THE MORNING WATCH

I want to share with you an excerpt from a book I received as a wedding gift over 21 years ago from our minister and his wife, Rev. & Mrs. R. McCaw.

"My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord" (Psalm 5:3)

THE MORNING WATCH

Let your first act be to come to Him, your Father, just as you are. Get quieted, soothed, and comforted by thus "lying on His breast" and taking in a large draught of His presence. Take time for this.

Then, with His loving arms around you, and your soul at rest in him, tell Him how you love Him, what He is to you, and how you want to praise Him for all that He has been to you; and if any sin or failure is on your mind, confess it while thus close to Him.

Then, as you would roll off a great burden, resign yourself and all that concerns you into His keeping, and above all, to be emptied of self and filled with Him. Give the reins entirely into His hands --- the reins of your whole being and of all your affairs --- and take, so to speak, a long breath of relief.

Then, after a little season of quiet, restful waiting in His presence, to receive any communication or manifestation that He may have, rise, and with prayer, read carefully your chapter for the day, looking out for any message from Him that there may be in it for you, and hiding it in your heart.

Then, kneel once more, and talk to Him about those nearest and dearest to you, separately or collectively, and about any others who specially need your prayers.

And, lastly, close your hour of communion with Him, with a song of praise, or with words of thanksgiving repeated aloud, in entire reliance on your great High Priest to render them acceptable.

from the book

A Threefold Cord

Compiled by Helena Garratt

Page 243 - August 24th

Killer Prayer Tips

Came across this video from MckMama's site, and I just had to share it with you.

*BEFORE starting the video, remember to scroll to bottom of this page and hit the PAUSE button on the music.

Enjoy.

KILLER PRAYER TIPS



[grin]

Praying For You - The Katinas

Oh, praying for each other is so important.

And I apologize to you. I am guilty of not praying enough for all of you. Usually it ends up being "help me" prayers..... help Blake feel better, help us with our finances, help our car to keep working, help my bad attitude.....

.... me.... me.... me....

I must think it's all about me (or is it about YOU, Blake? hahaha)

It's just something that I need to remind myself of more often.... not only being more thankful for what I already have.... but for being mindful of others and the trials that THEY are going through.

We're all hurting or going through a rough time. Most people, I've discovered, don't let anyone else know the trial(s) they're experiencing.... they keep it quiet. Sometimes, we can't share the details because it hurts someone else. That makes it even harder, leaving people wondering what's really going on.

But the Lord knows what's going on. HE knows the details. But he calls us to be intercessors. He wants us to lift up others in prayer before Him.

Yesterday in church we watched a video by The Katinas. The first thing that got my attention was the magnificent harmonies; but as I listened, and then played the video again today, I realized how we need to be praying for each other.

Last week I spoke to a friend (some guy I found in a ditch [wink, wink, Johnny K.]) and he mentioned that we should "do an experiment" and pray for each other in a certain area of our lives. I was so excited about that!.... making a determined effort to lift up a friend before the Lord.

Will you do that, friends? Will you choose someone, or a situation, to pray about? Maybe it's a friend; maybe it's a situation (like Haiti or Chile's recent disasters); maybe it's someone in your church...... pick SOMETHING and commit to pray.

After all, we are directed to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Shouldn't we be at least making the effort?

[Not pointing fingers, folks.... I'm preachin' to myself here.....]

Watch the video and make a decisive effort to reach out in prayer.

Praying for you. XO

Prayer (How To Avoid Life Crashes)

I love it when something happens or is discussed and then you're in a different place and that particular subject is touched on again, and you think, "Hey God, are you trying to tell me somethin'?"

In my last post, I touched on the subject of attitude.

Then, today's sermon in church was about Prayer, and it included the subject of "attitude".

That's pretty cool when that happens.

After church we were in Sunday School and were discussing the sermon.

One of the points that we discussed about prayer was busy schedules, being able to slow down our schedules to concentrate on prayer.

Then, this afternoon I'm reading a favourite blog that I enjoy following, and, not surprisingly, I read the very subject that we discussed in Sunday School this morning.

Click on over to A Holy Experience and read Ann's post entitled, How To Avoid Life Crashes.

I just love it when these "God moments" happen!

Jigsaw Puzzles

Ever try to explain something and the words or thoughts just seem to be all jumbled together?

That's how I feel today.

There's something floating around in this beany brain of mine, but it's all mixed up; it seems that it's a mass of thoughts rolling around in there but the result seems to be confusion... like a jigsaw puzzle. All those pieces laying in a pile... some laying flat, some on their ends, some upside down. Each piece is important, yet it seems confusing.




But you know that once all those pieces get into alignment, get snapped together with it's matching pieces, the picture begins to form. Keep going, keep aligning and snapping together, and you'll have a picture, a clear picture.... the whole thing comes together with beautiful clear results.





Today, I have puzzle pieces laying in a mess. But each piece, I know, is important and significant, and as I keep picking up one piece at a time and fitting it to it's proper place, a picture will unfold. Sometimes it's a puzzle of 100 pieces, and sometimes, like today, it seems as though the puzzle is the largest jigsaw puzzle I've ever tried to sort through.




I wanted to blog about something today, but I just couldn't get my mind wrapped around it.... how to convey it in words..... how to make it understandable.... I knew it had something to do with prayer, and also there's some stuff about 'trust' rolling around in there, but it just wasn't 'coming together'.




Then I read today's post from A Holy Experience. It touched on some of the things that are going through my head. Here are two excerpts from Ann's post:

It is not that we need to stop living and then pray. We must come to pray… so we can start living. There is no real life apart from prayer. Isn’t relationship the only reality? Thus prayer, relationship with God, is the ultimate reality. Anything without prayer, anything apart from God, is the false life. I have thought it hard to stop the flow of my life at fixed times during the day, to pray. But it’s not about stopping. It’s about coming. Coming to God is only hard if we'd rather to come to our own idols.......

