DEEPER INTO SURRENDER

I am quite proficient at making up excuses to avoid doing something I do not want to do. Yet, I am equally adept at constructing convincing arguments for what I want. Neither of these skills is helpful to the person who wants to please God. In fact, there is grave danger of talking myself right over a cliff into a sea of selfishness and disobedience. Even the Savior faced this struggle in the heat of battle. His self-denying garden prayer must become my own: “not as I will, but as you will.” Father, help me pull away from human desire and push deeper into surrender. Your will first and always.

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SACRED FOOTPRINTS

“This is the day that the LORD has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!” Psalm 118:24 ESV. The table is set for a brand-new day. Only God knows exactly what is already prepared for my arrival in it. I must now leave behind days gone by and ready myself for new insight, a higher life, and greater things. Am I up for what today will bring? Only the day will tell, but the One who provides it will also carry me through it. One thing is sure; I will walk upon on sacred footprints since the Alpha and Omega has already trod this moment in advance, sprinkling blessings and divine opportunities throughout. I must pay attention so I don’t miss a thing He has placed along the path. Lord God, Lover of My Soul, today is the day You have made; I am so good with that and already rejoicing in what is to unfold. Lift me in Your arms and carry me through with faith, joy, and purpose.

HE LIFTED ME

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand," Psalm 40:2 NIV. Our family was blessed to have quite a few pets over the years; a Pekinese named Reina was with us the longest. She was, without a doubt, the sweetest and dumbest pet we ever had. Whenever we asked her if she wanted to go out, she ran to the wrong door...EVERY TIME for 17 years! One day, she tried to stand up, but her back legs wouldn't work. Reina just sat there staring at me, shaking and bewildered. I've seen that “help me, I don’t know what’s going on here” look before. I've HAD that look before. God sees that look every day on His children’s faces around the world. LORD, You lift me and comfort me in my bewildering trials. You grant me assurance when I am weak. You place my feet on higher ground. We are “more than conquerors” in Your mighty grasp.

IN THE STORM

“On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side,’” Mark 4:35 ESV. Jesus left the multitudes on the peaceful shore and took His disciples into the storm. The apostle Paul was taken prisoner and into the storm. In each case, a miracle followed, not AFTER the storm but IN the storm. Some storms are spiritual, some emotional, some physical, and many are the storms of others into which we are drawn. There are private storms, cultural storms, political storms, doctrinal storms, church storms, family storms, and on and on it goes. But one thing they all have in common, there is no storm in which I cannot take the Savior’s hand and walk with Him on top of the tempest! LORD, my prayer is that of the psalmist: “From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

COFFEE ON THE DOCK

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