Son Tracking

It may seem odd that I am posting something about the sun after we have been blanketed in about 1-2  feet of snow, and no sunshine to be seen,
but maybe it is the PERFECT time!

In your travels have you noticed open fields covered in solar panels, large black table like objects?  The ones that inspired this blog are the ones that are on pivoting heads so that the solar cells can always be pointing in the direction of the sun's rays, the source of power.

I am sure you can see where I am going with this.....
We need to be SON trackers!  Always facing the Source of our power, our Light.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  John 8:12

Jesus Christ is the source of our Light, our power, our strength.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Isiah 40:29

 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

But what if it is dark, there are no rays of sun to be seen? You feel buried?
We  have to remember that there will be no time when it is completely dark, where there is no light.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:11-12

There is NO darkness with Him....His light outshines any darkness!  That is our hope!  When we trust Christ we trust that though times we may struggle and it seems hopeless, His light is always there!

With the solar panels when there seems to be no light that is when the stored energy is used.

We need to "store up" by instilling God's word in our hearts so that when dark times come we have His Strength and Power to draw on.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Deuteronomy 6:6

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken  Psalm 16:8

If we maintain our Son tracking, daily turning our face, our eyes, our souls to Christ, we can remain a source of Light for those around us!
 The chorus to the old hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus sums this up well for me:

And turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace     Songwriters: Helen Howarth Lemmel

Click on the link if you want to hear a full version  Turn Your Eyes. Upon Jesus. Lauren Daigle

I Love You Lord

I love You Lord and I lift my voice
to worship You, O my soul rejoice.
Take joy my King in what You hear,
may it be a sweet sweet sound in Your ear.

Songwriters: KLEIN LAURIE B

I Love You Lord lyrics © House Of Mercy Music, UMPG BRENTWOOD-BENSON PUB. OBO MARANATHA PRAISE, INC., UMPG BRENTWOOD-BENSON PUB. OBO HOUSE OF MERCY MUSIC

A short, simple praise chorus that I learned years ago.  It is one that goes through my head often....pieces of it have been in my head when I couldn't seem to come up with anything else, not even a prayer.
Recently it has become an integral beginning to my prayer time.
One day while I began to pray and this immediately began in my head....I realized it had become an automatic part of my communication with my Lord....and I began to disect it...was it a good way to start my prayer time? .... Was it a prayer in itself? Etc etc...

So I decided to look at it in parts:

"I love You Lord"
The basic tenant of who I am, of who any Christian is. We choose to love our God, to follow Him.
📖  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37

"And I lift my voice"
That is what prayer is, praise is, worship is.
📖 I will lift my voice to sing Your praise, O my Strength—
    for You came to my defense.    O God, You have shown me Your loving mercy. Psalm 59:17 (the Voice)

"To worship you"
Not just during prayer time, but with my whole existence, worship my God
📖  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

"O, my soul rejoice"
I take joy, pleasure in the depths of my being in my relationship with my creator.  My soul, which is His.
📖  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Philippians 4:4

"Take joy my King"
It becomes not about me, but about Him.  How can i serve Him? How can I Love Him? How can i bring Him Joy?
📖  For the Lord takes delight in his people;    he crowns the humble with victory. Psalm 149:4

"In what You hear"
It is about my responses to Him.  Not just the words I "speak" to Him, but what "sounds" resonate off my life, off all I do!!
📖 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer, 1 Peter 3:12a

"May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear" 
At the end of it all...my prayers, my activities, my day, my life...
may ALL of it separately and collectively bring honor, and glory to God the Father, but this line speaks of something even more intimate...what we do brings something to Him personally, meant only for His "ear"
and I pray it be melodious and sweet!
Now listen with your heart to the song and may it penetrate your prayer time!

I Love You Lord Petra

Don't Judge a Gift by It's Wrap

As we move away from the festivities of Christmas, and new year...we pack away the decorations, gather up the trimmings, deciding which is worth saving, and what needs throwing away.
We dispose of the bags of wrapping paper....as I look at it  it makes me think of all the wrapped gifts...some that were a work of art in the wrapping, to some of mine that I managed to put in a bag and throw some tissue over it!  BUT it all ends up in the same place doesn't it?  So the wrapping …
how it was wrapped does not depict the importance of the gift...or determine it's worth.

Isn't that the same with the most important Gift of all?  A tiny baby, not wrapped in royal blankets; not in a cradle adorned with jewels and gold; not surrounded by courtiers and royal care givers.

He was wrapped in swaddling cloth, they type of cloth used by any mother of the time and region, and wrapped in a fashion any caring mother would.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,  and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. Luke 2:6

At first sight it was an ordinary birth, of an ordinary child.....at first glance...
BUT as the angels proclaimed, as the wise men predicted, as Mary and Joseph knew,
this wasn't an ordinary conception, and was not going to be an ordinary baby!

The old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"...Jesus's growing up was as any child of a carpenter of that day.  His parents observed all the Jewish customs and holidays.  BUT again, don't let that fool you!
At a very young age, around 12, He disappeared from the group of people He was traveling with because He needed to be "about His Father's business"....teaching about His Father in the temple.
A little inkling to how "out of the ordinary" this boy was.

When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.  After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.  When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?" Luke 2:42-49

His birth and life may have seemed fairly ordinary, but under the wrap and the outward appearance it was/is the most extraordinary life!  AND the most extraordinary thing is; He did it all for us, for you and for me!

Make sure you "unwrap" all the marvelous things Christ has for you!  The bible is just full of all kinds of extra-ordinary!

My  prayer is you find many amazing things every day as you spend time with Christ!
And I pray that you "HAVE" to be where your Father wants you to be!

Bless the Calluses

I know this might sound like an odd title...but bear with me...it might make sense!
When we see calluses we usually think of some one who is a hard worker or some one who has done something repetitive enough to have changed the look and feel of the skin
Like;
On the hands.. we think of it as a result of hard manual work.
But, how about if we have built those calluses up by laboring for others...serving in any way God shows us?
📖    In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Calluses on our feet, due to the constant movement for Him.  Going where ever He leads,  spreading His love and gospel how ever far we need to.
📖  How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  Isaiah 52:7

Calluses on our knees....because we are humbled before our God..on our knees in prayer so often we build calluses on them.
📖  ^"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

📖 For this reason I kneel before the Father,  Ephesians 3:14

But what about places there shouldn't  be calluses ...things we try NOT to do repeatedly....
No callused tongues... Built up from constant harsh words or bitter remarks stemming from blindness and  judgement.
📖  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry  James 1:19

No callused shoulders...from large chips being carried around creating pride, discontentment, entitlement, self righteousness.
📖 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Ephesians 2:3-4
📖 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32 

This New Year let's work to build calluses where they will do the most good and avoid having them form where they shouldn't.
Try to seek God daily; the more time we spend with Him, the better we know Him, the more willing we are to serve. We will see where we can make the most impact. From right in our homes with our family and friends to our communities and beyond!
May 2019 be a year of callused hands, feet, and especially knees!!!

In this New Year praying you can look back and find blessings, moments of joy, reflect on lessons learned, see God's hand moving in your days, holding you in your sadness, walking beside you in your joys!
 I will continue to share what God lays on my heart each week, and continue to pray for YOU!