Abba's Girl

 You know when your day is sailing along, it's pretty outside, you enjoy time with your friend over lunch, you pick up groceries, you arrive home and discover someone has accidentally locked you out of your house and left town for the weekend.  For a few seconds I wanted to yell, after all I'm wearing nice clothes, it's hot, and my groceries are thawing rapidly.  I called him, no answer, he was mowing grass and his phone was in his truck. I then left the following message: you locked the bottom lock. The lock that can't be opened with a key from the outside because the lock is broken.  Then the words from Ephesians 4:26 entered my mind: Be angry and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.  I had a choice to make. Why become angry? Why have a fit? I'm still outside, I'm still hot, and we won't discuss the state of my groceries. After all, I make mistakes, I am not perfect. Anger would not change my situation. I broke a window pane, unlocked the ...

  I committed to reading the New Testament during Lent this year. I took many notes as passages jumped out at me, I also discovered highlighter tape and transparent sticky notes. How have I lived all these years without them?  I also took a break from social media during Lent. I deactivated my Instagram account, I haven't decided if I will deactivate my Facebook account. Social media isn't the friendly, amusing, fun place it used to be. As we remember Jesus' last week: the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper with His disciples including the man who betrayed Him and His arrest and Crucifixion, let us endeavor to let go of offense, anger, self-righteousness, and casting stones at people. Turn off the news, walk away from your devices. Go outdoors, enjoy His creation, visit with neighbors.  Jesus died for You, He died for me, He died for the very people who offend you.  Remember His prayer:    Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your...

 How can Lent arrive in 2 days? New Year's doesn't seem that long ago.  This year I plan to celebrate Lent the way I did when I was younger - plain food - nothing fancy or fun and more time in the Word. I will also take a break from social media. I doubt my "absence" will be noticed.  I will find out if I can read the New Testament in 40 days. I am sure I will survive 40 days eating plain food, (I'll probably eat Tex Mex for breakfast Easter Sunday.) I'm looking forward to being completely uninformed by removing social media from my phone.  I pray O Lord that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. O Lord,  my strength and my Redeemer. 

 A few weeks ago as I prayed for a country embroiled in conflict, I felt impressed by the Lord to buy a new world map. A couple days later I found a laminated world map that is large enough for me to read the names of the smallest of countries. Oh, for the days of 20-20 vision! A couple of days later, my aunt Ginny died. She was my aunt, my friend, a trusted sister in Christ. She was still a teenager when my parents married, so I thought she was pretty cool compared to many of my aunts and uncles and especially my parents. I learned many wonderful things about her childhood during her funeral. I also saw a gigantic map front and center in the sanctuary. It was her map. She had had it for decades, prayed over the nations faithfully every night except when she was in the hospital. The map was news to her children and me. Only her husband and her pastor knew about the map.  Tears poured down my face as I looked at her map and thought about the Lord laying it on my heart to buy on...

 I haven't blogged in years. I miss my blogging friends, Karen who left this world at Easter, Annette G, Ang. We shared our hearts, our hopes, our fears, and our love for Jesus. The world was a more civil place. Fewer keyboard warriors.  What hasn't changed over the years? Jesus! He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Place your trust in Him. Turn off the news. Take a social media break if your friends and families are driving you nuts with their opinions. After all, your opinions are probably driving them nuts too.  Open your Bible, listen to praise music, refrain from murmuring and complaining. (Practice what you preach.)

  Good morning Lord Jesus. You are my Shepherd, I want to follow You all my days. Heavenly Father, Your Word says Your sheep know Your voice and no one can snatch us from Your hand. Though I have wandered from the path You ordained from me at times, You've always been there waiting for me when I return. Your word lights my path, help me follow You -the Light and remain on the path. We ask You to provide for those in need - clothes, safe housing, food, medical care. We ask You to provide for those who need jobs. We ask You to deliver the oppressed, heal the sick, bring wholeness into broken families. Show us any broken areas in our hearts and minds. We want to be whole in Christ, living out the Gospel according to Your will. We pray for those grieving, the oppressed, the persecuted, the fearful. We pray for those being traffickked. We pray for there to be a season of peace around the world, for the ghastly violence to end. We pray for peace in Ukraine, Africa, South and Central Am...

