Month: August 2024

Thursday, June 20^th

Day 54

I laid me down and slept;

I awaked;

For the Lord sustained me.

Psalm 3:5

 A restless night.

Lord, how can I ne so tired and yet not be able to sleep?

And now, when it is time to get up and get moving, all I want to do is lie down and close my eyes.

Lord, help me through this day and then bless me with a good night’s rest and restorative sleep.

I thank you for caring for me.

Friday, June 21^st

Day 55

I laid me down and slept;

I awaked;

For the Lord sustained me.

Psalm 3:5

Lord, You answered my prayer in an amazing way.

My neighbors from the Kenton Mennonite Church filled my home with music last night.

All those voices blended in songs of praise.

What a blessing!

And I slept the whole night through.

I begin this day well rested and I am filled with Your peace.

Oh how You care for me.

Thank You for these neighbors.

Thank You for sending them to remind me that You are always working, always providing, always caring.

Praise God!

The God of the infinite is the God of the infinitesimal.

-Springs In The Valley

Lord God Almighty,

I am reminded that You care about every detail of my life.

Nothing is beneath Your notice.

I have witnessed this many times over throughout these past 73 years, and especially in these past weeks.

You are with me – ALWAYS!

Counting my blessings.

To all of you who have impacted my life:

There is not enough space to put pictures of all that God has blessed me with.

Just know that He has used you to be a blessing to me

Tuesday, June 18^th

Day 52

The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.

All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.

Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Proverbs 16:1-3, 25 KJV

Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.

Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good; God probes for what is good.

Put God in charge of your work. Then what you’ve planned will take place.

There’s a way that looks harmless enough; look again – it leads straight to hell.

Proverbs 16:1-3, 25 The Message

Lord, this is why I need You to guide me.

You know what is best. I do not.

What makes sense to the world isn’t always the best way in Your sight.

I know that Your way is the best way for me.

Let actual circumstances be what they may,

 keep recognizing Jesus,

maintain complete reliance on Him.

-Oswald Chambers

Don’t let your feet “be turned out of the way,”

but let your body “be healed,”

your faith strengthened.

Go right ahead and leave no Jericho behind you unconquered

and no place where Satan can say that he was too much for you.

This is a profitable lesson and an intensely practical one.

-A. B. Simpson

Lord, these are difficult circumstances but I will stand on the ROCK.

Satan has done his worst but I remain standing firm in my faith.

My God Is Greater!

Monday, June 17^th

Day 51

The Scriptures are a record of Your faithfulness.

Lord, this is how I know that I can trust You.

What You have done in the past stands as a reminder of what You will do in the future.

You created this world, this universe, you created us, and Your actions recorded in Your Word give me a solid foundation so that I can stand when all around me is chaos.

Thank You God!

Sunday,  June 16^th

Day 50

Our first Father’s Day without him.

Except the Lord build the house,

they labour in vain that build it:

except the Lord keep the city,

the watchman waketh but in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late,

to eat the bread of sorrows:

for so He giveth His beloved sleep.

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord:

and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;

so are children of the youth.

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:

they shall not be ashamed,

but they shall speak with enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127

Saturday, June 15^th

Day 49

And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.

And the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.

Genesis 6:6-8

Are you constantly surrounded by evil? Do you struggle at times to live a righteous life when those you associate with each day have no concern for God? Find assurance in the life of Noah. God watches over you, even as He observed Noah. God will seek you out of the crowd every time, and He wants to bless you as He blessed Noah.

-Experiencing God Day By Day

Lord, we are as in the days of Noah.

There is evil all around us and believers are under attack.

But as in the days of Noah, You are in control and You will have the final say.

You will – will be done!

 If I do my duty, not for duty’s sake, but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, than at the very point of my obedience the whole superb grace of God is mine through the atonement.

-Oswald Chambers

Friday, June 14^th

Day 48

Fifty-five years ago we stood in front of family and friends and pledged our love.

“Till death do us part”

Lord, I miss being a couple.

I miss planning meals around his preferences.

He enjoyed good food and I loved to cook meals that brought him pleasure.

I miss the little things:

            He would patiently empty all his K-cups into a bowl so I could use them in the garden.

