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Archive for the ‘God’ Category

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

Category:

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

Category:

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

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I Can TRUST

Three out of four of the devotionals I read yesterday and today had the word TRUST as one of the main topics. Everytime I see the word trust, I draw a rectangle around it and affirm, “I Can Trust.” Today I decided to write about TRUST in my journal, “I Can and I Will, Watch Me.” My mind just thought about it in a Haiku format. Here’s what the result was:

I CAN Trust

I know I can trust –
The world may feel chaotic,
But I reclaim peace.

Unsettling events,
An unknown future,
Don’t define my mood.

I am claiming peace.
I see where my power lies:
It’s trusting in God.

What I want in life,
Peace, love, joy, kindness and faith,
Are mine when I trust.

I know I can trust
In the Ruler of my heart
To heal what’s broken.

Heal the world’s chaos,
Bring back Unity for all.
I can trust my God!

Thinking of you and sending love your way.
Trusting Him to guide you and me through the storms of life.
What storms are you facing?

Thanks for visiting…
JanBeek

Category:

Faith, God, Haiku, Living in Christ's Family, Living in Harmony, Love, optimism, Poetry, truth

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Tears of Joy

Daily writing prompt
What brings a tear of joy to your eye?
View all responses

Tears of joy come easily
When someone approaches me breezily
To say my lost puppy is found
And they have him right there on the ground

Tears of joy come spilling
When someone says they are willing
To do some yard work for my Bob
Whose limited body makes me sob

Tears of joy are a blessing
When troubles overflow and I’m stressing
And then miraculous help arrives
Fixing the problem … giving high-fives

What brings tears of joy to your eyes?
Crying is a gift to the wise
Who turn to others and prayer
Knowing that needed help is there.

Where do you turn so that you can have
Tears of joy and turn sadness to glad?
Know that the Lord always is there
You can count on Him everywhere!

Happy Labor-less Day, my friends!

Love,
JanBeek & Bob

(and our friends, the Vasches, too… we have
tears of joy when friends like them come to visit!)

Category:

blessings, friendship, God, Gratitude, Jesus, Life's Challenges, peace, Poetry

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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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Positive Emotion?

Today’s Prompt was:
What positive emotion do you feel most often?

My Response:
Gratitude

I’m grateful for the neighbors who came immediately last night when I called them. I was frantic! Kenny, our pup, was crying. We could hear his barks and his whining, but we couldn’t find him. It sounded like it was coming from under the house. Maybe he went under the deck and got stuck on something. Maybe a rattlesnake bit him (years ago we had that happen to our Boston named Angela). We searched high and low for Kenny. No luck!
We were frantic!
So we called our friends.
They came. Four of them!
We all searched.
Still no luck.
So, we went into the house
(we’d already searched there thoroughly).
When we walked in through the back door,
there was a black and white nose
sticking out from under Bob’s chair!!
Kenny had squeezed under to fetch a toy –
and he got stuck!!
Whew!!!😥
We lifted the chair to release him.
Gratitude?
Ah yes!! 👏🏽
Thank You, Jesus!

Thank You, God,
Thank You, Jesus!
Thank You for neighbors,
for answered prayers,
for the safety of our pup!
Whew!!

Remember that first picture up there of Kenny lying on a quilt?
I’m grateful for it, too.
Do you have a memory quilt?
I love mine!
And no, Kenny doesn’t usually get to lie on it!
It was a retirement gift from my teaching colleagues
when I retired back in 1999.
The sentiments on it
and the remembrances
are so precious!

Marta Garcia did the stitching
and each of my colleagues at school
added a piece with their name
and sometimes a sentiment.
“Stitched with dreams of traveling forever,”
Marta wrote.

If you live in Ennis, Montana
with the Madison River running through it
and the spectacular Rocky Mountains as your backdrop,
and people from all over the world coming here to fish
and to just relax and enjoy the peace, the open spaces,
the wild animals, and the proximity to Yellowstone,
then you live daily with an attitude of gratitude,
and guess what?
Traveling forever is not a daily prayer.
We are grateful that you come to us!
Keep doing it!

What positive emotion do you feel most often?

Cheers from JanBeek

Category:

Animals, blessings, contentment, friendship, God, Gratitude, happiness, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, Memories, Montana, pets

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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

Category:

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

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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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