Who is in Control? - A Dose of Encouragement

Today I'm starting off with a question.

“What are the encouraging words you want to

 hear when you’re having a hard day?"


Sometimes things going on around us get us down and really that is only natural.

One week I had heard about something that really disappointed me.  I was hurt and annoyed that when setting standards for choosing a group of people (in which I was not involved) it was obvious that good ethics had not been taken into consideration.

       

Although I told myself that everything works out for good because God says so in His Word it seems that I didn’t really believe this on that occasion.

          
The next day this was still on my mind and then everything else I was doing was just not going as planned so basically I was having a "bad day".  While driving along in the car I decided to listen to a new CD to take my mind off everything. 

One of the tracks started and I thought that it was just horrible but maybe it would improve.  

As a song it didn’t get much better but then the words really struck me.  

    
Over and over it repeated

“God is in control, God is in control.” 

I played that track many, many times and still I could not say that I liked that song, but God certainly told me then, that He was in control.

There they were, the encouraging words I needed to hear that day.  They may not have been what I would have thought I wanted to hear because in all likelihood I would probably just have wanted someone to agree with me about my bad day - you know coffee and sympathy.

But God knows what we really need to hear even if we should already know it.

Let's remember this passage in Luke chapter 12

22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 

23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 

24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 

25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 

26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 

27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

I am so thankful that God knows us better than we do and I am thankful that God was ready to use this song to to tell me what He wanted me to hear.

  
Do we sometimes need a nudge to remind us of what we already know? 

  Yes I believe we do; to help us really believe it at all times.

Well I still don’t like the song too much but then God doesn’t have to only use the things we like to speak to us, does He?

Why We Worship 5

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

Psalm 99 

The Lord reigns;
Let the peoples tremble!
He dwells between the cherubim;
Let the earth be moved!
2 The Lord is great in Zion,
And He is high above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name—
He is holy.

4 The King’s strength also loves justice;
You have established equity;
You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God,
And worship at His footstool—
He is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests,
And Samuel was among those who called upon His name;
They called upon the Lord, and He answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar;
They kept His testimonies and the ordinance He gave them.

8 You answered them, O Lord our God;
You were to them God-Who-Forgives,
Though You took vengeance on their deeds.
9 Exalt the Lord our God,
And worship at His holy hill;
For the Lord our God is holy.

Psalm 99 

has only 9 verses and three of those verses proclaim the reason for worshipping God that we are considering today.

          Verse 3
                 Let them praise Thy great and terrible Name for it is Holy

          Verse 5
                 Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is Holy.

          Verse 9
                 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His Holy hill; for the Lord our God is Holy

Why would the Psalmist need to tell us what appears to be the same thing?

Simply because it is not the same.

I believe this Psalm was very deliberately written with these three verses, it is not idle repetition.

Repetition with God's Word shows us how important something is and it is to be carefully noted.

Firstly   we are told that God's Name is Holy

and then 

Twice   we are told that God is Holy.

An indication that everything about God is Holy.

Yes in two of the verses we are told to worship God because He is Holy but in each case a different place is mentioned.

We are meant to worship God wherever we are 

because He is Holy no matter where we are.

There is never a time or place when God is not Holy.

We may feel as if some place is holier than another but God is always Holy 

and the place will not determine what He is like 

nor how we should treat Him.

Do you worship God differently depending on where you are?

Do you believe God is Holy?

           

The Hotel Pool - A Dose of Encouragement

Our children have always been excited when we have had the opportunity to stay at a lovely hotel especially when it has a pool.  So the three years we lived in America were very happy as we had several opportunities to stay at hotels with outdoor pools whilst on various trips across the states.

         
 On one of our trips back home to Northern Ireland we stopped over in London for a weekend at a hotel with an indoor pool and of course the kids just could not wait to get into it.  Jonathan and Daniel had learned to swim reasonably well by this stage but Linda was only 6 years old and was only just getting confident.  