            He would take the kitchen scraps out to the compost pile every day.

            He liked to harvest the vegetables – no weeding – that was my job.

            He cleaned the bathrooms.

            He would patiently rub my hip if the pain kept me from sleep.

            He would wake me if the CGM didn’t wake me.

            “Hey, your alarm is going off!”

            He would bring me orange juice to raise my glucose level.

            He would hold my hand in church.

Thank You, Lord, for all the memories.

So many years of memories.

He loved being a DAD.

He loved being a POP POP.

He loved being “Great-Man”

He truly loved and appreciated the gift of family.

Lord. I thank You for this family You created.

And now I think of him surrounded by the family of saints –

Ms. Margaret, Grandma Jane, Charles Barton, Doug Ridley, The Tappers, and all those who have gone home.

He is with the Father – he has experienced the Father’s love – oh what JOY!

Thank You for bringing us together.

Thank You for all the years, all the experiences, both good and bad, for they all made us who we are.

The hard times taught us that we could trust You.

We learned that we were not alone, we were not on our own.

The Lupus diagnosis taught us to treasure each day because we are not promised tomorrow.

That shift in our thinking changed our lives.

“Someday” became today.

NOW

And we would say “If we die tomorrow we will die satisfied that we’ve lived today.”

No regrets!

God may not give us an easy journey to the Promised Land,

but He will give us a safe one.

-Boner

O Lord, every time I assume that I know the direction that my life is taking, You change the direction. I believed that we would spend our retirement in our home on McKee Road but we moved a thousand miles away to a 42 acre farm on a gravel road in Missouri. There I settled in, planted a huge garden, made lots of new friends, and discovered my Shalom-Shalvah on Windmill Farm. Little did I know that You would move us back across the country to Delaware once again. We spent the pandemic with our family and waited 4 years for a home of our own once again. Now with less than a year in that home I find myself alone. Again, something that was never on my radar screen.

Lord, I’ve come this far by walking with You. I’m not turning back now.

Too many miles behind me

Too many trials are through

Too many tears help me remember

There’s just too much to gain to lose

Too many sunsets lie behind the mountain

Too many rivers my feet have walked through

Too many treasures are waiting over yonder

There’s just too much to gain to lose

I’ve crossed the hot burning desert

Struggling the right road to choose

But somewhere up ahead, there’s cool, clear water

And defeat is one word I don’t use

Too many sunsets lie behind the mountain

Too many rivers my feet have walked through

Too many treasures are waiting over yonder

There’s just too much to gain to lose

-Dottie Rambo

Tuesday, June 11^th Day 45

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me:

for my soul trusteth in Thee:

yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge,

until these calamities be overpast.

I will cry unto God most high;

unto God that performeth all things for me.

He shall send from heaven,

and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.

Selah

God shall send forth His mercy and His truth,

My soul is among lions:

And I lie even among them that are set on fire,

even the sons of men,

whose teeth are spears and arrows,

and their tongue a sharp sword.

Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens;

let Thy glory be above all the earth.

They have prepared a net for my steps;

my soul is bowed down:

they have digged a pit before me,

into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves.

Selah

My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:

I will sing and give praise.

Awake up, my glory; awake psaltry and harp:

I myself will awake early.

I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people:

I will sing unto Thee among the nations.

For Thy mercy is great unto the heavens,

and Thy truth unto the clouds.

Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens:

let Thy glory be above all the earth.

Psalm 57

The morning makes the entire day. To think of morning is to think of a bloom and fragrance which if missed, cannot be overtaken later in the day. The Lord stands upon the shore in the morning and reveals Himself to the weary, disillusioned men who had toiled all night and taken nothing. He ever stands upon life’s most dreary and time-worn shores, and as we gaze upon Him the shadows flee and it is morning. -Rev. Dr. Thomas Chalmers

Lord, how I love to see the dawning of a new day. Each one unique, as the darkness of the night recedes from the sky as the light gradually takes its place. Even on cloudy days the darkness is overcome by the light.

As the song says:

                                    Then came the morning

                                    Shadows vanished before the sun

Then Came The Morning written by Chris Christian and Bill & Gloria Gaither

Chris Christian and Bill & Gloria Gaither