  Good morning Lord Jesus. We praise the splendor of Your holiness, there is no one like You. You willingly died to save all people because Your love is limitless. Glory be to You - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Lord God, You are the God who is in heaven, You are sovereign, no one can prevail against You. Help us trust and wait in faith as You answer our prayers in Your perfect timing. We want our faith to increase daily, we want our love for You and others to increase daily, we want to know You more each day. Please help us. We lift up persecuted Christians and ask You to minister to them, please bring an end to the persecution, please set the unjustly incarcerated free. We pray for the Russian men who have been conscripted against their will and thrown into a war, we pray for the eilite Russian units who have rebelled and refuse to fight, we pray for the Russian war protestors. Their future is uncertain as they buck the system. We pray You strengthen the Ukranians who are fighti...

  Good morning Lord Jesus. I pray today I see people with Your eyes and love them with Your heart. Heavenly Father, We lift up all the Christian mission and charity operations that continue in Ukraine. We pray for the volunteers who are delivering supplies, driving people to the border, feeding the elderly and everything else they are doing to help. Please protect them, please keep their supply chains and routes open. We thank You for the supplies that have mysteriously shown up and been left at their buildings and offices. You to confound the Russian leadership on every front. We pray for the Russian people who live under Putin and his government. Most of us will never know such tyranny. Please raise up a godly leader to govern Russia, pour out Your mercy on the Russian people. We ask You to help them. We continue to pray for the Ukranian people, we ask You to sustain them, protect them, and minister to them. We pray for candidates running for office in the USA and around the wor...

  Lord God, this is a day You have made. I rejoice and I am glad in it. In the quiet - You are God, in the busyness of the day - You are God, when bombs and missiles fall - You are God. We lift up the lonely, the fatigued, the grieving, and the ill to You. You know them by name, please remind them You love them. Please bring joy, peace, hope, healing, and a time of refreshing to them. Bless them this day in such a way they know the blessing is from You and is a small measure of how much You love them. We pray for the Polish people and other Europeans who are taking in refugees, please help them with every detail. Paul tells us: Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.   And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harm...

 Good Morning Lord Jesus, You are my Lord and Savior, I want to love people the way You do. Help me Holy Spirit. Lord God, I worship You, the eternal I AM. In a world that is always changing You never change. You are ever present and always relevant because You are always current. You are never the I Was or the I Will Be. We are confident that Your greatness and power are the same today as they were yesterday—in Creation, in the Exodus, in the Cross, in the Resurrection, in the Ascension, on the Day of Pentecost—and they will be the same at the end of time. You are I AM. How thankful we are to be safe from Your wrath and judgment, under the blood of Your Lamb, that is smeared on the doorposts of our hearts. What joy, we  can approach You in prayer, confident You will receive us. You will listen. You will answer. Because Jesus has risen from the dead! He is alive! He has ascended into Heaven! He sits at Your right hand! And He now lives to pray for Your followers even at this m...

  Father God, Sabers rattle, Mt Etna is awake again, violent crimes are being reported around the world. Civility seems to be on the decline, but we know One sure thing - You are the Lord God Almighty, You are Sovereign and cannot be shaken from Your throne. Our foundation is built on Jesus Christ not sand, we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with You throught our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of You, Lord God. We lift up people who struggle with fear and those who are afraid of the events taking place in the world. We ask You to comfort them and remind them You are with them always. Your perfect love casts out fear. We lift up people in war zones, we ask You to physically protect them and heal any and all mental trauma caused by their situation. We pray for diplomacy to work and between Russia and Ukraine, we pray You pour our Your wisdom on the lea...

  Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, be exalted on high, here in my heart and every moment of my day. Holy, Holy, Holy are You, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come. Father God, You are holy and to be revered. We praise You and exalt You. We worship You. We know nothing is impossible for You and we can boldly approach You and ask for seeminly impossible things. We lift up the people of Mexico who are caught in the middle of cartel turf wars. We ask You to protect them from all harm. We lift up the military who is mine sweeping on the roads in cartel territory, please keep them safe and give them the skills they need as they work under intense pressure. We ask You to raise up people of integrity to govern Mexico. We ask You to dismantle the cartels, we pray for You to thwart their every move, we pray the money no longer flows and all their criminal endeavors fail. We pray for schools to be safe to attend and the students will learn. We ask You to...