Unfortunately she was too confident too soon 

as we were about to discover.

          Fred and the children got their swimsuits and towels ready and headed down to the changing rooms while I headed to find a seat at the poolside to relax and watch them enjoying themselves.  
But there were no seats by the pool, in fact, I couldn’t get close to the pool at all as there was a 4 ft high barrier all around the area. The only access to the pool was through the changing area and showers. 

          I stood and leaned on the barrier watching as Fred played and swam with the kids in the pool.  There was only two other people in the pool and very soon one of them climbed out and went over to sit in the Jacuzzi.  A short time later he left the Jacuzzi and disappeared from sight.  

          Linda must have watched him because a little while later she stepped out of the pool and went over towards the Jacuzzi but neither the boys nor Fred noticed her leave the pool.  The boys were playing together and the other person in the pool had started talking to Fred.  Neither the boys nor Fred could hear me as I yelled to them about Linda. 

          

 

 I hoped she would not actually get into the Jacuzzi but that’s exactly what she did and almost immediately she disappeared down under the water as it bubbled up.  Still Fred couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t get near the pool, all I could do was pray as I saw her head appear up out of the water only to disappear again. 

          Suddenly Fred realised she was missing and looked round.  He hurried out and over to her but by this time she had been under the water several times.  He dragged her out and we both were afraid it was too late, but as he laid her down on the pool edge she coughed up a lot of water and started to cry.

            It all happened so quickly and I had felt so helpless.  

I felt alone and unable to do anything.
Linda must have felt so alone too and could not help herself.
I am so thankful to God that He never leaves us alone.
He has promised to never leave us.

Fortunately this incident did not leave Linda with a fear of water and she still enjoys going swimming.  

It did however leave me with the knowledge that we can’t protect our children from everything now or in the future, God is the only one who can do that.

Thank you God that you love us and watch over us 

and preserve us and answer our prayers.

You never leave us nor forsake us.

Have you experienced God watching over you and your family?

Do you know that you are not alone when you have handed your life over to God?

Why We Worship 4

I am taking time each week to ask myself

 "Why we worship"

One of the things about God that we may find hard to understand is that God cannot be measured or defined.

Our minds are so finite that we can not really understand that there can possibly be something that is infinite.

Except if you are a Maths teacher as I was and then you have often had to talk about positive and negative numbers both going on to infinity.

 ( I love the symbol used for infinity  ∞ )

infinite adjective

1. limitless or endless in space, extent, or size; impossible to measure or calculate
2. 
   

Isn't that marvellous to think about?  

God has no limits!

So God has no start or finish.

 

                                                                                                       
  
Do you ever ask God to help you appreciate how different He is to us?        

What a Face! - A Dose of Encouragement

Having grown up (as some would have described me) as a Tomboy; I made it into my teens not too conscious of my looks or interested in make-up.

Then when I was 14 I met a boy!

    And I didn't change.

I met him at a youth meeting and decided he was the guy for me.
(There really is a bit more to it than that but that might be for a different story sometime).


 I didn't go to the youth meeting all the time but we got to know each other a little as friends over the next 2 years.  There were things I wanted to know more about from the Bible and he was the one I talked to.

Two years after we met there was a Summer Youth Camp for a week and I wanted to go.
My problem was the week before it I was going to be on a School trip to France arriving back into Belfast on the day the camp started in Bangor.  The Pastor of the church which ran the youth group approached my parents and asked if it would be ok with them for him to meet me off the boat in Belfast and take me to the camp and they agreed.  I was delighted and even though I had been promised for a few years that I could go on this trip in my 5th year at the grammer school I was now looking forward more to the camp than to the trip to France.

While on the school trip I found I had a little blister forming on my cheek but just thought it would be ok. By the time I arrived at the youth camp I was greeted with remarks about how I really should go to the chemist and get something for my face but it was Saturday evening and they weren't open.  By the time it got to Monday morning the blister had spread up my cheek and was not very nice looking.  Walking me along to the chemist were two of my girl friends and this guy I liked, but when I got there I just didn't want to go in.  I dreaded the thought of anyone touching this cheek and even though they tried to persuade me several times I would not go.

