Hope

The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright. The righteous will never be shaken.   Proverbs 10:29-30
I think w are all saying, its nearly Christmas! As  a child I was always full of great hope when it came to what I might expect to receive in the small parcels under the tree. There was a great sense of the expectancy about the contents of them. There was a feeling of excitement, and often, 'for being good and helpful to my parents through the year'  Santa would grant my wishes. My hopes and desires became realities. Stop and think on the word 'hope.' How would you define it? For me its a 'confident expectancy.' Christian hope is the firm assurance about things of the future, seen and unseen.

Hope for the Christian is the one thing that keeps us looking to the future because it lives with in us. Its what makes the difficult and tough times, the 'holes' of darkness and despair bearable because we know there will be a brighter future. I wonder what its like to not have hope? I should imagine that it would paint a whole different picture about life. I guess it would be lifeless. I guess that is our mission, our gift to others, to bring hope to a broken and divided world.Particularly the world that is on our doorstep.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

may the love of God

Praise our God, the great creator, world evolving through his might, darkness shattered by explosion, filled his world with life and light. (TIS 165)
It was there again this morning,  this great love of God.
The red and pink 'brushes'
          hanging from the bottle brush tree.
The garden fresh  and washed with last nights watering.
The trill of the blue wren
    and the melodious warble of the magpies on the street light pole in an otherwise dawn of
silence.

And there was enough dew on the grass
            to see a set of footprint
            and know someone was walking before me.
May the love of God and the peace that it brings be the blessing of this new day for you.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

God first

One thing I will ask of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

There they were this morning, tiny capsules of pure delight, bursting with God's love and I thought of those who do not know of that love  and my heart was on fire for them.
Go seek and find the lost in the name of the Christ we serve.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

He is near

I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5
So often we can experience the presence of God in our lives if we are just open to it. There is such a thin line between his Spirit and ours and at times when we feel we are standing on sacred ground its like we have one foot on this side of the fine line and one foot on the other or to put it another way its like we are holding hands with God. This feeling has stayed with me for days after a lady I care said something quite profound. This lady has huge issues that have almost destroyed her self image and ruined her life. She sent me a message full of  sadness and loss of hope and no sign of God.   She felt like she was in between a rock and a hard place with no where to go. Then before I could respond she sent another message and that one included a photo, a photo of a beautiful Lilly in flower  growing strong and tall between a rock and a path. She said she didn't know its name except it was gorgeous. What a God moment it was for me. Immediately God gave this image of a gorgeous lady struggling through life and blossoming. And he does know her name.I shared my thoughts with her and she listened in silence and wonder.

Images in life, in nature, have such powerful messages if we keep our minds open and focused, if we keep the Lord near.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

therein lies the treasure

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. Philippians 4:7

Did you unwrap the gift of this morning?  What does it look like in your place? When I took off the layers of sleep I saw the beauty of the gift. It was rain soaked and refreshed. Tiny drops of water bubbles hung on the deep red flowers of the bottle brush and several  honey eaters were delighting in their morning fix of honey, their  wings wet from those bubbles of rain drops. I watch them a moment, their curved thin beak reaching deep into the flower for their gift of this day.  The mountains have a veil of misty rain covering them, a sign of more to come my way.The pond is alive with the sound of so many frogs that seemed to croak and squeak and peep in tune with the call of the early morning birds and there he was, the treasure of them all for me, the bright blue fairy wren. Some say its to hard to see the gift of the day because the wrapping of pain and suffering, dysfunction and loneliness is just too hard to remove but O,  when you do work through the layers what joy, what delight to find God's gifts, especially the one labeled peace, the peace that comes from God..
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

dusty or worn pages.

These were more noble....in that they.....searched the scriptures daily. Acts 17:11
That quiet time of the day when the closeness of God comes and sits with you as you read the words of the bible are so precious. How empty we are. How void of food if we lay aside our bibles to gather dust. I heard this story of a lady who invited a group of Christian  people to her home for a bible study and much to her dismay she could not find her bible. It wasn't on the bedside table where she usually leaves it. It wasn't in the sun room, it wasn't in any of the usual places she sits to read. In desperation she asked the new house keeper  if she had seen it. 'Praise the Lord', was her response.
' What do you mean,' she was asked. Beaming with joy the housekeeper responded. ' when I go to work in a new home the first thing I do is hide the bible just to see how long it takes the owner to miss it!  Yours is in the linen cupboard.'

I like this quote: The truths of the scripture are like flowers;meditation, like the bee, draws the honey out of them! (unknown)
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne,servant of the Lord

The best gifts

Covert earnestly the best gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:31 (KJV)
Its a glorious fresh morning after a night of soaking rain and that soft mist is hovering in the valleys of the hills and sometimes I think the smallest gifts are the biggest,

:
Gifts such as:
 On my desk calendar given to me by a friend there is a quote for the day that is written larger than the date or
A couple of words of encouragement can brighten a day, change a life.
A cup of tea on a cold day can warm a whole body.
Today the quote said: God puts each fresh morning, each new chance of life into OUR hands, as a gift, to see what we will do with it.
I wonder what you are going to do with your fresh morning?
For starters,I'm off for a walk to spend time with God.........to thank him for his gifts.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.