“We cannot escape the frustrations of this life. It is wise to lean on the Lord for help and guidance…”
Message from When God Thinks of You, He Smiles, a book of 365 devotions from Broadstreet Publishing. I received this as a gift last week from my “dear bonus daughter,” Elaina. Each page has a scripture, a commentary, and ends with a prayer. Boy Howdy, I needed this one today!
“Don’t worry, because I am with you. Don’t be afraid, because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you. I will support you with my right hand that saves you.”
Isaiah 41:10 (NCV)
Ah yes, reach your hand out. Touch me. Assure me. Encourage me! I am frustrated and need to remember no one is promised a seamless life. But the strange thing is: I invited this frustration into my life!!
What was I thinking? The dead of a Montana winter is not the time… not the time to get a new puppy who has not been crate-trained, let alone house-trained!
Oh, I can be all smiles when he’s in my lap and feeling lovable and wanting to be cuddled! But, believe me, Kenny is a 6 1/2 month old 12 pound ball of energy who has decided his crate is his bathroom and our floor is his toilet – – Help!
My devotional today said, “Prayer gives us strength when trials… come our way.” Believe me, I have prayed at length about this pup! The devotional said, “When you struggle, it doesn’t mean your faith is lacking. Even when you faithfully follow God… life can still be rocky.”
I need to put this pup struggle in perspective! It’s not life or death. We will survive. Count your blessings, Jan, because he is smart and will learn… and you are smarter and can teach! Be patient!
I may have told you earlier that my friend, Terry, sent me this book: “How Dogs Think.” The cover photo looks just like Kenny must have looked at 2 or 3 months… and the subtitle of the book is: “Inside the Canine Mind.” It’s a TIME special edition. Surely this will have some good advice to add to all the things my friends are saying… and Isaiah said it, too: “I will make you strong and help you…”
The prayer at the bottom of the devotional today was: “Gracious One, thank you for the faithfulness of your love… I don’t want to spend my life worrying or full of fear. Empower me and encourage me when I struggle.” Amen!
It is three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables.
Here is my news in a Sijo:
Our six-month Boston puppy, Kenny, arrived on Saturday He is not house trained, nor crate trained, so don’t turn your back But he’s so cute, cuddly and loveable that we’ll keep him!
Only once have we seen his ears straight up!
No, this is not him. He’d never tolerate a hat! But ain’t she cute? We love Boston Terriers!!
He loves that chew toy… and stretches out full length to get it! That’s a long body for a six-month old! He already weighs nearly 12 pounds. Gonna be a big boy!
Oh, he’s squirming… Time to take him out. But it’s snowing and ccccold! Oh Kenny, I don’t want to go out either! But we better. See ya later.
Al Rocker, the Today Show weatherman and co-host was featured this month on the cover of one of the magazines I read each month, “Guideposts.” On turning 70, he shared with readers how he is approaching life differently after a 2022 health scare.
He wrote:
“It may sound strange, considering I make my living on television and have been the weatherman and co-host of the Today show for 29 years, but in my personal life, I shy away from the spotlight. I’d musch rather celebrate someone else, make a big deal out of their birthday instead of my own. Which is why I tried my best to dissuade my wife, Deborah Roberts, from throwing a party for my birthday last August. But I knew I couldn’t stop her. It was a milestone birthday, after all – my seventieth. The truth was, I was feeling a little melancholy about turning seventy. My dad never made it to this age. He passed away at 69. Dad was my role model and inspiration for being a good husband and father. I was theoldest of six kids, and three of my siblings were adopeted, Mom and Dad brought foster children into our home, too. Sometimes people would ask why they’d taken on raising so maky children, and Dad would always say simply, “There is no limit to how much you can love.”
After describing his near-death experience, he concluded:
“My health scare reminded me that life is an ephemeral gift that we’ve been given by God, and we need to appreciate and honor it. So I spent a lot of time talking to people… telling them how I feel about them. The people I care about, the people I love, I want to make sure they know. I’ve been more intentional about that, evn after I made a full recovery and returned to the Today show.”
I challenge each of us to commit to this same message. Let your feelings out! Let the people you love, the people you care about, KNOW! Be intentional!!
Love, JanBeek
P.S. I love you for visiting my blog. I’ll love you even more if you leave a comment below so I can hear from you and respond.
The words to the hymn below hit me square between the eyes last Sunday as we sang this in our church… and thought about how desperately I want God to “hear our cry and heal our nation.” I hope you find these words meaningful, too. Churches were singing it a decade ago… It was true then. It’s true now. We, as a nation, have lost the truth we need… I do believe that. Lord God, help us!
In an age of twisted values
In an age of twisted values we have lost the truth we need; in sophisticated language we have justified our greed; by our struggle for possessions we have robbed the poor and weak – hear our cry and heal our nation: your forgiveness, Lord, we seek.
2. We have built discrimination on our prejudice and fear; hatred swiftly turns to cruelty if we hold resentments dear. For communities divided by the walls of class and race hear our cry and heal our nation: show us, Lord, your love and grace.
3. When our families are broken; when our homes are full of strife; when our children are bewildered, when they lose their way in life; when we fail to give the aged all the care we know we should – hear our cry and heal our nation with your tender fatherhood.
4. We who hear your word so often choose so rarely to obey; turn us from our wilful blindness, give us truth to light our way. In the power of your Spirit come to cleanse us, make us new: hear our cry and heal our nation till our nation honours you.
Let us pray this song as a prayer… pray for God’s forgiveness, love and grace. God, please hear our cry and heal our nation. Heal our world!
God bless our nation, our world, and God Bless YOU!
