I have been reflecting on the Gospel Readings from the Daily Office, Year One Readings, as posted at www.missionstclare.com
Today’s Gospel Reading is Luke 1:39-48 and the verse that stood out to me is this:
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the…..
The full passage is Matthew 3:1-12.
It seems we sometimes prefer to think that some of us are wheat and some of us are chaff. But if we are honest, we all have a little chaff on our souls.
When John was talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees he mentions ‘the wrath to come.’ Typically when we think of wrath, we think of a severe, out of control anger. If this wrath to come is from God, we should…..
New things, most of us love receiving and giving new things. During the Christmas and Holiday Seasons we are surrounded by new things every where we turn. New dolls and sleds, new toys and gadgets, new clothes, new books, new cars, new houses, new relationships (engagements, weddings).
If you’ve been a Christian for your entire life or most of it, the Christmas services may have lost some deeper sense of newness. Oh, the pageant might have new players, but…..
The full reading for today is Luke 22:1-13. In the reading we read about the difference in how people were referring to Jesus. It’s common for us to talk about the negative feelings and thoughts the scribes and Pharisees were having towards Jesus, or how one of Jesus’ disciples was planning to betray him. But this year it seems important to note that Jesus gave instruction to his disciples as to who and what to look for. They listened to…..
Restore My Soul by June G Paul
(This song has also been given two other titles: “Break My Will” and “Living Water”)
Break my will, Lord and make it thine Break my will, Lord and fill me With Living Water restore my soul Break my will, Lord and make me whole.
Holy Spirit, come touch me now Holy Spirit, come touch me With Living Water restore my soul Holy Spirit, come touch me now.
Holy Spirit, come bathe me now…..
It has been awhile since my last post. Part of the reason was an inability to access my blog. Thank God that has been repaired! I have been told by many people that a person who is drawn to writing and journaling rarely has a large following – that a person who designs and leads retreats for spiritual growth rarely has a large following. But that workshops and conferences are highly attended. To me – that’s an interesting phenomenon. I…..
While deciding how I wanted to crop the above photo I almost cropped it to leave off the broken flower on the bottom left and the broken flower and leaves on the top right. When I looked at it though, it seemed the fragile nature of life was no longer visible. Isn’t that often how we want…..
Yesterday I gave a presentation to a small gathering of women. I had prepared a presentation and the week before the Lord led me to discard what I had prepared and start over. I love these reminders from God that He’s the one in control of things and messages he wants shared. Today I received an email from the organizer thanking me and said, “I now know more about the subtleties of evangelism.”
That’s the twist that God put into…..
This is a prayer for conversion from hatred of the church to love for it. I wrote it many years ago when I learned about the persecuted church and how many people hate the Christian church. It’s not included in my book “Praying Our Way Through Stress: Drawing Wisdom from the Lord’s Life and Prayer” but I think that is what Saul did for three years before his name was changed to Paul.
“Heavenly Father, In your will and with…..
So often people think or feel there is nothing they can do to help someone who is suffering through addiction or withdrawal. But there is something almost everyone can do and that is pray for increased faith in those who want to help themselves and others to help. Yesterday I read a poet’s blog post titled 3 Days Without about Heroin Addiction. (www.douglassteelepoetry.com) One of the lines in Doug’s poem is “help him help himself.” I wrote the following comment…..