The place of glad worship isn’t at Church or at home,
The place of glad worship is from a heart that’s reborn.
The place of glad worship is from a heart filled with praise,
From a heart that knows worship is why we were made.
The place of glad worship comes from a heart that is open,
From a heart that’s laid bare and a heart that is broken.
The place of glad worship comes from lips full of praise,
From a heart that remembers God’s numbered our days.
So Worship With Abandon!
PeggyAnn Smith November 2010 ©
When I count my blessings I have to write them down.
For counting all my blessings is harder than it sounds.
It is not like all my blessings are simply two or three.
It’s more like counting every leaf that grew upon a tree.
They are more abundant than mounds on woodland floor.
And every time I think I’m done, down fall a million more.
So, when I count my blessings I hold my arms out wide.
I lift my eyes to Heaven and smile deep inside.
For I see My Father dancing in leaves a mile deep.
And He, is so delighted to throw them at my feet.
So, while you count your blessings, remember it is true.
That your Heavenly Father joyously…loves to lavish you.
YOU CANNOT BE UNHAPPY WHEN…
YOU KNOW HE LOVES YOU SO!
Doesn’t she look so sweet and adorable? She really is most of the time, unless you take her for a walk! I still walk about a mile and a half a day as long as the weather allows it. With my Fibromyalgia cold, rainy days are out. I am always in too much pain on those days to walk. In fact Miss Bella and I just came back from a walk this morning! I only take her every other day now…because she is rather lazy and doesn’t like to walk everyday. So, I go alone on those days and get a much better walk in. I feel like God must look at us Christians the same way as I do Bella. Even though I have her short leashed right next to me (like we are yoked with Jesus)…she still follows this smell and that smell and wanders off the path every chance she gets. I have to keep reigning her back, trying to keep her on the path and moving forward on the journey. But pretty soon she is off wandering toward a new destination. It is a challenge every step of the way because I want to keep at a quick pace to get some physical benefit out of our walk and she is meandering or slowing down sniffing every scent known to dogkind or just flat out sitting down right in the middle of the road. Sometimes I even have to bend down and pick her up and carry her (she weighs 20 lbs) a few blocks because she refuses to budge. I now truly know what the Scripture means when it talks about being a “stiff-necked” people, because Bella is one stubborn ‘stiff-necked’ dog when she sits down and refuses to go any further. You could pull on her leash all day long but she is going nowhere! She wears me out on those days, it is just more hassel that it’s worth…so, I look forward to walking alone. Yet I know she needs the exercise as she is putting on a little extra weight since my husband sneaks her food when ever he thinks I am not looking. All I can say is that it is a good thing that God has a lot more patience than I do, because in truth I know that I am no better than Bella a lot of times. I get easily distracted too, wanting to meander this way and that way, stopping to look at whatever has attracted my attention at the moment and sometimes I even want to sit down and refuse to move to God’s gentle tugs. So, I know that God in His wonderful sense of humor, paired Bella and I up for a reason. She is my object lesson from God…His way of saying…”See my darling daughter how I feel sometimes!”
One Lesson I use as a Bible Study Teacher Is Having My Students of the Word, learn how to personalize Scripture so that it becomes more intimate to their lives and circumstances. We recently did this using Matthew 6:25-30. I would like to share what I wrote and then encourage you to participate by practicing this yourself at home, using a Journal or just on a piece of writing paper. I believe you will understand first hand the benefit of doing this on a somewhat regular basis. It is like receiving a Love Letter from The Lord. The entire Bible a compilation of Love Letters to you!
