Dear Heavenly Father,
You know what I am struggling with right now. It feels so overwhelming and incomprehensible to me, but I know You have a plan. Your plan will work out for me, and I just need to follow it. Help me to seek you, and be ever present for Brian. I pray that he will hear Your call for him, and open his heart. Thank you for your blessings and forgiveness. Thank you for your Word.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
I believe Beth Moore can teach a lot about prayer. I’ve read her “Power of a Praying Wife, Mom, and Woman” books, and adapted some of the prayers into my everyday prayer life. So sorry, that would be Stormie O’Martian! The stress of Thanksgiving has me confused still! If you haven’t read any of Stormie’s books, I highly recommend them to anyone. Now, back to Beth Moore, whom I have read a few books, and done some of her bible studies, including Believing God. Please visit her website at Living Proof to see what she has to offer. I have 2 devotionals from her. Praying God’s Word Day by Day, A year of Devotional Prayer, is so powerful, and speaks to me so often in times of need. No matter what day it is, the daily devo is awesome. I know that I’ve shared some in the past, and I have another one today.
NONE OF US CONSISTENTLY GLORIFY GOD IN EVERYTHING WE SAY AND DO,
BUT WE CAN STILL EXPERIENCE GENUINE LIBERATION IN CHRIST
You, the Lord my God, are my sun and shield; You, Lord, bestow favor and honor; no good thing do You withhold from those whose walk is blameless (Ps. 84:11).
Lord, I can’t claim a blameless walk, but I ask You to please empower me to walk with You faithfully and to never cease pursuing it. Help me, Lord, to hold unswervingly to the hope I profess, for You who promised are faithful (Heb. 10:23).
If I do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if I spend myself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then light will rise in the darkness, and my night will become like noonday (Isa. 58:9-10).
That just put me in my place. Empower me Lord, to do Your will, and profess Your name. To stand by You, as You faithfully stand for all of us. May my words honor and edify You, may my actions bring You glory. Thank You Lord, that You faithfully love me and guide me, even when I fall short. Thank You, for the gift of Your Son, and the salvation He brought. Thank You for your grace, that I can be saved by faith through Your grace. Thank You for carrying me when I succumb to the pressures, doubts and fears. I have been blessed!
We awoke, we froze, we ran, we watched them hand out the last right in front of our eyes, we were sad, we moved on, found some small things, drove somewhere else, stood in line for an hour and 40 minutes, (this time in the warmth of a store,) and we concquered! I’ve been toast the rest of the day! That pretty much sums it up….
This is one of the craziest things I have ever started, but I continue to do it. Early in the week, I was excited, and looking forward to shopping. Last night, after cooking all day, it was not top on my list. I was looking at the ads and making my plan around 1 am. Luckily, I had only one big ticket item for all 3 kids, and two stores had them on sale that were close in proximity to each other. One opened at 6, the other at 7. I thought it would work. I believed. And it did!
I shared this honored tradition this year with my daughter. Her first time to do Black Friday, I woke her up at 4:30 am. She popped right up! Why won’t she do that for school when she gets 2 more hours of sleep?! Anyway, we stood in line outside of Target for 1 hour and 12 minutes. Did I say that it was 28 degrees? Yeah, a bit cold. Actually, I swear my feet were frostbitten, because they hurt so badly. When they finally opened the door and we had to run, I wasn’t sure I could. But Brooke drug me! She was great! The fave part of that store is the warm Venti Chai Latte from Starbucks. Yes, Venti. It was so good! We only made it to 3 stores, but it was very productive. I want to say kudos to my friend Tiffany, because she was the ultimate power shopper. She was out yesterday morning, and today as well. Go Tiff!
We came home and I took a nap. Then Brian and Zach left for the woods again, and I had a funny thought. I always make fun of them for getting up at 5 am to go and sit out in the woods…………..but I got up at 4 am to stand in line outside of Target to get a bargain………when they go, they wear wool socks, thermal underwear, and insulated clothing and coveralls…………I had jeans, T shirt, tennis shoes, and a coat………mental note to self-Don’t make fun of them again!
Plans for tomorrow- My mom and dad are going to Red Lobster to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They asked us to come, but I’m so tired, and have some dishes to finish up, and Brooke is really wanting to get the Christmas stuff our. I don’t know yet what we’ll do, because I want to see them. I guess tomorrow is today now, so I should sum it up. I had fun with my baby girl today, and she is growing up so quickly. She amazes me! It’s something we don’t get to share a lot because she’s so busy with dance. I’m trying so much to instill a strong faith in my children, and pray they seek the Lord with all their might. They are all such a blessing to me, and I feel the weight to teach them these things. It seems that Thanksgiving and Christmas are difficult times for my husband, and I just pray fervently that his heart will be open to receiving Christ. That we can share the power of the Holy Spirit in our family, and praise God for everything. Blessings to you all!
I just wanted to share a quick devotion from Beth Moore’s Praying God’s Word Day by Day. This one is from last week, on the 14th of November.
