Category: prayer

Your glimmering smile

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Inspirational, joy, judging, patience, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

00-Cover-ThumbnailMighty God, I am so small and puny. You are so large and great. Yet, you love me. I am so sinful, you are so perfect. Still you love me. I am so self-serving, you are so others-serving. I continue to be undeserving. You continue to love anyway. In my self-will and thinking that I know more than you, I continue to run from your goodness. You continue to run after me, calling out, “Return to me. You’ll be safe with me..”  Such love overwhelms me. I fall at your feet and feel your warmth and smile as you lean low and kiss my cheek.

Father, I do not know how to search my heart nor to let go of my sins.  I have such a hard time even identifying my sins.  I don’t think I’m so bad, but know deep down I have exchanged “not so bad” for “sin”. I listen to Satan’s whisperings and he makes everything so right ~ things that are really so wrong.  Give me your eyes so I may truly see. 

Ah, my Lord, I look out my window at the sky turning from morning gray to violet and to orange before bursting forth upon this earth and greeting us with your glimmering smile. Your smile is so bright, my eyes cannot stand to look directly at it.  But I know that eternal smile of yours is there.  For, whenever you smile, my day grows warm.  I look further out my window now and see the flowers so bright and proud perking up after their own night of rest. Red, yellow, blue, white, green. Spring.  With your smile, it is always spring. Oh, listen. The birds are awakening and are joining you in song.  How delightful it must have been for you to create this world you put me in.  Everything perfect for your children. Thank you for your smile.

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?          https://amzn.to/2XhDDdb

.

00-Cover-ThumbnailFUN WITH BIBLE NUMBERS offers 525 Bible math problems covering both the Old Testament and New Testament.  Did you know Jesus walked on water 3-1/2 miles to get to his apostles?  Did you know Jacob and Esau were 15 when grandfather Abraham died?  Did you know the hail stones in Revelation if taken literally weighed tons?  Great for party mixers, Bible classes, home schoolers, bulletin fillers.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………  https://amzn.to/2XhDDdb

.

#danger, #safety, #wanderaway, #temptation, #Satan, #repentforgive, #morningsunshine, #sunrise, #morningskies, #flowers, #Godsmiles, #KatherynMaddoxHaddad, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #praise, #worship, #prayer

Love is Demanding

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayerLeave a comment

Ah, how I praise you, my Lord, for your supremacy and power. I la00-hero-alone-cover-kindle-lgthumbnailud you for truth and justice which is established by you, and love and mercy that pours out from you. Love is demanding and you never waver from it. If I wander from you, you call my name and run after me to bring me back. You never stop to rest. You never give up on me.  You accept all the responsibilities of love and do everything possible to make it bud and blossom in my heart. Your love will never let me go.

Complaining is the coward’s way. Complaining is helplessness and wanting someone else to solve whatever I want solved. Complaining is a first-cousin of accusing. That is Satan’s way. He wants me to accuse God of causing the problems he causes. Satan, go away from me.

Thank you, Jesus, for dying in my place and facing death and hell for me. Satan didn’t think you could pull it off  but you did.  None of us could have escaped him, so you did it for us, opening the gate out of our captivity to you. You paid the ransom. Then you undid what Satan did; you returned to life!  You made it possible for me to do the same when I die ~ come back to life and live forever.  You made it possible to escape hell and go to the safety of heaven.

I do not deserve what you did for me. You are so good to me. Open the door, Lord, Open the door and let me enter your realm to live forever with you, my Lord and my God.

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?          https://amzn.to/2ToocPh

.

00-hero-alone-cover-kindle-lgthumbnailYOU CAN BE A HERO ALONE:  STORIES OF COURAGE FOR THE ISOLATED CHRISTIAN.  This was originally written for converts in places where there are no other Christians and they must worship alone.  Bible characters who “walked alone” are presented along with thought questions at the end.  Can be also used for prisoners, young people in secular universities, shut-ins, etc.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2ToocPh

.

#love, #purity, #demanding, #patient, #pursuing, #rest, #complaining, #covid19, #praise, #thanksgiving, #youcanbeaheroalone, #couragefortheisolatedchristian, #KatherynMaddoxHaddad, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #praise, #worship, #prayer

Only fools complain

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, blessings, Daily, Enemies, Inspirational, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

10-Daniel-KindleThumnailI praise you, because you are the Creator of all I see and sense and even that which is too small or too far away for me to know. When I look up in the sky and see more stars than can be counted and know I am just a spec in it all, I am overwhelmed with your largeness, your greatness, your magnitude. Yet, I am not too small for you to see and my voice is not too weak for you to hear. How I long to be with you where you are.

Help me not complain. Only a fool complains. When things do not go my way, help me realize what is happening is your will. Remind me always that I have enough.