“Therefor I tell you Peggy, do not worry or fret about your life. All those many things that create anxiety in your heart, soul, and mind are just like little foxes that continually out-run you and right before your reach them they dive into a hole in the ground. Turn those little foxes of fretting over to me. They belong to me anyway, not to you. Then remember Peggy that there is nothing that you will face today, that you and I cannot walk through together. Even your ‘fear of the unknown‘ belongs to me. I am not for one moment overwhelmed by it, uncertain of it, fearful of it, frustrated by it, or surprised by it. Remember also that on this journey of life I am holding you by my righteous right hand. So, what is your problem daughter? There isn’t one my child! Are you going to add a single hour to your life by fretting? No, but you may lose a few years off your life by doing so and you will be in more chronic pain than you might other-wise have been. Trust Me… Daughter! Lean On Me…Daughter! Grasp My Hand even tighter… Daughter, if you must! Just remember My Beloved, it isn’t just you against the world and the unknown. It is you and I! And ‘everything is known’ by me…So Fret and Fear Not!
Since coming down with Fibromyalgia 9 years ago…I have developed what I call ‘FEAR OF THE UN-KNOWN’. It is an anxiety that has developed over anything that I am faced with doing for the very first time. Example: I just rode the Train from my home near Vancouver WA to Seattle WA and I did not know what to expect riding the Train for the first time. I get very anxious over things like that…but once I have done them at least one time, then I am fine! If I have something I really want to accomplish or a great benefit (like seeing my grand-daughter) as the end result, then I force myself to walk through the fretting and the fear despite the un-known. BUT if I really don’t want to do something that someone else wants me to do or the end result isn’t worth the struggle…then, I can easily talk myself out of doing that particular activity at all. I would rather stay home and be reclusive and isolate.
I hope by sharing with you my personal weakness, that you will see that God tells us NOT to ‘FRET’ OR ‘WORRY’ for a reason. We can walk in Victorious Living because He has already Overcome the World. We must Believe and Walk by Faith In Him!
Here is a great excercise for any believer to do. Take a sheet of paper or your favorite journal and sit down and write: Lord I Love You Because…(and just start listing why).
Lord I Love You Because…
I love You because your first loved me. While I was being knit in my mother’s womb by you, you already loved me…
I love You because you have shown me your loving-kindness and gentleness since I was but a wee child – proving to me the reality of Who you were in my life, without anyone even telling me anything about you. You made yourself real to me and known to me…
I love You because at an impressionable age You provided neighborhood Vacation Bible Schools so that I could go and learn more about You. More about your unconditional love, your mercy, your grace and your forgiveness. In fact the very first Bible verse I ever memorized was John 3:16 and the most amazing part was that I truly understood what it meant. In that one verse is the entire Gospel Story. The Good News, so simple that even a child can comprehend it, accept it and find salvation through it…
I love You because you have always been my Gentle Shepherd, my Papa God, my Redeemer and Friend, my Lord and my King, the Lover of my Soul, The Source of my Salvation, The Giver of all Good Gifts, my Refuge and my Strength, my High Tower, my Shelter in the Storms of Life, my Face-to-Face God, my Mighty Wings of Protection, my Rock, my Firm Foundation, my Stability in the midst of chaos, my Water in the Desert Places, my Guide, my Compass, my Light in Darkness, my Way back to The Father, the Only Pathway Home To Heaven on this Journey called Life…
I Love You Lord because You Love Me From Everlasting to Everlasting!
…written by one of your Shepherdesses…Peggy Smith/September 2010
Love is very risky business…
because it makes us vulnerable to hurt.
For those we love the most…
seem to hurt us the most deeply.
WHY, Is that?…
Why then do we choose to open-up
our arms, our hearts, our minds, our lives…
When we know full well, that along the path
we journey together…
love is going to blind-side us with pain?
We are going to be misunderstood, we are going to
be falsely accused, we are going to be tormented,
we are going to be mocked, we are going to have
our purpose questioned, our words spit-back in our
face, our love and friendship denied and ridiculed,
our faithfulness and commitment made suspect…
Does any of this sound even vaguely familiar?
It should! It does…
Yes, we love because Christ opened himself up
first to loving you…
He risked your rejection and your hurts…
He willingly made himself vulnerable to you…
And He did so, with arms wide open…
And heart exposed to being broken…
He allowed himself to be totally laid bare…
Because He felt YOU were worth it…after all!
… by Peggy Smith September 2010
