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In the Shadow…

Ps. 17:8
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings

The smiling face below belongs to our interim pastor, Brian Conklin, who delivered a beautiful sermon Sunday inspired by the prayer of David found in Psalm 17. I posted my sermon notes here and then (while messing around on WordPress on my phone), I accidentally erased the post. Some of my friends saw it before the mishap, I hope. Anyway… heeeeeere’s Brian…

And heeeere’s “A prayer of David”

1 Hear me, Lord, my plea is just;
    listen to my cry.
Hear my prayer—
    it does not rise from deceitful lips.
2 Let my vindication come from you;
    may your eyes see what is right.

3 Though you probe my heart,
    though you examine me at night and test me,
you will find that I have planned no evil;
    my mouth has not transgressed.
4 Though people tried to bribe me,
    I have kept myself from the ways of the violent
    through what your lips have commanded.
5 My steps have held to your paths;
    my feet have not stumbled.

6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
    turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
7 Show me the wonders of your great love,
    you who save by your right hand
    those who take refuge in you from their foes.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
    from my mortal enemies who surround me.

Heaven knows, I need to be one of those protected chicks under “the shadow of your wings!”

Can’t redo what I lost… Need to get to bed.
Oh well…

See ya tomorrow. It’ll be a better day.

Love,
JanBeek

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Bible Lessons, blessings, Faith, God, Jesus, Living in Christ's Family, Love, Montana, Poetry, sermon notes, writing

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Finishing Well

Run the race with grace
So you know you’re finishing well
Goal: the finish line!

Today’s sermon at church was titled, “Running the Race”
But the main topic of interest was “Finishing Well.”
So my sermon notes today reflect that focus.
Come and read the highlights as I heard and recorded them:

2nd Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
“6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing… 16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Why do people run? Pain, elation,
Personal challenge, delirium…
Concentrate on how far you’ve come
Rather than on where you’ve been.

Feeling stiff and in pain, but knowing
I have the ability to endure hard things
Gives me the ability to show up for myself
So I can therefore show up for others.

Let’s end our journey with peace in our hearts
Knowing we have run the race well.
The Lord stood by us, gave us strength
And gave us perseverance as we served with trust.

Serving in faith, fighting the good fight
For mercy, for love… We often stand alone.
Feeling lonely and isolated in life’s race,
We reach out in ministry to others.

Christ calls us to run the race in faith.
Faith transforms us in our disappointments
Into opportunities of grace and hope.
So finish the race with faithfulness.

See through the things we’ve started
With integrity, keeping the faith through change.
The glory of your finish will last forever.
Run the race… and finish well.

Amen?

Love to you – and best wishes for a race well done!
JanBeek

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Bible Lessons, Faith, Life's Challenges, Living in Christ's Family, Love, Poetry, sermon notes, Serving One Another, writing

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Turn Back with Gratitude

My sermon notes try to capture the essence of what I hear each Sunday. Our pastor, Brian Conklin, delivered this inspiring message last Sunday:

Issues of faith, leprosy, and other skin troubles
Are the topics we are looking at today.
God is whispering to us to pay attention,
Live with humility, and show our gratitude.

Naaman, the man in 2Kings 5, was a man of great wealth
Whose skin disease stripped away his power.
A small, captured servant girl told Naaman
There was a man in Israel, Elisha, who could heal him.

Naaman went to Elisha’s house and was greeted
By a servant who told him to go to the Jordan river
And dip himself seven time for healing,
He does go, after anger and reluctance, and was healed.

It was his listening and obeying God in humility
That was his true source of healing.
Then, (in Luke 17) there were ten lepers who were healed
And only one turned back in gratitude, and was made whole.

Ten were healed, but only one was transformed.
Faith is about trusting in the next step,
Even in transition, fatigue, illness, and reluctance.
Healing is about the restoration of relationship.

God meets us in our obedience, humility, and gratitude.
Trust enough to step forward – then healing begins.
When you are blessed, do you turn back?
Do you stop, remember, and reflect in an
Attitude of Gratitude?

Give thanks always, knowing our faithful God
Will make you whole in your transformation.
Sometimes the solution seems too simple –
But if it takes seven dips in the river, do it!

And then, don’t forget to turn back to God
And express your heartfelt gratitude
For the ways He is faithful and always
Answers your prayers with His mercy and compassion.

Amen?
Amen!

What answered prayer are you especially grateful for today?

Love ya,
JanBeek

Category:

Belief, Bible Lessons, blessings, Faith, God, Gratitude, Life's Challenges, sermon notes, writing

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I Can Become

In the devotional, In Touch, by Charles Stanley this week, he wrote, “… Authentic Christianity is about becoming rather than doing.”

I was struck by that idea because, as he also wrote, “Probably the greatest obstacle to understanding God’s purpose for brokenness is this: Many think of Christianity as a series of activities. We pray. We read the Bible. We go to church. We worship. We tithe. We do and do and do…”

The devotional went on to say, “The life of faith that God designed involves receiving Jesus into our heart and allowing Him to change us so we become increasingly more like Him.”