BELIEVE EVEN WHEN YOU DO NOT FEEL. KNOW EVEN WHEN YOU DO NOT SEE.
HE GAVE THE LIFE OF HIS SON TO DEMONSTRATE HIS LOVE.
BELIEVE!
Lord God, Your Word says that You love the just and will not forsake Your faithful ones. They will be protected forever (Psalm 37:28). My justification is found in Your Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:30). He is faithful even when I am not (2 Tim 2:13). Thank you, Father, that I can be absolutely sure You will never leave me or forsake me, because I am in Jesus (Heb. 13:5). O God, how I THANK YOU that a lack of faith will never nullify Your faithfulness (Rom. 3:3). You will remain faithful, for You cannot disown Yourself (2Tim 2:13). Lord, help me to know that I belong to the truth, and set my heart at rest in Your presence (1 John 3:19).
He is faithful, I am free and my heart is at rest, because of Him! Thank You Lord!
I have been remiss. My dad called me Wednesday morning to ask me to get all my friends to pray for 2 couples. I did talk to them, and we have been praying. What I forgot was all of you. So now I am bringing you in on it. The first couple is Kent and Kayla. They are a beautiful christian couple who are unable to have children. They decided to adopt, because they just want to bring a child up in christian love. The first time fell through, for the reason I can’t remember right now. They were matched with another birth mom, and she chose them to love her child. It has all been going smoothly. With the due date approaching quickly, they had decorated the room, and some people had given them clothing. Kayla had not wanted the church to have a baby shower for them, just in case something happened and it didn’t go through. On Sunday at church they were both so excited, stating only 1 week and 2 days left before the baby was here. Two days later the birth mom called them to say that she had changed her mind. Kent told my dad that they had a lot of crying, but also a lot of praying. They felt like God knew more than they did, and He was stopping something that just wasn’t right for them. I am in awe of them and their faith. They know who is going to carry them through this. I have no doubt about that. I just ask that you would pray that God will continue to bless them with strength, especially as it gets closer to the delivery date that they have been so looking forward to. I ask that God will fill them with peace and joy, and provide for their needs. That they will feel Him working in their lives, and seek Him even more. Please pray for this couple as it touches your heart.
The next loving christian couple are Lance and Jenny. Lance was in a business situation that was not good for him, so he got out of it. Now he is looking for a job. They were a smart young couple, and have put back some money in savings, so he can take a short while to find something. That is not the concern. They are both under a great deal of stress, and I just pray that they let God take control and pull that stress away. They have started praying together, and are finding that is helping tremendously. I pray that their marriage and faith will continue to grow stronger, as they allow God to work in their lives.
These couples are members of my parents’ church, and have a great network of people there to pray, but prayer is so powerful! It is such a simple thing for us to do, and can bring such great blessings. I have felt the peace that prayer can bring to you in the midst of a struggle. He wants to help us. Christ died for us, to save us. Talk to Him continually.
As I said, the power of prayer is beautiful. I believe in His favor, mercy, love, grace, and healing. I will pray for you if you need it, so just ask. I am now a prayer team member of Christian Women Online because of this. Visit their prayer room sometime, or join the team too. God Bless You!
I know I have talked about satan waging a war, and feeling his presence before, but why won’t he give me a break? I am so angry with him right now!! Yes, I am tired of fighting with you, but I will NEVER stop! I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. He is my everything!
There are times when I can feel him lurking..just waiting for the right moment. And then there are times that he comes up on a sneak attack, when I am not ready or prepared. See, I like to have plans, and the sneak attacks really mess with my plans. But then he knows that, and he wants to drag me away from the One who truly loves me and protects me. So I have been pondering that this week, and once again, Beth Moore has shown me the answer. The past two days in her Breaking Free Day By Day devotional have been on prayer. Yesterday was about how satan wants to see us do anything BUT pray. He doesn’t even care if we study the bible all day long, because he knows we need prayer to understand what we are reading and the power to live. So Pray!
Today’s scripture was Colossians 4:2. Devote yourselves to prayer: stay alert in it with thanksgiving. She said that discipline can fly out the window at times of temptation and weakness, we also don’t tend to think straight when we get a surprise attack, and that human nature is far too self-destructive to choose what is best at our weakest moments. The last line today was this. Prayer lets us walk in peace and victory enen when walking through a war zone. You know I love that. So today, spend a little more time talking to God!
Here you will find my devotional from Beth Moore. This was from last week, but is still making an impression on me, and maybe it will you too.
Blessed, merciful God, Your Word promises that those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.
If I go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, I will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with me. (Ps. 126:5-6)
Help me to see that the promise is not made to those who simply have tears but to those who are willing to sow seed in the midst of their tears. Your Word tells us in Luke 8:11 that the seed is the Word. If I’m willing to keep believing and sowing Your Word, even when I am desperately hurting, you will bring me forth from this difficult season with songs of joy. Because of Your faithfulness, with joy I will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isa. 12:3) Remember…GOD will give us VICTORY, but sometimes He will require every ounce of energy and cooperation we have in the process.