Laura Story Blessings (lyrics)

Two Truths about Trials!

One of my favorite O.T. characters is a man named Joseph, the great grand-son of the Jewish patriarch, Abraham. All who read my writings all familiar with this faith-filled man and his story so I will just take up in chapter 45 which I was reading this morning during my quiet time with the Lord. In this chapter, Joseph, now in authority in the land of Egypt, is about to reveal himself to his brothers, those same brothers who had sold him at the age of seventeen into the hands of the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver and then lied to their father about his whereabouts who had no doubt mourned every day since. That is one of the saddest parts of this story to me that as those ten boys saw their daddy sad every day that none would open up and tell him the truth, that maybe his beloved son was still alive.

Come Just As You Are!

By now, I guess we have all seen the gaffe by the president of the United States as he toasted the "snippity" queen of England. At least, that is the way that I see her- you know- like Laura Ingalls defined the little rich and bratty girl, Nellie- "just snippity, Pa"!  I am a Laura student and I like that word," snippity", for people who think they are above the commoners of this world. I must admit, I could not illicit much sympathy at our Commander in Chief  as the band struck up before he was finished with his eloquent toast. The picture of his condescension to the prime minister of the country who has been and should stay our staunchest ally kept coming to mind and I just didn't feel very sorry for him. He, probably, would surmise that the band was in error and should have waited on him and I am sure in either case, the queen set it right!

More Precious Than Silver

Fernando Ortega - All Flesh Is Like The Grass

"Every Word of God Proves True."

I read that verse from Proverbs 30:5 this morning and then turned to a chapter that I have read often in the last few days- Jeremiah 36.  A foolish king supposed that he could negate the truth that every word of God proves true by taking a knife and cutting the scroll and tossing it into the fire. Ps. 12:6- "The words of the LORD are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Matthew Henry writes- "Enemies may prevail to burn many a Bible, but they cannot abolish the Word of God, nor defeat the accomplishment of it."

The Forgotten Two-Lettered Word!

Recently Danny and I were watching the evening news when the subject of the end of the high school year proms was introduced. The sound bite just before breaking for commercial was enough to keep me hanging on for the whole story, always their strategy. "Adding to the already exorbitant expense from the dress to the coiffure to the shoes and the appointment with the make-up artist and the manicure and the pedicure and the......... , see why some parents are spending an extra $1300.00 this year, when we come back."  Wow, while I waited for the seemingly endless commercial about the side effects of cholesterol medicine, I thought to myself what could be driving up the cost of the prom date? Could it be the limousine and the fine dining and maybe the swanky motel where the dance would be? I just couldn't imagine. What? Pray tell!

Bringing Others Forward On Their Journey!

Thank you, dear Readers, for allowing me to think out loud and then put on paper my thoughts lately on how I could come to the end of my life and not consider it a waste, that I had not lived in vain. Know that I write firstly to me and if you are blessed or encouraged, then I am thankful and if I have ever sounded condescending or in a manner that suggests that I have it all together, please forgive me. I know that I have far to go but I also know that my goal is to know more of God, to love Christ my Savior in a deeper way, and then to walk worthy of that calling in Him!

All I Once Held Dear (Knowing You) -- with Lyrics

Our Passion!

"It is beyond comprehension that soldiers of the cross would be satisfied in retiring from the battle just before the trumpet blast of victory or just before admission to the coronation ceremony." This rich quote from John Piper aids me in setting the stage for my second thought on how I, as I reflect on my life, believe I can waste it. Last time, I noted that pursuing God should be my lifelong goal. Read with me a verse in Hosea 6:3- "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD..." Following on, running hard after is what the Psalmist was teaching in Ps. 63 when David said- "O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. In one of my favorite chapter in Psalms, in 42, he writes- "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God."