God teaches me a lot about Himself through my relationships with my children.
I have been noticing lately that my children are stingy about sharing food with me or even thinking about my need's being met. Today at the table we were having our morning devotions and like usual, I did not come down in time to eat breakfast so I was pressing through with a stomach that was rumbling. My 5 year old Sammy had a yummy looking egg sandwich that he had gotten full from and he had practically half a sandwich left that he pushed away. I jumped at the opportunity for his remaining breakfast and kindly asked if I could have what is left and that I was hungry. He said No and to save the rest for him for later. UHHH!! That hurts my heart that I care for him every day..3 meals a day since he was born and he can't even share the rest of his breakfast sandwich with his hungry momma (By the way..I got that rest of that sandwich- I reprimanded him for his selfishness and my husband made sure I got the food).
But very quickly the Lord directed my thoughts to Him and how as our Heavenly Father He has done so much for us (given us His life!!) and how we fail to obey Him in the smallest of requests. He doesn't need anything from us, He doesn't get hungry but He longs for us to obey Him and walk in close fellowship with Him. With all He has done for us- coming down from heaven as a man, dying on a terrible cross for our sins, interceding for us forever at the right hand of God- the least we can do for Him is offer Him half of our Jimmy Dean egg sandwich. What is He asking you to give Him today?
And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive".
Acts 20:35
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Manna- my Daily Bread
The other morning I had woken up and there was a word from the Lord on my mind..He was speaking to me that He only gives me each morning what I need for that particular day. He does not give to me in advance, so the times when I am worrying and fretting over things that do not pertain to today, I am trying to do life in my own strength and without His grace.
I got out of the bed and prepared to have my morning devotions. As I sought the Lord and starting working in my workbook for the Hospitality Study I am doing (Just Open The Door by Jen Schmidt) I couldn't believe it- one of the verses confirmed exactly what the Lord was speaking to me personally that morning..
Exodus 16:13-21
So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: "Let every man gather it according to each one's need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent." Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man gathered according to each one's need. And Moses said, "Let no one leave any of it till morning." Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
And so the Lord was confirming in my heart that He knows what I am going to face each day of my life. He knows the challenges and struggles. As I get up early and seek His face, He is going to fill me with His Presence and the strength and wisdom I need to face whatever comes my way that day. He knows ahead of time what that will be and He prepares me to get through victoriously. Worrying about the troubles of another day is lunacy, it is worrying about something that God has not given me the strength for yet! Yikes! May it never be.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34
I got out of the bed and prepared to have my morning devotions. As I sought the Lord and starting working in my workbook for the Hospitality Study I am doing (Just Open The Door by Jen Schmidt) I couldn't believe it- one of the verses confirmed exactly what the Lord was speaking to me personally that morning..
Exodus 16:13-21
So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: "Let every man gather it according to each one's need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent." Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man gathered according to each one's need. And Moses said, "Let no one leave any of it till morning." Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
And so the Lord was confirming in my heart that He knows what I am going to face each day of my life. He knows the challenges and struggles. As I get up early and seek His face, He is going to fill me with His Presence and the strength and wisdom I need to face whatever comes my way that day. He knows ahead of time what that will be and He prepares me to get through victoriously. Worrying about the troubles of another day is lunacy, it is worrying about something that God has not given me the strength for yet! Yikes! May it never be.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
A New Season Begins!
Well as the Lord would have it, I am back to my blog. My Mom continues to do well and I am still overwelmed at His goodness in healing her and giving us all of these special years together! He is truly a God of miracles. She celebrated her 70th birthday this past January. She was only 63 years old when she came to live with us. I love her so much and am excited about all that the Lord still has in store for her life. She is young yet. 😀
I had an amazing experience this morning in my garden. I prepared the ground a couple of weeks ago and got rid of all the dead limbs and leaves and stuff. I had a lot of flowers planted in my garden from last spring and to the best of my recollection they were all annual plants (the kind that die at the end of the season and do not come back next year) so I cleared it all up and starting thinking of what I will plant this Mother's Day.
Today when I went out front to go on a bike ride with my children, I noticed that in several spots there were new leaves coming up!! Apparently the Lord kept me from recalling that some of the plants I had in the ground were actually perenniels- the kind that die but come back the next spring! I was very upset because when I was cleaning out my garden before, I was not being careful to protect the roots of the plants that would be returning. In God's mercy, despite myself, the Lord protected them and they have still survived. I am so glad that He protected those dear plants from me. I was appalled at how careless I was and not realizing that I could have been unearthing something that still had life in it.
God really used this experience in my garden today to also teach me something about friends. We might have a difficult situation with someone and be very upset thinking that this person might not be someone we should have in our life anymore. We need to be careful and seek the Lord and turn over our burdens to Him. This might be someone that He has planned to be a lifelong friend in our lives. It would be terrible to uproot a friendship that God has dear plans for in the future.
Proverbs 16:9
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
Have a blessed day in the Lord,
Angela
P.S. Here is what the plant looks like NOW- So glad I didn't uproot these!
I had an amazing experience this morning in my garden. I prepared the ground a couple of weeks ago and got rid of all the dead limbs and leaves and stuff. I had a lot of flowers planted in my garden from last spring and to the best of my recollection they were all annual plants (the kind that die at the end of the season and do not come back next year) so I cleared it all up and starting thinking of what I will plant this Mother's Day.
Today when I went out front to go on a bike ride with my children, I noticed that in several spots there were new leaves coming up!! Apparently the Lord kept me from recalling that some of the plants I had in the ground were actually perenniels- the kind that die but come back the next spring! I was very upset because when I was cleaning out my garden before, I was not being careful to protect the roots of the plants that would be returning. In God's mercy, despite myself, the Lord protected them and they have still survived. I am so glad that He protected those dear plants from me. I was appalled at how careless I was and not realizing that I could have been unearthing something that still had life in it.
God really used this experience in my garden today to also teach me something about friends. We might have a difficult situation with someone and be very upset thinking that this person might not be someone we should have in our life anymore. We need to be careful and seek the Lord and turn over our burdens to Him. This might be someone that He has planned to be a lifelong friend in our lives. It would be terrible to uproot a friendship that God has dear plans for in the future.
Proverbs 16:9
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
Have a blessed day in the Lord,
Angela
P.S. Here is what the plant looks like NOW- So glad I didn't uproot these!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)