Sunday, February 27, 2011

Week 9


Good morning Ladies. Can you believe that we are 2/3 of the way to finishing up the Bible in 90 days! WOW I am so proud of each of you who are reading. I hope if you are not reading then I hope you are reading the blogs. I would love to hear how you are doing.

Day 57 February 27 Jer. 33:23- Jeremiah 47:7 Sunday

Day 58 February 28 Jer. 48:1- Lamentations 1:22 Monday

Day 59 March 1 La. 2:1- Ezekiel 12:20 Tuesday

Day 60 March 2 Ezekiel 12:21- Ezekiel 23:39 Wednesday

Day 61 March 3 Ezekiel 23:40- Ezekiel 35:15 Thursday

Day 62 March 4 Ezekiel 36:1- Ezekiel 47:12 Friday

Day 63 March 5 Ezekiel 47:13- Daniel 8:27 Saturday

In Christ Alone,

Jill

Friday, February 25, 2011

Wooden Hearts

Good morning everyone. We are now in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah certainly had to live one day at a time. There were no planning vacations, getting married, building a new home, building friendships, or doing any of the things we strive for today. God’s plan for Jeremiah was to use him as a communication tool to warn Israel and Judah of his wrath if they did not turn from their evil ways.

When God spoke to Jeremiah, you can clearly see how frustrated he is by his chosen people bowing down to man-made gods, offering sacrifices to their gods using the protocol set up to sacrifice to the one and only true God, and in addition to asking their gods for help in their daily lives. Doesn’t it make you wonder where the logic is in serving a god that can’t do anything for you as compared to serving a God who can do everything for us?

Jeremiah remains on task and continues to relay God’s messages to the officials even though he gets beaten, jailed and thrown into a cistern to die (a well used to store water) all because the officials did not want to hear what Jeremiah had to say. God warned them that if they didn’t leave the city, the Babylonians would overtake and kill them. But because they had “wooden hearts”, they refused to listen. Instead, of leading their people to safety, the officials advised the king that Jeremiah should be put to death because his news was too discouraging for the soldiers and people to hear. Can you imagine having a leader who cares more about your feelings than your life?

Sure enough, no one listened to God’s warning, and the Babylonians overtook Jerusalem; and all the things that God said would happen, happened.

I don’t know about you, but one clear message that can be taken from this is that we need to continually pray for our country’s leadership to make the right decisions on behalf of the people and not based on things that really don’t matter. And like Jeremiah, we need to trust God that he will take care of us regardless, simply because he said that he would.

In Christ Alone,

Jill

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground Satan says "o crud"

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Amazing Love Day 53

I will never forget going to the movie The Passion of Christ. Hubby and I went with our congregation. I am sure each of us was deep in thought about what we were about to see. I remember years before being in labor at a Catholic hospital. At the foot of my bed the wall held Jesus hanging on the cross. During each contraction I would look at that cross and think he suffered so much that my pain was nothing in comparison. That crucifix helped me through labor.

Then we saw what to me seemed like a real crucifixion. I was overwhelmed with emotion when I walked out of the movie. How could He, the Master of the Universe watch His only Son go through all the trauma? How could the Son obey his Father and stay on the cross? My mind’s eye flashed all my sins before me. I walked out deeply ashamed that my sin kept him on that cross.

Would you do me a favor today? Go read Isaiah 53. It is only 12 verses long. After reading that it humbles me to the core. That my sweet sister is Amazing Love!

Think about it.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Gratituesday


Today is my favorite day, Gratituesday. It is the day we stop and think about all God has done for us and count our blessings. Remember the song, Count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done, Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done.

Today I am thankful for a wonderful opportunity to get away for a couple of days. Both of our sons still living at home were going to Winterfest, a huge teen function in Gatlinburg Tennessee for the weekend. I am so blessed to live with 5 of our grandchildren each and every day. There are two though that we had not seen since Christmas. With fear and trepidation hubby and I headed out.

Back in the day hubby did most of the driving but we live in a new reality. Since hubby can't drive it is left to me which doesn't seem like a big deal but it is something I have had to get used to. I can very easily fall asleep driving for any distance! With lots of prayer we arrived safely.

We got to our son's home and found little feet running towards us. It was wonderful to hold those two precious little grandchildren again. Hugs and kisses all around. I got to read book after book to our granddaughter and giggle and snuggle with her. Our grandson is so very busy at 17 months he simply does not have time for books. It was wonderful to see them again. Daughter in law is going to deliver baby #3, our 8th grandchild in less than 2 months.

It is very hard for hubby to travel. I debated whether not we should attempt the 6 hour drive. On Saturday morning I regretted going since he was doing so poorly at that point. But he rallied and did pretty well all things considered. For which I am eternally grateful we made the trip.
Thank you God.

Monday, February 21, 2011

The Book of Isaiah Day 50


Hello everyone. Today I would like to do a little overview of Isaiah. It was written by Isaiah the prophet around 8 centuries before the Jesus was born. His name means “salvation of the LORD”. He was considered the greatest writing prophet. Nowhere in the Old Testament is grace more evident than in this book of prophesy. Isaiah is also the most comprehensive in range. Let’s look at one way to break down the book.

1. Prophesies concerning Judah 1:1-12:6

2. Prophecies concerning the Nations chapter 13-27:13

3. Prophetic warnings concerning Ephraim and Judah 28:1-35:10

4. Sennacherib’s Invasions and Hezekiah’s illness 36:1-39:8

5. The Greatness of God 40:1-48:22

6. The Suffering Servant of the LORD 49:1-57:21

7. Exhortations and Prophecies 58:1-66:24

My favorite, I love reading about the greatness of God He is an amazing God. Remember at the beginning I said one of the things we would see by reading the whole Bible together was God’s character? This book tells us a lot about the character of God. He sent his one and only Son for us. He shows great compassion especially since we don’t deserve it!

My favorite scripture that summarizes the entire book is found in chapter 64:8

But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8 (ESV)

To that I say AMEN! Till tomorrow.

Blessings,

Jill


"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning Satan says, "oh crud, she's up"

WEEK 8


Good afternoon ladies. We got stuck in the snow storm north of Indianapolis and stopped for the night at a hotel. We are now back home. Here is our reading for the week. This time around Isaiah is making a lot more sense to me. What about you?

Happy reading.

Day 50 February 21 Isaiah 14:1- Isa 28:29

Day 51 February 22 Isaiah 29:1- Isaiah 41:18

Day 52 February 23 Isaiah 41:19- Isaiah 52:12

Day 53 February 24 Isaiah 52:13- Isaiah 66:18

Day 54 February 25 Isaiah 66:19- Jeremiah 10:13

Day 55 February 26 Jeremiah 10:14- Jer. 23:8

Day 56 February 27 Jeremiah 23:9- Jer. 33:22

IN Christ ALone,

Jill

"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning Satan says, "Oh crud, she's up"