Psalm 68:19

"Praise the Lord; praise God our savior!

For each day he carries us in his arms."

Psalm 68:19 (NLT)

Today was a rough day. Every single member of my family is sick. Some have sinus infections. Some of stomach bugs. And some have both. I was one with a stomach bug. Emotions in my home have been up and down, and then with everyone getting sick, I wasn't sure how I was going to get through this day. But, the Lord carried me through it. 

We have a family of eight staying with us right now. I love having them here, but it's tough to have guests when you're not feeling well; I was worried about how I could be a pleasant hostess when I was feeling so sick. Then it turned out that they were all gone for the day. I had spaced out that they were going to the city for a medical appointment. So, I was able to get some much needed rest this morning without worrying about being a good hostess. :-) By the time I woke up from my morning nap, I was feeling ten times better, so I was able to do some cleaning up in the kitchen and even make spaghetti - from scratch. 

The Lord truly does carry us along day after day!

Proverbs 15: 26

"God can't stand evil scheming,

but he puts words of grace and beauty on display."

Proverbs 15:26 (The Message)

I had a thought while I was reading this verse: Do I put my kids' words of grace and beauty on display? More times than not, I don't. It's so easy, as parents, to see the wrong things our kids do and quickly call them on it. But, how often do we jump on the beautiful things they do? We've all seen the kids who act out negatively because that's the only time they get attention from their parents and they figure negative attention is better than no attention at all. Our kids may not be acting out negatively, but are they hearing that we see and notice the good things they do?

This verse convicted me to start finding something of grace and beauty from my kids' mouths or actions every day. I don't know about you, but I'm quick to forget when I have thoughts like this and by tomorrow I would forget I even decided to do this. This is where my cell phone comes in handy. I'm off to put a reminder in it right now - before I get distracted and forget. If you decide to join me on this, please comment below and share what beautiful things you see your kids doing and saying! And while we're at it - let's focus on the beautiful things our spouses and even our friends do, as well!

Psalm 56:3-4

"When I get really afraid I come to you in trust. 

I'm proud to praise God; fearless now, 

I trust in God. What can mere mortals do?" 

Psalm 56:3-4 (The Message)

Like verse 4 says, "I'm proud to praise God." I used to be a quiet Christian. I think most of my friends growing up knew I went to church and that I believed in Jesus, but I didn't share my faith with people like I am today. I can't say I was ever 'embarrassed' to be Christian, but I certainly didn't praise God openly. Today, I'm not afraid to do this. If it causes me to lose friends, so be it. The only One who truly matters is God anyway. And I'm "fearless" when it comes to people - they might lie about me, they might physically hurt me or kill me, but they cannot take away my eternal life with Jesus. 

I put "fearless" in parenthesis because, for the most part, I am fearless when it comes to people. I'm not foolish however. I won't go walking down the street at night without my dog or my husband. I'm not going to go walking through the rougher parts of town alone. I'm not going to do foolish things that could get me hurt. Yes, I trust in God, but he also calls me to protect my life. (See my blog post from Feb. 12 regarding this statement.) 

Does fearless mean I don't get hurt - emotionally or physically? No. But, when I do get hurt, I continue to trust God because he will get me through whatever comes my way. And I will no longer be silent about my praise to the Lord. He has done marvelous things in my life and he deserves honor and praise for those things! This is why I share these thoughts with you all. To, not only share my testimony with people, but to be able to publicly give God glory. Everything I have, the person I am today, is all because of God's work he's doing within me. I can take no credit because prior to this, I didn't even want God in my life. He's the One who kept whispering to me to come back to him. And I praise Him for never giving up on me!

Psalm 28:6-7

"Blessed be God - he heard me praying. He proved he's on my side;
I've thrown my lot in with him. Now I'm jumping for joy;
and shouting and singing my thanks to him."
Psalm 28:6-7 (The Message)

Yes.. God heard my prayers and has answered them. Not all as I would have wished, but he did answer them and helped me accept the answers I didn't like. I AM jumping for joy. I have joy because I know he is real and he hears each and every prayer I pray. And I know that he loves me and only wants the best for me. Sometimes, the best for me isn't want I want, but it is always what I need.