat so that we can all find each other on Twitter!
You may also join in by leaving a comment.
The most important part of our community is spreading our hope and love to others by visiting some of the other inspirational sites linked up and leaving comments there.
Heart Hugs, Shelly <3
Loading InLinkz ...If you have been helped by this post and think it could be helpful to someone you know, please share this post on the social network of your choice for me.
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May God Bless You,
Shelly
Updated on November 7, 2014
A Beautiful Defeat: A Review & a Giveaway!
For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. – Romans 6:7-8
Total surrender to God: the surprising key to experiencing the sense of peace and purpose you crave.
There is a gnawing feeling inside all of us that says we could be better. If we would just be more organized or work a little harder, we’d finally have the rich and fulfilling life we want.
But the message of the cross is different.
The message is not one of God saying, “I died for your sins to work as a consultant to help you achieve the life you’re determined to have.” Jesus died to reconcile us to God so that we can die and give our lives to him and to others—a total surrender that is truly a beautiful defeat!
Perspective and peace in the midst of the stormy chaos of life are always available to the person who lives a surrendered life. The result is a rich existence basking in the pleasure and approval of God.
—————————————————————————–
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and learned a lot from it, too. Whether you are a new Christian, a struggling Christian, or just feeling stagnant in your Christian walk, this book will give you practical ways to grow closer to God through surrender. You will have a much stronger faith when you are done. Each of the 10 chapters ends with an “Action Step” that is clear and concise, and a prayer for God’s help.
The author, Kevin Malarkey (with Matthew Jacobson) approaches each topic with honesty, sincerity and a call for us to do the same. It’s a very comfortable and comforting book to read. I highly recommend this book, and am so excited to give away my copy today! Enter below for a chance to win.
A Beautiful Defeat BookI received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255
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Shelly
Updated on November 5, 2014
Visible Hope
Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing. – Isaiah 40:26
A few weeks ago, I wrote about The Power of Light ….
then I saw THIS.
Not many words to share today, but who needs words when the Creator speaks so awesomely for Himself?
May this refresh your hope today.
May you feel Him wrapped around you.
Dear God, You are such an amazing Creator, and such a gentle Father. We love you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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Shelly
Updated on November 3, 2014
O, Me of Little Faith
And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you. – Luke 17:6
photo credit: Dane Vandeputte via photopin cc
Sometimes my faith seems so small. As small as the mustard seed Jesus talked about… do you think He did that on purpose, knowing it would be all I could manage here in the future and in the pain?
Trust and obey… for there’s no other way…
Yes, but Jesus, I want to understand! I want to be able to prove that there is a purpose. I want to know the purpose, define it and polish it and hold onto it like a gemstone of great price.
When you have no answers and the hurt is so real, then the answers seem even more valuable. More than valuable, they seem vital. Like I simply will not be able to carry on if I don’t know something, even the smallest of epiphanies.
I am like a beggar sitting beneath the table, desperate for a scrap of wisdom that would choke me with its greatness if it were to fall at my feet. And still I sit and still I beg, my pleading eyes filling with tears as I try to make sense of non-sensical things that were never meant to be a part of this life in the first place.
The only thing that I have come to understand is that I am not meant for this world. I know without a doubt that my God is a good and loving and merciful God who wants to give me only good, who wants to bring me to Himself.
Closer…
Closer…
Closer…
He whispers sweet nothings, knowing that answers are not what I truly need. When I ask for bread, He will not give me a stone. I ask for bread and He grants me a feast.
“But bread, I want bread,” I insist.
“No, Beloved,” He answers. “You must have manna, and dates dripping with honey. You will only grow with milk and wine and unleavened bread. Forget the bread, and feast, Child, feast.”
Trust and obey… for there’s no other way…
Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! – Matthew 7:9-11
Dear God, I believe, help my unbelief! Take this mustard seed of faith, Lord, and grow me into a tree worthy of nesting in. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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May God Bless You,
Shelly
Updated on November 2, 2014
Sunday Scripture: 11/2/14
As the light approaches,
the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;
it is robed in brilliant colors. – Job 38:14
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Shelly