Thank you for the new dawn with all the possibilities that lie ahead for me. Refocus my energies to reach out to others as your ambassador.  Thank you for  these glorious spring days that you have given me to clear away the cobwebs accumulated during the winter’s rest. Springtime awakens in me a desire to plant my garden, to walk along lazy paths, to watch the birds find the perfect spot and build their cozy nests. Thank you for springtime.

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?    https://amzn.to/3cOasor

.

10-Daniel-KindleThumnailDANIEL is storybook 10 in A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES series.  He did not want to leave Jerusalem and become a slave in Babylon.  But he did not complain and eventually became prime minister.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/3cOasor

 

.

#GodCreator, #universe, #cosmos, #stars, #infinite, #springtime, #garden, #birds, #achildsbibleheroes, #daniel, #lionsden, #jerusalem, #babylon, #slave, #KatherynMaddoxHaddad, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #praise, #worship, #prayer

Singing with God

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayerLeave a comment

OldOldTunes-mediumThe scripture for today, May 19 (5/19), is Ephesians 5:19 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”

What is so interesting about this scripture is how we are to make music to the Lord. In the original Greek the New Testament of the Bible was written in, the term “make music” means to play on strings. But put with the rest of the verse, we see it means to play on the strings of our heart.

How beautiful! In God’s ears, the strings of our heart are far superior to any musical instrument we can contrive. So, why would we want to use them as a substitute? Shall we not please the One we are worshiping? Let us be attuned, not to what we love, but to what God loves.

And so, let us sing! In the process, let our singing be accompanied by the beautiful strings of our worshipping heart. Then let the stars join in and sing with us. (Job 38:7) And finally, we join with the Maker of song (Zephaniah 3:17) and sing with God!

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?          https://amzn.to/2zN2kGc

.

OldOldTunes-ThumbnailTHE OLD OLD STORY SET TO OLD OLD TUNES includes 80 original rhyme ~ forty about the Old Testament and forty about the Old Testament.  All are set to old folk tunes. They are delightful to sing as adults or children both.  To  BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://amzn.to/2zN2kGc

Mt. St. Helens & me 40 years ago today

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayer2 Comments

MT. St. Helens

I was living in a village near the bottom of Mt. St. Helens when it blew.  We had lived there for eight years. We had taken our children up to it and gone sledding, building snow forts, making snow angels, the works. 

It was our mountain. Our beautiful mountain. It reminded me of an upside-down ice-cream cone.  It was perfect in every way.  Everyone knew it was a volcano, but it had formed thousands of years before and would continue like it was for thousands of years in the future. We knew this because the local Indians told us it had last erupted a thousand years earlier.  Now it was our mountain, and it belonged to us to do with as we pleased.

But it wasn’t our mountain.  One morning I looked outside. It seemed as though we had been plunged into the inside of a furnace with all its ashes. I stared. It was snowing gray ash.  I stared more, wondering what the birds had done.  Relieved, I saw them huddled together under bushes.

Of course, the radio and TV had switched to Emergency. We were told to stay indoors because ash is deadly to the lungs since it is a form of glass. If we did go out, we had to wear surgical masks. If we drove, we were told to put nylons over the air filter and to not go over 10 mph.  Even then, the ash flew everywhere. Our freeway entrance and exit were blocked. The most disturbing thing I heard on the radio (yes, everyone kept their radios on) was that we were at the top of the San Andreas Fault.  And so, we like the birds, huddled and waited for more unknown.

After about a week, the “snow” quit falling and the radio told everyone to go up on our roofs and shovel the ash off.  Snow is heavy but ash is heavier. People’s roofs were in danger of collapsing.  Of course, some people could not climb up there, so the neighbors pitched in.  No one was left without help. After a few days, snow trucks made their way down the streets pushing the ash out of the way.  Next, we were told to shovel the ashes off our lawns and sidewalks and pile it all in the street next to the curb.  In a few more days city dump trucks made the rounds picking up and hauling away Nature’s trash.

I volunteered for a telephone hotline where people called in to find missing relatives.  Anyone who had been even partly near the mountain a few days before it blew were asked to check in with us.  We had a running list.  Many made it out alive, but it was harrowing. And many did not survive.

The locals couldn’t believe this friendly mountain would ever be anything different. So, life went on as usual for many.  Campers went camping up near the mountain as usual.  Hunters went hunting and fishermen went fishing up near the mountain as usually.  The mountain was “just blowing smoke” to scare people.  The government tried to corden off roads that led to the mountain, but many went around the blockades and went happily on their way.

When the mountain blew, the fiery blast of heat out of earth’s core rushed like a cyclone and burned people’s lungs. Since most were up there along the Tootle River fishing and camping, they put their coats up over their head, rushed to the river, and plunged under water. They held their breath as long as they could, and when they had to come up for air, their lungs felt as though they, too, were on fire.

