Good is seen in all weather!!!
Psalm 138
1 I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise!
2 I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word!
3 On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased [you made me bold in my soul with strength].
4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord!
6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands!
When we read the Scriptures with our hands, hearts and souls open in prayer, we notice as we read God's Word is alive and speaks to us. Sure, some passages have a phrase containing a favorite verse and we will look to it as our favorite spot in our home or yard. Yet sometimes, you read a passage, and part of it leaps to you, your Spiritual eyes are opened to the Scripture.
When I've read Psalm 138, sometimes it Is the joy of God. Or another day, the thrill of a situation solved. In times of difficulty, the promise of the LORD who says to me, He would never forsake me, I am the work of His hands. This is the Scripture being living and active to us.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
When we have Christian memories of articles, sermons and Christian witnesses - a few will always remain in our hearts.
You made me bold in my soul with strength
Matthew 5:15
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
This is a true story.
A pro-life volunteer nurse from outside of Houston, Texas in 2015 was invited with her husband to go on his Canadian hunting trip with his hunting buddies. Her husband had not planned very carefully and in the last two weeks, told her he'd booked her plane and had the hunting lodge give them the best room. She was pleased, but asked him why. He said the Hunting Lodge is too nice for you to miss being in rural Canada, the huge trees, the pristine snow and the marvelous Hunting Lodge. After she looked at the computer, she decided this unplanned trip was going to be one of the adventures of a lifetime.
And she was left pretty much to herself as the men went of on ski mobiles to hunt. She was reading downstairs and started talking a woman about the rural forested area of Canada. The woman said she had given up on a larger nursing career to live in her little hometown, take odd jobs and then had a few hours at the hospital far away in the larger town. Discovering they were both nurses, they started to enjoy sharing stories. The Texas nurse, being a pro-life volunteer, asked the 65 year old local nurse if she was a Christian.
The Canadian nurse had quite an odd, frightened, excited, joyous, tearful look at that question. She said, "I'm 65 years old and I have avoided all the religious all my life until last winter. And I don't explain this well - but here goes:"
"I make ends meet the most by driving a good, long way in the dark forest to the distant next town. I do nursing work at the hospital. I have an older car and usually, it's a good car. I got in the car about dark and started out in terrible low temperatures and increasing snow. A lot of the trip - I rarely see another car or person."
"I realized about half-way there my car was trying to die. I urged it on pushing on the gas and got less power. The car was seeing every electrical part dim. I had no idea what it was, but it was bad. And I could very well parish as cell-phone reception is low and mine was dead. I knew urging the car forward, I had a good change of not being alive much longer. No houses, no people.
Rural forest land. I didn't pray, didn't care for the ways of the religious. And have always flipped the channel, changed the radio station and walked off when it was all that lingo."
"It was just about dark. And the only lights were my dimming head lights."
"I thought about my son being told by the local police I was frozen to death and the car was just as dead. I thought about the reactions of people around town. I thought of the funerals I'd gone to where the people were suddenly just not alive. I thought about missing grandchildren. I thought about missing seeing my son. I thought I was dead. The car was worse. It was time to meet my maker."
"And the phrase startled me 'Meet my Maker'. Sounded warm. Warmer than the car. I thought, "Wow and I don't even know how to pray from running off, not a good start.""
"Hello...Father. I know we are not on speaking terms, and I don't even know how to pray. Father, I'm about to be coming home and I'm sorry I've been so far off, that I can't even give You the right words. I will miss my son. Help him, please. I think I'm going to die tonight... Amen."
"And I heard in my head. I looked at the radio because it was off to conserve the electricity in the car. I heard God clearly say, when no one else in the car could have heard, "You did alright with the words. Don't worry, my dear Child. At the next little convenience store -"
"Oh, That convenience store IS Closed," I said the words out loud.
God patiently continued,"Yes, at the next convenience store, there will be a young man in front of the store with the car part you need. Outside the closed store. Don't worry, your time for coming to Me is not for many years and you will know all your grandchildren. Now, don't worry."
I looked down and I have more than 5 miles. But now, I wasn't worried. So I needed to worry. I thought, "How will I ever explain this? I'd never have believed me." And I looked way down the road hoping to see the one large convenience light.
And there was the 20-year-old young man, smoking a cigarette, at a closed store, standing by the only street light in almost the whole car trip. I pulled up and got out. I explained my car problem and only my car problem, but calmly. He replied, "I had this same thing happen to me last week and I bought the wrong car part at first. And my girlfriend broke up with me in the middle of the car not working."
I offered to pay him for the part. He said, "No, it's only about eleven dollars and it's amazing you are about the only car out I've seen and if you can use the part - it's your's - don't worry." God had told me that part too. He said, "I know how to put the part in and it's easy on your car. Take 10 or so minutes."
He did and the car was perfect. I told him how afraid I'd been. He said, "You were right to worry." So then I had to ask, "Are you an angel?" This startled the young, young man. He said he'd show me his driver's license. I told him what I'd heard God say. He looked more relieved and said, "I've actually heard of people around my Church tell stories like that and you look too happy for it not to be true. Glad I could help." He refused all money after that, saying that I'd made his day.
I was saved. Forever. Eternally.
I listen and know the songs on Christian Radio. I've found a Bible Church. And now I read the Letters of the God who reached down to save a "Stubborn, Me-I'm-not-Religious, 65 year-old-woman" alone and about to freeze to death in the forest she loved so much.
I've met the Lord Father God every day and in so many ways. I know my Father Loves Me. I'm saved.
That is what Jesus does. He saves the broken, the bruised reed, the undeserving. He is the Light that Shines.
John 5:17
Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
Luke 18:1
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up
For great is the glory of the Lord.
Abba, Holy Father,
We pray the Living Word You've given us for Your willing blessings.
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?"
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
"And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Father God, we pray Your Glory on Your Words and Heart. We pray Your Glory on the People we Love. We pray Your Glory on the people You have given us. We pray Your Glory on the Churches of Your Heart. We pray Your Glory in our communities to the Nation. We pray for Your Glory on our concerns and the people we are praying for most now. We pray Your Glory for more Heaven on earth for the praying believers world wide and the believers of tomorrow - unborn and journeying this life today. God's Glory Shine!!!
In Jesus. Amen.