Time with the Lord

You and I live in a loud world. To get someone's attention is no easy task. He must be willing to set everything aside to listen: turn down the radio, turn away from the monitor, turn the corner of the page and set down the book. When someone is willing to silence everything else so he can hear us clearly, it is a privilege. A rare privilege, indeed.

[Your] prayers are honored [in heaven] as precious jewels. Purified and empowered, the words rise in a delightful fragrance to our Lord.... Your words do not stop until they reach the very throne of God....

Here are some quotes....some scripture, some from Oswald Chambers, some from others....that have meant a great deal to me:

A life not put to the test is not worth living.

Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion for the Spirit of God to manifest His power.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
Hab. 2:3

In the end it will be apparent that fleeting moments of turmoil, celebration, or tranquility were all merely different opportunities to come under the rule of the Lord of lords Himself.
-author unknown

From My Heart to Yours~

I am going to spend the next few....weeks??.....sharing inspirational quotes with you that I have stored in a special book. When things are "rough" I dig out my little book and review what encouraged me in years past. We'll begin....at the beginning~

In the end it will be apparent that fleeting moments of turmoil, celebration, or tranquility were all merely different opportunities to come under the rule of the Lord of lords Himself.
-author unknown

Nathan & Courtney

My son, Nathan, just returned from The Shepherd's Conference in California. He writes about it in his blog (link at the right), but I just wanted to print the last paragraph of what he had to say about the conference and it's influence on him. How blessed I am!

"A line was definitely drawn in the sand this week. I now understand the seriousness of the call, the devotion of the life, and the urgency of the message much better than before. Was I challenged? Oh yes, challenged to devote my life to the truth. Was I convicted? Definitely. Convicted of my pride, my self-seeking and my self-love. Have I been called? By all means. I have been called to spend my entire life in study, to spend my life in service to others, and to devote myself to rightly dividing the word of truth. I would rather die than be hindered from preaching the truth. Have I been tested? No question. The gauntlet has been set forth before me. Only a wicked and lazy servant would turn from what God has called."

My Car Battery is Dead...now what?

Nothing is more irritating that a flat tire....or my car battery being dead as I'm headed out the door! Why does it happen? What am I to learn? .....well, my answer to that is: Life Happens, Deal With It! But as life happens, in the everyday, mundane details, how do I view and respond to God? My son wrote me a note about two weeks ago....and I think it applies:

Nope, nothing is an accident is it? People often look at me like I'm crazy when I say that God ordains every single thing that happens in this world -down to the sparrows who fall to the ground. He has ordained the movement of my fingers on these keys right now. Does this negate human responsibility? No way, for we still decide to sin in our hearts. But it does ensure that 'all things work for good', and that God is sovereign over the outcome of this wicked world. Piper once said that if there was one single molecule in the whole universe that was allowed to roam free separate from the ordination of God, then God at that point ceases to be sovereign, and we have no hope that He will triumph in the end. Mind-boggling huh? For it only takes one small leak to sink a ship. But think about how the smallest of affairs, like a flat tire, or the outcome of a sporting event, or a seemingly small sickness, think about how each one of these things drastically changes or has the potential to change our entire lives. A flat tire changes your schedule...winners and losers go separate directions...etc.