And the Tootle River?  It had a tidal wave 30′ high.  For years, we could see the ash where it had mingled with the water and cover the trunks of the highest trees.

Everything impossible was now happening. Everything unreal had entered our reality.  Not only was our mountain turned inside out, but our world was too.

People have expressions that something is “as eternal as the mountains” or “as old as the hills.”  Not true. Nothing on earth is eternal. That also includes things, people, power, position, belongings, even dreams.  Eventually, they quake and sway and are gone. 

 

 

#MtStHelens, #vocanoeruption, #ashessnowing, #TootleRuver, #twentyyears, #May181980, #nothingiseverthesame, #lifechanges, #unknownfuture, #terror, #fear, #noescape, fortyyears

Ah, my heart is about to burst.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #friendships, blessings, Daily, governments, Inspirational, joy, praise, prayer, Thanksgiving, worshipLeave a comment

3 Great Kings Kindle-ThumbnailHow can I praise you, Lord, to the degree you deserve? I cannot. How I wish I could. May the stars sing praises to you. May the waters declare you water of life. May the earth bring forth early buds of spring to remind the world you are the life-giver, you are life. May the frisky animals of spring growl and squeak and chatter and bark and flutter as they daily proclaim you as their Maker.

Ah, my heart is about to burst. You, God of glory, are a friend to all who seek you.  You fill my loneliness, wipe away my tears, hold me, smile with me, laugh with me. Then I am not lonely anymore. You are the Ultimate Friend. You never desert me no matter how rough things get. You are my life. When I leave you, you wait for me to return and finally run after me to bring me back to yourself. You have never left my side over all these years unless it was I who ran away.  Even through the times I could not see you or feel you or touch you, you were there all along. Your loyalty is too great for me to deserve. It is backward. It is I who should be forever loyal to you. You are my forever Friend. Thank you.

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?          https://amzn.to/2LEk6hC

.

3 Great Kings Kindle-Thumbnail3 GREAT KINGS is book 8 in A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES series.  Saul was a great warrior until late in life; David was a great poet, Solomon was a great wise man. Together, each did their part to make the new kingdom of Israel great.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this………. https://amzn.to/2LEk6hC

.

#stars, #oceans, #birds, #flowers, #squirrels, #creator, #GodourMaker, #3greatjkings, #ForeverFriend, #KatherynMaddoxHaddad,  #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #praise, #worship, #prayer

Your glory gilds my songs

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn #ransom, Death of Jesus Christ, eternity, forgiveness, healing, Heaven, Inspirational, love, praise, prayer, sacrifice, Satan, Saved from hell, sin, worshipLeave a comment

Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailYour glory gilds my songs of praise to you. You send out majestic beams of heavenly rays on all people, great and small. You brighten my day and enlighten the world around me. You give and expect nothing in return except love. Love begins as a spark and grows in glory the nearer it is to you. You give my soul wings, and I soar to you.

Your blood, oh God. Your blood slipped out of your body that day so long, long ago. That which ensures life was taken out of you in order to provide life for a lifeless world held captive by Satan. Blood ransom. Satan’s price was high.  Too high. No one could pay it. So, you materialized and offered your own flesh in my place. You offered your own blood in my place. You offered your life in my place. How can I thank you for freeing my soul from Satan? Unworthy, I rush to you, fall at your feet in eternal gratitude, and worship you.

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?        https://amzn.to/2Z9nPeT

.

Supper-Front Cover-ThumbnailTHE LORD’S SUPPER: 52 READINGS WITH PRAYERS is perfect for either public or private meditation each week during the Lord’s Supper. To BUY NOW,  click a book cover or paste this……….  https://amzn.to/2Z9nPeT

 

.

#worship, #adoration, #creator, #bloodofGod, #bloodofJesus, #sacrifice, #crucifixion, #salvationfromSatanandhell, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #praise, #worship, #prayer

Smile. The world will wonder why.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayerLeave a comment

07-Samson-KindleThumbnailThe scripture for today, May 16 (5/16), is 1st Thessalonians 5:16 (KJV) as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Rejoice evermore.”

But how can we rejoice when something terrible has happened? How can we rejoice with a pandemic raging around the world?

The Apostle Paul, who wrote this knew that the Thessalonians were being terribly persecuted (2nd Thessalonians 1:4), but he still said, “Rejoice evermore.” How could he say such a calloused thing amidst their suffering?  Had he no feeling, no empathy?

 Sometimes we have to suffer so the true nature of bad people pretending to be good can be revealed to the world.  Sometimes we have to suffer so we can build our spiritual muscles.  Sometimes we have to suffer so we can understand others going through the same thing.  Sometimes we even suffer so people around us wanting to do a good work will have someone to do a good work for.

