In Quiet Peace and Confident Trust

Psalm 4:8 - "In peace I will both lie down and sleep for You, Lord alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust."

What a powerful scripture this is. I am amazed at how you can read various verses in the Bible over and over and then suddenly one jumps out at you.

This is the case with this scripture. I was having trouble sleeping and came out to have my prayer time to pray in the middle of the night. This scripture jumped out at me.

How often do we have that peace that passes understanding in our lives? I realized that night my problem was I was worrying about the future and had lost my peace and my trust.

Immediately I repented and asked God to help me sleep in peace and know that He is my safety net and I can trust Him each step of the way.

I pray for you today that you have that confident trust, know God's wonderful peace and feel as if you are under His wing in a safe place.

Anne

The Journey Is As Important As The Destination

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting comfort and hope...encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

As a family when we are faced with difficulties one of the ways that helps us focus on what God is doing in the midst of our trials is to apply these three principles:

- Reach back in our lives and learn all we can from the past

- Embrace the present, no matter how hard it may be, believing God is with us

- Look forward to the future

In case you haven't noticed all of us gets a little older each day and Jimmy and I are no exception. One of the main concerns for us has been our youngest daughter, Shelly, who is mentally challenged.

We know that we need to have a plan for her future beyond us. She is in her 40's now and is a wonderful person to have in our household as well as working at Loving & Caring. We have been able to keep our protective hand on almost all areas of her life.

Now we know it is time for change. Could she adjust and make a change? Could we seperate from her? Could we trust God for her future?

This has been an especially hard journey for Jimmy. He has been her father, coach, boss, protector and most of all has stood and believed in her all these years. Now he has to let go of her in the area of employment. We must work to give her a future and a hope beyond us.

Shelly had an interview at a local hospital. When se didn't get the job she started to volunteer there. She did this for a year in the department she wanted to work for (food services). Finally the door opened for 12 hours of employment.

Through out this journey she never missed her three hour Tuesday night volunteer shift! She did this after working 8 hours in her present job at Loving & Caring. We all understood that because of her handicap the journey of finding a job would be difficult, but we believed that if they had the opportunity to see her work and saw her attitude they might give her a chance.

Shelly started her new job on January 5th. She had the opportunity to share her journey at our church last week and here are a few comments:

"I decided to do a great job in the kitchen like starting the dishwasher and loading it. I learned how to roll the silverware up in a napkin. I swept the kitchen floor. I wanted to show them I could do it and would be faithful and patient. I believed that my faithfulness would show them I would make a good employee. I wanted then to know that I don't give up and I am loyal."

May we all learn from Shelly's journey and maybe we will get our dreams.

Anne

A Young Man's Heart

Several times in my life I have read the Bible through in a year and this is one of those years. I read from the Old Testament, Psalms and the New Testament each day. How did it start in Matthew - with the birth of Jesus and of course Joseph was very involved.

In the book of Matthew we see a young man (Joseph) who was deeply hurt and puzzled by the news of Mary's pregnancy. It just did not sound like her. She had seemed so pure. Yet here he was confronted with her pregnancy.

In Matthew 1:19-20 his pondering is described:

Joseph, Mary's betrothed husband was a just and upright man, not willing to expose her publicly to shame and disgrace, he decided to divorce her quickly and secretly.

But as he was thinking this over an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."

Even before the angel appeared to Joseph, he had a heart for Mary.

I would like to suggest that we take time to look into the hearts of the young men we know and help them to feel at that level. Within them there may be a heart of greatness.

If you have sons, take the time to know their hearts even when they are small.

Jesus took the time to teach the disciples how to have a heart for God. Can we do any less?

Anne