  Good morning Lord Jesus. I pray Your Name is exalted today and not used in vain. I want my heart to be centered on You, I want my words to reflect You, to be encouraging, to be true, and to be few. Lord of Mercy, God of Grace, hear us as we pray. You have promised when Your people, who call ourselves by Your name would set aside our pride and self-righteousness and pray, seeking You not men to solve our problems, turning from our sin, heaven will move. Sin would be forgiven. Hearts would be changed. And You will bless our land. We confess to You our dependence on self, on the government, on anything and everything but You. We pray for forgiveness as we have ignored the plight of many who are unjustly incarcerated, who are mentally ill, who are far below the poverty line. You require us to care for the widows, the orphans, the least of these. We also ask forgiveness for __________________________________________ (name national sins the Holy Spirit lays on your heart.) We ask You t...

  Good morning Lord Jesus. You are the Alpha and Omega, the Lamb Who was slain before for the foundation of the world. Please reveal Yourself to the lost around the world who have never heard You died to save them, heal them, and deliver them so they can live victoriously in You. Father God, We read Your holy Word which alive and active and sharper than a double edged sword. Please help us apply it to our daily life - our thinking, our words, times in which we are to hold our tongue. We want Your Word to penetrate every fiber of our being. If we are blinded in anyway, remove the scales from our eyes, if we are spiritually deaf, open our ears, if our hearts have turned to stone please replace them with a heart of flesh that beats for You. Jesus said “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean becau...

  Good morning Lord Jesus, Risen Son of the Most High God. You rode triumphantly into Jerusalem with throngs of people crying Hosanna! You rode in, knowing it was a matter of days before Your arrest and crucifixion because of Your great love for us. Thank You. Heavenly Father. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with You, Heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.   Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of Your glory. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,   and hope does not put us to shame, because Your love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person...

  Good morning Lord Jesus. You are the Good Shepherd, I want to recognize and hear Your voice. Help me listen Holy Spirit, open my spiritual ears, show me anything I've allowed into my life that is causing me to be spiritually deaf. Father God, You are holy, You require us to live holy lives, giving all we are and all we have to You. If we holding back, if we are hypocrites, if we are arrogant, if we are_____________________________________ (fill in the blank) we want to turn away from those things that separate us from You and pursue those things that will bring us closer to You each day, Show us if we need to fast from food for a day or a type of food for a period of time, show us is we need to fast from the Internet, TV, sports, shopping, ______________________________. The Jews used to rend their garments at times, an outward sign like sackcloth, but You wanted them to rend their hearts and return to You. Please show us if our hearts are more concerned with us than You. We ask...

  Good morning Lord Jesus. You are the Way, the Truth, the Life. The more I love You and serve You, the more I know the Father. Glory to You - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, No matter our opinion, no matter what we think should be done, no matter what has been done, Covid has made itself known in every area of life from deaths to very ill friends and family to short staffing and supply chain disruptions. Please give us the unction to pray about it instead of ranting about it. When we see a local business closed for a few days due to sick employees, we should pray for them not have a tantrum. When we wait in line because only 2 of 15 employees are working 12 hour shifts due to ill coworkers, help us react with grace and patience. Grocery shelves are not stocked as we Americans typically expect. Our brothers and sisters around the world would love to buy butter, it would not occur to them to explode because there were only 2 brands to choose from at the store. Help us...

  Lord Jesus, You are the the Dayspring from on high, You have visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace You are Lord of all, please shine Your light into every fiber of my being and bring healing to the lonely broken places within me. Lord God Almighty, We lift up the enemies of the Jewish people to You, You know them all by name, You sent Your Son to redeem them and save them. We ask You Holy Spirit to minister to them, to break the hardness of their hearts and pierce their very souls with Your Word which is sharper than a double edged sword. Jesus, please make Yourself known to them, fill them with Your love for themselves and all people. We also lift up Christians who are prejudiced against Jewish people, please show them how destructive this is to their walk with You, we cannot truly love You if we hate or dislike entire groups of people. Ezekiel 36:26 : I will give you a new heart and put a new s...

  As we draw to the close of 2021 on the secular calendar, we are in week 2 of the new year on the church calendar. As preparation for Christmas and holiday gatherings continue, we must not overlook the contemplative time Advent is supposed to be. We need to sit quietly with the Lord and reflect, we need to listen, spend time in His Word and in prayer.  Are we where we need to be, are we headed in the correct direction, or are we sidetracked or worse did we make an U turn and are now headed in the wrong direction?  Life is a series of seasons from bounty to famine and everything in between, we must not only grow during a season of bounty, we must learn to flourish during times of famine as well. We need to be sure what we are planting in our hearts and minds is good seed and the soil is watered and not allowed to go fallow.     Ponder these words of Jesus and flourish:   “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.     He cut...