Thanks- Giving

Do we really " Give Thanks on Thanksgiving"?

Oh how easy it is to be thankful when everything is going " our way". However..... when life gets hard- we find it harder to be thankful.

Do we have a thankful attitude towards God when times are hard? When we are hurting... In those times we need to stop... and pray for a thankful heart.

Ask God to help you to understand  his love and his plans for your life.

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer.....

Lord, so often times, as any other day

When we sit down to our meal and pray

We hurry along and make fast the blessing

Thanks, amen. Now please pass the dressing

We are slaves to the olfactory overload

We must rush our prayer before the food gets cold

But Lord, I'd like to take a few minutes more

To really give Thanks to what I am Thankful for....

Even though my family often drives me crazy- I am thankful this year, that we made it through this year with the safety and health of my kids, husband, parents, and rest. Thank  you father for all you do- to protect me and my family. We have no idea the daily battles that go on all around us.

This year I want to be different-

Father - grant me a kind, gentle and thankful heart.

Amy

Surrender

Hebrews 12:1;

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Why is it so hard to run this race called, "life," with perseverance?  Is it my fear of suffering? Or my refusal to suffer?

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. (2 Corinthians 1:5)

But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.(1 Peter 4:13)

Perhaps my greatest sin is not surrendering my all?
Surrendering........... a powerful word...............meaning wreck-less abandonment to the King.

He was reclining on the floor eating as it was customary in those days...........a women worked her way through the crowd in the Pharisee's house............. she stood behind him weeping...........for her sins were many....................her tears begin to fall like a river that runs through............. raining down upon his feet. She in the most intimate surrender of all broke her most valuable possession and poured it out on His feet.

She had nothing to wipe his feet with. It was the truest surrender of all.......... without caring what one thought of her.............she reached up and dropped her hair down and began wiping his feet with her hair..............and kissing his feet over and over again. (a women's hair was the most intimate thing she owned back then) Completely exposed.............open..............vulnerable. She recklessly abandoned all. (Luke 7: 36-50)

Her FAITH............. Her love!

I whisper Jesus' words.....“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Wanting this to be my very own heart beat.....His words to flow through my veins.
It's a new day...........surrender............be willing to abandon your all. I am quiet this morning before dawn..........I close my eyes and say it out loud.............visualizing that I am waving a white flag....and I murmur it softly......"I surrender."

My heart will be your altar.

all of grace,
Robbie

All of grace

The quieter you are the more his grace can evade your life. The world we live in deafens us with it's endless noise.


May this weekend be one of sitting in silence for a moment in time.
Silence can sometimes awaken our very own soul.

There is a time to listen and a time to speak. We are always listening to something............but are we really hearing?




All of grace,
robbie

Trust

Jeremiah 17:7-9

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?




all is grace,
Robbie

When your ready to flee from yourself

Is Thanksgiving really almost here?  It has happened so unexpected.............the leaves falling from the trees all changed.....Life continues to be a gift but I can't seem to escape from the "self."

It's my exaggerated sense of self that keeps me putting my schedule ahead of the King.
But remaining empty and craving fullness.

   I am starving my very own soul from the eternal food...........it's where the darkness and disobedience go hand and hand. Who am I really I scream?  Me the wretched woman and mama.............who is the want a be Christian. With my hand held out being a taker always the taker........and then it's grace that whispers.......come, take..........receive GRACE...........from the one where atonement comes. Our blessings are secure in Him.................He is faithful even when we are faithless.

Jesus is the road less traveled where you will find His mercy and truth meeting together.
 Righteousness and peace are entwined together and upon all of that sits:   "The Throne of Grace."

Our God gave up His throne to put on skin...............skin like ours.......he became human........to walk humble............but HOW do I follow in His footsteps.............humble? Me who claims to know my God!

Why do I make an effort to avoid people who hurt and not make an effort to love those who hurt me?
PRIDE............seems to rear it's ugly head over and over again.  I am no better than a Pharisee!
It's a daily battle............and it's my very own SOUL that's at stake.

And if it's me that claims to know God better than others..........then it's me that is feeling like I am the better............and that's not God at all that I am following!

Praying for the living waters to flow through me..........But how? Sometimes I want to give up........surrender from the life of Faith. It seems like "pipe dreams," impossible to reach.

