Psalm of the Week - 9:9 - December 11, 2016

Not everyone enjoys Christmas. 

Some have never enjoyed it. Others are not enjoying it because they are the victim of holiday heartbreak. 

Holiday heartbreak is when your relationship ends during the holiday season. 

Yep, your soulmate, or so you thought,  breaks up with you. Many partners choose to end their relationship before the holiday season officially starts. 

I had this happen to me. 

However, it occurred immediately after the holidays. Just as I felt that we had safely survived our first Christmas together, I received an 8:00 A.M. phone call at work that turned my world upside down. I was emotionally blindsided. Numb and stunned would be an accurate description of how I felt while I listened to my fellow end our relationship via a phone call. 

Oh, I forgot to tell you that this happened on a Monday morning.  After he ended the call, my first reaction was to call a close friend and pour my heart out. After that, I buried myself in the Lord. I hid in the shelter of his refuge for weeks.

If this has happened to you, do not forget that God wants to shelter you. 

He is a refuge in times of trouble. He is waiting to welcome you with open arms. Pour your heartache and hurt out to him in prayer. Then, grab your bible and read, read, read. Let your Heavenly Father take charge and heal you. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. 

Verse of the Week - Matthew 1:23 - December 11, 2016

The mystery of Christ's becoming man is to be adored, not curiously inquired into. 

It was so ordered that Christ should have our nature, yet that he should be pure from the defilement of original sin, which has been communicated to all the race of Adam, or mankind.

It is the thoughtful, not the unthinking, whom God will guide. 

God's time to come with instruction to his people, is when they are at a loss. Divine comforts most delight the soul when under the pressure of perplexed thoughts. 

Joseph is told that Mary should bring forth the Saviour of the world. 

Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, speedily, without delay, and cheerfully, without dispute. 

He was to call his name Jesus, a Saviour. 

And the reason of that name is clear, for those whom Christ saves, he saves from their sins; from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, and from the power of sin by the Spirit of his grace. In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all misery, here and hereafter.

Christ came to save his people, not in their sins, but from their sins; and so to redeem them from among men, to himself, who is separate from sinners. 

By applying the general rules of the written word

We should in all the steps of our lives, particularly the great turns of them, take direction from God, and we shall find this safe and comfortable.

Adapted from Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary

Psalm of the Week - 125:3 - December 4, 2016

Confidence in God

1. All whose minds are stayed on God, they shall be as a mountain supported by providence, much more as a holy mountain supported by promise. They cannot be removed from confidence in God. 
2. Committing themselves to God, they shall be safe from their enemies.
3. God's covenant with his people cannot be broken, nor his care of them cease. 
4. Their troubles shall last no longer than their strength will bear them up under them.
5. The scepter of the wicked may come and may fall upon the righteous, upon their persons, their estates, their liberties, their families names, on anything that falls to their lot; only it cannot reach their souls. 

Adapted from Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary

Verse of the Week - 1 Corinthians 10:13 - December 4, 2016

Things to Remember

• Carnal desires gain strength by indulgence - Do not indulge them.
• Nothing in Scripture is written in vain; and it is our wisdom and duty to learn from it. Others have fallen, and so may we.  
• God is wise as well as faithful. He knows what we can bear. 
• He will make a way to escape; he will deliver either from the trial itself, or at least the mischief of it. 
• We have full encouragement to flee from sin, and to be faithful to God. 
• We cannot fall by temptation, if we hold fast to God. 
• Whether the world smiles or frowns, it is an enemy.
• Believers shall be strengthened to overcome the world, with all its terrors and enticements. 
• The awe and reverence of the Lord, put into the hearts of the faithful, will be the great means of safety from sin.

adapted from Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary

Procrastination, Prayer, and Cupcakes

My personal procrastination seems to increase as my prayer life decreases. 
Yesterday morning, I finally realized why I was feeling overwhelmed and promptly started praying out loud in the car on the way to work.

Since, I live and drive through a rural area, only cows and deer are going to see me talking out loud to Jesus in the car like a crazy lady. Yep, I am crazy about Jesus! 

The sense of overwhelmedness slowly receded as I talked with Jesus in prayer and my workday went well.

Procrastinating at Home
The procrastination proceeded to return after I arrived home and should have been making three types of frosting for the 8 dozen cupcakes I was going to make Friday evening to sell at at community marketplace event. 

You know the consequence of procrastination is normally not getting a task completed, or having to work hours longer to get it done. Knowing this consequence and going ahead with the task are two different things. Unfortunately, I didn't pray either. 

Yep, the frosting didn't get made because I was procrastinating, but I told myself I was tired from working all day and deserved to rest. Additionally, no prayer was involved in this small decision because I knew that I was setting myself up to bake, frost, and package 96 cupcakes the next evening. Can you identify?

Friday evening arrived and I started baking cupcakes the moment I arrived home from work at 4:00 PM. With cool down times, two cupcake pans, etc. it took me until about 9:44 PM to bake the almost 100 cupcakes and complete the trio of frostings for them. 

Now I said a prayer and made a pot of coffee as I began to pipe frosting and package the cupcakes. At 1:35 AM I finished loading the last container of cupcakes into my car and said a quick prayer to Jesus thanking him for giving me the strength to complete my cupcake marathon. 

Moral - Pray more and procrastinate less.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.