There are many reasons for suffering. But none of them take away the pain. Just remember that, just as God was grieved when his Son suffered on the cross, he is grieved when you suffer. And just as God was able to bring something wonderful out of his Son’s suffering, he can bring something wonderful out of your suffering too.

In the meantime, chin up, shoulders back, stand straight, be brave, and smile. The world will wonder why.

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?          https://amzn.to/2zEqxhU

.

07-Samson-KindleThumbnailSAMSON smiled when they bound him in new cords and did other things to weaken him.  But he smiled.  He knew he and God could overcome anything they did to him.  This is BOOK 7 in the series A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES.  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….https://amzn.to/2zEqxhU

 

#Pandemic, #Covid19, #whysuffering, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer

How I spent my birthday in a pandemic

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn prayer9 Comments
Image may contain: 1 person, shoes
At 6:00 last night, I stopped working.  I put my bamboo stool in my car and headed out to see some friends. 
.
First I went to see Jeanne whose husband and daughter died just a year ago.  I put my bamboo bench on her front porch and told her to go get a chair so we could visit through the screen door. She took a picture of me through her screen.
.
Then I went to see Carolyn, my same age – her on her side of the screen door and me on her porch.  We roomed together at the Red River Encampment in NM last year.   We visited about twenty minutes while a nosey bird in a nearby tree squawked at us.
.
Then I stopped at a grocery store around the corner and drove up near the door and waited.  Finally a young lady came out smiling and I called out to her asking if she could do me a favor. She had a store shirt on and said yes.  I gave her a $10 bill and told her I was 80 years old today.  I asked her to go to the bakery dept. and picked out a 6″ cake for me.  She came back after a while with the cake and said she knew the baker and the baker put “Happy Birthday” on the top.  Oh, and I got $5 change.
.
Then I drove over to see my friend, Linda, who has been blind all her life.  As always, we visited through her screen door. These new ones people can’t see through and that always annoys me.  Didn’t bother Linda since she’s blind anyway. 
.
It was getting dark, so I grabbed up my bench and resumed my birthday party.
.
I drove to see Billie who lost her husband just a few months ago and still reeling from it.  She kept insisting I come inside, but I would have been black listed by her daughters who insisted the first of March she not go to church without long sleeves and gloves on (nearly 100 degrees here by then).  So she sat on her side of her door and me on the outside.  JJ, her husband’s little black and white dog, always liked me and began annoying her because I wasn’t coming in to see him.  Finally, she let him out and he jumped up into my lap. 
.
When it was nearly 8:00 and pretty much dark, I drove on home.  I still had two of my Muslim English students to grade, so did that until 9:00 ish. 
.
Then I turned on Netflix and saw that end-of-the-world flick where there’s a steel “ark” that looks like a tank in China that will hold zillions of people and the star of the show gets there with his family from the US as the earthquakes do their thing.  The boat rides a tidal wave of all the oceans and ends up on Mount Everest (not Ararat, but close enough), and everyone on the ship walks out into a brave new world.
.
While watching that, I got out my birthday cake, determined to eat the WHOLE thing.  Well, that didn’t work.  Only able to eat half of it and am paying for it today.
 
So, that is how I spent the last few hours of my first day of being 80 during a pandemic.

My stuff

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn attitude, blessings, emptiness, eternity, judging, Loss, prayer, things2 Comments

06-Moses Thumbnail CoverThe scripture for today, May 15 (5/15), is Ecclesiastes 5:15 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.”

As most people enter their senior years, they finally understand this verse. In their youth, they struggled to get jobs and status and things. Some accomplished it, and some didn’t.

But in the senior years….

     when health is gradually declining….

             the world is passing them by….

                    and they are sitting in their chair most of the time

….the main thing people look back on is what difference they made in their world, and how they did or did not help people important to them.

Often in their senior years, when their income goes down, and they are living only on a small pension, and they are unable to keep their big house, and fancy car, and impressive stuff, they realize they are still the same person inside regardless of what they own.

Ask a senior what they want for a birthday present. It is not likely to be things. It is likely to be time spent with a loved one or something special given to someone in need.

What about you?  How much time are you spending on things?

.

I pen my thoughts and stories to touch souls. Will you help me tell people about today’s book?          https://amzn.to/2WWe15s

06-Moses Thumbnail CoverMOSES is storybook #6 in A CHILD’S BIBLE HEROES series.  Moses’ youth was spent in luxury.  He lived like a king.  But he gave it all up for his people.  How?  To BUY NOW, click a book cover or paste this……….https://amzn.to/2WWe15s

 

#riches, #mansions, #highposition, #power, #fancyclothes, #vacations, #pharaoh, #Egyptuianslaves, #inspiration, #devotional, #worship, #vespers, #meditation,. #godliness, #Christianity, #JesusChrist, #church, #Bible, #Scripture, #HolyBook, #religion, #love, #truth, #prayer