May 29, 2007

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  I hope you’ve all had a wonderful blessed weekend!  My husband got home from the show today, and didn’t do as well as he had hoped, but that’s okay, we both have a show coming up this weekend and it should be a more profitable one!  Ian and Tim are both hard at work, but they did have a wonderful Memorial Day there at the “ranch”!  I should be getting all those pictures sometime this week, providing they remember to mail them, so I’ll be posting those soon!  You all have a great day, and be ever so blessed!  I’ll leave you with a little something to ponder …
  
  Can you truly thank God for the storms that you’ve walked through in your life?   
  
  Hugs,
  Deborah <><  
  
  
   RESTING ~
  
  When the circumstances of my life are the way I like them, I can easily rest in God.  But that kind of resting is really resting in circumstances, not resting in God.  The hard thing is to rest when the circumstances are anything but the way I’d like them to be.  It’s like trying to sleep in the middle of a hurricane.  Not that I’ve ever done that before, but that’s what it’s like! 
  
  Come to think about it … Jesus slept in a boat in the middle of a storm.  It was on the Sea of Galilee.  Matthew says that Jesus “got into the boat and his disciples followed him.  Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.  But Jesus was sleeping”  {Matthew 8:23-24}.  I’ve often wondered, “How could He?”  Yes, I know He was exhausted from speaking to the huge crowds and attending to their needs.  But sleep in a storm?! 
  
  I think the only reason Jesus could sleep was that He knew without a doubt that they were not going to sink.  The disciples who were with Him were afraid because they didn’t yet understand that the God who created the very water their boat sailed in was in the boat with them.  They were just beginning to understand His full power.
  
  Peter was one of the disciples in the boat that day.  I think he learned a lesson, for years later, when Peter was arrested by Kin Herod and put in prison, the night before his trial, Peter slept.  No doubt Herod intended to put him to death the next day, because the Bible tells us that he had just had James, the brother of John, killed with a sword, and when he saw that this pleased the people, he arrested Peter.  Here is Peter in a prison cell the night before his trial.  He’s betwen two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance … and Peter was sleeping!  {Acts 12:1-6}
  
  The only way you can sleep in a storm is by realizing that God is “in the midst” of the storm with you! 
  
   Isaiah said:
  
  “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast,
  because he trusts in You.”  {Isaiah 26:3}
  
   The psalmist wrote:

  “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone,
  O LORD, make me dwell in safety.  {Psalm 4:8}
  
   Where can we find rest when we don’t like what we see?
  
  “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
  my hope comes from Him.”  {Psalm 62:5}
  
   We can be confident, and find rest in this very thing … 
  That He who sees the end from the beginning knows just exactly what He is doing.

  Dear LORD,
  Can I truly say “thank you” for every storm that I have walked through? … As I look back through the pages of my life, and every storm that blew in, I find that within each one You were always right there with me, “in the midst”, and at total rest … and there in Your rest, I found my peace and strength.  No, I was never promised a life of smooth sailing … no one is, but You did promise me your Presence, and in the midst of your Presence, strength, peace, hope, love, and Your comfort through every trial in my life, as I trust and rest in You … So, can I truly say thank you for every storm that I have walked through in my life?  … I have to say yes!  For every storm I have walked through, I have walked through with You!  Thank you, LORD, for stretching me and growing me up in grace!   In Jesus Name ~ Amen
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  When God is in the Boat
  Based on the New Testament passage in
  Mark 4: 35 – 41
  
  Upon a sea called Galilee, a boat was found one night,
  Filled with the twelve disciples and their Savior Jesus Christ.
  
  This boat had sailed into a storm and waves began to roll,
  Fear struck the men hand-picked by God and terror filled their souls.
  
  And as the rain and wind grew strong, the Lord was fast asleep,
  For He was in control of what seemed like a mighty need.
  
  For His disciples only saw the crashing of the waves,
  They only felt the stormy blast, but not one drop of faith.
  
  Then as the storm sent violent winds, they went to find the Lord,
  For when the storm is at its worst, you need to trust Him more.
  
  They woke the Lord and then He found disciples gripped in fear,
  Why must they worry, storms don’t last when Jesus Christ is near.
  
  For near He was, they soon would know that faith in God is real,
  The waves may toss and winds may blow till Christ says “Peace, be still”.
  
  And “Peace, be still” is all it takes to calm the storms of life,
  To move a cloud that hides the sun and change to day from night.
  
  The Lord desires to calm your storm when you are at the end,
  Of what seems like a dead-end road; He’ll clear the skies again.
  
  So when your boat is tossed by waves and rain begins to fall,
  You will not drown if you will pray; the Lord will hear your call.
  
  For it is in the hard times when we learn to trust in God,
  And understand Psalm 23, that He’s our Staff and Rod.
  
  And it is in the midst of storms, we see what God can do,
  Our flesh may see a sky of grey, but faith sees skies of blue.
  
  My friend, it’s on a battered ship when waves are growing rough,
  That we can feel a perfect peace and presence of His love.
  
  But faith must be our guest on board when all else seems to fail,
  For God won’t navigate off course this ship of life I sail.
  
  So never let what you may see determine where you’ll go,
  You know your ship will never sink when God is in the boat.
  
  Poem by:
  Norma W. Beaird
  
  
  

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