Quote: A Child’s Prayer

A Child’s Prayer

M. Bentham-Edwards

God make my life a little light,

Within the world to glow;

A tiny flame that burneth bright

Wherever I may go.

God Make my life a little flower,

that giveth joy to all,

Content to bloom in native bower,

Although its place be small.

God make my life a little song,

That comforteth the sad;

That helpeth others to be strong,

And makes the singer glad.

God make my life a little staff,

Whereon the weak may rest,

That so what health and strength I have

May serve my neighbors best.

May we strive as this child’s prayer states to be: the glow into the world of darkness and to bring joy into peoples lives no matter how small, to always watch for the sad and bring them comfort and lastly keep alert for the weak that we may be a resting place for them and a source of strength.  May we always strive to serve our neighbors best.  Isn’t that what our LORD would have us do?

Joy – A Fellow Sojourner & A Woman After God’s Own Heart!

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Quote for Today – Shake it Off!

“When Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta, a deadly snake that was driven out by the heat of the fire bit him.  He simply shook the creature off into the flames.  You should follow Paul’s example.

Whatever may be troubling you, shake it off!  God has great things planned for you.  The dreams of the future leave no room for the snakebites of the past.”

By Joyce Meyer, “Ending Your Day Right Devotional”

I share this because this got me thinking of all the times I’ve allowed troubling times get the best of me.  But I’ve got an all powerful God in my corner that should give me cause to think when trouble comes a knocking that my God is Bigger than any trouble I, man or the enemy may bring so what I need to do is to learn to instantly turn to Him thus shaking it off in the process.

What freedom that knowledge affords me.  I no longer have to be a slave to my problems I can put them at the throne of Christ and leave them there for Him to handle and my part in all of this is to listen to His voice and be obedient to His calling simply and yet the flesh makes it so hard to do at times.

Lord, help your children to shake off their troubles by giving them to you and being obedient to Your wise counsel and guidance.  Help us to follow you and you alone.  Amen!

Joy – A Fellow Sojourner & A Woman After God’s Own Heart!

30 Days of Gratitude – Day 19

Today I’m grateful that the enemy is defeated.  The Serpents head has been crushed.  Christ is the victor and we can live victoriously as long as we rely on God and remember that the battle has already been won.  Something Satan would like us to forget.

I love this quote from, January 14th of “Joy of My Heart: Meditating Daily on God’s Word” by Anne Graham Lotz, it so fittingly portrays what is going on spiritually in our lives.

Although I can remember killing only one snake myself, I was present several times when snakes were killed by others.  Each time I observed a fascinating phenomenon.  After the snake was killed, its body invariably continued to twitch until sundown.  Even though the head was crushed, rendering it powerless, the dead snake’s writhing body was enough to keep me at a distance.

We need to remember that ever since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Satan has been a defeated foe.  His head has been crushed.  As we seek to climb higher in our faith, what we are confronted with is merely the twitching of our defeated foe.  But sundown is coming!  One day even the twitching body of that old Serpent, the devil, will be destroyed.

Now if that isn’t something to be grateful for, I don’t know what is.

Lord help me to always remember that when the enemy attacks he is merely a defeated foe and all I need to do is turn to you.  Don’t let me be fooled by the twitching body of a dead Snake.  Amen.

God’s Promises – Isaiah 43:1-3

Today’s promise comes from Isaiah 43:1-3.

Don’t be afraid for I have saved you,  I have called you by name, and you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.  When you cross rivers, you will not drown  When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you.  This is because I, the LORD, am your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

What a promise!  We needn’t be afraid because we’ve been saved.  He knows us intimately by name and calls us His own.

No matter what kind of trouble we go through, waters of our life or the rivers of our life or when we are walking through the fires of life, God is there and will not allow anything to hurt us.

This is a hard concept to understand.  Don’t those circumstances in and of themselves cause us hurt?  Let me put it this way when your going through the fire of life God promises that you won’t be burnt and the flames won’t hurt you.  That doesn’t mean that your clothes might not get singed and you’ll reek of smoke.  But by contrast of what your going through and what God is doing for you even behind enemy lines is ultimately for your benefit.

He doesn’t promise that while going through the water and river that we won’t get wet but He does promise that we won’t drown.

We all face problems in our lives and some of those problems are a daily source of conflict for us.  But God promises that He is bigger than the conflict and His protection is available to every believer on a daily or hourly basis, whatever each individual needs.

Joy – A Fellow Sojourner & A Woman After God’s Own Heart!

Quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Today’s quote is a poem from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth I new not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroken;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

I believe what Longfellow is trying to say in this poem is that our actions eventually come back to us.  Possibly the actions of the arrow were compliments and words of encouragement that long after they were given were found unbroken, cherished by the receiver the oak.

The song could have been actions or deeds that whisked off because they had become habit to the individual and that is why they are found in the heart of a friend.  When we tend to naturally do the right thing we attract people to us.

It is my hope that what Longfellow describes is what I become one day.  Shooting out words of encouragement to all that pass by and that my actions speak even louder than my words of encouragement.  That’s the kind of person I want to be.  How about you?

Joy – A Fellow Sojourner & A Woman After God’s Own Heart!

Quote for 12/7/12

I don’t know who the author of this poem is of today’s quote but I’m begging to believe that God wants to make sure I get the message clear and loud.  Father, I’ve hopefully got it that procrastination is the enemy.

Mr. Meant-To has a comrade,

And his name is Didn’t-Do;

Have you ever chanced to meet them?

Did they ever call on you?

These two fellows live together

In the house of Never-Win,

And I’m told that it is haunted

By the ghost of Might-Have-Been.

Whoever wrote this poem knew that meaning to and not doing will have you wind up not wining and leave you and me if we allow these things in our lives with nothing but regrets of what might have been.

This is procrastination in its worst form and I pray that these quotes God’s shared with me will teach me to stay far from it.  I don’t want to live a life of regrets.  I doubt you do either.  So let’s say we take to heart what these sages have to teach us?  I’ll do my part.  How about you?

Joy – A Fellow Sojourner & A Woman After God’s Own Heart!

Quote From Benjamin Franklin

I think God is trying to tell me something about my writing and being more diligent about it.  This is the second quote in a row that has struck me about work.  And for me, my work is my writing.

So here goes today’s quote.

“Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow.  One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”

I think Benjamin Franklin had the right idea, procrastination can be the death of a project and acid to the soul.

Joy – A Fellow Sojourner & A Woman After God’s Own Heart.