It got bigger and bigger and when I think back now I can't believe anyone would have wanted to be near me at all as it could have looked as if I was contagious with something.

Towards the end of the week this blister thing was quite a sight to see and was rather ugly.  I was not looking at myself all day so I didn't have to see the ugliness but others did.

Then there was the day that we all went to walk up Slieve Donard the highest mountain in the Mournes (I believe).  There was a bunch of us who got lost and headed the wrong way but had a laugh anyway.  I'm not sure that everyone else would have been too happy had there been any accidents; as I was carrying the First Aid Kit.


Well who was I sitting beside in the car on the way home?
You've guessed it, that guy I liked.


Well I sort of (cough, cough) fell asleep on the way home and whose shoulder was conveniently there for my head to slip down unto?
You've guessed it, that guy I liked.


All during that week I was in his company a lot but never alone, always with other friends.  Then the last night of the camp we did get the chance to be on our own for a very short time during which he told me he loved me.  Quick work for the quiet lad everyone thought he was.

When I arrived home my parents were startled to see the "thing" on my face.
The doctor was called immediately and he did a home visit.
Apparently I had caught a virus while sunbathing in France and it had caused my skin to develop several small blisters as it burnt and these then turned into a horrible scab.  I was prescribed an ointment which was very effective and the scab seemed to dissolve and most of it just slid down off my face.  My family were relieved that my face cleared up very quickly with no scars, while I was relieved that there was not as much pain as I had feared.  This virus still lies dormant under my skin and flares up now and again.


When I would think back to that time and tell our kids the story of how daddy told mummy he loved her before they even went on a date together; the main thing in my mind would always be that this was our special story.  But one thing that my sister had said to me all those years ago always made it more special to me in particular.  She said

She told me that she couldn't understand how I came back from camp with a boyfriend when I looked the way I did.

Later when I asked Fred (the guy I liked) why he hadn't been put off by my ugly face, he just told me that he thought I was beautiful and that something on my face didn't change his mind.

So you see all these years I have been very happy and extremely thankful that Fred loved me when I was looking ghastly and I never would have thought I was beautiful.  He wasn't attracted by my looks,  he was attracted to me, the person I was.

Maybe I should explain that 4 years after this camp I married Fred and (at the time of writing this) we have been married for 36 years.

Even as the years have passed and I have not thought myself to be pretty, Fred has often told me that I am Beautiful.  That has always helped me to feel special.  This is just one of the reasons I still love my husband.

A lot of the attributes of God are hard for us to see, or to understand because we think as humans but He is God.  When I experience the love Fred has for me and how he sees me it helps me to see how God can love me and see me as beautiful just the way I am even though I am far from perfect for which I can never cease to be thankful.


Do you know that God wants you to know that you are beautiful?

Do you know that God loves you?

Why We Worship 3

I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship".

I am not presuming that there is one overall right answer.

Perhaps because we are all uniquely different people we may also believe we have uniquely different reasons for worshipping God.

I believe we will have some uniquely different ways of worshipping but there are many reasons why we worship that must be common to us all.

In this series I'm really focusing on the attributes of God at the moment with

       
          God is GREAT

               
                    God is WORTHY 

                             

                                   

and for today I'm taking the bible verse   1 John 4 v 8

How do we know that He is Love?


The Bible tells us He is Love as in the verse above.


Our pastors and leaders in church explain to us that He is Love


But most of all our personal relationship with Him cries out to us that He is Love.

We would not even be able to have this relationship with Him if He was not Love.

We would not have been given the only way of Salvation through Jesus if He was not Love. 

We would never be able to get beyond our sinful nature if He was not Love.

I am thankful that God is Love and I have experienced His great Love for me.

Without a doubt God is Love!

Do you have this relationship where you can say without a doubt that 

God is Love?