So Thankful for God's House

Yesterday was such a good day. I love being in God's house! I found so many things to give thanks for throughout the day. The Lord is so good in my life.

Another excellent message by Dr. S.M. Davis, How to Use Acceptance to Build Others. My dad has been in the Lower 48 since mid-May for shoulder reconstruction surgery (he will be home in only 10 more days!!!) and we have been showing preaching videos by Dr. Davis since the pulpit has been empty. I love my dad's preaching and I can't wait to hear him preach the Word of God again soon, but these messages have been so good. So many needed truths have been made so clear; I have received so much good counsel; it has made a difference in the our lives.

The difference a smile can make. It is the clearest way of showing acceptance to others. It is a ministry!

Quiet, restful Sunday afternoons.

A Sunday school lesson to prepare. We have been teaching through the Old Testament at a very thorough pace to give our children a good, solid understanding of these timeless stories. Those of us who grew up in Christian homes can't remember a time when we didn't know about David or Daniel or other Bible heroes. These children have never heard them before. Oh, what a privilege it is to teach them! I have taken these incredible stories (true stories that happened to real people!) of God's faithfulness and power for granted. Lately we've been learning about Joseph. As I have been preparing my lessons, God has been showing me such remarkable things about him that I never saw before. One of the best ways to learn God's Word for yourself is to teach others!

Happy, smiling little faces. Laura. Justus. Kayla and Tera (twin sisters). Kevin. Tiana. The children that come to Bible Time are some of my very favorite people in the whole world. We've made an investment in each others' lives; the difference they've made in mine is the greater. They give me so much joy!

Maak and Cora. Two dear ladies who come to church faithfully.

A quick, refreshing walk along the beach. After church as we were fellowshiping, someone called saying that a herd of belugas was swimming past the village. My mom drove my sister and me down so I could get some pictures. Sadly they had already passed that area and had been herded into the lagoon (yes, to be slaughtered =), but I got some beautiful pictures anyway. Oh, the lighting was just divine!

These were taken at around 8:30 PM. We have 24 hours of sunlight now. If you think you wouldn't be able to stand sunlight all day and night, you'd better get ready for Heaven (Rev. 21:23). (chuckle) I love it! Heaven will be so wonderful!

Nearly all of the ice is gone now. It's about time, I'd say! =)

A new week set before me and the encouraging things I read this morning during my devotions. Food for my soul! I read about King Hezekiah and his determination for Judah to return to God, about how God delighted more in obedient, broken, cleansed hearts than ceremonial cleansing, about the joy the people found in revival and how the Passover feast was extended another seven days. I was so blessed by this morning's passage of Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, and the chapter I read in Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret impressed more deeply on my heart a burden for missions. Here are some portions from two devotionals I read in Baptist Bread and Glow in the Dark that were so challenging. 

"Christian, your problem today is not that nobody loves you. Rather, you need to demonstrate love because God is love and that is what you were created to do. Your problem is not that no one listens to you. Rather, God commands you to forgive, bear burdens, and help folk, not because "that's what the world needs to be fulfilled," but because that is who God is and we are to reflect His image. The Gospel is not aimed at our self-esteem problems; it is aimed at our sin problems!" (Pastor Randy MacDonald)

"Perhaps my findings are not the only solution, but with all my heart I believe the fires of greatness in our heart can be kept aglow only after we develop a sense of urgency to the extent that we feel it is a matter of life and death; and it is a matter of life and death, for in growing we are alive and in quitting we are dying in a sense. If you don't believe this, talk to anyone who has lost the sense of urgency of getting things done and has been drifting in complacency, mediocrity and failure. A sense of urgency is that feeling that lets you know that yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow never comes. TODAY is in your hands. It lets you know that shirking today's task will add to wasted yesterdays and postponing today's work will add to tomorrow's burden. Thank God for the sense of urgency that can change a dull, shabby existence into a sparkling life." (Quote by Charlie Jones in the devotional)

Plans for today that I'm getting ready to begin: tidy up the kitchen, start a load of laundry, make a batch of ice cream, finish cutting out a skirt pattern with my younger sister Bonnie (it's so fun teaching her how to sew), check the mail, study my herb coursework, exercise, make dinner, finish knitting a cute little bootie for a baby boy who will be making his appearance in a few months, and sleep. =) It's going to be such a good day! I will rejoice and be glad in it!

The beaming sun that has driven the dark clouds away. It's so bright and beautiful! Help me to be a little sun for You today, Lord. May I have a beaming smile on my face and the light of Your joy in my eyes.

109-118.