The road less traveled gets steeper and steeper winding you deeper and deeper until you feel you just can't go on............and just when you think you can't make it another step..............  the glory of the resurrection descends upon you and the false sense of self begins to fade. It's the revelation of who God really is that starts to surface.  It happens when I stop holding out my hand for the taking and start
 following......... in His humble footsteps.
So how do I walk before him blameless?...............Surrender...................giving up and allowing Almighty God Incarnate to work in us and through us.

Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the glory of God should be exhibited!
Love more...........Forgive more..........walk balmelessly before the Lord.

Genesis 17:1-2 “Walk Before Me, And Be Blameless”

all of grace,
Robbie

Ongoing Project

I remember a song- one that I sung when I was little.....

"He's still working on me- to make me what I ought to be

It took him just a week to make the moon and stars- the sun and the

earth and Jupiter and Mars.

how loving and patient he must be- 'cause he is still working on me".

Loving and Patient are two qualities I want.

I pray- before my feet hit the ground- "Father- change me- make me into someone you can use."

I listen to the boys upstairs- playing. No TV or Computers tonight. Just the three of them- trying to entertain themselves for a few hours. I hold my breath- 'cause it is a matter of time before the fighting and whining begins.

Please Father- help them see what you would have them see.

My boys are apart of the next generation. How can I help them? How can they make a difference in the world?

We watched- (you-tube) boys and girls from all over the world open "shoe boxes" filled with toys. I want to teach them compassion- a "want" inside of them- a want to help others.

This video is about kids helping kids.

What a great start - to teach your kids about compassion! -

It starts with a shoe box- a few gifts- a letter. Send it across the world to make

a small difference.

A small jester of kindness- a small example of compassion. I hope to spark an

interest- an interest for others.

They watch me- the boys do- they watch my actions and behaviors.

We went to McDonalds tonight- a quick fix for dinner.

I had a quiet nudge- to pay for the car behind me- something the radio station I listen too has been doing for a few years now. This was the first time- I didn't have "the note" that explains what and why. I just did.....

behind me was a police car

I paid for his dinner- he pulled up to my car and asked "WHY"....

Because- I said- I just wanted to thank you for your service.

My kids were so excited- My middle son- Josh

said- " Mom- that made me feel good inside". Me too- I said.

Hey boys- lets make a difference in someones life tomorrow- Kind deeds can be free. At school see how you can "make a difference" or show "kindness".

They all agreed and are excited for tomorrow's mission.

It just takes a minute- to show kindness.... and it sure feels good.

With a Thankful Heart...

Amy

What you love

What we love is what we become!

And what we become is what we model...........................................and what we model is what we will pass on to our children.............."What is your legacy that you are leaving behind?"

Are your desires shaping you? Are my desires shaping me?

Me a wretched woman..........straddling the fence with one leg in the spiritual realm= eternal............and the other leg in the world= temporary!

We are only passing through this life............it is not our home. We are here for just a season!

But our season here will determine our resume for our eternity!

May your weekend be one of reconstructing your resume.........it is the most important resume you will ever write because it is for eternity!

My prayer I read this morning before dawn:

O eternal God, though Thou art not such as I can see with my eyes or touch with my hands, yet grant me this day a clear conviction of Thy reality and power. Let me not go forth to my work believing only in the world of sense and time, but give me grace to understand the world I cannot see or touch is the most real world of all. My life today will be lived in time but ETERNAL issues will be concerned in it. The needs of my body will be clamant, but it is for the needs of my soul that I must care most. My business will be with things material, but behind them let me be aware of things spiritual. Let me keep steadily in mind that the things that matter are not money or possessions, not house of lands, not bodily comfort or bodily pleasure; but truth and honour and meekness and helpfulness and a pure love of Thyself.

For the power Thou hast given me to lay hold of things unseen:

For the strong sense I have that this is not my home:

For my restless heart which nothing finite can satisfy:

I give Thee thanks, O God.

For invasion of my soul by Thy Holy Spirit:

For all human love and goodness that speak to me of Thee:

For the fullness of Thy glory outpoured in Jesus Christ:

I give Thee thanks, O God.

I, a pilgrim of eternity, stand before Thee, O eternal One. Let me not seek to deaden or destroy the desire for Thee that disturbs my heart. Let me rather yield myself to its constraint and go where it leads me. Make me wise to see all things today under the form of eternity, and make me brave to face all the changes in my life which such a vision may entail:  through the grace of  Christ my Saviour.

Amen.

A Dairy of Private Prayer:  by John Baillie

all of grace,

Robbie