1 John 2:6
“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.”

“This realization will change our perspective on the heartaches we must endure… When we recognize that the Christian life is about Jesus’ persistent work of “re-creation” in us, then the role of brokenness makes more sense. It’s the process the Lord uses to strip away obstacles to our spiritual growth.

God doesn’t want to be Lord of most of our life, He wants to be Lord of all of our life. He wants us to become more like Him each day: loving, giving, serving, forgiving, teaching others about Christ by our life of love. So, we must BECOME more Christ-like by opening our hearts to Him and asking God to reveal to us anything that hampers that growth.

We can be so busy listening to all the instructions to be cool, aim high, and see the world that we forget to just BE… Just appreciate every moment as a precious gift from God, a chance to reflect, an opportunity to let God know how grateful we are for each day we are given.

Yes, I CAN become… I can become more like Christ… I’m just sitting here thinking about HOW He would like me to BE. What can I do to become more like Him? If it’s about BECOMING instead of DOING, how can I become without doing? Hmmm…

Think about that!

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Aging Gracefully, Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Jesus, Life's Challenges

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Great is Thy Faithfulness

Sermon notes on Sunday is a regular habit of mine.
I used to share them here every week.
I don’t know why I got out of the habit.
Time to start doing that again.
I hope you find them enlightening and inspiring.

Sermon by Brian Conklin at Madison Valley Presbyterian Church

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Lamentations is a beautiful book
Each of the five chapters is a poem
It’s a reflection of encouragement and hope
Written out of the pain of total loss

Rubble, grief, and despair are the topics
But in the middle of the book is a word of hope
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Great is Thy faithfulness; it is new every morning

But we can feel letdown in the midst of hope
And God would rather have our honest tears
Than fake smiles. We live in times of pain…
The things we see in the news weighs us down.

We’re allowed to walk through pain and share
We can walk with empathy and compassion
See the loss and pain in others and empathize
Acknowledge your own – and remember God’s promises.

God is consistent and unchanging. He said
His mercies are new every morning, and so
We have fresh grace again and again and again
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.

This week, keep track; look for moments
When you can see God’s grace at work.
Praise God! Thank God! Accept your inheritance.
The Lord is my portion. Take hope. Have faith.

Amen?

Lotsa Love,
JanBeek

Here’s Brian,
the dear interim pastor
who delivered the message today.

(I hope my notes did it justice)
God bless him!

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Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Life's Challenges, Poetry, sermon notes, writing

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I Can Sit Quietly

I can sit quietly and wallow in this life called retirement.
Like a child wallowing gleefully in a mud puddle,
bouncing, splashing,
and a puppy rolling in it,
I can roll through my days,
bounce from one activity to the next,
and make a splash
as I enter my 14th year of blogging.

Once upon a time my blog had hundreds of followers
but as time went by, things changed,
I changed,
and priorities changed.
Life is like that.
But I still maintained my connection
with a small group of blogging friends.
We have sent sunshine into each other’s lives.
Come join us today!

After a few years of dwindling posts,
I have decided to return to my quest
to encourage love, joy, peace, faith and unity
through daily blog posts.
Thank you for joining me.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Waking each morning from a restful night’s sleep
I can make myself a cup of coffee,
climb the circle staircase to my sanctuary,
and sit quietly in my rocker.
I can (with the help of my hearing aids)
hear the ticking of the clock.

I can sync my breathing to the clock’s rhythm.
Try it.. You can do it, too. Slow down. Breathe

I can listen for the voice of the Almighty
as I rock gently to the rhythm.
I can read my daily devotionals
and meditate on God’s Word.
I can plan my day as I tune in to
God’s will for me today.

Praise God!
Count my blessings.
Pray for my family, friends,
country, and this world.
Confess my shortcomings,
and ask for forgiveness.
I CAN live each day with purpose.
You can, too.
Let’s do!

Let’s sit quietly and ask God for guidance.
You with me?

Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, blessings, blogging, Living in Christ's Family, Living in Harmony, Love, mental health, peace, prayer

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Come, Have a Drink

Inspired by today’s sermon
by Brian Conklin
at our Madison Valley Presbyterian Church
in Ennis, Montana

Come and have a drink with me
The water’s fresh and the drink is free.
No, huh? Water from a broken cistern
Doesn’t quite look like something you yearn?

Well, Jeremiah recognized the problem, too.
He spoke to the children of Israel and to you
About the broken cistern and polluted water.
He told ’em about a better source – come and listen, daughter.

Drink from this pure, flowing, everlasting spring.
Let go of the water that’s full of things to which you cling.
You think refreshment comes from money or possessions.
You trade pure water for power and other obsessions.

Come and have a drink with me
The water’s fresh and the drink is free.
If you hope to satisfy your heart’s desires,
Tune in to the Living Waters, not the liars!

God is the source of all Living Water for us.
He wants to refresh us purely without much fuss.
He says “Drink with me; fulfill your needs.
Grow in love and faith; let’s remove the weeds.”

Isaiah speaks in Jeremiah 2:1-13 clearly
About God’s grief as people turn away and nearly
Break His heart as they rely on themselves with greed,
Trying to go through life alone satisfying every need.