Prayer is not formality but soul conversation. A conversation we come to…. and never want to end, the nakedly frank conversation that lets the hurt and the frustrations and the love hang all out, the talk without ceasing that we have with God while we hang out the laundry, stir the soup, cut the lawn, drive for errands. The conversation with tears, with heart, with eyes, with pen, with ears.

[To read Ann's entire post, please click here: A Holy Experience .]

Once my puzzle pieces start coming together, it will be good for me to 'show' you my puzzle, my picture.

And maybe our puzzles never get completely finished until we see Jesus face to face. Maybe our lives are just one big puzzle that keeps coming together as we press on, as we keep adding just one more piece.

But isn't that the key to completing a jigsaw puzzle? Doesn't happen all at once... it's piece by piece, little by little, bit by bit.....

....and it all comes together,

...and it's then that we'll see the whole picture.

I'll be truly glad when my 'picture' comes together.

Why blog?

Last night I had the opportunity to have tea time with one of my sisters (Thanks for the visit, Wannett).



It was nice to be available for some long overdue chit-chat time.... just the two of us... a rarity!; and I didn't need to feel guilty about leaving anyone at home because Blake, Jared, and Billy had gone to a movie; and Jon, Jake, and Mikey were out cutting wood.



One of the things Wannett and I did was look at my blog. I wanted to see how things appeared on her computer. (It kinda distorted our faces, making them long and skinny-looking..... don't get me wrong, I LIKE skinny!, but I already have a long-shaped face, so her computer's image of me and Jon and the kids didn't do us justice.... oh well.... get over it Michelle).



One of Wannett's questions was, "How long DOES it take you to do a post?" I said, "Oh not too long, depending on the post". Then I thought about it.... sometimes it SEEMS as though it's not a long time, but I check out the clock and think, "Oh Man! I've got to get off this computer and get something accomplished in this house today!" That ol' clock just ticks away quicker than I think.






But I find this blog is therapeutic for me. I've always wanted to journal or keep diaries, and it's just never happened. This is sort of like that, but more fun because you can add pictures. And I can write about whoever I want and post it for, literally, the whole world to see! hahaha (So, be nice to me, folks.... hahahhaa)



I decided that it doesn't matter if I have lots of readers.... I might be the only one who reads this blog. (And some days, I AM!) Some days I wonder why people even keep returning! I think, "I'm sure they MUST have a life... what are they doing HERE?"



But I follow other blogs where people say the same thing. I LOVE checking in to see how my friends are doing. (Christine: FYI, you've gone MONTHS without a post!) And I LOVE 'travelling the blog world' around Canada and down to the States to see what's happening in the lives of others.



Following other blogs has helped me to not whine about my own life (well, at least not whine as much!)..... there are people who are really going through some very trying times. And because my trials at this time are not as intense as their's, I can take that time to pray for them and their situation. One lady always says that she can't understand why people want to know how many diapers she's changed, what she served for lunch, and if she got flowers watered or not; but her followers are interested in what she has to say, no matter how menial, so.... she posts.






I think a lot of it hinges on the fact that so many of us are going through things, and we need to know we're not alone. We all have the trials and tribulations.... (you're just coming out of one, you're currently going through one, or 'do-up-your-seatbelt' because a trial is on it's way!).... and it's good to know you have a support system.



There are a bunch of caring people out there! There are blogs that have thousands of people checking in every day. What a great support system. Even our situation with Blake's decline in health.... I can post updates, people can check in, and bang!... countless prayers rise upwards to our Father on Blake's behalf. If that's all this blog does, then it's worth it.



I appreciate reading blogs where I am uplifted and encouraged, blogs that hit the nail on the head because they speak to exactly what I'm experiencing. Like today, for example. I checked out a blog, that's intended to "(in)courage", and the story hit home with me. Check it out by clicking here.


Oh, someday I'll be able to share my story with you, or at least parts of it; but for now, like the above "(in)courage" article, there's a pile of garbage that's been dumped on my floor. And, yes, it stinks. It's a rotting mess. And "I" am the only one, with God's help, to clean it up.... even though it's not my mess. Someone else dumped their garbage, thinking they had the right to dump it and then carry right on with their own lives as if nothing had happened.






"They" left the mess and "I" get to clean it up. Nope, not fair at all. But God never said life would be fair. And I can't leave their garbage here on my floor because its stench affects me and my family. So, with God's help, it's getting cleaned up, little garbage bag by little garbage bag.



[sigh]


Well, Wannett, in answer to your question of how long it takes to do a post.... today I shall answer "too long". And the system won't allow me to upload any pictures today, so add on a few extra minutes to sort out THAT problem.

(Update as of 9:36pm.... Wannett: I wrote this post this morning, but Blogger had problems with uploading the pics, so I waited until tonight. In reference to your question, I guess technically the post took about half an hour to type, but if you want to get REALLY particular, it took about 13 hours and 30 minutes. Haha.)


Time to get organized and get something accomplished. But just unloading that one particular garbage comment has already made me feel that I've accomplished something. Pray that I get the "non-permit-dumped-garbage" cleaned up. Pray that the Lord gives me direction in how to clean it up properly and effectively and get rid of it at His disposal site so that the floor is cleaner and the air is fresher.


And while we're on prayer, let me know how I can pray for YOU. Going through a trial? Got any stinky garbage? Don't feel that you need to share your details, simply just tell me how I can pray for you.