Author: dailypicsforlife

A New Pattern

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I shared in a post last week that I’m going back through the memory verses from the study Fight Back with Joy by Margaret Feinberg. This has led me to meditate on and consider the short version of Nehemiah 8:10, “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Do not be grieved can be reworded- do not feed on what distresses you.

I’ve been convicted that when I fall into a pattern of complaining and grumbling over circumstances that are hard or cause me trouble, I am in fact feeding the things that cause me stress. This quenches the strength that comes from rejoicing in the LORD.

James 1: 22 challenges believers to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, so today, I’m sharing two PICs that I’m keeping before me in mind and prayer as I seek to be a doer in this- to replace the old pattern with a new one.

Instead of doubt- PRAISE!

Instead of complaint- THANKSGIVING!

Living in a world where negativity and division are the norm, it’s easy to feed our stress. Will you join me today with a new pattern of praise? Will you shine as a light in this dark world?

A previous post, Without Complaint, may be helpful as well.

This Day is Holy

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My daddy celebrated 95 years in May, but it was not the party we had planned. Two and a half weeks before his milestone birthday, he fell and broke his hip. Surgery and a hospital stay followed by rehab has resulted in a detour for him that we never saw coming. It has been a hard stretch in his journey especially now that we see the detour becoming a more permanent and different path.

I’m asking the question today-

What do you do when the detour becomes the road?

It’s not what you planned. It’s harder and out of the way. You didn’t see it coming, but here you are all the same. There doesn’t seem to be a way to redirect or get back to where you were. You’re tired and about out of gas.

I’m in this spot with my dad at the moment. The fall has left him more bound to a wheelchair and in need of long-term care. Many days I feel disoriented and confused. The road is unfamiliar and hard to follow, but I don’t want this hardship to be in vain. I want God to use it- to teach me and grow me up in Him.

And God is faithful- He is teaching me some deep and abiding truths. I asked my dad recently to say the blessing, and he thanked God for being good to him everyday of his life. I haven’t forgotten it- everyday of his life. Really? That includes today.

This is the lesson for me- THE GOODNESS OF GOD IS NOT FOUND IN CIRCUMSTANCES. GOD IS GOOD EVEN WHEN LIFE IS NOT; THEREFORE, I CAN CELEBRATE AND HAVE JOY EVERY DAY!

I needed a little help with this, so I relocated some scriptures that I memorized and prayed over several years back from Margaret Feinberg’s study, Fight Back with Joy. I’ve pulled them out again, and I shared Psalm 16:11 in the last post.

I’m finding Nehemiah 8:10 another powerful word to me-

What a powerful truth!

Even this day is holy to the LORD. God has made it, and He is good. I am challenging myself with two application points- I’m asking God to open my eyes to see at least one good thing to enjoy each day? Instead of dwelling on the stress, I’m reminding myself of the goodness of God. My prayer is that this will produce joy-filled strength to stay the course since the detour has become the road.

Less is More

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Less of my words; more of His to pray-

This is the path that leads to a deep and abundant relationship with God!

I’m jumping back in today feeling God prompting me to find a way to share more PICs– hoping they will lead you to a deeper relationship with God through prayer.

I’m walking through a season with God that is requiring perseverance; there are a lot of days when I feel like I’m running out of steam.

God is reminding me that staying in the Word and praying the Word is the key to staying the course. The good news today is that even in the desert, there is God’s provision of JOY! He promises us that as we stay the course on His path, He is present, and in Him, JOY is abundant.

A New Year . . . Again!

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I’m reposting a devotional from 2019 because it is speaking loudly to me in this second week of 2021. As I wrote last week in The Gift of Love–

“The troubles of 2020 have not disappeared with the calendar change,” and I’ll add to that- “they have picked up speed and appear to be setting up permanent residence.” 

It’s my prayer that these words will encourage me to Begin Again with a ‘Hallelujah Perspective’–

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As I flipped through my Instagram feed on New Year’s Eve, this Peanuts cartoon got my attention. The caption reads, “My favorite memory from 2018 was . . .”

My husband and I were on an unexpected, cross-country, road trip, so I thought this might just be an interesting conversation starter. Sure enough, it prompted an almost immediate response from him as he quickly identified several highlights and answered prayers that were a part of his 2018. The surprise came to me when it was my time to answer. As I flipped through the year in my mind, there was no stand-out highlight that I could identify.

 

In my mind, 2018 had been a hard year– one of taking a step, then the next one, and then one more after that. I felt tired from the daily grind that includes caring for a senior parent drifting farther away each day into the depths of dementia. While a long season of joblessness came to end for my husband, it had come in an unexpected package that left me still wondering what God was doing. Even though it had been a busy and fruitful year of ministry leading a morning women’s Bible study, I had ended the year feeling overwhelmed and tired, more ready for a break than I could ever remember.

There were certainly answered prayers and refreshing times sprinkled through the year, but for the life of me, I couldn’t think of one thing that I would really classify as memorable. It had been a year of more ordinary than extraordinary, more difficult than ease, more head down moving forward than I would have preferred. Realizing that much of the stuff of 2018 would continue walking with me into the new year ahead, a sense of dread and anger swept over me.

How would I begin 2019 with many things still unresolved?

Continue reading “A New Year . . . Again!” →