It’s not possible… we fool ourselves when we take control.
Accept God’s invitation, refresh in Him. Make that your goal!
Carve out time each day to drink deeply; refresh with Him
From His Living Water – fill your cup to the brim!

Come, have a drink with me!

Filled with His Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Life's Challenges, Living in Christ's Family, Love, Poetry, sermon notes

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Faith for the Journey

As usual, I took notes during the sermon at church this morning. Brian Conklin’s message about faith spoke to me. I hope you find encouragement here, too.

Faith is assurance and conviction

Faith is a settled confidence

Faith is conviction – a deep certainty

Faith is grounded in reality

Faith is evidence of things not seen

Change is hard – Uncertainty is difficult

What will come next? We wonder.

We trust the Lord who knows the future.

Living in the present as if God’s future

Is already here… we can trust Him

Step into the light of God’s promises

Faith gives us the courage to obey when the road ahead is unclear

Faith is a journey. Set out into the unknown

It’s a direction without an itinerary

The road is not easy; it’s tough!

But faith helps us find God’s Way

We are at an in-between place

But God is walking beside us

He has never left His people in transition

He is in you as you move forward

Faith is about the assurance

That God has your back!

Stay rooted in Trust; step out in confidence.

Support and encourage one another.

Keep showing up!
God is with you.

Amen?

Love,
JanBeek

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Belief, Bible Lessons, Faith, God, life, Living in Harmony, Love, Poetry, sermon notes

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Pursue With-ness

“Take genuine interest in other people… turn to the person next to you in the grocery store and ask what the highlight of their day has been… Your question … will probably be the highlight of their day.”

That quote is from Bob Goff’s Catching Whimsy, 365 Days of Possibility.

He challenges us with today’s action step:

“Engage the people around you
with love and inexplicable curiosity today.”

Time with Saskia & Laszlo is so precious!

I need to be sure and practice “With-ness” with them.
God sent them to us so we could really BE with one another.

Who are you going to really be with today?
Bob Goff uses Galatians 6:10
to remind us of Jesus’ words to the people:
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone.”

Let them know you are 100% with them …
and curious about how life is going with them.

How is life going with you!?

My life is quite lovely.
Kenny’s is, too.
I hope yours is, also.

Who can you practice
“With-ness” with today?

Love,
JanBeek

Me with Laszlo
(Yup, that’s “With-ness!”)

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Bible Lessons, blessings, books, friendship, Living in Harmony, Love, pets, relationships

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Mary or Martha?

The topic of the sermon at church this morning was Mary & Martha… Luke 10:38-42

At the Home of Martha and Mary

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Join me with the sermon notes I took in church this morning.

Our church has a new paint color
Here’s the old paint color

That’s our Madison Valley Presbyterian Church in Ennis, MT.
I love the new paint color.
What do you think?
I like to think of it as
“Green and Growing.”

The mint green is soothing, don’t you think?

Today’s sermon examined Mary & Martha’s story. Mary’s soothing choice compared to Martha’s busyness. Which choice do you relate to?

Our interim pastor, Brian Conklin, shed interesting light on the age-old story. Here are my sermon notes from this lovely Sunday morning.

Martha is active and faithful
She’s committed and frustrated
We’ve been in her shoes
Sometimes we’re annoyed, too

Jesus, in gentleness, corrected
Martha, telling her that Mary
Is doing what is right for her
But He doesn’t rebuke Martha

Martha’s resentment is clear
And it’s easy to understand
She’s worried and distracted
We are like her all too often

In our culture we celebrate
Productivity, and forget to be
Present to the importance of today
Our stress pulls us apart

Our presence is what’s needed
Be present for each other
Be fully present in God’s presence
Listen to Jesus. Sit at His feet

The posture of your heart:
sitting, listening, being attentive
Is worship… Stillness reduces stress
Christ tells us to pause. Peace! Be still!

Sit in His presence
Luke 12:25 reminds us
“Don’t worry!” TRUST
God is with you. God bless you

Turn your anxiety into prayer
Find rest for your soul
Anchor your heart at Jesus’ feet
Be present with Christ.

Amen?

My peace I give to you.

But Jesus didn’t scold Martha
or tell her what she was doing is wrong.
Someone has to prepare
if you’re going to share a meal, right?

Who do you relate to?
Mary or Martha?
Why?

My birthday’s this Thursday.
No one mentioned it in church this morning.
No one sang to me.
I want to be Mary, sitting with Jesus.
He would sing to me!
It’s my week.

Jesus would say,
“…few things are needed—or indeed only one…”

And He would probably scold me.
“Get your mind off of yourself.
Reach out to others.
Did you remember to
wish Debbie & Steve
a Happy Anniversary?
It’s their week, too!”

Ah, my friends,
Life is Good!
Count your blessings…
and remember,
“…Mary has chosen what is better…”
Be still… and listen!

Category:

Bible Lessons, Faith, God, Jesus, Life's Challenges, Living in Christ's Family, Love, Poetry, relationships, sermon notes, Serving One Another, writing

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